I have always suspected that it is important to get backlinks, but I suspect that I really didn't fully comprehend their true power. The second part of the 60 Day HubPages Challenge is to promote the articles that were written during the first part.
Content may be king, but backlinks and promotion will determine the size of your kingdom. That concept really hit home while brousing the HubPages forums last night. One of the Hubbers posted a thread stating that he was on track to make $100 in AdSense that day. $100 in a day! The key thing was that he has only written 19 Hubs.
Someone asked how this was possible with only 19 Hubs. He stressed that it took good keyword research and lots and lots of backlinks. I think that I have done a decent job with the keyword research, but a terrible job with the backlinks.
I think that is why I am excited to participate in the 60 Day Challenge as I will be forcing myself to focus on obtaining links to my articles. Then I will be able to assess the true impact on the traffic that is generated. I did spend time doing some keyword research and trying to pick decent topics based upon the results of the research and my spheres of interest and experience.
I think the overall success of my writing is going to depend upon my ability to generate traffic through the use of good promotion techniques. I have never been a salesman and have a difficult time with self promotion so it will take quite a bit of effort.
My plan is to start today taking those articles that I have written for the challenge and start with Xomba. Then I will move to Redgage and SheToldMe. I will also search to see if there are any other good social bookmarking sites that offer revenue share. I might as well see if I can earn additional money while trying to get traffic. Then I will move on to other sites. I do have a Snipsly account also that offers revenue share.
Just working with these four sites will likely take me the better part of the rest of May, but it will be interesting to see the results. Of course, I will be sure to let you know what happens. I am encouraged that my traffic had been slowly rising without my doing much during the past few months. Maybe expending some effort will be fruitful. I did notice that I would get much more traffic to this blog when posting a few links here and there, so maybe the impact will be positive.
Showing posts with label 60 Day Challenge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 60 Day Challenge. Show all posts
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
eHow vs HubPages: A Comparison of Passive Income
I just got paid by eHow this week for the month of April; $22.94 was deposited in my Paypal account. For me, eHow has been totally passive since last October. I haven't written anything, nor do I promote in any fashion. 100% passive income.
Contrast that to HubPages. I have been writing Hubs in April as part of a challenge. Granted I didn't get the 30 Hubs completed, but it was still a lot of work and a substantial amount of effort taking up many, many hours of research and writing. Furthermore, this month I will be doing some promoting of the Hubs that I have written trying to stimulate traffic. For the month of April, I earned $22.59 from HubPages.
I am actually surprised that the totals are as close as they are. Considering the amount of effort devoted to HubPages and the number of articles (141 vs 38), I would have thought that I could have earned more than eHow.
And look at what has happened so far this month. eHow is at $4.50 so far and HubPages is at $1.97. I am incredibly disappointed and surprised that I am not earning more considering the effort. Traffic seems reasonable. It is certainly not decreasing. It is actually slowly improving. The amount of search engine traffic seems to be reasonable as well. HubPages is showing over 75% search engine traffic according to Google Analytics.
I have tried to keep a decent attitude and haven't had near the number of emotional ups and downs as when I first started. But, I must admit that 3 months of declining revenue after a decent February is starting to take its toll. I suppose this could all be related to my lack of effort during the early months of this year. Maybe all of the effort now will be paying off this fall.
But I am really getting down and having some difficulty getting motivated to keep plugging away considering we are almost halfway through the month and I don't even have $2 of earnings at HubPages. That is quite depressing to think about considering how much I earned last month. I would think that increasing traffic with a decent proportion of search engine traffic should at least allow my earnings to hold steady.
Anyway, thanks for letting me vent. I will start promoting several of the Hubs that were written as part of the challenge and report the results. So far, I think writing and publishing has helped generate a little more traffic but, as you just read, no improvement in earnings.
Contrast that to HubPages. I have been writing Hubs in April as part of a challenge. Granted I didn't get the 30 Hubs completed, but it was still a lot of work and a substantial amount of effort taking up many, many hours of research and writing. Furthermore, this month I will be doing some promoting of the Hubs that I have written trying to stimulate traffic. For the month of April, I earned $22.59 from HubPages.
I am actually surprised that the totals are as close as they are. Considering the amount of effort devoted to HubPages and the number of articles (141 vs 38), I would have thought that I could have earned more than eHow.
