Is Controversy the Answer?

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   nell79posted 13 years ago

   It seems from the little bit of experience I've had here so far that controversy gets the most attention (whether it be political or religious). Do you think that being controversial (whatever the side of the issue you choose to be on) in the forums or on your hubs gets you more traffic? Any regrets? Thoughts?
   
   For those who choose to stay on the safe side, how are you doing? Any regrets? Thoughts? Comments?

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      Greek Oneposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I am universally loved by the entire Hubber community due to my sage observations and benevolent advice.
      
      The result is that over a 17 month period, I have received 12 page impressions and well over 6 cents in Adsense revenue

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         Mark Ewbieposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Excellent - lol.

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      Toby Hansenposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      There are a few in the forums that will just  take anything said by anyone about anything and turn it into a major forum fight.
      
      I have a simple policy. All that I do is be myself. There has only been one person who I have been forced to report for a personal attack in a forum. Compared to some places online,, that is pretty good
      
      Try to avoid the religious forums, and you should be fine.

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      livelongerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I think the relationship is purely incidental.
      
      The way you get traffic to your Hubs is by doing a bit of research on attractive topics, and writing a lot of good Hubs.

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      Jeff Berndtposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I've found that controversy drives traffic from within the HubPages community, but that only lasts for a short time.
      
      If you want your hub to have a lot of traffic over the long haul, it's going to have to be useful (like a recipe for a dish that a lot of people want to learn to  cook) or a genuinely interesting read on its own.

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         nell79posted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Glad to hear it! Though what I consider useful, others might not haha
         
         Do recipes really do well? I'd thought about putting up a few of mine, though I'd have to tweak them a bit first, as with several I don't really measure with utensils, but by taste (you could imagine how that would work: "do a few shakes of this, then taste it...." yeah, that won't do so well)

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            Jeff Berndtposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Well, some recipes do well. In my case, of all my hubs, the one that's had the most traffic over the long haul has been been one I wrote about homemade marinara sauce. I don't think it's my best hub, but a lot of the ones I think are better don't get nearly as much traffic.
            
            My other recipes haven't done as well, though, so, I guess everyone loves marinara sauce.
            
            Also, don't be afraid to post your recipes as you cook them. My recipe hubs deliberately leave the amounts vague, knowing that you need more of everything if you're cooking for ten people than for two, and that different people like different levels of spiciness.

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   princess gposted 13 years ago

   I don't like to be controvercial. sometimes a little drama is fun, but only when it's harmless, and in fun

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   Flightkeeperposted 13 years ago

   Nell, I'm not sure what you're trying to achieve with your hubs.  The forum is basically a place to interact as a break from writing hubs.  For some it is a social gathering place.  Having fans from fellow hubbers kind of gives you a leg up in the sense that google will see that there are people clicking to the hub but in terms of making any money, it would be useless.  You want clicks on ads and amazons from non-hubbers who are looking for something and your hub provides some answers and the ads/products will peak their interest.

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      nell79posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      It's not really anything that I'm looking at to achieve. Just something I wondered about. I'm surprised, really, at how many flock to those controversial topics after my bad experience with it last week. LOL So I wondered what keeps others going there. I was curious if it had to do with traffic or revenue.
      
      Honestly, even if I could get rich quick off of it, I still wouldn't do it. I couldn't be in a constant state of arguing, it would drive me crazy. On occasion, with the right people, it can be fun to discuss/debate the differences in beliefs once in a while, but no way could I do it daily or even weekly haha

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