Petition to HubPages

1. 89

   jellygatorposted 10 years ago

   ^ Oh... let me add one: If you have published and deleted a hub, the deleted hub still counts toward your total published hubs for calculating bonus tiers. I will probably never reach a bonus tier because I had around 20 hubs that I deleted for being substandard. These tiers are HUGE for helping income! For this reason, consider very carefully if you'r writing something that will draw traffic, generate sales, AND remain interesting for a long time before hitting the publish button if you're wanting to earn income this way.

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   1. 94

      jansharesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Think evergreen, right? Thanks for your advice.

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   2. 83

      Marcy Goodfleischposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      This is very helpful information, jellygator!  It takes the info from the AP program a bit further. I'm dismayed to hear that deleted hubs (ones gone forever) are still factored in for the bonus. I deleted several hubs that simply weren't going to be commercial here (they were fun to write, or rewarding to me in some way, but not material for traffic).  I felt they were drawing down my entire subdomain.
      
      One of my biggest regrets is the time I spent writing Exclusives hubs I wrote. The majority of my non-performers are in that group. I've tweaked titles, etc., but nothing seems to make a difference. I do get revenue here, but after a major slump about 18 months ago (a Penguin thing, or something  it's been slow to recover).  That slump was clearly a Google hit, but I've had other serious hits from copied content.

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   3. 85

      TIMETRAVELER2posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      &jellygator...I have absolutely no idea about what you said here, but I don't care.  I've deleted tons of hubs and have never been sorry that I did so.  I want the best possible group of articles I can humanly create, not just tons and tons of mediocre dross.  Why they would do this for this "bonus" I don't know...but I also don't care.

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2. 83

   Marcy Goodfleischposted 10 years ago

   Just checking to see if the staff can offer any insight on the questions about creating additional subdomains to help make our accounts more topical specialized.  It would be great to get information on how well that appears to work in the recent climate (with HP's Exclusives, the QAP, Google's trends, etc.). 
   
   Thanks!

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   1. 93

      Susana Sposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      My own observations lead me to believe that it's good to stick to 5 or less topics for a subdomain - if they're somehow related all the better.
      
      As for EC hubs - in my experience, when the best hubs are taken out of a subdomain, then other hubs in the same niches can see a fall in traffic because an account can lose some authority in that particular niche. This doesn't have to be the case, because it will depend on how many other hubs you have in those niches and how well viewers interact with them, but it is likely. The reduction of sub traffic doesn't bother me as the traffic coming from the EC hubs more than makes up for the loss.

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      1. 85

         TIMETRAVELER2posted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I was advised quite awhile ago that you can have as many as 20 topics in a subdomain as long as you make sure you have at least 10 or more articles in each one and keep adding to them.  This is a pretty tall order.  Five seems better.

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      2. 84

         DzyMsLizzyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Yeeks.  I don't have any "niches."  I'm a generalist, not a specialist.  My articles read like a regular magazine of articles on different topics all over the place. 
         Some are educational/informational, some are historical, some are humor, some are poetry.  It's a virtual department store of topics.   
         Nevertheless, I do notice my earnings are climbing at last    ...so it may have as much to do with quantity and quality combined, as I now have about 260 hubs....wellllllll.... about 202 published--the rest waiting in the wings.

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3. 95

   viryaboposted 10 years ago

   Thought provoking words  from Paul - "Consider how to make content culturally relevant.  Blend the topic you're covering with editorial that is pertinent today to tap into social audiences.  This is probably the single biggest change since we started" . . .

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   1. 84

      DzyMsLizzyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      The second part of that statement/recommendation "...pertinent today..." strikes me as being in direct contradiction to the advice to create "evergreen" content.....

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      1. 95

         viryaboposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         It seems to me that everything is now "in direct contradiction" to what we learned just a few years ago!

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         1. 85

            TIMETRAVELER2posted 10 years agoin reply to this

            This is exactly why I try to keep my number of hubs in the 100 range.  Too many and every re do to upgrade becomes a nightmare!

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4. 89

   JayeWisdomposted 10 years ago

   I'm calling attention to another problem that lowers the quality level on HubPages:  people who "join" HP under various names and, usually within an hour or two post meaningless garbage under a false title.  The feed today had at least a dozen of these, probably more.  I clicked on a few to flag them, but because I'm late in the day checking HP, someone else already did it and they've been removed. However, the titles still remain on today's feed.
   
   Does HP have any security program in place that can catch these jerks as soon as they post this stuff and keep it off the feed? They are obviously hitting the Share button, as there's no way this junk would make it through even a cursory evaluation.
   
   I've also gotten "junk" comments on at least one of my hubs. Have all the crackpots crawled out from under a rotting log?

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   1. 95

      SmartAndFunposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      The QAP is in place to catch them. Just ignore them on your feed. Isn't there a "hide" button on the feed? I never go to the feed any more.

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5. 74

   Jenn-Anneposted 10 years ago

   I just wanted to say this is an interesting and informative thread and I enjoyed reading the discussion.  I haven't written a new hub in almost a year.  That is partly because I went back to work full time and haven't had as much free time for writing, and partly because I was somewhat scared off by all the changes that came down the line in the last year or so.  It feels to me that things are settling down a bit so perhaps I will try my hand at another hub or two. While I don't see myself specializing on a single topic, I also don't see myself writing enough to warrant multiple accounts. I guess we'll see if Google loves or hates me for this.  So far, my strongest hubs have remained strong and I'm pretty happy with that.

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