And look at what has happened so far this month. eHow is at $4.50 so far and HubPages is at $1.97. I am incredibly disappointed and surprised that I am not earning more considering the effort. Traffic seems reasonable. It is certainly not decreasing. It is actually slowly improving. The amount of search engine traffic seems to be reasonable as well. HubPages is showing over 75% search engine traffic according to Google Analytics.
I have tried to keep a decent attitude and haven't had near the number of emotional ups and downs as when I first started. But, I must admit that 3 months of declining revenue after a decent February is starting to take its toll. I suppose this could all be related to my lack of effort during the early months of this year. Maybe all of the effort now will be paying off this fall.
But I am really getting down and having some difficulty getting motivated to keep plugging away considering we are almost halfway through the month and I don't even have $2 of earnings at HubPages. That is quite depressing to think about considering how much I earned last month. I would think that increasing traffic with a decent proportion of search engine traffic should at least allow my earnings to hold steady.
Anyway, thanks for letting me vent. I will start promoting several of the Hubs that were written as part of the challenge and report the results. So far, I think writing and publishing has helped generate a little more traffic but, as you just read, no improvement in earnings.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Writing on the Road
So I am here at the Men’s Junior Olympic National Gymnastics Championships in Knoxville, TN trying to squeeze in enough extra time to get 15 Hubs finished as part of the 60 Day Challenge before the promotion phase begins sometime in the near future and likely within the next 24 hours. Let me tell you, it isn’t going to happen. There is no way that I can get 15 Hubs written in 24 hours. I suspect that I can get 5 or 6 done. In fact as I write this, I have 3 in various levels of outline and can get those done. Staying up late tonight will enable to write a few more, but not 15.
Be that as it may, I am still pleased with my progress even if somewhat embarrassed at not being able to carry my weight as part of the challenge team. It didn’t help not having my laptop for the first week of the challenge, nor not having any day off during the week for 3 straight weeks during the main writing component. Each weekend was also filled to capacity with gymnastics and soccer. Considering all the impediments to time, I am quite impressed with what I have accomplished.
That being said, I still want to work hard and finish the 30 Hubs as quickly as possible while maintaining their usefulness and quality so I can move on to the promotion phase. I am really looking forward to that aspect since getting traffic has been one of the most difficult tasks of making money online. I think that my writing is respectable and useful, but I have never been a salesman. I have a very difficult time selling and promoting let alone promoting myself.
I will be curious to see what kind of traffic can be gained during the promotion phase and the long term impact on the search results. I have already been noticing an increase in traffic simply from publishing a lot of material. In fact according to Google Analytics, my HubPages traffic is up 25% over the last 30 days. And I haven’t done anything except tweet each article and post some of them to Facebook after writing them. I can’t wait to see what happens and hope that the results are sustainable.
Well, I shouldn’t waste much more time writing here. I need to get back to the articles but wanted to take a mental break. My son is going through an early morning practice on the equipment. He doesn’t compete for another 48 hours so we are going to try and find something fun to do while here. The weather is nice with blue skies and the grass and trees are green. I am enjoying the experience and won’t spend all my time writing.
Be that as it may, I am still pleased with my progress even if somewhat embarrassed at not being able to carry my weight as part of the challenge team. It didn’t help not having my laptop for the first week of the challenge, nor not having any day off during the week for 3 straight weeks during the main writing component. Each weekend was also filled to capacity with gymnastics and soccer. Considering all the impediments to time, I am quite impressed with what I have accomplished.
That being said, I still want to work hard and finish the 30 Hubs as quickly as possible while maintaining their usefulness and quality so I can move on to the promotion phase. I am really looking forward to that aspect since getting traffic has been one of the most difficult tasks of making money online. I think that my writing is respectable and useful, but I have never been a salesman. I have a very difficult time selling and promoting let alone promoting myself.
I will be curious to see what kind of traffic can be gained during the promotion phase and the long term impact on the search results. I have already been noticing an increase in traffic simply from publishing a lot of material. In fact according to Google Analytics, my HubPages traffic is up 25% over the last 30 days. And I haven’t done anything except tweet each article and post some of them to Facebook after writing them. I can’t wait to see what happens and hope that the results are sustainable.
