Referrals hit a million

1. 59

   Mark Knowlesposted 15 years ago

   Hey all - I just noticed my referral traffic has topped a million views:
   
   
   
   I can't tell you exactly how much money that means because it gets rolled in with everything else, but I encourage you to use the referral trackers in your account when linking to other hubs.
   
   http://hubpages.com/my/trackers
   
   I guess I get 9% of the income from those pages, so - who is writing about condoms? That is what I keep selling through Amazon and has to be a referral.....

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      Randy Godwinposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      I've not really tried to understand the referral program so far.  To busy to learn if it is worth the time for my few hubs at this point.  But I do need to try to learn exactly how this works.  Congrats to you though,Mark!

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      prettydarkhorseposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      Congratulation Mr Mark! and those condoms hehe,

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      Lymondposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      Congrats! where in the name of hell did you post it to get all those sign-ups???

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      AEvansposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      Mark, Congratulations !!!

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   ChristinaScibonaposted 15 years ago

   LOL...at least people are being safe about sex!

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   gramaryeposted 15 years ago

   Hey, congratulations, I wanna grow up to hit 1 million too!

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   Pandoras Boxposted 15 years ago

   Muchos kudos!

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   Susana Sposted 15 years ago

   Wow - that's great Mark. I keep hoping a prolific writer is going to sign up under me

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   Jane@CMposted 15 years ago

   Congrats!
   
   Wish I knew referral trackers like you do My trackers has straight zeros all the way across
   
   I've read the hubber that sells condoms, I've seen the articles before - can't remember the name.

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   wrenfrost56posted 15 years ago

   Way to go, many congrats.

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   kerrygposted 15 years ago

   Awesome!

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   Mutiny92posted 15 years ago

   Very cool!

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    Greek Oneposted 15 years ago

    Can i please cut and paste your hub content into mine?
    
    It would make my life much easier, and I figure you have gotten enough mileage from them already?

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    N. Ramiusposted 15 years ago

    Nice. I still don't even have any referral signups so I got a long way to go.

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    skyfireposted 15 years ago

    Whoa, cool.
    
    congrats Mark.

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    thisisoliposted 15 years ago

    Damnit, I wish my referrals did that!

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    Mark Knowlesposted 15 years ago

    Most of these come from my own hubs. I add a referral tracker and link to other people's hubs. You guys must have noticed that your Pages/Visit stats are pretty low here? Because there are so many other pages similar to yours. So - I often actively link to other people's stuff and add a tracker. That way I get the most of my search engine visits. I even write the occasional article specifically to link to other hubpages:
    
    http://hubpages.com/hub/Top-Ten-American-Recipes
    
    No tracker added

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       Marisa Wrightposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       Confused.
       
       I thought that if you refer to someone else's Hub with your tracker, you only get a percentage of their income for a very limited time?

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          Ultimate Hubberposted 15 years agoin reply to this

          First, the ad impressions you get for a limited time are from the HP's share of impressions. Second, if a visitor signs up for HubPages under your referrel tracker, you keep on getting 10% of the ad impressions on the hubs he/she writes, again from the HP's share.

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             Marisa Wrightposted 15 years agoin reply to this

             Yes, I know that - but Mark's not talking about that, it seems.

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             relacheposted 15 years agoin reply to this

             The catch here is IF the person who signs up not only writes Hubs, but writes good Hubs. 
             
             I don't encourage or ask for sign-ups as that's a great way to get spammers signing up with your referrals, which isn't worth squat.

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                Ultimate Hubberposted 15 years agoin reply to this

                True, I have 4 referrals who haven't written a hub and a few of my referrals haven't really written quality hubs, thus the lack of referral ad impressions.

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          darksideposted 15 years agoin reply to this

          There is no time limit. And you don't get a percentage of anyones income.
          
          One in ten referrals will see your ads.
          
          If a person signs up to HubPages and they have previously clicked on one of your referrals then you will get around 10% of the ad impressions of their page views for the life of each and every hub.

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             Marisa Wrightposted 15 years agoin reply to this

             Darkside, I know that - in fact I have a few referrals myself and about half a million views so far.
             
             However, Mark is also saying he writes Hubs expressly to link to several Hubs by other people - is that just to get writers signed up?

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                Mark Knowlesposted 15 years agoin reply to this

                Yes. Here is why:
                
                1. 90% of my traffic is search engines.
                2. My pages /viewed stats are very low compared to other sites I write at.
                3. Probably - people are clicking off to another hub, because they see the site as all the same.
                4. I take advantage of that by actively providing them with a link to do so using my tracker.
                5. I get 10% of any impressions after they have done this and if they sign up and write some hubs - I get ongoing shares.
                
                Make sense?
                
                I do agree with Relache - and I do not actively encourage them to sign up - except through my profile page.

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             Ultimate Hubberposted 15 years agoin reply to this

             There is time limit of time for traffic referrals while ad impressions on hubs of referred people is forever.
             
