HubPages URL Tracker Video Tutorial

I like to think of myself as a fairly computer and internet savvy person for a baby boomer lady. I've been making hyperlinks for well over ten years and have been creating affiliate links for a couple of years now. I even can whip out an anchor text link in HTML without batting an eye.

But when I joined HubPages and tried to understand the Tracking URL thingy....I just couldn't wrap my head around how to do it or how to connect the URL Tracker to a hyperlink. I read the directions in HubPages FAQ over and over, but it wasn't sinking in. Finally I read enough Hubs on the topic and the light bulb went on.

Now that I do understand, I've made 4 video tutorials that may help a person new to HubPages understand how to use the URL Trackers so you don't miss out on any extra income from their Hubs and readers! I hope you find these four videos helpful.

I made these four videos in this Hub to demonstrate what I think are the basics and basic uses for the HubPages URL Trackers.

In this example I'm creating a URL tracker to use in a hyperlink in my signature on the Warrior Forum. My goal is to have people from the Warrior Forum click through to my profile, then they can read a Hub or two or more, and they may use the link on my Profile or on my Hubs to sign up for their own HubPages account if they don't already have one.

I want to create a unique URL tracker for this Warrior Forum signature so I can see if I'm getting any traffic from that community. The video below demonstrates the process.

Now let's see if I'm getting any traffic from the Warrior Forum and if any of those visitors are signing up for HubPages. In the video below I show you how to check your URL Tracker statistics to see if anyone is coming to the page you've associated with the URL Tracker.

In this case the page I associated with the URL tracker is my profile page. My strategy is that people from the Warrior Forum will come to my profile from my signature on my posts in the Warrior Forum. Then when they get to HubPages, if they don't already have an account they'll sign up while my referral link is active (120 minutes for the URL tracker links). The video below shows how I check to see if that strategy is working.

I think what confuses some people (meaning me) is that HubPages uses their own language for this thing called a URL Tracker. What the thing is, is just an affiliate link that you can personalize in a way so it is connected to what you are trying to do with it.

Affiliate link just means that if someone comes to HubPages through clicking on this link you've created, and they sign up for an account, or do other actions like click through on an ad or visit other Hubs and click on those ads, you will get credit in the revenue sharing for that person's actions. At least the actions they take during the first 120 minutes after coming to HubPages via your link.

Here's an example of what I'm trying to say. When people visit either my profile page or one of my Hubs, the first thing they read is an invitation to join HubPages and sign up for their free account.

The URL Tracker (or affiliate link) I've made for that invitation is called "freeacct". Then I put that link at the beginning of all my Hubs and it's on my profile page. Then I can track the traffic from that URL Tracker and see if anyone is clicking through from that link and if they are signing up for a HubPage.

If someone signs up for their account after clicking through my link and they become a prolific writer on HubPages and start earning revenue from their Hubs, I will get a share of the revenue they produce, for the lifetime of their activities, because their account is connected to me through that URL Tracker.

Basic Structure Of The URL Tracker (HubPages Affiliate Link)

When you have an affiliate link to something, that affiliate link will have some basic structure to it and your HubPages URL Tracker affiliate link is no exception. Here is the basic structure:

http://hubpages.com/_yoururltracker/"therestoftheURLnameofpageyouarelinkingto"

So the first part is HubPages URL.

Then comes an underscore that is added when you click "Share This Page" and you choose the URL tracker you want to use and your link is created (see first video in this Hub).

Then comes the exact page you're linking to.

Watch the video below for a demonstration of what I'm trying to explain.

There is a lot more you can learn about the HubPages URL Trackers and how to use them to increase your earnings on HubPages.

One great way to use the URL trackers is to link to other Hubs that are connected to your Hub's subject manner.  When you send a reader to another person's Hub via your Tracker affiliate link, then if they take any action while there, you get to share the revenue! 

The link below is created with a URL Tracker and the video below here shows how I did that.

I recommend you click here and check out Darkside's excellent Hub on this topic.

So there you have the basics of the HubPages URL Trackers and how to use them as your own affiliate links so you can maximize your own HubPages revenue. 

If you have any questions or more helpful information about this topic, please ask or share in the comments below.