Hubpages. My first month on Hubpages

I've always enjoyed writing and the idea of making money through writing sounded exciting when I read a post about Hubpages on a forum about making extra money- so I thought I’d look into it further

Like many people I browsed over a few Hubs before joining. I looked at some of the Hubs of the so called Hubpages Elite about my specialised area- Sport and Fitness and actually could tell that a few knew nothing about the subject they've written upon. Some were excellent although I got the feeling that some authors didn't truely understand the content. Maybe it's me being a snob or being arrogant! I read a currently 99 ranked article and I thought- that's been written for content and as a cyclist I would never consider any of the items in the Hub 'cool' A Look at Some Truly Cool Bicycle Helmets. Maybe I need to write an article on what genuinely are Cool Bicycle Helmets in future.

I've used Hubpages in some ways as part of my revision for a forthcoming Personal Trainer Course so have created hubs based on my own knowledge and revision I have done. For those who know about VAK (Visual, auditory and kinaesthetic) communication and learning styles, I am personally a very Visual learner so typing onto a page and seeing my work as it develops I feel reinforces the learning process.

My First Hub

For my first hub I decided to stick to my strengths and wrote a hub on Bicycle Road Racing. I kept my first hub relatively simple however found that writing is certainly not as easy as I initially imagined. I even used a few old textbooks I have at home for inspiration.

I found that putting together my first hub was relatively straightforward in terms of layout. I feel I wrote a strong first article looking back. I thought initially that I might get more traffic through the internet however I now feel that I am learning new things every hub I produce and I have also seen details which show that it takes at least three months before a Hub can properly integrate into Google search characteristics.

The Hubpages Learning Centre has become a good reference source for me as I can see the basics and what they mean for my Hubs and can also often find a hub that answers any further questions I have http://hubpages.com/_1d9nq0za5ve03/learningcenter/contents

I have continued to try to average a Hub per day up to now as I have the Hubpages bug and wish to see how successful I could potentially become.

I recently produced a Hub entitled Money Saving Tips for Cyclists and this has been nominated for a HubNugget award for which I am extremely proud of myself for. This also shows I must be doing something right and I hope it gives me further exposure and potential traffic as a result. Money Saving Tips for Cyclists

Earnings wise I've experienced a good first month although nothing stellar. My earnings are around the $2 usd mark for my first month (Hubpages Ad Program). However I hope to develop this over time as many of my hubs I would class as evergreen. An evergreen Hub is one which ages very little over time therefore should be able to earn myself revenue for many years into the future. Having looked at some forum posts earning a dollar in my first month seems to be more than many people have done however I'm conscious to look long term.

UPDATE

I'm now 2 weeks into my second month on hubpages and my second month earnings are over 5 usd from hubpages and around 5 usd from Google Adsense too in the first two weeks of the month alone!

There are so many hubs about making money on Hubpages to read over and gain inspiration from. Many of the make out that making money on Hubpages is easy. After a month I can assure you the making money is not easy! However over the coming months it may be a different story!.

I have signed up for the Hubpages Ad Program, Google Adsense and also an Amazon Affiliate Account which will hopefully all bring myself revenue over time. I have found the Amazon Affiliate Account is a good way fopr myself to show specific products in my hubs such as bicycle products

I was able to straightforward set up advertising accounts with Hubpages, Google Adsense and Amazon as well as Google Analytics reports as well. These are facilities I intend on developing further in future.

I've tried to write hubs which are sports and fitness based as I feel this is where my knowledge base is centred. I've tried to write the equivalent to a hub a day to get myself some exposure and also ensure I become used to writing regularly.

I have found out I have been nominated for a Hubnugget award as a new writer on the site which is absolutely fantastic. I have to admit I didn't think my writing would be of a high standard as yet. I've looked through some of my Hubs and the perfectionist in me is always considering improvements. I'm happy for any constructive criticism anyone out there can give as well.

I've tried to challenge myself to write a few more topical hubs. A friend’s father suffers with Mesothelioma; therefore I decided to write a Hub on it. Mesothelioma in the UK. Information and support networks. In the hope it may give some assistance to someone out there in cyberspace.

I also wrote a few topical hubs to see what effect they would have on my figures. I've tended to find these viewings have been fairly low which is likely to be due to the sheer number of online materials about the subjects.

I've tried to take inspiration from the things I've done previously. I went skiing for the first time back in March and absolutely loved it. Therefore I have developed a Hub based on the resort we went to a place called Pamporovo in Bulgaria. Especially as Europeans are more likely to consider the Alps as a choice for skiing holidays. I would recommend that you visit Pamporovo Ski Resort Bulgaria.

My Hub steps forward

I'm still searching for inspiration every day. I love to get out onto the open road on my bike and that is giving me so many great ideas I'd love to share with the world.

What Next?

I feel that I am always learning. I am starting to look into Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques and key words to help my Hubs be referenced to search engines.

I've also been investigating ways of driving additional traffic to my Hubs. I have recently started putting links on my facebook account to see if that assists. So far it has generated around 10 views through clicking on my link.

I need to start looking at sites such as Digg or shetoldme to see if they can assist in driving additional traffic to my pages. I have also been recently told about something called Viral Traffic Bar which aims to increase web traffic and provides free advertising online for your hubs. However I'n not quite sure how happy hubpages are with the use of these so will need to investigate further. It would be interesting to know if anyone out there has used them and their thoughts?

I have now completed 30 hubs in 30 days.