             

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                darksideposted 15 years agoin reply to this

                How so?
                
                It's measured in visits, not length of time.
                
                Lets say I have a tracker link to one of your hubs in one of my blog posts, and today ten people click on it. One of those will see my ad.
                
                Tomorrow 20 people click through, 2 will see that ad.
                
                One day in the middle of next month I have a lot of traffic to my blog post and 100 people click through on the link, I'll have 10 of those ad impressions.
                
                There is no time limit on traffic referrals.
                
                What it means in the bit you've pulled from the FAQ is to do with cookies and whether a person becomes a member. It's probably not explained as well as it should be. But essentially a tracker does two things, rewards people sending traffic and credits people for a sign up referral.

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                   Ultimate Hubberposted 15 years agoin reply to this

                   And we are rewarded for sending traffic for a limited time only. As long as our cookie stays in their PC, which is for 120 minutes?
                   
                   
                   When someone clicks my hublink with your tracker, he won't be seeing any of your ad impressions after 120 minutes. Isn't it so?
                   
                   Edit: The next day when someone visits my hub through your referral it will again be a 120 minute impression period.

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                      darksideposted 15 years agoin reply to this

                      Okay, my example, while not incorrect, isn't explaining it properly.
                      
                      Here's the two things we do know: 1) The cookie lasts for 30 days, and 2) The initial 120 minutes is guaranteed.
                      
                      It's difficult to explain, and what HubPages has created is complicated. Though extremely powerful and beneficial to its members. Each tracker does two jobs at the same time.
                      
                      The 120 minute factor works two ways too. And applies to each visitor individually. So yes, I hear what you're saying. But if I send a visitor to your hub right now, it's 120 minutes on the clock and counting. I send one a minute later, it's 120 minutes on the clock and counting. A persons duration at the site is far more likely to be measured in minutes rather than hours.
                      
                      And I think the example they've given in the FAQ is probably irrelevant:
                      
                      "We set this limit because there may be multiple Hubbers referring people to a particular Hub."
                      
                      It's on an individual basis, so it doesn't matter how many hubbers are referring people to a particular hub, it will only matter if two hubbers refer the same person.
                      
                      The important thing, for me anyway, is that all traffic that I send has a 1 in 10 chance of seeing my ads on the hub I've sent them to.  The 120 minutes is most significant for visitors who later sign up. Because most visitors won't stick around for 120 minutes just to read hubs.
                      
                      Confused yet?
                      
                      I know I am.

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    darksideposted 15 years ago

    Congratulations Mark! I have an account that is one of those referrals. But it hasn't been publishing condom hubs.
    
    My hub referrals are nearing the four million mark for traffic.

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       Mark Knowlesposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       I learned from you. I only started doing this properly about a year ago. Why not make the most of what comes in?

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          Twenty One Daysposted 15 years agoin reply to this

          Mark, that is awesome, man.
          congrats and all that jazz.

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    earnestshubposted 15 years ago

    Congratulations Mark! Well deserved.
    I must put some more effort in to referrals.

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       Mark Knowlesposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       Thanks. Might as well take it if it is there.

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       darksideposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       The only effort I make is cross linking my hubs with tracker URLs.

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    Cagsilposted 15 years ago

    Congratulations!

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    relacheposted 15 years ago

    That's fascinating to see, Mark.  Thanks for sharing those stats.
    
    Taking a look at my own referrals, I've only got 127 signups, with 450 Hubs created but they've pulled down over 2 million views.

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       Mark Knowlesposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       My pleasure. I suspect you attract a different audience than me though, so hard to compare stats. A lot of mine seem to write about books and money.
       
       
       And condoms.......

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          relacheposted 15 years agoin reply to this

          Of those referrals who are a) not spam-rated and b) actually Hub-producing, I seem to have picked up a bunch of real estate people, a couple of computer techies and one (who is my true cash cow) who writes Hubs for kids.

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             Mark Knowlesposted 15 years agoin reply to this

             LOL
             
             Apart from the condom writer - I have some very weird Amazon sales. Most of my unexplained earnings (which I put down to referrals) come from adsense though. Either way - it has been a worthwhile exercise.

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             Nelle Hoxieposted 15 years agoin reply to this

             I want a cash cow too! I'm going to have to give these referral trackers some serious consideraton.

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    Miekaposted 15 years ago

    Wow, that is impressive! I only just started using the trackers and I now have 1 referral with 5 hubs. If I could grow that to about a fourth of your stats I would already be very very happy!!
    
    So, congrats!!!

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    Nelle Hoxieposted 15 years ago

    Another way of making money!!!! Thank you for the suggestion Mark. I shall start to link away and add trackers.

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    thisisoliposted 15 years ago

    Ahh good plan, I was tempted to set up a directory similar to besthubpages but ended up canning the idea.

