Earnings in April 2022

1. 89

   AdeleCosgroveBrayposted 13 months ago

   My earnings on Hubpages this month have been horribly low. I've only just scraped past the pay-out threshold which is the lowest income by a huge measure for years!
   
   Has anyone else experienced a similar drop in income, or does anyone know what the cause might be?

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      Amara Hassanposted 13 months agoin reply to this

      Yes going through the same.

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      bravewarriorposted 13 months agoin reply to this

      My earnings are $3 less than last month, but the month's not over.

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      OldRosesposted 13 months agoin reply to this

      CPMs have been very low for me.  My traffic is up because it's the gardening season, but the low CPMs have cut into my earnings.

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         PaulGoodman67posted 13 months agoin reply to this

         Yeah, CPMs dropped and and stayed low. We're approaching an entire year now of both low traffic and low CPMs.
         
         The only good news was the recent increase in Amazon percentages, providing a moderate amount of amelioration for writers like me, but that probably doesn't help you.

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            OldRosesposted 13 months agoin reply to this

            You got that right!  Seeds don't bring in a lot of revenue.

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      chef-de-jourposted 13 months agoin reply to this

      There are all kinds of causes for lower earnings as far as I can tell. Some we can do nothing about, others perhaps we have a wee bit of control over.
      Long-term causes: adblockers being used/Google updates/ad saturation/change of HP page design/video popularity/change in users habits and so on.
      
      As a writer working with various editors I have to find ways to offset these trends and causes. I do this by writing fresh articles that hopefully are good enough to compete at a high level on Google's first page. If Google responds positively to fresh material which it does all the experts say, then I'll deliver.
      HP also has to deliver. In the decade I've been here HP has performed wonders, no doubt, keeping its standards and quality and competitive edge. The niche site movement was a great boon. It boosted HP's reputation. The Maven takeover as far as I can see changed too much too quickly - design, ads, overall feel.
      Through the forums we can challenge and debate. This is good. There's no doubt HP needs to look long and hard at the ads and page design. I see many good writers dropping off their creativity - this is a Catch 22 situation. A writer sees a drop in earnings, they cut down on articles because there's little incentive to write, Google responds negatively because there's a lack of fresh material etc etc. A downwards spiral is set up.
      Yet, from my angle I want to continue creating; an article a month, two a month. I enjoy the challenge. I love what I do. I earn relatively good money each month. Not as much as I used to, granted, but enough to keep me at it.
      I want to encourage others to keep at it, give their best. See if as a collective body we can persevere, tough it out, keep working. If in the end Google slaps HP down, finally, so be it. Over the years there've been many threats, big problems, radical change, but HP is still here because we all contribute, which is a beautiful thing.

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         hclpdposted 13 months agoin reply to this

         We can rationalize it as much as we want, but some changes are needed, including more transparency and better communication.

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            AdeleCosgroveBrayposted 13 months agoin reply to this

            "...some changes are needed, including more transparency and better communication."
            
            I second that.

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            chef-de-jourposted 13 months agoin reply to this

            There is always room for improved communication I agree.
            
            HP is evolving that's for sure and is currently in transition, again! I rationalise in an attempt to understand what's happening viz a viz writer and site management.
            Overall quality for the reader has dropped over the years but that doesn't mean I stop writing what I believe is competitive material. I understand the annoyance and frustration but there is only so much I, as a content creator, can influence. No more fresh articles from established writers and earners, as far as I can tell, would initiate a certain, steady decline. That's why I want to encourage fresh writing - simply stopping is not my way of helping.

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               DrMark1961posted 13 months agoin reply to this

               I am not happy with the way things are going but I agree with your statements and do not see this as all coming from  HP. The excessive ads seem to be hurting page rank some but the answer is not to stop writing articles.
               When I decide on a topic I want to write about I go to the niche site and find out if it is already published, then go check out the other articles on other sites and find out if I can contribute something new. Earnings are lower than what they were in 2020 but there are also tons of new articles out there since then. That plethora of information is not on any of the HP niche sites.

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            TheShadowSpecterposted 13 months agoin reply to this

            And more ways of combating plagiarism.

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               bravewarriorposted 13 months agoin reply to this

               With more writing being posted online and fewer people reading actual printed books, I think plagiarism is a given. It increases the duties an online writer has to master. No longer are we writers or copywriters. We're now marketing and sales departments, editing departments, R & D departments, and the list goes on and on.
               
               Part-time writers have a hard time keeping up with the various responsibilities and maintaining the many hats that must be worn, square on their heads. Fighting plagiarism seems to have become a full-time duty.
               
