Answering Hub Requests & Questions

One unique thing about HubPages is the "Request a Hub" feature. This takes two forms: a public request and a direct request. You can put out a general request for a hub on a topic you wish anyone would create, or you can make a request of a specific Hub author.

As a Hub author, there are a variety of reasons that answering requests can be good for you. With a request, you don't have to think up a topic, someone else has already done it. It shows that there is already some sort of readership/audience for a subject, which means you might have an easier time getting traffic right from the start. Requests can get you building Hubs on topics you might never have thought of on your own, and it's a good way to broaden the topics you're covering.

Here is my advice for creating a really good Hub to answer someone's Request. Everything I talk about here should help you make a Hub that not only answers a question but then goes on to do well over the long-term.

The first thing that goes into creating a requested Hub is to pick a good request. So, what makes a good request?

1. It should be an appropriate request. As stated by HubPages when you go to submit a request, "HubPages Requests are where you can ask for detailed information or specific advice in the form of a Hub. Requests are not for asking others for their opinion ("What is your favorite...") or for very simple questions ("What is a..."). Put in a Request for questions you simply can't find good enough answers for on the Web." Sadly, quite a few people who make requests don't follow these guidelines and you should avoid answering those requests.

2. It should be something you know about. People answer things best when they have both broad and deep knowledge of a topic. If it's something you don't know anything about, you run the risk of supplying poor information to the reader or not having a good focus.

3. It should be an "evergreen" topic. If the question is about something that's just a current trend or flash-in-the-pan, your answer Hub probably won't have very good traffic over time.

4. The question should have a decent complexity. If you could answer the question best in just a sentence or two, it's not actually a very good request. Remember, you aren't just talking to one person (the ask-er), you're talking to all the readers who will visit the Hub.

5. Keep retail offerings on topic. If you're going to add eBay and Amazon capsules, be sure to customize them to match what you are writing about. This is the best way to offer the reader something they might actually want to buy, especially if you recommend items that you use yourself.

Here are some of the most important things I think go into answering a Hub Request.

1. Write a good title. Too many authors miss this one. When you click on the button to answer a request, the new Hub you are making puts the question as a title. This should be changed by you! This is not that tv show Jeopardy, where the answer is supposed to be in the form of a question. For an example of what I'm talking about, see this request about James Bond movies.

2. Think about what the person is asking. Is the requester looking for information or your life story? Think about when you ask a question and what sort of info you'd like to know. Consider what the most important answers to the question really are and start writing about that first. If the question is an opinion question, that means the person asking does want to hear what you really think or is interested in what happened to you. But if it's not a personal question, you might have a better Hub in the long run if you don't talk about yourself.

3. Don't just say "what," remember to say "why." Backing up your discussion, recommendation or opinion with facts and background makes for a much better answer than "just because..."

4. Be broad and deep while still being brief. We're writing Hubs here, not novels. Using a variety of links to personally recommended sites, including pictures, how-to videos and news feeds is a good way to offer a lot of info in just one web page. In fact, this is one of the core ideas behind HubPages.

5. Write your own Hub summary. I think this one wins my vote for "biggest mistake made by Hub authors." This is how you control the description that is seen in the general Hub indexes, and it's where you get the best chance to tell the search engines what your Hub is about. Make it a good one!

6. Spell-check and grammar review. This is one of those things that even I have to remember to do, but I always find something that's just a tad off after I publish a Hub. Doing these two things really helps makes your Hub better. If you have a tough time with the grammar, trying reading your Hub out-loud to yourself as our ears often catch things our eyes miss.