HubPages Tips: General

1. 64

   darksideposted 14 years ago

   These will no doubt be covered and recovered and already taken for granted by most, but here are a few stray thoughts I've herded together...
   
   30 Hubs in 30 Days HubChallenge Tips
   
   * Start whenever you want. Though a group of us will be setting sail on Friday 24th.
   
   * If for whatever reason you're unable to do the 30, don't worry about it. No need to make excuses, no need to give reasons. If you can't complete, guess what, you did good anyway. Have another go later on. Attempt the 30 hub mountain when things are less hectic. and be happy with the accomplishments you have made.
   
   * There are no hard and fast rules. There is no one that is going to time you or drive you to publish hubs.
   
   * It could be easy to bash out 30 substandard hubs in just 3 days, but they're not going to have the goods as far as being able to make any money is concerned.
   
   * You could start writing all your stuff and then announce your intention to participate, and declare yourself done in half the time. But there won't be any prizes, and the only person you've kidded is yourself.
   
   * In the spirit of this competition you only have to remain true to yourself. you're not competing with anyone, except for yourself. you are held accountable to only your own standard of excellence. Don't short change yourself the experience of making 30 hubs in 30 days.
   
   * This can be fun. It's meant to be fun. It will be fun!
   
   If anyone else has some sweet tips and advice, post them in this thread.

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2. 49

   badcompany99posted 14 years ago

   I intend to start my Challenge on Friday the 24th and post 1 Daily until I have written all 30 Hubs. I wish you all good luck and I think one a day is a reasonable challenge and one I fully intend to complete !

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      dwilliamsonposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I'm with you Badco. One hub per day from me too.

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3. 64

   Kidgasposted 14 years ago

   One thing that I learned from you, Darkside, was to put all the information in a separate document.  I use Word and then I can come back frequently and change things.  Sometimes I start something and don't like it so I come back later and re-write.
   
   I like your idea of breaking up into thirds.  I have started brainstorming topics.  I will start on the research for some of them in the next few days and complete in stages.  I don't want to publish all of them at the last minute but will want to publish over time.  That is a personal preference.

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      darksideposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      That's probably the biggest flaw of my plan, a lot of hubs being published at once. But I'll be trying to spread it out over the last 10 days as I finally finish each one.

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4. 67

   lrohnerposted 14 years ago

   Friday the 24th it is, then. I'm in. I may make it or I may fail. But darn it all, I'm in!
   
   I'm an old-timer, so finding 30 topics to write about that I don't need to research much is a breeze. Writing 30 hubs that could potentially make me some deniro is the hard part. But still, I'M IN!
   
   *note to self: find good psychiatrist...

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      Ryan Hupferposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Can you see if you can get us a group rate?

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         lrohnerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         I shall do my best!

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         Julie-Ann Amosposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         I do counselling.  Just come and tell me all about your sex life...   it'll be GOOD for you - honest...

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            beautyroseposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            If I get married then I call on you madam.

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      Jane@CMposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      You are an old timer, huh...now I'm screered.  I have a good psycho doc if you need a referral
      
      I started Word document with all my hub thoughts & will organize off of that...keeps me focused.

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5. 63

   Julie-Ann Amosposted 14 years ago

   My tip of the day (and it is 130 am so scraping the barrell hee) is spread them out.  I shudder to think of what I put people through last time doing 100 in 30 days and all within 14 days of work as I was away for 2 weeks!
   
   I'm aiming for a steady one a day.  Hub that is.

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6. 67

   lrohnerposted 14 years ago

   Jane - Please see if your psycho doc has group rates.
   
   Ryan - LOLOLOLOL! And thank you for clarifying the 'one a day' thing. I was starting to worry about you.
   
   Both - Thanks for the tips on organization. Will put them to very good use. **sucking thumb, twirling hair, and banging head against window already.....**

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7. 68

   Anamika Sposted 14 years ago

   I don't have even a single hub as of now in unpublished stage. I have not started writing the Hub Challenge Hubs so far. With the Holy month in Hindu Calender and Solar Eclipse I am going to be doing pujas, chanting mantras and keeping fast all through the month.
   
   Still... 30 hubs with Quality won't be difficult. Majority of my best hubs were products of last hubchallenge. I would start on Friday too...

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      darksideposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I'm very happy with my last 30 in 30 effort. I never would been able to sustain the quality if I tried for 100 in 30 (others might, but I couldn't).

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         Julie-Ann Amosposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Ah, the secret is to have lhubs unpublished at any one time (seriously, I have just under 200!)  That's how I did it -I have tons of hubs I've gotten enthused about and put the text only on there or saved it in Word and just set up the blank hub - and never published them!
         
         I seem to take ages with my pics, the visuals and the amazon, news, links etc so it takes me hours to do even the simplest looking hub.
         
         I know I should cut down on fiddling about with images etc but I LIKE the way my hubs look...
         
         But I'll openly admit to having a LOT unpublished ones up my sleeve for finalising.

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            Lady_Eposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            Wow! 200 unpublished Hubs. That's amazing. I have about 5. Please wave a magic writing wand over me...

