The Payout Chronicles: Whitney05’s AdSense milestone is impressive!

Whitney05, domesticated animal expert and master Hubber, was thrilled earlier this month when she checked her AdSense earnings for November and found out that she earned over $1000 in a single month for the first time. Over $900 was from her Hubs alone. With a great 2nd-place win in last year’s HubLove contest and ever-growing traffic, Whitney has translated her love for and knowledge of exotic pets into sizeable monthly earnings.

Whitney05 generously answered our questions–have a gander below:

1. Whitney, you’ve been with HubPages for 2 years now, and you’ve really been a committed presence on the site. What keeps bringing you back?

I like to push myself to see wht I can come up with, what do I think people are looking up or may have questions about, and (of course) what do people want to buy. I like to learn, so when I have a question, I write a hub. When I think someone else may have a question, I write a hub. I like the atmosphere, and I enjoy the user friendly site that is HubPages. Of course, the ease of writing hubs and sitting back to watch the extra cash flow in doesn’t hurt, and having that second source of income is great.

2. $1000 from AdSense alone is really fantastic, with the lion’s share (about $900) coming from your HubPages publishing. In your estimation, how does HubPages compare as a writing monetization platform compared to other sites you’ve evaluated or used?

HubPages is by far the best place that I’ve found to earn money. I have tried other websites, and I’ve read many TOS from similar sites, and HubPages really has the best deal. The traffic is awesome, which means my profits have a better potential of actually earning money. I don’t have to work nearly as hard on HubPages, yet I earn so much more. It does take work, don’t get me wrong, and in many cases, it’s a hit and miss on topics, but the overall interface of HubPages is the best, from my experience. It’s just hard not putting all your eggs in one basket when HubPages makes it so easy.

3. Your traffic profile has shown steady growth as well, with you getting about 10,000 Hub views per day now. Are there tricks you’ve learned to attract traffic to your Hubs, besides publishing great-quality, useful information?

Truthfully, I don’t have any tricks. I don’t bookmark or do much of anything to create backlinks. I let them come naturally. I don’t search keywords or trends. I just write whatever, honestly. It’s worked for me, but it’s not something that works for everyone. The only thing that I do try, is to make sure that my layouts are visually appealing. I feel that if the page looks nice, views stay, which potentially bumps me up in searches because of longer page views… At least, that’s what I tell myself.

4. Where on earth have you been able to amass so much information on such a wide variety of pets? There is no question that you know more about caring for pets and animals than anyone I could possibly imagine.

Research and personal experience. I’ve had numerous pets throughout my days, and the number is still counting. I mean, I’ve had just about everything from dogs, cats, hamsters, mice, rats, chinchillas, guinea pigs, leopard geckos, crested geckos, gargoyle geckos, bearded dragons, ball pythons, rosy boas, Russian tortoise, red footed tortoises, and a few other pets here and there. I’ve done a lot of research that is on-going to this day. My love for animals grows with every new pet I research and learn about. I’ve always loved animals, but I never knew how much and to what extent until I started volunteering with an animal shelter in middle school and started seeing the variety of animals one can actually have as a pet. I started researching then, and it just never stopped.

Grooming, nutrition, health, training, and overall care of dogs is just important for any dog parent to know, so I do my best to stay in the loop of the latest info. I feel that if you have a pet, learn everything you can and keep learning.

5. How about your other earnings: eBay and Amazon? Have they steadily increased, too?

eBay and Amazon earnings are always fluctuating. I have my good months and not so good, although I do always reach payout. Amazon has increased, as I’ve been able to watch what people are buying, and I’ve catered a few hubs towards that, but I’ve never really worked on eBay. Lately, I’ve been trying to bump up eBay, we’ll see if it’s a hit or a miss. In general, eBay and Amazon takes a little more work figuring products and trends when compared to Google Adsense, and right now, I don’t have the time for research. I do my best and follow my reports from both affiliates, but sometimes, it takes more than that.

6. What would you suggest to a new (or veteran) Hubber who’s interested in achieving such an impressive earnings milestone?

Write. Don’t stress about earnings. Write what you know. Write what you want to learn about (research then hub it). Write what you think others may be wondering about. Make it pretty. Keep it simple. Have fun. To me writing and coming up with ideas is fun and a personal slice of entertainment. The more you stress about it, the hard it becomes. If you let it come naturally, or at least semi-naturally, it’s just so much easier. And, if you have to, research trends and keywords, but remember fads will fade really quickly, and you want your words to be longlasting. Evergreen is the key.

Keep up with what Whitney05 is publishing on HubPages–become her fan!