One of the trends that I really like and that I am thankfully seeing more and more is that writers are now more than ever noticing that HubPages is much more than just a place to create a couple of backlinks. Fairly high-profile writers and online money-makers, such as Court over at the Keyword Academy, have found that HubPages is a totally legit, revenue-generating publishing community that gives writers of all types an opportunity to earn, interact and share interests. This, of course, is fantastic news and as HubPages continues to show up on writer’s radars there will be more and more Hubbers who will realize the potential that we offer them to be successful.

Speaking of Hubbers who have recently discovered the true value of HubPages, I am happy to introduce all of you to lakeerieartists who, according to this forum post, has just hit her first official $100 payout from Google. Her story is very interesting as she’s a writer who was once only interested in using us for creating backlinks to her other articles and blogs online, but who now has become a very successful and active part of our community. She let me shoot her some quick questions about her experiences with HubPages so far, what made her stick around and what she thinks about making her first payout and here’s what she had to say:

1. Oh my goodness, according to this forum thread that you started you have officially hit your first $100 payout from Google after being a member of the HubPages community for over a year! How did you feel when you first realized that this month was the month?

Well, to be fair, I have been a member for over a year ,but didn’t really become active at writing hubs until June of this year.  So in reality, I would count my active hubbing as starting in June, making it five months from beginning to first payout.  That is a reality for anyone.  I did not do anything special.  But, yes, I am truly excited because I have had an Adsense account for about three years and it is exciting to see it turn into a real income source.

2. After snooping around at your stats a bit (I hope you don’t mind) I noticed that you published your first Hub in August of 2008 and then you didn’t really get back into the swing of things until just a few months ago. Why have you all of a sudden been publishing so much on HubPages here lately?

When I originally opened an account on Hubpages it was to create a backlink to Squidoo which I had become active on in June of 2008.  I really didn’t understand either site very well, and created one hub. More recently, although I am a Giant Squid on Squidoo, I wanted to add more revenue streams and had heard good things about Hubpages.  I decided to try it out seriously.  I already had an Amazon account and Adsense account, so I figured why not build up those accounts?  And so I started to learn the differences between Squidoo and Hubpages and how I could take advantage of Hubpages to supplement what I was already doing.

What I learned was that I really like the total control I have over my articles on Hubpages, and that Hubpages lends itself to a completely different kind of focused webpage than Squidoo.  I also learned a lot about how Adsense works.

3. I know that you were a stand-out participant of the October HubChallenge — how did joining the HubChallenge affect your overall HubPages experience and success?

The Hubchallenge really got me going.  It was at that time that I committed myself to creating some serious earning potential with Hubpages.  And I found I really loved writing the hubs.

4. You write about all different types of topics, at least I didn’t notice any type of pattern in your Hubs. If you don’t mind sharing, can you please give us a quick overview of how you are coming up with all of these seemingly random topics?

I am writing about topics that interest me, some of which you will find echoed in my blogs and on Squidoo, and I am looking for Adsense topics that pay well, and that are either seasonal within the next few months or something that people will look for all year.  As I learn more about how Adsense works, then I am adapting my topics to make better use of that knowledge.  My biggest overall topics are art, green living, and shopping.

5. After all of this time on HubPages and considering that you have just now made your first $100 payout, what has kept you hanging around this (sometimes crazy) place? I guess a better way of asking is, what do you feel are some of the main reasons that you have decided to spend your time on HubPages?

I like the hubpages community.  I see the excellent potential for passive income, and I like the ability to have control over the hubs and the earning potential of the hubs.

6.  I always like giving credit where credit is due. Who would you give credit to if I asked you who has been helpful, motivating, inspirational, friendly or just plain nuts/entertaining during your journey to your first payout? Go a head and give some shout-outs to the Hubbers who have helped you get to this point.

I would say that I have learned a lot from Relache and Darkside, and gotten a lot of encouragement from Nelle Hoxie and Sunforged.

7. Ok, well that’s all that I have (and it’s 6:45 on a Friday so I need to get home to my wife for date night) — if there’s anything else that you feel like you should add to this interview, feel free to say it now.

First of all, thank you for the opportunity to be interviewed.  Over the last several months, I have come to really appreciate and enjoy the Hubpages experience.  I would say to anyone who is new, that it takes time to understand how Hubpages works, and if you continue to make Hubs while asking questions, you will succeed.  There are a lot of experienced Hubbers who can help you.  For anyone who is coming to Hubpages from another article platform, learn how Hubpages works, and adapt your style to the Hubpages platform.  It takes a little time, but it is well worth it.