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            Trekkiemelissaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            I have never ever thought of doing that here.  I've have done something like that on other sites though.

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            waynetposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            Yeah I think I have at least 40 unpublished hubpages that I need to sort out right now, I had the initial idea for a hub, but then the interest to write them just faded slightly...but now I am going to challenge myself to publish them or publish 30 new ones.
            
            It's good that we can save unpulished hubs in draft, because one day some of them hubs will be popular, we must have that belief! because I sure do!
            
            One tip that I do that gets me thinking about writing more hubpages is thinking of titles, I do an hour or so writing non stop hubpage titles, this is all I do with no interuptions, then once I have a couple of pages of titles I tick the ones that I can really add to with good article content, I find planning steps ahead is far better than trying to do it all while you are editing a hubpage and trying to write an article from scratch.
            
            I could if I really am interested in writing an article that I know a lot about, do a mind map of all the possible keywords and stuff that goes into the one hub and usually when I do this mind map process I come up with four or 5 or more sub topics that I could write about to compliment that first hubpage.
            
            If you like to write notes and lists of stuff then do that aswell, just plan your content ahead to get ahead.

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   Michael Guerinposted 14 years ago

   Sounds cool.  I'll give it a go.  Starting on Friday works for me.  Not sure 1/day will work with my schedule, but as long as I can catch up on weekends/late nights seems reachable.

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9. 65

   Trekkiemelissaposted 14 years ago

   The thing to remember everyone, this is supposed to be fun.  You don't have to slack on quality to create a quality hub.  Also, if you can't make it Friday, you don't have to start Friday.  You can start it on any day you want to start it even if it is a week from now.  The whole idea is to challenge yourself.

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      Ryan Hupferposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Preach it, sista!

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10. 58

    Marktravelsposted 14 years ago

    30 hubs in 30 days.. I'm just getting started.  May sit this one out, but next time.. could be interesting.

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       Trekkiemelissaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       Remember this is an ongoing thing so you can choose when you want to start your own 30 day challenge.  We will all cheer you on when you are ready.

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       Ryan Hupferposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       Hey Mark -- it's a great way to get started on HubPages and joining the HubChallenge will probably be the best crash course that you could ever have. If you need to wait, I totally understand, but we created this HubChallenge to help new Hubbers like you as well so that you can get started off the right way.

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    KCC Big Countryposted 14 years ago

    What I did for the last HubChallenge was sit down and brainstorm topics of interest first.  Then I came up with titles for them.  Then I started a hub for each one.  Then as time allowed I would work on whichever one excited me at the time.  I might spend 15 minutes on one, close it and open another one and work on it.  Before you know it, you have 10 almost finished hubs.  Then a spend a concentrated effort finishing and polishing each one.  But, I regularly spend time tweaking mine as well.  I regularly make additions or alterations to all of mine.
    
    For this upcoming challenge I'm doing the same thing.  I'm brainstorming topics now.  I already have around 15 in various stages of completion.  I'll have another 15 in the next day or two. 
    
    It's all about whatever works for you.

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       waynetposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       Bulk hubpage editing is excellent to get them nearly complete in sets, I'm doing this with other article sites aswell as here. some times you feel like you've really achieved something if you get a set of hubs almost finished!

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12. 64

    darksideposted 14 years ago

    Part 3 of my Game Plan: 30 Day Hub Challenge Gameplan: The Last 10 Days

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13. 63

    Julie-Ann Amosposted 14 years ago

    Here's a question:
    
    I have a capstone hub series of 21 hubs in progress, plus another series that has well over 30 topics.
    
    Would people think it better to complete the series then add another 9 random topics at the end, or to do one consolidated series of 30?  Just after some opinion.
    
    I'd tending towards the former...

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       darksideposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       Not to go out of my way to be different, but there's one other way to approach it...
       
       I'd do 15 of each. You only need 15 for a capstone series (plus the Capstone hub) so I'd do the 15 of each, post-30DHC I'd then do the Capstone Hubs, and then have two complete capstone hub series in the bag!
       
       Then after that I'd do the rest of the hubs one at a time and link them to and from the Capstone hub as I complete them.
       
       I think that way you could be killing 3 birds with 1 stone (if you don't mind the blood soaked analogy).

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          Julie-Ann Amosposted 14 years agoin reply to this

          Ah, but one of my capstone series is "The 20 Worst..." so I'm sucked in to 20!  I reckon I'm in for 35 in that case as the idea is good - 20 for the capstone and 15 for another capstone.  Awesome idea thanks.
          
          And a reserve plan after the 20 are done - I have my Doctor Who series unfinished so maybe I can finish that if I don't feel up for another 15!

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14. 0

    sandra rinckposted 14 years ago

    Can hubbers challenge other hubbers?

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       Julie-Ann Amosposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       What do you mean?  With pistols at dawn, that kind of thing?

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       darksideposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       What do you mean by that?

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          Ryan Hupferposted 14 years agoin reply to this

          Put away that knife...this isn't that kind of a challenge.

