Finally, in May of this year, I enabled all third-party ad networks for AdSense and since disaster never struck, I just went with it.

AdSense Performance Metrics

I’m not sure exactly when it happened, but Google recently added an “Ad networks” report to the Performance Reports section of the Google AdSense online tool for webmasters and publishers. The results show that it may all have been much to do about nothing.

According to my Performance Reports, Google AdWords network serves the overwhelming majority of ads across all of my websites including my freelance writing blog and personal finance blog.

The November report shows that 92.6 percent of all the Ad requests served on my websites were filled by Google AdWords. The second biggest ad network serving ads for my sites was Adnetik US, which accounted for just 2.8 percent of all ads. In third place is the Google: Invite Media ad network followed by Rocket Fuel, both with about 0.5 percent of ad requests. A partial report for the first 12 days of December shows approximately the same thing.

In other words, despite enabling all of the Google approved third-party ad networks out there, less than 8 percent of all my ads were served by ANY third-party ad network. Furthermore, no single non-Google ad-network accounts for even 1 percent of ads, so adding and removing those networks onesie-twosie really is not a good use of my time.

Unblock Third-Party AdSense Networks

As it turns out, I was blocking 163 AdSense ad networks because I did not enable new ad networks to be permitted automatically on my websites as they were approved. Based on the statistics outlined above, I have changed to allow all third-party ad networks and to automatically allow all of the new ones as they come online as well.

With the new Performance Reports “Ad networks” option, I should be able to see hard data about whether any 3rd-party ad network is showing up enough to have any effect, and if so, whether that effect is good or bad.

Ironically, Google was rather secretive and guarded with information regarding the third-party ad networks when it rolled out the program originally leaving many writers, such as myself, worried about how their inclusion in our AdSense enabled websites would affect our advertising income. Many, just like me, chose to be overly cautious despite Google’s numerous statements, both official and unofficial, that the new third-party AdSense networks would have a minimal, beneficial effect on our AdSense income. Now, with more, instead of less, disclosure, Google is getting what it wanted from web publishers like me with full implementation of the new ad networks.

They could have saved themselves, and me, a lot of hassle by being more open up front.

Third-Party Ad Networks Data in AdSense originally published at Make Money Writing Online

Recently, a comment reference Skimlinks and using the company to get around being kicked out of Amazon’s affiliate program by California. As it turns out, California and Amazon cut a deal and California affiliates are back in. Sadly, those of us Colorado Amazon associates are still out.

What Is Skimlinks?

Skimlinks is a company that allows web publishers and writers to generate affiliate links automatically without signing up for a bunch of different programs. Basically, the company itself goes out and signs up affiliate relationships with merchants and online shopping websites. Us publishers use the company’s relationships to send affiliate links to those retailers instead of setting up our own.

Of course, the company keeps a cut of the revenue generated. Skim links keeps 25 percent of each commission generated. The publisher earns 75 percent of the commission. According to the company, a lot of website owners will come out ahead anyway by using the company. The higher volume of traffic Skimlinks offers allows the company to negotiate a higher commission percentage from the merchant. The idea is that if they get an eight percent commission where you would get a five percent commission, then you will make more money off each sale even if they keep 25 percent.

This is all according to the company’s materials. I have no first hand knowledge yet.

How Does Skimlinks Work?

Skimlinks works like Google AdSense by inserting a piece of JavaScript code on your website. Unlike AdSense the Skimlinks code doesn’t generate an ad, rather it monitors clicks on links to stores and other online retailers. If the click can be monetized, that is if Skimlinks has an affiliate relationship with where the link goes, then they redirect that click (silently) through Skimlinks to add the necessary code and make it an affiliate click. If a commission is generated, they split it 25 / 75 with the website owner.

An example, makes it easier to understand.

