A long, long time ago (on May 4th, actually) I emailed a Hubber named Janet21 after seeing her post in the forums about how for the first time she had earned over $100 from the content that she had published on HubPages. You see, HubPages isn』t the first place that she has decided to publish her content as she has tried about every possible opportunity that you could rattle off, but for some reason she had decided to stick around to really give us a good shot. Well, apparently that was a good decision considering that she made over $500 from HubPages last month alone. Yeah, a really good decision.
4 T/ l4 ]2 N5 f0 V3 i& b' H2 v( Z8 ^5 }" ~/ }2 z$ _* J) F
I decided to finally follow-through with the end of my bargain and actually interview Janet21 to see what types of tips, information and techniques she can share to help the rest of us with our HubPages efforts. So, be sure to listen up to what she has to say, I can almost guarantee that you』ll learn something that will help you become a better Hubber in the long run.
, C% d# u2 w8 U$ o$ P% O7 n$ } ]; t; A2 L9 {
1. Janet, the first thing that I noticed about you is that you not only write and publish articles all over the place, but you are also very, very successful at each and every one of these places. Can you give us all a sense of why you have decided to spread your work over so many different sites and what the benefits/drawbacks are of creating content across a multitude of websites, blogs, etc.?
4 W' \0 Q! F6 O9 A1 |+ u- MOne word…diversification. I have learned many things these last few years while working online and the most important lesson I have learned is that search engines are unpredictable. They may like my article/page/site one day and the next day…POOF! I』m gone. There is also a risk when writing on websites that I do not personally own since I have no control over the future of those sites. By diversifying my online writing across various platforms, I am decreasing the risk of my online portfolio. The other benefit of writing on many platforms is the ability to cross-promote. When writing within a niche as I do, cross-promoting becomes my secret traffic weapon." `9 W+ v" n6 s' D! T1 j2 Z
$ `7 G, O( P* b ]6 ~* v8 y0 rThe only drawback to writing on so many platforms is keeping up with them all! You always need to be careful as to not spread yourself too thin when trying out different platforms. Find the ones that work for you and concentrate on them.( [ s9 g( t& Q) ?' d, N2 a
3 g! L0 N( E# M* y
) j; a7 z/ z0 [2 X' q2. You were already seeing some serious success with all of the websites you were publishing on when you decided to come over to HubPages to give us a shot. What made you migrate over to our corner of the Internet?8 B/ G ^4 I l0 B5 R
As I mentioned above, my quest for diversification led me to HubPages. That and the fact that my good friend, Glen (darkside), had wonderful things to say about this place! I trust his judgment.
8 a7 h, o* F* E2 P& g8 f" d- [1 _3 m. ?: g
3. Below I have a screen shot of your traffic to date with HubPages (you can also see her earnings over in this Hub) and it looks like after only publishing 39 Hubs in less than a year you are practically halfway to your goal of making over $1,000 a month. What do you think has been your secret to growing your traffic and earnings?, p7 }+ U. j# [ x; x
0 F3 _: D& M) ~2 r- I/ M& |3 p( }3 M
I think writing high content hubs has helped me. And, as you say, I have only written 39 hubs in a year. That is not a lot by anyone』s standards. However, I put a great deal of time into each hub and I think that helps with my search engine rankings. I also believe that writing within a niche has played a vital role in my online success. For instance, I can write a brand new hub and link to it from another one of my high traffic pages on a related topic and the traffic will start almost immediately.
e' h2 ^4 A. j/ h: X. F* ^6 T, d5 [: J7 U0 p, x6 N3 v
1 A3 J: P+ d9 x, C+ t# r
4. I know that you are practically an eBay master when it comes to making money from your Hubs. What percentage of your monthly earnings is coming from AdSense and what percentage is coming from the sales that you』re generating from eBay and/or Amazon? O' X! @. u y
It varies, but I will breakdown September』s earnings just to give you an idea. I earned $515 from my hubs in September. Here』s the breakdown: 40% Ebay, 32% AdSense, 25% Amazon and 3% my own affiliates. Note: The Amazon earnings are unusually high due to the sale of a $1,000 diamond ring on one of my hubs!
