There are all kinds of ways to make money online, but for me the most satisfying is when I make money writing about things that interest me. I've been a writer for years and even have my own website content company but it wasn't until I discovered blogging that the writer in me truly merged with the entrepreneur. Sure, I was able to make money writing for clients. But that's not the same as being able to generate income with no clients in sight and only your creativity and some simple Internet tools.
That's why I was intrigued when I first came to HubPages. I was a relatively new blogger, so I didn't know a lot about how to make money writing unless a client was paying me. HubPages offered the opportunity to make money with no money needed -- just talent -- so that seemed like something I would like to pursue. Armed with virtually no knowledge of search engine optimization, I earnestly set about writing for money on HubPages. Lo and behold, it didn't work.
Get Your Own HubPages Account
Click here to open a free HubPages account.
The Best Reviewer gives you the opportunity to build links to your hubs on a site where you can also share AdSense revenue.
FREEBIES
Free Publications
These free publications will help you learn more about the Web and Internet marketing:
* Website Magazine
* EContent Magazine
Free Image Resources
StockXchange has a great selection of free photos you can use on your hubs. Please honor the terms and give credit and/or a link for each photographer.
I have my own extensive collection of free clip art resources, called the Free Clip Art Sourcebook. A link would be appreciated if you use the images.
HUBBING RESOURCES
* Official HubPages FAQ
* Maximizing Tags
* Understanding Capsules
* Understanding the Hub Settings Tool
* Staging and Arranging Capsules
* Saving and Publishing Your Hub
I also highly recommend the following resources written by Darkside, GamerGirl and long-time FoG Lissie:
* How HubPages Works
* How to Hub
* An Introduction to HubPages Referrals
* How Hubscores Work
Why I Couldn't Make Money Writing on HubPages at the Beginning
Don't get me wrong, it wasn't HubPages' fault that I couldn't make money. It was my fault, even though I didn't know that at the time. Eventually, after a long time of making no money, I all but forgot about the hubs I had built and went off to do other things.
It wasn't until I met Grizzly Brears (there used to be a link to his blog here but apparently Grizzly has moved to offline pursuits and his blog has been removed) that I got an inkling there was actually a way I could make money writing outside of my consulting business. Not that I got it right away, mind you. I was stubborn. But for no reason other than kindness, Grizzly encouraged me to pursue optimizing my blogs to get search engine traffic. I remember how difficult it was for me to understand some of the principles he was trying to teach. What he said seemed counter-intuitive to everything I understood from years of writing for online marketing projects. It wasn't just about persuading human beings anymore, it was also about making copy friendly enough for search engine spiders. They might as well have been spiders from Mars for all the sense that made to me.
How I Learned to Make Money Writing on HubPages
Okay, that's enough about how I couldn't make money. I'm only sharing my own experience -- and revealing a good bit of my own ignorance and stubbornness -- to let you know that if you have been wanting to learn how to make money from home and had a similar reaction to search engine optimization and using seo software, you're not alone. I also want to tell you that if you want to learn how to make money writing on HubPages, keep reading. This hub is filled with tips and resources to move you well down the road toward making money online by using nothing but your talent and a great free resource. Although some of the following information pertains to ways you can earn money blogging or implementing other forms of Internet marketing, most of the advice is geared toward HubPages.
One final note before I go through my step-by-step approach that will help you make money writing on HubPages: If you already have hubs that aren't earning a cent, don't despair. With only a few exceptions, all the tips below can be applied to older hubs too. One of the first things Grizzly taught me was that it's never too late to turn a page into a revenue source by making it more search engine friendly!
STEP 1: Keyword Research
Keyword research is the most critical aspect if you want to make money writing online or in any form of Internet marketing. In a nutshell, keyword research will tell you which keywords (they're called that but they're usually actually "key phrases") people are searching for in Google. Other search engines use keywords as well but Google is where most of the traffic comes from.
