I am "Ratting" Myself Out: My Two Years on Hubpages And More.
74What are you thinking?
It occurred to me that I've been on hubpages for a long time. In fact in this business I have seen a lot of people come and go and some I wish would have stayed here did not. Some made money on hubpages, some did not. I was thinking.... that after all this time, maybe I should offer some hope for others. After all I've published a lot of hubs ( not as many as some...)
I'll share my story about hubpages. I'll even share some learning experiences with you which have given me a lot of help over the years. Not only on hubpages but on my blogs. This has made a huge impact on many aspects of my writing.
It is a business, but sometimes even when you've been here a few months, you need to celebrate a bit. over 200 hubs and 2 years makes me think I should do just that. I will let you in on my story of writing online. Or, Writing on hubpages.
And I should mention this in a published hub: Many thanks to all my readers for the best two years....
Why Did I Choose Hubpages?
I had started writing online in 2006. It was that year that I created a badly written blog. I did it on i believe historical names and figures. It didn't last long. In fact I eventually deleted it. I moved around the web for a while.
in 2008 I decided to write a blog once again. It did OK. My writing, such as it was, was horrible. I did not really have an idea about what I should do with my blog. I recall the only focus I had was just getting people to read the darn thing (it's still up and doing well thanks!)
It was about this time when I googled "online writing sites." You can probably guess what came next. I found two sites: Hubpages and Squidoo. I write on both, but I enjoy hubpages a bit more.
I think it is because the writing community here offers a lot of encouragement. When you publish a hub, people will comment. I had a comment on my first hub within hours of writing it. You can read it here. I think I was surprise by the quick response and stayed here. the community has changed in two years but I am still writing on hubpages. Or, to be more precise I am publishing on hubpages.
Have You Had Success? Are You Still Writing?
In many ways I've had success. In many ways I am still working towards success. I do have a goal I have set, and publishing a book is one of them. I enjoyed the art of writing, and continued to publish here.
After all this time, would I continue to write online?
For hubpages, I've slowed down a bit, but mostly because I have focused on my book, and fixing up my blogs. Still I'd was amazed to take a close look at my top ten hubs... and my bottom ten hubs. I found a number of things that makes me realize.... this is a business I've got to work on a bit more.
So, on to my top ten published hubs:
My top traffic hub I published on a lark. In other words, I simply wrote it and hit publish. I had a bit of fun with it, and it is still going strong. It was about getting paid by Google, and was tongue in cheek. Still, I think I enjoyed writing it and publishing it, but didn't expect the response I got. Read it here.
The next one is something that I left "hang out" in fact it was not until this year that traffic came to this one, and it was published not too long after the first. Yet, it was my hub which got the least number of views for the longest time. Still now after putting it social networking sites I've been encouraged to know that something take a bit long to get traffic. As the title suggests a fine hub needs some help.
Of course many of my hubs came with a few surprises as well, and these two hubs were no exception. I published both in 2010, and since then have learned a lot more information. With both these, they were based upon questions asked in the answer section both deal with money but both deal with question about making $1000 a month on hubpages and how to get your Google Ads to work on your hubs, blogs and websites.
Of course you might think that all hubs which are about money will be in my top ten, after all my top four seem that way. But really they are not. My second most viewed hub is about content and the length of a hub.
The next two on my top ten list, are both published in 2009. So to get a bit of an idea how this might affect where you are going with hubpages, of my top ten, not single one of these hubs is less than a year "old" in fact the top three hubs are almost a year and half. In other words, you have to keep on keeping on until you increase your traffic.
Numbers five and six to me aren't as big as a surprise, they were written with an answer in mind. While one asks the question if you were to be paid from AdSense-- or is it a myth?, the other deal entirely on how to increase traffic to your websites-- or 15 ways you can increase traffic.
The next two are as different as night and day, and yet both were written within days of each other. One is about why you are not making the earnings you expect with Google AdSense and the other is about Transylvania, and the divide between Hungary and Romania. I even hesitate to list them as seven and eight since the numbers with both flip around a lot. I'll say it's a tie.
