What are the best money-making subjects to write about?

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   Bard of Elyposted 12 years ago

   I am still trying to make some decent money here because my monthly earnings are still down and dropping. So I thought I would ask for suggestions here for subjects that are known as good moneymakers. I want to see if I can write good enough hubs to generate the money. I don't care about what the subjects are and whether I know much about them. I am an excellent researcher so should be able to get enough info. The topics I write on do not bring in the money so that is why I would like to know your opinions on what ones do. What are the best subjects for hubs that make money?

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      Randy Godwinposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I find my best moneymakers are those which I do have experience with.  No matter what you are told by others here,  personal knowledge helps tremendously.  If one is at least a little bit proficient in the subject being searched, they can usually tell a researched only hub from one with hands-on experience.  At least this is my personal experience.
      
      This is the main problem with content sites such as this one.  Too much rewriting of internet info being regurgitated by those not actually acquainted with the subject.  Just my opinion, though!
      
      
                                         

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         Bard of Elyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks, Randy! My problem is that I have written lots of hubs about subjects I know a lot about but they don't bring in much money, if any at all! This is why I am thinking that maybe I should start writing about stuff just as an effort to make money and about subjects I don't know about. Topics I have a lot of experience and knowledge about are no good as earners. Basically I need to make money and, whilst I make more here than anywhere else, it is still nowhere near enough.
         Reality Bytes, I haven't a clue what people search for via mobile devices. I don't use them so thank you for your example.

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            Randy Godwinposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            But do you have personal knowledge on subjects not already saturated on the web?  If not, it may be tough to outrank those already out there.  It's tough to find a niche and even then, Google can simply rank those who copy others work ahead of the original.  There is no sure fire way to sustain good info in the world of the internet.  There are too many ways for the writer of the original article to be cheated, both by copiers and content farms.  Sad, but true!
            
                                                 

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      Pamela N Redposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      The ones I have noticed that get the most traffic and possibly money (I can't say since I don't writer them) are technical articles. If you have any knowledge about computers or the latest electronic gadget those seem to do well.
      
      I stick with what I know, it doesn't always pay much but it's the easiest for me.

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         Pamela N Redposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Oh and celebrities. People are suckers for famous people, don't ask me why but they are. I couldn't care less about that stuff but when you look at the Google trends there is always at least one celebrity listed.

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      2besureposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      People who know, won't tell you.  Especially in a public forum like this.

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      Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Bard, did you ever manage to get going with freelance writing?  How is that going? 
      
      Did your traffic suddenly plunge overnight at some point (on either of your accounts)?   If it did, you've been "Panda'd".  That means adding more content to your accounts is a waste of time, because the Panda penalty can't be overcome by making your account bigger - it can only be overcome by fixing the "problems" Google sees in your account.  Which may be only one or two Hubs out of the whole five hundred.
      
      That's why it's very important to try to work out the reasons for your loss of traffic, before you decide what to do next.
      
      Frankly, I don't think trying to become more commercial is going to work.  Writing on popular subjects just means you're up against a lot of competition, so it's not likely to work any better than what you're doing now.

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   Cagsilposted 12 years ago

   Hey Bard, I figured you would have realized that many people are not going to discuss their true money-makers. They are not going to give up their advantage, so other people can attack their niche(s).

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      Bard of Elyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      No, I didn't realise that but I can appreciate what you are saying! My search continues.

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   Reality Bytesposted 12 years ago

   Bard, consider information that is searched through mobile devices on the run.  Just a thought. 
   
   
   what is chili con carne  (example)

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   Bard of Elyposted 12 years ago

   Randy, I hear what you are saying and yes, for most subjects there is already loads of published info available.
   I have done much better offline with the subject of Tenerife pyramids and the Guanche people though. I got paid 250 pounds by Kindred Spirit mag for an article on this topic but my hubs on it don't get the traffic or make any money. My separate account here for Tenerife Islander makes a pitiful amount of earnings. Naively I thought that would work well as a niche subject.

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      Randy Godwinposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      At one time originality did well here, Bard.  But now HP is struggling to keep its longtime writers as they have felt the wrath of Google because of past transgressions. Namely, allowing profusions of spam and misleading articles to remain on here until they were finally removed. 
      