Suppose you really like makeup from Sephora and recommend it on your website. Without Skimlinks, you would sign up for Sephora’s affiliate program, and then manually link to Sephora products from your website. Sephora would pay you directly and you get 100 percent of your commissions. With Skimlinks, you don’t need to sign up for Sephora’s affiliate program. You link directly to the product on Sephora’s website without any sort of affiliate code, just a regular link. When someone clicks that link, the Skimlinks JavaScript intercepts the outgoing link, adds the Skimlink company affiliate code (and presumably some sort of tracking that identifies where the link came from) before sending the user on. If a commission is generated, Skimlinks keeps 25 percent and you get the rest.

This make Skimlinks a good way to get around Amazon Associate bans in your state. For example, I live in Colorado and my legislature decided to tax Amazon, so Amazon said, “Screw you guys, I’m going home.” (They probably even used a Cartman voice.) So, all of my Amazon affiliate links are worthless and generate no money for me. However, if I use Skimlinks, it is their affiliate code and not mine that shows up on Amazon’s system and since they are not kicked out of the Amazon associates program, a commission is generated and I get 75 percent of it.

Is Skimlinks Worth It?

The webmaster who recommended Skimlinks did so with some reservations. Like me, he had heard negative things before but has had no trouble with them personally.

Apparently one of the common complaints was that Skimlinks had a high payout threshold. I don’t know what it used to be, but it’s $10 now. If you can’t generate $10 worth of commissions, the money sits in an account until it adds up to $10. If it takes you a long time to generate that much, your websites probably need to focus on building instead of monetizing. In the meantime, I wouldn’t complain too much that someone owes me $4.35, but if that sort of thing bothers you, look elsewhere.

Also, if you are willing and able to manage your own affiliate relationships directly, you’ll get more control, better reporting, and maybe higher payouts. If, like me, you spend enough time just writing websites and don’t have more time to do anything beyond using Google AdSense to make money, then Skimlinks might be a good alternative to signing up for a bunch of affiliate programs.

I went ahead and signed up for Skimlinks. It took one day for my site to be approved. I am added some others today, we’ll see how long that takes.

If you want to try Skimlinks too, use this referal link: Skimlinks

Keep an eye out, or grab the RSS Feed for further updates and reviews.

Skimlinks Scam or Great Program? originally published at Make Money Writing Online

Google mentioned that only a small percentage of rankings were affected with each update. That’s small comfort to those website owners that go hammered. On the other hand, many web developers found themselves only minimally affected. The key questions moving forward, is what to do to help your websites rank higher and what to not do to keep from hurting your website’s search rankings.

Google Search Results Quality

Everyone always says that content is king and that quality is the way to a top Google search ranking, but everyone knows that isn’t really true. The "if you build it, they will link" theory of search engine rankings is based upon the naïve assumption that everyone who publishes webpages and online content link based solely on how much they value the pages and information that they are linking to. That may have been true a decade ago, but it hasn’t been true in years.

These days, website owners routinely link based upon self-interest. Content mills, for example, add the nofollow tag to any link pointing offsite. One example, eHow.com, has links to "references" at the bottom of every article it publishes. It is these references that, supposedly, validate the information provided and prove that the data within is quality information. However, every one of those links is nofollowed. If the content being linked is useful enough to be the validating reference, how can it possibly be unworthy of a full follow link?

The answer, of course, is that no one in the world uses the nofollow tag the way it is intended. Rather, websites and SEO experts use the no follow tag to enhance the links that they want to power up for their own benefit and to downgrade all other links regardless of value.

The other reason that Google search results are broken is that they over-emphasize the title tag, ranking websites of lower quality higher than better quality websites because the lower quality site matches the wording entered into the query box slightly better than the better quality article.

Content Mills Punished

It seems that neither Google, nor any of the search experts out there, seem to think that Google has changed its link counting ways or its text pattern matching algorithm. Instead, the focus is on the concept that there is a "penalty" for low-quality content that extends to the entire website.

