Financial Goals and HubPages

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   m-a-w-gposted 4 years ago

   I am hoping that some people are willing to share their financial goals in regards to hubpages.  I see many sites going down, and I don't like that.  I think we need to be a community that shares and supportes each other.  Gives suggestions and offers help if capable. 
   We are a community and need to act as such.  I will admit that I have not been the best here, I will probably never be the best here.  I have read great authors and I am not on that list.  But we need to support each other and make each other better.
   I am curious if anyone is willing to share their financial goals in regards to hubpages.  I am looking for $100.00 a month currently.  It is a huge process, but with the help of others and reminders of how I should be doing some things.  If no one responds, the  community can't offer help, and we can't support each other.

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      robhamptonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      My goal would be able to quit my day job, unfortunately my articles are very seasonal but for 5 months out of the year, I do quite well. Today's payout (have not yet recieved, usually later in the day) will be just over $1,660. Last month was over $1,500. Not too bad for just 28 articles. As I've said before though, this good money ceases for several months out of the year. I, too hope hp hangs on for many years to come.

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         lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         This is the only reason I love summer. Else I'm a winter person.

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            robhamptonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

            Exactly!

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         m-a-w-gposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         Very nice, I hope your dream comes true!

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         Jeremy Gillposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         That's a great number, especially with just 28 articles. Congrats, and any SEO tips to share?

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         TIMETRAVELER2posted 4 years agoin reply to this

         Rob, you do know, I hope, that posting your earnings is against the TOS and you can be banned for doing so.  I suggest you delete this comment asap.

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            lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

            Stating your CPM is against TOS.

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         Daniel Mollatposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         robhampton, I'm impressed that with only 28 articles you are generating a good bit of monthly income. I see that you have been with HP for 8 years now. How long were you in the system before you started to see income in the hundreds of dollars per month. This should give us newcomers some idea of what we can expect if we stay on for the long term. I hope someday my 20-some articles will bring in revenues in the hundreds of dollars monthly.

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            Natalie Frankposted 4 years agoin reply to this

            Just so you're aware - that's far from the norm.  For example, I have about 125 articles and between 700-1000 views a day and barely make payout each month, which has only been occurring the last 4 months or so. I make between $1.25 and $2.25 a day and work hard on marketing my articles such that it's not passive income. It all depends on your niche, views, type of content and what ads are on your articles in terms of what their rate is.

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               m-a-w-gposted 4 years agoin reply to this

               There is not much of a pointer in regards to what to make when etc.  The ads that get displayed, the amount of views, purchases from amazon, etc.  All affect how much you make.  One person I know makes up to $50 to $100 a month from 13 articles written 7 years ago.  I know that doesn't help, but there is a lot of variables into making money and definitions of what successful is with online content.

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                  Natalie Frankposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                  I know it's been said a gazillion times but I think it bears repeating.  SEO aside, the bottom line is writing articles on things people are searching for and answers common questions they have in a unique way.  Of course SEO helps in regards to rankings, traffic and ultimately income.  But all the SEO in the world isn't going to take an article written on something no one is interested in and catapult it into the number one position resulting in big time traffic and earnings.

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            lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

            It's not a matter of time anymore. Yes articles take a few months to reach the top spots, but after the Panda update and the whole subdomain thing, rankings were not good. But with the niche sites, traffic is back up. It should take you 2 - 3 months max to see really good views, if not you need to work on your article to improve its SEO or write on another topic. If you see the forums, there was a person who wrote an article and within a few weeks that article was getting 800 views a day.
            
            In short, 8 years does not mean much, other than the experience gained.

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               m-a-w-gposted 4 years agoin reply to this

               time has more backlinks if well written.  If you hit a great niche then that it awesome, but takes learning seo knowledge which takes some experience.  There are articles I have that are years old and a couple views a day and others that are ranked first that sometimes have thousands a day.

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                  lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                  Check the backlinks of the ones that are ranking, very likely they do not have many. Backlinks help for sure.
                  
