HUBPAGES MILESTONE, LEARNINGS and WHAT'S NEXT
Somewhere in the world of HUBS I read early in my newborn baby hubbing days that I should strive to publish 30 hubs in 30 days. Probably this is recommended for all hubbers as an initial milestone, although a bit daunting when you are only on your first or second hub! I did not meet the milestone, but today I am the author of my 30th hub! So what have I learned?
HUB PAGES AUTHORING AND LEARNINGS
Newbie learnings:
1) Do not create a hub to promote just one other site such as my major genealogy site or my journal scribblings blog site. Write to an audience about what interests you or about subjects you hope will attract interested readers and followers.
2) Do not duplicate hub writings elsewhere on the web and vice-versa.
3) Skimpy hubs are quick to write and read, but often have too little substance to attract a following.
4) I seem to be generally maintaining a stabilized Hubscore of 85-87. I think this is good for a greenhorn. Is It???
5) Surprisingly, my hubs already have been read internationally!
6) I started writing online, but quickly learned I work with more clarity and precision when I key my hubs into Word and then cut and paste them into hub capsules. I have been disappointed in the limited options available for text formatting, especially lack of colors.
7) The “Add More Capsules” column or the “add” pop-up line for building more text, pictures, videos, Amazon, etc. into my Hub is very handy and I use both methods. When I want the capsule at the bottom of the document, I use the column; otherwise I tend to use the handy left click box. I use the green arrows for turning a full capsule into a half-sized one that is moved to the right, but wish the option to switch to the left was also available, but being able to have two capsules side-by-side feels comfortable to me.
8) I am using Amazon capsules but am seeing no impact from them.
Tags and this Newbie Hubber
I used them too sparingly at first, now utilize more, and am learning about finding relevant and popular keywords and key phrasing and how they can optimize my tagging so that readers can find my hubs more easily when they do a search online. I am far from being a keyword maven! But…now when I think about writing a hub, I first look for a few popular keywords that I might use for my tags and then add more after my content has been fully developed.
o So far…I do searches on Google Adwords Search Engine
o I review the keyword suggestions at the top of a Google search page.
o Wordstream has a free keyword tool that can generate ideas for me.
o Wordtracker offers a free keyword tool.
o And, there is the trusty thesaurus to generate ideas!
Backlinking and this Newbie Hubber
I like to link between my Hubs that share common interests. This may fall under "backlinking,” a term that still is elusive in practicality to me. I feel that this might keep people reading more of my hubs during a sitting and bring more readers to my hubs.
If backlinking includes links to compatible hub pages of other hubbers, I do this.
If it means backlinking, for example, to my own large genealogy site, I do this.
If it means backlinking to my blog, I do this very sparingly.
And I do link to useful URLs that will add to the content value of my hubs. I list my genealogy hubs with Cindi’s List…and assume this is, once again, backlinking. I must learn more! All suggestions are very welcome….
Word Counts and this Newbie Hubber
I looked back on my hubs and found I wrote (without realizing) a range of word lengths in my hubs and the best all have 400 or more word counts. BTW, I was disappointed I could not add links to the table (my first table!)
Hub
| Hub Rough Word Count
| Current Hub Ratings
|
|---|---|---|
Dr. Joseph. Placak, Tuberculosis Pioneer http://hubpages.com/hub/Dr-Joseph-C-Placak
| 920
| 80 & #3 in readers
|
Three Forks Marsh and the St. Johns River Basin http://hubpages.com/hub/Marshland
| 810
| 74 & tied for most viewers
|
The Power of AP Courses to Earn College Credit While in High School http://hubpages.com/hub/ADVANCED-PLACEMENT-AP
| 550
| 72
|
Swooning, Fainting and Vasovagal Syncope http://hubpages.com/hub/Swooning-and-Vasovagal-Syncope
| 1000+
| 74
|
Cool Math of 2011 PLUS 2011 Oddities http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Math-of-2011-and-its-oddities
| 410
| 69 & tied for most viewers
|
WHAT'S NEXT - HELP!
What might I learn next?
Reread the Adsense legaleze.
Explore what forums do for hubbers.
Explore how to use the hubbers question section (and where is it?)
Look for a plugin to watch my earnings on Google Adsense though miniscule now!
Always remember to do a thumbs up or a thumbs down (egads!) when reading others’ hubs and leave thoughtful comments at times. And follow some more hubbers!
Expand my newbie knowledge of what backlinking really is.
Find out why when I click on the tool to "suggest links" to other hubbers it often shows only one or two and only in my first capsule. And why won’t it let me highlight words to search for hubbers. I am using http://www.hubsearch.net/ now to find fellow hubbers with similar topics. Why the “suggest links” won’t work well for me stumps me.
Every writer needs a reader. Join me and follow me please.
So…what do YOU think? What should I change? What should I do next?
