Blogger Compared to Hub Pages
75My Online Business: Where?
This comes up in the forums a fair bit which is better Blogger (aka blogspot) or Hubpages?
So here is my take on the answer; but I am assuming you want to get into the online business for a bit of cash on the side. So which will be better for your online business; Blogger or Hub Pages?
Blogger
Blogger is a free blogging platform, now owned by Google. To get started with blogger you need a Google login - otherwise known as your gmail login: yes they own gmail too. With Blogger you can make money by including Adsense and affiliate links in your blog. Its particularly easy to add Adense to your blogger blog, but as you can add HTML code you can add affiliate offers as well.
Advantages of Blogger
- posts on blogger appear to get indexed quickly
- its easy to surf from 1 blog to another: notice the next blog at the very top of your blog; therefore you get a bit of traffic from other bloggers.
- its free
- its easy enough to use and to do limited customisation with layout and add placement.
- some people make $1000's using blogger blogs and Adsense
- Making Money on HubPages
To be honest I don't remember how I came to HubPages! I started fulltime on the web, trying to earn an income, in September 07 and within a month I found HubPages. At the same time I revamped my existing...
Limitations of Blogger
- Blogger owned by Google: its their site they may vary the TOS at any time or even take it down: that's highly unlikely
- your domain name will always have "blogspot.com" in it.
- for an online business you want to each blog to be focused on a limited number of keywords. General blogs do very poorly for those trying to develop an online business.
HubPages compared to Blogger
Blogger is a blogging platform HubPages is closer to an article directory: with multimedia. Each hub page should be a distinct article in its own right: This is a huge advantage as it means you can write a single article about a topic and if its focussed on the right keywords and it will probably make you money.
With Blogger you keep all your revenue: HubPages is a 60/40 split: 40% of the revenue from your Hubs go to HubPage Inc.
Blogger allows you to control your add placement: HubPages does not. This is probably an advantage unless you are an advanced SEO expert: which most writers at Hub Pages are not.
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Both Blogger and HubPages allow comments but in general I find it easier to get comments on my hubs than my blog posts: maybe that's just me?
Which is Best for Your Online Business
Well to me the answer is : both ! One of the important thing with an online business is diversification of income sources and platform: don't build a business solely around Adsense or HubPages or Blogger: make sure a mixture of sources are paying you.
Both HubPages and Blogger have the same great advantage: they are free and the same disadvantage - you are only renting the space: you don't have total control of the sites - be wary of this and make sure you consider running your own hosted sites too.
- Passive Income Online: Lis Sowerbutts
Join me on my on-line journey to make passive income one website at a time
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Good advice. I never got any readers at blogger. Granted I only had a few blogs there and did not update it much. I was not really running any type of online businese either.
You are my hero!
funktual.blogspot.com was abandoned a loooong time ago. I'll have to check out the ol' girl. ONE THING I MISS though is being able to write in different color fonts. I can illustrate so many points on a LIST (without breaking it's momentum) if I can assign a color to it.
Great hub Lissie as always.
Thanks everyone for visiting: DJ don't delete your old blog: as it ages it gets more authority and that's one thing you can't hurry - add a post every month or so - if just to point to a hub -to keep it alive
Well done Lissie.
Okay Lissie. Thanks. Is there anything I can write for you?
Hey Lissie,
Good job on the HubPages vs. Blogger comparison and excellent advice on using both. I have a few niche Blogger blogs that I've "tricked out" using free templates I've found on the net and java script tweaks.
IMO this Hub should have a much higher rating than it does. Keep up the good work Lissie.
A very useful appraisal Lissie - and important coming from your authoritative self. Blogger looks appealing but I don't want to spread myself too thinkly at present. I don't know how you manage to maintain all your sites - you're so impressive!
Thanks also for the useful tip about keeping your hub alive.
Geeze guys: this is what I love about HubPages so many comments so quickly! DJ please feel free to visit my blog and leave a comment! - feed below.
@IMH - don't worry about the hubscore apparently I have had no visitors to date according to the stats! This seems to happen in the early hours of Mon PST - I suspect that HP does some maintenace but the reporting and therefore the hubscore then updates in a few hours - it catchs me often as I write at home on Monday (my time)
@PJD - Im no expert! I do know a lot more than I did 6 months ago! So hopefully in another 6 -12 months I will make a living from this. Just trying to pass on what Ive learnt: and yes I killed a blogger blog too :-( I struggle with being spread too thin: I am trying to write a business as we "speak"LOL
For the complete internet newbie, I think HubPages is definitely the best place to start. That's because NO ONE will read your blog until you learn how to drive traffic to it, whereas your Hubs will.