The idea is that if there are 200 low-quality pages (that is, low-ranking pages) and 100 higher-quality (higher-ranking) pages, then the 100 good pages are dragged down by a penalty from the low pages. That is why content mills (and other websites) are now frantically pulling their "junk" content down in hopes that their rankings will improve for their better quality content. Demand Studios, publisher of eHow, for example, is decommissioning all of their unmoderated user-generated content in hopes that their better, editor approved, content will regain some of its luster in Google’s eyes.

Of course, this may all be moot as recent actions by various flower selling websites demonstrated recently. It seems that all of the major online florists were buying links in the run up to Mother’s Day to ensure that they would rank high (or not lose their high rankings) for the big flower buying holiday.

Google’s response was essentially that it is fine to break the Google Webmaster Guidelines as long as it doesn’t affect the final rankings. The stupidity of this concept is staggering considering there is no way for Google, or anyone else, to know whether or not the forbidden link buying campaigns affect EVERY search made. The link buying may not have affected the rankings for "Mother’s Day flowers" but could have made a big difference for "mothers day flower specials cleveland".

If you want to make money writing online, you can naively write quality content and hope for the best, or you can write quality content and then get out there an build some links. You’ll never outspend 1-800 flowers on a link-buying campaign for Valentine’s Day, but your top-notch article on how to pick good roses at the flower store might just make it into the Top 10 Google search results if you build out some links, and then hope for the best.

Google Panda Update 1 and 2 Shaking Out originally published at Make Money Writing Online

In addition to tracking visitors to your website and showing you how they get there and what they do once they arrive, there may be another undocumented benefit to using Analytics on your websites.

It seems that some members of various Internet Marketing forums recommend that you install Google Analytics on your legitimate websites using AdSense as a way to protect your AdSense earnings. Google, of course, only offers Analytics for “free” because they get something back out of it. Not only do you get all of those stats and data, but so does Google thanks to the tracking script webmasters so willingly place on every webpage on their websites. That same data can be used to exonerate you in the event that your AdSense clicks look fishy.

Google Analytics Proof of Legitimate AdSense Earnings?

Assume for a moment that Google’s AdWords program (the advertiser side of the AdSense program) suspects your website of something shifty in regards to AdSense. Without Analytics installed, the only thing Google AdWords can rely on is the data that comes in with AdWords (which is not insubstantial). However, if there might be another explanation, Google could also check the data it receives from Analytics as a way to either corroborate reports of nefarious conduct, or, in the case of good writers trying to make money writing online, as a way to exonerate your efforts as a AdSense Publisher.

There is no proof that Google does or does not use Analytics for this purpose, but since you need to do something to track your visitors and your progress building traffic and passive writing income, you may as well install Analytics anyway.

Of course, if you’re a scumbag, you might want to uninstall Google Analytics right away.

Google Analytics to Protect AdSense Earnings originally published at Make Money Writing Online

Here are the top AdSense myths mistakenly followed by publishers and writers.

The Highest Placed Ad Is The Highest Paying Ad

Not anymore. Once upon a time, this was true, but Google changed up the AdWords program a long time ago by adding an Ad Quality Score. Now, the amount of the advertiser bid multiplied by the ad’s quality score is used to determine where the ad is placed on websites and blogs. In other words, an advertiser with a “high quality” ad may get the top ad spot on your website even if their bid is significantly lower than the bid of another advertiser with a “low quality” ad.

The bad news is that you no longer no for sure which ad is the lowest paying on your webpage. The good news is that better ads convert more and with higher positioning are more likely to be clicked. That means that you won’t get smart-priced because a garbage ad keeps getting all the clicks on your website because they pay more.

Google Smart Prices AdSense If No One Clicks On Your Ads

This was never true. Someone misunderstood the concept and drew the wrong conclusions, and then everyone started repeating what they said until every assumed it must be true.