               Fortunately, HP alerts us to the sins of lazy writers, but it's ultimately up to us to fight the battle. Kudos to HP for alerting us. But, the battle is exhausting!

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                  Arensshiposted 11 months agoin reply to this

                  What do you do though when your article is plagiarized? Two of my articles are copied.

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                     bravewarriorposted 11 months agoin reply to this

                     You file a DMCA report. Go into your article in author view. At the top will be a box telling you the article was copied. It'll give you the link to the copy and instructions for filing a DMCA report.
                     
                     Unfortunately, this happens all the time. Don't stand for it. Fight!
                     
                     Good luck!

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         TheShadowSpecterposted 13 months agoin reply to this

         I like your optimism. :-)

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      TheShadowSpecterposted 13 months agoin reply to this

      What it is is that HubPages needs to restore the comments sections to all of our articles.  That task alone would likely cause the amount of money earned on them to skyrocket.

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         TessSchlesingerposted 13 months agoin reply to this

         No, it wouldn't.

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            TheShadowSpecterposted 13 months agoin reply to this

            But, you know something, Tess, after the comments sections were taken away from all of our articles, it seemed like a lot of people were complaining that their earnings were plummeting here on HubPages.  The timing was very suspicious, in my opinion.

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               TessSchlesingerposted 13 months agoin reply to this

               I guess I have a suspicious nature. I do agree that some people read comments. But it's not the comments that have ads, and its the clicking on ads that gets the money. Also, the person has to read the article in order to see the ads, so it doesn't make sense to me.
               
               Maybe, the reason that the articles earned less money was that something else was done simultaneously...

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                  bravewarriorposted 13 months agoin reply to this

                  Tessa, I think the new ad structure sends readers away before the entire article is read, because they interrupt. They are not strategically placed, so readers bounce out before reading the article(s) to the end.

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                     eugbugposted 13 months agoin reply to this

                     I don't understand the insistence that the site video is of benefit or it can't be removed. Don't Hubpages have access to the code for the websites? Or is it that TAG take a dictatorial approach and won't let them change anything?

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                        TessSchlesingerposted 13 months agoin reply to this

                        Who is TAG?
                        
                        I don't know if you read the Daily Mail, but they have a video at the bottom of the page and it doesn't matter which story you read, there is a video at the bottom right, plus a video in the middle of the story one reads.
                        
                        Through the years I've seen countless questions on the web on how to remove those videos, but to no avail.
                        
                        They must make a mint of money is the Daily Mail continues to use them because readers hate them.

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                           eugbugposted 13 months agoin reply to this

                           The Arena Group which is what Maven now call themselves.

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                              TessSchlesingerposted 13 months agoin reply to this

                              I wonder why all the name changes. Thanks.

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                     TessSchlesingerposted 13 months agoin reply to this

                     I really hate the way the new ads are placed. It's sort of embarrassing. It feels like a tabloid. Worse, they don't seem to be increasing the money of writers.

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   6. 96

      jansharesposted 12 months agoin reply to this

      Yes, experiencing the same. Barely made payout this time after missing it the month before. Didn't make it last month so won't get paid for May.

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2. 95

   FatFreddysCatposted 13 months ago

   I'm actually having a pretty good month for a change. I'm not sure why cuz I haven't done anything differently (shoot, I haven't even posted any new stuff this month), but I'll take it.

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      Jana Louise Smitposted 13 months agoin reply to this

      Same. My earnings are doing better than most months and I haven't done anything except tweaking an article here and there. I'm surprised that everyone seems to be going through a tough time.

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      TheShadowSpecterposted 13 months agoin reply to this

      Yep.  I did better in April than I have ever done in earning income on my articles in preceding months.  I just feel that HubPages needs to turn our articles' comments sections on, because we are likely missing out on a significant amount of additional income because of the current absence of that same feature.

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      FatFreddysCatposted 12 months agoin reply to this

      Well, so much for that. As soon as the calendar turned to May, my views and therefore my earnings went straight down the crapper. #$%@!!!
      
      (Sigh) it was fun while it lasted.

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         FatFreddysCatposted 12 months agoin reply to this

         I may have spoken too soon. My newest piece unexpectedly took off over the weekend, while I wasn't paying attention. Not sure why or how, but as I always say, "not complainin'."

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      PegCole17posted 12 months agoin reply to this

      Ditto on this post. What's up with that? Just happy to see some spikes in views. Not sure why that's happening.

