Little Traffic/Comments/Followers: What am I doing wrong?!?!

1. 67

   Claudia Telloposted 12 years ago

   I just read a Hub about apple pie recipes that got a huge amount of comments, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that a food & cooking related hub had such response when mines barely get 3 or 4 comments and are equally good quality articles. What am I doing wrong?!?!

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   1. 60

      Hollie Thomasposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Well, I follow you Claudia and I actually think your hubs are excellent. I'm thinking specifically about your Cambodia Hubs which are the ones I've read. To be honest, in my humble opinion, I think they're of a very high quality. Maybe you just need to promote and backlink more. I bet if you concentrated on keywords a bit more, they would definitely be a hit with backpackers.

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      1. 60

         Hollie Thomasposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         You've got some really nice recipes on there as well. You should post them on food lovers web and foodlovers website. One of them, I forget which one, although they both have the same owner, allows you to add your link and if it makes it to published news you have a dofollow link from a PR2 site. The other is like a competition and it's just more publicity to your articles. And, you can link it to your adsense account for additional earnings from your backilinks.

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         1. 67

            Claudia Telloposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks a lot for this information, I am going to check these websites out; sounds like a very good idea.

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      2. 67

         Claudia Telloposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         And you are right, maybe I should include some tags for traveling backpackers who are looking for information, thanks again.

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   2. 72

      relacheposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Are you comparing a recently-created Hub to something that was published when HubPages was running the food contest?  That could explain a lot of the discrepancy.

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      1. 67

         Claudia Telloposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         No, both hubs are recent publications and have similar content.

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   3. 87

      kschangposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Don't fret over traffic. It often takes weeks or months for traffic to build up.
      
      You may be able to "prime the pump" through Reddit or a similar social bookmarking service, but it is hit-and-miss on those.

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      1. 67

         Claudia Telloposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks kschang for your imput.

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   4. 75

      MamaNeedsJavaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      When I lived overseas I appreciated it when someone told me I was out of step with local culture so I'm going to say the "rude" thing and hope it helps you with your traffic issue.  I am VERY new to hubpages so please take this as feedback from a cook / reader rather than a Hub expert. 
      
      Although this is not an American site the bulk of writers I've seen so far seem to be American.  Your recipes include metric weights and very few people here have kitchen scales.  That means your really appealing recipes can't be easily cooked by a significant portion of your readers.  Consider providing cup measurements along with weights.  For meat, include pounds or ounces along with kilos.  Yes, people really do find it easier to go to the next recipe on the Google list than to find a conversion site. 
      
      The apple pie site is the wrong one to use as a comparison.  The ingredients for most apple pies are easy to come by and people have an idea how it should taste.  Particularly this time of year it's a heavily searched topic.  Your recipes look wonderful and are well written but they require a trip to the specialty grocery store and don't have the same seasonal spike as apple pie. 
      
      Your recipe size is large for daily use recipes.  The Pozole looks wonderful but at my house 10 servings of soup would mean eating it for three days and then throwing out a bunch more.  I'm not exceptional in this.
      
      You seem to be a wonderful cook, clear writer, and good photographer.  I wish you much luck connecting with your target market!

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      1. 67

         Claudia Telloposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         You are right about the metric system measures, changing that could help in the food-hubs, thanks.

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2. 83

   psycheskinnerposted 12 years ago

   Look for every different between that hub and yours.
   
   Have they been up for the same amount of time?
   Do you both reply to comments?
   Is it better keyworded?
   Does it have more backlinks?
   
   etc

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   1. 67

      Claudia Telloposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I thought of that too. Strangely, the author did not reply to any of the many comments she got.......
      The period of publication is similar or sometimes my hubs are much older!!! ¿¿¿¿¡?¡?
      I am almost sure it has to do with some search technicality such as key wording and I'll have to take a closer look on back linking.
      Thanks!!!

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3. 80

   Uninvited Writerposted 12 years ago

   That Hubber is very popular and has been here for a while. I do know she backlinks and she is on the forum a lot, I assume she also comments on a lot of hubs.  Basically the key is letting people get to know you exist.

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   1. 67

      Claudia Telloposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I am starting to see that interacting with other hubbers is very important. Probably I am lacking the networking part of the writer’s job, which is engaging in forums and commenting a bit more.
      Very good advice, thanks a lot!

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      1. 82

         BradyBonesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Claudia, I often feel the same way you do. As a sufferer of frequent and significant anxiety, it takes a lot of effort for me to engage in networking-type behaviors.
         
         When I was going through my undergrad degree, discussion board participation was a weekly requirement that really bothered me. Unfortunately, that wasn't a lesson I took away from the program. In fact, once I switched my masters focus from business to information security, I made sure I picked a program that required minimal social interaction and no forum requirement.
         
         Just think how much more exposure we'd have if we came up with at least one original forum post and three value-added comments per week.
         
         Still, for some of us, knowledge and practice are two different monsters altogether.
         
         Best of luck to you,
         -Brady

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         1. 67

            Claudia Telloposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks for your input Brady, I think you are right. It is imperative to interact with the community if one wants to be successful in Hubpages. I have been reading more hubs and posting comments, as well as answering questions I find interesting, none of which I did before. I don’t know much about traffic but my scores have gone up. I guess at first I thought that publishing my articles went much beyond just Hubpages but now I know that I actually have to start spreading my scope of influence from Hubpages out, and that it takes interaction with other Hubbers for traffic to build up. I have made some important keyword modifications and this has also helped a lot.
            Again thanks for your support and good wishes.

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            1. 62

               I am DB Cooperposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               I've found that the best way to "get the ball rolling" is by becoming more involved in the Hubpages community. Try to find a few more hubbers to follow each day. Leave comments on hubs you like. Send fan mail to hubbers whose work you really like. Ask and answer a few questions in the Answers section. Last but not least, participate in these forums.
               
               Doing all this will get you more followers, which means more people will see your new hubs as soon as you publish them. Your hubs are high-quality and well-written, so I think it's only a matter of time before they become popular on Hubpages and with Google.

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               1. 67

                  Claudia Telloposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  Thanks DB Cooper, I appreciate your input and experienced tips. I am taking my first steps as an active participant in the community and will follow all of your advice.

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            2. 60

               Hollie Thomasposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Hi Claudia,
               
               I don't know if you've seen it in the forums, but Paradismsearch was asking hubbers to submit three worthy hubs which he posts on his website (which is really neat I have to add) I know on some days there has been a particular theme. As far as I'm aware however, travel has not been one of them as yet. When the window for submission reopens, it may be worth you posting Paradigmsearch a couple of links. Just a thought.

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               1. 67

                  Claudia Telloposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  Thanks Hollie, I am certainly going to check this website out and see if I can submit my hubs. Besides travel I also have some food hubs and I am starting to write about photography, I'll se which one of them matches the requirements.

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                     Hollie Thomasposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                     Paradigmsearch is a hubber here with his own blog (PR3) I know he's read some of your stuff and remarked that it is excellent. I have decided to post three worthy hubs- is a forum thread here. I'll come back in a minute with the link.

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                     1. 60

                        Hollie Thomasposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                        http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/84500#post1819230

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4. 90

   greatstuffposted 12 years ago

   Hi Claudia
   I joined HubPages just abt a week ago and posted my 1st hub recently. Now the traffic is dropping and reading comments from fellow hubbers on your question has enlighten me on MY problems. Hope you too will have yours sorted out. We are learning every day!!

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   1. 67

      Claudia Telloposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks and Good Luck to you too!

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