There are many keyword tools out there. A good free one is AddMe's keyword suggestion tool. To use it, enter a term that fits the subject of your hub. When you click on the "Search" button, you'll be given a list of keywords that are variations on that theme, along with the approximate number of recent searches. These numbers may not be accurate but they will give you an idea of how one stacks up against another.
Choose one of the keywords that have a decent number of searches, and then enter it into a search engine to see how many sites are competing for that term. Many times it's actually better to choose a keyword with fewer searches if there are also significantly fewer competing sites.
Here's an example of why you need to check the competition: Let's say you're going after the keywords "work from home" or "payday loans." The searches and ad revenue are probably off the charts for those terms -- but so is the competition. Do you really want to spend years trying to get them to number one in Google when you could easily choose other keywords that are easier to rank and could make you even more?
The explanation above is just a brief summary of the keyword selection process. I strongly suggest you learn more about how to choose the right keywords and implement them properly.
STEP 2: Incorporate Your Keywords and Categories into Your Hub Content
Once you've decided on one or more keywords you want to use, you'll want to incorporate them into your hub. Some people prefer to "keyword snipe" and just use one keyword, but you can also use multiple, related keywords.
2a. Write your title
The first place you'll want to place your main keyword in your hub title. Doing so will automatically place whatever words you enter in that field into your hub URL. If you enter your keyword in the title field but the HubPages system says it's already taken, alter the text a little (without altering your keyword phrase) until you find a name that it will accept. Initially use all lowercase when you create your title. You'll have the chance to change it to initial capitals later. You want to use all lowercase at first because that's how it will appear in the URL HubPages will create for you. It's a minor point but it looks neater and more professional to have it in all lowercase.
2b. Choose relevant categories
Once you're happy with the URL, you'll want to choose one or more categories. In fact, the system will force you to choose categories and a few tags. I discuss tags further down the page, so for now just enter a few keyword phrases or choose some of the HubPages suggested tags so you can meet this initial requirement. You'll focus in more on this area later.
To choose a category, begin by pulling down the menu, which will reveal the major categories. When you've chosen a major category, another pull-down menu will appear. Look through this to see if there are any subcategories that accurately describe your hub. If not, you can just leave the hub categorized under the major category. If you see a subcategory that works, though, choose it. That will cause another subcategory pull-down menu to appear, so look through that as well. In some cases, there will even be a fourth pull-down menu. No matter how many menus appear, the only one you're obligated to choose is the major category. If you can find relevant subcategories, however, you should. That will help even more people find your hub. Here's a screenshot of the category pull-down menu before any categories have been chosen:
Click to see a larger version of this image
Click to see a larger version of this image
2c. Pick a starting layout
Next, you'll want to pick a starting layout. If you want to make money with AdSense, I recommend the option indicated with the red border around it below. That will give you a text box at the top, which is appropriate if you want AdSense to appear at the top of the page. This will be explained below under the AdSense section.
You'll see that this layout also has a photo capsule. You don't have to use it (any unused capsule in a layout won't appear in the live version of the page) but there is some advantage to having at least one image in your hub. HubPages lists hubs under categories, on the By Topic page, on your profile page and in other places, and there's an image next to every listing in each location. Those images are pulled from the first image in every hub. If there isn't an image, your profile image will be used. If you don't have a profile image, the image area will be blank next to every hub listing. Since most hubs have images associated with them, your page will be more competitive when people search HubPages if you have a relevant image associated with it. It's just human nature that people like to see what they're going to get before they click, so having an image that illustrates your hub topic can only help. There is one caveat though. You won't want that image to conflict with the AdSense display. Read below under the AdSense section to learn how to position the text and photo boxes for maximum effect. And if you need free image resources, see the Valuable Resources sidebar.
Afterthought: In this hub I violated one of my own rules about images. The image that appears next to listings for this hub is a chopped-up version of the "Valuable Resources" image above the blue sidebar box. Truthfully, it doesn't do much to show people what this hub is about. But I had limited room because of the hub layout, so I opted for my top image to be one that serves readers when they're on the page, as opposed to one that draws them in. So the bottom line is that you should do as I say, not as I do! ;-)
4-16-2010 update: Over time the layout of this hub changed, so I was able to add the orange graphic that I think will entice readers when they see it as an icon in the HubPages navigation.