Want to keep up with what lakeerieartists is up to? Click here to become her fan now!

This guest post was written by Nelle Hoxie who has become one of the most prolific eBay Hubbers that HubPages has ever seen. This is a post that I asked her to write based upon what she’s learned after publishing 33 eBay-focused Hubs over the a span of 30 days and generating $95.02 in earnings as a result. Nelle is the real deal and if you would like to catch up with her you can currently find her neck-deep in the November Hub Challenge.

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This was my first serious month of promoting Ebay – prior to this I just stuck an Ebay capsule on the end of my 200 Amazon hubs. The result was that I made about $10 each month. Actively promoting Ebay this month, I made $95.02 on 33 Ebay hubs.

Ebay also made substantial changes to its program this month, it is now a pay-per-click program instead of paying a commission (which is known as Quality Click Pricing). The first thing you have to learn is that what you’re paid per click will be determined by the value of the traffic that you send to Ebay. Of course the traffic has to convert and lead to a sale, but that sale will have more value in Ebay’s eyes, if it is from someone who has never shopped on Ebay before. And while the Ebay has a 7-day cookie, a sale that results in the beginning of the cookie will be valued more than a sale that occurs at the end of the 7-day period. That’s why several of us requested that Hubpages include a way for us to focus on Buy It Now products which the visitor would buy immediately. Auctions can take several days to complete so those may be valued less under the new system - although Ebay has stated that they take that into consideration when valuing the click.

To compensate for this I looked for Ebay sellers that focus on Buy It Now items. Hubpages’ Ebay capsule does allow you to limit items to particular sellers. So whenever possible I focused on Buy It Now Items, by looking for sellers who had them in the niche I was looking for.

You also have to be aware of what an Ebay Campaign is – because each campaign gets its own click value each day. If you create too small a campaign you get pooled in with other small campaigns and you lose the control over your click value. A campaign is a way for you to track the efficiency of your marketing, similar to channels in AdSense, but make the campaign too small and you might be in trouble. I highly suggest that if you’re going to start promoting Ebay, (or if you want to get accepted into the program) that you very carefully read their blog, general instructions, TOS, and anything else they write. Because the changes were so recent, it is still quite confusing in places.

To protect your Ebay account, it is important that you start to make sales and become a productive affiliate.  Ebay gave an important hint to what they considered a good affiliate when they wrote the following statement on how to optimize for their Quality Pricing Click.

“From our experience, the publishers that are set to gain the highest increases in commission are niche content, shopping comparison or review site publishers who direct link to the related product and category pages or publishers who surface some of eBay’s great deals or products available in a user’s area. “

They are really looking for sites that have lots of organic shopper traffic, who haven’t been to Ebay before,  and who sell targeted products.

That was my basic strategy to create hubs that would be positioned for an immediate traffic burst and to target lots of products. Of the 33 hubs, about 7 were responsible for 80% of the sales and sales weren’t based on age of Hub. Those hubs were no better or worse than the others – and all were in the same targeted niche. That’s why I truly believe in writing a lot of hubs – regardless of the program. Most of my hubs were indexed by Google and Yahoo within 24 hours and started making sales within a few days.

I never optimize for Google Adsense so I don’t worry about the value of a Google click when I choose my niche or products. I look for lots and lots of existing traffic, and I scour the shopping malls and shopping channels looking for hot new items and trends. I also subscribe to 3 different keyword tools.

So enough of this chatter, thanks for having me Ryan, back to my HubChallenge Hubs – and the Greenbay / Vikings game.

Yep, it’s now official — HubPages is now a top 100 website in the US. Here’s the screenshot to prove it. Thanks to all of you awesome Hubbers who have helped us get to this point and let’s keep on moving up that list!

UPDATE: Here’s a quick video of our top 100 champagne celebration here at the HubPages HQ (you can also watch it over here on YouTube):

p.s. We didn’t let Frank have any champagne, but he did enjoy the cork.

Believe it or not, when I’m lurking through the forums day-to-day I’m doing more than just amusing myself with what gets posted in the Religion section — I’m also looking for great Hubber stories that need to be shared with the rest of the community. One of my favorite types of story to share is when a Hubber reaches their first $100 payout from Google, which is always a very exciting and memorable milestone for anyone who is looking to generate some earnings here on HubPages.