                  Like I also said it takes experience and SEO knowledge. You are relatively new here, not sure if you know about this, but Pre Panda before 2011 a few months before I joined, people used to rank for everything under the roof. It's not exactly the same, but the niche sites are really strong and it's a lot easier to rank today than say 2 - 6 years ago.

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                     m-a-w-gposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                     We are getting off topic, I haven't disagreed with anything you said.  I was attempting to state that information on how much someone should make for how long they have been writing isn't possible or reliable if someone decided to do it.

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 4 years agoin reply to this

      I disagree with some of what you have said here.  I've been here 7 years and have found my fellow writers to be extremely helpful and supportive.  I have not seen any slow down in this area, either.  As for the survival of HP, nothing is guaranteed...however the team has done everything possible to keep us afloat, and their efforts are paying off.  As for sharing financials...that's against the TOS...furthermore, publicly stating your financials invites scammers, so it's not a good idea.

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         m-a-w-gposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         I think that fellow writers are extremely helpful as well.  I still think there was more activity before.  When there was the Golden Nugget Award, the Rising Star, etc.  Had people involved and talking more.
         
         Things are different, not necessarily a bad thing.  I like some of the suggestions, such as a goal for views instead of just money.  Since you have been here 7 years, I'm sure that we could learn from you as well.  How do you set your goals?

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            TIMETRAVELER2posted 4 years agoin reply to this

            I have never set financial or traffic goals.  I have always tried to produce the most informative, helpful articles that I can in order to help people.  I have tried to learn from my mistakes, which have been many and am constantly upgrading my articles.  Within the next week I expect to hit the 3 million mark for page views, something I would never have dreamed I could do...but I've been lucky.  I still have many articles that could do better, so I keep busy with them!

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               m-a-w-gposted 4 years agoin reply to this

               I have to say that doesn't sound like luck, it sounds like a lot of hard work.  Congratz on 3 million, that is awesome.

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      LloydDawsonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      I would be happy with $50.  Just getting started out myself.

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         EricFarmer8xposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         That is a great goal to start with. I hope things go well for you.

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   psycheskinnerposted 4 years ago

   My first reaction is: wow.  How we respond to you in this specific thread does not determine the basic nature of this forum.  Maybe tone it down a little.  At the end of the day this is a forum were some people with a common interest hang out and that's all. Sorry if that seem harsh but if you need some social support right now I would suggest looking for it in real life rather than the internet.  Maybe look at Meetup.com
   
   On your actual points, Hubpages has the best chance of survival of any content site, but everything is at the mercy of Google, so keep your stuff backed up.  Due to this unpredictability I don't make content writing a key part of my freelance earnings plan, but I like to aim for a payout each month.  (I focus more on ebooks and blogs).

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      m-a-w-gposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Thick enough skin that I am fine with your comment.  HP activity seems to have died down a lot over the years.
      
      Interested to know when you say ebooks and blogs, do you ghost write or just have multiple venues for your writing and claim it as so?

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   paradigmsearchposted 4 years ago

   Speaking of financial goals, there's a new Maven email.
   
   A grim week for many Maven, Say Media, and possibly HP employees.

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      paradigmsearchposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Update. And it's posted at https://www.themaven.net/the-maven/pres … LTltsrthg/
      
      Good business sense of course, it just brought back memories of me losing a job or two or three.

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   Wesman Todd Shawposted 4 years ago

   My goal has been to average $600/month. I'm not there yet. So there you have it.

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      m-a-w-gposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Hope you get there soon.

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   EricFarmer8xposted 4 years ago

   Right now I am working towards making $50 a month so I get paid every month. Right now I make about $20 - $40. I had a spike in traffic these past two months and my earnings went up.
   
   I just got paid my second payment ever of $70 today. While I enjoy to write starting to make some money in my PayPal account also makes me happy.
   
   I guess overall I would like to get to a point where I make $100 a month eventually.