Click to see a larger version of this image
Click to see a larger version of this image
When the hub has been categorized and has a few tags, click the "Continue" button to actually create the hub.
2d. Edit your title
Once the new hub editing interface appears, you'll want to make your title compelling for both search engines (Google specifically) and human readers. So you'll want to keep the keywords in for the search engine spiders to see and then write a title around them that humans will also find compelling. For example, on this hub my main keyword is "make money writing." But that isn't the whole story. Because this hub is about making money writing on HubPages specifically, I incorporated that into the title. "Make money writing on HubPages" is also a minor keyword that would provide dribbles of traffic, so it didn't hurt to include it for that reason too. If you're struggling with your title because you're not sure which way your hub content is going to go until you write it, you can always write the title later, right before you publish the hub. You can also change the title any time after publishing, as you can do with any of the text.
2e. Write your hub
Now you'll want to get down to writing your hub. Until you get used to working with hubs, you should write in a text document, as opposed to writing directly in the HubPages editing interface. You can also write in Word or another word processing program, but be sure to paste your copy into a text document before you paste it into your hub. This will keep out the strange formatting that word processing programs usually insert. As you write, incorporate your keywords into your text a two or three times each, as naturally as you can; you don't want to make your text hard to read just to get your keywords in. If you write a long enough hub, it will be easy to get them in multiple times without it seeming strange.
2f. Link to your other Web properties
You might also want to use your hubs to link out to your Web site(s) or blog(s) so people can visit them. Just don't use more than two links to any one domain (URL) other than HubPages. If you do, your hub will be flagged. If it is, just remove any extra links and the flag will be removed. If you don't fix this, however, the hub may have to be reviewed by the HubPages community manager before it can go live.
There are two exceptions, however, to the "two links" rule:
Links that come from an RSS capsule are exempt, so this is a great way to get up to eight links to one or more of your blogs. Just insert an RSS capsule and add your feed address to get these links to appear. Updated 8-24-2011: HubPages now prefers that you only have links to other relevant hubs, so you should implement custom RSS feeds. This hub by Edweirdo will explain how to do that.
You may have as many links you want to your other hubs, within reason, and as long as the topics are related to each other.
There should never be more than 100 outgoing links from any hub. This includes links to Amazon, eBay, RSS feed, videos, blogs, hubs and any other sites.
Also, be sure your HubScore is above 74 at all times, because any links you put in the hub will be "no followed" (ignored by Google) if it isn't. How do you keep your score above 74? Write consistently quality hubs and make some of them at least 1,000 words. It helps to throw in polls, RSS feeds, quizzes, images and videos too. The more diverse your hub content, the higher your score will be.
To learn how to insert text into the HubPages editing interface, visit ultra-Hubber Darkside's extensive HubPages capsules tutorial or the official HubPages staging and arranging capsules page. HubPages and Darkside also have other HubPages-related tutorials, which are in the resources area in the sidebar. This hub will go on forever if I try to cover everything, so I suggest that you access those other hubs to learn some of the basics.
STEP 3: Insert HubPages Tags
3a. Use your keywords to create tags
As I mentioned above, this step is slightly out of place, because you'll have already been asked to enter some tags when you made the hub. But those will be just to get you started. Once the hub has been created you'll want to add more tags in the gray bar on the far right of the page, as shown in this screenshot:
Click to see a larger version of this image
Click to see a larger version of this image
You'll definitely want each of your researched keyword phrases to be included. You can also include terms people are searching for currently on HubPages. To do so, see the Topics page. You can then enter any topic tags you see on that page that are relevant.
HubPages also provides Suggested tags, which are based on your content and appear underneath the tags you've already chosen. If any of those seem appropriate, just click to add them. But don't go too crazy adding these; many times the suggested tags aren't relevant.
