Hubpages is a website where you can write “Hubs” about pretty much any subject you want to.

You can also make money on Hubpages through display ads and affiliate links from online merchants eBay and Amazon.com.

But, if you’re reading this post, you most likely already know all about Hubpages and have already taken a stab at writing at the site and you may already be making money.

Chances are that you might be interested in learning how to make more money from your existing Hubs.

Well, it’s your lucky day, because this post is a list of 5 ways to make more money with Hubpages that I’ve learned in my time writing Hubs.

If you know nothing about Hubpages, read this post first.

5 ways to make more money on Hubpages

1) Use eBay and Amazon.com Affiliate Links. Okay, this may seem like an obvious one, but it is important to point out that you cannot make a lot of money on Hubpages (or any website for that matter) if you don’t place a fair amount of advertisements on your hubs. Don’t be afraid to use eBay and Amazon links on the same Hub. The more potential revenue streams you open up, the more potential revenue you will be able to make. Give people the option to click on your ads and affiliate links.

Action: Add either an Amazon or eBay affiliate box to one of your Hubs.

2) Write with a Product in Mind. There are quite a few writers on Hubpages who write like Internet marketing copywriters. Basically, they write to make sales, which is a good thing. Some of these writers even go so far as to write a point blank title, which is a really smart thing to do.  This type of title might look something like this: “Buy SEO Copywriting Books Online.”  See how clear and to the point that is?  Visitors to this page are going to be predisposed to buying Copywriting books online.  It’s a highly targeted way of writing.  ”Highly targeted” is good because “highly targeted” converts.

If these writers do their job right, they are providing a valuable service to a visitor who is actively looking for a recommendation or a good deal on a certain product. If you write with a product or products in mind, you will be able to get targeted visitors to your site. You need to remember, however, that sincerity and and putting in the effort to help a visitor, are key to this kind of hub. The hard sell will never work.

Action: Find one of your hubs that has an unclear or less targeted title and make it more direct and stronger.  Write it with search queries in mind.  In other words, think about what someone would type into a search engine to find your Hub.

3) Write Longer Posts. Longer hubs (ie, more words on the page) will do better for you in the long run. I would suggest making your Hubs at least 500 words. Longer hubs will attract more traffic for different keyword combinations that will occur naturally in your long piece of writing. Traffic is always good and is really the only way you will make money with Hubpages. Plus, longer hubs tend to get higher Hubscores and probably more internal traffic from hubpages itself. Your visitors may also spend more time on your page, which means they will more likely notice an ad or affiliate link.

Action: Add 100 words to one of your Hubs and see if it helps you get more traffic.

4) Provide Unique Information. If you just rehash a given topic in your Hub, you will not make money on Hubpages. It’s just not going to happen. Your work will never be found in search engines because a lot has probably been written about your chosen topic already.

If you take the time to provide unique information and concentrate on providing value for your visitors, your hubs will do better. You will get more comments which should help your search engine rankings. More engagement and interaction from your audience is good for you.

Action: Add your opinion or a first-hand story about whatever topic you write about.  This will by default be unique and may help add a stronger POV to your Hub.

5) Do Keyword Research. If you write content on the web, you know how frustrating it can be to spend hours on a piece and have no one read it. If you don’t use keyword phrases to let search engines and potential readers know just what your hub is about, you run the risk of internet traffic oblivion. Basically, you want a good title with your keywords near the front of it. A clear, descriptive title is one of the most important SEO aspects to think about. Use Google’s Keyword Tool to find out which terms are the most searched and which ones are less competitive.

I will be writing a more in-depth post about keyword research in the next two weeks, so bookmark this page or subscribe to my site so you don’t miss it.

Action: Think about the terms a web browser would type into Yahoo or Bing to find your Hub.  Use these keyword phrases, as well as a few that are related, and add them to your Hub in a natural way.

Related posts:

1. How to Actually Make Money on Hubpages
2. Make Money Online with Hubpages Part 2: Backlinks
3. Hubpages: Make Money with eBay

When most people start something new online, there is usually some level of disappointment. Things often take longer to get going than we initially think. Writing and marketing content online can be a bit of a struggle.

One way to add to your revenue stream and make more money on Hubpages is by adding eBay affiliate boxes to your hubs. I have found that a lot of the visitors to my hubs are interested in these relevant eBay product listings and often click them.

This is a good thing for me since eBay now pays on a per click basis rather than a percentage of purchase. So, if you’re not doing as well with Adsense on Hubpages as you think you should be, add some eBay boxes to your hubs.

But first you have to join the eBay partner network. Otherwise, you won’t get credit for any of the clicks.

Amazon.com affiliate links are also an interesting option and can really pay off if you have a very “commercial” hub that attracts people looking to buy a given product.

Also, if the related products are expensive, your 4% or 6% cut could be decent.

I’d love to hear other people’s experiences with eBay and Amazon on their Hubs.