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      m-a-w-gposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Awesome that you are seeing a boost in traffic, hope you are there soon.

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      Wesman Todd Shawposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      For the amount of time you've been here, you're doing fantastic. Also, your articles will probably do better in time, as they aren't very old just yet.

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         m-a-w-gposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         I am happy with where things are currently.  Thanks for the words of support, I'll be checking your hubs out soon.

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   NessMovieReviewsposted 4 years ago

   I barely participate in forums as I find them quite combative sometimes, in saying that— I didn’t think I would make anything, however with hard work and great networking I’ve now got a monthly revenue of between $30-40. I have branched our and started my own website and made affiliations with people within my niche. HubPages taught me how to write better, have goals and be strict with my grammar and literature. The best assistance I’ve had is in that respect. Knowing it takes improving in that area even when you think you’re pretty good.
   I would love to make $100 a month, more if possible but happy with what I have already.

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      lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      That's pretty good and I know what you mean. I've improved on a lot of similar stuff thanks to HP too. Good luck with your websites

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   Susana Sposted 4 years ago

   My current goal is to make $100 a day consistently. I'm planning more hubs over the next 6-12 months to make it a reality.

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      theraggededgeposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      I like that one

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         Susana Sposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         Let's do it! The passive income has been great but it's time to get my butt back in gear and get writing.

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            lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

            Definitely.

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      lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Nice I am planning on getting to the 1k a month barrier first. Almost made it in June. But it's going to be harder to get there in seasons other than summer, considering my niche. But, I'd like to make this an average at least.

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         Susana Sposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         You'll do it Brandon The way things are going here lately if you're creating strong articles they'll do well.
         
         It's how HP was in the early days.

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            lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

            Oh yeah, I heard about that period. Everything people wrote ranked well back then. I joined a few months after the Panda update.

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 4 years agoin reply to this

      That's a pretty lofty goal.  Very few people here make that much money.

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         Susana Sposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         At least half way there most days so I think I can do it.

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   Butterfly67posted 4 years ago

   Interesting post as I need to have a goal really and that will make me create more articles to reach it. I guess the next goal would be $500 a month (currently around $300) so that will take a bit more work but would be very useful income. I think realistically I wouldn't make that until sometime next year as I need to do at least 1 or 2 really good articles every month, if not more.

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      lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Good luck with that

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         Butterfly67posted 4 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks Brandon, looks like you are well on your way :-)

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            lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

            On most months I make pretty much the same as you here on HP, but summer is different.  The goal is to have more hubs by next summer. Right now in my free time I'm focusing on revamping my website. Gotta wait till next summer anyway

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   DrMark1961posted 4 years ago

   I make enough here so that I do not really have any financial goals. I will probably not make my next accolade for another 30 years, so I do have a traffic goal, and then when I hit that (hopefully this year!) I will have to come up with something else.
   Your own goal should be easy to achieve based on the amount of time you have been here. The only thing you need to do is write more. I read your article on chisels (something I have to deal with almost daily) and if you write all of your articles so that they will be moved to a niche site you will be making your goal in no time.

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      lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      What's after the 10M accolade? 100M?

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         DrMark1961posted 4 years agoin reply to this

         Yes, unfortunately I cannot convince HP to insert a 25 or 50M accolade. Therefore I will probably die (or HP will cease to exist) before that next one. Pretty sad, huh?

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            lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

            Make your own goal Post on the forums when you reach 25M.

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            Natalie Frankposted 4 years agoin reply to this

            I wish they had goals that were closer together for those of us who aren't moving as quickly.  It took me about two years to reach the 100k mark and things are going a bit faster but at only 800-1000 views per day average, (though it is continuing to grow slowly) it will be forever til I even see 1 million much less 10 million.  A billion?  Good Grief - unless I discover a formula for going viral or happen upon it by accident that ones in another galaxy!

