The Highest-Paid Hubbers Make $650 to $3,800 per Month: Learning from their Stats - Part 1, Big Money
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© 2012 by Aurelio Locsin.
Like many of you, I joined HubPages to make money from my writing. If the best hubbers have scores of 100, then they must make the highest amounts, right? So I studied their efforts and followed their examples, only to discover my earnings didn’t improve all that much.
Further investigation revealed a sad truth. The magic number 100 had nothing to do with financial success. If you don’t believe me, just compare the names on the best list with the names under success stories. With one exception, habee, there are no names on both lists.
All information comes directly from or is derived from figures at HubPages Success Stories.
Successful Hubbers
So I set out to study the stats of the top earners to see what lessons they offered. Let me preface this by saying that I don’t know any of these folks, though would welcome any of their comments on this hub. I’m not even following any of them, though that’s going to change. Also, the definition of success varies by hubber and is subjective. In this case, success equals high monthly income, which is a simple and objective number.
The following lists the highest earning hubbers, arranged by monthly income.
Name
| Hubscore
| Followers
| Age
| Hubs
| Monthly Income
| Views/Day
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Marye Audet
| 97
| 4,500
| 4
| 742
| $3,800
| 12,000
|
Kathryn Vercillo
| 95
| 5,100
| 4
| 1123
| $1,500
| 24,000
|
habee
| 100
| 2,900
| 2
| 926
| $1,300
| 5,000
|
John D. Lee
| 92
| 904
| 4
| 494
| $1,300
| 7,500
|
Blake Flannery
| 93
| 623
| 3
| 134
| $1,280
| 28,000
|
jimmythejock
| 94
| 2,400
| 5
| 494
| $1,200
| 7,500
|
stephhhicks68
| 93
| 3,200
| 4
| 307
| $950
| 9,000
|
Susana S
| 97
| 2,100
| 2
| 96
| $850
| 4,000
|
relache
| 95
| 3,600
| 5
| 200
| $850
| 9,000
|
glassvisage
| 94
| 2,700
| 5
| 462
| $650
| 7,000
|
Quick Bios
The backgrounds of the top five hubbers are as different as their monthly amounts:
- Mary Audet, who earns $3,800 month, is a divorced mom of eight who makes all her income from HubPages. She home-schools her kids, raises Nigerian Dwarf Dairy goats, and loves roses, chocolates and bath products. She is mostly known as a food writer and emphasizes learning the craft of writing.
- Kathryn Vercillo, who makes $1,500 a month, has ten years experience as a freelance writer and blogger. She loves doing the research for her technology, relationship, personal finance and business hubs, and spends 10 hours a week writing and promoting her efforts. She estimates her part-time earnings at $30 per hour.
- Habee, who gets $1,300, is a grandmother and a retired teacher of British and American Literature and writing. She judges writing and speech contests at local to regional levels and is currently a successful freelance writer on education, cooking, parenting and the elderly. Her husband helps with building and repair hubs.
- JimmyTheJock, who makes the same amount as Habbee, boasts that his hub on World War 1 - Trench Warfare gets at least 13,000 hits and pays $35 per month. He advises not giving up too soon because it took him about nine months to reach his first payment threshhold.
- StephHicks68, who makes $1,280, started with 15 years as an environmental/land use lawyer. She specializes in “how to” articles and on the delights of her Central Oregon locale. Her expertise covers such subjects as gardening, recipes and family.
Common Elements
These moneymaking stars share the following elements:
- No rookies. They’ve been with HubPages an average of 3.8 years, with the newest members joining over two years ago. Age doesn’t correlate with earnings. Both the top and bottom earners have been around the longest while habee, who joined only two years ago is in the top three.
- Hubscore of 90+. While only habee has a Hubscore of 100, the rest have scores of at least 90. Keep in mind that these numbers can fluctuate constantly by plus-or-minus three points, so one or two more may have flirted with the top number. The score does not necessarily correlate with income.
