Should I Leave Hubpages?

1. 87

   alahiker28posted 3 years ago

   I have over 50 featured articles on HubPages. Many of them have received comments indicating that I am a very good writer, etc. I did used to make money on HubPages but then the rules changed about Amazon product links and referral trackers. I went from making dollars a day to making less than a dime a day. It takes hours and sometimes days to research and perfect a good article. We can't all write for free. Then I see profiles of folks earning good money on Hubpages. Is my writing that bad or am I just missing something about the new Hub world without Amazon product links and referral trackers. Is anyone really making money?

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   1. 94

      OldRosesposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      I'm guessing that your traffic has fallen because you wrote a lot of travel articles but people have stopped travelling due to the pandemic.  There is no need to leave HubPages.  Try to write articles that are relevant to people's experiences now, what they are searching for information on now and I am sure that your traffic will pick up again for those articles.  Once the pandemic has subsided and people start travelling again, the traffic on your travel articles will start to rise.
      
      Also, ad budgets have been slashed at most companies so CPM has fallen on the ads on our articles.  For instance, my traffic is way up compared to last year, but I am making barely more money than I did last year because CPM is down so much.
      
      Hang in there.  Don't get discouraged.  This is a difficult time for all of us.

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   2. 92

      Sherry Hewinsposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      You can always just take a break and leave your articles here. Unless you have a better purpose for them, there is no reason to take them down.

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2. 95

   DrMark1961posted 3 years ago

   Hi Vicki yes some of us do earn a decent salary from this site. It has to be taken seriously, though, as an almost full time job.
   So should you leave? I cannot answer that as the decision on whether or not you want to keep writing is very personal and up to you. I do have some suggestions, however, and you of course are free to accept them or ignore them.
   1. Write more articles. This may seem to go against what you wish. You have been on this site over 10 years and only have published about 7 articles a year. You would have to be very good at SEO and have some amazing titles for that few to earn a decent income.
   2. Write things that have more traffic. At least 20% of your articles need to be earners, and if you focus on creative writing and recipes you will not earn much.
   3. Write what you know. If this is about hiking, great. If the articles provide some legal advice because of your work experience, they may do even better. I cannot tell you which are going to do best, as you will just have to write see how they do.
   4. Write so that all of your articles are promoted to a network site. If your articles languish on Hubpages, they are never going to see great traffic. (If moved to a niche site your traffic may not be great but at least it has a better chance of being ranked.) Are you submitting your older HP articles to a niche site every 2 weeks?
   5. Make sure your bio is relevant to the article. I just read your article about deaths during hiking and climbing. If I was a searcher and I pulled up the article, I would have bounced out of there as soon as I read that the author was a paralegal that likes to write. So what? Does she even know anything about hiking? Has she even been out of her living room? If we do not immediately grab the readers attention, and he or she bounces out before the ads even have time to load, no impression will be gained and you will not earn from that page view.
   Yes, it does take hours, at least. It usually takes me several weeks to put something together. Your writing is a lot better than many of the things that I read on this site. It just has to be found.

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   1. 70

      Miebakagh57posted 3 years agoin reply to this

      I agreed with Dr. Mark.

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   2. 61

      Shalumbaposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      I recently joined Hubpages and I was honestly wondering if people do earn significant amounts of money on this site. This is very encouraging to hear from DrMark. Thank you

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      1. 0

         Marisa Writesposted 3 years agoin reply to this

         I should point out that DrMark is a professional who, I firmly believe, would be making even more money if he'd started his own website when he started writing here.   
         
         Also, he writes on a subject that's suitable for PetHelpful, which is one of HubPages' most successful niche sites.   
         
         That may be another change that you've missed over the years.  HubPages.com is just a holding pen now.  Google hates it. It's rare for an article on the main site to make money.  If you can identify suitable niche sites for your existing articles on HubPages, it would be worth revising them and submitting them to be moved. 
         
         However your articles on politics and society, philosophy and personal development would all do better on Medium.com.   As for fiction - look for a story writing site.  You won't make any  money, but you will get more readers.

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3. 85

   bhattucposted 3 years ago

   Good points DrMark, thanks.

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4. 83

   psycheskinnerposted 3 years ago

   Leave when you find another site that will pay you better for the same investment, that's the logical thing to do.

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5. 87

   alahiker28posted 3 years ago

   I have reviewed the purported money makers on HubPages. HubPages profiles them as money makers while simultaneously stating don't write for HubPages if you want to make money. It's contradictory at best. In any event, in reviewing the "money makers" I do see niches. I also see those niches still have Amazon product capsules which under the new rules, aren't allowed. Most of mine have been singled out by Hub editors and removed so I'm curious about whether any sweeping effort was made to ensure continuity about this rule for all Hubbers or I'm just the lucky one.  I made $10 at a time with some of my 'relevant' Amazon product capsules before there were banished. They seem to get removed every time one of my Hubs is 'promoted' to an affiliate site.  Does anyone have any personal experience with this?

