HubPages, one alternative to blogging.

 bl0g  4 Responses »
Feb 172012
 

HubPages was one interesting surprise when I was looking for another source of passive online income.

At first I was very sceptical:

You start with a PageRank 0, because your HUB is placed in a sub domain of HubPages. And I know It takes quite a lot of work to make blog from scratch when you are just starting with it.

But I was in a need to create a long list herbal remedies, that I have collected in a big notepad, so I’ve decided to give it a chance. It is FREE after all.

It took me about 2 months of clever, non-spammy backlinking until my PageRank went to 3 and my work started to pay.

(my chosen niche for HubPages is quite well filled and explored, so it is normal not to have much traffic at first. Everyone knowing from where to copy and paste creates medicinal articles, because the ADs are a bit better paying.)

But never the less, the back linking and promotion I did in the bookmarking sites and my own blog paid off well in 2 months.

There are some important things you need to consider, when you subscribe to HubPages.

  • It will take writing at least 50 articles (HUBs) to start seeing some revenue.
  • It will take 1-2 months for Google to start taking you seriously and calculating your PageRank properly.
  • Don’t ignore the greeting members and try to follow people that are writing in the same niche you decide to focus on. The community is very good and you will find ideas for more articles in what your followers are writing.
  • Hop some hubs every day. Give frank opinion by voting or tagging interesting/useful/etc. By doing this, you help the moderating team to raise overall quality of the site and this will reflect on better AD revenues shared with you. Your opinion matters.
  • Don’t expect miracles. You still need to make some backlinks to your HUB if you need to have high authority in SERPs.
  • Link deep. Don’t just link your profile page. It will go UP naturally, and you need high page rank to pages that are loaded with ADs and Amazon/eBay links and offers.
  • Try to do some of the challenges, such as 30/30 or 100/30. You don’t get accolade, but you will feel better when you do.

HubPages Cons

  1. Writing a new hub can be a bit of a slow process with the builtin editor. It is very easy to use and powerful, but the JavaScript will be a bit slow on weaker computers. Huge articles (2000+ words) can be quite a challenge for a 2 GHz machine.
  2. Title tuner suggestions sometimes are complete nonsense. You better learn your own best SEO practices and ignore the suggestions.
  3. Sometimes your hubs may be flagged for moderation by people that don’t like your tone or your ideas. If you can’t stand criticism – better stick with private blog like this one.
  4. It was considered Content farm by Google once and severely punished. The site is still recovering (with fast pace) and the moderators are very careful if you upload copyrighted, spammy, low quality or duplicate content. If you are copy-paster HubPages is not for you.
  5. There is no possibility for 100% photo or video article (There is a minimum limit of words per picture). If you make such a hub, it is automatically marked as substandard and flagged for moderator review.
  6. Pictures used in your articles need to be 100% checked for Copyrights and with good quality or your hub may get unpublished until you fix the issue. (but you are motivated and pointed to free creative commons sites for finding quality images with allowance for commercial use).

HubPages Pros

  1. You have a title tuner, that helps you with search engines. The keywords in your article header is very important for SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Whenever someone searches and lands on your articles, the keywords used will be provided to you, so you can optimize your header if needed. Sometimes it does help a lot to generate more traffic.
  2. You get some cash even from visits on your profile page (there is one medium AD unit below your details and accolades).
  3. If you are good writer, you will find loyal readers automatically from the ones that are “hopping” hubs of the other writers. With ordinary blog like this one,  this can take months.
  4. Monetization is very easy. You only need your own AdSense code. Other possible revenues come from Amazon affiliate sales, that are very easy to setup or eBay (HubPages will help you make eBay account).
  5. Layout is quite good and AdSense ADs are added automatically, you only need to take care for the Amazon and eBay if you decide to include them.
  6. You easily get between 5 and 6 EUR for 1000 visits, without doing much. Compared to my main blog (yes, this one) it is about 5 times more. I get lees than 1 Euro per 1000 visits (mixed AdSense and Chitika). This is because HubPages is quite big site and they can be on much better terms with Google, Amazon and eBay than the terms a single blogger like me can have.

So, why you don’t signup?

Disclaimer: All the links to HubPages in this article are affiliate links. (You lose nothing by clicking them, but I will get small bonus when you start writing and earning through HubPages)

 Posted by at 12:37 pm

A tale of two monkeys.

 rants  Comments Off on A tale of two monkeys.
Feb 112012
 
Protest ACTA gathering in Bulgaria

Protest ACTA gathering in Bulgaria

Ages ago, when the mankind was still evolving, there were two clever monkeys.

They shared everything they found edible and were living quite a good life.

One day, monkey A found a sharp flint stone and started playing with it.

Soon, monkey A discovered that the stone can be used to sharpen sticks.

Later, after some thought, monkey A found that the stone attached to a stick, can be used for protection and to kill small animals for food.

Monkey B was very happy with monkey A sharing more food with him and decided to watch.

Soon monkey B copied the idea to 100% and made better stick with flinstone.

