It's not good!

1. 60

   robhamptonposted 5 years ago

   Anyone here doing better than last year? The screenshot I posted tells the story. What's the problem?
   

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      promisemposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      So far I'm up 31% year to date versus a year ago. But the gap has steadily become more narrow since January. April is up only 6%.
      
      So the trend is not good.

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 years agoin reply to this

      I am.  Even my numbers from January are higher, but I do think this is due to the popularity of my topic.

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         TessSchlesingerposted 5 years agoin reply to this

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            lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

            Google Analytics.

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               TessSchlesingerposted 5 years agoin reply to this

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                  lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                  Cool

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                     TessSchlesingerposted 5 years agoin reply to this

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                        lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                        Depends on the systems they use for tracking I guess.

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   paradigmsearchposted 5 years ago

   Interesting. I did an Analytics chart January 2018 to April 2019 for HP. Sure enough, traffic dropped about a third. Then I did an Analytics chart of my website traffic over the same period. That traffic went up the same amount that HP traffic had gone down.This was because of all the hubs that were thrown off or not allowed on the HP niche sites and were thus transferred to my website. If all those fracas's hadn't happened, I'd be earning double here now. HP needs to be more SEO oriented and less "quality" oriented. And HP wouldn't believe some of the short articles on my website that get daily traffic. In fact, I've got some that are downright idiotic, but daily traffic they get, day in and day out. Give the reader what they want.

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      siramaposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      100+

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3. 60

   robhamptonposted 5 years ago

   I'm driving right now, but definitely will respond. I agree

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      lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Overall down 20%, but the top performers on Dengarden are doing pretty much the same or better than last year. Caloriebee is down 50% compared to last year and 75% compared to the year before.

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         paradigmsearchposted 5 years agoin reply to this

         Yeah, there was a memorial service for all things recipe around the same time they did one for all things medical.

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         OldRosesposted 5 years agoin reply to this

         Dengarden traffic is way up for me.  My earnings haven't increased comparably, though.  I'm earning more but not as much as I would expect with my current traffic.

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            lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

            Yup, kind of the same here. But not way up just up

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            paradigmsearchposted 5 years agoin reply to this

            Yep, the infamous traffic-up-cpm-down syndrome. That's why my quandary as to switching to straight AdSense.

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4. 98

   Shesabutterflyposted 5 years ago

   I was seeing better traffic than last year until about mid March. Not sure what happened around that time whether it was Google, HP, or the mysteries that are writing online, but I've seen drops in traffic since then and it's only trending downward.
   
   I wasn't really monitoring it, just noticing it on hp stats page and the weekly newsletter. However, checking analytics now, it shows a drop of just over 13% for April.

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      Jean Bakulaposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      I've had low traffic all year. After the holidays it's expected, but I am making a third of what I was a year ago. It's not even worth it to me to write anything new.

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         TessSchlesingerposted 5 years agoin reply to this

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            Jean Bakulaposted 5 years agoin reply to this

            I'm not really sure. The CPM's are low. But I was doing better and last year was making more each month, so began writing a few articles again. I didn't care if it was lower in January, advertisers always spend during the holidays. But after January, I hit such lows that I hadn't seen in two years, and this month made less than I did two years ago. I have a lot of articles on Exemplore, but if I look at the analytics, people are on them. Not in the larger numbers they were, but there. Also, the articles I have on Owlcation remain popular. So I don't know. I blame it on the merger.

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               TessSchlesingerposted 5 years agoin reply to this

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                  lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                  Actually, CPMs have increased due to the Maven merger and HP SEO is the best it ever was. There are things that can be improved, but it was never as good as it is now. It's just that the search algorithms are changing.

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                     promisemposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                     Maybe it's the result of lower overall traffic, which may boost CPMs.
                     
                     Either way, we have much more to worry about with the health of Maven / HP as a company than we do with average CPMs or average Amazon sales.
                     
                     Any public company that doesn't report its earnings to the public for nearly a year is a reason for concern.

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                        gerimcclymposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                        "Any public company that doesn't report its earnings to the public for nearly a year is a reason for concern."
                        
                        This has been mentioned before. It would be good to get a response from HP about this.

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                           theraggededgeposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                           Companies don't usually post results for 'nearly a year'. Find out when the company's year end is. In the UK that can vary, although the majority are in line with the fiscal year end, 5th April. However, accounts aren't generally posted for several weeks, even months after year end.

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                        lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                        Yup, as in the reply by gerimcclym this has been pointed out before, probably by you.