      I have no hopes of things ever getting much better here as far as earnings are concerned.  I  seldom recommend HP as a source of income anymore. The trust factor has been severely damaged and still is in some facets of the site.  There is a distinct disconnect between the staff and writers here which will only get worse I'm afraid.  Stay away from the EBay program at all costs!  It is the most useless program we have here now with someone else getting most of the commissions from sales.  It's a joke as a reasonable affiliation.  No one understands it, at any rate.
      
                                               

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   peeplesposted 12 years ago

   It's hard to believe that with your amount of hubs and years doing this that you aren't making a decent amount of money. Or maybe our opinions differ on what a decent amount of money is. While no one likes telling their "secrets" the best thing I have found is just searching through hubbers like you and others who have a large amount of hubs and have been here for a while and seeing what works for them (writing style not subjects) and tweeking it in a way that works for me. I can't imagine how with your amount of hubs that your income would not be good. that shows a serious fault not with you but with HP. You are a good writer and that should show in your income.

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      Bard of Elyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      peeples, I would be really happy if I could count on around $200 per month, and ecstatic if I could manage 500, and I have seen that sort of amount and higher being reported as possible. These days if I can get 100 it is OK, and a big help, though this is not good  at all considering how much I have written and published here. I know my writing is good because I can get paid good money for hard copy magazines at times like Kindred Spirit, for example, but again I cannot rely on these as a source of income because I have no regular work that way.

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   Bard of Elyposted 12 years ago

   Randy, the eBay option is one of the ways I do make some money here. I make nothing with Amazon and never have done so don't bother with it. I mostly get money from the HubPages Ad program now and in a 'good' month I get around $100 between the two. Occasionally after it has mounted up I get Google Adsense money. Some months I get less than 100 and it is disappointing when I consider the before the Panda problem I could count on around 150 and this was rising. I used to count on money from here for paying bills with but cannot any more. However, because I still can get around $100 from eBay and the Ads program total per month it is worth my while posting here, and far better than any other site I have tried using!

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      Randy Godwinposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Before my plunge in aug I was knocking down over $500 a month from only Amazon and Adsense, Bard.  You are getting screwed using EBay even though you make a few cents from your sales.  Someone else is racking up from your hard work and getting the big commissions from the sales, not you.
      
      And last Aug i had fewer hubs too.  I refuse to allow my EBay sales to bebfit others more than myself.  They can keep the pennies they "allow me" for my sales. At least one may check the sales and clicks from Adsense and Amazon, unlike the HPADS and Ebay which you must simply trust HP to do the right thing.  Unfortunately, HP is not the most dependable site to trust these days.  Sad, but there it is.
      
      If I had the same number of hubs you do I would be making at least 400 of 500 dollars a month at the very worst case scenario at the present time.  I mean compared to the number of hubs I have now.  I sold 20 items on Amazon yesterday with quite a nice commission.  If you could see how much HP made on your work I believe you would be in for a surprise. 
      
                                         

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   Bard of Elyposted 12 years ago

   Randy, that was really great money you were getting and better than I have ever done here! As for eBay, I would rather have some money from it than nothing, even if I am getting "screwed", unfair as it may be!

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      Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      You will only get "screwed" on eBay if you're selling expensive items, which eBay's new commission structure doesn't give you full credit for.  That's why it doesn't work well for Randy, because his auto-related stuff is often expensive.  If you're selling books and smaller items, your commission on eBay shouldn't be any worse than your commission on Amazon.

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   DigbyAdamsposted 12 years ago

   Hi Bard,
   
   While I haven't written much on HubPages, I have written a lot about travel other places on the internet. I took a quick look at your hubs and would suggest that you think about different groups that might be interested in visiting your gorgeous home. Are there great places for gay vegans to eat and stay? Honeymooners? Music Lovers? Adventurers? Astronomers? Snorklers? Use these population segments on your hub title like "Best Gourmet Vegan Bed and Breakfasts on Tenerife for under $150 a day.
   