The latest ‘YAY!!! I made payout!!‘ forum thread was posted just a few days ago by a habee, a Hubber who has been a part of our community for over 5 months, but who has just started getting serious over the last couple. I shot her over some questions so that we all could get a better sense of what helped her get to the  sometimes seemingly unattainable first payout and here’s what she had to say:

1. I guess that some champagne is in order — according to this forum post you have officially hit your $100 AdSense payout for the first time, ever. Did you earn all of this first payout on HubPages and what was it like seeing that total add up to more than $100 bucks for the first time?

Yes, Ryan. It was all from HP! I was psyched! Even if I enjoy a lot more success here, nothing will ever match the excitement of this first payout.

2. According to your profile you have been a member of the HubPages community for over 5 months, but you also said that you have real just gotten down to business and writing more Hubs in the past 2 months, which has resulted in your first payout. What made you step up your writing the past couple of months? Did something change that we should know about?

Well honestly, I spent most of the summer in the pool or at the beach!

3. The topics that you write about range from Asbestos to oyster sauce — how do you decide what ends up getting written and published from your HubPages account?

I have a wide range of interests - practically everything interest me. Sometimes I think about associated adclick value, but sometimes I just write for fun - you know, humorous hubs that might bring a smile to readers.

4. You have published over 200 Hubs, which is quite a feat in itself. How do you stay motivated to keep on creating content and what has kept you sticking around HubPages for these last couple of months?

I have to write - if I don’t my head will explode! I think writing has been a good substitute for my teaching skills since I have retired. Writing keeps my brain from turning to mush! lol

5. There are many Hubbers out there who are still looking for their first payout from Google. What types of advice, tips, insider information would you give them now that you’ve made it to your payout? Also, how would you go about learning how to write on HubPages if you just started today?

I’m probably not a good person to answer this query - I’m technologically challenged. If I were more computer savvy, I’m sure I would have reached payout sooner.

6. Now that you’re going to be getting an additional $100 a month now from Google, what are you planning on spending it on?

I’ll probably spend it on my grandchildren. I have seven!

7. Any last thoughts that you want to share with the rest of the HubPages community? This is your chance.

I’d tell hubbers not to give up. I was very disheartened to start with, seeing only a few pennies in my account. The viewers and adclick revenue seem to grow exponentially, however.

Thanks to habee for answering these questions and if you’d like to become her fan so that you can keep up with what she’s doing from here on out (I just did), add her now by clicking here. Oh, and if you would like to see what kind of amazing progress she has been making on HubPages these past couple of months, look no further than the graph of her daily Hub views, which you can see below. Not too shabby, eh?

(click here to see all of the other editions of The Payout Chronicles)

I’m always up for sharing a good HubPages success story, so when I saw what was happening with ManekiNeko’s Hub about the Swine Flu (titled How Long is the Swine Flu Incubation Period?), I just had to write something about it. What’s hapening with her Hub at this very moment is the result of a Hubber going out and researching a topic that they’re not very familiar with and after finding out the information that they are seeking, creating a Hub on it for the rest of the world to use. Currently, this single Hub is one of the top daily revenue earners on HubPages and is seeing upwards of 6,000 impressions a day! Yeah, I know — it’s pretty amazing.

Here are a few snippets of the emails that we have been sending back and forth after I found out that her Hub was literally blasting off to the moon (and maybe even beyond that?).

Here’s what she said when I asked her why she thinks her Hub is getting so much traffic:

I guess one of the biggest reason it’s getting a lot of traffic is that I posted it back in the spring when the swine flu stuff first started happening. Other than that, I can’t say that I’m directly responsible for the traffic in terms of SEO, promotion, etc. Just a happy coincidence of timing and search popularity.

Here are her thoughts on what was going on in her head when she first started seeing it gain traffic:

Actually, I was really surprised with the amount of traffic it got right from the start. None of my other hubs had even gotten more than 1,000 views at the time, and then this one started getting 1,000+ per day. The traffic kind of spiked and dipped with people’s interest in the topic over time — people were freaking out about H1N1 when it first popped up, and now that it’s flu season, people are obviously concerned again and there are more searches for all swine flu related keywords. I was hoping that I’d see my traffic pick up, and I’m definitely pleasantly surprised that it’s gone up as much as it has. :)

One other thing that she wanted to share (which I thought was interesting):

I should add that I’m definitely not glad that so many people are suffering with the flu, but if my information helps them get help or get better faster, I’m happy for that.

