Writing Online at HubPages

Before HubPages, I was a blogger, I started blogging in 2005. I have learned the ins and outs of blogging but never really earn any cents. I knew I am doing something wrong but I don’t know what.

To be honest, my main purpose in writing online is to supplement my income. I have read a lot about full-time bloggers claiming that they support themselves through online writing, apart from blogging they also offer how to become successful through blogging by following what they have written in their e-books, I am sure you have hear about this story too.

But for me it was a trial and error, I found out that blogging is not the way to go if I want to have a part time career in online writing. But I am not the one who will just give-up. I lay low in my blogging activities and concentrate on searching on how other people earn through online writing. I was persistent and determined that I will find the right way to do it.

I discovered Hubpages in 2007 while looking for job ads at Problogger. I did not hesitate, I sign in at HubPages, which is a user content generated site. Writers are called hubbers and write individual webpages called hubs on any topic. Hubbers earns through Google Adsense which appears on individual hubs and the revenue is split by 60:40. This is achieved by alternating the code used in advertisements: the Hubber's code is displayed 60% of the time, and HubPages' code 40%.

I think it is a fair deal ---well this is good for me. I try to learn everything by reading the Forum, I bookmarked hubs, I keep reading and take notes on tips suggested by Hubbers. I ask questions and learn and get educated.

I started researching and published hubs, as a new hubber, it was an exciting time. I feel I am a part of this vibrant community and I don’t have to worry about all the technical issues, they are all taken care of by the HubPages staff. I must say that the HubPages staff over the years have done a wonderful job for making this site one of the best, they provide an online venue for people to write they built an easy to use set of tools so that within minutes people can start publishing their own articles (Hubs) and in return share the profits with them.

One of the best advise I have read at HubPages was written by Paul Edmondson (Co-Founder and CEO of HubPages) to write articles about topics that don’t change – and he called it evergreen content. Paul compares writing evergreen content to like owning a bond that pays dividend. The hubber writes the article, then it pays a dividend over a long period of time with traffic to your site. With this in mind, I write my hubs following his advise religiously.

I work full time and also do all the regular mom duties. During my early days at Hubpages, I make sure I published hubs regularly. My writing strategy is based on the evergreen content idea. I write what interest me and what I know, places I have visited, things I have done and when I write hubs I make sure that these hubs will provide information to people who will visit my hubs and they will become a valuable resources in the years to come. If you want to build your online writing, evergreen content is a must, it brings visitors to your hubs.

I am not that kind of person who can whip a hub in 30 minutes. I type slow sometimes I get hubber’s block and if I ran out of ideas, I find things that inspire me. I go out, visit the library, read a book, browse some interesting glossy magazines, these activities help me fill the gap.

I always like to punctuate my hubs with photos, I bought my first digital camera in 2005 and over the years I have taken hundreds of photos which I archived and used to enhanced my hubs.

Early this year I joined sunforged 60 days challenge. I learned a lot about improving the visibility of hubs in the eye of the search engine (Search Engine Optimization) , keyword research and backlinks. It was a steep learning curve, especially if you are used to doing things in your old ways. I was able to finish the 60 days challenge and all of which I learned, I try to incorporate in my topical hubs.

During my 3 years of Hubbing, I have a few months that I was not able to publish hubs, I called this my hiatus days, not because I don’t want to write but because of family matters, Even though I am not publishing hubs, I always use this time to tweak my hubs, to give it a fresh content, do spell check, put captions on my photos, experiment with layout, add videos, link my hubs together, write summaries of my hubs – still hubbing in my terms.

So this is me, 3 years with 279 hubs not much, compared with other hubbers but what I like most is the passive income that comes with it, which I am very greatful and I would like to thank Hubpages for making it possible. In the future, I am planning to write a hub on what Hubpages and Google bought me :)

Well, I think I have talk too much I will save the rest for my next post .

Happy to be here at Hubpages!!!

MM

12 December 2010