Smart pricing occurs when the clicks on ads from your webpages convert as a lower rate than clicks on those ads do from most other pages. In other words, if your website is sending garbage clicks to advertisers, your CPC will be lowered by smart pricing. However, if your website never sends any traffic because no one ever clicks on your ads, you will not be smart-priced.

All Image Ads Are CPM Ads That Pay Per Impression and Not Per Click Like Text Ads

I don’t know if this was ever true, but I know it is not true today. When an advertiser sets up their ad they choose whether they want it to be CPC or CPM. This choice comes after they choose whether or not to create a text ad or an image ad. In other words, an advertiser can create an image ad that pays per click just like they can create an image ad that pays per impression.

Unfortunately, there is no way to allow only image ads that pay per click. If you allow image ads, then some of those ads will be CPM ads and some of them will be CPC ads with no control from you over them.

Reliable AdSense Information Will Increase Your Earnings

Be sure that the information you are getting about AdSense is reliable. Attempt to verify any program information directly with Google before acting on it. Don’t forget to read through the AdWords information as well because not everything is in the AdSense section. (For example, there is no mention of Smart Pricing anywhere in the AdSense information on Google’s website. Smart Pricing is only mentioned in the AdWords sections.)

Biggest AdSense Mistakes Costly Myths originally published at Make Money Writing Online

1. Research Keywords
2. Write Keyword Optimized Posts or Pages
3. Build Backlinks to Optimized Articles
4. Move Up in Search Engine Rankings
5. Profit

If this sounds about right to you, I have some bad news for you. There is a very good chance that even if you fully succeed at the money making method listed above, you may never earn more money from AdSense than a few pennies.

If earning money from Google AdSense ads can’t be done by following the methodology above, then why do so many people repeat it?

First, off, congratulations on asking the right question. Secondly, the answer to that question is actually in the question itself. So many people repeat what they have “learned” about search engine optimization, or SEO, and making money with AdSense that it has become accepted conventional wisdom, even if it is not entirely true. If you are serious about making money writing online, it is imperative to be able to distinguish knowledge that has been used and verified first-hand, and the so-called knowledge that has been copied from sources second-hand.

The good news is that the formula for making money with Google AdSense above is not false, so much as it is incomplete. The most important step for earning money with AdSense has been left out of the formula, unintentionally, by hundreds of writers and webmasters trying to make a name for themselves as money making bloggers by reading information and then passing it on. There is nothing wrong with doing this. I do it everyday as a professional freelance writer by creating content and articles for publication based upon research that has been given to me, or data that I have researched myself. The catch is, that in order to be useful, the research that writing is based on must be both accurate, and complete. (You can read my freelance writing blog for more information and freelance writing tips.)

What Is Missing From Google AdSense Formula for Earning Money?

The key to making money with AdSense is getting clicks on the ads that are placed on the website or the advertisements displayed on the webpage that you have build with perfect keyword optimization. Most AdSense manuals of instruction provide the insider information for making money using Google AdSense by saying that you can expect a one percent (1%) click through rate on the Google ads displayed on your high-ranking webpage. However, while that number may be inline with most reported click-through-rates or CTR studies, that number is an average CTR rate, not a standard CTR rate.

The reality of Google AdSense is that some keywords get much higher click through rates. The bad news, is that many keywords get much lower click through rates.

If you spend a lot of time optimizing high-quality content and then linking it to the #1 position in Google search results (sometimes called Search Engine Results Pages, or SERPs), but nobody clicks on the ads that get displayed, you won’t make any money with AdSense no matter how good you are at high-ranking, keyword optimized, content for the web.

How do you find out what searches have keywords that get clicked a lot? Unfortunately, the only true answer is trial and error.

Some webpages can literally get a 25 percent CTR or even higher because the people searching for that information are so likely to be in need of services or products provided by Google’s advertisers. Other webpages can get less than 0.01% CTR because the people looking for that particular information have no need for the products or services provided.