. _2 a* G4 S( S7 Z: u$ ^6 \( D- [
& Z* c7 k9 v9 c( v5. Can you give me your thoughts on the difference between creating Hubs that are great for eBay sales and Hubs that are more AdSense-friendly?( |& J& M/ z6 X! b
I honestly don』t create hubs based on that criteria, however, I am certain some of my hubs do better with AdSense than with affiliate sales and vice versa. I would say that 99% of my hubs have both Ebay and Amazon capsules on them in addition to AdSense. Basically, I start writing the hub and then incorporate the products that I need. However, I never create a hub just for AdSense. I always have some sort of product to promote.; `1 m8 i6 G7 R
: e8 n4 ^: ~) o7 j
6. If anyone went and took a look at your profile, they would quickly notice that you only publish Hubs on a very niche topic of children』s birthday parties. When and how did you first decide that this was going to be your niche and how have you managed to see so much success from the niche so quickly?! K% j6 r2 H" j0 h, Y1 `( E7 q
I believe that writing what you know and writing what you are passionate about is the secret to success. I have three kids and have always had a love for planning kid』s birthday parties. Therefore, I truly enjoy writing about this topic. To me, it is fun. The fact that I am earning a living doing it is just amazing. Finding success with my niche has not been that quick really when you consider I have been doing this for close to three years now. There is no such thing as an overnight success regardless of what some people say. It takes a lot of hard work and determination as well as many, many late nights.! t" l [( d, @" ~
5 d- L- ]$ \3 }9 B2 o7. Your Hubs are completely original, very informative, full of images and are usually 1,000 words or more. How crucial do you think all of these various elements of Hubbing have been to your HubPages success?$ a: \# L3 @; R& Z+ G+ I0 J; `
I am certain that all of those elements combined are the key to my success." F$ l6 ~6 f! E3 }0 Y( S$ L
8 g! Q* a$ P1 b H6 x+ @0 yImages: Most people of visual by nature, therefore, I believe that images are important to my hubs. Bright, colorful images are eye-catching and I think it keeps visitors attention on my pages long enough for them to read what I have to say.
. u: l8 ^' @4 F. p7 R, w2 `# x2 h7 E9 i
Word Count: As far as hub word count goes, I am not sure if that helps me or not, but I do try to make most hubs at least 800 words or more. More words for search engines to devour is always a good thing, I think. It also helps my hubs rank better for more long tail search phrases.
. T' A6 H( z) ^5 c( |9 o- f2 I: K* e
Original Content: Writing original content helps get search engines to like you and other sites to link to you, so I am sure that plays an important role in my success as well.2 o% R" g/ p }: z
G# f) A E1 GInformative: Informative hubs are great for sales. I especially like when I see purchases made of items I am featuring on my instructional hubs because I know I have helped someone find the information they were looking for and they are actually using my instructions to complete their project.0 X! L, q1 a! m# g4 t$ O
) C& W# O1 f+ ]7 S9 h/ j- p8. If you would, please give us all just a few tips that you think can significantly help out any Hubber who is currently publishing on HubPages (they all thank you in advance) and a few other things that Hubbers should try to stay away from.
$ M/ y. ?) t7 |, h& S" r% G# x/ S2 ] I/ F9 C" j
* Find a niche you are passionate about and create 10, 20, 30 hubs around that niche.
' h: g& c- f$ w( ]6 } * Always include a few photos in your hubs and be sure to break up long spans of text.
* C3 }4 D0 p& B0 L * Worry less about finding high paying keywords and more about writing about what you love.
( \' E: O: k5 [( S4 m * Be patient and don』t be discouraged if your earnings are slow to come. Everyone has to start somewhere.
5 N$ K# s& r: f: H3 o * Quality over quantity. Slow and steady wins the race.) `8 f' m0 V i0 z# A, o0 ^
* Be sure to include your keywords throughout your hub, but don』t overdo it.8 f; ?3 z, }9 X$ i2 v. A
* Make your hubs visually appealing and be sure to line up the capsules nicely. Try to avoid any large gaps between capsules.* r% o7 R7 M9 o M) [$ a* T
* You don』t have to depend on AdSense for all of your earnings. Add Amazon and Ebay capsules onto your hubs whenever possible. (I realize some hubbers are having trouble being accepted into 易屁, but if you do have an account, use it!)
2 |0 U; q1 w1 P * When adding Ebay auctions, try to find items that are unique, custom, handmade, personalized, hard to find, rare, etc. Find and promote items that can only be found on Ebay.
9 f+ X' L; A- ?% v# u7 ?3 W5 T; T. _; [$ m! _& L+ x$ Z
Janet — thanks so much for your time and I believe that I speak for all of us Hubbers when I also say thanks for all of the great information. You have not only been able to find your own way to earn on HubPages, but you』ve also figured out how to earn on HubPages in a fun and enjoyable way. Now that is what I would call a HubPages success. |
|