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3. 96

   PaulGoodman67posted 13 months ago

   It's been a disappointing month. The primary cause, in my opinion, was a drop in traffic caused by Google's "product review" algorithm update. Some of the traffic has come back since then, due to a further update, but overall we're still down.

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4. 86

   bravewarriorposted 13 months ago

   I've earned multiple dollars and cents in the last two days, rather than cents, as has been the norm up 'til now. Something has changed and it's apparently good for what I have out there.
   
   No complaints here, especially since I haven't posted anything new in over a year!

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      PegCole17posted 12 months agoin reply to this

      Me, too, Bravewarrior. No complaints here. Just wondering why. Glad to see the traffic going up. It's encouraging. Makes me want to publish again.

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   eugbugposted 13 months ago

   Earning this April will be about half what they were last year, because traffic is down 40% and CPM down too.

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      hclpdposted 13 months agoin reply to this

      Remember when we wore told that the removal of Adsense and infusion of more ads would lead to more revenue for everyone?

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         eugbugposted 13 months agoin reply to this

         I wonder are we getting a smaller and smaller share of revenue? It's years since the 40% share was specified in the TOS.

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            hclpdposted 13 months agoin reply to this

            Might be the case.

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            TessSchlesingerposted 13 months agoin reply to this

            Yes, I didn't realize that Maven had changed to Arena Platform, and I just read their financial report. Apparently, their profits are increasing vastly. I've suspected this for some time. I know that this isn't a valued opinion, but I do think it's the most likely explanation - apart from the fact that Hubpages has been losing ranking for years.

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6. 97

   eugbugposted 13 months ago

   According to Businesswire:
   
   "The improvement in gross profit is a result of a decrease in publisher partner revenue shares from 56% of digital advertising revenue in fiscal 2020 to 34% in fiscal 2021 "
   
   Does that refer to us?
   
   https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/ … er-of-2021

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      hclpdposted 13 months agoin reply to this

      Wow. Shocking if its true.

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      TessSchlesingerposted 13 months agoin reply to this

      I told this forum this at least 6 to 9 months ago and got my head bitten off. I know that because the owner of the company did the same thing when he bought Associate Content and transferred us to Yahoo. And, of course, it's true. You're earning less becausee your earnings have been cut, and it will get worse and worse.

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         Solarasposted 13 months agoin reply to this

         I won't bite your head off for saying that.  The lack of transparency amounts to contempt for the writers, and contempt leads to disrespect for our contributions and consequently a lower payout.

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      Solarasposted 13 months agoin reply to this

      If it refers to us, then it is disgusting and explains a lot.

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      SerenityHaloposted 12 months agoin reply to this

      If this is the case, then I think it’s time to stop writing here.

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   Jodahposted 13 months ago

   My earnings for April were the highest of any month since December last year.

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      TheShadowSpecterposted 13 months agoin reply to this

      Jodah?  Strangely enough, I actually end up getting more earnings in one day when the number of views that my articles receive is lower than when it's higher.  I've been trying to figure that pattern out for a while.

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         eugbugposted 13 months agoin reply to this

         Your overall earnings may be higher but it could be that the articles that produce high earnings are getting more views whereas the low earning articles are getting less views and total views are less.

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   Carb Divaposted 13 months ago

   Me too

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9. 89

   AdeleCosgroveBrayposted 13 months ago

   These might be relevant:
   
   https://digiday.com/media/maven-rebrand … d-finance/
   
   https://thearenagroup.net/our-brands/

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    PaulGoodman67posted 13 months ago

    Slight uptick in traffic. Rumors of another Google update on May 1st.

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       FatFreddysCatposted 13 months agoin reply to this

       Same here. Something must be cooking, because all of a sudden a bunch of the oldies from my back catalog are showing red arrows.

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          bravewarriorposted 13 months agoin reply to this

          It's occurred to me that the uptick in traffic may be due to the editing team going strong across the niche sites. I notice when I bring up my profile page, it registers on my GA report as a user, so I would imagine the same is true for editors accessing our articles and spending some time on them. Whatever the case may be, April has actually been a good earnings month for me. Usually I earn pennies a day. In April I actually had a digit showing to the left of the dot-for-cents. That's encouraging considering, I haven't posted anything new in two years!

