5000 words+ ???

1. 66

   greenteatravelsposted 9 years ago

   I have some amazing pictures that were just converted from old slides to digital, and they tell a story about a native African tribe that my parents visited in the 70s.
   
   Is 5000 words too much? And what about pictures? I have about 20-30 really good, interesting pictures. Any advice would be great!
   
   *Sidenote: Pictures of natives in the nude/half nude are okay/not okay? And how about pictures detail their hunting, killing and cooking techniques? (one image shows a boar with a spear in its side, there is blood).
   
   Thanks in advance!

   replyreport
   1. 87

      neosurkposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I would recommend against the idea of multiple part hubs. I do want to read a long story if it interests me. And as you said, it would have a real value. So 5,000 words is not a big deal. The worst thing you can do to that story is break up the flow of story by creating part 1, part 2 etc. which just hinders the mood of the reader.
      
      Semi-nude (male) is okay, but not full nude or pictures with breasts of a female. And if you want to include those pictures, HP staff will give you much more correct answer. Like you said, if you don't want AdSense and to make money here, HP might allow you to publish it without putting ads. Here is a link you might want to read: http://hubpages.com/faq/#what_is_allowed
      
      Welcome to HubPages!

      replyreport
      1. 66

         greenteatravelsposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks for your help neosurk! This is great information.

         replyreport
   2. 94

      SpaceShantyposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Personally I think 5000+ words would work well, Google likes content.  Maybe break it up in to sections so readers are not overwhelmed and hit the back button.  I have one Hub which is over 8000 words and it does well.
      
      As for the nude pictures I think you have to be careful, obviously they are not porongraphic but you might risk getting your Adsense account banned.  You could just turn ads off on that Hub, I don't think it would earn a huge amount from display ads anyway.  You could still promote Amazon products like books about African tribes which probably would do well.

      replyreport
   3. 88

      NateB11posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      As far as success, meaning traffic and good placement in the search engine results, admin here says 1200 words is ideal. That is derived from testing they've done. I personally have had successful articles in the neighborhood of 500-800 words and I have articles that have thousands of words and hardly get traffic. I don't know if you are concerned with getting traffic. But at any rate, there's that.
      
      I think, though, that a Hub that size could be a good resource for people; they could go to the section they need and find info. For this reason, it might be a good idea to create a table of contents with links so people can skip to a section they want to read; there are Hubs on how to do that. Not that I don't think people would come and read the whole thing, but a lot of the traffic would probably be from people wanting a specific piece of info and they'd go for that piece of info.

      replyreport
2. 59

   LindaSmith1posted 9 years ago

   12 point font, Times New Roman: How many people would sit and read 12 pages online, which is what 5000 words is equal to. Put your story together and then break  it up into multiple hubs.

   replyreport
   1. 66

      greenteatravelsposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Well, the reason I began blogging in the first place was from reading Mike Dash's amazing history blog. He would write posts that would take hours to read, and I'd read every single one. The Smithsonian ended up purchasing his site about 3 years ago, and he's since been posting on their main site.
      
      These pictures include detailed notes and diagrams for building equipment and shelters used by these natives, which are no longer living the same lifestyle in this day. Also, I have access to some academic information recorded on this expedition that my parents went on (it was primarily scientific). There are some incredible images; one of a curled up dead body, dawned in jewellery and native attire, that the natives swore was several hundred years old. It looks really cool, and so do the rest of the photos. The stories behind them are fascinating.
      
      So the hub is going to actually have real value. I don't even have an adsense account- I'm just using hubpages to write. I'm wondering if Hubpages is the right place to post something like this? I don't want to start a wordpress or something arduous as such, I just want to write!

      replyreport
      1. 87

         Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         If you have nude/semi nude pictures of natives, you'll run into trouble here.   I don't recommend it.
         
         If you have no interest in making money but just want to write freely and in depth about your subject, I strongly suggest you join Wordpress.com and create a blog there.  You won't have a problem with nude pictures and there is a small community.   There is a paid option for using the site but the free version will do you just fine.

         replyreport
3. 59

   LindaSmith1posted 9 years ago

   Personally, I would not sit and read that long of an article online.  However, there are hubbers here that have written books who probably will chime in and give you their opinion from their experiences.

   replyreport
   1. 66

      greenteatravelsposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for your opinion! I'll take it into consideration of course.

      replyreport
      1. 82

         Shades-of-truthposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         I am one of the Squidoo imports, and the article of mine that has consistently received the most traffic, has over 12,000 words in it.
         
