HubPages is one of the oldest revenue share sites online, so it wouldn’t surprise me if you’ve heard of it already. But just because you’ve heard of it doesn’t mean it’s one that you’ve tried.
Squidoo members may be considering making money at HubPages considering the site has been taken over. I’ve seen a lot of people mentioning that they have new accounts, and now they’re questioning how to make money writing at the site.
It’s a site that I’ve been on since the beginning of freelance writing career. I joined in 2011 after finding it through a Google search. Shortly before this I was writing for private clients and wanted to know more way of making money online. After about three hubs, I took a break. I wasn’t seeing the income I wanted; I never realized that I was doing it all wrong!
It Takes Time to Build Up
The one thing that you’ve got to remember when making money at HubPages is that it takes time. You’re not going to see hundreds of dollars overnight, unless you’re extremely lucky with Amazon sales. I needed 50 featured articles on the site before I started seeing regular amounts trickling in.
Right now I’m still only earning around $4-$5 per month on the site, but I know the reason now.
While taking the time to build up, you need to write on topics that people are searching for. I focused so much on history, but history doesn’t make that much money; not on sites like HubPages. Once I started diversifying my topics and covered things like making money writing, exercise and weight loss and internet marketing I started making money at HubPages.
You Need Google AdSense
Unfortunately, this site certainly isn’t for everyone. Unless you have Google AdSense, you’re not going to make money at this revenue share site. It is a requirement, even to join the HubPages earning program! Google AdSense is difficult for many to get now, and people find themselves banned for all sorts of reasons.
I remember about a year or two ago there were reports of lots of bloggers losing their AdSense accounts
without warning. And there was no way to get them back!
It is possible to join HubPages and then get an AdSense account if you don’t have one already. However, you need to build a portfolio and wait for a month at least before applying. Google needs to see your work to decide whether there are options for the ads. I’ve seen on the forums that people suggest waiting until you have at least 20 hubs, but that doesn’t guarantee approval. Some now state 50 hubs is a requirement.
Making Money at HubPages With Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is an option, and you won’t need a Google AdSense account if you plan to go through the affiliate accounts themselves. HubPages recently introduced the Amazon Earnings Program, but like the HubPages ones an AdSense account was necessary.
You are limited on the affiliate accounts that you can have. The site only allows Amazon and eBay for earnings. On top of that, 40% of the earnings go to HubPages. If you want a site where you earn 100% of the affiliate income, Daily Two Cents or Writedge may be better options for you.
Could making money at HubPages be an option for you? The need of a Google AdSense account turns many people off, along with no ClickBank products allowed. If those aren’t problems for you, the revenue share site could be worth considering to add for your residual income eggs.
Impressive i must say, but i dont really know if i can go on searching for affiliate sites, have searched for sites to make revenue online but non works for me. my amazon affiliate accounts drives in traffic but no of those traffics get sales. is kind of boring searching online to find something that kind of “dont exist” like you said you gain 4-5 dollar a month and to me that is not impressive. but if you say HUDPAGE works then i would give it a try. am from Ultimate blog Challenge. http://wtttblog.blogspot.com/
My $4-$5 a month is from doing very little work now. I only posted one or two hubs last month and have only one or two this month so far, and my earnings are constant. I see it as a semi-decent way to make residual income right now, and that’s what I’ve been looking for.
Marketing tips like this are very useful 🙂
I don’t understand the concept. Do you write your own articles, like a daily blog? Then, you post them on one of the sides mentioned (just like posting them in a blogger’s group)? For AdSense, do you list your own articles for sale on Amazon (like your books)? Without this information, I can’t find what I need on sites like HubPages.
Yes, that’s right, Francene. You write the content, as you would for your blog posts. AdSense is the ads that show up on the page. There’s nothing to sell on your part. You add the code (link in Hubpages’ case) and then Google selects the ads that show up based on your content. You then earn when people click on those ads. I’m looking at a series of posts for next month, and it certainly looks like monetization is the way to go.
I’m with Francene. Could you write another post, going back a notch, and explain the basics of HubPages and AdSense? I’m wanting to monetize my blog, and not sure of where to start! Heeeelp!!
I’m sure I’ve written a post about AdSense in the past. I need to get my daughter to nursery at the moment but will check when I get home and link it here if I can find it. I’m definitely looking at the series of posts for next month, and it looks like monetizing blogs and websites is the favored option.
I must say it sounds like a really interesting concept and revenue generator, ableit with quite a bit of work needed to get it going. Could you write up as 101 post about it……hadn’t heard of it!
Hi Sarah, thanks for stopping by. It does take work to start with, but then any form of passive income site does. I’ll certainly look into creating a 101 post.
I’m wondering who owns the content you write on sites like these – you or Hub Pages? For people who don’t want the hassle of setting up their own web assets, or want to leverage traffic from sites like this, it must be a worthwhile option.
The writers keep the copyright and own all the rights. HubPages just has the right to publish the content on the site. There’s also the option to delete the content at any time.
Can I post articles that I have already published on my blog?
No. HubPages only allows original content only. It’s not a good idea to post duplicate content anywhere, though.
Thank you for the info. I’ve been wondering about working with HubPages and AdSense for ages but I never really know if it’s worth it in the long run.
Hi Alexandria,
Great post! Best of luck to those using this business model. Not to sound like a wet blanket, but I would love to see all affiliates with their own domains so that no one can decide to shut down or sell and take someone’s revenue streams away.