I totally agree Marisa - I think we both have personal experience of that!
Blog usually requires more effort and focus while on huubpages you may go easily.
Lissie, a great hub as always from you! You described both so well. Diversification of online portfolio is a very wise advice to follow. I am not experienced with hub pages, but I can tell that it is quite easy to earn on Blogger platform. I like both.
Lissie,
I am so new to blogging and writing on Hubpages that any sort of imformation from a seasoned veteran as you are is appreciated. Thank you for your insights into how to attempt to make money on line.
Thanks for taking the time to write this comparison. Your points are well taken.
@topstuff - not necessarily I thought so too but there is a huge difference between a niche blog and a social blog: a niche blog can be "set and forget" income
@solarshingles thanks for your comments - I am looking forward to making more $ on blogger in the future!
@InTheDogHouse - please don't run away with the belief that I am any sort of expert at this but I do think that the whole make money online niche is flooding with fraudsters and incompetants and its important to find someone you trust to point you in the right direction
@Theresa - thanks for visiting
Lissie does it again! Great, practical information. I have heard of people who had their blogs mysteriously disappear off of Blogger!
Nice comparison. I just wonder now why I don't have a Blog on Blogger yet.
@Passionatepurpose I've heard of people being banned from blogger for spamming and loosing the lot - but you don't end up accidently spamming with blogs I can assure you! I lost my main host the other weekend: my blogger blog was the only 1 I could update! Diversifcation is good!
@Gregory - there is a secret to Internet Marketing- get used to less sleep! Nite Im off to bed!
Once again, Lissie, a wonderfully helpful article. I'm trying to learn what all of this is about, and your hubs have become resources for my self-inflicted learning program.
A couple of things I can say for sure about HubPages...
...There's nothing like instant gratification: you write a hub, you get comments, because Hubbers support each other.
...Hubs are fun and easy to create, once you figure out some of the tricky parts, like arranging capsules (I still occasionally rip some hair out over that task).
About blogging, I haven't jumped into that yet. I've been going back and forth about which blogging platform to use and what content to develop. I was surprised to hear your recommendation about specific vs. general content blogs. I had been looking at setting up an *umbrella* blog for my business, on the model of a corporate blog. Now I'm rethinking that approach, because of this hub.
Thanks, always, for the great information.
Great Hub well done We live in the best state I see Perth Australia.
Well done. Straight and to the point. Nice work.
Lissie,
Thank you for this excellent information. I have seen so much "guru" information about making money on the internet that is simply a huge waste of money and time. I've also observed how, in a relatively short time period, many of the "big names" soon get on each other's affiliate lists and then one's email inbox is overflowing with the same "exclusive" offer from lots of them.
It is so nice to find information one can trust. I certainly hope you are successful with your internet business and I will keep learning from you!
--TetonRose
Hi Lissie
I use blogger and hubpages and I must say I prefer....hubpages. It is just more fun! You actually feel part of a community...and get paid for the effort.
I just drop my thoughts and ideas on my blog now...then the real informative stuff goes to hubpages
Good hub!
Mark
Hi thanks Lissie for the comparison between the two- I have a blogspot too but haven't done a whole lot with it yet- one of things I was wondering is it better to put all your blogs on one page or have a separate page for each new blog? That part has been confusing for me, and without the help of a forum over there like we have at HubPages, it's harder to understand about setting up blogs.
Great hub- thanks again.
Nice comparison. I must say HP gives better traffic than blogspot blogs.
This is a very helpful comparison. I have just tried blogging a bit, but I do like how HubPages allows the ads to just be placed on our pages. I am one of those authors who could not do it on my own! Super review, Lissie.
You might find it useful to set up a blog on blogger to promote your hubs.
I agree that it's easier to get comments here at HubPages. I've had a few pingbacks at my Blogger blog, but barely a comment.
One thing you didn't mention was templates. I quite like the look of my Blogger blog template. I like the HubPages look, too but, you know, I didn't get to choose it ...
Thanks again Lizzie for another great and helpful hub. Also thanks for the help on my new blog. Like you say it is so hard to attract people to visit the blogs.
And there is no search area where you can ask for specific help. Yes I know there is help but it is laid out and if you have a different slant on something. Like can I change the name by leaving a word out. No response.