The best way to find high-paying keywords for profitable AdSense targeting is to research high-volume, good-paying keywords and then publish well-written, high-quality web content around those keywords. Then, build some links to those articles and webpages in order to increase web traffic by having high-ranking search results linking to your content. By checking your AdSense Reports and your Google Analytics reports, you can determine which webpages are resulting in high click through rates and cross-reference those pages with what keywords are driving traffic to those webpages. Using those keywords to create high-ranking, top-quality, keyword optimized content to drive profitable traffic to your website that will actually click on your Google AdSense placements is the key to making money writing online by using AdSense.

Next Steps Making Money With AdSense

When you are ready to get serious about earning money with AdSense, important steps cannot be skipped.

First, you will need to start a writing business so that you don’t have to give your social security number out to everyone in order to get paid. Second, you will need to get approved for Google AdSense accounts. Third, it can help to be approved for Google AdWords as well. Finally, you will need to build a profitable website. One of the easiest ways to create a quality website is by using WordPress. Don’t get bogged down in WordPress themes that are search engine optimized and flashy. They are not any better for making money with AdSense and can cost you more dollars for webhosting if they use too many resources. Instead, look for great WordPress themes for writers that can feature your content without appearing boring or amateurish.

Then, grab the Make Money Writing Online Feed to stay up to date on all of the best money making writing techniques.

Secret Formula For Google AdSense Money Making Websites originally published at Make Money Writing Online

As nothing more than a potential side benefit, I have also followed the possibility that Hubs published on HubPages produce passive income online by themselves, though I have not made this any sort of focus in my endeavors over there.

In order to monitor profits from HubPages and determine whether there is any value in pursuing attempting to make money writing online at HubPages, I have, of course, installed my Google AdSense number on HubPages and linked the HubPages AdSense to Google Analytics. So far, the results haven’t been all that inspiring. It isn’t that Hubs don’t get traffic, they do. The problem is that the ads on HubPages don’t just draw from your Hub’s content, but also, seemingly, from Hubs around them, or from the overall HubPages domain itself.

What that means, when it comes right down to actual AdSense data for HubPages is that most clicks pay very low amounts, even for Hubs that are about topics and similar in content to webpages elsewhere that earn much higher CPC. For example, I often see something like $0.07 for a single click on a newer hub which make analyzing how much each click pays easier. A similar webpage on a related topic on a different site, or on one of my more carefully crafted sites, will pull down something like $0.35 to $1.00 for the same kind of clicks. Add in the fact that HubPages displays your ads 60% of the time, and you have a recipe for some low earnings.

However, today, I happened to notice a single click take down well over $2.00 on a topic where that would be considered a good amount anywhere. Now, that is just the one time, but it does raise the question. If the right topics were written about, and enough of the low-paying CPC advertisers could be filtered out in the AdSense competitive ad filter, could HubPages be a bigger source of monthly income?

We’ll find out soon enough. I’m going to launch my 100 Hubs in 10 Days Challenge soon, and I’m going to hit several “juicy” topics along the way. Between the extra linking, the HubRank pushed inevitably toward 95+, and my own backlinking and promo-ing, there just might be enough sizzle to see some real dollars earned on HubPages.

HubPages AdSense Revenue Increasing May Be Worthwhile Yet originally published at Make Money Writing Online

The wedding reception DJ rate piece did pretty well while it sat on top of some of the topics pages on HubPages itself and generated a little bit of traffic organically. However, the article doesn’t really show up anywhere in main Google search results pages. The SERPs are, of course, loaded with long-established webpages that ironically, do not answer the question most people are asking when they search for wedding DJ prices or wedding DJ rates or something similar.

Instead these searches return webpages with information about wedding DJs who will do a wedding reception for you, but not pages that actually have any price or rates on them. In fact, most of the top search results flatly state something like, contact us for rates, or fill out this form for a rate quote.

