Christmas Money Savings: Hubpages as a Source of Extra Income

Are you looking to stretch your holiday budget by earning extra money? Read on!

When it comes to Christmas, budgets tend to get stressed in the midst of a consumer driven quest to find the best gifts for family, friends, and associates. Extra income at that point in the year is helpful. If you are reading this in that time frame, HubPages will not provide an immediate solution. However, over time, with some effort and study, you can get involved in the HubPages writing community in order to earn additional income, making it possible to ease those holiday budget stresses in subsequent years.

Having discovered HubPages in January, I'm coming from that perspective, more or less, observing the effect of a close-to-Christmas join time, and observing the progress over the course of this first year.

This hub is a summary of what I've learned in my first 6 1/2 months' time with HubPages, with a plan to follow up at one year. I will provide a highlight of how my learning to publish hubs has progressed, and give some suggestions for helpful places at HubPages to dive in and learn.

I stumbled across HubPages while searching for free blog platforms. As I read a little bit about HubPages, I signed up just to see. My first week involved no additional activity, except for browsing the site, especially the forums, a little bit. I found the "30 hubs in 30 days challenge" in the forums, and figured I'd give it a shot. I fell short, publishing just 25 hubs in 30 days. My topics were somewhat scattered, and I basically got used to using the publishing tools.

Monetization of your hubs will depend upon your having accounts with the various affiliate and advertising companies. At the time I signed up, I already had an account with Google Adsense in association with my blog. If you do not have an Adsense account, details are given for signing up. Using my personal blog, I was also able to sign up for an Amazon Affiliates account without trouble. However, I was not able to obtain an Ebay Associates account, and have read on various forum posts that this is more difficulty to accomplish. Forum posts also indicate that Kontera is not really practical until you have a great deal of web traffic, so I have ignored this avenue.

In summary, that first month for me involved getting acquainted with HubPages and incorporating those monetization avenues that I could.

As I missed my 30 day mark for 30 hubs, I completed my 30th hub by the end of February, and then some. My traffic was minimal, and money from ads clicked and Amazon products purchase, practically non-existent. I continued to study the forums,  particularly those related to hubbing, and relevant hubs, learning a little bit about keywords. The adsense keyword tool was new to me, and I began to use the tool to learn about search terms and cost per click.

I saw a mild increase in traffic this month, and made my first couple of Amazon sales, though only a couple of dollars were earned, not enough for a payout anytime soon. The same story with ad clicks, not much to brag about. At the end of the month, I saw some forum posts about the Keyword Academy, and decided to sign up for the trial month. I was able to publish at least 30 hubs in the month of March, and have continued to do so each month since. Reading forum posts, I saw a lot of reference to backlinks, and while I haven't made any major effort at linking from outside of HubPages, I did begin to make a greater effort at interlinking my own hubs, using tools such as the links capsule, groups, and linking within the text editor. My hub topics began to fall into certain areas, whereby it became easier to organize.

One further highlight in March was the HubPages Health and Fitness writing contest. Participating in some of these topics was part of what spurred me toward getting more hubs written. Reading other entries really helped me to see more of the potential for making a hub better.

I realized that I didn't have the time and energy to dedicate to using the Keyword Academy tools, and canceled that subscription. It's a great resource, especially the Niche Refinery. However, I have a full plate with household responsibilities, and don't have time to get that deeply entangled in internet enterprise.

I was able to publish at least 30 hubs in this month. I learned about the HubMob during the month, and was able to participate in a topic oriented theme. Each week, there is a given theme, and hubs are published based on that theme, with an RSS capsule for the HubMob topic of the week, and a graphic for the hubmob to be included.

This is the point at which I also learned more about RSS capsules as a means of keeping my hubs updated with "fresh" content. Because the feed changes each time a new hub is published in the given topic area, Google notes the change in content the next time it reviews the page. Apparently, this is important for page rankings, and position in Google searches.

April saw a mild increase in clicks, and in Amazon purchases, through my hubs. Amazon allows for payout at $10 via gift card or direct deposit, or at $100 for checks (with a $15 processing fee if you elect to receive a check). Google's payout threshold is $100, and I was nowhere near that. However, my Amazon earnings were in the range for a payout, which comes 2 months later. Needless to say, traffic was somewhat better this month.

My traffic was much better this month. Some milestones included completing 30 hubs in the month, and breaking the 100 hubs published barrier. I reached the 10,000 mark in terms of views. My Amazon sales again reached a level that was sufficient for a payout. My adsense revenue broke $10 for the month, but still nowhere near enough for a payout.

I learned more about how to organize my hubs in order to achieve optimal ad placement on the finished hub, which may have contributed to my improvement at adsense. I also read a great deal on forums, and recommended hubs, related to backlinking, which I still don't have down.

I was able to publish a bit more than 30 hubs this month. Again, my Amazon affiliate sales broke the payout level, equivalent to my March, April, and May earnings put together, and I received my first Amazon payment for my March/April earnings. Not a fortune, but a beginning.  My adsense earnings were almost double the previous month's, with an all time total about halfway to adsense payout levels. The Hubalicious Contest was a source of inspiration for some of my additional hubs. My hubs, by this point, were becoming easier to interlink, due to common topic areas. I spent time during this month incorporating news feeds and relevant rss capsules in my hubs.

I completed 6 months time at HubPages the 12th. By this point, my adsense for the month was about a third of my June total, and my Amazon earnings, about 75% of the previous month's total. At the end of the month, my Amazon earnings are more than double last month's, just a few dollars shy of $100, and my Google Adsense, about 65% more than last month. If next month's clicks go well, I may get to an Adsense payout, which occurs at $100.

I'm concentrating on working images and videos into my hubs, and going back through my previous hubs to add some of these items. Through interaction in the forums, this was suggested as a way of improving rankings and position, though I'm still terribly new to all of it.

I also will have to learn more about interlinking hubs, as I recently read some posts indicating that there is more value in one way links, than in reciprocal links.

I am continuing to work at hubbing, and to learn. I completed approximately 185 hubs in my first 6 months of belonging to the community, 214 by the end of July.  I and am encouraged by a slow and steady bit of increase in search engine traffic, clicks, and Amazon purchases.

HubPages opens the door for folks from all sorts of backgrounds to contribute everything from recipes to poetry, product reviews to information on topics they know, sports, travel, education, parenting, and more. For the aspiring author, it's a great place to hone your skills, and hubs can always be adjusted and updated if you find some glaring error later on.

Further, for a stay at home Mom, such as myself, it affords an opportunity to use my down time creatively, with potential for earning a little extra money in the process. There will be a bazillion questions the first months you get involved, especially if you are motivated to find that extra income that will seem to come all too slowly at first. Read, research, and ask relevant questions, if you can't find reasonable answers. Many of those beginning questions are answered through hubs and forum posts, and the site's search feature is a great tool for tracking down information. Don't expect to "get it" all at once. I'm still learning. Patience is very helpful here.