I Just Got PAID by Another Writing Site! Comparing Steemit and HubPages

Seeing as how we are here, we tend to get rather wrapped up in the world of Steemit.

This morning, I had a notification that $60.64 had been deposited to my PayPal account-- in this case from HubPages, another site out there that pays contributors for their content.

So-- for the benefit of those who haven't tried blogging and writing anywhere other than Steemit, I thought I'd take a moment to compare the HubPages experience to Steemit

A Bit of History

HubPages is-- quite possibly-- the oldest venue on the web to have been continuously paying contributors for content. Active since 2005; I published my first article there in 2007.

Unlike Steemit, this is definitely a "centralized" organization, where there's a "company" that's responsible for paying contributors, complete with 25 employees.

Contributors earn in part for getting paid "per page view;" in part by sharing in revenue generated by Amazon links, and in part by revenue sharing from Google Adsense.

In their favor, I will say that HubPages has reliably been paying out for 12 years... the downside is that the rewards are meager for most people; non-existent for many. In all truth, that is simply an honest reflection of the fact that most web content has very little commercial value.

Some Differences

Unlike Steemit, your articles on HubPages will continue to earn royalties for the duration of their published existence. That's kind of nice, if you like passive income.

My most successful article-- published some ten years ago-- has been viewed some 66,000 times and has slowly earned me a little over $400.00 in its lifetime, and the pennies continue to trickle in.

By comparison, by most valuable article on Steemit-- Steemit Truly IS Changing the World... and How it Has Changed Mine-- earned $279.71 in just seven days, off just 145 views. My most read article on Steemit-- Are You A Highly Sensitive Person, or HSP?-- has been read 2,124 times but only earned $12.75. Clearly, a very different rewards structure.

HubPages is centered around a fairly strict system to assure Quality Content. It is very much a site for writers, and if your contribution isn't good enough, it's unlikely it would pass the fairly strict "Quality Assessment Process" that involves each piece being "rated" by numerous human eyes before being approved as "featured" (or basically "visible") content, or not.

A lot of hopeful content creators on HubPages find themselves in the "or not" category. They'll happily put together 15-20 articles only to discover that the work is judged "not good enough." Your work will still exist, and you can direct link to it on places like twitter or Facebook or your blog, but it won't be visible to someone browsing the main HubPages site, and it won't be visible to Google in searches.

So even though HubPages boasts "over 657,000" articles, what is not mentioned is the estimated 6-8 million articles "hidden in the basement." 

Pluses and Minuses

Both Steemit and HubPages have their pluses and minuses.

Although once a Top-100 site on both Alexa and Quantcast, the HubPages format has become increasingly dated for the modern web, and the site has been losing ground... these days, Steemit is actually ranked higher.

Whereas it is a "plus" for me that my HubPages content continues to earn over time, the "minus" part is that I have to go back and do "maintenance" on my articles on a regular basis.

How so? 

I have to check for dead links, outdated information and anything else that makes articles look "dated." In addition, HubPages likes to change/update their user interface on a regular basis, which generally also requires extensive editing by authors... at least if you care. Right now, for example, the format is being changed to be more mobile adaptive, as a result of which I now have to go through all my articles and edit out any "half width" photos. Which is a pain in the rear that's going to take me the better part of a month. In that sense, Steemit is far simpler.

As mentioned before, the basis for rewards between the two is very different. I do like the ongoing rewards of HubPages, as well as the fact that they are pretty strictly based on traffic rather than "who knows who." On the other hand, I really like that Steemit is a SOCIAL site... which HubPages doesn't claim to be.

In any case, I plan to continue writing in both locations, for the foreseeable future.

How about YOU? Do you write anywhere else than Steemit, on sites that compensate writers for their content? What has your experience been? Have you ever heard of HubPages, till you read this article? Leave a comment-- share your experiences and feedback-- be part of the conversation!

(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Published 20170928 14:02 PDT