This is one of the area where Google and all Internet search engines fail miserably. They are unable to detect the difference between a webpage that actually lists rates or prices and one that points you somewhere else for that same information. This is obviously a very tough programming challenge both from the perspective of being able to discern when someone wants actual pricing information, and from the perspective of knowing which content delivers an actual rate or price. Then, there is the even more difficult task of determining which pages best serve the searcher. For example, a highly regarded webpage about wedding reception DJs that does not list a solid dollar amount might still be a better resource than a thinly populated webpage with dollar signs all over it, but filled with less than useful information.

Out of curiosity, I have typed up this post which both exceeds the commonly excepted minimum word requirement to be taken seriously by Google (300 words) and that has two links with different anchor text to the webpage in question. The homepage of this site sits at around a 3 on the fabled PageRank scale based on various toolbars, so we aren’t talking about huge fire power, but it has been known to push up a page into the top 10 results for lesser used keyword searches. Thus, we’ll get to see two things. One, how far, if at all can these links push my Hub (which stands on the shoulders of HubPages and its "authority") and, two, what alternate searches might be less competitive, and potentially more profitable?

Stay tuned, or just grab the Make Money Writing Online RSS Feed.

Wedding DJ Costs or How Much Power Does It Take To Rank High In Google Search Results? originally published at Make Money Writing Online

It’s a funny joke, but it is also illuminating to the Internet marketer looking to make money by writing online. Too many writers see big dollar signs when they find a keyword paying $25 per click or more. That sounds great on paper, but if you only get one click per month, that’s a whopping $25 of monthly income. You won’t be quitting your job to live on passive income at that rate.

On the other hand, if you have decent traffic to a $1 CPC keyword and get 5 clicks every day, that works out to $150 of monthly revenue. That is a much better deal even though the CPC is lower for that particular keyword.

Of course, knowing which of the above scenarios will come true at any CPC or CPM is tricky. Sometimes everything looks perfect: high-paying CPC, high monthly searches, low competition, and still, it turns out to be a bust.

One of the easy ways to find out how a keyword will play out is to write a good quality page about the keyword. Use several variations throughout the post in order to "trap" as many keyword searches as possible. The goal is not to rank #1 for any particular keyword (not yet, anyway), but rather to see if there is any value in chasing the rankings for some or all of the well researched keywords you have discovered.

If the topic fits in with one of your established websites, put it on there and link it from as many places as possible. Then, sit back and watch your Google Analytics. See which keywords show up not just for visitors to the website, but from those who actually end up clicking on ads. Don’t forget, some ads pay high CPC because the get very low click volumes. That makes the high pay rates cheap overall for advertisers. You will earn higher AdSense income with ads that get 10 clicks per day and pay $0.50 than ones that pay $3.00 per click but are lucky to net even one click per day.

If the topic does not fit in with one of your existing websites, consider writing an article for another website like HubPages. A content article based website like this one gives you some built in traction for getting your page indexed quickly and seeing what the traffic looks like. If it looks like you have a winner, then you can put the time and effort into building a new site around the profitable keyword you found. If it looks like a dud you can move on to your next promising keyword.

Don’t forget to check back in with your published article every once and a while. Sometimes, pages build up momentum and become profitable after being published for a longer period of time.

Finding Profitable Niches Keywords originally published at Make Money Writing Online

That does not mean that none of those sites about earning money online had nothing to offer. In fact, quite the opposite. Many of the search engine optimization tips, the keyword tricks, and the explanations about what makes money, what doesn’t make money, and how to get started earning money online, were very useful to helping me get my freelance writing business started. In addition, those same tips gave me some insight into how to build my own websites and online properties in a way that could generate passive income for me in order to compliment how much I earn as a freelance writer.

