When is a Hub considered too long?

1. 82

   mary615posted 11 years ago

   I want to write a traveloge covering six days.  It will be quite lenghthy; maybe 5,000 words.  Should I write one Hub or break it up into several Hubs? I'd rather not break it up.  I plan to use lots of photos of places I visited.
   Thanks.

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      TheBadJuJuposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I would break that up into six hubs.  One for each day.  A 5,000 word article is WAY too long and readers will lose interest very quickly before they read all of the information.

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         Anti-Valentineposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Two or three would be better in my opinion, seeing as HubPages recommends that a quality article be at least 1500 words. That was in the FAQ at one point - it might still be, and it has been mentioned in one of their podcasts, too.
         
         Although it does depend on whether you can successfully break it up in to several hubs. Some are of the opinion that it doesn't do at all to have hubs in a series, with Part I, Part II, etc. in the titles. You may have more than one hub on a topic, of course.

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   2. 80

      Dale Hydeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      My advice is simple gleaned from writing online for well over a decade. The length does not matter. Google looks at your article for keywords. The more information about a particular subject that you provide within one article, the higher it will rank. Simple, and irregardless of all the SEO pros and cons, it works and has worked for me for years on "other" sites.
      
      Here on HP, who knows? I have read 500, I have read 1,000, and now I am seeing 1,500 for the first time. Write to please Google if you want views, it is that simple.
      
      I have followed HP guidelines and am in a slump of views at the moment and have been for the past month. Not sure if the HP guidelines are doable or workable with what Google wants.
      
      Just my thoughts.

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2. 75

   WriteAngledposted 11 years ago

   On the one hand, it depends on the type of reader you are targeting. 5,000 words is not long for people, who actually enjoy reading and do it for pleasure.
   
   On the other hand, there has been all this talk going on about how helpful it now is, from an SEO viewpoint, to have internal links. Splitting the material into a number of linked articles would help in that respect.

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3. 82

   mary615posted 11 years ago

   Thanks for your help. 
   I had this trip as a blog on another site.  I unpublished it about 6 weeks ago.  It no longer is indexed.  It had 1000's of views on the blog, but was producing no income.  That's why I'd like to publish it here.  I want to target those people wanting to visit the country in question.  Any further comments or advice?

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4. 83

   rebekahELLEposted 11 years ago

   People do enjoy reading travelogues but 5000 words in a one hub is too long. 2000 words is almost too long. I think I have a few around 2000 words. I agree with writing about each day and try to keep each hub about the same length, and the same format. Travelogues are extremely popular, especially for those who like to travel or if someone is thinking about visiting the same area.
   
   Check out possible search words, phrases for your hub and use these in your title, headings, etc.
   Linking them together will help as WA posted above.

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      Uninvited Writerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I agree. I will read something that long offline or on my Kindle but not on my laptop.

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5. 82

   mary615posted 11 years ago

   Thanks for all your good advice.  I will work on writing it day by day.

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6. 70

   Rehana Stormmeposted 11 years ago

   I agree with the rest, 5000 would be too long. Hubpages recommends an article should be around 1500 words for maximum potential. But then again, when it comes to areas biographies, and I believe travelogues too, readers expect longer accounts. You could aim for 3000 words each.
   
   In addition to doing the hubs, have you considered publishing as a travelogue e-book? You could put in links to your other (relevant) hubs and attract some amount of traffic from there as well. It also helps strengthen your writer portfolio.
   
   I've just followed you so I can check out your travel hubs as soon as you publish them. I love travel and wouldn't mind reading a hub that's 3000 words long.

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      Uninvited Writerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, I bet an ebook would be popular...

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      mary615posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks, Rehana.  I'd like to follow you, too.

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   mary615posted 11 years ago

   Wow!  I've never thought of publishing an eBook.  I wouldn't know where to start.  I will definitely look into that.  Thanks for the idea.