- Lots of followers. With two exceptions, all these hubbers have followers in the thousands. It’s no surprise that if more people visit your hubs, the more income you receive. The top two also have the most followers. But thousands of followers are not always necessary as shown by Blake Flannery, who has only 623 followers.
- Lots of views. Each hubber gets at least 4,000 page views per day, with the highest number belonging to Blake Flannery, who lands in the middle for earnings. Kathryn Vercillo, who ranks second for earnings, has 24,000 views and top-rated Mary Audet has the third –highest number at 12,000.
Please see Part 2, Conclusions, of this series to discover how you can use these stats to your advantage.
Alocsin's Related Hubs
- Earnings Report -- Which Pays More: Google Adsense or the Hubpages Ad Program?
Aside from the Ebay and Amazon affiliate programs, the primary source of income for most hubbers comes from ads produced by either HubPages or Google Adsense. I was curious as to which program would generate the most income so I conducted an experiment. - 3 weeks ago
- Over 220,000 Unique Visitors a Month: Learning from the Most Visited Hubbers
If you're wondering how many visitors it takes to reach the top of the HubPages heap, the answers are here. - 2 months ago
- The Follow Button: Strong Enough for Men, but Remade by Women
The Follow button is a HubPages feature that emails you when the people you follow publish new hubs. How you use it can determine how many followers you end up with. - 3 months ago
- Alocsin's Moneymaking How-To Index for Hubs and the Internet
The following is an index to Alocain's hubs about how to make money on HubPages and the Internet, sorted in alphabetical order by category and then title. The last section, What's New, lists the five latest hubs. - 3 months ago
- The Highest-Paid Hubbers Make $650 to $3,800 per Month: Learning from their Stats - Part 2, Conclusions
Find out the stats of the top-earning hubbers and see how they can apply to you. - 3 months ago
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I have always not been a believer in what some say they made and of course they are not on the list. I believe this is the same list HP post out this month. So since this is traffic driven, why is it the person with the most views only make 1/3 the money the top earner gets and the top earner had less than 1/2 the views? Not to mention the monthly dollars does not seem in line for what they claim their lifetime earnings are. There are many inconsistencies in what HP does for us writers.
This was a good hub with good advice. Vote up and more.
Great research. You have done a great job on this. Voted up and useful.
Very interesting information. How were you able to attain the income and views per day information? The other stats I see as public info but I'm curious about the last two. I have always believed that this is a process and that like any other "business", it would take 3-5 years to make a good income. Off to read part two!
Interesting!
Interesting information. I don't always believe what a person says they make because many of them are indeed salesmen. I also see a few of them whining about not making enough money on facebook so if they are rolling in the dough there shouldn't be any whining. Just my opinion.
Other fails ok regarding hubber score, age, followers. From where did you got the earning and daily page views? I think this is not openly published so there is no confirmed data I think. Thanks for SHARING this and will attract many hubbers..
very interesting-- I'm on my way over to part two to get the end of the story-- voting up and interesting
Hey folks, I'll respond to your comments later, but I noticed an error in the link on my hub to the information, which I've since corrected. I also explicitly stated in a separate sentence where the info comes from, since it was originally buried in a paragraph.
But the data for the earnings and daily page views are listed here: http://hubpages.com/success/
And yes, this is a public page. Feel free to browse it yourself, which my hub also encourages. Sorry for the confusion.
This is a very interesting hub and observation. Thanks for sharing!
This was awesome man! I wonder what it is about Mary Audet's hubs that does it for her? She has a lot of very useful information in them, I know that. Voted up, up, up!
Came here from reading part II. Again, I could definitely use this useful information. Thanks.
Thanks for writing this hub, alocsin. In terms of the number of followers, I thought I read that you cannot/should not click on the ads of people you follow. So, if that is true, is the income coming from those that are not followers but those that google the subject matter? It would be nice to receive that kind of income. They must be great writers that write on very popular sujects. I will have to check them out!