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    lakeerieartistsposted 15 years ago

    I hadn't thought of using them the way you said Mark.  Duh!  I have some referrals but coming into hubpages not from inside to other hubs.  Oh well, the brain can only take in so many things at one time.

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    Miekaposted 15 years ago

    I was wondering if you ever do anything to encourage your sign-ups in keeping on hubbing and give them personal tips to make more money. Like I fanned my 1 signup, but I guess when you have over 400 that is not really a great idea...

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       darksideposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       I offer no encouragement whatsoever. People sign up for all different reasons, so I'm not going to annoy them by contacting them to encourage them.
       
       If they're meant to write, they will, of their own accord.

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          Marisa Wrightposted 15 years agoin reply to this

          I agree with that.  Often, I think people sign up simply because they think they have to, in order to comment.  Or they join to take part in the forums. 
          
          I tried contacting some of my referrals once and got no response.  If I see them writing a Hub or two, I'll make a point of leaving comments and thumbing up if they're good, but I don't fan them unless I'm interested.

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    Twenty One Daysposted 15 years ago

    speaking of which, if I use a bit.ly to shorten the URL, does HP recognize the tracker?

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       darksideposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       Yes, it does. I keep notes on what I've set up as bit.ly URLs and which URL they're pointing to and indeed seeing that the only traffic to those trackers have come via bit.ly via twitter then it does recognize the tracker.

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          Twenty One Daysposted 15 years agoin reply to this

          hey dark, yeah, i have been using it over Tweetdeck for a while, is why I axed. cool. makes things easier.
          
          someone also mentioned the possibility of a HP app for iPhone and Android, which I can totally see happening. If HP goes the mobile publishing route, it can be a game changer. Being able to use the linkage for specific published hubs over mobile.

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    KeithTaxposted 15 years ago

    It took me a bit to figure out I should use my referral trackers. Over the last 10 days I picked up two sign-ups. One guy published 7 hubs and I think I got some clicks. As you said, it is hard to tell with everything rolled up together.
    
    A very encouraging story. Thank you for sharing it.

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    IntimatEvolutionposted 15 years ago

    Well done Mark.  Really.  Well done.

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    thisisoliposted 15 years ago

    You could probably make the internal referral process easier by putting your tracker in to a targetted RSS feed and placing it at the end of each hub.
    
    Might have to look in to this soon, but with three websites of my own under construction, a new advertising strategy being put together, a marriage,moving in to a new house, in a new country, and suffering from a mild case of writers block, I have quite a lot on my plate!

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       Miekaposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       Oh my, that sounds stressful!

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    starme77posted 15 years ago

    That is totally awesome my referral trackers are doing well , but not that well.... yet

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    samboiamposted 15 years ago

    I am a total moron when it comes to such things as trackers. What are they and how are they used exactly. Can anyone refer me to a hub or source that may educate me on the subject?
    
    There is so much about all this I do not know. I would appreciate any help.

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       darksideposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       This will get you started: http://hubpages.com/hub/Referrals
       
       And then it will lead on to this: http://hubpages.com/hub/tracking

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          ThoughtfulSpotposted 15 years agoin reply to this

          Congratulations Mark!
          
          And thanks for posting the links (thanks for asking Sam).  I was reading through all the posts here trying to figure out what I should plug into the search box to try and find some hubs or FAQs.  Haven't even attempted to touch referrals yet.  There's so much to learn! (But, I'm having fun doing it. - I'm definitely not as prolific as a lot of you... I was thrilled 2 weeks ago to top 1000 page views. ) Congrats again!

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    andromidaposted 15 years ago

    Congrats Mark. 90% search engine traffic is really awesome.I think I should use referrals

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    lakeerieartistsposted 15 years ago

    I thought that you could only get the 10% from hubbers who signed up and wrote hubs.

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    ThoughtfulSpotposted 15 years ago

    I just read darkside's hubs on the referrals.  Can someone clarify for me (sorry to hijack here... its sort of on topic. )... So, I can create a tracker, then insert it into the url for any page on hubpages... whether it be the sign up page, or my own article, or someone else's... post that link here on HP or elsewhere, and I will benefit when someone uses that link?
    
    Is that the basics? At times, I need someone to explain this to me like I'm 5.  (Actually, my 5yr old might do better! )

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       Mark Knowlesposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       Yes - so any page will look like:
       
       http://hubpages/_thoughtfulspot'stracker/hub/pageinquestion.

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          ThoughtfulSpotposted 15 years agoin reply to this

          Fantastic! Thanks so much... Looks like I know what my next hurdle in learning the hubworld is!

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             Mark Knowlesposted 15 years agoin reply to this

             Worry not - it is ongoing.

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    lakeerieartistsposted 15 years ago

    Glad you brought this up Mark.  I learned something good here.

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    climberjamesposted 15 years ago

    This is insane, thats 1 in 60 people in the UK, congratulations!!

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