When you're a writer and barely scraping by, sometimes desperation seeps in and you begin looking at all of the different writing options that there are online. While many of the options can lead to some nice money, there are two that I don't suggest.
Hubpages
I think I started an account with them at one time. And then I found out that the only way you get paid is if someone clicks on a google ad, ebay and amazon. Like here, basically. Only you don't get all of your profits from those clicks. Hubpages takes 40% of your profits. Why do that when you can get 100% of your profits on places like blogger.
howtodothings
I used to have an account with these guys. Actually I still do, but I haven't written anything in a very long time. The reason is, they've changed things drastically. It used to be that you could write an article and get paid with gift cards. I loved it. But then they changed things. Just like Hubpages you post an article and get paid through revenues. Google Adsense only. The kicker is they keep 50% of your earnings from google adsense and they keep the rights to your articles. Meaning, you cannot use that article anywhere else. How insane is that? What a ripoff!
Now as far as whether hubpages gets to keep the rights to your articles, I'm not fairly certain. But I don't see a use for either of these sites. They are a waste of time, unless you just want to show off your work for nothing. You can do that right (blogger) here and earn some money doing it.
Those are so far the only two sites that I know of that aren't worth writing for in my opinion. Does anyone know of others? If so, why are they not worth it?
Interesting take. Many people choose to write for HubPages, rather than start their own blog, because it requires no programming or coding of your own. The other good thing about writing on a well-established site is that HubPages already has authority in the eyes of search engines, making it much more likely that you will get traffic, and therefore clicks. So even though we take the revenue from 40% of impressions, you may still be earning more than if you had you own blog. Of course, if you're a search engine optimization expert, you can probably get the kind of backlinks to your site to bring in the traffic you need to get clicks, but for the average writer, who'd rather concentrate on the writing itself, HubPages can be preferable.
ReplyDeleteTo clarify on your other point: You own all the content you post on HubPages, and may edit or remove it at any time, unlike some other self-publishing sites.
Just a few things to think about.
Maddie Ruud
Community Manager, HubPages.com
Maddie,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the clarification on how hubpages differs from others. That is good to know. You do have a good point as far as hubpages being popular with search engines, but with a little work, anyone can be in the search engines eyes. :) Thank you for the comment! It is great so see some controversy on my posts for once!