Write Articles to Make Money Online or to Inform and Inspire?

That is the question. Do I write articles to make money online or to inspire readers across the world? What is the purpose of Hubpages? What are YOU here for? I am here for a little bit of both I suppose.

I have been on Hubpages for less than two months and already have 15 people who follow my writing. I never considered myself a “writer” by trade, but it that’s the amazing thing about Hubpages. There are so many great people who provide excellent feedback to your articles. You cannot ask for better editing on an original piece of writing.

Now my questioned that I have posed begs an important one.  I won’t lie. I came to Hubpages because a friend of mine suggested I could make money writing. I said, “Sounds awesome!” As soon as I got here, I was highly lost.  I read other hubs on how to implement Google Adsense and How to Make Money Online. I read hubber after hubber trying to figure out how I could make money writing. The truth is, and as many other Make Money Online hubbers put it, it takes a while to see a significant income on Hubpages strictly using Google Adsense to make money.  If you want to monetize your funds faster, you are probably better off starting with a niche website. 

If you have an ultimate goal of making money through online affiliate marketing, then Hubpages is a great place to start. You can learn important steps without spending a dime on domain names, web hosting, content writers, and basically everything else you would need to start your own website. The other great part about writing articles to make money on Hubpages is the plethora of other writers doing the same exact thing.  Look at their styles of writing, check their scores and try to figure out how they are so successful.  Find ways to alter your articles to be more SEO friendly. 

I am not going to delve into the whole Search Engine Optimization schpeel, because I think there is enough of that on Hubpages and the internet for that matter, but what I will say is this. If you are on Hubpages to make money, be patient.

This BURNS in my mind as I write every article.  I consider myself straightforward and blunt about things, and I will be the first one to tell you I have a few articles, NOT ALL, but some that are on Hubpages simply so I can write articles to make money online. I thought it would be nice extra income.  I have made around six bucks on Adsense in the past month and a half that I have been here. Not too shabby for something I love doing!

But the problem is that, sometimes I write these “money” articles and I do not feel content about it. Anyone can research a topic for hours on end, write a very uninformed article about it, have people click on their links, and BAM, make money.  I enjoy so much more, writing so that people WANT to leave comments and create a discussion.  I enjoy seeing that I actually have FIFTEEN FOLLOWERS! Now if all of my content was mindless rubbish, I would not have anybody reading my stuff. I would feel like a spammer.  I have even emailed the “money experts” on this site to question their methods as to how I can change things and make cash.  What they send back is “Here are links to my articles on how to do this, and how to do that”….. I didn’t ASK them for links to their articles. I asked them a simple question that requires a simple or no answer at all. 

They will remain nameless because they are EVER popular, but my point is, that as much as I would love to write articles to make money online, I would much rather keep the traffic organic as possible. This consists of writing solid, informed, entertaining content that readers will enjoy.  If content is poorly written nobody will read it, plain and simple. Check out Google Analytics and you will be able to see the bounce rate and how much time people spend on your website.  It’s an amazing tool for web shenanigans whether it be commerce or pure entertainment.

If you have asked yourself this question as a writer, you understand my conundrum. The way I like to explain my stance is as follows. OK, so you ARE a writer by trade. That’s great. You were an English or Journalism major. AWESOME! So what do you plan on doing with that degree choice? Writing for free? Did you spend all of that time, money, and energy to stimulate the minds of others with absolutely nothing to be reciprocated back? I LOVE when people enjoy reading what I write, but I would also like to make a bit of money from it as well. If you take yourself SERIOUSLY as a writer, whether you want to publish a novel or write short stories, you also want to make money doing it. I don’t think you would be very content if a publisher purchased the rights to one of your stories and said, “ Hey, you should be happy because you wrote a New York Times bestseller!” Yeah, but you’re getting SQUAT from it.

For anybody on Hubpages or any other article website on the internet who says they write purely for the love of it and that they are not in it for making even a minute bit of money online are telling a tall tale. I’ve seen these people. If you really aren’t concerned with making money online, then you probably shouldn’t participate in Google Adsense, Amazon affiliate, EBay affiliate, or any other affiliate program.

And the problem that I see is, EVERY SINGLE PERSON who writes articles online to make money, does just that, make money from their art form, and well deserved I might add. If there are companies out there willing to pay YOU for posting advertisements in empty space that’s GREAT! But PLEASE don’t sit there and tell me that you don’t want to write for money when the opportunity presents itself especially on Hubpages.

I love to write and I like informing, inspiring, or just helping prime the mental motor, but I also like to capitalize a little bit from it. It’s not much, but it is really cool to see! So please, all of you writers who are bonafide knukcleheads that “don’t write for the money on Hubpages”, please take a chill pill and just admit that it’s nice seeing even a few bucks trickle into your Google Adsense account. I think it's pretty awesome that we can write articles to make money online AND to inspire one another!