Or at least thats what I find. Whereas with hubpages there are so many great helpers. Thanks again.
Bob Ewing is right. Blogger Blogs are better to promote our hubs.
Great hub Lissie! I started out with a blogspot blog that I deleted ages ago. I felt like I was talking to myself. The promotional end of things just doesn't appeal to me and I always neglect it. I do so much better here, even though they keep part of the revenue.
Hi Lis, I started blogging since 2006 but did not earn any money, while in hubpages i started earning money just after 8 months of writing, now I used my blog to promote my hubs and as backlinks....
i like blogger, i like changing colors and changing templates but it is too hard to promote blogs, you are alone but in hubpages there is a very supportive community.
Well people that kinda prooves the point with the ability to get comments: HubPages wins down: this hub has been up for barely 24 hours! Elieen - alludes to the same thing because HubPages is a community its interactive and you ask questions and get sensible answers; there is a good range of expertise available her from professional writers to SEO experts and those of us who muddle in the middle like me!
@ Sally's Trove - there are niche blogs and there are flagship blogs and they are quite differnt; you write them differently, monetize them differently. One of the great things with blogger is that you can try out different keywords in the domain at no cost You might want to play along with Grizz's latest project of creating and making money from a niche blog http://makemoneyforbeginners.blogspot.com/2008/06/
@TetonRose - THANK YOU - that is what I am trying to do with this series of hubs and my blog (below hint, hint); I am no guru but the so-calle A-listers so disgusted me that I nearl walked away from the whole Internet Marketing game - but it is possible to make money and do it ethically; its just a lot of hard work and takes a new way of thinking Check out my Internet Marketing http://hubpages.com/hub/HubPages-Internet-Marketin
@Mark - hubpages makes it really easy to include photos and videos - easier than either WordPress or blogger IMHO
@Dorsi - Im not sure if I understand u correctly - do you mean each post on a separate page : Im doing it deliberatly so that 1 page is focussed on 1 set of keywords - well that's the theory - I still struggle with it! Check Grizz on the link above - he explains it much better than me
@steph - theres a trick with Adsense on HP - see how at the top of this hub run down the right of the text at the top- that's one of the best conversting Adsense blocks in general- note the photo is aligned against the 2nd text module not the first
@Bob - in fact I am using my hubpages to try and drive some traffic to my blog LOL - both approachs will work depending on where your main money page is !
@Mark - I agree but I now have a whole new view on pretty templates - do they distract the visitor from the ads?
@Eileen I was thinking of u with the storms down your way!
@pgrundy - that is EXACTLY how I felt when I started my blogs before I found hubpages! It just blows me away how many comments a pretty short hub like this one can get!
@MMdelR - I am still trying to figure out what gets backlinked where - I tink I need a large piece of paper and to stop reading hub and getting distracted!
I'm on both blogger ( http://ElectricRead.blogspot.com ) and hubpages and I agree with all of your points. You've reduced the complicated down to something very understandable.
I love the fact that HubPages gets traffic for you. I have a few faithful readers on blogger, but it's difficult to attract more. On the other hand, I can whip out a blog post I'm proud of more quickly than a good Hub since Hubs demand a more informational approach. I definitely think using both is the best way to go. What I like best about this hub is how quickly it proved your point!
Good informarmation regarding multipel uses of sites for earning and promoting business!
I love the "I'm blogging this" t-shirt!!!
that's why I came here.
Great Hubpage! I have just joined Hubpages & and I really like the concept. I am 'shocked' that I didn't know about Hubpages sooner. I have been on web marketing forums and never had anyone mention this... they all must be keeping this secret!
I am setting up my own blog and it is very time consuming... if you mess about with templates.
Thanks for your comments everyone! dutch84 - that's why I chose the photo: I try to get an eye catching photo which works well as a thumbnail.
Macknox shhhhhh hubpages is a bit secret! Dont tell anyone!
Lissie,
You send me so much link love I'm feeling guilty. As always - Thank you.
Please let me know if I can ever lend a hand in any way.
Thanks again!
I'm glad I found hubpages. Although I think I have to write more hubs by now. LOL I just have to finish the curriculum in school first hehe thanks lissie, this are great insights. And oh, will take your advice, don't delete the blogger, but update it once in awhile.
This is good stuff, Lissie. Thanks for the insights. I'm still testing the waters in this virtual world....
