Sharing What I've Learned

Wow it is late my time, hence calling myself a night Hubber...probably not when I do my best work, but definitely when I get the most peace and quiet to get the work done.  Where do I even begin?

Okay, so if you haven't pinned your hubs; do it!  If you are an ex-Squid, used to be a member of Squidoo, and have pinned your articles, go through and fix all the links.  It should automatically redirect you to HubPages, but I noticed some of mine weren't and eventually when Squidoo is completely gone there could be a problem redirecting.  The other thing is that you can earn money by referring people who sign up on HubPages - you get 10% of what they earn from HubPages earnings (not from the writer).  How do you do it?  This is my referral link: http://hubpages.com/_3tb4psx2h1v0v/user/new/  -  once you are signed up, go to My Account > Earnings > Referral Trackers.  There you will find your referral code.  Replace my code, shown in bold in the link above, with yours and you are set!  Pin your referral link as well!  When you are creating or updating your hubs you will wonder why it is so important to add a summary to your hubs even though it doesn't even show up after you publish.  Well, when you pin a hub, as long as you pic the first picture after your summary; the summary will show with the pin.   (You can follow me on Pinterest here: http://www.pinterest.com/rymom28s/ and if you leave me your link in a comment I will follow you.)  Which brings me to my next subject...

I found some great stuff on the forums of HubPages.  Spend some time there and click on profiles to follow those that you feel you learn from or whose writings interest you.  I personally am also trying to find as many ex-Squids as I can.  Following will not only increase your traffic, but hopefully well seasoned Hubbers can send you some pointers as well.  Pin their articles as well to help each other out and save valuable info.  Here is a great hub for those transition from Squid to Hubber: http://relache.hubpages.com/hub/hubpages-squidoo

(BEWARE: mass following can hurt your hub score and cause other issues, so only do a few follows at a time.)


LINKING SITES IS KEY!  Link any and all sites that you are on to each other; Twitter, Pinterest, Google Plus blogs, if you have a Facebook page you feel comfortable linking...link it all, so you can get a lot of exposure.  Also, make sure to use those sites to circulate your writing.  There may be a more efficient way of doing this, but after pinning my hub, I post an article (usually my most recent writing) on twitter.  Then, I share it on any pages that I can find on Facebook where the subject is relevant.  Finally, I post it on my blog here.  My newest hub is "Stuffed Animal Must-Haves"; how to keep stuffed animals looking great.  Make sure to edit your profile, and add all of your pages to the links section of your HubPages profile.  You can discover a lot by seeing who is pinning your articles or viewing them on Twitter, it will help you get a feel for what type of writing is working for you.

As for editing my articles: it has been a little crazy, but I think I finally have a system down.  I mainly have been focusing on pages that I see are being viewed frequently and subjects that are popular or relevant; such as holiday articles, and go from there.  First, I have been trying to go through and fix or update any links.  Next, I have been updating my topics, so they are easier to find.  Squidoo seemed to have limited topics, so I have been happy to find a lot more tops and subtopics on HubPages.  Then, I change and delete some of the products I have featured.  I also go through all the pictures and edit the picture source details, as that seems to have gotten all mixed up in the transfer. Finally, I try to go through and edit my content by making it clean and clear.  HubPages is more about content than featuring products, which is great, but makes it difficult to change some of the articles because on Squidoo you earned more money if you were getting sales from your pages and thus tend to have more of your articles focused on that.  I have deleted a couple of articles due to that.

I found out that you can't share the exact details of your earnings from HubPages, so I am guessing I will have some pocket change at the end of the month. lol  I don't really do it for the money though, a little helps, but I really enjoy writing online.  I hope that this has helped someone out there going through the same transition that I am.  Please feel free to share your hubs or profile here and I'd also appreciate it if you encouraged others to follow.

