State of the Hub (My Hub Stats After 1 Week)

Update: State of the Hub (My Hub Stats After 4 Weeks)

It has now been exactly 1 week since I started my Hubpages account. I wanted to make money, and fast, and boy was I in for a surprise! The more I wrote, the more I became frustrated, but that seems to have now passed. This community is really a genuine one, and I think I've come to terms with the fact that earning money is a slow process, that requires patience. This is truly a forum where being honest, and not taking shortcuts pays off.

Hubscore: 70
HubKarma: 32
Hubs: 21
Followers: 26

Following: 83
Accolades: published 10 hubs, answered 10 questions, contributes to community
Feedback: 8 useful, 3 funny, 1 awesome
Fan Mail: 2 thanks, 1 you're cool

Pageviews: 475

Clicks: 7
Highest click: $1.10
Lowest click: $0.03

What I've learned

Until Hubpages, I had no idea about search engine optimization (SEO), social bookmarking, increasing your presense, or even Google AdSense.  From what I've heard, I seem to have been very lucky thus far, as I've had a couple of >$1 clicks, while this could easily have been $0.01 clicks, it's just luck of the draw.  I've also learned not to visit your own hubs unless it's to edit them or deal with comments, as you increase your pageviews, and end up confusing yourself.  See if you can spot the day I visited my hubs a lot?

Don't be discouraged

I have written quite a bit in the last 6 days, and I doubt that is a pace that I will keep up for long.  I'm told that a really good method is to do the "30 in 30" challenge, where you try to have written 30 hubs in your first month.  Like I've previously stated, I've been lucky, and I've heard that most people don't make $5 in their first 3-4 months (if each of my clicks had been $0.01 I'd only have $0.07 after a week of hard work, get it!).  Patience is key, and so is not taking shortcuts.  Building relationships, asking questions, hub hopping... it's all part of the experience, and it will all get you money in the long run (I've been told).  Therefore, it is impossible to just "use" Hubpages without becoming a part of the wonderful community!

The Future

While I'm riding this high, I'm going to post again in another week (or after a month, not sure).  I think that my experiences will most likely prove to be useful to others, as well as an eye-opener for myself.  To learn is to grow, and hopefully I'll look back on this with a face-palm!

GOOD LUCK!