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          sandra rinckposted 14 years agoin reply to this

          I mean like, if two hubbers wanted to, could they team up and write 15/15 and have exclusive referral rights to the hubs during the hubchallenge?
          
          So say I wanted to team up with someone who wants to write exclusively about something but one has better "info" hubs and the others has better "creative" hubs, could two work together as a sole entity for the challenge.
          
          -don't really know why I ask since I am sure we could just do it anyways but I thought it might be fun.

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15. 55

    Shalini Kagalposted 14 years ago

    Wish I could've been a part of it - enjoyed the last time - oh well, next time around!

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    sandra rinckposted 14 years ago

    How do I get the logo for this challenge so I can use it in my tweet?

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    Purple Perlposted 14 years ago

    Can I include hubs I write as part of the Hubmob,each week, in the Hub Challenge?
    In which case,I can use both the Hubmob and the Hub Challenge logo on the same hub?
    If any Question is answered as a hub,could that be included as well?

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       Julie-Ann Amosposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       Yes you can!
       and
       Yes you can!

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          Purple Perlposted 14 years agoin reply to this

          Thanks very much,Julie-Ann Amos!

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    gd2knwposted 14 years ago

    Hello to all hubsters just joined the site  a few days ago and just getting the feel of writing hubs i hope to be consistent and just do one a day for now ,and hopefully i can increase that number in the future but for now I'm just getting the hang of using the features.Does anyone have a process in creating hubs?

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    Silver Roseposted 14 years ago

    Here's my tip:
    
    Once you have found your keyword and think it has potential, check out whether there are other hubs on that keyword by doing the following.
    
    Go to Google and type in
    
    site:Hubpages.com "keyword" (insert the keyword you are checking into the quotes)
    
    If there are too many hubs on that keyword, it's saturated.
    
    Google will never ever list hubs as numbers 1-10 on it's SERPS. They like diversity of domain. At most it will list two. So if loads of hubbers have got there ahead of you for your magic keyword, you might be better of using that keyword on a site that is not saturated (perhaps a blog or infobarrel or squidoo etc). Put stuff on hubpages that hubpages doesn't have - that way you have the niche to yourself as far as this domain is concerned. Of course you can go ahead with building your hub if you want - just note that it might be a wasted effort due to saturation.

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       Julie-Ann Amosposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       This is really good advice if you're on the hubmob - for example, one of my best earners is on pubic hair styles (I know, I know...) - but that came out of the hubmob on popular hair styles.  So you can compete if you take on a UNIQUE twist on the keyword e.g. "popular pubic hair styles" instead of hair styles.
       
       But don't be TOO shy of knocking a less good hub off page 1 of google!  If those hubs already there are low quality and yours will be better I say go for it!
       
       Some of my hubs seem to already have a lot of hubs on the keyword, but they fit in with a series I'm doing and I don't want people to see a gap and jump to someone else's content.
       
       Another good tip is to take a good earner and capitalise on it - for example I'm NOT obsessed with pubic hair (just for the record!) but that one hub turned into 3 more, that all earn well.  Where there's good traffic, offer them something else - eg pubic hair styles for men, pubic hair funny videos etc and link them.  Slightly different keywords each.
       
       Good traffic on a topic can indiicate a possible niche if you think creatively so dabble your toe in the water!

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    KCC Big Countryposted 14 years ago

    You give such helpful advice, Julie-Ann!

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    Silver Roseposted 14 years ago

    Julie-Ann, LOL. I bet NOBODY else was going for the keyword "popular pubic hair styles"!  Which is kind of my point. If you put stuff on hubpages that no-one else is covering, chances are you'll own that keyword and make money - as you have demonstrated.
    
    Unfortunately everyone seems to write about the same old stuff - weight-loss etc. If a topic becomes saturated, not only will you struggle to have your hub shown in the SERPs instead of someone else's, but at a given point, it might not even get indexed if Google thinks that this domain is saturated for that topic. That's what is happening to Squidoo - it has about five times the number of pages that Hubpages does (because it's been going longer), and because they have so many pages (or "lenses") on certain topics, Google doesn't even bother to index those lenses anymore (though they index lenses on topics that Squidoo is not saturated for).
    
    People need to think outside the box so that they arn't concentrating on a narrow segment of topics.
    
    And be aware that a high paying keyword today may not be high paying tomorrow. I came across a blog post by an Internet Marketer who'd been doing this for a long time, and he pointed out that the price keywords go for is dynamic because it's done in a continuous auction, and it changes over time based on the economy - the example he gave was "payday loans" - in 2004 that keyword had been going for about $15, but by 2009 it had halved, so all the marketers concentrating solely on that saw their income plummet. The safest thing to do is to cover a wide variety of topics and cover things no one else is (so you have the field to yourself), and that increases the chances you strike gold. Just my opinion of course - I might be wrong, but I feel diversifying topics is the way to go, because you just never know what might be popular.

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       Julie-Ann Amosposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       I agree - that's why my topics seem to jump about a lot.  I have a few long-running series on the go such as guitarists, guitars, lingerie, Doctor Who, hybrid dog breeds etc (and more recently hurricanes) and add to that with whatever takes my fancy.

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