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5. 92

   Susana Sposted 5 years ago

   51% difference here. Traffic was outrageously good this time last year (best ever for me) but it is disappointing when it tumbles back down.

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      lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Wow, that's a big chunk. I guess it's the niche site that was hit, I see similar drops on my Caloriebee hubs.

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         Shesabutterflyposted 5 years agoin reply to this

         What niche site/s do you think were hit? I only have one article somewhat maintaining traffic and that's on Owlcation. But that article is also ending a season high (Lent/Easter), so I'm not surprised to see it lose a little traffic. It was particularily popular this year for some reason.
         
         Pethelpful, Delishably, and Wehavekids articles that are generally doing well have dropped like a rock as have some of my other Owlcation articles. I haven't noticed any one site (at least for me personally) that is doing better than any other one. Delishably has hit me the hardest though. I was getting upwards of 400+views a day with multiple Amazon sales and now I'm just barely making 100 views and zero Amazon sales.
         
         CPM's are down from this time last year as well, so I'll barely make what I made last year at this time. It's been tending downward all year though, so I'm not surprised to see it continue on this trend. I've barely been around lately, and like Jean I have no desire to write as nothing I do seems to make a difference any more.

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            lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

            Health sites seem to have lost traffic. Surprising about Pethelpful.

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               paradigmsearchposted 5 years agoin reply to this

               Just a speculation about pethelpful, me thinks the video platforms are taking away their traffic.

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                  lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                  That's what happened to one of my top performers that is seeing a slight drop on Dengarden so I wouldn't be surprised. A video result has the snippet. One that is totally useless though. People watching it may not know, that's a sad fact.

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                  DrMark1961posted 5 years agoin reply to this

                  Copying to video has now become such a "thing" that I check each new hub on the SERPs after about a week and try to identify any youtube copies. If they exist, Google is good at taking them down. (At least so far.)
                  
                  The videos seem to get more page views than my written word. Instead of checking for copies of your article, which will probably rank far below the original, I think it is a much better use of your time to look at youtube and try to identify copies of what you have written.

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               DrMark1961posted 5 years agoin reply to this

               Surprising, but as you are well aware you cannot judge an entire websites performance on one persons article.

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                  lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                  Yup.

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   eugbugposted 5 years ago

   Popularity of some math articles on Dengarden compensated for an overall drop in traffic to Dengarden guides since last year. CPM pretty much the same as this time last year and earnings up.

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      lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Maths on Owlcation you mean? Or do you have some Gardening guides on Dengarden?

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         eugbugposted 5 years agoin reply to this

         Yes on Owlcation, sorry. Although math for gardeners could be an idea. Like how to bisect a flower bed or draw tangents to flower beds. Now you've got me thinking

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            lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

            Haha.

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            siramaposted 5 years agoin reply to this

            That answer is Tangent to My heart

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               paradigmsearchposted 5 years agoin reply to this

               Responding to incorrectness to see if anyone gives a damn.

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7. 96

   PaulGoodman67posted 5 years ago

   My earnings are pretty much the same as last year. A little disappointing, as I've done a lot of work over the past 12 months, but no huge drops like others are reporting in this thread.
   
   I try to be diverse, and if one topic area or style of hub goes down, I focus on another.

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8. 76

   Bills Placeposted 5 years ago

   I haven't thought about it, but looked and roughly 40% less between 4/1/18 - 4/27/18 and this month.

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9. 58

   paradigmsearchposted 5 years ago

   Oddly, I feel optimistic about May; I have no idea why.

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10. 87

    Sherry Hewinsposted 5 years ago

    The summer was good for me last year, so let's hope for the best.

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11. 95

    Glenn Stokposted 5 years ago

    My views have been pretty steady over the past year. Income actually increased, but mainly due to more Amazon sales. Roughly half my monthly revenue is from Amazon.
    
    I wonder if those of you who noticed a drop in views might be mostly on HubPages. In my case, all my hubs are on niche sites, and I think that makes all the difference. I think it’s pretty much in agreement that hubs on the home site don’t do well.

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       Jean Bakulaposted 5 years agoin reply to this

       Finally, every one of my articles is on a niche site. They are mostly on Exemplore or Owlcation, but I have one or two on many other niches too. So I was happy to have upgraded so many articles and was doing great at the end of last year, then everything dropped like a stone! I wrote about four new articles at the beginning of the year, and they are beginning to get noticed now. So I don't know what to do. I will make less this month than I did in two years. Pretty depressing.