I think it depends a lot on what the source of the traffic is, which unfortunately isn't listed in the stats. All things being equal a person would make far more if their views came from Google than if it they all came from HubPages.
Thanks Alocsin! Another great hub with great information! It shows me that patience and persistence are what is needed. Thanks for SHARING! Votes and shares!!
I actually had the links to the data in the text, but they weren't working. I've fixed them now, plus explicitly stated in a separate sentence in the intro where the info comes from. It's all public info.
American View: income shouldn't be a linear function of traffic. It's going to depend on the rate of clicks for you and your niche, and also on dollars per click. For some types of ads the dollars are very slim. Other ads can bring in several dollars per click.
I corrected the link in the article from where I got the information. It's public information on the HubPages Success page.
I don't know enough about the process to answer that, I'm afraid. But I thought visits by followers counted when calculating hub income. Even if it didn't, the more followers you have, then the more they can publicize your efforts. Just some guesses on my part.
When I read the success stories, I was impressed, of course, but I still have questions on the math. The site says they 'average' so many dollars a month, but they've all been here for quite a while, and the overall total they earned doesn't average out that way. In other words, how many months were factored in for someone 'averaging' $1,200 a month, or whatever.
I enjoyed the hub - thanks for posting, and thank for analyzing some of their info, such as years on the site and the number of followers. Voted up and useful.
The information that you have compiled and researched is awesome. I've read part 2 of this hub and I must say, both these stellar posts make for a nice little motivational read. Nicely done!
Princesswithapen
Haha...I really value these hubs that give us something to measure with - I mean, I would like to be where these hubbers are, so I'm thinking, okay, write more hubs and market them! Thanks for compiling this hub. Voted up, useful and SHARING.
This is great information. Thanks for your research.
I think I might be the first rookie to make a thousand per month. I am getting There. Thanks for the evaluation and the motivation. Respect
That is the list of some of the high earners on HubPages, not all. There are many more high earners who are not happy disclosing their income publicly as far as I know. Anyways, Congrats to those who have dared to announce their revenue from HubPages.
thanks for sharing Aurelio...I am wondering too on how to move my income a notch...I haven't received that elusive dollar yet...
Aurelio, this is awesome information and a big motivation to see that hubbers who stick around & keep writing hubs, make money finally. I know it will take time but I would certainly want to be in this bracket.
Thanks for a very motivational hub. Off to read the concluding part.
Voted up, awesome and wish there was a motivational button as well.
Alocsin...
So the lack of my inclusion on the, rather exalted, list above certainly correlates with my bank account. Great analysis! If part two is only a fraction of the awesomeness...that is part one...I commend you in advance my friend!
Thomas
PS...sharing, voting, Up'ing...all that...
Such an interesting and useful hub; which will benefit me greatly.
Thanks for sharing and a vote up due here.
Take care and enjoy your day.
Eddy.
I have studied the success page, but how wonderful that you created a chart so we could make an easy comparison. Voting up and moving on to the next hub...
Great hub! I do think success comes with time and hard work Thank you for a great chart and giving us tips to succeed Take care,
Sunnie
Thanks for presenting this information in a simple and thorough way. Its clear, that if you want to be successful on here, then it takes time and a lot of hard work.
Thank you SO much alocsin for this valuable information, which help determine worth. Realizing the many hours and thought processes behind it I not only thank you, but Appreciate this work. Awesome. The puzzle continues.
Check out the link, Marcy. There's quite a bit more information there than I put in the hub. They list the total earnings, so perhaps you can do some calculating to answer your question. I didn't put that in because I wanted to cover current monthly earnings only.
Well, don't just leave me hanging with that comment, Rasta1. A $1,000 a month is an achievement for any hubber, rookie or vet. How do you do it? Do you have a hub where you explain your techniques?
Thanks for sharing, you have put me on a new path of Hubbing.Be well and thanks again.
I suspected as much, Anamika. Thanks for pointing it out though.
We'll both keep trying, Thomas, and maybe we'll be on the list someday.
