Blame it on impatience, but I'm feeling disappointed

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   mskillsposted 12 years ago

   I know this forum gets a lot of these posts, but I'm new here and bewildered regarding the rather quiet reception my first hubs have garnered.  Oh, I'm not surprised at the lack of search engine traffic, but I was hoping to get some sort of feedback on what I'm doing right or wrong.
   
   Some of my expectations are likely misplaced.  I used to write for Epinions, and the structure there encouraged members to read new works and critique them.  My interest in joining HubPages is that the scope is much broader, allowing one to write about anything that the author fancies.
   
   I've been answering questions and commenting on as many hubs that I can find something useful to say, to no avail.  So, I'm here to humbly ask you all to check out a hub of mine (doesn't matter which one) and please give me your thoughts on what I could do to improve.
   
   Thank you.

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      DIYweddingplannerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Ok. I read one and commented.  Like everyone keeps telling me here, give it time. Patience is a virtue.

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         mskillsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you, I just responded to your comment on the SwagBucks hub.  It isn't helping my impatience that I see other new hubbers with more comments and followers than me.  I'll just need to stop taking it personally.

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   Peter Owenposted 12 years ago

   Agree - you're doing just fine. your hubs are rating quite high and are interesting.
   Most people here don't give a lot of critical analysis of hubs. We just enjoy writing, hopefully make some money and enjoy reading others.
   If you wan't help in particular areas, ask for it.
   If you want to fight, go into one of Forum religious threads.
   
   Just keep writing and enjoy and ask for some pointers in the Forums.

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      mskillsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Ah, this explains a lot.  I know this is just anecdotal, but it does appear that the hubs regarding subjective and opinionated topics (like the religious ones you mentioned) are more likely to receive member comments.  How does one balance writing for profit versus writing for feedback?
      
      Thank you for checking out my hubs, Peter.  I'll try becoming active in the forums as you've suggested.

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         Peter Owenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Depends on your intent for wanting feedback. If you just want to create a controvercy and have a lot of comments, this will inially get your hub a lot of views from Hubbers, but not much from the search engines which in the long run will determine your earnings.
         I would focus on writing good articles of interest and people will find it. then dabble with some writing for feedback and see what happens. You might just develp your own specialty niche.

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            mskillsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Sage advice.  I'm just worried that I'm wasting my time with the product and service reviews even though I do genuinely enjoy writing them.  I'm not gifted at sparking controversy and would prefer not to resort to writing "hot button" topics in order to succeed here.

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   CASE1WORKERposted 12 years ago

   i loved the ant hub and recommend it to anyone

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      mskillsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you, I had fun writing that piece.  I know that an article on ant prevention isn't generally very appealing to read, but I tried my best to inject some humor into it.

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         Mark Ewbieposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         You succeeded.  Good luck with your writing... and those ants of course.  If you were to let them gradually destroy the foundations of your home that would make for an interesting series of hubs.

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            mskillsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Ah, but where would I sit to gather my thoughts for my next hub if my house collapsed?  Ha, guess that question also begs for an article.   Thanks for the encouragement.

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   wildernessposted 12 years ago

   I enjoyed your hub on ants - a fun read with an informative message as well.  Critique of the hub:
   
   I might suggest an additional photo or two.  The one is great and certainly applicable to the hub, but contributes nothing to the humor (which I enjoyed).
   
   A first paragraph heading with keywords might help SEO as well.
   
   None of the ads I am seeing are particularly applicable to the hub; either it is new or google is not managing to pick up enough keywords to find suitable ads.
   
   Overall, a great job; keep writing!
   
   You will probably find that few hubbers will actually critique a hub in the comments box.  Many don't like it done to them and most of us are a little gunshy there and won't do it.  You are encouraged to post a link to a hub or two in this forum (the only forum you may do that in) and ask for help, where you will most likely get it.  At least negative criticism doesn't stay on your hub for everyone to read forever.

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      mskillsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you wilderness.
      
      Great idea regarding using photos to depict humor.  I tend to do a better job relating humor through words than pictures, so I'll need to make a conscious effort to balance the text with appropriate images.
      
      Also, I didn't know that the first paragraph heading was recommended.  Looking at the articles from a reader's perspective, it seems like the top level title makes it redundant.  I guess I'll need to figure out a way to incorporate the heading in way that doesn't look like SEO bait.

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         wildernessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Oh, I don't know about the header.  "The Ants are Coming", "Spring time Ant Invasion", "Getting Ready For the Ants", etc.  There ought to be something that could fit reasonably well as well as incorporate a little SEO.

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   IzzyMposted 12 years ago

   I would also suggest you write a separate keyword rich summary if you haven't already done so.
   
   Hubpages used to use the first paragraph in the absence of a separate summary, but I'm not so sure they are doing that anymore - I found a few of my hubs were no longer optimized for search engine traffic despite them having keyword rich first paragraphs.
   
   By keyword rich I mean use the words in your title and url and expand them by a couple of sentences.

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      mskillsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Excellent idea.  I've played around with the summaries but haven't given much thought to their importance.  SEO is one of those fields that, while I understand its importance, I hate for needing to exist.   
      
      Any suggestions of hubs to read where the author has quantifiable findings on choosing the best keywords for traffic?

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         IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I don't think there are any hubs with that kind of information and there are plenty on SEO if you search.
         
         I recently discovered http://www.google.com/insights/search
         
         Have fun!

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            mskillsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Okay, that site absolutely rocks.  Thank you so much!

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   mskillsposted 12 years ago

   Just wanted to thank everyone for the insightful and supportive comments.  Considering my mood when I posted this morning, today turned out to be my favorite HubPages moment so far.

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