Is a short hub considered substandard?

1. 60

   Ironman1992posted 12 years ago

   Is a short hub considered substandard?
   
   Can a hub be flagged as substandard for being too short? I have recently published short hubs, and I fear that they may soon be considered substandard. Sometimes hubs are simply short, but having relayed useful information.

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2. 93

   Cre8torposted 12 years ago

   I believe the minimum text is 300 words. Less than that can be flagged is my understanding. Adding a photo with a caption can help you meet these requirements as well. I don't think it's automatic, but does increase its potential of being flagged.

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3. 87

   Marisa Wrightposted 12 years ago

   Yes.  Hubs are not blog posts! 
   
   Of course it's possible to write a short post which says one interesting thing about a topic - but what HubPages wants is the kind of article you'd read in a magazine, offering something of substance.
   
   I've taken a look at your Hubs and I can't say any of them offer solid, in-depth information.  If you can't write more than 400 words about a subject, then it's likely you don't have enough useful knowledge to write a Hub.

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4. 81

   jacqui2011posted 12 years ago

   I always thought that hubs had to be around 400 words or more. My shortest hub is 410 words, but I always try to aim for around 600 or more. Some of my hubs, I have had to do more research to increase them in length.

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5. 80

   molometerposted 12 years ago

   Surely it depends on the hub. Some people write poetry and this may not get past 100 words or photographic hubs where the point is the photo's. A picture paints a 1000 words as the saying goes. A minute of video paints 1000's of words.
   
   It depends on the quality, which is again a subjective evaluation.
   
   The hubpages 'flagship' standard is at least 1500 words, a map, a video, at least 5 pictures, a poll, and a links capsule. Most long term hubbers that I have read, come nowhere near this standard and it hasn't stopped them writing.

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6. 71

   BlissfulWriterposted 12 years ago

   Yes, a hub can be flagged as substandard just for having too few number of words, even though nothing else is wrong with it.   A hub with a photos can also be substandard due to too few words
   
   Try to shoot for 500 words minimum.  1500 words would be optimal.

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7. 83

   Marcy Goodfleischposted 12 years ago

   I think poems and recipes are different, but regular hubs should be longer (I had heard 400 words or more, with the ideal being 800 to something higher - maybe 1500 or so?).  Anyway, yes, short hubs are one of the things that can be flagged.

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8. 60

   bmukherjiiposted 12 years ago

   I don't think it affects the hubs standard. If your hub is interesting then you will see traffic flowing to your hub. and accordingly your hubscore will rise. I have seen several hubs which are merely 300 words long

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9. 76

   JohnGreasyGamerposted 12 years ago

   I think it's best to write the article in Micrsoft Office Word (or the equivilant), and see if you can get over 1000 words. If you can get 2-3000 words, you've got people's attention, plus you'll get more feedback on how to improve it and even more shared info on the subject.
   
   As Wright said, you need to have much more than 400 words, as these aren't blog posts. You don't have to publish them the moment you make them, as I'm currently working on a Caligula and Braveheart film review, and I'm stuck for ideas.
   
   Just remember, work on the things you like and know a lot about, then you can stray onto popular topics that you know about ^^

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10. 60

    Ironman1992posted 12 years ago

    I want to thank everyone for their helpful advice, especially Marisa Wright. I have edited and reformatted those of my hubs that were under 400 words, providing more information about the chosen topics.

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11. 84

    Cyndi10posted 12 years ago

    I also think the answer to your question is yes they can be flagged as too short. I've had my haiku have the alert of substandard attached as I was writing. I added information about the origination of haiku and I was already in the process of adding haiku. The substandard message disappeared. I usually have longer content in my articles.

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12. 79

    J.S.Matthewposted 12 years ago

    Marisa Wright said it best. I recently wrote an article about the value of Quality Content and how it is important when Publishing on HubPages. If you are interested, here's the link: http://jsmatthew.hubpages.com/hub/Lesso … ing-Online
    
    Hope this helps!
    
    JSMatthew~

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