Rounding out my top ten based on traffic are two more about The fact that you can really make money on Hubpages, and the other one is about getting accepted by Google AdSense. These were both based upon question from the answer section that people had. These were some of the more fun hubs I wrote.
Now based upon these top ten hubs you might think that if you write only about Google AdSense or making money or just about anything like that, you well, make money and also get a lot of traffic. One second hold your horses. There are three points to consider.
1) Again all of these hubs are over a year old, and the second of the top ten hubs, did not get traffic until very recently. I even contemplated deleting it.
2) They have links which have been built up over time, not only from smaller sites such as Redgage, but also social networking sites, and blogs, and smaller websites. They have been updated and fixed up. That part is a constant job. Linking in my ind is key to success if I never did some links to some sites I would not have got traffic. If there is one message you need to take away with you this is the one: Link. Link. Link and Link. Do this over the course of a year with your hubs. Link to increase traffic.
3) They are not small. On average these took me a couple of days to write, as they are about 1,000 to 1,500 words in length. On a side note, while these do give me traffic (which is great!) this not mean I make money with them.
What about the bottom ten? Are they special or not so much?
Not that I have anything against the bottom ten but they are in many cases similar to the top ten: of the lowest ten hubs, seven of the ten have been published less than eight months ago. In other words they still need love from me to grow. This is not surprising, to me at least, but to many others it is.
Why? because we would all like to make money fast or get traffic very quickly, and that doesn't really happen. I've been through panda, and another algorithm update, so I have some experience that in terms of publishing you simply need to keep on working on making things better.
I'll compare a few things between my bottom ten hubs: They are later so I've had some time to learn about lining and the value of original content. I've also learned a bit about what I have written.
The bottom ten: (from lowest to highest)
When you are starting up your business who do you follow? (This was publish this July 2011)
You're Not Making Sense When You Publish How To Get Paid Online (This was published this August, 2011)
Making Money or The Process Of Making Money (This was Published the Day Before Panda-- February 2011)
Do You Really Care Enough To Change?(Published March of 2011-- based upon Panda and its reactions)
The Best Thing To Do: Write ( Published in March 2011) Note this is a humor hub about editing, a poke fun at my writing.
I can Get Paid Writing... But there is One Fact...(This was published in January 2011-- it has close to 300 views which isn't bad) Note since I've added some more details and updated a few phots I've recived more search engine traffic for this hub. Which goes to also show that updating is a good thing.
Bukisa and Hubpages: How to Build a Business ( this was published in February 2011) Again it is something I've updated since the panda roll out, but for the most part something I can still say holds true.
Terry Brooks and His Novels (this is a hubs I wrote in September 2009. I still like it and although it wasn't all that popular I still will keep it)
My last two on the bottom were again some humor hubs where I discuss writing and reading in Holy Smokes Another Book, and then also a Publishing Your Book: A Comedy in Ten Parts ( Both were published in November and September of 2009) The only thing to note is that I had possibly the most fun with a comedy in ten parts.
Now again before you go and suggest that you need to only write make money hubs and you'll be made... think again. I know from experience that some hubs simply will work and some will not. Some hubs do need to be moved to another site but some, with a lot of time and links to them will see success here.
I am really blessed to have so many readers, and I am really blessed to have been here for two years now. I think this should be cleebrated. After all, I didn't really get all that excited with 100 hubs or anything like that.
I should have. I have so many people who spend time reading my hubs and looking otu for me to improve my writing, to enjoy what i have to say and to also show me my mistakes and how to imprve upon them.
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This Hub is very interesting. Thank you for sharing your story with us. I am glad you have been so successful on HubPages. :)
Nicktehnurse-- keep onwriting it's a long lomng term process
This has inspired me to stay with hubpages! Very informative. Voting up!
skye2day-- thanks, I really hope these numbers help-- I should update them but I think I'll add something on my year three, which is getting so close... my all these changes in three years.
rebeccae I love all your hubs girl. It is the heart that you have when you write. It is humble and loving. That is what makes you so special. Besides your hubs are so helpful to many. God Bless you on your book. Way to go girl. You made a plan and went for it. You are an inspiration. Love you girl. Keep the hubs coming. U r precious rebecca e.
jandee- great to have you come and comment then! I think year three will be challenging but I'll keep on going.
