HubPages Review: A Site to Write and Make Money

I've written about HubPages before, comparing it to eHow as a revenue sharing website.  Here is a more comprehensive review than what I wrote earlier, including what I like and don't like about writing at HubPages.  My review is based on my experiences since starting posting articles there in the spring, both with the site itself and with my earnings.

HubPages is a site for writers, photographers and other creative people to post their original content and optionally earn money with their own Google AdSense account or their Amazon Associates, and/or eBay Partner Network accounts (commonly called "affiliate programs" by Web marketers).  While not everyone on HubPages participates in each of those revenue-share affiliate opportunities, I do use each of them, though there are rumors the eBay one won't last.  The only revenue sharing money-making opportunity HubPages offers that I don't participate in is Kontera (both because I don't like the ads and because I've read of various bad experiences with Kontera in the HubPages forums.)
 
Basically, I still really like HubPages, and I'm trying to get articles up as fast as I can, though it isn't easy while chasing after the wild toddler.  My earnings are better what I expected--and I was afraid that nobody could top eHow's money-making model.   Yet my per article earnings are nearly comparable to eHow, though my Hubs are only half as old.  But it's the website and customer service where this writing site excels.  To me, HubPages is the best around when it comes to flexibility of format and the way they treat their writers.  And the search engines like them.  Given their new status in reaching the Quantcast top 100 websites and an excellent search engine ranking, they're on par with eHow from my perspective.

Read more »

Constant-Content: Scam or Not? No Way, Not in My Experience

I've been so busy defending HubPages from being thought a scam that I've neglected Constant-Content, which some writers have found great success with, and which others have been unhappy with or not had massive success with.  Having just received notification that I recently sold a $125 article (of which I got about $80 as my cut), I've begun to renew my excitement with this article writing website.  I should say first, though, that I think I understand why Constant-Content might be thought to be a scam.

Read more »

Humor and Puns: I Must Have Bad Comma

Every once in a while,  I feel the need to write something that's just purely pun--er, fun.  Recently I had a death in my family.  According to our family tradition, tragedy goes hand in hand with comedy.  When someone close to us dies, we use humor to help us deal with it.

So I thought for a break I'd post this piece that my husband and I worked on together.  Last year, we sent it in to the Reader's Digest black hole that is their submission pool and it got sucked in, never to return.

So here it is, for the enjoyment of writers and editors everywhere.  If you know somebody who would appreciate our rather silly style of humor, send them a link to this page.

Read more »

How to Hire Writers for Web Content Work: Outsourcing Tips

Outsourcing writing jobs is on the rise as Internet marketers become more and more specialized and their projects larger.  If you are interested in hiring freelance writers because you have a great idea for a money-making website, but not the time to write all the content you need, your biggest problem isn't going to be finding writers--they're everywhere.  Your biggest problem is finding quality writers who can write the Web content you need.  Here are tips from a freelance writer to help you make sure you hire the right freelance writers for your job.

Read more »

Outsourcing: The Dirty Little Secret of Freelance Writers on Revenue Share Sites Like Hubpages

We freelance writers will get accused either of writing for love or writing for money. Either way, in the words of Rodney Dangerfield, we don't get no respect. If you write for love, you're poor as a dog. If you write for money, your following rarely gives you credit for your talents. Still, the award to least respected goes to those who present others' writing as their own. No, I'm not talking about plagiarism. I'm talking about professional marketers who outsource. On the HubPages forum recently, a thread on "Hubbers" who outsource raged. Some people defended outsourcing and others reviled it.  Some people actually used it--they bought content from other writers.

Read more »

Amazon Associates Cut Off in North Carolina, Hawaii, Rhode Island and Other States: Why This is Bad for the Economy

Recently, states such as New York, North Carolina, Hawaii, Rhode Island, California, and others have introduced tax law legislation that would cause large retailers such as Amazon.com and Overstock.com to charge sales tax on interstate sales made from Associates' website links. (The "Associates" program is so-named to distinguish Associates from Amazon's official affiliates, but is colloquially referred to by publishers as an affiliate program.) In reaction, Amazon and Overstock have been closing their Associates programs in the states where the bills are likely to pass (though today there's word that Overstock reversed the California and Hawaii decision) opting to orphan their Associates in those states rather than succumb to paying the tax.

Popular opinion on these changes has been divided.

Read more »

Toddlers and Fathers: Heartwarming Love That Warms the Hands, Too.

The child! The child! Yes, for all you artsy types, this is indeed a reference to Kurtz's exclamation in Conrad's Heart of Darkness, "The horror! The horror!" It began around the time that creature that y'all know as The Toddler discovered the joy of the outdoors. First he learned to go down the porch stairs backward on his belly, then he learned to go up them--not that he used the second talent much. He was all about staying out there on the front lawn, going up and down the path exclaiming like a mad thing and hollering as a beast wounded whenever we tried to pick him up and bring him inside. And heaven forbid we take away his stick while doing it.

It was a warm evening. The air was crisp and fresh, the Pacific Northwestern sky clear for a change. The Toddler was running to and fro down the path, waving his stick and hollering triumphantly whenever he stooped to pick up something interesting.

Read more »