Monkey A got furious and told moneky B

“Give me that back! That’s my idea!”

Monkey B explained, that this is for the common good and the idea is worth much more when shared:

“Look mate, If I have one apple and you have one apple and we share them, both of us will still eat one apple. On the other hand, if you have one idea and I have other idea. When we share them, both of us will have 2 ideas. And this will make both of us better and stronger in future.”

Monkey A agreed and humanity was given a whip start, successfully leading them to present days.

…

… where the corporate monkeys obviously FORGOT the lesson of the primal ancestors Alpha and Beta.

A clever person knows that sharing is good.

The problem is greed and power.

Power corrupts!

Absolute power, corrupts absolutely!

 Posted by at 5:35 pm

Top 6 most annoying walkers.

 rants  Comments Off on Top 6 most annoying walkers.
Feb 062012
 

I’ve come with the idea to make this blog post today, because I almost kicked an old woman while trying to go to work (overslept again). She was staying in a very narrow path and dozens of people were trying to get around her, while she was obviously doing something important.

Something that kept her mind away from the people that need to get to the bus or the subway FAST.

I was so obsessed with my phone that I saw her in the last moment.

So this blog post is about the most annoying people you meet while trying to go somewhere quickly

… and how to avoid them 🙂

The slow granny

The slow granny

The slow granny

The one I have described above is the most annoying. (and most dangerous)

The slow granny does not care you are in a hurry. She is doing something very important and needs to stay exactly in the center of a very narrow snow trail.

She is occupied by reordering the bricks in her purse.

Why do I call them bricks?

Try to make the old granny move away.

She will swing her purse and hit your head or crotch with sharpshooter’s accuracy.

You will FEEL the bricks inside.

How to avoid the slow granny? Simply get your sorry bottom around her. Don’t comment. Don’t try to move her. Just go. Around.

(Granny image source va_sfak@flickr)

Mannequin with huge ... smile.

Mannequin with huge ... smile.

The show-case stopper

This one is the second most annoying (and dangerous) walker.

Imagine you are in an underpass or  a sidewalk with some shops beside you.

You are walking vigorously behind someone and (s)he suddenly stops and starts drooling in front of a show-case. It is either a

  • Heterosexual male, that just saw a mannequin with enormous … eyes.
  • Homosexual male, that just saw *fabulous* pair  of shoes or
  • Heterosexual female, that just saw anything worth her attention @ 100%.

Whoever of the aforementioned DOES stop suddenly and you can crash your chin in his/hers head.

How to avoid? Never walk vigorously behind a huge hulks, trendy looking boys or slow walking girls. If they stop suddenly you may get b!tch-slapped. Either verbally or literally.

(Mannequin image source Paul Laury@Flickr)

Hitchhiker

Hitchhiker

The hitchhiker

He is less dangerous breed but at least as annoying as the previous two.

  • Huge backpack
  • Walks slowly and looks around all the time or
  • Walks vigorously and looks back all the time.
  • Tries eye contact with you, regardless you are not interested at all and asks a question in barely understandable English.
  • Needs long and through explanation to where he is trying to go, regardless he is seeing you are in a hurry to somewhere else.
  • Sometimes asks for spare change …

How to avoid the Hitchhiker? Simple:

  1. Don’t speak English.
  2. Don’t allow eye contact.
  3. Walk beside him, without taking his presence in mind.
  4. Keep walking, even if you are the last person on earth, (s)he is sexy and there are no sheep around.

(“The answer” image source Patrick Hoesly@Flickr)

Wheels and luggage

Wheels and luggage

The shop-loading worker

Do you remember Gandalf shouting

You shall not pass!

  • The shop-loading worker will park his bus in the side walk.
  • Even if there is place for you to quickly pass by, the worker will occupy it with a wheeled unloader and will quickly block your way.
  • There will be at least one more person with him, so even if you can find a gap between him entering the shop storage room, the other will find a way to block you.

Want to avoid this slowly working bunch? You can’t. Wait patiently or risk going to around the bus from the road-side.

(wheeled luggage, image source m_dougherty@flickr)

Staring kitten

Staring kitten

The “go-before-me” starer

Narrow trail in snow.

You are in a hurry.

There is another person walking against you.

There is not enough space for both of you to pass each other on the narrow path.

You step in the snow to let the other person pass.

He steps in the snow too and allows you to pass.

Says nothing.

Just stares at you and waits.

VERY annoying! You are already knee deep in snow and you did nothing.

Don’t avoid him. Just say “thanks” and go quickly.

(Staring kitten, image source xlibber@flickr)

Steps in the snow

Steps in the snow

…and last, but not least…:

The stalker

I don’t know about you people, but I really hate being followed by someone that’s walking with the same speed as mine.

It makes me walk faster and faster and often the stalker also tries to keep the pace, making me even more vigorous.

How to avoid stalkers? Don’t. Let them pass in front of you and stalk them instead with evil grin on your face 😀

(Steps in snow, image source Miles B. at flickr )

 Posted by at 6:08 pm
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