Looking for advice.

1. 89

   SimeyCposted 8 years ago

   I'm looking at my whole Hubpages portfolio and want to trim it down to a level where I can truly maintain and update every hub periodically.
   
   What criteria should I use to decide which ones to keep?
   
   My first thought was to keep any Hubs that have 50+ views per month (plus any associated hubs).
   
   Not sure if this is a good idea?
   
   Should I instead focus on one or two subjects as well as using the above 'views' filter?
   
   Any advice will be much appreciated!

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   1. 85

      tsmogposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Of course the account page will help. I used a simple formula when I did this same thing deleting many hubs. Using the date published determine how many months it has been published. Divide the ever views by those months. For instance 1000 ever views by 20 months is 50 views per month.
      
      Next, look at the most recent 30 day view. Say it is 8 or maybe 26 . . . I dun'no. What occurs is you have a ratio creating a trend. If the ratio is 8 for recent 30 days then it is 8:50. If it is 26 then it is 26:50. Obviously the trend for the latter is better. If you divide the most recent by ever you get a percentage too. The higher the percentage the greater the trend. Do that for all hubs then rank them better to worse. I would keep or focus on the higher trend ratios or larger percentage. What you do with the lesser trend is another matter.
      
      Note: Using the export csv option at account page will download a file into excel where a spreadsheet will occur. Computations can be easily done.
      
      Using that method an option is opened up for seeing those trends. For instance a hub with low most recent 30 day view with short publication months may have a higher trend than one with the same last 30 days and a lot of ever views. The trend is going downward for the latter. It is being read less than once before.
      
      Most likely seasonal may enter the question. Naturally if featured is important. If not featured for quality then that is a focus with editing. If traffic it is possibly editing and SEO - social media exposure and etc.
      
      The trend of being read offers another perspective adding to the other data at the account page. Of course Google Analytics helps too. For my experience knowing the trend offered to me an advantage for focus.
      
      A good method to use is what is called Cost of Opportunity. Setting up your personal choice of qualifiers - score, trend, ever views, and etc you can create a composite score of some type. Rank each qualifier and then add them up for a composite score. Next, (Peeking on the Web at Cost of Opportunity) you can look closely.
      
      That may sound like a lot of work too. But, it offers some fun looking at your portfolio, some learning seeking tomorrow too, and options. At task is where to invest effort and time.
      
      I hope that offers insight. Remember always No Pressure . . . have fun, fun, fun . . . as best as can be :-)

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         Solarasposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Very good advice for SimeyC here +1

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2. 90

   Kylyssaposted 8 years ago

   How many hubs are you looking to get down to?
   
   I think you should cull based strictly on performance rather than on niche as well. I don't know how your views are spread on your account, but I have performing hubs of every sort. If I narrowed down to one or two niches, I'd lose at least half my views. If you would as well, it's probably not a good idea.

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   1. 89

      SimeyCposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Not sure - probably maximum of 25 - I currently have 180 featured and about 30 not featured - trying to whittle them down is difficult as I get some views on all of them during a month - probably 50% of them get less than ten views so these should go I guess!!

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      1. 90

         Kylyssaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         I have some hubs that don't really require any maintenance to keep getting views so I'm guessing you may have a few, too. I'd suggest you keep every hub that doesn't seem to need maintenance to keep getting views or to stay featured plus twenty-five or so others. If you can manage the care and feeding of twenty-five hubs that need regular updating or massaging, you may as well reap the rewards of the hubs you've written that need little to no care and feeding as well.
         
         I'd suggest you move absolutely every hub that was built to sell things if you have any of them left, unless they are performers. That might narrow things down if only by a teeny, tiny bit.
         
         Obviously, you'll want to keep hubs that support your performers and all of your performers.
         
         You could get rid of anything un-featured that isn't a support to a performing hub. If you feel your un-featured hubs have merit, it's probably a good idea to move them somewhere they'll be read. A change of location may be just what they need.  Don't listen to negative comments about moving content; if it's good, there's probably a better venue for it out there somewhere.

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3. 84

   psycheskinnerposted 8 years ago

   Unless those 25 are super performers you are hamstringing your potential for profit.

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4. 88

   NateB11posted 8 years ago

   I started deleting Hubs that get unfeatured. Particularly those which are at least two years old, though sometimes I'll delete one that's maybe a year old if it just looks like a no-go. Focusing on specific subject matter, I think does help. On one account, I have Hubs that are keyword researched and on one subject and it gets almost as much traffic as this one with much less Hubs; we're talking like less than a tenth of the Hubs of this one.
   
   Deleting those low-performing Hubs has helped my subdomain in terms of traffic and money.
   
   Mainly I've decided that if it seems like the Hub won't get traffic, due to subject matter and keywords, I just won't write it or keep it. Though once in awhile I write something for the fun of it. Sometimes I keep the ones that seem like they have potential though the traffic is kind of low and the keywords seem like they aren't popular.
   
   However, those Hubs I delete, I move to another site; either my own or another rev-share site. I consider whether the subject has already been covered here when I do this.

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      Solarasposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      +1

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5. 80

   Richard-Bivinsposted 8 years ago

   Re-purpose the unfeatured hubs first... not here but maybe find a print mag that might accept them as long as they're not product reviews.. or re-work them to be used as guest blogs.
   
   Don't get rid of the seasonal hubs but if they are unfeatured, try to re-work them a month or so before they may become relevant again.
   
   Get rid of anything else that is getting less than 30 views per month but see if they fit into the first suggestion.
   
   Just keep in mind the 80/20 rule... it mostly holds true here.  80% of your traffic is going to come from only 20% of your content.

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6. 52

   lizapinposted 8 years ago

   likewise I used it too

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7. 80

   LeanManposted 8 years ago

   There used to be a table on HP that showed how many hubs got what levels of views and the figure was something like 90-95% of hubs get less than 10 views per month.. So if you are getting 50 views a month then they are some of the top performing hubs on HP!!!!
   
   Personally I would not cull just based on simple cut off based on monthly views - especially if you have put a lot of work into the hubs..
   
   Look at each one in turn and ask yourself why it is not getting enough views;
   
   Is anyone searching for the keywords and subject area?
   
   If no one is searching for them then you need to either select keywords that are being searched for or accept that the hub is unlikely to ever generate traffic and if that is your goal then delete it.
   
   If people are searching for your keywords;
   
   Is there too much competition? Do an actual search and look at what google is ranking. If those sites are dedicated and highly respected authority sites do you really think you can outrank them with a hub page?
   Look at the competition also on HP - google is not going to rank 20 pages all from HP so if there are a huge number of pages here competing for your keywords then you need to better them also.
   
   If there are searches and no competition why are you not getting ranked and views?
   
   Look at your on page SEO and also your actual writing etc. Does the page actually get read by the visitors you get? Do the visitors just leave immediately? Do you actually provide what the visitor is actually searching for? What is the intent of the search phrase?  These are probably fixable and you could boost your traffic.

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8. 89

   SimeyCposted 8 years ago

   Thanks to everyone for the great advice - much food for thought!

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