GREAT STUFF! Tremendously helpful. I have a few questions though. What is TOS and SEO? Can you tell I am fairly new to this stuff? Yea I know, I hide it well. Great hub!
TOS Terms of Service - as in HubPages Terms of Service - rules will live by when using either a site or a service like Adsense
SEO - ooh u are new :-) Search Engine Optimitization - the gentle art of getting a search engine: normally Google to return a link to your site when some types a query into google.com see Mark has done an excellent hub on the topic http://hubpages.com/hub/How-I-got-my-hub-to-be-on-
Well I have wasted a lot of time on so many different spots that anytime I would see where I was popping it was from the HUB.I have yet to participate.I do admit to writing some spam laden post as a desperate measure to get some attention a while back.The editor's reached out to me gently and told me what I needed to do exactly to be successful on here. I continued to waste a lot of time often we look a gift horse in the mouth as they say.When you press your key board anywhere on this site you are activating a vast network of servers that KNOW who hubpages.com is and acknowledges that with pure juice.
A little effort or in my case a lack of effort brings some SERIOUSLY good and powerful results.As far as SEO I was very fortunate to be able to actually speak with Danny Sullivan(google him if you dont know) today and I was apologizing for some crap I wrote and when the smoke cleared he was kind of enough to tell me the following
I asked what is the one word I want to add to my meta tags
he said nothing metas don't matter really
confused I quickly asked OK what is the one thing you would edit in wordpress
as in header footer etc that would make a BIG difference
he said " nothing "
He said Listen You have some thing to say find what that is people will read it and you may be lucky that they decide to link to you
Thats all there is to it .
Great writing Thank You for allowing me to make my first comment.
Good hub and reminder to market in moer than one place. There are hundreds of ways to market your products and services. Reach out!
Thank for the info. A week ago I started a blog on Yahoo and have no comments so far. With Hugpages, I got reader comments fast. It's just nice to know what people think, but I was hoping for reader exeperiences and information. Guess people don't have much experience in jewelry buying and cosmetic surgery.
Excellent Comparision. Thanks !
I was gettig about 50 hits a day on blogger, but no one ever left comment, or very few. I checked on my stats and people were passing through the site, but never staying for more than a second or two. Here at hubpages I get less hits, but they're all quality. people have taken the trouble to read, which is more important to me. Happy travelling Lissie. Let me know when you are heading for the "Wild East".
Blogger you do seem to get a lot of people just cruising through :the trick with traffic is to get it targetted: whether you want your target to spend money or read and interact its the same trick: I just don't know how to do it yet! I have go to say that hubpages is fantastic for comments:much better than squidoo I find too
I bookmarked this one.
The one thing I really like about Hubpages, versus Blogger, is that people come here not just for information but to do a little socializing. At least that's what I've experienced form my limited time here.
Most blogger sites that I've read rarely get comments. I'm not sure why that is because it's a shame. I have also received far more comments here than I have over at blogger. At blogger, I tend to get private emails versus actual comments on the blog--unless of course it was from a spammer that I had to delete.
Thanks Lissie - rated this article up - I have been using both blogger and hub pages and have found that the hp's are much better fun, have more interaction and I am actually starting to see dollars - no make that cents come into my adsense account - in truth I have been trying for a couple of years to earn online and I only know one person who is (he uses a combination of ebay and investment to earn with) and he says that even he does not make a complete living wage for his whole family to survive on! it's a long road unless you are prepared to knuckle down, not get sidetracked etc, etc, etc and also not get ripped off. cheers.
ajcor I hear what you are saying! I find I now get a trickle of traffic from bloggercom itsself to my blogspot blog - people must just hit next blog randomly -odd! Im starting to see figures improve: but its nothing more than pin money so far!
Lissie, Blogspot bloggers aren't stuck with the Blogspot subdomain. You can purchase your own domain and transfer it. I read a lot of blogs that are hosted by Blogger but have their own URLs.
Thats true Catana - I hadn't realised that when I wrote this hub!
Great thoughtful hub as always from you! I joined HubPages just 8 weeks ago and simultaneously decided to start up 5 blogs on Blogger - having a blast! I quite like the platform and have had no problem adding goodies/widgets from other sites - especially like the Add This! bar for sharing to 40 social sites, easy to install on Blogger.
BTW, thank you for being the FIRST person to welcome me to HubPages and answering a few questions. I'm settled in now and not so clueless. :) So, again, thank you from the bottom of my heart.
