And So The Hard Work Pays Off... A Little Bit!

After recently having to go through an extremely rough time in life it seems I am now at the point where some of my determination and hard work has at last paid off... a little bit anyway! I have just received a cheque/check from Google Adsense which is a little over the payout threshold and I am already well over half-way to another payout. After four years on Hubpages, though I was a little inactive in the beginning, it appears that payouts are starting to come more regularly. I'm starting to feel that the effort was worth it after all. However, I am not eligible for Hubpage's very own earning scheme so I am entirely reliant on Adsense and Amazon Affiliates.

I haven't been using Amazon Affiliates for a great length of time but solely via Hubpages I have managed to sell just over $400 worth of products so far. Most of these are either books or eBooks although there is a varied range of other products amongst the list too including a moustache trimmer! However, I believe that this won't make me rich, at least not for another five years anyway... and that's if I'm lucky... very lucky!

My experience during my time at Hubpages has taught me some very valuable lessons and, of course, I've figured a few things out myself too. I also, just by chance, managed to start writing on a topic which proved to be overwhelmingly more popular than I had ever expected it would be and it is this subject which has brought me the majority of my success on Hubpages. This topic is Narcissistic Personality Disorder, something which I have much first-hand experience of being on the receiving end of and that I know all too well. There are many misconceptions about this personality disorder within the general public and so I thought I would try to set the record straight. Many people also switch into a mode of cognitive dissonance when you try to explain the sheer severity of the abuse, it's that hard to believe.

Although I wouldn't consider myself to be an expert I do have some good tips to help other hubbers out there maybe increase their revenues a little bit.

Your Niche

Whatever your topic of choice make sure you write about something you are extremely knowledgable about. Provide plenty of detailed information which is unique and not available elsewhere online and make sure it's well written. This includes making sure there are no spelling mistakes, the use of good grammar in your articles, using keywords, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and making sure your work is consistent. Should you wish to write about more than one topic try to choose something which is related to your other subject in some way, you can then link your topics together. Most importantly, go into more detail and provide more information in your article than is available in all other articles you can find on that subject online - rich content is very important.

Your Writing Style & Layout

After plenty of practise you will eventually develop your own style of writing - this will be the sense of character that your readers perceive about you. Refine it over time and keep it consistent, it will be appreciated. The layout of your pages, in addition to their content, is also important, it needs to be well set out, tidy looking and easily readable. I have also found that the use of images leads to a slight increase in traffic. Placing Amazon affiliate links within your article and also at the bottom can increase their visibility leading to more clicks hence more potential customers. You should also use keywords to ensure that Amazon products are relevant to your page's content. You can also choose specific products that you may feel are relevant and wish to advertise on your page(s).

Spacing between paragraphs is also important, if a potential reader visits your page to be greeted by a load of clumped together text it immediately looks hard to read and visitors are more likely to leave your page. If your article is spaced out appropriately it looks easier on the eyes and generally more tidy.

Your Activity

Remaining active, regular and consistent is very important in building a following. The more unique informative information you have to offer and the more you can continue to churn out the more likely your readers are going to keep coming back. Actively engaging in comments left on your articles also brings visitors back so they can communicate with you directly, not only that but comments contain even more information which can be unique to each individual that comments and this can give you a massive boost in the search engines, as I have discovered. It's about both quantity and quality.

Your Content

As already mentioned your content should be rich, informative, detailed and unique. However, you will probably find that your older articles seem to fade off into the distance never to be viewed again. In order to rectify this you should edit these articles starting with the lowest rated (or least visited) and update it to include further information, then delete the original and publish the new version. This helps give your older articles a new lease of life which gives your traffic a small boost.

Promote

Hubpages is a great self-promotional tool anyway, you bearly have to do anything - Google search engine ratings are high, tweet, like and +1 buttons are automatically placed on your pages and Adsense and Amazon Affiliates are easily integrated. You should promote your work mainly outside of Hubpages absolutely everywhere you can think of. All it takes is for just one article to go viral and in my case this was my hub entitled 'The Covert Narcissist' which, at the time of writing, has 159 likes on Facebook... and I've only got 17 friends on Facebook! This one hub alone receives several hundred hits per day and is consistently increasing - I sometimes wonder how much traffic this hub will be generating in ten years time.

Put yourself out there as a writer and get yourself known, not just online but in the real world too. It's not just about networking either, working to build as many as possible inbound links to your profile page is important too but these links need to be from sites that are relevant and have a good standing in search engines. Write and release an eBook, comment on related blogs, sites, videos, etc and let everyone know of your presence. Although you may have a limited amount of followers on Hubpages directly, you will have many regular readers who are not members of Hubpages but still folllow your work, either directly through your profile page or from other websites.

Once you have started to establish yourself as a writer and begin to build a following you could choose to expand a bit. You could offer to write articles for other websites, webzines and publications or even offer yourself as a consultant on the specialist subject that you mainly write about whilst using your work as a portfolio.

Personally I have been using other websites to supplement any income that I make. I have found that the best websites to do this are Ciao! - a consumer review website where you earn money each time somebody rates one of your reviews plus other bonuses, Microworkers where you can earn money for carrying out small tasks that other users have posted (such as following someone on Twitter or making a Youtube comment) and Music X-Ray where, once you reach a high enough rank, you can earn up to $0.45c for reviewing a music track.

I did at time use Slicethepie but the amount of earnings has dropped significantly to the point that it's hardly worth bothering. Activity at Slicethepie has now also depleted to the point where I am commonly told that there are no tracks available to review. However, now and again commercial tracks from broadcasters and labels are put through the system and it's possible to earn up to $0.26c reviewing these tracks.

I have also personally tried my hand at blogging and although I have developed a reasonably popular music blog and despite being regular and active this blog has not made a single penny in income.

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