Which is better? Helium.com versus Hubpages.com - The statistics
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Online articles
It seems like every one's doing it these days - writing articles and putting them up on the Internet for the world to read. But sadly, the painstaking effort does not end with the last full stop of your article. No way. There is still one last anguishing brain activity to be entered into - which site to post it to?
Now, the choice list goes on, and your decision will need to consider the latest from the Knol project, to the long serving ezine-articles and made all the more difficult by competing sites like associated-content, Squidoo, Blogger, Triond and many others. However, the two I would like to compare in this article are Helium Vs Hubpages, simply because I have now had a bit to do with both.
Initially I will look at the statistics that are publicly available on the web, and in a later article, I will share my experiences as an article contributor to both.
What is Hubpages?
HubPages 1is the leading online publishing ecosystem. Boasting easy-to-use publishing tools, a vibrant author community and underlying revenue-maximizing infrastructure and all provided free to Hubbers (authors) in an open online community. HubPages is committed to providing the most rewarding online publishing experience.
1sources from Hubpages site
What is Helium?
'Learn what you need ... Share what you know'
Helium2 identify themselves as a citizen journalism outlet offering a platform for writers to write articles on topics about which they are knowledgeable. When you write at Helium, you help inform millions, earn money, get recognized and build your portfolio.
2 sourced from the Helium website.
The Statistics
First we will look at the statistics and what they mean for the diversely motivated collection of article publishers. These statistics were extracted at a particular point in time which is indicated at the bottom left hand corner of the tables. I will provide a monthly update which will provide more information on the changes taking place.
The statistics used here have been compiled by me from publicly available information on Alexa.com the web information company and Quantact.com the open Internet rating service.
Site Details - What does it all mean?
The lower ranking numbers achieved by Hubpages means that it actually has a higher value than Helium in the eyes of the search engines. (These are rankings in terms of places i.e. Yahoo is 1, Google is 2, ...) Hubpages would have achieved this higher status over Helium via the combined metrics of number of people, visits and page views on the site. That’s good news for articles on Hubpages wanting to be seen and ranked higher in searches.
Although rated slow, Hubpages scores better than Helium’s ‘very slow’, making Hubpages a faster and more enjoyable experience for both visitors and writers. The three time greater number of other sites linking in to Hubpages means a large networked community already established and awaiting your next post on Hubpages.
Traffic Details - What does it all mean?
Nearly 4 (four) times more people visit Hubpages than Helium with Hubpages having a far more global reach. Helium does not do as badly proportionally in visits, but as we will see from the next table, that's more a factor of the activity of their addicts and regulars rather than passing visitors. Helium's highest ranking countries are Australia, Unitied States and India where as Hubpages ranks highly in India, Pakistan and Australia in that order.
Users & Interests - What does it all mean?
Most visitors to both sites go on to either another article publishing site or to the social networking sites like Wetpaint and MyLot. According to quantact.com, over 53% of Helium's visits are by addicts or regulars, leaving only 47% to passer-bys. Hubpages, on the other hand, gets about 70% of its visits from passer-bys. Your article on Hubpages is far more likely to be read by a passer-by than just the community, as it would be if you posted it to Helium.
The audience for both sites is similar in topics like Fashion/Cosmetics, Home & Gardening and Parenting but Helium audiences also look for Science/Nature and Schools/Universities, where as Hubpages audiences are apparently big on Men and Humor. (Author's aside: Just as Science/Nature and Schools/Universities seem like a natural match, I guess the same could be said for Men and Humor.)
"Writing is one of the few commercial vocations on this earth where being completely honest can provide such a significant monetary return."... Peter Baskerville
Conclusion
Statistics don't tell the whole story in the physical world, but as far as the algorithms of the Internet are concerned, it's the only score. So, looking at the numbers alone, your article has a much greater chance of being read by the greatest number of people if it is placed on Hubpages rather than Helium. Having said that I have placed some articles on Helium.
Now, what we haven't covered here is motivation and it's important because your reason for writing and publishing online will also have a significant impact on your choice of site. This aspect we will consider in the next review of Helium Vs Hubpages.
So, that's the numbers. check out the next article in this series where I look at the article writer's experience at both Helium and Hubpages, from someone who has been to them both.
Declared bias: While this article has endeavoured to be quite objective, I am afraid, the follow-up will not be burdened with the same constraint. Let's just say by way of introduction, my experience at Hubpages has been totally awesome and that I no longer write articles for Helium.
Also, as well as writing Hubs I love writing Knols. Knols are a more serious 'in-depth' online article product compared with the more compact, lighter and more entertaining Hub. So, If you would like to know how to write Knols that rank 'Top 10' in Google searches, then click here.
Which site do you think is best for your article?
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Nice article. And I promise not to mention that the *****'s at helium closed my account when it had accumulated a SIGNIFICANT amount of income in it with no right of appeal, and have yet to date never answered one of my emails in response to the "duplicate content" - which seems to be someone copying my pages.
OOps.
Interesting to say the least...Thanks G-Ma :o) hugs & Peace
Excellent, article!! You have presented your case well and thoroughly with the data to back it up.