While that would be great, I know not everyone has the time, skill or patience to learn how to create their own sites. When I’ve spoken to others who have used these models, they’ve often said that the don’t know how to do it but don’t have the interest to learn. It’s a personal choice, which is why it’s great that sites like HubPages exist. Yes, there are certainly downsides, but some people are willing to risk them.
My Squidoo lenses merged over to HubPages but I’m leery of spending too much time on them because –
They host and control my content
There is much to fix on the imported lenses
Will they snub us someday just like Squidoo?
Considering HubPages bought Squidoo, I don’t think it will go anywhere right now. But this is why having your own blog is beneficial. You could put all the content there and not worry about it being snubbed later.
Your article, Alexandria, is definitely informative and arouses a lot of interest, but it has also stirred a number of questions from us newbies – how exactly it works, and as Francene asked, “What’s the point?”
Looking forward to your next one!
THANKS HEAPS 🙂
HUGS <3
Thanks for your content, Judy. I’ll definitely look at a series of posts covering questions that have arisen from this one.
I did HubPages a few years back when I first started writing online. Like you, I never saw a great income there – it seemed a lot of effort for little (no) return. Prhaps I just didn’t build up my portfolio enough?
I’ve not put that much effort into it over the last few months and my earnings have been quite consistent. So I think it isn’t too bad for residual income. I need to focus on the right type of content though. My history posts are the bulk of the content on the site, and they’re not making much money at all.
I’m one of those who hasn’t heard to hubpages but it sounds interesting and who doesn’t want to earn more money. I’d be interested in learning more.
Well, I’ve had all mine switched to hub-pages, but I’m considering moving that content to somewhere else just because I don’t want to go through the trouble of exploring and trying to understand adsense.
I’m already an affiliate for amazon, so why should I give up part of my percentage?
I understand that sentiment about affiliate earnings. I’d suggest Writedge or Daily Two Cents if you want to keep 100 percent of those earnings, and you don’t need to worry about AdSense.
Unfortunately my adsense account was suspended for absolutely no reason a couple of years ago, so this one is out for me 🙁
That’s a shame. I heard it happened to quite a few people around July 2012.
I have had an account for a fews years with hubpages. I have over 100 hubs and back in the day they were making a nice bit of money. But so many changes occured, I lost a lot of ranking. Still get a few pennies here and there.
Just had my old Squidoo lenses moved over there too. Won’t put too much work into them but if they make a few bucks that’s cool.
That’s a shame, but then some of the changes weren’t HubPages’ fault. A lot of people lost a lot of money in 2011.
Such an informative post, thank you! I’ve heard of Hub Pages, but I never really knew exactly what it was useful for!
I think places like this are wonderful to get a start. Without Squidoo I would not be working from home and I would not own one domain, much less several. That said, I think it’s important to build your own sites and use these as icing on the cake once you’ve gotten the hang of things. In all honesty, since getting my own domains, I’m shocked at the difference in income. Great job spotlighting different spots on the web. 🙂
You’re definitely right, there, Crystal. I’d have never realised I could make money writing without the likes of HubPages. Yes, now I have many of my own domains but these writing sites are great for those starting out, and those with no interest in learning how to create their own sites. They’re also not too bad for backlinks, when used properly.
I was writing at both HubPages and Squidoo and others before those. One thing I have learned is that your traffic mainly comes from within the network itself. So you do need to write for the people who are already there, your fellow writers on the site. Google is not really that important but everyone posts about Google, not realizing Google only brings in a fraction of their traffic. Each network, Squidoo, HubPages, Suite101 and etc is different in which content gets attention. So you have to post pretty hit and miss for awhile. You also need to be active on the site, leave a lot of comments on other writer’s posts as this is how you will get noticed. I don’t like writing for networks. I’m just not that social in the long run and it takes a lot of my energy, as an introvert, to be socialable. I am making a payout on HubPages about every 3 or 4 months. My ASCII art posts get traffic, not much else. On Squidoo I was doing well with movie reviews. They seem to be bottoming out now that we merged with HubPages. At this point, when I have a few of my own sites, I’m thinking to leave HubPages. One other problem there (which does not happen on every content site) is the content scraping. Some sites try to prevent this and protect the writers. HubPages does not. For me this is a big deal. I’m making less than peanuts while they collect an income from all of us. They could protect that income and the writers providing it – but they choose not to.
There is certainly an element of that, but not all the traffic comes from there. At Wizzley, while some of the traffic comes from the site, I find a lot of traffic comes from social media, HubPages, search engines and other places. Google is still important for these sites. If you can get a post ranking highly on Google, then you stand a great chance of making money. That’s something I’ve found with a few other places like HubPages. Unfortunately, HubPages has really been hit recently with the latest update, so my traffic to hubs is falling.
Hello Alexandria,
I have a question about adsense and hubpages revenue! Does hubpages pay adsense earnings through paypal, or does hubpagers get adsens earnings through adsense itself? How does that work? Do they show adsense ads of the writer for 60% of time and their private ads for 40%?
btw, your above post is really helpful and informative! Thank you very much for sharing your experience with us!
Best Regards,
Gaurav
I wish I could answer all of these questions. But most of them can be found on the HUbPages forum and FAQ pages as far as I know. The earnings are in two forms. There’s an option to get paid directly through AdSense and another through the HubPages system. I’m not sure how it all works. I just put my AdSense code in on the earnings page where it says to and it does it all automatically. And, yes that’s right about the percentage of ads shown.
You’re welcome. Good luck with HubPages.