"why is no one reading my hubs? what is wrong?" (specifically mine)

1. 46

   Ericdierkerposted 11 years ago

   So drmark and Victoria Lynn both suggested I ask this question. It seems like a good question. I assume it will open the doors to a lot of nasty critical comments. So I thank you ahead time, I am sure we will learn something from each comment.
   It should be noted that I have not done one thing regarding driving traffic, I just write - as of today.

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      christopherantonposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I read your hubs all the time, so somebody does. They are very good, but a bit short. Some more content should help with the search engines. Try videos and pictures with "Key word" captions.

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         christopherantonposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         If I could add to the above. You need to thank people who comment on your articles. You rarely do. If you want loyal followers, you need to show a little appreciation of their interest.

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            Ericdierkerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Thank you I will do better.

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   peeplesposted 11 years ago

   The hubs I clicked on were very short. Way below the desired amount of words. On a positive note you have some great topics.

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      psycheskinnerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      This is just my opinion, make of it what you will. I looked at the three most recent
      
      1) When it is your time and your turn is up, you probably will not even know it.
      It’s an autobiographical story. I doubt anyone is out there searching for it, so it is unlikely to attract a lot of traffic. It could get flagged as purely personal.
      2) What brand of spur is the best? Do you know what a spur is? How to choose a spur.
      There is a typo in the third subtitle. It could get flagged for a deceptive title as you never answer any of the three questions. I didn’t really get anything from this piece, it seemed to meander.
      3) How to find Grace. We are not entitled and we do not deserve this Grace.
      Readable but opens very negatively and so may not draw the reader in. Probably not something people are searching for. But evidence of good writing voice.
      
      IMHO if you want to make money give people stuff they will find useful or entertaining. Most importantly give them answers to questions they type into search engines.  So just to be confusing, I think you have topics that will not attract traffic and so will not earn. A.k.a. from that point of view, "bad" topics.

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         Ericdierkerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         psycheskinner, That is very detailed and helps a great deal I am saving your words of wisdom.

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      Ericdierkerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Peebles, I have received similar criticism. thank you

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   awareposted 11 years ago

   title choice . and pic choice.if your going to  put out info hubs. at least decorate their cover.

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      Ericdierkerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      but I thought I was -- what am I doing wrong there?

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   Wesman Todd Shawposted 11 years ago

   Just keep pluggin' away.  Eventually, you will certainly be able to figure out just what does work for you, and what does not.
   
   Trial and error.....look at your most successful hubs - the ones that have received the most traffic from search engines...that should give you an idea as to what subjects you like that you can also do well with here.
   
   Look at your least successful hubs...ones that have been published at least a year, and haven't done well - can you improve them?
   
   I tinker with my old hubs...Just today I found a couple of really dumb things I'd done on what was really a pretty successful hub of mine...I deleted some stupid capsules that shouldn't have ever been there, and improved some that needed improving.
   
   One should never think that just because something is published and has been for a long while that it can't be improved upon.

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      Ericdierkerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I thought I was doing this right because I had no Zs. But I see your point that is pretty shallow.

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5. 85

   lovebuglenaposted 11 years ago

   People may not be reading your hubs because they simply don't come across them. Most of the HubPages traffic comes from Google and other search engines too. People are either not searching for that which you write about or whatever you write about comes up in the search but not on the first few pages so no one seems them. People tend not search through too many pages on Google; just the first few. I've written stuff that I thought was interesting and useful and that people would wanna know about yet some of it hardly gets any traffic and I wonder why that is.

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      Ericdierkerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Lovebulglena, I guess that seemed backwards to me, but I see your point.

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6. 90

   Nell Roseposted 11 years ago

   Just a thought, but are you going over to read other hubbers hubs? The more you read and comment, the more they will read yours and it will get noticed.

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      Ericdierkerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Nell I think I hop about 5 a day and being opinionated I comment. I like your suggestion it is really like being friendly so folks can be friendly back.

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   Rfordinposted 11 years ago

   I am no expert by any means BUT I think some of your titles are a little on the long side to be "Google" friendly. For instance "Keywords Right or Wrong" would be a great title and draw me in.....
   
   Then your opening statement in bold could be something of this sorts...
   
   When writing a piece/article/hub keywords are essentail. It is very important that keywords are relevant........ or something like that.
   
   The Hub on Spurs in my opinion should be entitled "How to Choose the Right Spur" then the other things should be sub topics in the hub. Keep in mind that "sub headings" are a great place to use keywords and that you are taking away from your hub by not making "sup topics" of that nature....
   
   "The Issues of Treating Symtpoms in Healthcare: A Billion Dollar Industry!" .....these titles draw me in. If the title is long you lose me.....
   
   I always look at it from "my perspective"....IE would I read it if it showed up, is the summary detailed on what I want or am searching for?
   
   Seems like you have decent topics tho....just my two cents.

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      Ericdierkerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Those are just great comments I definitely will work toward your suggestions.

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         DrMark1961posted 11 years agoin reply to this

         This is great! You have some really helpful comments on here. I do not agree with the comment "keep plugging away" as there are a lot of things that can be improved. I am taking a lot of them to heart myself and will try to use them to improve. I really appreciated psycheskinner and rfordin´s comments about improving both substance and title.
         There is also a forum where you can submit your hub, before or after publishing, and have it critiqued by other hubbers.I think you need to have a thick skin, of course, but if you want to improve and see more page views that is another good way to go.