3b. Add summary text
The Summary Text box is the place that you describe your hub so people who use search engines or browse through HubPages will know what your content is about. Make sure your main keyword is in the description, as well as any others you can fit into one to three sentences. But don't just "keyword stuff"; that won't do you any good. You want your keywords there for the search engines to see but you also want the description to be compelling for human beings to read. It's important to find a balance between the two. If you just don't want to be bothered, there's a check box at the top of the box that when selected will cause the first few lines of your hub to fill this field. That may be fine if you have your keywords within the first sentence and that sentence presents a compelling argument for clicking through to your hub. But if that's not the case, I recommend that you write your own description.
Here's a screenshot of the description I wrote for this hub:
Click to see a larger version of this image
Click to see a larger version of this image
The Summary Text box is just one of the aspects you need to be aware of when managing hub settings. For more information, I strongly suggest that you read GamerGirl's excellent Settings, Summary Text and Groups hub, which gives a quick but thorough overview of each aspect.
STEP 4: Monetize Your Hub
4a. How you make money on HubPages
Now we get down to the good part. It's time to configure your hub to make money. There are four official forms of monetization on HubPages:
Google AdSense
Amazon
eBay
HubPages ad program
If you create a hub that's considered commercial -- meaning that it has at least one link to a commercial Web site or blog -- AdSense ads will be run by default. So you might as well get your share of the revenue by applying to be an AdSense affiliate!
You can also include links to any affiliate program, which adds another layer of potential revenue. No matter what the program (unless of course it's one of the four above), you get 100 percent of any sales made through that link. See the Vintagerio ad in my Victorian flowers and vintage fruit hub for an example of how I implement affiliate programs. I create graphic ads but you don't have to; you can just use text links instead.
4b. Understanding the four official monetization methods
The four official monetization methods are split with HubPages as such: On a random basis, you get the revenue generated from 60 percent of the visitors who come to your hub. This means that 60 percent of the time that someone is on your hub and clicks on an AdSense or HubPages ad, or buys something from eBay or Amazon, you will get 100 percent of that revenue. Some people think that HubPages gives a 60/40 split of every ad click or sale, but that's not the case. The impressions are split, not the revenue.
So if you have to give up 40 percent of the revenue, why should you use HubPages? There are many reasons:
If you have limited experience, HubPages will allow you to implement up to five forms of monetization easily.
Hubs are easy to make once you get used to them.
You don't have to put out any money for hosting.
Hubs automatically get an initial lift in Google because the HubPages domain is so powerful.
It's often easier to achieve a high ranking for a hub in Google than it is for a blog or Web page with similar content.
You have the potential to generate sales for affiliate programs that will benefit you 100 percent.
Additional traffic comes from HubPages itself, which is actually search traffic that is exploring the domain.
There is the potential for earning revenue from people who sign up under you or who click on other hubber’s ads if they click through from one of your URL trackers.
My experience is that people will click on AdSense ads or buy from Amazon or eBay more readily through a hub than on a similar blog.
To share in revenue on HubPages, you have to be approved for each affiliate program. You can use the following links to apply to each:
Google Adsense
Amazon
eBay
HubPages ad program
Once you're approved for whichever programs you want to implement, these tips will help you get the most money from your hub:
AdSense
HubPages places AdSense ads at the top of the page by default. You have no control over that but you wouldn't necessarily want to. The next possible position for AdSense ads you do control: if you position your text capsule properly, the ad block will appear at the top right of the page. See the top of the page for an example of this in action. This positioning gives people who come in from search engines the widest choices of ads to click on and therefore is your best chance to garner AdSense revenue.