Also, here is the traffic graph for ManekiNeko’s super Hub just so you can see how a Hub is capable of performing given good content and some great timing:

Here at the HubPages HQ we’ve been getting pretty excited about the fact that we’re getting really close to breaking through the Quantcast Top 100 US websites (we’re listed at #105 as I write this). So excited, in fact, that we’re doing an office contest to see who can come closest to guessing the exact say that Quantcast will display HubPages in a position of #100 or less on their website. The photo below is a list of the guesses that we all have been adding to the whiteboard and just like the Price Is Right, whoever guesses the closest without going over is the big winner of $100 in cold, hard cash.

Me personally, I guessed that we would be listed as a top 100 US website on November 5th, which isn’t too far away. So, what day do you think we’ll make it into the top 100? Unfortunately we can’t give you $100, but if you think you have a good guess we’d love to hear it!

I know that I have mentioned Frank (my Pug that I bring into the office every day) on this blog a little bit here and there, but here lately I feel like I should be talking more about him since he’s becoming such a fixture around here. Whether he’s sleeping during meetings, chewing on our conference room carpet or snoring under my desk, it’s safe to say that Frank has officially become a part of the HubPages team so I’m going to try to keep all of you up to date on what he’s up to every now and then.

The first things that I thought I should share are a couple of drawings that I found on the whiteboards here in the office. I’m not really sure what to think about them and if Frank could look up that high, I’m sure that he wouldn’t appreciate them too much, either — but, I must say that they are both really funny. Also, this should give you a sense of the fun that comes along with having an office mascot hanging around, especially one that’s a Pug.

This first drawing on the board is one that I just found today and I wouldn’t say that it’s the most flattering depiction of Frank that I’ve ever seen. I mean, don’t get me wrong — Frank is a Pug, but geez, he’s not that chubby. Plus, I walk him to and from work every day, which is about 4 miles a day (which is practically a marathon for a Pug!).

I do not approve of this second drawing at all and personally I think that it’s not very funny (ok, ok, it’s really funny). It was drawn to show how in just 2-steps Frank could be cooked up for a tasty meal. Step 1 is to catch him with an arrow (not nice) and Step 2 is to cook him over an open fire (really not nice). Poor Frank…

More updates on Frank coming soon!

Last week Princessa, our very own HubMob Queen, posted up a HubMob topic over here in the forums just like she does every other week. But, after posting that this week’s topic was Toys, something unexpectedly awesome started to happen. HubMobsters began showing up from all over the place and they were publishing HubMob Hubs one after another, after another — it was pure HubMob pandemonium and it was all very unexpected.

I mean, not to say that we all don’t have a great time with the HubMob every other week, but the fact that according to our stats, on average, the HubMob attracts 27 HubMobsters that publish 31 HubMob Hubs and that last week we had 117 Hubs that were published by 47 HubMobsters, I would say that the fun level was definitely boosted a bit. Also, it’s probably worth mentioning that there was a SUPER HubMobster, Simple Tim, who really helped out the cause by publishing an astonishing 22 HubMob Hubs on his own!

So, thanks to everyone who helped set the all-new HubMob record and be sure to join this week’s HubMob, which is all about Body Art. Hub baby, Hub!

I just rolled in early this morning from Las Vegas where I was spreading the HubPages love at the 2009 BlogWorld Expo, which is basically a huge event (2,500+ attendees) that attracts some of the biggest names in blogging, podcasting, social media and other web stuff. Me and most of the web-geeks who decide to make the journey to Vegas for BlogWorld are basically going for 3 reasons: to meet people, to create business opportunities and to learn some new things along the way. I posted a blog last week before I took off to Vegas and out of the list of people that I wanted to meet I would say that I pretty much got ‘em all covered over the past couple of days — well, except for finding someone who knew where all of the hot slots were. I definitely didn’t end up meeting someone who knew that (and I lost $80 in about 5 minutes that can prove it).

So, who exactly were all of these awesomely amazing and super-cool people that I met during the BlogWorld madness and why am I so happy that I met each of them? Well, if you don’t mind, I’d like to give you all a little run-down of the who left a memorable impression on me, how we hit it off so well and why I will definitely be staying in contact with each and every one of them. This probably won’t be a 100% complete list as I met so many great peeps while in Vegas, but this will give you a pretty good idea of who I ran into and why I’m happy that I did. Oh, and some of these people might have nothing to do with HubPages (no real business opportunity/partnership in the near future), but they still stuck in my mind as someone who was doing some really cool stuff.

