Content Vs. Monetary Gain?

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   JTRyderposted 9 years ago

   I am brand spanking new to Hubpages and I am conflicted. While I yearn for the freedom from the day to day grind of a workaday job by the millions of dollars I envision will pour in from my Hubpages site, I am still hesitant. I have read a lot of the instructional material and helpful hubpages, as well as some of the forums and their topics, and it focuses mostly on boosting scores, elevating AdSense stats, placing the proper keywords that will make the Google gods smile down and so on. My conundrum is this: My writing style is my own and absolutely zero thought is given to keywords and such as I pen my articles. When I am done, I find that my titles and my content may not be the most easily searched for wording and I have not used a lot of the advice given for generating a money. Even knowing this, I cannot bring myself to change my content. Will the content stand on its own or am I cutting my own throat by allowing the articles to stay in the same format that I feel that they should be?

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      Dale Hydeposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I would presume you could give them some time in the format you may have them in and four to six months down the road see how your stats are.  Not sure how many you may have published, but you did mention you are new to the site.  It takes time for views to pick up.
      
      Edit:  I see you have posted 13 hubs in the six days you have been here! Well done.
      
      Welcome to HubPages!

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         JTRyderposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks! I'm setting up a slew of new interviews with some old PR people I used to deal with in the music industry and trying to hook up with some of the publishing houses I used to do book reviews for. I'm really excited to be writing again!
         *Edit: I read your article on Animal Totems. The archetypes of totems is extremely ancient and powerful. I truly like the article!

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            Dale Hydeposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Glad you enjoyed the Animal Totem hub.   I am always intrigued by such things.  I just popped back in from reading and commenting on your hub, The Copycat Cult.  That was some amazing information indeed!

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      SpaceShantyposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Google prefers pages that are written naturally and not just chasing keywords.  You will probably include the relevant keyword/s anyway when writing.  As Dale said, it will take weeks/months for your Hubs to start picking up search traffic so you have to wait and see.

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      relacheposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Maybe.

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   Marcia Stamellposted 9 years ago

   Go for content for now. Life is short. Get you voice then worry about the rest.

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3. 89

   Kylyssaposted 9 years ago

   Let your readers teach you what you write best and what is successful by producing a variety of pieces of good content and giving them time to mature. 
   
   I don't do the keyword research thing; I write in my areas of expertise and passion instead.  Sometimes it pays off, either in money or in discovering my content has an unexpected educational impact.

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4. 79

   Sam Montanaposted 9 years ago

   You should always write for your audience first and then if possible for the search engines. That is the way I started writing and it has worked fine for writing articles. Write your articles just as you want to write them for your audience and then you can go back and proof read your article and add in keywords if you need to. You might find though, that your natural writing has just the right amount of keywords anyway. You never want to overdo the keywords because it can anger Google and look unnatural.
   
   Some thought should be put into the title though. Catchy titles might not get clicked on at all. The title can be the hardest part of an article. The title should always let the reader know just what the article is about.
   
   Other types of writing like copy writing is when you really do have to pay attention to keywords and all of that.

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5. 80

   LeanManposted 9 years ago

   If you are looking for traffic from the search engines and the $$$ that it brings then you will have to consider how the search engines work....
   
   You can be the very best writer in the world and produce work that is worthy of prize after prize but if no one is searching for what you are writing about then you are going to be disappointed when it comes to getting views online.
   
   So firstly if you want views then the subject must be something that will attract the views. People will not search for "The Truth Cascades Upon The People" for instance. They will however search for "How do I get a stain out of my shirt" or "Why does my dog eat poop"
   
   Secondly you have to ensure that the search engine (mainly Google whether we like it or not) knows what your page is about. Google uses the information in your title, the words that you use (keywords) within your article and a host of other factors to figure out what your hub is about. If you consider your hub "The Truth Cascades Upon The People"; if you look at the title what is it about?
   
   Your title needs to clearly state what the hub is about - otherwise why would anyone open it?
   
   If you want to write for money then you have to think about what the search engines want from this site....
   
   The alternatives are of course to promote yourself and your work through social media to attract a regular readership but this tends to be very hard work. It also tends to only provide a peak in readers when you publish and promote that will then tail off to nothing..
   
   Good clever writing unfortunately does not mean money online....

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6. 59

   JTRyderposted 9 years ago

   This has all been great advice and I want to thank you for taking the time to post up your thoughts and personal experiences. LeanMan is definitely right....my titles could use some better thinking. Usually I use something in the article or some other inspiration that may not be the most descriptive. We'll just have to see how this all plays out.
   Thanks again!

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   CuAllaidhposted 9 years ago

   I have tried writing for search engines, and had some success... that being said I haven't liked the articles I've written when I did that and have taken most of them down. Some articles I wrote because I was interested have ended up doing well on search engines because as others point out writing on a subject you can't help but include search terms in your article. Just write what comes naturally, promote yourself and your articles on social media and other outlets and the rest will follow. You may not make millions here but you'll earn some scratch

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      JTRyderposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      So what you're saying is I won't be getting my private island with a throne of oiled natives anytime soon? Should I unpack?
      There just seems to be something in me that stops me from altering my articles for "monetary" reasons in one form or another. I wrote an article once that was assigned to me by a publisher. He wanted me to interview this paint company that had created the lowest Volatile Organic Chemical paint to date. I told the publisher that it sounded like a pay for play article and he assured me that it wasn't. I asked the owner of the paint company to drop me a line if the publisher contacted him after the interview and, sure enough, the day that the article published, the publisher called him and hit him up for advertising. I have felt icky about that article ever since.

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   Dressage Husbandposted 9 years ago

   I personally think that you need to be aware of the audience that you are addressing. If the title appeals to them the visits will come. The title and the description from the top of the hub are all that the search engines will display. You have about 15 secs to grab the readers attention.
   
   However I do not let that bother me as I like to write how I feel at the time often that makes for good SEO too. Try both and see what works for you. The numbers only settle down after 2 or 3 months so give it time to see.
   
   Sometimes an old article will suddenly take off even when it had hardly any visits for a year or more! It may have been linked to by a blogger with a huge following?
   
   That's my view for what it is worth.

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9. 79

   Uzochukwu Mikeposted 9 years ago

   Give your hubs maybe about three months and edit. Also write hubs that cover a lot of areas in one as search engines look into your content and not only the title. You can check out my hubs on Challenges in Nigeria and Corruption and see they cover a lot.

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      JTRyderposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I'll check them out!

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         Uzochukwu Mikeposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Okay, those two hubs get not less than 120 views each per day. So, make your hubs to cover many areas in one.

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    JTRyderposted 9 years ago

    Thanks U Mike!

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       Uzochukwu Mikeposted 9 years agoin reply to this

       you are welcome

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