Tips to Win the HubChallenge

If you know what the HubChallenge is all about, then good for you. Otherwise for those not in the know, the HubChallenge is basically a challenge issued by one very enthusiastic Ryan Hupfer (HubPages' Communicator of Awesomeness, no less!). Read all about it here.

Anyways this Hub of mine is written with the purpose of psyching you up for your 30 Day HubChallenge. Whether you choose to write 100 Hubs or 30 Hubs within the stipulated time, I think it would be wise to mentally and physically prepare yourself for this. It depends on how seriously you view this challenge. Personally I started this challenge feeling very indifferent but how I am rather caught in the midst of all the excitement. I have Ryan Hupfer to thank, as well as my good friend Shalini Kagal who is an awesome writer, unarguably one of the best I have personally come in contact with!

I will now dispense some valuable advice which I hope will be of great use to you HubChallengers out there.

1. First, start by setting an objective.
You need to ask yourself if you can complete 100 Hubs in 30 days, or if you will be content just finishing 30.

2. Connect with friends on HubPages.
It pays to have a friend to turn to should you have difficulties writing your Hubs. Start by mailiing your a friend or two, heck, cc. the mail to your HubPals and invite them to start the HubChallenge together!

3, Join the forum for inspiration
You may have a couple of ideas forming in your head now but for a continuous stream of ideas, check out the Hubpages forum. You can lurk but it's always to contribute something of value.

4. Allocate a time to write Hubs each day
Schedule a quiet time each day so that you can write your Hubs uninterrupted. What I do during the day even when I'm busy caring for my young toddler is to have Wordpad open on my laptop and scribble some ideas quickly as and when they come. Even better, have GoogleDocs open and add snippets of ideas. That way they will be saved automatically and you won't lose valuable notes even if the computer shuts down unexpectedly.

1. Make money online
It's all about making money online, isn't it? ;) You can turn to Clickbank.com, start promoting some products by driving quality traffic from your HubPages to your landing pages or blogs or review sites or all of them. There are some pretty cool products you can promote, it's just a matter of finding the right niche and writing relevant content to go with it.

2. Promote your blog, enjoy the traffic
Whether you want to monetize your blog or gain more audience, no one can really say no to a steady influx of traffic. That can be achieved by writing HubPages for this HubChallenge and linking to your blog posts. Think of HubPages as your sneeze page.

3. Be a better writer
I found that the best way to actually improve yourself as a writer is to gain constructive comments. If you don't appreciate your clients berating your writing style, the best alternative would be write a bunch of HubPages and wait for some C&C. At the rate you're going (30 / 100 Hubs in 30 days) you will surely master the art of writing in no time!

1. Don't be disctracted
If you're going to churn out 30 or 100 Hubs before the time is up, you had better be prepared to sacrifice some Facebook / MySpace / Youtube time. Which brings us to the second tip...

2. Start afresh with a new browser window
A new browser window removes all distractions i.e. your Facebook or Twitter. I personally prefer Google Chrome, it's starting to appeal more and more to me. Firefox can eat up quite a bit chunk of memory if you open too many tabs!

3. Just write, don't edit (yet)
The best way, I found, is to spontaneously write a Hub once an idea enters your noggin'. DON'T ponder or mull over the title too much, it might just escape you. Edit later after you click 'save'.

4. Write now, SEO later
You need not be too concerned about the SEO during the writing process. Just write and get the content out of your head asap.

1. Write a quick blog post
Write a quick blog post about the HubChallenge or better still, create a blog dedicated about your latest endeavor.

2. Twit about it
I succumbed to Twitter not too long ago and think it's a great way to spread the news about your HubPages. Keep it Short and Sweet and most importantly DO NOT SPAM!

3. Pick a few relevant forums
Scour the Internet for good forums and spread the news about this challenge. Insert several of your HubPages titles in your signature. One favorite forum of mine is the DP forum.