How I’ll do this is by listing their full name, a link to their Twitter account and then a brief description of how I met them, why they were so memorable (or talkable) and what they’re up to on the web. If for some reason I left you off, feel free to yell at me in the comments and I’ll add you in if you’re legit.

>> I met Lacy Kemp (@realtweeter) and John Karalis (@redsarmy) on my first of many Monorail trips from the Hilton to the Convention Center (the official tweet). Lacy runs the blog and other social media for all of Real Networks products and not to mention that she became one of my favorite BlogWorld ‘09 dance partners. John is a sports blogger who manages a Boston Celtics blog, RedsArmy.com. He’s just as tall as I am and although we tried to connect for an old has-beens game of horse, it never ended up happening.

>> When I was first hitting the hotel, Eric Berto (@GeekGiant), was standing out in front and that’s when I first realized that I was not the tallest geek at BlogWorld. In fact, he not only had me beat by a few inches, but he was much better looking than me, too (and he wasn’t shy about sharing that little tidbit of information). Me and Eric ended up running into each other several times during the event and I’m still sad that I missed him winning the FatBurger eating contest.

>> One of the most energetic and down-to-Earth guys that I met at BlogWorld was Chris Patterson (@ChrisBPatterson), who is the CEO of interchanges — an Internet/social media strategies business based in Florida. We talked for a while about the crazy world of social media and how we could help each other out. One of the coolest things about Chris is that he somehow got to stay in an amazing loft while in Las Vegas during BlogWorld. You can see a video of the loft below or over here on YouTube.

>> I met the wonderful (and tall) Shauna Causey (@ShaunaCausey) while taking the elevator down to grab some lunch during the first day of BlogWorld Expo. I fired up a quick conversation with her and when I told her how I was starving and was getting ready to grab something to eat, she told me that she was getting ready to go on a tour of Zappos and that there might be a couple of spots open. Well, I told her that I guess I’m going to go hungry a little bit longer because I wasn’t going to miss out on the chance to check out Zappos. The rest is pretty much history after that — we all went on the tour, has a TON of fun and I ended up hangin’ with Shauna and he friends a lot over the rest of the weekend. Shauna was reppin’ Voluntweetup, which is helping non-profits utilize social media to pull off big things.

Shauna doin’ her thing…

>> If you’re looking to connect with someone who not only talks about making a difference in this world with social media, but actually goes out and does it then look no farther than Sloane Berrent (@sloane). I first met Sloane when I randomly crashed the Zappos tour because she’s the one who organized it. From the very first time that I met Sloane she was super cool, smart, sweet and a little fiesty, which isn’t a real easy combo to find these days. I had a great time learning more about and hanging out with Sloane the rest of the weekend and if you want to find out more about what she’s up to you can check out The Causemopolitan or her personal web directory, SloaneBerrent.com. Also, check out the video of her below or over here on YouTube when you get a chance — it’s all about her crazy ‘Cause it’s my birthday’ tour where she raised thousands of dollars for Malaria-fighting mosquito nets. Oh, and p.s. Sloane loved my bromance for one of our mutual friends and she loved to tell others all about it. How embarrassing (yet, true).

Well, that’s a good first list of peeps that I loved meeting and hangin’ with at BlogWorld 2009 and I could go on for a lot longer, but this post has already gotten way out of hand so I’m going to stop. If you’re wondering how I remember all of this info about these people that I met (especially after talking to literally several hundred at my booth), I might just have to give you all some tips on how I do it in a later blog post. Thanks again to all of the amazing people that stopped and talked to me and I’m looking forward to keeping up with with all of you now that I’m back in San Francisco. Oh, and if you’re ever out my way, be sure hit me up — I’d love to buy you lunch (for real).

HubPages recently announced the new customizable home page.  This was created with two goals in mind:

1)  Improve the ability to track the content that they are most interested in

2)  Improve the ability to organize the presentation of this content in the most convenient way.

In today’s blog, I will walk you through the features of the Custom Home Page.

Getting to the Customized Home Page

Once you are on HubPages, the easiest way to get to the Home Page is to click the HubPages icon which is on the top of the screen.

Once on the Home page, to switch to the Customized Home Page, just change the home page setting in the drop down list which can be found at the top of the page just underneath the search box.

Once you open the drop-down list, you can choose the Customizable Home Page.  There is the same drop-down list on the new home page, so it is easy to switch back if you like.

Your First Time on the Customized Home Page

The first time you go to the page, you will find a bunch of widgets already there.  We’ve done our best to select widgets that will either teach you about the new home page or will help you to track content that you are interested in.