Hello Rebecca,just to say hello .I don't always leave comments but nice to read this and good luck,
best from jandee
sinea Pies-- Iw ill keep writing them and publishing them now that I have a wee bit more time
Rebecca E, you have been such a blessing to me. Your advice on building traffic has helped me so much. Keep writing 'em and we'll be reading 'em. 200+ hubs is an amazing accomplishment.
---Sinea
zainisar-- it's more working and fixing up hubs to make them beter now is my take on two years at hubpages.
New to HubPages and a little skeptic, don't like to SEO but looks like have to do it to be successful. Thanks for information much appreciated.
teaches-- two years, and a lot of learning and publishing, and still learning. I hope to have something on three years.
Thanks for the inspirational hub. I am new at hubpages and it is good to see positive track records and information on how to increase hub writing knowledge.
Rebecca E.
Thanks for your informative hub. I have been here for 1 year, and am finally making a bit of money. I am often surprised that the popular hubs are ones I didn't expect. My most read one has never had one comment! If you could suggest another site to diversify, what would it be? I am considering Infobarrel. I tend to delve deeply into my subjects, and write long hubs. I think some of the ones here longer, the moderators, write awful hubs and it bugs me that they have 100 scores for writing about recipes, when I have 94 ish scores for hubs that were heavily researched. Any advice about Amazon?
anglnwu-- it does take time remember I've been here for more than two years, so it's a lot of quality content but also improving my content.
Congrats--you've done very well. I only wish i've some of your savvy. I definitely need to bookmark this and dissect it for my own edification. Thanks and rated up.
susieQ: I really should Ii'll have to go back and estimate, but my top ten make up about 80% of my nearly 200,000 views.
SanneL-- I will continue to write, and keep onw riting it is fun around here.
I was hoping you would tell us how many views you get on the top ten hubs. (:
It is people like you who inspires me to write!
Thank you for sharing your experience here on Hub Pages. I really enjoy reading your hubs and I'm looking forward to read many, many more from you!
Take care,
Sannel
Dolores-- I shall try that! many thanks for teh suggestion why i never thought of it I'll never know! Yes it's interesting how one suggestion can make a huge idfference-- even writing things for fun.
Hi, Rebecca - thank you for sharing your story on your experiences here. I certainly enjoyed reading this one. I bet if you change the title of "I can get paid writing..." to I get paid for writing..." that hub would do much better. A lot of us change a lot from when we stared. In order to gain more traffic, I started writing a lot more magaziney hubs. And it did help. But, like you, one of my top performers I wrote on a lark just to be silly. Usually, my older silly hubs don't get much traffic. Who knows what will work? I am glad that you've stuck around!
Peggy-- this seems to be the way with everything. The older ones even got less of a panda hit, so older websites are more trusted in many ways.
It is true what you say about hubs taking time to mature. When I look at my list, the ones nearer the top are often some of the older ones. This is not a publish and earn tons of money quickly proposition...but it does build over time. So if people have patience and write good quality hubs, they will see increased income off in the future. The nice part is that this is a source of residual money coming in month after month. So do the work now and benefit later.
Jo-- many thanks for stopping by! it's a lot of learning in teh hubpages community. gee you've made my day!
Hey!
Congratulations! Wow 2 years! I think it will take me about 2 months to read all your amazing hubs. I really appreciate your insightfulness and education. I have learned quite a bit from you. You are priceless! I voted up. :) Blessings!
SusieQ- feel free,a nd feel free to ask many questions you might have! pleasure to see you on my hubs!
Good advice, I'll have to check out some more of your hubs! Thank you.
Glenn-- I did find so many interesting fact when I wrote this hub, and I did go back and give a bit of time and energy to those places. It worked a ot. The other I've ntoiced is that I've gone back to as many places as I could to make certain the links to teh hubs were listed as subdomains. Don't know about that yet, but we'll see.
I enjoyed reading this review of your experience. It is interesting indeed how some subjects do better than others. I have gotten some surprises myself with what works and what doesn't. And I agree with you about giving love to the bottom 10 hubs. I've done that too and it helps overall. Your review is very useful for any Hubber who is trying to make heads or tails out of things. I voted up and useful. Congratulations on your two-year anniversary on HubPages.
wba-- thanks for commenting-- I think that it's a learning process, and this is where improving your writing is key.. I'm gald to have so many people showing me how to improve my writing.