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8. 56

   Alternative Primeposted 11 years ago

   The following advise is common knowledge outside this domain but I understand it might be perceived as non-mainstream, unconventional wisdom and possibly even an unpopular answer here in this forum since everything within the HP community walls seems to be focused on, and revolve around a "Rush To Publish", which inevitably leads to "Quality" issues to be addressed at a later date, but here we go -
   
   There are of course several components to consider, but if your primary goal is to produce top quality, informative, and or entertaining experiences for readers within the context of this venue, thereby successfully building long term, sustainable relationships with visitors, I would suggest you aim for inserting 1,800 to 3,500 words per article, give or take depending on topic - Anything less will possibly raise valid questions or suspicions of "Ulterior Motives" - And yes, I've seen all the somewhat tainted yet highly worshiped studies pertaining to "Attention Span" et al - My personal experience tends to significantly discount the "Value" of these inaccurate exercises -
   
   Once an individual meets minimal criteria, if talent & skill level is sufficient, this simple guideline will induce proper aeration of the writing space and should allow for ample breathing room to cover a specific subject or topic thoroughly and accurately - Why restrict your writing and sacrifice quality by limiting valuable text and or placing unnecessary, arbitrary time limits for completion? Never rush your work -
   
   Common sense dictates, it's always a good idea to provide a little more information as opposed to falling short of what is expected by an audience - If an individual attains the information needed without reading the entire offering of a lengthy article and subsequently exits pre-maturely, so be it, you've still provided a valuable experience - On the flip side, if the article is "Short" on info and is read rapidly to completion without achieving the desired end result of satisfying the readers inquiry, there is nothing left for the visitor to do except journey on in search of what he / she had originally patronized your establishment for -
   
   I guess you could probably tell by the length of this comment I prefer thorough, complete work -

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      mary615posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      You just made a very wise and thought provoking comment, Alternative Prime.  I never sacrifice quality for quanity. 
      That's why I dont' enter into these "30 Hubs in 30 days" promotions.  I cannot write a quality article a day, although there are some here that can.  By the time I research, write, edit, get photos, etc. I may take 3 days to "hit the button".

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         Alternative Primeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you for the compliment mary615, it is appreciated, and just to clarify if I may, my advise was targeted at a general audience and not necessarily a critique of your personal work which I have yet to indulge in -
         
         The only point I would challenge you on is regarding your suggestion that one "Quality" article can be rapidly produced from scratch in one single solitary day on a consistent basis, with a duration of several consecutive days and or weeks -
         
         In my opinion, unless the ghost of Leonardo Da Vinci intervenes with invaluable paranormal psychokinetic gifts of incredible offerings enabling him to spiritually assist with great care, coupled with his targeted transmission of telepathically introduced knowledge which is accepted by said mortal human while he / she is rambunctiously creating and shaping, I would certainly not imply that it's an impossible task, but it is indeed a rare event -
         
         As you know, even professional journalists and or writers typically seek the assistance of other talented individuals such as editors, photographers, et al in an orchestrated effort to polish up work to meet the daily or weekly publishing date -
         
         On the flip side, if personal free-lance standards are set to bare basement level, then I guess it would be logical to assume this individual might meet or exceed his / her general requirements of producing a "Quality" article with great ease on a consistent basis - However, to feel confident the vast majority of readers would accept it as such is probably a highly unrealistic expectation and exceedingly presumptuous at best -

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         1. 82

            mary615posted 11 years agoin reply to this

            I hope you didn't misunderstand what I said.  Just to clarify:  I did not make the suggestion that "one Quality article can be rapidly produced from scratch in one single solitary day on a consistent basis, with a duration of several  consecutive days and or weeks". 
            As I said, there are those writers here who say they can do just that; I know I cannot.
            I do not hold myself up to the  more intelligent and talented writers that work and write here.  I am sorely lacking in the writing department, I only write for my own enjoyment.

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9. 74

   Kangaroo_Jaseposted 11 years ago

   Mary,
   
   Considering the suggestions here think of two possibilities.
   
   The first being a teaser article in a more general sense about your trip .
   The second being that e-book with all the details and it can be 5,000 or more depending on what you write in it.
   
   You get a double whammy that way, some income from the article here on HubPages and more income from sales of the ebook.
   
   I haven't looked thoroughly into ebook publishing as yet but Smashwords and Amazon may be places for you to explore as a starting point.

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      mary615posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Kangaroo_Jase, that sounds like a plan.  I'll work on it!

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    Rehana Stormmeposted 11 years ago

    Even if you decide to give your ebook free, you can put links back to your HP profile/ other hubs, which will still give you more views. In the end it's up to you to decide which strategy would be best for you. There are lots of free online software that can convert Ms Word documents to pdf's. In fact, that's what I do with my hubs to back them up.

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    1. 82

       mary615posted 11 years agoin reply to this

       My "wheels are still turning" on which way to go on this.  Many thanks for all your thoughts on this.

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