Current Topics
I think the better way to get traffic (from outside HubPages) is to write a "how to" Hub, or at least one on something that a lot of people may be searching for. It doesn't have to specifically be "how to" - but it has to help someone with something. "Tips for.." are another good kind to write. If not that kind, then sometimes one on a specific product or place can work out well.
I stay away from the latest "big thing" in the news because I don't want my Hub lost in the zillions of other things people write about the same thing.
If you write about something like, "my horrible day last Wednesday" it won't likely get very much traffic.
I have one that I only wrote because it was a request (now known as a "question" on HubPages). It was about yellow fingernails and toenails. I don't know why I even answered such a disgusting request. I guess because I knew some answers. It's one of my better Hubs traffic-wise.
(Hardly my idea of my best writing. 
). I guess a lot of people must have yellow nails and be looking for how to whiten them up. 
The point is that the Hub addresses a very specific problem and offers some suggestions for trying to fix it. (It does kind of bug me to see that particular, disgusting, Hub way at the top on "My Account". )
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