         As long as your content is captivating, I don't see why the length of it matters a lot.
         
         Take this with a grain of salt or two, as I have only recently come to HubPages, after being on Squidoo for several years. Those who have been here for a long time should have the best advice.

         replyreport
         1. 66

            greenteatravelsposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            If you have a moment, would you mind telling me about your experience at Squidoo? Is it possible that my article would be better suited there?
            
            Also, I know for sure that Google loves the long articles, as long as bouncerate is low (indicating high reader retention and valuable, interesting content). As I said in a comment above, Mike Dash's blog was probably the best the internet will ever see, and some of his posts took me hours to read. Mind you, he is an academic historian with a Ph. D and I'm just writing about travels. I really want to make this blog like his though, with 10+ academic sources and real valuable information that isn't anywhere else on the net. It will only be fascinating to those who are looking for information about this specific tribe, but that's all I'm trying to do anyways!

            replyreport
            1. 82

               Shades-of-truthposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               Squidoo no longer exists. The content that was there, a great deal of it at any rate, was transferred to HubPages.
               
               As to what Google loves - ah! That is another story...

               replyreport
               1. 66

                  greenteatravelsposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  Ahh okay.
                  
                  And yes, of course it doesn't -only- love the long articles

                  replyreport
4. 71

   relacheposted 9 years ago

   I would never put material so unique and valuable on HubPages. 
   
   Also, none of that photographic subject matter is going to fly.

   replyreport
   1. 94

      SpaceShantyposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      They said they don't have an Adsense account so I gues it does not matter about the pictures?

      replyreport
      1. 66

         greenteatravelsposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Correct. I do not have an Adsense account, nor do I plan to get one unless I need to.
         
         Edit: I'm not here to make money.

         replyreport
5. 91

   Kylyssaposted 9 years ago

   I agree that people who enjoy reading would have zero problem with a post of 5,000 words or even much more. People interested in the details of travel or a culture likely don't even want their material digested into blurbs. While burbs and bullet points may be what most humans prefer, it still leaves millions of people who like to read more in-depth material. The ones who want blurbs are still capable of just scanning the in-depth material.
   
   I think a lot of online writers forget the Internet has a huge population of people who read for enjoyment using it.
   
   I don't think Hubpages is the place for such a piece. They are bound by Google Adsense content guidelines thus your native folks dressed naturally would be unlikely to be allowed although the dead animals would probably be fine. Also, as Relache mentioned, you have some unique and valuable information that would be better served and better serve you in a paid publication or on your own website.
   
   You could write different material about it for HubPages and link people to the full spread in whatever magazine or ezine accepts it or to your blog. It's not the same as being overly promotional if you provide enough to satisfy hit and run readers while providing a great resource (the link to the longer, more in-depth article) for people who would like something a bit more substantial and less censored.

   replyreport
   1. 66

      greenteatravelsposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks to everyone for clearing this up.
      
      I think that your idea, Kylyssa, makes a great deal of sense. I could write the academic piece and submit it for scientific or historic publication, and then use the pictures and several different hubs to draw readers who are interested to the original piece. I would essentially be writing hubs and using my own academic work as source material (though it's not technically my research, no official write up or paper was ever written detailing the expedition).
      
      As for the pictures on Hubpages though; some of them are really.... interesting. For example, the men in this tribe wore long orange cones that looked like carrots around their penises, then tied the top of the cone around their chest or neck; this makes for some pretty attention-grabbing pictures. And that's just one example; other examples include two tribes fighting each other with real spears, very detailed killing methods of animals (designed for the least amount of suffering), and some captivating photos of young children as they begin the head modification and piercing of the tribe (often in the nude).
      
      These pictures really will draw a crowd, I'm sure of it. So, without the Adsense account, is it possible that I'll be able to use them here?
      
      Thanks, and sorry for the long long questions.

      replyreport