To make the ads appear in that position, either have just one text capsule for the entire hub or make sure the first text capsule contains enough text so that an AdSense ad block will fit next to it. This generally means you need to have two to four paragraphs in the first text capsule, but you'll have to experiment with your particular text to get it right. If you save your capsule and there isn't a green or gray box next to it like you see below, add more text:
Click to see a larger version of this image
Click to see a larger version of this image
This is an Example of an eBay Capsule Using the Keyword "Search Engine Optimization"
Booklet Bundle, Book, Search Engine Optimization Breakthrough, How to
Booklet Bundle, Book, Search Engine Optimization Breakthrough, How to
Current Bid: $.01
This is an Example of an Amazon Capsule Using the Keyword "Search Engine Optimization for Dummies"
Search Engine Optimization For Dummies
Search Engine Optimization For Dummies
Amazon Price: $15.57
List Price: $29.99
AdSense can be tricky, so it's best to understand it as much as possible before implementing it. I suggest you read about AdSense Smart Pricing and also spend some time on Grizzly's blog, which is linked at both the bottom of this hub.
IMPORTANT: DO NOT click the AdSense ads on your own hubs or blogs, or incorporate ads or other text that encourages people to click on them. Also, don't ask your friends or family to click on your ads. This is called click fraud and it's stealing -- not just from Google, but also from the advertisers who placed the ads. If you're caught, your AdSense account will be banned for life. To better understand the AdSense rules, please read the AdSense Terms and Conditions.
eBay and Amazon
10-12-09 update: I've discovered the folks at eBay can be unfair, so I'm in the process of removing their capsules from all my hubs. I've included a sample eBay capsule in the right column for your reference though. Even so, I would advise that you use eBay at your own risk.
1-4-10 update: eBay made nice with me after I called them on treating me poorly. To their credit, they acknowledged that they could do much better when it comes to communicating with partners. I'm still not using them, but I have greater respect for them now than I had before receiving their e-mail today.
The eBay and Amazon capsules work similarly, so the strategy is pretty much the same for both. Enter a keyword into the capsule that you think would best describe a product that would fit. (See the sidebar if you need more info about how to use capsules.) For example, in this hub I thought new Hubbers might be confused about search engine optimization, so I entered the keyword "search engine optimization" into an eBay capsule and "search engine optimization for dummies" in an Amazon capsule. The results are the two product displays you see in the right column.
Both capsules automatically fill with products that the respective site's software has chosen as the most appropriate, based on the keyword you entered. You might disagree, however, so you should adjust the keyword until you find a product mix you like. For example, if the products that come up for the keyword "search engine optimization" isn't acceptable, alter the keyword to read "search engines," "search engine marketing" or anything else that will give you a product mix you like. There's also a way to choose individual products, but that's for more advanced users.
The strategy behind choosing products is to get the product mix as close as you can to your content's subject. If possible, you'll also want to choose products that have a certain wow factor. I'll give you an example. I have many vintage art hubs and for a long time I filled eBay and Amazon capsules on those pages with vintage items or books about vintage art. They didn't sell very well. One day it struck me that because I give away free images, people are there because they're interested in clip art. (Yeah, I know. I'm a little slow.) So I started selling electronic vintage clip art and sales picked up quite a bit.
Amazon pays between 4 and 8.5 percent, depending on your monthly sales volume. That means that each month you start again at 4 percent and work your way up. You can see how many products it takes to reach each commission level here.
HubPages Ad Program (Information added 8-24-2011)
To be honest, I don't have a lot of experience with this. I tried it when it was first offered and found my AdSense revenues were gutted and not replaced by the HubPages revenue. So I pulled it off pretty quickly. But that may have been because the program was so new. You can experiment with it yourself and see what kind of results you get. You might also try searching the HubPages forum to see what other Hubbers are experiencing with it. A word of caution about the forums, though, there can sometimes be a lot of negativity there. For whatever reason, there are Hubbers who are antagonistic, so be forewarned. Also, many of them have absolutely no idea what they're talking about when it comes to monetization. As a general rule, it's a good idea to not take advice on how to make money on HubPages from anyone who isn't actually making significant amounts themselves.
Kontera -- no longer available on HubPages (I'm leaving their information intact, in case you want to use Kontera on your blogs and sites.)