Well, I shouldn’t waste much more time writing here. I need to get back to the articles but wanted to take a mental break. My son is going through an early morning practice on the equipment. He doesn’t compete for another 48 hours so we are going to try and find something fun to do while here. The weather is nice with blue skies and the grass and trees are green. I am enjoying the experience and won’t spend all my time writing.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Didn't Quite Make It--But I Will
Well, I didn't quite make my goal of getting another AdSense check within 3 months. February started out so strong that I thought it would not be a problem at all. But then March and April just fell apart. The CTR in April was simply pitiful.
Actually, it turned out to be closer than I thought it would considering the poor start in April. I was actually under $3 away. That just means that I will get a bigger check in June which is OK by me.
eHow Surprise--Good
Surprisingly, my eHow income was better by a few cents than my AdSense income. And the best part is that eHow has been totally passive. eHow earnings have been increasing steadily since January when I didn't even make payout. Needless to say, I hope that this trends continues. It may just mean that I am climbing in the search engines and getting more revenue as a result. I really don't spend my time tracking views so it is hard to know if I am getting more traffic. For me, eHow has been truly passive. I simply log on every 2 or 3 days to see if the earnings have gone up and that's it.
Xomba Surprise--Bad
Xomba, on the other hand, was absolutely terrible. I actually had slightly more traffic than last month but only earned 6 cents. SIX CENTS!! I found more than that on the ground last week (I found a quarter). Fortunately, I did not spend a lot of time at the site since I have been working on the 60 Day Challenge at HubPages so at least I don't feel that bad. But it sure makes me wonder about residual income at Xomba.
Speaking of HubPages, I am still plugging away trying to get articles done. I have published 11 articles (out of 30), have another one written but not published, and have several more ideas. I am hoping to write 3 tonight before going to sleep but have some household duties first. It is already 7:15 pm. Maybe I can sit and write from 10-midnight. I will have to see how it goes. Tomorrow will be busy, but I might be able to get one done.
Well, I would love to write more here, but I really should get going and work on the household chores so I can get writing some more. All in all, this Challenge has been good for me since it has forced me to actually get some work done. Otherwise, I would have wasted time. Plus the impact on HubPages traffic has been positive although earnings have yet to see an impact that I can tell. I am sure that in time the benefits will be positive.
Until next time. As always, thanks so much for taking time out of your busy day to read. I certainly appreciate it and hope that I have been helpful or motivational to some of you.
Actually, it turned out to be closer than I thought it would considering the poor start in April. I was actually under $3 away. That just means that I will get a bigger check in June which is OK by me.
eHow Surprise--Good
Surprisingly, my eHow income was better by a few cents than my AdSense income. And the best part is that eHow has been totally passive. eHow earnings have been increasing steadily since January when I didn't even make payout. Needless to say, I hope that this trends continues. It may just mean that I am climbing in the search engines and getting more revenue as a result. I really don't spend my time tracking views so it is hard to know if I am getting more traffic. For me, eHow has been truly passive. I simply log on every 2 or 3 days to see if the earnings have gone up and that's it.
Xomba Surprise--Bad
Xomba, on the other hand, was absolutely terrible. I actually had slightly more traffic than last month but only earned 6 cents. SIX CENTS!! I found more than that on the ground last week (I found a quarter). Fortunately, I did not spend a lot of time at the site since I have been working on the 60 Day Challenge at HubPages so at least I don't feel that bad. But it sure makes me wonder about residual income at Xomba.
Speaking of HubPages, I am still plugging away trying to get articles done. I have published 11 articles (out of 30), have another one written but not published, and have several more ideas. I am hoping to write 3 tonight before going to sleep but have some household duties first. It is already 7:15 pm. Maybe I can sit and write from 10-midnight. I will have to see how it goes. Tomorrow will be busy, but I might be able to get one done.
Well, I would love to write more here, but I really should get going and work on the household chores so I can get writing some more. All in all, this Challenge has been good for me since it has forced me to actually get some work done. Otherwise, I would have wasted time. Plus the impact on HubPages traffic has been positive although earnings have yet to see an impact that I can tell. I am sure that in time the benefits will be positive.
Until next time. As always, thanks so much for taking time out of your busy day to read. I certainly appreciate it and hope that I have been helpful or motivational to some of you.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Still Working on Getting Articles Written
It has been difficult to keep up with the 60 Day Challenge over at HubPages. I have been incredibly busy without much time to do any significant writing. Needless to say, the result is some mental stress. After I finish with this post, I plan on writing a little more tonight. My hope is to be able to get an article or two done tonight and then one done each day this week with several completed this weekend.