Related posts:

1. Hubpages: Make Money with eBay
2. How Do You Get Paid by Hubpages?
3. Hubpages Income Report for December 2009

In other words, you need to provide some kind of value to people in order to make it worth their while to come to your blog to read your content and to hopefully come back in the future.

The second thing you need to do is write a lot of content. Write a post every day if you can. If you can’t, write one every other day. The more posts you write, the more chances there will be for people to find your work. Cast a wide net.

The third thing you need is to actively promote your work. Once you are done writing your article, you’re not done. If you want traffic to come to your blog, you need to reach out to others and let them know it’s there. The amazing thing that happens is once you win a few “fans,” it gets easier to get more. Once you start to get links from other bloggers writing about similar topics, you are well on your way.

I read a refreshing and honest article with some real world advice about gaining blog traffic by a blogger named Ryan Schmitz (his blog is Planting Dollars) who pulled in 5,700 hits in his first month of blogging. He writes about the quickest way to build a successful blog.  

He also points out that you shouldn’t smack your visitors across the face with tons of advertisements or really think about making money early on.  That part comes later.

Related posts:

1. Increase Your Blog Traffic with Article Directories
2. Four Ways to Promote Your Blog and Gain a Following

One way to promote your service or product is to create an online application or website that does something interesting or provides some value or entertainment for visitors.

Everyone likes a clever commercial.

Well, doing something interesting can be your clever commercial and a good way to establish some goodwill with potential clients.

An example of building an app that does something very simple for people while also getting the word out about a company is DownForEveryoneOrJustMe.com.

Every once in a while, you visit a site that won’t load and you try to reload and reload with no success. At downloadforeveryone, you type in the website in question to see if the site is down for everyone or just for you.

Below the search query, there is a link to Site5 Web Hosting, a small company, with a message that reads:

“We Guarantee Our Uptime! Switch to Site5 Web Hosting!”

It’s a very simple thing that can be useful in some instances, and it is a clever and simple thing for a company to do. People using the tool may not necessarily be thinking about hosting a website, but they are interested in checking downtime of sites they’re interested in (ie facebook, twitter, and other social networking sites).

Still, when these same people (who may easily become regular users of the simple tool) decide they want to buy hosting for a website, they may decide to purchase a plan from this company.

This is a good example of a company providing a free tool (content) in order to gain awareness, provide value, and establish goodwill with potential future paying customers.

Related posts:

1. How Do You Make Money with Internet Marketing?
2. The Internet Makes Small Business Dreams Come True
3. Can You Make Money with Internet Marketing?

Many people start out thinking the site is a good place to go for a few backlinks, but in truth you can make some additional income at Hubpages.

In December, I earned $129 from Adsense revenue and another $17 from eBay revenues for a total of $146.  Sure, it’s not a huge amount of money, but it has proven to me that there is some serious income potential at Hubpages, which is what I was looking to see.

Over the past four months, my income has continued to get larger each month over the last.  The new changes to the eBay program are a good thing for most publishers, since you earn money for each click you receive.  

If you’re trying to make money by writing online, read the following articles.

Make Money with Hubpages, part 1

Make Money with Hubpages, part 2

Related posts:

1. Hubpages Income Report November 2009
2. Hubpages: Make Money with eBay
3. How Do You Get Paid by Hubpages?

It’s also sometimes hard to get your clients to pay you for the work you’ve done.  Being organized and running your freelance operation like a real small business will help you make more money, get paid on time, find more work, and generally feel better about yourself and your professional life.

One of the best things you can do for yourself in terms of professionality (and income) is to invoice your clients properly and efficiently.  

Small Business Trends has a list of 30 Online Invoice Apps for Small Business that may be helpful to you.

Related posts:

1. Building Online Businesses Takes Patience

There is a ton of good information in the post gleaned from a report from MarketingProfs called “The State of Social Media Marketing.”  I went to MarketingProfs to see if I could find the report, but it costs $599, so I stuck with the blog post.  

The statement in the title above is probably very obvious to you.  Facebook seems to be a stronger way to market yourself or your site since people will spend more time there due to the fact that there’s more aggregated content on Facebook.  The writer of the post points out that Twitter directs people to external links so encourages people to spend more time away from the site.  

It’s a matter of the structure of the sites and how people use them.

The article has some interesting facts and research that may help you in your Internet marketing efforts.  

One of the most interesting points is about Google Wave and how a social shift is occurring as people begin to bring their own networks with them as they access different sites and services.  

It’s interesting to think about what will happen to your brand and website in the future as more ways of accessing content become available.

Let me finish this post with a question…

What is your main way of promoting your website or blog?  Do you use social media?  Do you bookmark your post all over the place?  Do you write guest posts?  What do you do?

Related posts:

1. IKEA’s Smart Facebook Marketing with Photo Tagging
2. Ignore All Social Media Advice
3. Social Media Success Case Study: Web Design Startup

The same goes for your website.  

When people say that SEO is unimportant or a waste of time, they’re wrong.  Making your site search engine friendly and easily navigable and findable is incredibly important.  

