The Payout Chronicles: Dorsi talks about persistence, consistency and getting her second payout

Here at HubPages we love helping people make money by writing about the things they’re passionate about. Whether it’s writing about finding the best travel coffee mug or the fastest 50 cars, you can honestly be successful writing on HubPages as long as you are publishing quality, original and informative content. You publish it and we help you with the rest — because that’s how we roll.

If you decide to write on HubPages, there’s a term that you’ll quickly become familiar with because it’s a term that every Hubber loves to talk about. The term is payout and it’s a word that stands for the first time that you officially get paid from Google for writing on HubPages. You see, the number one way to generate earnings on HubPages is by using AdSense, which is Google’s contextual advertising product. Once you set up your Affiliate Settings and start writing Hubs, Google ads will be placed within your content. As you begin to get traffic you’ll also begin to get clicks on your ads, which generate earnings for you as time goes on.

As far as the earnings go, you receive 60% of all earnings generated from the ad clicks (based on impressions) and once you earn your first $100, Google sends you a check and that my friends is the payout. It takes some Hubbers less time than others and depending on what you write about, how many
Hubs you’re writing and the quality of your writing your payout could even happen in just a few months. As a way to let you know more about how payouts work, when to expect yours and other useful tidbits I’ve decided to interview some Hubbers who have recently received a payout so that we can hear their thoughts on the whole process. I’m calling these the Payout Chronicles and my first interviewee is Dorsi who told us all about her second official payout the other day over in the Forums.

1. Hey Dorsi, thanks for answering some questions regarding getting your second payout (which is awesome!). For some of the readers out there who might not know what we’re talking about, what exactly does ‘getting your second payout’ mean and why is is so exciting?Good question Ryan. I’ll try to break it down for new hubbers. Getting my 2nd payout means that I am about to get my second check from Google Adsense, which is one of the affiliates that I signed up for when I joined HubPages. Google Adsense is a program run by Google that pairs publishers and ads together. Every time I write a HubPage, Google “scans” my hub to find relevant ads to place on my hub.Take for instance my hub about my dog getting skunked – if you look at the hub you will see a bunch of ads for skunk removal products on there placed by Google advertisers. Whenever a consumer/reader clicks on one of these ads it creates revenue for the publisher, in this case me. And I might mention, Google has strict guidelines in place to avoid abuse, so they monitor your sites for excessive “clicking”. Every author needs to be aware of this.

   As for my second payout, and why is it exciting? It means I am getting paid to do what I love to do – Write! How cool is that?

2. Backing up a bit, can you tell me your thoughts on when you first joined HubPages and what initially motivated you to start writing Hubs?I had actually started writing at some other online sites and then I found HubPages, which was a lot like putting a duck (me) into the water. HubPages was the place that I decided I really wanted to learn how to “swim” as a writer.  I found that the writers here at HubPages were very friendly & helpful  – and the hubs were easy to write and gather information for – and I was hooked!At first I just wanted to write about my life knowledge ( business, signs, climate change to name a few) and then I decided that HubPages was a great place to even start publishing my book online (which by the way may be the first time a book has been published online in this way – I call it the first interactive internet book! )
3. In the Forum post that you wrote that first let me know about your second payout you mentioned that it took you 10 months to get your first payout, but only 3 months to get your second. Can you explain why the second payout came around so much faster?Well the best way I can explain it is like this: The more you write and the better Google likes your work, the more serious you will be taken. Just like any relationship, it takes time to build. I’m sure Google has some type of algorithm that takes alot of things into mind. Keywords, length of time as a publisher and of course your writing! I’ve heard that 10 months is a pretty typical first time payout, and the longer your hubs are published and gathering traffic and moving up in Googles ranking – the more readers you get – and so on and so forth. Sort of like a snowball effect that gathers momentum as time goes on. I wouldn’t be surprised if I start getting a monthly check from Google now.
4. Writing for 10 months before getting paid doesn’t sound like whole lot of fun, but for some reason you stuck with it and as a result you’re well on your way to getting a payout every single month. What kept you coming back to write when you weren’t getting paid?This is an awesome question Ryan and I am going to love answering this one!! So many people get taken in by ” how to make money online fast” . I believe there is no such thing! If you get those emails in your box just delete them! There are no get rich quick schemes in life – and just like in the outside world, you have to work for what you earn.I have known for along time that writing was my “calling” and I have owned a small business for many years, so I knew that it was going to take time and perseverance to see my writing take root – and I was willing to have patience and just stick it out. So for all you new writers out there- stick with it, write about what you know and love, and don’t give up – it takes time!
5. On average you’ve written about 2 Hubs a week for nearly a year now. Can you tell us a little bit about the importance of consistency and being persistent with your publishing?I would have probably written a lot more Ryan but life got in my way! We closed our business this year so there was a lapse in my writing for about 3 months, but I knew I had to pick myself up, dust myself off and get back to writing! Even when I didn’t have the time to write hubs, I always tried to stay involved here at Hubpages, visiting the forums, updating my hubs, answering comments and supporting other hubbers efforts. Just writing alone isn’t going to make you a successful writer – you need to be involved in the community around you.That also helps the creative process stay fresh  – you get support from other hubbers and you get new ideas to write about. Now I write whenever I get a chance, when the dogs aren’t barking, the cats aren’t climbing all over my laptop and especially when my husband is asleep! Writing is like therapy for me!
   
   
6. Thanks for answering all of these questions for me, Dorsi! I guess that the only question to ask now is what you’re going to spend the money on? 🙂Hahaha. You are welcome Ryan. I love the HubPages community. There are some awesome people here with lots of knowledge and life experiences to share. I can’t imagine writing anywhere else. As for my big payout……well…..a trip on a cruise boat sounds great but maybe I’ll have to settle for a day trip to Monterey!! And when I start getting a monthly payout, part of it will be  going back into my “writing” career – and whatever tools I need to help me write better and be successful at it!