How I Got Free Internet Access Through the HubPages Advertising Program
56Free does not always mean easy. For the past two years plus a bit more, I've been trying to get my HubPages income up enough to pay for my Internet acess through Google AdSense plus a tiny splash of Amazon ads.
Why was it taking so long? Fair question, simple answer: My Hubs are my online voice and are not specifically designed to make money per se; the income aspect is secondary.
Even so, though, Google AdSense had gradually risen to provide an average almost--but not quite--enough to pay our satellite Internet charges and had stayed right in that ballpark for several months prior to the advent of the HubPages Advertising Program. I signed up for that in early March, let it run without comment through April, and now have the pleasure of reporting on the April results.
ONE MONTH OF HUBPAGES ADVERTISING INCOME RESULTS
Google Adsense
| Compared to previous month: 32.6%
|
|---|---|
HubPages Ad Program
| Vs. previous Google month: 92.6%
|
Combined Total
| Vs. previous Google month: 128.8%
|
In other words, Google AdSense income plummeted by more than two thirds after the HubPages Ad Program was up and running on my Hubs...but the HP income nearly matched the old AdSense numbers, and the combined total bumped everything up by just under thirty percent.
And that increased total was enough to pay the satellite Internet bill with $3.67 left over. Yay!
There are other aspects of the new program to consider as well:
1. HubPages income is much more stable from day to day, entirely lacking the sometimes wondrous volatility of AdSense. In fact, it's so stable that some sort of "balance wheel" is obviously in play in the programming.
That is, it's clear that HP is providing a safety net for writers on the low end--and in return, limiting our profits on the high end. Which is, on the whole, a good thing. Oh, it bugs the dickens out of the born gambler in me that loved seeing those occasional three-times-usual AdSense days, but if HubPages is going to take all the risk, it deserves those mini-windfalls.
2. The lower payout threshhold--just $50 as compared to the AdSense $100 minimum--means that I'm now able to know there'll be money in the PayPal pot every month, without fail. That's definitely a good thing.
3. It is a wondrous and essential move by HP to take that leap into contracting directly with advertisers rather than continuing to rely on powerful middlemen--Google, Amazon, eBay, Kontera--who after all have their own best corporate interests at heart, not the interests of HubPages. I'd be perfectly willing to stick with the HuPages Ad Program even if it didn't put an extra short term dime in my pocket.
Any time an organization makes any change, some folks who can't adjust will drop away. If the changes are wise for the times they live in, new members will eventually offset those losses...and then some. I applaud what the Team has done with the Ad Program, it looks both wise and essential to me, and now--come to think of it--I need to head on over to PayPal.
You know, ask them to buck that April payment on over to my bank account. It's a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it.
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Appreciate you sharing this information! I'm assuming it will be quite awhile before I can cover my internet from hubpages but this gives me encouragement nevertheless. I can't complain as I haven't written anything with profit in mind but perhaps will dabble with that end of HP at some point.
Ms Dee: I know I appreciate it!
David: The vast majority of my stuff (as you doubtless know from reading it) isn't profit-oriented, either. I tried, once, but half a dozen Hubs later, it became really really really obvious that such was not my strong suit.
Mostly, I just keep writing, try to do a couple of SEO-related things in the way I structure most of the pages (with a few notable exceptions), and let it go at that.
Ghost - If I were here to make money, I'd be starving to death.
So would I, Jim. I know this because summer 2009 was when I tried to amp up the AdSense income after folks in our new homeland here just flat out would not hire this old coot no more! (I could get a job this year if I chose, but we've been here a while now and know folks--you know how that works, sometimes.)
It's nice to know we've got "free Internet" at least, though, even though it did take over 700 Hubs, three years, and the HP Ad Program to get there. Keeps Pammie from scowling at all those hours I sit hunched over the keyboard...(actually slouched back in the chair, but "hunched" seemed stronger in a creative literary sense....)!
I can relate to that 'hunched over' at the computer, Ghost, but delighted it is beginning to pay off for you. I like the new HP Ad Program, too. Especially the shorter ad payout time.
Yeah, me too. AdSense had been paying every other month lately; shortening that up to every month was (and is) pretty encouraging.
Ms Dee Level 5 Commenter 12 months ago
This is helpful to have you with longer hubbing experience provide a take on the before and after of HP ads. Makes me appreciate the new program all the more!