You are right that HP definitely is far more interactive on the comments so far - actually didn't get that many comments here until a few weeks ago. I guess you have to get up about 10 hubs before people read them or if they read then take the time to comment. Whatever the reasons life is good here. People here are the friendliest and most serious than other sites.
As to blogging expectations I figured I'd give it a 2.5 year run and assess the performance then. Consider it like a start-up business and you require enough income/capitalization to ride the storm before things start kicking in.
My expectations are for the readership to grow at a steady slow rate. It takes time for people to get used to you/me and decide to return. Yes, noticed those click thru amounts when I went to StatCounter (installed that too and visibly so people are aware, I'm not for the sneaky approach). What I also noticed was unique and returning readers and I was greatly heartened! Not bad in my book for a 5 pack of young blogs still in the early stages of getting populated.
I did try to make my blogs visually interesting first with loads of gadgets to entertain as well. Being pretty does slow down the load rate of the page but I decided to err on the side of interesting. So far I've developed about 200 people a month who regularly return, most, oddly enough for the poetry blog.
True, I'm writing niche blogs like poetry and Cajun food and chocolate but hey! I'm having FUN and who knows? Usually when we are having fun and delivering a high quality product the money shows up at the party sooner or later!
Of course, I keep on reading good hubs like this one to educate me, double checking what else I can do to promote those blogs. Mostly, I have used HP to populate them in the early stages. Now I've begun to branch out with longer posts rather than just a link back to HP for the hub described. I'm also blogging other hubbers hubs that are a great fit too. How many HP folks with blogs are doing the same I wonder?
I read everyone's comments here and they were also helpful, so thank you, everyone and Kudos to Lissie for another winning hub!
DEnny thanks for the over long comment! I will keep an eye out for your blogs - chocolate is one of my passions! Must ruin on horribly expensive internet at a campground!
HubPages seems to be great for community. But, if you also want to monetize you have to bring it traffic. Blogger, Word Press, Articles are all great ways to build traffic to your HubPages.
So don't look at Blogger necessarily as a great community place (although people like Grizz, have a great blogger community), look at it as a way to build more traffic and thus community to your HubPages.
Wow! Kudos to everyone here! I feel like I just emptied the majority of the statements found here right out of my own head. I have 7 random blogs that I enjoyed writing, but they are just sitting there. It truly is lonely over at Blogspot and I had the feeling I was talking to myself. Not so in Hub City! I love it here. I'm still a newbie, relatively speaking, but I'm learning. Thanks Lissie.
thanks for this article. it is informative. However i hear that Blogger does not take 40% of your revenue. Is it true.If it is- it thibk its one advantage of blogger.
bill 100% of nothing is nothing- I am personally very excited about the income potential of hubpages - which is all about the domains authority
Hi Lissie, it is very true, that hubpages have more traffic than blog, I have a blog on office 2007 tutorial, which am always getting about 10 people everyday, which to me is quite good
Thank you for the tips! As a new user of both Hubpages and my poetry blog ( http://www.shewstone.blogspot ), I really appreciate the insight.
Great comparison, thanks :)
Very nicely written.. I have a blogger account too and have been keeping it active; though nowadays I blog lesser ever since I'm on Hubpages.. but I need my blogger for sanity and Hubpages for networking.. I love the company of friends here.. thanks for sharing this article with us..
This is two years Lissie since you wrote this hub, and since then alot of changes has taken place on blogger.
Now you can publish your content on a custom domain, you can even choose to use a free domain like co.cc to begin, where you set up zone records for your domain and redirect it to blogger (note:this is relevant for just 1 yr, so I dont recommend it).
With Blogger, you can now add contextual Amazon products on your blogs,which is another source for affiliate revenue aside adsense.
You can upload, customize and redesign your blogger template using free site building tools found on blogger.
One feature that makes WP better than blogger previously was the related post plugin, but now you can add related post right below your blog posts on blogger.
You can also embed social bookmarks buttons more easily on your templates unlike before.
Blogger have made so much improvements these past few years, and I think at this rate it'll give WP and other CMS a run for their money.
All of those features have been available in WP for years, the comment form is still horrible and the biggest point is that the owners of the site (Google) still control your site- they have just taken down one of the best make money online blogs - because they could. Get your own domain and use independent software if you care about yoru blog
I started with Blogger before I came to Hub Pages. Of the two, Hub Pages gets me more hits.
cvaughn570 3 years ago
Very nice reminder not to put all your eggs in one basket so to speak!
Nice Hub :-)
Carol