But…

It’s not the most important thing.  

Your content is the most important thing.

It’s easy to find yourself rushing through a blog post or an article so you can get to the promotion and link building part much faster.  Successful bloggers know that their job isn’t done after they finish a post.  It’s only the beginning–especially with a new blog.

An informative, well-written post can be pretty lonely without anyone to read it.  And the truth is, people have a lot of options.  There’s plenty to read out there, so you have to find readers and traffic for your site.  You have to promote your work.

The single best thing you can do for the SEO of your site, other than making sure the structure is sound and it’s highly searchable, is to find high quality, relevant links.

And the best way to find these kinds of links is by writing amazing content that people–yes, here it comes–want to link to!  

It’s a much better use of your time to focus on creating amazing content than fishing around the web trying to find people to trade links with.  If what you publish on your site is great, then links will be no problem.  And they’ll all be “one-way” links, not reciprocal!

So, when it comes to the actual content of your site, it will pay off to make it as useful, as informative, as amazing, as scandalous, as eye-catching, and as entertaining as you can.

Great Content is the Best SEO.

(image: Ivan Petrov)

Related posts:

1. 7 Ways to Make Your Website Great
2. 5 Steps to Better Search Engine Optimization for Your Blog – Get More Readers, Make More Money

Ignore all of these articles.  If you want to be successful using social media websites, all you have to do is be sincere.  Don’t try to sell anything via social media because it will never work.  The sale, if there is one, should come way later. 

Social media is about reaching out and being social with others.  It’s not about finding an audience, it’s about providing a service for an audience, whether it’s entertainment or information. 

It’s not about how many followers you have, because it doesn’t matter how many followers you have if they don’t give care about what you have to say.

The only social media tip worth remembering:

Be Sincere and have something to offer.  

That’s it.  Quit wasting your time trying to “build traffic” or “build your brand,” just get out there and start doing things for people.

Related posts:

1. Social Media Success Case Study: Web Design Startup
2. 5 Easy Tools for Social Media Monitoring
3. Building Your Personal Brand in 2009

Don’t become obsessed with SEO linking schemes and don’t stuff keywords where they don’t belong. In short, don’t overdo it. Provide good information and do it consistently.

Yes, I said consistently. The people who publish hubs on Hubpages consistently are the people who make the most money.

If you consistently write about a certain subject (which you certainly don’t need to do) it will help you establish a niche. More importantly, you will be able to more effectively link between your hubs. Write 10 or so hubs on the same topic and interlink them all. It’s always helpful to provide links to more pertinent and useful information.

If you write about honeybees (wow–that’s random), write another hub all about the nutritional value of honey and another about the American honey industry and another about how bees actually make honey and another about how honey farmers (are they called farmers?) operate the honey collection process.

Don’t know if there are any honey-hounds out there, but hey, it’s just an example.  You get the point.  This kind of coverage will help bounce traffic around between your hubs, will establish some authority, and will build trust from readers and even will help you earn links from other websites.

Notice how I wrote “earn” links.  It’s important to understand that a natural organic link from someone who genuinely finds value in your work and thus wants to share it with his or her readers is priceless.  It’s the name of the game.  It’s how you succeed with content online.  And, yes, it’s how you make money too.  One natural link is worth 100 forced links.  

Making money on hubpages also requires that you do a little bit of promotion.  Well, you’re not required to do anything, but it will really help you gain exposure for your hubs if you build a few links to them.  

One of the best ways to get more traffic to your hubs other than understanding how to write for a specific audience and doing a little bit of keyword research, is to create links from article directories.  Ezine Articles is the most well-known and consistently is at the top of Google search results pages for thousands of different niches.  

You are allowed to include two footer links at the end of your articles, which you can point to your work at Hubpages.  Use keyword-rich anchor text to promote your hubs.  Using the honey example, you could write a basic article about the health benefits and the downsides of honey.  Make it 400 words long and make it worthwhile–the Ezine Articles staff has to approve it, so you have to meet their certain standards which can be a little difficult in the beginning.  Build at least one link to each of your Hubpage hubs.  

Write another hub titled something like “My Honey Hubs” or “All You Ever Wanted to Know about Honey” and include links to all of your Honey hubs.  This link post will help people see all of your content organized and is another way to build links.  

Another way to promote your hubs is by building a Blogger blog or Wordpress blog (for free) and linking to each of your published hubs with a short description of what it’s about.  This may help widen your search footprint and drive more traffic to your hubs.

See how each link-building exercise is also providing value at the same time?  This is what will work for you over time.  If you’re not selfish and consistently think about your audience and providing great information, you will succeed in making money online–with any website.  

So go get started making money on Hubpages.  If you sign up through this link, let me know because I have a little bonus to give to everyone who signs up through my site!

Related posts:

1. Make Money on Hubpages by Writing Multiple Hubs on the Same Topic
2. 5 Ways to Make More Money on Hubpages
3. Make Money Online with Hubpages Part 2: Backlinks