Writing for a Paycheck: What I Have Learned on HubPages

Writing articles to make money is something everyone wants to try. People sign up for self-publishing websites and start writing articles, thinking they’re going to make money online. When it doesn’t happen, or doesn’t happen fast enough, they quit writing. I honestly thought I had this one in the bag. I thought I could see results in the first week. Why wouldn’t I? If I know how to write it stands to reason I could make money doing it. Wrong.

There are certain skills involved in writing articles that people will want to read, and articles that will keep people coming back to read you repeatedly. Then there is SEO. SEO stands for search engine optimization, something everyone needs to know about if they plan to make any money at all by writing and publishing web content. By learning about search engines and how people look for information online, you will understand why writing articles a certain way is paramount.

Just because I am now aware of the process involved, doesn't mean I am making lots of money -yet. There is always something new to learn because the rules keep changing. Lots of practice and perseverance is required. Everyone has their own ideas how things should be done, and some tips work better than others do. It really is an ongoing learning process. I remember someone being cut down to size in one of the forums once because they claimed to have doubled their entire income in a very short period of time just by writing and publishing articles. Somebody promptly responded with something along the lines of… “so, you doubled your income.... good for you!!! but anyone can double a penny.” I don’t recall who said it but if anyone can direct me to that person, I will gladly insert a backlink right here.

People make typos when doing searches, so when you’re doing your keyword analysis, and now that you know what SEO is, you might want to add some tags that are typos. This isn’t as silly as it sounds. How many times have you typed a search query into the Google search engine and had it ask you “Did you mean ….?” You will always be directed to where you want to go to get your information, and if your typo-title happens to be at the top of Google results page you’re chances of being clicked aren’t so bad.

Incidentally, I haven't done any keyword research for this article at all. It’s going to be all hit and miss, with the hopes for a few hits and a couple of backlinks thanks to common sense. It took me months to figure out how to use that old Google Keyword Tool, and now it is gone I am somewhat ticked at the thought of having to figure out the new one. If anyone wants to share that info in 25 words or less, I would appreciate it. Remember I want to write more than I read. Thank you muchly in advance.

Tags.

Adding tags to your article is a must, just don’t go overboard. I found out that it is possible to have too many tags. Add half a dozen tags and only a few more if they come to mind and they’re directly relevant to your article. Start off with five or six when you’re publishing, then go back in a few days and see what the suggestion tool recommends. This doesn’t mean adding everything the tag tool suggests, it means that some of the obvious probably escaped you at the time you were trying to figure out how to write a searchable title. Of course if you have a 1500 word article, a few more than six or seven is OK. If you look at some of my older hubs you will see that I have a bundle of tags on them that have no business being there, and I will be taking my own advice and knocking many of them off shortly. Looking back at your old articles can be a good reminder of what not to do when you try to make money online writing, but since I’ve already punished myself enough, it’s time to edit, fix tags, move the ads around so the page is optimized for better reading, and maybe they’ll start to make me a little pocket money.

I like to write about what I like, and even though there are people who have the same interests as me, I also need to remember to think from my reader’s view, and ask myself if what I wrote about is useful to anyone but myself. I think this is where people get carried away looking at the Google Trends to see what to write about. They write news articles all day long based on their opinion and get a few hits because of the controversy they create, then the topic goes by the wayside in a couple of days. The best approach would be to write about a celebrity, for example, but write about their latest movies, and maybe something about what charities they're involved with. Your well-written article is then relevant indefinitely, and not just until the dust settles.

Some of the many writers I follow on HubPages are Mark Knowles, Misha and ryankett. Mark is interesting. I follow him for his dry wit as well as his smarts. I'm not sure if it is my twisted sense of humor, or my love of all things to do with how people tick, but there is just something fascinating about how Mark can verbally dissect somebody in 10 words or less for talking about something as if they know all about it. Seriously, Mark is a talented writer with lots of no-nonsense advice that everyone should read as soon as they arrive at HubPages. If you bump into Mark in the forums, put your keyboard to the side and sit back with a cup of tea. It’s entertaining.

I like ryankett because he's humble. ...it's very becoming. He says he knew next to nothing about writing online for money when he first arrived on this website, yet he has proven that hard work and good content pays, so long as you’re dedicated to what you’re doing.

Misha - after mentioning my overload on keyword information and deciding not to rely too heavily on time spent researching, Misha comes along and recommends the exact opposite. So, I won’t be dropping the keyword research strategies altogether, but remember, I am still miffed about having to learn how to drive that new keyword tool, so as soon as I am finished whining about that  I will give it a whirl. Besides, who am I to argue with the someone who makes at least $80 each day from hubs? While I write this article, I have Misha’s page open on the side and just noticed I wasn’t even subscribed. Problem fixed.

On now to discuss my marketing and promotion skills.

Crickets.....

It’s probably a lack of effort on my part in all honesty. I did try some of the social bookmarking and revenue sharing sites to submit my original articles to, but for the time it took me to rewrite part of every article, then do it * 'X' number of websites, I decided my time was better spent back here publishing four or five new, original, whole articles. Having said that, the RSS site submission idea did prove to be a huge boost for my traffic. That idea was so easy even I can do it!

To summarize:

Don’t worry too much about typos in your tags, but try not to use them in your title (too often). I have done that accidentally, several times, and it is only cute for a short time until traffic disappears forever and you wonder why. If you see a typo in an article title, you might like to point it out in case it truly is a mistake.

Use tags, but not too many, and make sure they are relevant to the article you wrote.

Learn about keyword research, how to create good titles using search friendly keywords or phrases, and learn how to use the Google Keyword Tool (then let me know too).

Write original, useful articles that your readers can benefit from. Make sure your reader (your customer) gets what he or she wants.

These are just a handful of observations about what I have learned about writing articles here on HubPages. Learning to write good web content is not the same as writing a good news article, a blog post, or a college paper. Get into the forums and find a few people who are answering questions for newbies. These are talented writers who know exactly what they’re talking about.