I will probably have to get up quite early this week and forego some sleep to get it done within the next 10 days or so. I am still committed despite being behind. I have published 8 of 30 articles, have one finished but not yet published and one started.
I do believe that it will be worth it in the end. I have already seen a continuous improvement in traffic over the past few weeks. I suspect that when we get to the promotion phase, I will see lots more traffic. I'm sorry that this post will be short, but I want to get writing some more.
April Earnings
It will be close, but I might be able to get to another AdSense payout this month. It will depend upon what happens in the next four days, but it certainly is not impossible despite the fact that I thought it might be after the first two weeks. It is strange how some months start out strong and then wane, while others do the reverse. I don't know if there is any identifiable pattern. Oh well, I have learned not to count on anything yet. As always, I am glad that my livelihood does not depend upon AdSense.
I may not write quite as much here as in the past since I will be working over the next few weeks on my writing. I will try to stop by on occasion, though, and provide updates. Once I am done writing, the time crunch should ease up somewhat. Then, I will be taking a break from writing for the month of May. Thus will end my first full year on trying to make money online. It has been interesting for sure. Well, gotta get writing.
I will probably have to get up quite early this week and forego some sleep to get it done within the next 10 days or so. I am still committed despite being behind. I have published 8 of 30 articles, have one finished but not yet published and one started.
I do believe that it will be worth it in the end. I have already seen a continuous improvement in traffic over the past few weeks. I suspect that when we get to the promotion phase, I will see lots more traffic. I'm sorry that this post will be short, but I want to get writing some more.
April Earnings
It will be close, but I might be able to get to another AdSense payout this month. It will depend upon what happens in the next four days, but it certainly is not impossible despite the fact that I thought it might be after the first two weeks. It is strange how some months start out strong and then wane, while others do the reverse. I don't know if there is any identifiable pattern. Oh well, I have learned not to count on anything yet. As always, I am glad that my livelihood does not depend upon AdSense.
I may not write quite as much here as in the past since I will be working over the next few weeks on my writing. I will try to stop by on occasion, though, and provide updates. Once I am done writing, the time crunch should ease up somewhat. Then, I will be taking a break from writing for the month of May. Thus will end my first full year on trying to make money online. It has been interesting for sure. Well, gotta get writing.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Quick Update on the Hub Challenge
Well, I didn't get as much done this weekend as I would have liked but was able to continue the momentum into Monday and hopeful today and tomorrow as well. I have now completed 7 of the 30 articles and have about 10-15 days left. I am trying to get done by the end of April but suspect that the 30 days actually spills over a little into May. I am sure that some are already done writing. I know someone had 28 completed yesterday.
I have seen a definite bump in traffic to my Hubs. Of course it helps that I published 2 articles on Sunday and 2 articles yesterday. There always seems to be some initial interest when an article is published. The key will come in May when the publishing stops to see if the traffic is improved with the promotion techniques and especially in September or October of this year to see if any benefit is derived from sustained traffic and improved earnings.
Speaking of earnings, I have not yet derived any benefit at all on this front. I didn't really expect to see a major difference. As it stands it will be tough although not impossible to make enough by the end of the month to get the next AdSense check. If I have to wait another month, that will be OK. In the past I would have been really frustrated, but I have other things on which to focus instead. That is really all that I wanted to say this time. I am waiting until I am done with all the articles and enter the promotion phase before I list them here on the blog. I am sure that I will be learning a lot in the next 6 weeks and am looking forward to it.
I have seen a definite bump in traffic to my Hubs. Of course it helps that I published 2 articles on Sunday and 2 articles yesterday. There always seems to be some initial interest when an article is published. The key will come in May when the publishing stops to see if the traffic is improved with the promotion techniques and especially in September or October of this year to see if any benefit is derived from sustained traffic and improved earnings.
Speaking of earnings, I have not yet derived any benefit at all on this front. I didn't really expect to see a major difference. As it stands it will be tough although not impossible to make enough by the end of the month to get the next AdSense check. If I have to wait another month, that will be OK. In the past I would have been really frustrated, but I have other things on which to focus instead. That is really all that I wanted to say this time. I am waiting until I am done with all the articles and enter the promotion phase before I list them here on the blog. I am sure that I will be learning a lot in the next 6 weeks and am looking forward to it.
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