Kontera is an interesting money-making option, because it's so unpredictable. In case you've never heard of it, Kontera ads are linked from within the text automatically. I can't point them out in this hub because they move around based on the advertisers at any given time, but if you see double-underlined text, hover over it and an ad pops up, that's Kontera. It can be applied to all hubs by default in the Affiliate Settings area or in each capsule individually by selecting the Kontera checkbox at the top of the page when you’re in edit mode.
What makes Kontera so unpredictable is that unlike AdSense, which gives a relatively stable click price based on a keyword, Kontera click prices jump all over the place. According to Kontera support, this is because the ads are aggregated remainders of other advertising programs. I was told by a Kontera support person that publishers should see it as an adjunct, not as a primary advertising method. That's a good way to look at it, so you won't be disappointed on the days when the click prices are low. For over a month before writing this hub, my Kontera click prices were very low, then in the last week I made between $6 and $20 per day with just the Kontera ads on my hubs.
Update 1-20-10: I averaged 10,000 hits a day to my hubs in December 2009, which resulted in over $600 in Kontera revenue for the month. I've seen a direct correlation between traffic increases and increases in my Kontera income. I can't say that quite as definitively about the other three HubPages monetization forms.
If you use Kontera on your hubs before you have significant traffic, you may have low earnings. A great way to beef them up is to put Kontera on your blogs and sites. That way you can pick up little bits of revenue from each one while you wait for your hub traffic to increase. I actually use Kontera on blogs that I use to drive traffic to my hubs. Those blogs don't have AdSense on them, because I want people to focus on the ads for my hubs. So Kontera gives me an additional way to monetize them that's low maintenance.
Update 11-29-10: I've just posted a Kontera review that offers a lot more information about how Kontera works.
Step 5: Earn Affiliate Income
Although it's related, I didn't incorporate this step into the Monetize Your Hub section because it requires a little concentration. So you may want to hold off on this until you get comfortable with creating hubs. In a nutshell, HubPages give you the opportunity to earn extra revenue by referring authors using trackers.You can earn money in these ways:
If someone signs up for a HubPages account using your tracker, you get 10 percent of the impressions for the life of their hubs.
If you refer other people's hubs (combine your tracker with their hub URL), you get 9 percent of the impressions if they have been referred to HubPages before by another author or 12 percent if there is no prior referral involved.
I'll send you to DarkSide once again to learn how to take advantage of HubPages referrals and use HubPages trackers to make money.
Step 6: Promote Your Hubs
6a. Why links are important
Traffic (getting visitors to your hubs) is the key to making money writing on HubPages. You could say that traffic is the lifeblood through which money flows and links are the veins and arteries that carry it. Why? Because Google is a bit of a vampire and loves links. They place so much emphasis on how many links you have pointing to your hub because the number of links you have determines how popular your page appears to the Google "bots" that crawl the Internet and make massive, intricate maps of who is linking to whom.
But just having links isn't enough. Links are much more effective if they're relevant. A "relevant" link has your keywords in it or at least some variation of your keywords. If you can get a relevant link from a page with good PageRank, you'll have the best type of link available. (PageRank is a scale established by Google that ranks Web pages from 0-10. It's based on a number of factors. To learn about it, read this detailed PageRank explanation.)
An important note about using keywords in links: While it's critical that most of your links have your keywords in the anchor text, not all of them should. You always want the links that point to your site to look natural. So having random links with text such as "click here," "this site" or your name or site name are necessary too. No one gets perfect anchor text all the time, so it doesn't look natural if every link pointing to your site has keywords.
6b. Using social media sites to get links
So how do you get links? One easy way is to submit your hubs to social networking sites, such as Digg or Reddit. I'm not advocating that you spend a lot of time on these sites because that's not going to make you any money. But if you submit your hubs to them, they will give you links.
If you have photography or other images in your hubs, you might want to try Pinterest.com, which allows you to post links to your hubs. Be sure to post or "repin" other people's pages, too, though, so you won't be branded a spammer. You can see how I use the site by visiting my Pinterest page. Feel free to follow me there and I will follow you back. If I don't automatically do that for some reason, send me a message through HubPages with your Pinterest page so I can follow it.