Here is the list of the widgets that are there in the beginning:

1) Widget Tutorial: provides a tutorial on using the new customized home page

2) Forums Widgets: allows you to track the forums where you are already active.

3)  Hp News Widget: allows you to find out what’s new at HubPages.

4)  Questions & Answers Widget: allows you to track the latest questions and answers.

5)  Hubs (By Author) Widget: tracks the hubs written by your favorite authors as specified in your user fan clubs.

6)  Hubs (By Category) Widget: tracks the hubs written about your favorite categories as specified in your category fan clubs.

Here’s a snapshot of mine when I first started using it:

Underneath your username is a status message if you have any comments to moderate.

Personalizing Your Home Page

There are four things that you can do to make your home page more personal:

1)  Move the widgets around up, down, right, or left.

2)  Change the settings for a widget including number of items to display, amount of information to display, or the category that you want displayed.

3)  Remove widgets

4)  Add Widgets

I’ll walk you through each of these options.

Moving Your Widgets Around on the Page

All widgets are movable on the page.  To move a widget, you do the following:

1)  Move the mouse pointer on the title bar of the widget.

The mouse pointer should change to a draggable icon.

2)  Hold down on the left mouse button and move the mouse.

The widget is now be movable.  You will notice an outline of a box that appears on the screen.  This is the location of where the widget will appear when you release the mouse.

3)  As you move the mouse around the page, the outline of the widget will also move.

In this way, you can move the widget up or down or even to the other column.  The customized home page consists of two columns, a wide column and a thin column.

4)  When you have found the place where you want to move it, release the mouse and the widget will now be there the next time you return to this page.

Here is what it looks like if you haven’t already tried it:

Changing a Widget’s Settings

In addition to moving around a widget, you can change a widget’s settings.  Each widget has its own settings.

Settings of the Hubs (By Authors) Widget

Let’s assume that you want to change the Hubs (By Authors) Widget.  In my case, I like to see 10 hubs displayed instead of the standard 5.  Additionally, I only want to see my favorite categories.  The default is to view my favorite authors in all categories.  If I wish, I can add up to 10 authors who I am not yet fans of.  This is a great way for me to check hubbers out and see if I want to join their fan clubs later.

So, here’s what I do:

1)  I put the mouse over any part of the widget and an edit button appears at the bottom

2)  I click the edit button and now I get to a widget configuration screen:

3)  I do a search for authors to add.

I know that gredmondson writes about movies so I’ll add him to my author list.  Once his name appears, I click on it and it gets added to my list.  I also see that I can add up to 9 more authors.

I also like the writings of renchin and the pewterpigeon so I’ll add them to my list.

4)  I can also use the drop-down lists to change other settings

I choose to display 10 settings instead of 5 and I want to see only my favorite categories.

Below is what I have after making all these changes:

5)  Finally, I hit the save button

Removing Widgets

Widgets are removed by hitting the delete button.  This button is only available when you click the edit button

So, here are the steps for removing a widget:

1)  I put the mouse over any part of the widget and an edit button appears at the bottom

2)  I click the edit button and now I get to a widget configuration screen

3)  Now, I click the “delete” button which is located at the top right corner of the settings view of the widget.

Adding Widgets

To add a widget, just click on the “add a widget” button and pick frfom the menu that appears.

Here’s what you will see:

As you can see, most of the widgets we have already spoken about.  Three widgets that are not automatically added which you may be interested in are:

1)  Hubtiviity

2)  Hub Statistics

3)  Broken Links

For each of these widgets, you can change their default settings by hitting the edit button.

Using the Widget

Once you’ve personalized your page, now it’s time to use the widgets.  To learn all the details, you can also take a look at the Widget Tutorial.

If there are more than one page to your widget, you page through the widget by clicking on the previous or the next arrow.  If you want to jump to page one, you will need to refresh the page.  We did this in the effort to keep the widget display as simple as possible.

Normally when you click a link, the page will change.  If you would prefer to have a link pop up as a new window, then for many browsers, holding the shift key down when you click on the link is enough.  This works in IE7, Firefox, Opera, Chrome, and Safari.

One nice feature of the custom home page is that it does polling.  This means that the page will automatically update over time as long as you are active on the machine.  If the browser window remains inactive for 30 minutes or more, then the polling will automatically stop.

We hope that you like the customizable home page.  Are there other widgets that you would like to see?  Do you have any suggestions for improving the existing widgets?  Please let us know what you think.