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    eugbugposted 13 months ago

    This is the latter part of the statement from the horse's mouth:
    
    "....related to a strategic shift to eliminate most publisher partner guarantees near the end of fiscal 2020 and the high contribution margin of digital advertising. "
    
    Possibly the revenue share refers to the gross share of revenue Hubpages gets from TAG rather than what we get from Hubpages.
    
    https://investors.thearenagroup.net/new … wth-fourth

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       Solarasposted 13 months agoin reply to this

       From the same Press Release, one of the Niche site, PetHelpful, actually gets a mention:
       
       “The Arena Group ‘Playbook,’” our plan to feature premium content and expert analysis, as well as audience and editorial strategies designed to efficiently deliver robust experiences to audiences across platforms, has driven significant recent growth for Sports Illustrated, The Spun, TheStreet and PetHelpful, with plans to roll out across additional properties and publisher partners in the coming year.
       
       I wonder what the Playbook is that has been implemented on PetHelpful.  Are they referring to the "news" sections?

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          bravewarriorposted 12 months agoin reply to this

          Good question. What gets me about the "news" sections, is they're not written by HP writers. If I recall, when the news section first appeared in one of the sites (don't remember which one it is), I Googled the author and discovered she's an Arena editor.

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          Shesabutterflyposted 12 months agoin reply to this

          I wonder if they are going to start implementing some of the features SprucePets has, to try and compete better?
          
          Possibly veterinarian reviewed/edited/approved articles or something similar? I wouldn't call the news section "premium content or expert analysis", so I hope they have something more planned.

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             Solarasposted 12 months agoin reply to this

             We already have a vet who might be persuaded to do that - Dr. Mark

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                Shesabutterflyposted 12 months agoin reply to this

                Yes I was thinking of that as well. It would be great if they used author talent for new ideas they want to try.

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                DrMark1961posted 12 months agoin reply to this

                Thanks for that mention. It is in the works.

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                   Solarasposted 12 months agoin reply to this

                   That makes my month!!

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                DrMark1961posted 12 months agoin reply to this

                I was just looking at Pethelpful at the dog names section and also noticed that your articles are not listed, just those that have been published more recently. (Bev and you both mentioned this on another thread but I could not find it to add this comment.) That is a serious problem with the algorithm, as it is only showing those recent articles but is not showing the good articles that were published some time ago. I can only assume that the traffic we are seeing from articles like that are mostly from Google and other search engines and not from PH.

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             eugbugposted 12 months agoin reply to this

             Hopefully something similar is done for the other sites too, E.g. on Dengarden using building contractors/tradespeople and gardeners to endorse articles.

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                Solarasposted 12 months agoin reply to this

                I think Old Roses teaches gardening classes - maybe they can tap her as an expert to review gardening articles.

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       TessSchlesingerposted 13 months agoin reply to this

       Wouldn't it refer to all publications within the group? That would be my interpretation.

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    Eric Cauncaposted 12 months ago

    My views have doubled this month, but my earnings have dropped by half. IDK why.

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       DrMark1961posted 12 months agoin reply to this

       Check your traffic sources. If the increase in views are due to social media instead of search engine traffic the CPM is very poor. (Social media viewers are going to glance at the article but are not as likely to stay as long as someone from Google.)

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          Eric Cauncaposted 12 months agoin reply to this

          Almost all of them came from Google.
          
          

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             DrMark1961posted 12 months agoin reply to this

             Ok, that is kind is surprising then and I am not sure I can help. My CPM for April was not great but it was okay, whereas the first few days of May have been lower.

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                Eric Cauncaposted 12 months agoin reply to this

                Thanks.

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    eugbugposted 12 months ago

    The "Mother's Day" algo update seems to have been beneficial. Traffic up a good bit this Monday.

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       PaulGoodman67posted 12 months agoin reply to this

       Yeah, it seemed negative at first, but now it's not looking so bad, we'll have to see how it pans out.
       
       My sense is that a lot of the changes by HP that are happening (e.g. the news sections) are attempts at pandering to Google's desire for "freshness." If so, lets hope it works.

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          eugbugposted 12 months agoin reply to this

          Increasing organic search traffic is hopefully the aim, so if the ranking of sites is improved by fresh content at the expense of pushing our articles off the homepages or out of related contented, I don't mind. My traffic from Hubpages sites since Jan 1st is only about 0.1% of total.

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          TessSchlesingerposted 12 months agoin reply to this

          I find the bit about 'news' being added for every section fascinated. Every single piece of mine that has soared had a 'news' component.

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       eugbugposted 12 months agoin reply to this

       Gone back down again to less than last week, not so good.

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    Nell Roseposted 12 months ago

    Doesn't help when they decide the hub is not suitable for Ads when there is nothing wrong with it! And I agree mine has gone down.

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