Rebecca E.- Terrific writing as usual! I love getting comments too! Its an awesome feeling unless the comments are nasty. Its good to hear that you've been successful without being a polished writing pro from day one.- WBA
ktrapp-- I had so much fun with this hub. I also learned a lot about my writing and what it takes to make it-- which really boils down to time and patience.
Rebecca - Thanks for the encouragement you provided with this hub and congratulations on your 2 years and over 200 hubs! I have just joined, took a couple weeks off writing to get my son off to college and also to come up with a personal system to writing hubs, and now I'm back and enjoying the community. I am at 2 months and 20 hubs - it seems like just a drop in the bucket, but I think I will keep plugging away. It helps to read hubs such as yours. Thanks and congrats!
Mehreen-- thanks for the compliment, it meands a lot, and I try my best to show people that it is time and effort, and also good content, and everything else that makes success around here.
Being one of the best hubbers out there, it is indeed a pleasure, not just for you but for us (your readers) for you to be celebrating your 2-year anniversary. Congratulations Rebecca! Keep writing the rich-with-insight hubs that you have continued to offer us over these years. Though I have been more of a silent reader, it does not mean I enjoy your hubs any less.
cheeky girl-- great to see you here, I hope this does help others to find joy in their writng.
Mpg Narriavtive-- I hope to be around for many more years, it's been a fun ride!
samson1-- I will certainly keep writing! it is a fun and good two years.
A terrific hub, Rebecca! This will inspire many! :)
pras-- and success toy u as well, it is so important to love what you do no matter what!
Rtalloni-- it is a fun journey but you have to be willing to spend time working with it.
Nell Rose-- It has been a fun and challenging and joyful and painful two years, butsuch is life!
Firstly, thanks for your helpful hubs which were a great help to me when I started on hubpages and secondly, congrats on your 2 year anniversary. You are an inspiration to everyone and these last few months have been tough on many. Cheers Marie.
up and beautiful! I thought I had responded to this one but I guess not. Congrats on your accomplishment. You keep writing and we will keep reading...
DDriagcoch-- been a fun two years, and I wouldn't change it for a moment, keep on writing and loving what you do is all I can suggest!
Very inspiring, Rebecca. You're one of my inspirational hubbers. Thanks for share your two years experience in HubPages. That's why I love hubpages so much. Thank you very much. Success for you.
Prasetio
saddlerider-- it so much that two years means, it's about teh people but also about every moment of learnings and growing here on hubpages.
Congrats on your two years and thanks for sharing about your journey!
Hi, congrats on being here two years! I have hubs that do nothing at all, then others that are much better, I have started to go back and update the old ones, and that seems to improve the reading, still got a way to go though! lol cheers nell
L l Woddard-- I am glad to be of service here and am glad to read of others successes and want to share in challenges and see if I can help, which is why I am still here after all this time
skye-- this is always a joy to write, again it's a bit of a job, but it's a ton of fun when I am here and writing.
Rebecca, you are definitely someone I would come to read for help. Thank you. And congratulations on 2 years here.
Rebecca thank you for all your great educational and inspiring Hubs as well as the comments you have generously left on many of my hubs. You are a truly great writer and I want to congratulate on your two years at the Hubs. So many have benefited from your knowledge as well as myself. I am so happy you are here fellow hubber and friend. Blessings to you and yours always from the Saddle.
meow-- I wish you all teh best and enjoy teh online journey.
vocalcoach-- I try my best i an enjoy every moment I m here. Thanks for teh comment, and tell me if I ever lose it!
Rebecca, congratulations on your longevity and success here at HubPages; it is an inspiration for many, I am sure (because it is for me). Thanks for sharing some of your "secrets."