To Make Money With HubPages Do All The Steps

One of the more intriguing writers I used to read went relatively quiet not long after I found them and read through their massive archive of writing information and web income strategies. More accurately, they created a for-pay service called the Keyword Academy which based on what I have heard is relatively successful. And, while I certainly do not begrudge anyone who finds a way to earn money from their talents, I do miss having more frequent updates from them, primarily because I learned that what is said on that website tends to be true, whether it is popular or not.

Court (who I go back and forth about whether male or female, so forgive the pronouns if I get them wrong) turned me onto HubPages last year with the idea that writing a critical mass of good Hubs could:

• a) Provide useful backlinks to other webpages and properties in order to increase their value and visibility in search engine results pages, or SERPs;
• b) Actually provide their own revenue stream via the AdSense sharing program that HubPages uses to allow authors to monetize their earnings.

Apparently Court has gotten some criticism / complaints / whiners about whether or not HubPage is a good way to earn money online. In response, she posted an article titled How to Improve Your HubPages Earnings. Her primary contention in the article is that too many people do not do “all of the steps” required to generate profits from HubPages.

The best part is the analogy used of driving around the block. Basically, if you drive out of your driveway and turn right, you have drive to the next turn and then turn right again four more times before returning home. You cannot stop after fewer turns and expect to have accomplished your goal. If you stop too soon, your only real hope is to try and use hot girls to get more HubPages traffic.

Many writers trying to make money online by writing, whether on HubPages or elsewhere, Court says, stop before doing everything required in order to earn money with writing. It’s an interesting read, and if you are having trouble making money with HubPages, probably a good start.

However, like many make money online articles, it makes a lot of assumptions, and leaves out a lot of details. Not that is in any way insufficient. There is simply too much to cover in a single article of a reasonable length. Just covering the barest of basics about HubPages SEO Tips could take a handful of posts.

However, I thought I would help address one point and that is the issue of building links to promote your hubs. Don’t over think this. You aren’t trying to get your Hubs to rank #1 on Google for a hugely profitable keyword. (You should be doing that on your own websites instead of splitting the money with HubPages.) Remember that the whole point of using HubPages or eZine Articles or Squidoo or Associated Content and the like is to stand on the shoulders of their PageRank, so to speak. HubPages traffic volume gets hubs indexed fast without the writer having to do anything.

How To Link Promote Hubs on HubPages and Websites

In other words, you don’t need to build 900 backlinks to your Hubs in order to get anywhere. Frankly, if the topic isn’t too competitive, a dozen is enough to at least see what the Hub can do for you, or what it cannot do for you. Getting a dozen backlinks is not as hard as it sounds. You should already have a blog or website for your writing business. Throw a post up with some links there. Then add some bookmarks to Delicious or whatever you like, and then link some of your other Hubs to each new Hub and vice versa. Build a Squidoo Lens with links back to your Hubs and you should be well on your way.

At this point, watch your statistics and see which sites are attracting hits. Go out and give those sites another dozen links. Tweak the sites that are not getting any traffic and see if you can get them to build up some numbers. Once you have traffic, start watching your AdSense reports to see which hubs are generating revenue and then build secondary hubs that are related. Make sure to interlink them all.

Now, this won’t make you rich fast, or even earn $1,000 a month with HubPages, but it will give you a taste of what you can do, and that is what will push you to do the rest of those steps. A hub that I punched out with little research and just ten or so links about the best Chicago pizza now generates earnings despite having been all but abandoned months ago.

Once you see a hub generating $7.14 a day in AdSense earnings, it’s actually hard to NOT do more to make it perform better. Success is addictive. Don’t get caught up in an all or nothing mentality. Remember $10 a day in AdSense earnings is $300 a month in free money. Reinvest that money in your online writing business. Buy new domains, pay for better webhosting, get a notebook to write anyplace, anytime, whatever you need to keep going.

Before you know it, you’ll be making the decision about whether to quit your job and become a full-time Internet entrepreneur.

Earn Money With HubPages Tips originally published at Make Money Writing Online