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         robhamptonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         After the 10m you need a billion to get the next accolade lol

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            lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

            Wow.

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               robhamptonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

               Brandon, you've got to be close to that by now! (I'm pushing the trillion view mark myself) oh wait...I think I read the stats wrong

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                  DrMark1961posted 4 years agoin reply to this

                  Is that trillion a per day or a total count?

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                     robhamptonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                     Unfortunately that's per week LOL (I wish)

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                        DrMark1961posted 4 years agoin reply to this

                        Oh well, I guess that is not bad! A trillion a day would have been REALLY impressive.

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                        lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                        Damn... that's a little more than me. I'm catching up though. Just a trillion more to get to you.

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      m-a-w-gposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      I like hearing other's goals.  I like the idea of a traffic goal, I do look at traffic.  Thanks for the info!

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    paradigmsearchposted 4 years ago

    The HP forums were entirely different years ago, much more social interaction and much more fun. These days it's pretty much all business and social interaction is even frowned upon by many. Oh well, the only constant is change.

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       m-a-w-gposted 4 years agoin reply to this

       It is different, I like hearing what others have to say.  Makes me better to listen to what others say.

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       lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

       You do know there are topical forums right? From what I see, they are buzzing with activity.

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          m-a-w-gposted 4 years agoin reply to this

          I saw some, I do appreciate the information though.

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             lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

             I was actually referring to Paradigmsearch's post

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          paradigmsearchposted 4 years agoin reply to this

          Pretty much every time I go there, it's all politics and eyeballs rolling across the floor. Once in awhile I am in the mood for that, but generally not.

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             lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

             And over all these years you think you know someone I thought you were always in the mood for some political drama.

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                paradigmsearchposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                Nah, sometimes I even ban myself from virtually all news and media sources; I just get too tired of all the negativity.

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             EricFarmer8xposted 4 years agoin reply to this

             I agree as well. I more interested in learning how to run my HubPages account as a business.
             
             I am not saying there is never a time to have fun and discuss other things but I already get this kind of discussion at other places. I mostly chat on Reddit and Discord.

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    Chriswillman90posted 4 years ago

    I just want a really strong 4th quarter, that's when I usually earn the most. I've been pretty happy overall with the passive income given how difficult it is to get traffic nowadays.

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    Kenna McHughposted 4 years ago

    Good thread. It's nice to see how great people are doing and setting goals. I was away from HP for some time. I came back to give it all I got. It is starting an uptrend. I just want to maintain that uptrend with all the other writing gigs I have. It's a juggle.

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       m-a-w-gposted 4 years agoin reply to this

       What else do you do?

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    Natalie Frankposted 4 years ago

    So what's after a trillion? (:
    (And how are you folks inserting real smileys?)

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       Jan Saintsposted 4 years agoin reply to this

       See the formatting link below the text box next to the Submit button. From there, you can also add bold text or italic text, underline text, color your text and even enter a link.
       
       And btw, it's gonna be a zillion mark for me!

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          Natalie Frankposted 4 years agoin reply to this

          Oh!  I never even noticed that before!  Thanks zillion article man!

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       lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

       When you click on reply, find the formatting link. Click it and scroll down, you will see the list of smileys
       
       EDIT: I see you already got it. Hehe

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    jansharesposted 4 years ago

    Given the time it takes to make real money with online writing, for which I don't have, my goal with HP has always been to supplement my income. It takes $100 to fill my gas tank twice a month. I'm happy with that, this is my goal, at least for now. Happy hubbing!

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    m-a-w-gposted 4 years ago

    I hope you hit that goal sooner rather than later.  Keep it going!

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    Kenna McHughposted 4 years ago

    Jan, That goal should work until you get an electric vehicle.

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    Kenna McHughposted 4 years ago

    All kidding aside, a writer only needs to peruse the online job boards and know you make more money on the Internet writing for HP. Not right away, of course, but in the long run.

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    EricFarmer8xposted 4 years ago

    I recently wrote this hub. I also have another one I just published today.
    