Thanks for taking the time to do this analysis, alocsin. The information is very useful. I'm going to read Part Two now.
Thanks all for stopping by. I'm glad you found this information as eye-opening as I did.
YUP! It is possible to make money. And the hubscore really has very little to do with making the money that You want or NEED. This is an eye opening, and straight to the point HUb! Voted UP AND Useful!
I really love your articles on Hubpages. It is always great to get some key advice. The stats were awesome. Votes up and across.
This is so encouraging. It makes me want to write more. I read both part 1 and 2 and you made some excellent points.
This is a great article. It makes me want to get to work and do this better. Thanks for sharing this encouraging information! :)
You observation is very interesting. I'm going to read the second part.
Thanks for sharing.
I havn't done it as yet, But I am following this technique that has worked with other projects in the past. http://rasta1.hubpages.com/hub/Going-In-For-The-Ki
I hope to do it by the end of march. We should challenge each other. I have some ideas, stay in touch.
Aurelio, I really love the way you have compiled all these facts in an easy to understand and compare format. I have included this hub (and the next one) in this week's favorite list.
Hi, its all down to hard work, and of course choosing the right catagory to write about. I, like others have made the mistake in the past of writing about what I feel like, funny etc, and not really taking notice of what actually gets read. I am trying to turn it around now, but good luck to them, thats what we are here for and hopefully we can strive to be the same. the more hubs you write, and good ones, the more money you will earn, thanks for sharing!
Great analysis of this conflicting and sometimes confusing data.
When I have looked at the hubs, that some of these long term hubbers write about. Is is even more astounding.
It really shows that we can write on just about any topic and it will find an audience.
The internet is so vast and I think sometimes we forget this simple fact. We are dropping our content into a pool containing 100's of millions of readers.
There is room for everyone's content as long as it is useful, interesting, funny etc.
This is a great hub as is part 2.
Voted up and SHARING
Not sure I learn anything but that fact a list of top earners. Voted Down
I would challenge you, rasta1, but first I have to break $150 a month. I'm nowhere near that yet. Good luck. Let me know how it goes.
I saw those and commented. Thank you so much.
All a learning process, Nell. Thanks for visiting.
I appreciate the honesty, Barry. I think you'll find the lessons in Part 2. This part was just the intro.
This is a really cool hub. I will be reading part 2 very soon. I am so glad you gathered research and shared it with us all. Thanks. I definitely bookmarked this hub!
Great hub, alocsin. I'm curious as to how you got all the page views and pays and such. Did they share that with you? It's interesting how ones with fewer years make more, or fewer followers, etc...I wonder if they all have hubs on the secrets to their success...? Lots of votes on this one. Very inspiring. Bookmarking and going to Part 2!
Great researched hub! Voted up!
Up, useful and interesting. I don't expect to ever have the hours to put in to earn loads on HubPages, but it's stimulating to know that such money can be made for those who persevere and work hard.
Very interesting data. Thanks for keeping things in perspective.
This is all available on the Hubpages Success pages -- I put links to it twice in the Intro section, but people still seem to miss it. Anyway, it's all public information that you can view yourself. If you can't find the link, let me know.
alocsin, thank you so much for sharing your research with us. This was very helpful! Up and Useful!
Blessings!
Mekenzie
Alocsin, great research! Voted up and awesome.
Thank you for helping your fellow Hubbers!
Can you make money without a bank account and just a visa check card?
interesting, aurelio. I'll have to check out part two
Yes, primpo, you can get paid via PayPal through a debit card. I left a link on your other comment to one of my hubs.
This is so inspiring and encouraging. Hubpages has been doing really great. Excellent hub!
I have returned to this hub several times and have shared it with others. I really appreciate the way you've compiled this information and wish you as much success on HP!
I appreciate that, vespawoolf. I hope you've also had a chance to see Part 2 of this series.
Oh, I have needed this hub. #1 reason-- occasionally I visit the testimonies of the top earners for encouragement. Now I can see them side by side! Yippee! Someday I will be one of them, encouraging the next guy. Thanks, alocsin. Voted up and VERY useful.