Julie-Ann - I couldn't have said it better myself! I had a similar experience with them.
Congratulations! This hub is part of this week's hubnuggets! Join the fun and vote now. Invite as many people as you like to vote too! :D To know more about it, http://hubpages.com/hub/hubnuggets-jan23-2009
Great job on the article. It is really informative and eye-opening--to say the least--to see the two sites compared side-by-side. Thanks for writing it!
Hey ... thanks for all your comments. Maybe I should do a whole series of Hubpages Vs ........ I have been trying them all but I really like it here.
It looks like I chose the right place to be. Humor huh? Well done. Thanks for the well written hub. Congratulations too.
Excellent hub, very informative, and actually relavant to me personally. HubPages is the first site on which I have published anything other than your standard blog. I was poking around to see what the other sites were like and I admit, I find this format the best for me. (Although I admit that I wish the capsules were more user-friendly in terms of formatting. I prefer to write in word and copy and paste into the capsules later, which has proven to be an issue for things like bullets and certian other formatting issues. But as far as complaints go thats a pretty minor one, and it's one that I have no problem living with.) Best of luck in the HubNugget contest btw! As far as your idea of HubPages vs.....? I think it's excellent and you shoud go for it. We all have those writing styles at which we excel and informational writing seems to be yours! I couldn't do half as good at this if I tried....but I give some AMAZING relationship advice lolz! In any case, best of luck and keep on keepin on!
Thanks Rainbow. I have posted articles to ezinearticles, helium, sqidoo and google's knol so there are lots of "Vs" articles there (both statistics & writer experience). So, I guess I should just get on and do it.
This was a very timely article for me. I had been trying to get along with Helium's way of doing things for right at a year, when I woke up and realized, I was in the wrong place. My sister clued me in to Hubpages, and I love what I see here so far.
As far as Helium goes, I find them deceptive and unfriendly. As soon as I can make a $ withdrawal, I probably will have no further reason to click into the site again.
Thanks for the hub. It was interesting (and gratifying) to see the numbers in black and white.
Thanks for the comment 'Joy at Home'. I and a few others here seem to agree with your statement 'deceptive and unfriendly'. Although, I would probably add 'completely self-centred' to the mix. Look out for my follow up article, comparing the writer experience at both sites.
Dearest NVarchitect!!
Thank you sooooooooooooo much for the insightful information!! I LOVE HubPages for a long list of reasons, not in the least is the warm/fuzzy/intelligent/authentic group that writes here!!
Thank you again for sharing!! Welcome to HubPages!! You are a delightful addition to the mix!!
Blessings always, Earth Angel!!
I started out writing on Helium almost 2 years ago. I have a limited amount of time and found the rating part of the deal to be cumbersome, and I found those who rated my articles were more often than not, illiterate! In other words, when an article rated above mine had many grammer mistakes and would sound like they were written by a 2 year old, I became frustrated!
I also noticed that when posted for a long time, my articles would fall and fall as they were being ignored and new articles were being read.
I also found that, although many fine writers write on Helium, it seemed to me that the same people's work was featured over and over again.
No one on Helium seems to have a sense of humor! My humor pieces do really well here and on Triond/purple slinky, but no one seems to laugh on Helium or to appreciate humor.
It is my understanding that the rules for all three as far as publishing on more than one site at a time goes like this:
1. Articles submitted to Triond need never to have been published before anywhere. Once the article IS published on Triond, it can be published elsewhere.
2. Neither Hub nor Helium has a rule about articles regarding first publishing only; in other words, you can post the same article on Helium, Hub and Triond as long as you submit it on Triond FIRST. The exception is that if you SELL the article through Helium Marketplace, you cannot publish it in other places at all, or for a certain amount of time, depending on the buyer's contract with the channel.
I find hub the most friendly and supportive. Triond writers don't bother to read or comment on other people's work no matter if you read on comment on theirs!
Money wise, Triond constantly sends little bits of money to my PayPal account. Not much, but money, nonetheless.
I've made the most money on Helium because I've sold articles there and have made some money on articles as well.
So far, I've made very, very little on Hub- but like writing here the most; funny, that!
Please CORRECT me if any of my facts are incorrect because it's important that we all know about the way and timing that we use to post on various sites.
Madison
Madison, I think you should have written this as a Hub. I have not yet posted anything to Triond so I can't add to anything there (Although I have set up a profile and I intend to write at least one article to test the experience).
As far as Helium goes, I agree with the 'cumbersome' chore, 'articles would fall and fall' over time but I think 'illiterate' is maybe a little unfair. Your article rates poorly because of the rating system that forces people to rate hundreds of other articles in order to get paid themselves. This eventually becomes a game where judgements are made on article length, ‘nice’ layout or reference to big words or authoritative texts. Maybe 'uncaring' would be more accurate description of their attitude.
As for Hubpage, you are 100% right with the 'friendly and supportive' description. As a writer you will certainly find a home here. They are a great bunch of people, obviously a reflection of the community and organisational leadership.
I follow a rule of only posting an article to one site. The Google algorithm will rank down articles posted to more than one site. I often write on the same idea but I use different words to express the idea, targeting a different audience and a different context. This ensures that my articles mostly rank on the front page of Google searches.