    I wanted to get this last hub finished so I can spend more time creating my own website. I spent some time thinking about it and I am going to buy hosting soon. I am writing some content to have ready to post right away.
    
    I still will probally write some more hubs though as I don't expect my own website to make any money for a good while if it does at all. At least the first year of hosting is cheap.
    
    So for now I will mostly just respond to hub question and read and post on the forums.

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       m-a-w-gposted 4 years agoin reply to this

       I wish you the best with your endeavor.

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       Jeremy Gillposted 4 years agoin reply to this

       I'd very much be interested in a pros/cons list of hosting from someone who is familiar with both their own website and HubPages. Good luck!

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    NessMovieReviewsposted 4 years ago

    I also have both. I’m about to make my first small payout.
    
    I guess the only pro is it’s mine haha. I’ll still write here too and have just begun to think about how I can make the two platforms work together. It’s great that HP has given us access to our stats now. That’s one reason I began to branch out. Similar platforms to this (hp) have now contacted me asking me for content.
    
    I really enjoy the learning aspect of my own site (seo, branding, keywords all come with sites like Wordpress) and am hoping to hit key components when I publish here. Editors have said how much my writing has improved (when resubmitting polished old articles)
    
    I honestly think so far though— HP can’t be rivalled in some ways. They do a lot of the work for you with respect to audience but I still like my site lol

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    Erudite Scholarposted 4 years ago

    This is a really awesome discussion.I have found very interesting views and comments.I aim to write high quality evergreen articles that are highly engaging and informative for my audience.My goals are to have around 200 articles by December and hit 1k views per day.

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       lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

       Wow, 200! That's almost one article a day. If you are working on it for a few hours each day that's totally doable. Good luck.

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       TIMETRAVELER2posted 4 years agoin reply to this

       You can achieve that goal with fewer articles but they must be interesting and high quality in order to do so.  I have one article I wrote 7 years ago that has gotten just under 284,000 views and currently gets around 300 views daily.  I have known people here who have written articles that have gotten as many as 5 million views.  So it is not necessarily quantity that brings views.

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          DrMark1961posted 4 years agoin reply to this

          I think you are correct in that you do not need that many, but it certainly improves your chances. If you write 10 articles, one might do well. If you write 100 articles, 10  might get good traffic. It is unlikely that you will get excellent traffic from all 10 of those first articles, no matter how high quality they might be.

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             TIMETRAVELER2posted 4 years agoin reply to this

             Statistically you are probably correct, but there is no accounting for what people will want to read.  I have never believed that writing tons of articles is the way to success here.  One good article can be worth its weight in gold where as 100 mediocre ones aren't worth much at all.

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                Jeremy Gillposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                A fair point; I agree that churning out articles isn't good if the quality of each suffers. That said, as DrMark states, some articles simply perform better than others.
                
                I suppose my point is quality definitely matters, but casting your nets in a few directions can help you see what does and doesn't tend to attract traffic.

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                   TIMETRAVELER2posted 4 years agoin reply to this

                   Can't argue with that, but also feel that reputation is important.  As long as articles are of good quality, fine...but when we start writing just to churn out articles, that's never a good thing.

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       Natalie Frankposted 4 years agoin reply to this

       Yikes - that's more than two articles a day!  It's really better to focus on quality not quantity.  It's not how many articles you have, it's the quality of the articles, whether or not they are evergreen and whether they are on topics people are searching for.  Churning out article after article usually isn't as successful as putting out carefully constructed articles that you keep updated and continue to improve over time.  Of course do what you think best but the strategy of "getting as many articles as I can write out there no matter what," usually leaves people burned out and doesn't result in anywhere close to the traffic and earnings they were expecting which zaps their motivation to keep writing on HP.  Just another viewpoint to consider.  Good luck either way!

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    Erudite Scholarposted 4 years ago

    hey lobo,
    yeah, I know but am far off.I will write an article a day.

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