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HubPages is a popular place for many to start writing for revenue share. Here’s my honest HubPages review after years of writing there.
Not so long ago, I said I was going back to writing at HubPages. And I did. I wrote all of one article and I remembered the reasons I stopped writing there a long time ago.
You see, that article took ages to put together. Way longer than it would have done to put on my own blog. And you know what I’ve got for it? Nothing at all.
My articles on HubPages trickle in views and pennies. I thought adding more content might help with that, but there was something that I forgot about the site. The staff at HubPages can prevent your articles from showing up on Google search results, meaning your content is never found.
I pride myself on offering strong, quality content. To be told my content isn’t good enough to even be allowed to rank in Google is a huge turnoff, and I’m not putting effort into the site for that to continue.
HubPages used to be good
When I first joined the site back in 2011—yep, it’s been 10 years since I started there—it was good. The fiddliness of the articles was there, but the income was worth the time working on the posts and building a reputation.
Then Google Panda hit. Then other Google updates hit. Things tanked, but HubPages tried to work with the changes.
That is something I want to point out in my HubPages review. The site tried to play with Google’s rules. New domains were purchased and some content was moved to niche blogs. It helped a little, but there were still some big drops in income.
And then HubPages started removing a lot of content from Google search results. It was allowed to remain on the site, but it wouldn’t have Google spiders crawling the pages. And this wasn’t on content that was pure fluff. This was on content that was heavily researched and doing well within the community.
If your content doesn’t do well in terms of traffic, it doesn’t get featured. Like that is going to help the post!
It was certainly disappointing as a writer, and that’s when I started moving onto other revenue share sites more frequently.
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It still has a good community
One thing I will say is that the HubPages community remains good. There’s a forum that is busy with other writers, and they are willing to offer advice and tips.
It’s forums like this that really helped me as a new writer more than a decade ago. HubPages wasn’t the first forum that I frequented to get tips and find other places to write—or even figure out how to get private clients.
This is why I do tend to recommend HubPages for new writers. Even if you’re not going to use it to make a fortune in your craft, the forums are worth paying attention to. They can be invaluable when starting out.
There are places just to chat to get to know other writers, and sections to help improve your writing and figure out the best formats to work with on the site. There is also a section for challenges to help you push your writing to the max.
You will probably outgrow the forum after a while, though, especially if you’re looking to make money writing online in other ways. The forum is great for helping with HubPages and just getting started, but you’ll turn to other websites and blogs for more professional tips.
You can make money with affiliate marketing
HubPages was actually where I got my first affiliate marketing sale. It was only for something like $2, but it was the first sale. It told me that what I was doing had potential, that I could start making money this way.
This was at the same time as earning ad revenue. You can make money through both methods, which is something not a lot of revenue share sites will allow. Most of them don’t let you use your affiliate links in your posts because it takes more money from them.
I haven’t made affiliate money from them in recent years. It was something I tried last year when I said I was going back there, and then the post wasn’t even allowed to rank in Google. So, I’m not sure how good the site is for this anymore, but it’s worth a try. It’s a great way to learn what does and doesn’t work in affiliate marketing without putting a lot of risk in setting up your own website.
You do need to post regularly, though. You’ll want to keep making sure your content is pulling in views, and you need to keep working on getting content ranking in Google.
It gets time consuming, and there are easier and quicker websites out there.
HubPages review: Is it a revenue share site for you?
While I admit that the site is no longer for me, I don’t completely knock it. I still have articles up there pulling in money. It’s only a few dollars each month, but it’s with no work at all. I don’t even touch any of the articles that have stopped ranking and I never promote them.
If you’re just starting out, I’d say HubPages is a place to test out. The forums are excellent. However, if you want to build and go places, look for other revenue share sites. It’s a lot of work for little reward.
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Which revenue share sites are you considering? What do you think of HubPages? Share your thoughts in the comments below.