IMPORTANT UPDATE (2-18-09): As you read the updates below about Twitter, keep in mind that Twitter "tweets" are now being ranked in Google. This is a big development in the search world! To get your tweets ranked, you have to have a lot of activity in your Twitter account and a following, which will cause the pagerank of your Twitter profile page to rise. To learn more, read my TweetAdder review, which will give you a good overview of how the software works. Or, you can just click here to download a free trial that will allow you to get 250 followers for free. This is not just a TweetAdder sales pitch. The results I've experienced with Twitter are real and the same thing can happen for you. If you read my notes below, you'll see I was circumspect about the use of Twitter. I've changed my mind now though!
Updated July 19, 2009: I tried to avoid Twitter for a long time but eventually I succumbed. I finally gave in because a Hubber told me he found me on Twitter -- and I hadn't even posted anything to my Twitter account at that point. I had established the account to follow a news story I read online but had never used it. So when he found me, it occurred to me that Twitter might be even more productive if I actually posted to it.
Even after I made that decision, though, I wasn't really sure how to begin. Then I noticed that HubPages displays a message when a hub is published that allows you to "tweet" that hub (post it to Twitter). Twitter has a 140-character limit, so if you click the link in the message, HubPages will provide a shortened URL and post it right into your Twitter account. You can also do this after the fact by clicking the "Share It!" button at the bottom of any hub. The hub title is also included but I like to change the message to something that invites people to click on the link. If you look at my Twitter account, you'll see what I mean.
August 4, 2009 update: I've been using TweetAdder to automate the process of getting Twitter followers and am very pleased with the results. The TweetAdder software allows you to search for followers in your niche, either by searching their profile info or their actual Twitter posts (AKA "tweets"). Once it finds a list of suitable potential followers, you can set the software to "follow" them automatically. Since these people will be interested in your niche, many will follow you back. Over time the software will help you develop a large list of followers. When you post tweets of interest to them, they'll click through, bringing you traffic. TweetAdder will even allow you to schedule tweets in advance and take care of "unfollowing" people you no longer want to follow. If you're serious about using Twitter, it will totally automate the process of getting traffic. After using the free demo, I felt it was worth the investment.
January 20, 2010 update: I don't recommend pursuing Twitter in a big way until you've built solid links to your hubs. Although Google is paying more attention to it now, I see it as an adjunct, not a primary source of traffic. But Google is now testing a program that allows users to link all their social media accounts and have them appear in search results, so if that has legs then Twitter will have more importance in the future. You'll have to decide for yourself whether you want to invest in the future and pursue Twitter. If you do, then the TweetAdder software I mentioned above will make it much easier to maintain your account without having to spend a lot of time on it.
February 4, 2010: The Google program mentioned in the update above is now live. This makes Twitter and other social media interaction much more viable than ever before. To participate, set up a Google profile and add all your blogs and social media profile pages -- including HubPages!
6c. Using article marketing to get links
March 5, 2013 update: Be very careful mass with article marketing, because it doesn't work like it used to. I have personally shifted toward using social media and getting my work highlighted by other bloggers to get traffic, because it focuses on building an audience. Since the Google Panda and Penguin updates, it's harder to rank in the search engines, So I've found that building a real audience that enjoys my work was a more sustainable way to go. For those who still want to use article marketing, though, I will leave my original advice intact below:
Another way to get links is to use article marketing. It can catapult your efforts to the next level. There are a variety of different programs you can use to automate the process and I've tried some of them. But I settled on I use Article Marketing Robot. I don't use it to blast out hundreds or thousands of articles at a time like some people. I just use it to locate good article directories and blogs to submit my articles. I then use spun articles (they have been coded in HTML to have many different versions, so there's no duplicate content) and send them out to about 10 article directories at a time. I do this over a long period of time so I slowly get links.