Thanks again for your comments.
Very informative hub, it well deserves to be this weeks hubnugget! I'm glad I'm here instead of trying to publish else where.
I'm just beginning to get the hang of how the ranking thing works on line. I'm fairly computer lame, but am looking into the RSS feed business and a couple of other ideas trying to figure out how to get more readership. On Hub, it's not so much a problem; people try really hard to drop by and read the articles.
I would actually post more on multiple sites but it's really difficult to do that! There are only so many hours in a day. Your info about Google search is a really good point and one I didn't know, so thanks for the tip! Now I don't feel so lazy in my lack of ability to spread my work around more!
I love the way you analyzed the sites. It makes me feel good that Hub rates so high. I do like Helium and Triond, as well. It's just that I seem to be here mostly these days because I feel comfortable and at home here!
Great Hub!
NV, It appears helium is trying to get a jump on what we are all doing here at hubpages.
They have started betaville:
What Is Betaville?
Learn what you need, share what you know, build it together
.....put together with building blocks of content, from Helium Debates and articles to YouTube videos, weather updates, Google maps and much more.
Watch out hubpages, they want their writers back!
Thanks for the update newsworthy. Yeah I have just read about their new release, but unfortunately it goes head to head with Google's Knol project. I don't like there chances in that fight.
Madison, HubPages doesn't like duplicate content - your Hubscore will be penalized if you make a Hub from material you've already published on Triond. Search engines don't like duplicate content (even if you're duplicating your own work) so generally, it can harm your earnings and isn't a good idea.
I've set up a "writer's profile" on Betaville - reckoned I might as well, since I'm a Helium member already. All I did was add some links to my Hubs and articles. Can't hurt!
I agree. Hubpages are much more fun to do. The format is more flexible, and you don't have to write to Helium's boring topics. Also, I hate rating. I think that the only time most of those "articles" are read is by raters, who are not enjoying the experience. I often reach hub pages through a general search, and I find the articles helpful and informative. The only times I have accessed Helium pages was during a rating session. Each of those times has been a chore. I am grateful my articles, written a while ago, have sunk out of sight there. I don't want my work to be read as a required drudge.
Great article. I am looking for alternatives to Hubpages. Ultimately, my purpose for making these sites are to promote my own websites, so getting "paid" isn't the biggest concern. The biggest concern is how authoritative these sites are. I consistently see ezinearticles and hubpages near top results for queries in my market. I never heard of Triond or Helium until now. I guess that is because those sites either aren't as authoritative, or they're not well known enough that people in my niches would use them. Either way, it sounds like Helium has some dishonest practices so I will avoid them.
Kevin, Helium is a waste of time for promoting your websites - you can add links in your articles, but they're all "no follow".
Folks, after my bad experience at Helium I now write exclusively for Google Knol. Not a well known site but the publishing power is huge, it is owned by Google and I can change my links (all follow), remove and edit my work and Google make no claim over my work. All the things that Helium don't provide. I also love Hubpages but I just have not had the time to get back here. Maybe soon.
I started off writing for Helium but it wasn't long before I became quite upset with the ranking/rating system. I have posted on Associated Content and so on and although I don't make that much it is much more rewarding - and my judge(s) are the reading public rather than raters who won't get as much if they don't rate x number of articles per month. Most appear not to even read what they are rating - and it is obvious. Questions are not directly answered, nor are they addressed in a timely manner. Someone who rates can decide to alert Helium and have an article removed with little or no problem in doing this. Makes little sense.
HubPages is the best. HubPages all the way!!!
Great article comparison. I think that Hubpages definitely blows helium out of the water. I signed up for the site, but I never really used it because I didn't like the layout.
Hubpages, on the other hand, is much easier to use and works great.
Oooh I just signed up to day to to Helium (03/10/11) as I wanted to inform a writer I was going to source her article for reference. I had no choice to sign up as it was the only way it said I could get in touch with her but strangely enough after I did sign up I could still not get in touch with the author.
Before I stumbled across Helium in the search for source material reference I had never heard of them. Like you NV I have submitted to ezinearticles.com too who have just introduced the diamond status - they do have a good customer service - though articles can take some time being accepted. I have also had articles published on Wikio who have probably one of the most aesthetically eye pleasing sites.
However, I do feel comfortable here as neither of those I have mentioned make you feel welcome enough and HubPages actively encourage you to participate in other things other than writing for them.I have only been here less than three days and the times I have revisited have been more per ratio than any other article site.
I think folk that are considering starting their own blog website would be well advised to start here too. It will give them a real idea of how good their writing is and provide them with feedback. As I have experienced, running a website can be very frustrating and it is a very isolated activity with the only feedback being tons of meaningless spam.
So thanks I feel like I have walked into a pub full of like minded people. The only thing missing is my pint of beer.
I checked out an article on Helium this morning and then tried get more information about them without having to sign up. No go. Glad I found your article. Happy where I am; good and helpful people - "No Place Like Home"
Helium makes you 0$ per article.
Neil Flanagan 3 years ago
Too much helium can tire you out.