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   1. 95

      DrMark1961posted 3 years agoin reply to this

      Is that what gave you the idea that the Amazon program could no longer be used? Yes, rules change, but if you learn to adapt they are easy enough to live with.
      There are plenty of people that stlll earn with Amazon. Look at the profile for theraggededge, Glenn Stoc, Paul Goodman,  lobobrandon. (I cant think of others off the top of my head.)
      By the way, you have not looked at the money makers if you are just seeing those profiles on the front page. They asked before choosing those profiles and that is certainly not everyone.

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   2. 0

      Marisa Writesposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, it's happened to me too.  Product capsules are still allowed but there are new rules around how to use them. 
      
      They were probably snipped because you didn't offer a personal recommendation for the product. The new rule is that you must  have  personal experience of the product and explain why you're recommending it.   
      
      In practice, of course, they can't prove whether you've ever owned the product or not.  Just be careful to sound as though you have.
      
      There is nothing to stop you putting the capsules back in, if you follow that rule.   The worst that can happen is that they'll snip it again. 
      
      Also, if you use an in-text link rather than a capsule, it's much more likely to get approved.

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6. 97

   EricDockettposted 3 years ago

   @Vicki-  From what I can see, you are a good writer who is making some poor choices with her content. If earning is your goal, anyway.
   
   Writers who earn well here have a few things in common.
   
   They write about topics lots of people want to read about.
   
   They are knowledgeable about their topics, either because they are professionals, everyday experts, or willing to do extensive research.
   
   They understand how to do simple keyword research.
   
   They know how to craft good headlines.
   
   They understand basic on-page SEO.
   
   They put in the work and write lots of content to the best of their ability.
   
   I think some small tweaks to your current articles and future publications will change your fortunes around here. I'd start by following Dr. Mark's advice above. Then, learn everything you can about what makes an article successful on the web.
   
   As for Amazon (sigh) there is still some money to be made there, and if you want your affiliate links to be accepted you just have to follow the rules. You can definitely do well without it, though.
   
   So, don't quit! You have a lot of potential. You just have to tighten it up a little if earning is you goal. Good luck!

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7. 95

   PaulGoodman67posted 3 years ago

   Dr Mark makes some excellent points in my humble opinion, as does Eric Docket and others.
   
   Adaptability is an important thing. If your aim is to earn, you have to see what works and go with the flow. Sometimes that means making some radical changes, or even abandoning articles or topics that you feel strongly about but don't work, and going in another direction. It's pretty brutal. And even more difficult to judge because things go up and down due to a variety of factors, often outside your control, and sometimes fairly dramatically over time.
   
   As far as Amazon goes, you really want to write an article where you give out some solid, practical information and can link to a couple of products which you believe are helpful and related. It sounds easy, but I still find it difficult after years of trying. In the old days, it was relatively easy, you could do hard sell lists and earn money. It's a lot tougher nowadays, which is why many of us write more info-only articles.
   
   Unsexy articles like how to replace the filter on a specific model of washer-dryer will often work better than giving your political or religious views, or a poem, in my experience, but there are no rules to it, people write about pets, or tattoos and do well. The lack of clear rules makes it both fun and frustrating.
   
   I feel like I treat it as a full-time job, but only earn the money of a pretty non-lucrative part-time job like a cleaner. The only really good thing is that I can take breaks or travel and still have some money coming in.
   
   Having said all that, just leave if you want to. It's up to you. People come and go from this place.

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   1. 95

      CYong74posted 3 years agoin reply to this

      I like the description, "unsexy."
      
      As like so many things in life, unsexy things don't pay very well, but also tend to pay regularly. A matter of what you're aiming for in life or within this platform, I guess.

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8. 88

   lobobrandonposted 3 years ago

   You've got some really good advice here, some of the best I've seen on these forums in quite a while, a few years at least. You're lucky and you would be wise to look into each one of them. Dr. Mark has some really good points and Marisa is right about some of your articles doing better elsewhere.
   
   One of the tricks to doing well on a platform is knowing what works well on it. Each of us knows from experience what kind of articles rank well and bring in the traffic. Do you see your poetry getting a lot of traffic? I guess not, but you continued to write a lot of it. Most people love publishing, but from your original question it seems that you would like some sort of payment for the time you spent, HP is not that place when it comes to poetry.
   
   To give you an example on some of the advice you already received, take these two articles:
   Emotional Abuse in the Workplace
   What's Killing America's Hikers?
   
   How do you intend to get traffic to them? Would it be through social shares? If yes, they may do well if people see the titles in front of them. No one is going to find them through search engines, the source of most traffic to the niche sites. You need to craft better titles and also write the content so that answers to search queries are fulfilled through your article.
   
   I'm currently walking to work, ignore any sentences that don't really read well.

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