I’ve had this blog for some time, but I don’t make any real money on it. I believe I’ve totaled around $1.13 via Google. Instead, I decided to take my content to two other major sources. The reasons for this are varied. The main reason I take my content over to Hubpages is that they care about the searchability of your articles. The goal is to build good articles that Google wants and that rank high because of value. That means they will tell you the quality of your article and will even make edits on your articles to make them rank higher. On the other side, there is Medium, which has a built in audience. The focus with this platform is to build an ecosystem outside of Google so that you can make money without having to worry about ranking. Instead you get your stories “published” in their virtual magazines.
Let’s break down an essential focus right away: visits for money. The whole reason you write blog articles online is to eventually monetize what you create. That way you can continue to create more. Let’s start with Medium. In April, one of my articles had 756 views which resulted in 6 cents in revenue to me. One of my Hubpage articles had 758 views in the past 30 days. I estimate that article made me 12 cents in revenue to me. Another interesting thing is that Hubpages also will modify my article, without requiring any prompting from me, to continue to make it search engine accessible. That means that it can stay fresh much, much longer.
Obviously, your mileage may vary. You may also want to try out both of these approaches because you want both sides of the coin. Sometimes it can be wonderful to make your income come from multiple sources so that you are not reliant on any one source. However, at the same time, you don’t want to pour a lot of resources into something that doesn’t work.
How do I write my articles for Hubpages?
There are a variety of steps you can take, but here are the seven ones that I follow.
1.) Find a topic via Google Keyword Finder / Google Trends
The first thing I do is I think about what I know a lot about and what I want to write about. I then go to Google and put in that keyword. I may pick up a few websites that have that information I like. I may not find website I like. Either way, I then go to Google Keyword Finder and plug in that keyword. I sort out all the high competition keywords. Next up, I look for keywords with both traffic and length. The ideal is a keyword combination with 3-4 words that is low competition, but has a high amount of people going to it. Sometimes I’ll plug in a website I like and have Google Keyword Finder look for topics based on that website. I may also put that keyword in Google Trends and surf around in there looking for ideas. I will then take those ideas back to Google Keyword Finder to verify. What this step is about is not granting success, but rather, helping stack the odds in your favor. If you have an idea about an article Google needs, you are further along. Don’t think that Google doesn’t need quality content. It needs great content every day!
2.) Write a long article about that topic
Next up, write that fantastic article. You want an article that is longer, preferable 2000+ words. I know that this seems like a lot, but it really isn’t. You can always visit several websites and build a mega article on different topics. The goal is just to have the main focus of your article centered around the keyword(s) you found in step one. This article is where you bring most of your value.
3.) Split the article into pieces and add images between the pieces
Reading several thousand words can be tedious to some people. It can help to break your big article into several chunks, then put relevant images between each chunk. I often use Pixabay to help with this, since you can use their images without any liability concerns. I will also use Canva to build a article header image with the name of the article. That way, if this article is refenced, it will include a custom image that reflects the topic. It’s not just a simple article, it’s a custom long form article.
4.) Add extra to the article (polls, videos, additional small articles)
Now that your main article is done, it’s time to take it over the top. I always add custom polls, video, and a small sub-article in the main article. I make sure all of the add-ons are relevant to the topic. The goal here is to bring as much value to that topic as possible. Some people learn better with the data a poll presents, while others would love a video over reading. Either way, you want to keep your audience with you and gaining value. These additional extras add some additional stickiness to your work.
5.) Build good intros with the right ratio of keywords
Now that you have everything built, you want it to referenced properly. You want to hit that middle ground with your intros and other areas. You want the right ratio of the keywords you’re trying to rank for, along with similar keywords. In addition, you want it to have the right sales pitch for the article. You have to be careful not to stuff keywords or to make it sound like the intro isn’t organic. It needs to read like a traditional intro, but you also want to pay attention to when and where you use your keywords.
6.) Publish, then re-publish
With Hubpages, you first publish your article. They rate it and make sure it’s decent quality. That may include that the article is long enough and that it has those extra value pieces. Once they approve your article, they will publish it on Hubpages and give it a rank. After they publish it on Hubpages, you need to re-publish (or submit it) to one of their sub-sites. The goal is to gain the most traction possible.
7.) Watch what works and build off what works
If you are expecting an avalanche of immediate traffic, that’s not how blogging works. Instead, it’s a trickle that slowly becomes bigger. I tend to watch what articles are gaining speed. In addition, Hubpage stats allow you to see if the traction is from their internal systems or Google. My goal is to build articles that have traction with Google, so I am looking for ones that perform well with Google and are gaining speed. Once I see several of these articles that are working, I go back to step 1, but with the idea of writing similar articles. For example, if I built an article on entrepreneurship funding that hit well, my focus might be in entrepreneurship accounting for the next article. They are similar in feel and having several relevant articles tied together can help boost your work overall.
In summation, I believe Hubpages makes a lot more money than Medium. In addition, I’ve gone through the seven steps I take to build a wonderful Hubpage article that gains me money. Again, this business won’t make you rich overnight, but it will help slowly build up a royalty stream. That stream can be used as constant fuel for other projects and ideas. Best of luck on what you want to accomplish with blogging!