Many people create junky, barely readable articles to get links and quite frankly, that has been known to work. But I've found that the higher the article quality and more helpful it is for readers, the better chance it has of quality blogs and directories picking it up and posting it. My policy is that I try to never put out an article marketing article that I would be embarrassed to have someone know I wrote. I know there are probably legions of people who disagree with me but I can't help believe that being proud of your work and creating articles with substance will be beneficial in the end, especially now that Google is cracking down on some categories of easy-to-get links.
6d. How to create a link
If you've never created an HTML link before, here's a template you can copy:
<a href="http://hubpages.com/yourURL">your keyword</a>
Simply replace the "http://hubpages.com/yourURL" with your hub URL and "your keyword" with the keyword you want to be displayed. Note: The bold is only there to highlight the sections to replace; you won't actually use bold.
And here's the code if you want the link to open in a new browser window:
<a href="http://hubpages.com/yourURL" target="_blank">your keyword</a>
You'll usually want to use this second option, so your page will come up separate from the page that link was on.
Here's a real-world example using one of my hubs and the keyword "fitness tips":
<a href="http://wordplay.hubpages.com/hub/Fitness-Tips">fitness tips</a>
Here's how the code above looks when linked: fitness tips
6e. How to put a link in a capsule
There are two ways to put a link into a capsule:
1. Open a capsule to put it in editing mode, and then highlight the text you want to link. With the text still highlighted, click the button at the top of the capsule that looks like the link of a chain. (As of this writing, it's the fourth button from the right.) Clicking that button will open a small window that has a space to paste a URL. Paste your URL in place (DO NOT use the full code shown in 5e, just paste the URL itself.) When you're done, click the "Insert" button.
2. Click the "HTML" button on the far left of a capsule when it's in editing mode. Once the new interface opens, paste the HTML code from 5e (replacing the bold areas with your information) where you want it to fall within your copy. If it's too hard to tell where it falls because the HTML code confuses you, just paste it anywhere. When your link code is pasted in place, click the "update to editor" button and select to clean up the HTML code if prompted. This will paste the link into the text. If you don't like the location, you can copy it, delete it and then paste it anywhere else you want in the capsule, without having to go back into HTML mode.
Step 7: Protect Your HubPages Content
In case you're not aware, there are all kinds of people who have no qualms about taking your content and displaying it as their own. From spammers who take bits and pieces of content from a lot of places and mash them together to just get keyword-related content on a page (even if it doesn't make any sense) to people who will take entire pages or sites and copy them, and everything in between.
There are two ways you can combat this:
7a. Place a link at the top of each hub
Place a link to your hub at the very top of the page, preferably from a keyword. (See the link in the first sentence on this page for an example.) This will help when automated bots called scrapers "scrape" your content and paste it into sites without humans reviewing it. The link will remain intact, which will automatically give you another link to your hub. This won't help if a human sees the link, because they'll remove it. But you'd be surprised at how many non-reviewed scraped sites there are out there.
7b. Check the Internet for content stolen from your hubs
It's not only galling to have your copy stolen; it can also harm your ability to get traffic. If a site that is older and has more links than your hub takes your content,they might rank for those keywords instead of you. So you need to make sure your content isn't being displayed anywhere else.
If you only have one or two hubs, you can periodically take a unique sentence from each and do a search for it in Google. That will tell you if anyone has copied that exact passage. But that has to be repeated periodically and won't tell you if other portions of your content were taken, so you're better off using a service that can monitor the Web for you. You can also use Copyscape to scan the Web for duplicates.
8-24-2011 update: HubPages now automatically implements the rel=author tag on all hubs, which indicates who the original author of the page is to the search engines. This helps a lot when hubs have been copied by someone else, because as long as your copy was genuinely written first, Google and the other engines will recognize that. This has become a real selling point for creating hubs, because the tag isn't that easy to implement on regular sites and blogs. That may change over time, but it's the case at the time of this writing. so to have it automatically placed on every hub is a real time-saver.
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The suggestions on this page should keep you busy for a while. :-)
Best of luck with your efforts to make money writing on HubPages!