   Use some free keyword tools to come up with the appropriate tourist segment. If you write about the perfect vegan bed and breakfast include an interview with the innkeeper and pictures of the food they would serve. Most business owners are thrilled to get free publicity like this.
   
   If I missed hubs where you did this I apologize, it was just a quick look.

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9. 75

   Bard of Elyposted 12 years ago

   Digby, thank you for a great suggestion! I haven't tried that approach yet. I will have to do some research though because it is hard enough to find vegetarian meals and restaurants here let alone vegan ones! It is a great place for astronomers though with the most famous of these being Brian May of Queen who comes here a lot!

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      WriteAngledposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      All the more reason that vegetarians and vegans will appreciate having the information provided! Also, being on the spot, you have the opportunity to discuss this with local business owners. If the concept of vegetarianism/veganism is not well developed there, they might not even have thought of it as a way to attract more visitors.
      
      Other niche holiday groups that might be worth investigating:
      
      - runners (training camps and also local races, especially if any have particularly interesting routes, goody bags, etc)
      
      - walkers (suggested walking routes with places to stay on the way)
      
      - bird watchers (places to stay within easy access of excellent locations)

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    DigbyAdamsposted 12 years ago

    Bard, I just used vegans as an example. But I'm sure there are romantic bed and breakfasts, gourmet restaurants. Just think about the population groups that are searching online for travel and appeal to them.
    
    I'd also take a look at the online competition and try to find unique stories that haven't been covered yet.

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    Greekgeekposted 12 years ago

    Bard, trying to make money on money-earning topics almost never works.  Those topics are saturated, and writing thin content on topics you don't know fools few people. Instead, you have to exploit what you know more effectively.
    
    You have to learn and use things:
    
    1) Learn basic SEO and keyword research / on-page optimization so that your target audience can FIND your pages. Too often, I see people writing good articles without any way for their readers to find them, a bit like an author printing their book in a self-publishing vanity press and then hoping people will somehow find out about the book.
    
    2) Learn what about your favorite topics makes money. I can babble about ancient Greece until the bous come home, but if I am willing to make a recommended reading list on the best books on Greek mythology, goddess Athena t-shirts, or a review of the top ten books to learn ancient Greek,  Greek gods action figures and toys, or dramatizations of Greek plays on video, available on Amazon, then I'll get sales.
    
    3) Learn conversion techniques. Once you get people to a page, there are better and worse ways to present things for sale and encourage clicks through to Amazon or other esellers.
    
    i have to admit, after seeing a good Hubber with 400 hubs only making about $150 a month, I'm starting to wonder if the ROI on Hubpages is low no matter what one does, but without a larger sample size I'm not sure. (for comparison, I've got one non-hubpages account with about 110 articles that earned about $250 last month).

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12. 75

    Bard of Elyposted 12 years ago

    Thank you so much, Digby, WriteAngled and Greekgeek! You have all been a great help and given me ideas to work with!

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    Bard of Elyposted 12 years ago

    Thank you, Pamela, 2besure, Marisa and lobobrandon for all your advice here!
    Pamela, I know very little about computers and electrical stuff and don't know much about a lot of celebrities that get in the news either unless I research them. I have often been advised to write what I know about and have done but it doesn't work when it comes to traffic or money!
    
    Marisa, my freelance writing is sometimes successful and I get paid really good money such as 250GBP for one article but this is far too irregular. In my experience most publications that pay that sort of money either don't reply or they say the best they can offer is putting your name on file. Saga mag did this. I gave up bothering with o-desk because the money being offered on there is pitiful for the majority of jobs!
    I have still not had my first payment from Amazon so gave up adding Amazon ads for most of my hubs over a year ago and only have eBay and Google now because at least some money comes in that way.
    Yes, my money dropped months back and has never recovered.

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       Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       I've sent you an email to discuss this further, Bard.
       
       You don't mention the HP Ads program - I assume you're signed up for it?

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          Bard of Elyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          Thank you, Marisa! Yes, the HP Ads program is now my main source of income here but usually between $70-100 which is very welcome but nowhere near enough for my needs!

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    webclinicianposted 12 years ago

    Definitely Religion and gambling as long as you have a good understanding ot it.
    Getting involved with religion is tax free.
    With gambling, people just dontcare.

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