How To Make Quality Hubs

Anyone can spend 20 minutes poking around Wikipedia for information on something they've decided to write about. But that's just regurgitating information that is already readily available. When you choose a subject to write about, make sure it's not something you're going to have to spend time researching. It's far easier to write about things that you know about.

Nobody wants to read about what you read about earlier today. But if you grew some tomatoes that were the best you'd ever had, a hub detailing your techniques would be great. If you just rebuilt the carburetor on your truck and now it's running great, a guide on carburetor rebuilding would be perfect. If you just came up with a way to make your own hand lotion, that would be hub worthy. The best hubs come from things Hubbers have done, experienced, experimented with, etc.

If you're reviewing a product, make sure it is something you have actually used (and I don't mean played around with it at a store for a few minutes). I have a review of the Smith & Wesson SW9VE (handgun). I own this gun. I have fired this gun many times. This gun sits by my side every day. I have used it to the point that I am able to review it. Make sure you have explored the details of an item before you jump right into reviewing it. Something you see as a problem after playing with something for a few minutes could actually be a blessing in disguise after a week weeks of using the product.

When writing a hub, I recommend going for quality over quantity. Long hubs look impressive but are sometimes unnecessary. Aim for high quality content instead of just throwing together as much content as possible.

We all get it. You're sitting at your computer, you clicked to create a new hub, and now you can't think of anything to write about. You can hit up Google and the Adwords Keyword Tool for stuff that people are searching for and things to write about but then you might end up just regurgitating information from Wikipedia and that's no good. Go dig through your closet, your attic, your garage, etc. You'll find plenty of stuff that may trigger hub ideas. How about the time you ran over a nail with your bike and had to replace the tire? Right there is a how to guide on replacing bike tires. Found your old tennis racket and thought about your wicked backhand? Write a hub about the technique. Came across an old chemistry book from high school? Someone would love to hear about how different chemicals react to each other, especially if you've made the reactions happen yourself.

I can't stress this one enough. Minimal details can make a how-guide completely worthless for anyone who hasn't mastered whatever you're writing about. The more details you can give, the better. If you're writing a hub on baking a cake you love to make then be detailed about it. Half of a teaspoon of cinnamon is better than "a pinch of cinnamon" and three eggs is better than "a few eggs." Details can make or break your hub if you're writing about anything that requires sizes, measurements, etc.

Do you see how this hub is broken down into small sections, each with a bold title? It makes thing flow and is easier for users to read. A big wall of text is just dull and viewers will get lost and possibly even give up. Grab a piece of paper, write down all the main ideas you want to talk about, place them in an order that flows well, then add the content of each idea as you write. Try not to overlap thoughts too much between ideas or your hubs will become boring and redundant.

Pictures make hubs wonderful. They help break up long sections of text and give extra detail to what you're talking about. Sometimes pictures just won't work within a hub. Maybe you can't find any pictures to legally use, you're writing a story/poem, or some other reason. Pictures aren't required but should be used when possible. If you're not sure how to legally use pictures, Hubpages has a great article here.

Videos are also included in this. Sometimes a video can help illustrate something that you're having trouble explaining with words.

If you're new to Hubpages then you probably aren't entirely sure what tags are used for (unless you have some background in blogging or website development). Tags are used when someone does a search. If your tags match up with their search terms, they'll be able to easily find your hubs. The more tags you have, the better off you'll be. Just make sure that all your tags are relevant to your hub.

Along with tags, make sure your hub titles are similar to terms someone might search for. "How to bake a cake" is more likely to be searched for than "My recipe for a great cake." See how that works? You might have a fantastic recipe for a cake, but using terms that are more commonly searched for will result in more people reading your hub and baking your cake.

Some people may think that monetizing an ad makes it look more commercial but I don't feel that is the case if you do it properly. Let me break down a few types of monetizing techniques here on Hubpages:

1. Adsense - Adsense is just ads. While most people hate ads, the ads could actually help some viewers find even more information on your topic.

2. Amazon - I love Amazon because I love to write "how to" hubs. Amazon allows me to link my readers to products they will need if they choose to follow my guides. They could always go pick up the supplies at local stores, but Amazon can generally help them save a little money if they're willing to wait for shipping.

3. eBay - This one is nice if you like to write about collectables or something that is easier to find on eBay than in stores or on Amazon. You can link to auctions and if someone is reading your hub about "old baseball cards" then they might spot something they like in the auctions you've linked to.

As you go hopping through hubs leaving comments, the authors are more likely to swing by your hubs and leave comments and feedback as well. Accept all feedback/advice like presents on Christmas. The more advice/feedback you can get, the more you can apply it to future hubs and become a much better writer.

Sharing links to your hubs won't necessarily make them any better but it will bring in more viewers (which means more potential for feedback). Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ are great places to share links. If you have a forum you use often, place a link to your Hubpages profile in your signature (especially if you tend to write about something that people from that forum would be interested in).

Would you like to guess why I saved this for last? Before you hit the publish button, take a few minutes to read over your hub. Hopefully your browser has a spell checker so you won't need to look for spelling errors. What you should really be looking for is content that just isn't needed. If you have a text block that you feel doesn't add anything to the hub, why leave it for others to read? Get rid of it. Save viewers a minute of reading and they'll unknowingly appreciate that they didn't read a bunch of irrelevant text.

But this goes the opposite way as well. As you're reading, you may find sections that need more added to them to make them as useful as possible.