You are a heartfelt love rebecca e. I was at two years a few months back it has flown by!! Way to go girl, congrats on your 2 plus years. I am grateful you are still here. I know I have been truly Blessed by your works. You touch many people girl. Keep on Love you rebeccee In Christ. Hugs Galore.
up awesome Cheers!#!@*%$& Heres to ya girl(-;
barbergirl-- it is funny but at teh same time this is to tell you that sometimes it really does take a while of linking and fixing and linking to get teh traffic you will want.
thank you for this hub. it gives one hope. take care
You've done it again Rebecca - another educational, helpful and motivating hub. But I would expect nothing less from a pro like you. I join all the others in congratulating you for your remarkable 2 years on hubpages. As I do with every hub you write, I am bookmarking this "must have". I am so very grateful for you!
Case1worker-- I would say it probably will be here for a long while, I am a hopeful reallist. everything takes time, remember hubpages is only really 3 years old, or that's when it became really popular.
hello hello-- it's a good place to write and I am always learning.
drbj-- five it is! off we go! I think dogenes and I will hit that milestone about teh same time, but I suspect he will hit a million views sooner.
This is definately motivational. Although you did mention at one point you thought of deleting a hub. Just curious, but why would you ever delete a piece of hard work? I know others who have deleted there work at times, but I guess I haven't found a good reason to erase all the hard work.
Well done... congrats on your 2 years here. It is definately a good way to keep others going!
diogenes-- this is so true, two years for both of us, I suspect we're in teh middle of the pack, but still i think I can say we're both enjoying our wiritng.
Gals-- I have fun writing them, and of course since they are my own experiences, it's all tehmroe fun to tell fo them....
nighthag-- really it does take about 2 years, for teh most part, tehre are always a few surprises but for teh most part there is success.
John-- it's a lot of work, but it is something which I am passionate-- my writing-- about.
nightbear--- ti is true, it is traffic, but it is also a lot to sdow ith luck and a bit of timing, but I trust this will be around for a while.
Two years! Well done! Let us hope that HP is around in two years time. I am a little worried.
vox-- I am still happy writing, I've enjoyed so much and learned so much here, I can't begint o tell you have much two years means.
randomcreative-- as far as anything hubpages has taught me about knowing that changes do and always will happen so it's a long learning process but I love what I do-- which is writing.
juneaukid-- they are two of teh best poetry books I've read, and I think you and saddlerider and diogenes rank as some of teh top petry and writing writers in my mind-- so there you go-- anytime you need another review feel free to let me know!
david-- I am so glad you stopped by and commented, always is a blessing to read so many comments!
kenneth-- I've looked into it, and it seems you should be able to do this, I'd be very honoured if you did. I am glad that over teh two years I've been able to help people and that while they might have gorwn from teh basiscs,t here is always help to be had around here.
Rob-- I think that is teh biggest things, learnign and growing as a writer, and then doing this all over again!
Teresa-- it is true, I do a lot of my hubs simply because I was asked on teh answers section, still it is enlightening to learn a bit more about your hubs!
Thank you for another great informative hub.
Your inormative hubs are special, Becca, because you share your personal learning experiences and lessons learned instead of vacuous, generalized statements - like so many others.
Now that you have achieved the two year milestone, would you like to try for five?
Hello Rebecca: A little while apart. I am a little similar to you in what I have done on HP, although we write about vastly dissimilar subjects. I, too, have eased off lately but like you i still seem to be a "top gun," maintaing 100 or the high 90's without much effort. You have so many followers! I can't keep up with the comments on people I follow and want to cut it back. Comments can be a bit clotting like too much cream on your cereal. So...good to see you and good luck for the rest of the summer...Bob
Rebecca, I have read many of your articles and found them to be delightful. I will keep on reading them. They are informative, funny, and down right honest. Up and awesome.
A wonderful insightful read thank you for sharing some your writing journey with us, it was most informative
happy you are writing here still, it is great to see you haven't given up, here's for another 2 years.
Actually I found this very interesting and as you said, encouraging. I appreciate your honesty and enjoy your writing. thanks for some insight.
Congratulations on your second anniversary :) Your hubs introduced me to Hubpages when I started. It's nice to know you're still happy writing here.
Thanks for sharing your history on HubPages. It's always fascinating to read about how people got where they are today. Wishing you success with HubPages and your other writing in the future.
