My New Online Writing Journey: Two Months and Counting on HubPages and InfoBarrel

I'm at HubPages for two months today (yay!)... but shame, shame I only have ten (10) hubs here (or articles) - including this one. I didn't even know about the '30 Hubs in 30 Days Challenge' until today, and I was glad to see that I can start that at any time. But I'm writing this HUB to reflect on 60 days that have changed my online life.

HUBPAGES and INFOBARREL

HubPages is great [<--- you really should join if you haven't], but I have focused a lot of my writing at InfoBarrel (I have 39 articles there!) because they seemed like the underdog when I first heard about them. They have a lower google ranking than HubPages, fewer writers (about 68K to 70K now I would guess), and tougher editorial standards until you're pre-approved. Here's how I found them: I subscribed to a podcast on iTunes called "Smart Passive Income" by Pat Flynn and he put article writing as the top of his list to make money online (without any investment but time!) and mentioned InfoBarrel by name. From the IB forums, I found HubPages and signed up here the same day! (Thanks Pat!) He also mentioned that article sites are a great way to learn about internet marketing, basic SEO, and how the net really works -- which has been so true!

PAST BLOGGER

So why write online? For me it was easy because like many others I had been blogging for a few years... I even found that I had a $7+ balance in my Google adsense account when I signed up for HubPages and InfoBarrel. (Pretty crappy actually for a few years of blogging that was maybe READ by a couple buddies, and my girlfriend at the time!) I even maintain a couple content blog sites for my full-time day job, but those have no revenue streams. I still maintain my own blog sites, which now I try to use for relevant backlinks.

MY OWN CONTENT

Choosing my own content has been really fascinating - I've already learned a lot from article research. And the more I learn about search engines, traffic, SEO, online marketing, niche sites, and other things -- the more I write things that interest me AND subjects that fulfill a need. (I've written about pop music, higher education, and personal finance!) And what I like is that every Hubber I've looked at and read has written such an amazing, eclectic collection of articles! I'm inspired by the great writing here (and at IB), and I find the ideas compelling, some of the honesty and personal reflections very moving, and the occasional humor really refreshing!

MY TRAFFIC IS LACKING... FOR NOW

I am still learning about the many ways to promote articles (SEO) and have been using both the HubPages and InfoBarrel sites to interlink my writing. I am using (or starting to use!): Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Facebook, Twitter, and relevant blog commenting to get people to see my material. I'm patient. I'm glad to see the results show up in Google when I check. Here at HubPages my article about pop singer Demi Lovato at the Alma Awards has gotten the most traffic for me (about 200 views since 9/9/11), including search engines from around the world (including Google Brazil and others). (My highest traffic on IB?: On InfoBarrel a jazz article I wrote has gotten 519 "impressions" to date.) What did I learn?: nice to see that traffic (but not viral like I hoped!), but since the Lovato article is not an "evergreen" article, it may just fade away. Maybe, I should spend more time writing content that will still be relevant in a year or two.

ONLINE INCOME - Reports

So other than Google Adsense and Amazon Affiliate income on both HubPages and InfoBarrel, there is also eBay and Chitika potential respectively. (I am still having problems with the eBay set-up, so you can guess how much I earned there!) I also tried to make a couple bucks on Fiverr.com doing little writing-related gigs (I was temporarily impatient to see a small return on my writing time... After their cut, which they deserve, and Paypal transfer, each gig looks like $3.92). So I am documenting this here (for my own progress) to share what's it's like online for two months in. I don't know if this is average or below average, but these are my results. I'm encouraged by pennies at this point... I am looking forward to the time when my adsense earnings picks up, and maybe also some serious Amazon affiliate sales are happening! At some point I'd also like to convince my wonderful, fabulous wife that I'm not STARK RAVING MAD for spending so much time to make such a small trickle.

SUMMARY

I figured out that I like writing alot! I like the wide range of subjects that I can write about... I like learning (and earning) about the ways that people make a stream of income online. This Hub is a signpost for me to look back and see what's working. And I want to continue to diversify my writing by keeping fresh new content at both Infobarrel and Hubpages, and at two new niche sites including my Wealth Trickle Plan! (I know there are MANY other article revenue-sharing sites as well, but I spend time in the forums and reading at each site so I don't know that another site would help my productivity.) Good luck -- and I wish you well in all YOUR online journeys!