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          Glenn Stokposted 5 years agoin reply to this

          Jean, my hubs are scattered over 17 niche sites. As for the two you mentioned, my hubs on Exemplore are holding steady, but I’ve noticed a downward trend with views on Owlcation.

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             eugbugposted 5 years agoin reply to this

             Is that because of the Easter vacation Glenn and views from students? Mine dropped in the last two weeks, but views were steadily increasing before that.

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                Glenn Stokposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                That’s possible Eugene. We'll see if it picks up again over the next week or so.

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    Butterfly67posted 5 years ago

    Yep, I am mostly on WeHaveKids and have had a big drop in traffic since last year.
    
    There was a Google update in late March but my traffic had dropped before that I think, just dropped again afterwards!

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13. 58

    paradigmsearchposted 5 years ago

    This seems to be pessimism day around here. Figured I might as well add my usual rant.
    
    

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14. 86

    theraggededgeposted 5 years ago

    Hub ad earnings up by 50% from last April. But I have written quite a few articles over the last 12 months.
    
    However, Amazon down by 50%. And it's been like that for me since HP changed the way they calculated the earnings. Still plenty of sales but teeny commissions.

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       lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

       It's weird that you are seeing Amazon changes after the change. It should not differ unless you were so damn lucky that all the big commissions were happening on your share of clicks.
       
       Great news on the 50% increase.

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       EricDockettposted 5 years agoin reply to this

       I am seeing the same problem regarding Amazon on my main account, and like you said it appears to have started when HP changed the way they calculate the earnings. It has gotten much worse over the past few months.
       
       Very discouraging. All I can think to do is update old articles and hope it makes a difference somehow.

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       Glenn Stokposted 5 years agoin reply to this

       Bev, are you sure your comparing things correctly? You say your Amazon earnings are down 50%. Under the old method, you were paid full 100% of the residuals on only 60% of the impressions. Now you get paid 60%, but you get that on ALL the sales. So if you are looking at the amount you get per sale, it would look like you’re only getting half (actually 60%). But in reality you’re getting that on roughly twice the sales.
       
       To put that another way, you are now seeing all the sales in your report, and sharing that 60/40 with HubPages. Under the old method you only saw your 60% share of the sales. The other 40% that went to HubPages never appeared in your report.
       
       When this first started, I noticed in the forums that some people misunderstood it and thought their commission was cut in half. It wasn’t.

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          TessSchlesingerposted 5 years agoin reply to this

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             Glenn Stokposted 5 years agoin reply to this

             Tess, that’s how it worked previously. You could have been unlucky with sales occurring during HP's 40% impressions. Now it’s balanced under the new method since you will never miss an honest sale.
             
             I call it an “honest sale” because Amazon has an algorithm that detects if your friends repeatedly click through your affiliate link to place orders. Brandon explained that for you.

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                TessSchlesingerposted 5 years agoin reply to this

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                   lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                   If a certain person buys from Amazon occasionally and the majority of the sales are through a certain affiliate tag it is known that the person is doing this intentionally.
                   
                   Also, this is not allowed because the affiliate program is meant to bring customers to Amazon and not take away commissions from people who would have bought from them anyway.

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                   Glenn Stokposted 5 years agoin reply to this

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                      TessSchlesingerposted 5 years agoin reply to this

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                         Glenn Stokposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                         Brandon gave you a better answer.

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          theraggededgeposted 5 years agoin reply to this

          I understand how it works, Glen. I am comparing this month's figures with the same time last year. However, since the changeover, my Amazon has fallen from $200 per month to less than $100. It's quite obvious to see in the stats.
          
          I started a thread when it happened and was told that I was wrong, that it couldn't have impacted my numbers. I might well be wrong, but from that very day, my commissions plummeted.
          
          Edit: Just to reiterate, the number of sales hasn't fallen, in fact, they've increased (obviously because the stats show all the sales). It's the actual commissions which are teeny. I used to get quite regular big sales... $30, $40 earnings sometimes, but now.... cents or a dollar. So, perhaps the changeover occurred with a sudden change in the buying habits of my readers?

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             EricDockettposted 5 years agoin reply to this

             Same here. I see more sales and more clicks thanks to the new way it is calculated, but the number of higher-value sales and their corresponding commissions has dropped significantly over the past year.
             
             It makes no sense.

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                theraggededgeposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                Sorry for you, but I'm glad it's not just me
                
                I don't think there's anything we can do other than have a good old moan about it

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             lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

             Amazon commissions did drop on many categories too. Could play a role maybe? But as you say, nothing you can do about it

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    Nell Roseposted 5 years ago

    I just thought it was me. For some reason mine has gone down too.

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