Thanks for your hub articles Rebecca. You certainly encouraged me to write and helped me by writing 2 book reviews of Breaking Through the Clouds and Mountains on My Mind. Thanks again!
Tammy-- and I thougt I was busy with my almost published book ( it's weeks away!) and you! well, you do take the busy cake. Thanks for commenting and stopping by, means a lot!
mtsi-- this is true, and really the bottom ten will mature and gain links ect and this will make a difference.
Roffi-- if you find they need fixing up don't be afriad to tell me okay?
Cgasil-- as always it is me who is blessed byt hsi comunity. It's a great way to learn and again I've learned a lot.
Lita-- I do hope that I can continue to write here on hubapegs---a long with other online writing sites, but again I have been very blessed.
Barbara-- thanks, it's be a fun two years, and really i've been blessed with a lot of followers. many thanks.
Great hub, I will definitely bookmark this for future refernce.
REBECCA E. Today is Friday, Aug. 19, I have read, with much electric-excitement, THIS STORY that is written so professionally, I am humbled. You are a very good writer and I might be so bold as to say, "extremely talented." I have been on Hubs for a few MONTHS, and have been blessed with 85 stories and 47 followers for whom I am so thankful for I want to write not as much to make money, but honestly, that would be great, but making people think and to laugh, are my two mail objectives to writing for HubPages.
I appreciate your advice. And I too have taken some inventory of my stories, and in my earlier attempts, I wish I had NOT written some of them. Humans have this thing called "indecisiveness" which is pretty much a 'silent beast' that makes us frantic. Or it does me. I would be glad, no, honored, to be one of your many followers if your profile box had a FOLLOW REBECCA E. on it. Can you help me on this? Thanks and have a day filled with the sunshine of TRUE friendship.
Nspeel-- these hubs to me, are my "babies" so they are all important, mind you it does take time to build on them so never fear.
Rebecca,
Thanks for such a candid, effective hub. Although my presence on Hubpages pales to most, I have found a tiny home for my thoughts. Never did I imagine what would become of my ramblings, but in the end, I have learned a lot and grown as a writer. Your insight has proven both helpful and inspiring.
Blessings,
RJ
Congrats on two years at HubPages. I enjoy writing about Adsense and making money online, and have also been surprised that these sort of hubs are not always my most viewed hubs. I've been a member at HubPages for 13 months, and I enjoyed reading your notes about mostly your earlier hubs being in your top ten. This is an inspiring hub - it certainly makes me want to stick around at HubPages longer to see how things develop over time.
Hi my friend! Congratulations and ((hugs)) on two years of writing success on HP. Wish I had the time to publish some stuff but I have taken on the added responsibility of educating my children at home...an education in itself. When I get time I will have tons of things to write about. I always watch my email to see who has published and even though I don't always comment read and rate always up. Take care and thanks for sharing.
Tammy
congrats on 2 years, I for one have many of your hubs book marked. I have no doubt that your bottom 10 will eventually live up to your expectations as you said - they are new and need time to mature.
many useful hubs you got there!
Hey Rebecca, I've read many of the hubs you've published and it has been my pleasure to have read them. Congratulations on your 2 year anniversary and I certainly hope you have many more to come. :) Thank you for all that you do for the community and readers. :)
Your passion to write to share your wisdom to this community have gone a long long way. I'm glad I came around. Thank you for all your inspiring hubs. Congratulations! Your effort turns to a shining success not only on your anniversary but all through the coming years. Cheers!
Congratulations on your second year anniversary and the success you have. Wow! You really do have a lot of followers!
Awesome article i am new and this has helped me out a lot ii am going to read the one on the length of a hub since i feel i slack in that area. Thanks and voted up
jimmythejock-- it's a pleasure to write on hubpages, and I'll keep writing and publishing and just plain enjoying myself. Thank you for being teh first to comment, and thank you for reading my hubs!
I was going to congratulate you on your 2 anniversary at Hubpages but I would rather Thank you instead for the wonderful articles that you have published here, i love reading your work and look forward to reading more from you over the next few years.....jimmy
Rebecca E. Hub Author 2 weeks ago
James-- i think it's been up and down, but publishing great content never grows old.