Another newb looking for guidance and advice.

1. 60

   Trefoldposted 12 years ago

   Hello hello, I am yet another new (or more precisely returning) user who is looking for a strong community to connect to and perhaps some tips and pointers on how to go about using hubpages.
   
   First a bit about myself. My name is Casey, however I go by the pen name Trefold on various sites. I have been writing for awhile now and work as a freelance writer for Demand Studios. First off let me say that I love writing for DS, and the community there has been really supportive, however I'm looking to return to 'pleasure writing' compared to the cut and dry make your money and type whatever you have to in order to get it. Unlike hubpages DS is a studio that provides the writers with topics and expects you to write sellable articles based on that content. Whereas this isn't bad, I want to spend more time writing about things that interest me. Although it is not my main reason for writing, I would also like to make a substantial income from doing this.
   
   I was first turned onto hubpages a while back, about the same time I started writing for DS. A group of writers were talking in their forums about what other sites they use and this one came up, I started an account and decided to test it out, posting my rejected articles that I couldn't use on DS. Honestly after throwing up a few articles I completely forgot about this site for about six months. I just recently stumbled upon it and while looking at my stats realized that over these six months of having done nothing, I made two bucks. Chump change I know, but from articles I had written anyways and have been sitting on a site completely forgotten. So I have decided to actually give this site another try. I still plan on writing and spending the majority of my time on DS, got to pay the bills, but if this site proves to be worth the time and effort I might eventually be found spending more time here.
   
   So far I have spent a solid night just reading articles in the learning center and scribbling notes down. So far I have read nearly every articles from the getting started guide to the your first hub section. I plan to continue reading these articles as they seem to be the best source of information, however I felt the need to take a break and actually touch this fantastic community I've been reading about.
   
   Some things that caught my attention while reading this guides are;
   
   product reviews- In one of the guides it talks about getting ideas to write hubs. It mentions reviewing products you love and enjoy. Is this a solid way to write and get views?
   
   Link tool- I have some knowledge about SEO, but does providing links to outside sources in your hub really increase your profits? If so how many links should you aim to use? And what sources are best to link to?
   
   fictional writing- In one article I read it talked about using artistic outlets like poetry and stories to write hubs. Are people really making money off of this type of stuff here?
   
   Carving your niche- it seems to me that the best way to really get use out of this site is to pick three topics that you wish to write about and go from there. In one of the articles it talks about "owning a topic" by writing at least ten small hubs about specific things in a general topic. The example was fruit, instead of writing one hub about fruit write ten hubs about different fruits. Taking this idea and running with it I came up with three topics I think I'd like to write about, and would like some feedback. Perhaps they are good topics, perhaps there's no profit from them. The first is Hypnosis. I am a studying hypnotist and think it'd be very easy to write ten different hubs if not more about different hypnosis uses and techniques. The second is Gaming, straight up old school table top gaming. If product reviews are actually profitable I can easily write in depth product reviews about the various games and systems my gaming group has tried. At one point I was even toying with the idea of starting my own gaming blog in which I'd discuss and review new systems as they came out. The last topic is actually the one I'm most excited about, and it's shibari. Shibari is Japanese for rope dresses. It's a form of Japanese rope bondage that involves making elaborate rope harnesses and dresses some of which can be worn on a daily basis right under your mundane clothes. I was thinking of typing guides up on how to tie various harnesses and describing the uses and such.
   
   Well thanks for reading my mindless ramblings, I look forward to any kind of advice you're willing to give.

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2. 88

   WryLiltposted 12 years ago

   Hello Casey and welcome.
   
   I'll address these as best I can:
   
   product reviews- There are two types of hubs: information (telling the person how to do something like "how to clean your car" or "how to have a natural birth") and sales hubs. Sales hubs are aimed at a specific product and are far more likely to get good (Amazon mostly but also Adsense) earnings from a small amount of views, from what I've seen. Why? Because people Googling "best bread makers 2011" are probably more in the market for a bread maker than someone Googling "how to make bread".
   
   Link tool- I don't use the link tool at all. It's really a way for the site to strengthen its internal structure. I prefer to link to my own hubs on the topic. If you're linking to someone elses hub, you're losing traffic that could be clicking links to your ADS, HUBS, or SITES!
   
   Fiction Writing - There are two main types of writers here at HP: those who write because they love it and those who write because they want money. Sure, there's a bit of overlap but it's a well known fact that the "creative" writers rarely earn money - they're more here for the social interaction with other writers. The only exception is if you carefully tailor your writing to a specific niche and be very specific about those keywords in the title such as "Poem About Bread" to match what people are Googling.
   
   Carving your niche - This is a good idea, although it often takes some refinement. You may pick a niche that is too "saturated" with online content and discover you can't get many views. In that case, try a different (or slightly different niche). Also, remember that keywords that send people to your hubs can also provide ideas for new hubs. (For example: I have a hub on how to play frontierville and many of the keywords were "how to delete frontierville". I wrote a hub on that and it gets as many views as my guide.)
   
   But the main thing is learn about keywords.

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