Here is my next goal, figuring out how to add a sitemap to HubPages: http://noveltreasure.hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Add-a-Sitemap-to-Hubpages


Happy Writing!!! :)

Getting the Hang of HubPages

Alright, this one goes out to my ex-Squids and new Hubbers.  First, the differences from Squidoo to HubPages.  Let's start with the good; I like that there is a key on HubPages that shows you all of the notices for the articles (hubs).  They are good and bad notices, but even when they are negative notices that means you can fix them.  There seems to be more opportunities for earnings, as there are several programs.  I also like how easy it is to follow fellow Hubbers and there is an even a tab to keep track of articles and comments you are following.  If you decide to delete an article you have 24hrs to undelete it.  Now for the bad, or at least inconvenient; I liked the earnings charts that Squidoo had which itemized which article was earning and how much a lot better than the earnings reports they have on HubPages.  It was nice to be able to use that as a guide to which articles are better for earnings.  I have yet to find out exactly when Hubs start to earn based on their tier system.  I preferred the liberty to change the design and look of the Squidoo lenses that I wrote and I feel like all the ones on HubPages pretty much look the same.  HubPages also doesn't seems to have a lot of avenues to share your writing, such as the internet Magazines Squidoo had put together.  Now, it did take me a while to figure things out with Squidoo, so maybe I just need to do a little more digging to figure out some new things.

Here is the good stuff; tips on what to do when you have switched from Squidoo to Hubpages.  It helps to search other articles and follow other Hubbers, so you can learn what a good article looks like using the new format as well as getting your name out for people to check out your writing.  If I learned anything starting out on Squidoo it was that networking is key if you want to make money writing online.  Also it is good to start going through your articles to edit, correct, update, etc.  I unpublished all my articles that contained "violations" and am going through one by one correcting them.  I also am fixing any broken links or deleting them all together.  After I started this process I reapplied for the Google AdSense program and was accepted!  I am making money again!

Here are the articles that I have edited and updated, if you are seasoned Hubber please let me know if you have any ideas as to how I can improve my writing: Calming Products for Babies, Top Toddler Toys for Playrooms, Betty Crocker Holiday Cookie Mix.

Just to be clear, in case you are just getting started on this journey, writing online does not usually make you a ton of money.  Those that have made a good amount of money from it treat it like a full time job, network like crazy, and usually write on multiple sites.

The way to push yourself to success though is to focus on why you write, not on the money, and to make goals.  My goals are to have all of my current articles updated by the new year and to write and publish 10 articles within the next 6 months, bringing my total count up to 40.  Wish me luck and good luck to all my fellow writers!

Sorry I've Been Absent!

http://marketingdigest.com/squidoo-acquired-by-hubpages-content-migration-begins-in-a-few-weeks/

Hi there,

Not sure who is reading this blog anymore, as I have been out of the picture for so long.  I had several family events that kept me really busy the last almost two years, one of which being that I had another child.  There is a lot to update you on!  First and foremost, as you can see I am no longer a Squid, since Squidoo merged with HubPages I am now a Hubber.  (To find out more you can visit this blog: http://www.mywritingblog.com/2014/08/the-squidoo-merger-with-hubpages-and.html)  I feel like I am back at square one.  All of my articles (lenses are now called hubs) have been switched over, but there are different criteria that you must follow on HubPages than that of Squidoo.  If you are in the same boat some of the fellow hubbers shared this link that can help you: http://hubpages.com/learningcenter/contents.  At this point, I just want to be able to jump in where I left off, but there are several of my articles that have violations now due to having too many products or links.  It took me a year or two to really get the hang of Squidoo and I want to have a faster learning curve with HubPages, but thus far the process is going slow.  Fellow Squids, myself included, are finding that it is difficult to get accepted for Google Adsense right now.  You must have an account with them in order to earn on Hubpages, which means I haven't been earning anything since the merger - wish someone would have shared that little tid bit when this all took place, especially as many of my articles are centered towards the holidays.  I don't feel like the community is as close and helpful as Squidoo either and I miss getting those little goal messages from the monster, as it often helped me write more.   Anywho, I am trying to embrace this turn of events by changing the name and look of my blog, as well as a few other things.  I'll try to get back on track and keep you all posted.   My goal is to have all my articles published and violation free by the end of the month, here is hoping!