Reading their hubs, Sinea, also gives one a good idea of how to write for HP.
Thanks Alocsin, you are very practical. Where others speculate, you go digging and bring back results. I love that very much. It is just the kind of thing I would do if I had enough time. Thanks for doing it and for being so selfless in sharing.
Very interesting breakdown of information...thanks for doing the homework.
Great Hub! Love the breakdown spreadsheet, it inspires us to keep writing to one day reach our own personal goals. Cheers, Barry :)
alocsin , I found time to read this article and a few more . Your language is perfect . Then to say the information is much needed for me , a new hubber . Plus I am in low moods for Adsense disabled my account for no reason at all. So I am going to read your articles one by one .Thanks a lot .
That is amazing information. Shows me how far I have to go. Very well researched and well done! Thanks for compiling this!
Your hubs are so informative. I can't wait for part 2.
Wow, nice job dude. I am coming all the way too.
Great information, and thanks for taking the time to study and present your findings!
Great useful hub!
Hope you found part 2 already, savanahl. It's in the link list at the end of the hub.
Very interesting, and it helps to keep me trying because I was beginning to get a bit flustered. Thanks, can't wait for the sequel. :)
Aloc this is a great Hub and a fantastic resource for all us writers here at HubPages. I am getting a bit discouraged too but thanks for your helpful Hub here I will read on to part 2 and learn more and maybe improve. I check my stats daily so maybe I can apply the techniques in part 2. Thanks again man. Great Hub. Voting up useful and interesting and sharing. Great work.
Awesome information given here, thanks! I am going to check out part 2 as well and follow you :)
alocsin, very inspiring article, thank you. It was a relief to have it reiterated that the hubber score has very little to do with income, other than hubber scores are going to reflect how serious we are about our hubs and promoting that is. I am off to read the rest of the story :) Another great hub!
Thanks for this great information about how writers on HubPages are earning money. I like the background information too of the successful hubbers because it gave me an idea of each person who is doing well.
Thanks for SHARING. Up and Awesome
I would like to make BIG money because I have BIG bills haha. Such inspiration to keep on going. I didn't know all this information was made public, so thanks for bringing it all to light. You are awesome.
It certainly gives me hope. Up, useful and interesting.
Hang in there, truthfornow. Keep learning and writing and the money will slowly come.
Great Hub, very useful for new as well as other Hubbers. Voted up and shared.
There is hope and it is alive. I look forward to the day I can say I am earning....big...I'm serious...earning BIG...LOL. Thank you for sharing.
I've come to the conclusion that in order to make money on HubPages: write a lot of good quality Hubs over a long period to time (maybe 2-3 years). It will just take time and effort I think. Thanks for all the info. I voted this Hub UP, etc. Now I'm off to read Part II.
My hubscore is usually high but I don't know what it means. Certainly not high traffic or earnings
Good advice regarding learning from the best Hubbers. I remember when I was growing up, a friend became a top notch skier. I asked him how he did it, and he said he just followed the best skiers on the slopes and observed what they did. It seems to me that to be really good at making money on HubPages, you need to be able to commit a lot of time to it.
Voted up and interesting. Keeping this article and number two around. I think it will take a while to sink in. Plus I want to see what the big winners are writing about. You can congratulate me - to date I have made 0.35 cents - lol This means on to hub 2. Thanks for doing all this work and sharing and of course for providing hope.
That's cool that a few people here make a decent income just off HP. I freeze up if I focus on that too much though. I kind of want to write longer things, and use this as one platform for building an audience.
Thinking about money freaks me out, but hooray for all these folks! More power too 'em.
Maybe it just means you're a good writer, dahoglund ;)
Voted up. Very inspiring. This has encouraged me to write more hubs. I enjoy writing, and look forward to making some money, too.
Interesting! Very informative as well!
Rob Bell Level 1 Commenter 3 months ago
I think it would be interesting to look at what subjects they write about.