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            Ericdierkerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks for the suggestion to do this, it is very encouraging and perhaps I even learned a little about my self.

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   SmartAndFunposted 11 years ago

   I agree about the titles. If you were going to search for the information found in any one of your articles, what would you type into Google to find that information? That is what the title of your article should be. For example, your article titled "Adoption. Pros and Cons? Not really unless the adoption is a con. Children win." might be found by more people if it were simply titled "pros and cons of adoption" or "Benefits of adoption" or maybe even "Should I give my baby up for adoption?"
   
   Keyword research will help you find the best wording for titles.

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      For what its worth:  I recently realized that nobody out there really cares about my personal philosophical views.  They are important to me, but that's it.  People want to read about what interests THEM and not what interests ME.  This was a very hard pill to swallow and it caused me to delete a ton of hubs, and I'm still working on that...but I think I "get" it now.  Many of your titles, frankly, are not things I would want to read...not because of the subject matter, but because of your take on them.  Don't tell me I'm going to die some day..I know that.  Tell me why I shouldn't be afraid to die...then I'm interested.

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         matthew francisposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         That's helped me, good advice. Thanks.

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      Ericdierkerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Snartandfun,
      You are right on. Can you imagine some people claim I not only write too much but also talk too much.

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         SmartAndFunposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Lol, I have heard the same thing from my friends and family before, but only once or twice.

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   2uesdayposted 11 years ago

   This is just a thought and you can ignore it if your think it is foolish. Maybe it will help someone.
   
   I am wondering if your titles are too 'educated' for what most people would type into a search engine. There was once a bit on the individual hub stats. were you could see what keyword or search term brought readers to your page. I can also see this on another site I publish on and on my blogs. When I look at those keyword terms or sentences they are often very basic words or questions.  Sometimes it looks it like a person has just gone to the keyboard and ask the search engine a question in a very informal way.
   
   One other thought - if you are making no money at all are you sure you set everything up right?  It might be worth checking in case there is a glitch. You will know from Google analytics where your traffic is coming from and how long they are on the page.

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      Ericdierkerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Awesome 2uesday,
      I will set things up. No I just start about 5-6 months ago, understood making money was a ways off. I settled in to write and learn but I think I am ready to start writing and paying some attention to making money.

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10. 61

    jule729posted 11 years ago

    Hi 2uesday,
    
    Thanks for sharing. I am just new here and I don't even know the use of google analytics. Thanks for the info. Noq i know the importance of it.

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    That Grrlposted 11 years ago

    Your post about spell check is ironic. You do need to spend some time studying English grammar. I did not look at your profile. I get the impression English is not your first language just from reading the summaries of your posts. I did not click to read any of the posts - either the topic did not interest me, the title did not give me a reason to read more, or the summary had English errors (especially not great from someone writing about writing).
    
    If you want to write in English you need some brushing up on the general rules. Of course, some people think there should be no rules when it comes to writing and language. I wouldn't read their posts either. It's not snobbery. I just don't want to spend time trying to understand how they communicate before I even know if they have anything useful to say.

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       Ericdierkerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Thank you. In summary, my summaries are illiterate in your view.

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          Mark Knowlesposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          Not sure illiterate is the proper word. From my perspective, the sentence construction is such that I immediately assume you are not a native English speaker, and this is a major turn off when I see it in a summary.
          
          Putting aside the fact that purely personal content such as many of your articles are, is some what harder to get traffic to than some other subjects, this lack of proper English seems to be one hindrance.
          
          For example, "The issue of treating symptoms in healthcare is a billion dollar industry that is normally really wrong for your body."
          
          This is a very poorly constructed title. Changing to: "Healthcare is a billion dollar industry that doesn't care about you," might be more readable.
          
          And you tend to use very, very short sentences instead of making them into a readable sentence. For example:
          
          "A husband and wife go for a run together. The ache afterword. Great. Now treat those symptoms of a workout with a bath and partners massage. That is healthy. "take three of these" is not. And we all should enjoy a bath and touching."
          
          This makes no sense in English. Try:
          
          "A husband and wife go for a run together and they ache afterwards. Instead of treating this as a 'symptom,' that requires pain killers, try a relaxing massage and a hot bath instead. We all enjoy being touched and this is a healthier approach than drugs."
          
          Hope that helps, but I suspect you might need to look at proper sentence construction in English.

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             Ericdierkerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

             thank you for your comment. I will implement your ideas for sure.

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          That Grrlposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          Not illiterate. Your English is garbled. If you read your sentences out loud do they sound clear and right. Try it.
          
          You asked for advice, be careful about getting into a snit when someone gives it to you.

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             Ericdierkerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

             Sorry for seeming snitful. I said thank you and paraphrased what I understood you to mean. Again thank you.

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    LindaSmith1posted 11 years ago

    The titles are over the top. They are more like short summaries than titles.

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       Ericdierkerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       I think you are right. It should not be to hard to correct both past and future. Thank you

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