tips on how to increase traffic

1. 59

   jamesbaliposted 11 years ago

   hello guys,
   
   I have faced the same problem of low traffic to my hubs, but now I am trying to get backlinks to my hubs. I have signed up in many social bookmarking sites. I see some traffic coming through now; hopefully it will increase in the upcoming days.

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   1. 78

      derek gulbransonposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      You should probably think of writing on HubPages as more of a long-term investment. It would be pretty unusual for anyone to get significant traffic to any of their Hubs only 8 days after signing up. Even the most successful Hubbers generally wrote for months or sometimes even years before seeing really significant amounts of traffic. Getting search traffic is like roots growing on a tree, time is an important ingredient.
      
      In the mean time, you could check out creating search-friendly titles or try using our Stellar Hub description as a guide. Though it's not especially easy to create Hubs of this quality, Hubs with these attributes do get significantly more traffic than the average Hub so it's a decent goal to shoot for.

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   2. 64

      PhlebotomyAdviserposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      You have to remember that backlinks and traffic take time. What you can do is first create great content that people are actually going to want to read. You always want to think about the end user and how what you are writing is going to benefit them. You can't get away with simply spinning articles or writing up junk.
      
      After you post some great content, do what you can to generate quality backlinks with other quality articles and posts. It is a process and the results likely won't prove themselves for several months. Just stick with it.

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2. 80

   Faith A Mullenposted 11 years ago

   Derek - Thanks for this input! I am new to HubPages (about two weeks in) and it is great to know significant traffic may not happen for many months.
   
   Wishing you the best jamesbali!

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   1. 78

      derek gulbransonposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Welcome to HubPages, Faith. Looks like you're off to a good start.
      
      One possible tip I noticed, you have a number of Hubs with titles in the second person. When people search, they are more likely to use the first person, e.g. "Is a Greyhound the right fit for me?"  Titles are pretty important, and making your titles match people's search queries can sometimes give you a big lift. The Title Tuner might be helpful for Hubs that have already gotten some traffic.

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      1. 0

         Miriam Weissmannposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         The Title Tuner looks like a fantastic gadget. If you ask me, getting a title that appeals to the search engines and real people at the same time is one of the hardest things to do on the web. That said, even if the title and every other SEO aspect is brilliant, you can't expect traffic from the search engines for six months at least. That's been my experience on my new Avon blog. It's not really that new, but I had an old one so I call the newer one the new one. Anyway, you're right about how long it takes Derek.
         
         It takes a lot of time and patience. Since the first Panda update (my old Avon blog was hit really hard by Panda and never recovered), it's getting harder and harder and you've got to be very careful with backlinks. In my opinion, that's what killed my old Avon blog.

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      2. 80

         Faith A Mullenposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks, that is helpful. I will definitely look into the Title Tuner.

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      3. 94

         DrMark1961posted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Hi Derek it looks like Faith is trying to build up some interest in her hubs by titling many of them "Doggie Matchmaker...". I did the same thing by titling many hubs "Natural Dog Heath..." and Alexadry has many titled "Dog Behavior...". The other day Marisa Wright made a comment that Google looks down upon titles that are repeated. Is this correct? What about using "How to...", "Does my dog need..." titles? I cannot figure on a way to eliminate all of those types of titles.

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         1. 78

            derek gulbransonposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            From a User Experience Designer perspective my feedback would be "Doggie Matchmaker" and perhaps "Natural Dog Health" are probably not phrases people would type into Google with great frequency.  "Does my dog need..." and "How to..." seem more likely things people would type into Google. Matching the search phrase exactly probably counts for a lot. But people type searches in a lot of different ways.
            
            I can't speak for Google's view of repeats in the titles. Google is interested in connecting people with what they are looking for, and avoiding what they aren't looking for. They measure their success by if and how long it takes the searcher to go back to Google and do another search. Repeats in your domain's title space could look like you're trying to play a keyword game, but something like "How to..." seems benign enough.
            
            But in the end, how long can you keep people on the page with that title? Are you providing people looking for those things with the information that they are looking for? Titles are important, but if you can keep people on the page for 5 minutes, that's probably just as important. So I guess in my view, repeats may have some adverse affect if it looks like you're screwing around, but if you have what people are looking for that should outweigh a slightly un-optimized title. I may not be the best person to ask though.

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            1. 93

               jansharesposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Your posts have been very helpful, derek. Could you please give my titles a look-see? I have a recipe hub that gets mega traffic but my other hubs only get trickles of page views. Based on what I've learned, I'm not as optimized as I could be but I don't know why. I'd love a critique if you could please.

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            2. 80

               Faith A Mullenposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Thanks Derek and DrMark. Lots to think about! I was attempting a sort of branding with the "Doggie matchmaker" inclusion, but will have to weigh out the pros and cons and optimize my titles.

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               1. 85

                  Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  There is a theory that Google dislikes repeated words in titles, because it could indicate duplicate content, spun articles or keyword stuffing - all of which it hates.  Of course it is just a theory, but since you will get no visitors unless you please Google first, it doesn't hurt to bear it in mind.

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                  1. 94

                     DrMark1961posted 11 years agoin reply to this

                     I had to laugh at the comment after the update yesterday. It seems I am getting few visitors even if I am pleasing Google. I cant figure out what else they want me to change!!!!!!!

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                     1. 85

                        Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                        It is possible to "please Google" and still get few visitors. Perhaps the subject is one that not many people search for.  Or perhaps there are already too many other websites covering the same issue.

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                        1. 94

                           DrMark1961posted 11 years agoin reply to this

                           It might be a problem with the number of searchers. Many of my articles are on the first page, so I do not think it is a problem of too many websites, but even if they rank really well get less than 200/day. "Five dog breeds that dont bark, much" is rated number one with google but has never had over 200 views/day.
                           The only way I can see to increase my total page views is by increasing the total number of hubs. It was working for me, until yesterday!

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3. 59

   Jayson Mirasolposted 11 years ago

   I thought there was something wrong when my traffic was not great, now im slowly learning, thx for the information guys. New hubber here

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4. 94

   SylviaSkyposted 11 years ago

   Yes, my numbers are way down today; for the first time in a year and a half, less than 200 people have visited. I have several number-one rankings on Google. Can anyone explain this? Usually Christmastime is a high-traffic time for my Hubs.

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