I Hit 10,000 Page Views on Hubpages!

Following my usual morning routine, I logged onto HubPages while sipping on a cup of coffee. After reading some great hubs by my fellow Hubbers, I clicked over to my account page. My total page views of all time was at 10,098.

My first thought was, "Finally!"

After all, it only took me just over two years. Obviously, it was really slow going for me. It took me forever to wise up to what works on HubPages and what doesn't. In fact, I'm still working on that. In case any of you are looking to get up to 10,000 page views in less time than it took me, here is a little bit of advice; stuff I learned the hard way.

Over the last two years, I've learned that no one cares much about my dog. They don't care how cute she is, or what her name is, or how she likes to sleep at night. But you know what they do care about? They care about my knowledge of dental health in pets. They care about how I get her to let me brush her teeth. They care about how I keep her from sticking her nose in the trash can. Do you see what I'm getting at? These are topics that other dog owners find useful. They include advice that others will want to seek out.

Of course, learning what others care about and what they don't make take a little bit of time, and it might surprise you, too. For example, I once wrote a hub detailing what nail polish colors were appropriate for the office, and what was too flashy. It was one of my "backup ideas", one that I just whipped out of my butt because I couldn't think of anything better. It did require a bit of research, but it was simple to write and was mostly just common sense. To my astonishment, it's turned out to be the most popular hub I've ever written. Knowing that, I started planning other hubs on the nail polish topic. Just last week, I wrote an extensive review of a new type of nail polish that came out. In just one week, it's risen to rank number 4 among my most popular hubs.

You just have to pay close attention to what topics work well for you and which don't. My best advice would be to write about something you thoroughly enjoy. Your enthusiasm will come off in your writing, and your readers will be more interested in your hubs.

ther is nothin worse then reading a hub with rife with errors an stuff.

Am I right? Writing a hub that is grammatically correct, and free of spelling errors, is important if you want to draw in readers. They will have a hard time taking you seriously if you can't be bothered to run the spell check.

Similarly, the content itself needs to be of good quality. It needs to make sense, be relevant to the topic, and be well organized. No one likes to read an article that jumps around from topic to topic, isn't focused on what matters, and generally has a 'rambling' feel. Whatever you do, don't ramble in your hubs. Every bit of information you include must matter.

HubPages has a 'flag' feature which allows Hubbers to 'flag' another Hubber's hub if they feel it needs to be submitted for review. A common reason for 'flagging' a hub is low quality. If one of your hubs gets flagged, it can be removed. Don't let this happen to you. Not only will it suck to have to rewrite your hub, but it's bad for your reputation. Make sure your hubs are in tip-top condition before you publish them!

Hubs that contain unique information and features will do much better than those that blend in with all the others. Before you write a hub, I suggest you do some research and see what other hubs on that topic look like. What points to they cover? Now take what you've seen with other hubs, and do something completely different! People want to see something new, they want to read something that isn't being written anywhere else.

It helps a lot to include lots of pictures and videos that give readers a good visual of what you're talking about. Think of it like you're about to give a presentation at school or work. You wouldn't want to give that presentation without including some kind of visual aid, right? Those you're presenting to will have a really hard time picturing what you're talking about. But if you include pictures, videos, graphs, charts, or maps, it helps make your point crystal clear. Writing your hubs is no different than giving that presentation.

The thing I have the most trouble with is publishing consistently. My best guess is my sporadic hub production is the reason it took me so long to reach 10,000 total page views. I mean, over the course of two years, I only managed to publish 42 hubs. That doesn't even work out to two hubs per month. Sometimes I wouldn't touch a new hub for several months. Other times I would hit the pavement running with several a week. The point is, I couldn't keep up a consistent pace.

One thing I've been told is that consistency is vitally important. It's the same thing as any personal blog, or your Twitter account. If you can consistently publish something new, your readers stay interested. Your username is always in the feeds. There is always new stuff to attract new readers. If you can find a good pace that works well for you, try to keep it up.

HubPages is not just a place for you to come in, write some articles, and make some money. HubPages is a community, and the others writers matter just as much as you do. Interacting with them is very important. There are lots of Hubbers here who are seasoned pros, and have tons of really good advice to offer. Take advantage of that! Do some research and see what you can learn from them.

The new writers matter just as much. Take some time out of your day to read what others write. Leave comments, offer feedback. Cheer each other on! HubPages is a great way to make new friends who have interests similar to yours. In case making friends isn't something you care about, here's a little hint: making friends on HubPages is important to bringing in traffic! If you have friendly relationships with other Hubbers, they might be inclined to share some of the hubs you write with their own followers. They might even share to Facebook and Twitter! So keep in mind that building up good karma on HubPages will serve you well.

Advertising is important. No, I'm not talking about going out and buying ad space on web sites or anything. I'm talking about just getting your hubs exposed to the internet world. When you publish a new hub, share it with your Facebook friends. Post a link to it on Twitter, too. Chances are, your followers on social media will share it with their own followers, and your hub will gain some pretty decent exposure.