A Creative Writers' Getting-Traffic Discussion

1. 59

   paradigmsearchposted 10 years ago

   Speaking for myself, all my CW endeavors are routinely ignored by the search engines. I strongly suspect I am not alone in this regard.
   
   So, I had the brilliant idea of putting all my scribblings into one hub, and calling it Flash Fiction Examples. Seemed to have mild success with that for awhile, but no more.
   
   Anybody got any wandering thoughts on this dilemma and/or anything that can be done about it?

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   1. 94

      Cre8torposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I started here wanting to write creatively and too found that it's hard to rank so moved on with using my career as an asset which has paid off greatly in search engines and here at HP. That said, places like FB, Twitter, StumbleUpon, etc...do me little good.
      
      In very small experiments, I have found that creative writing can do much better if spread in these arena types. I think these social media sites are much more likely to spark the interest of people who are looking for something but aren't sure what and when they find it, spread it for you where search engines do not. Whereas search engines do more of the work for you when readers know exactly what they are looking for.
      
      I'm not ready to write the book on it yet but do believe I'm on the right track.

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   2. 88

      Cardisaposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Paradigmsearch, have you tried my tips on getting traffic to creative content? Some people have reported improvement after applying my tips. Here is the title of the hub "SEO Tips For Creative Content: Poetry, Creative Non-fiction And Fiction"

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2. 78

   Mark Leesposted 10 years ago

   Creative writing is not search engine friendly.
   
   I know a few writers who have had very successful blogs which housed their work but they say they had to work very hard for several years to start getting traffic. They posted stories on numerous forums with backlinks to their blog and encouraged people to share through social media.
   
   I suppose you could do the same thing with hubpages, although I suspect it would not be as successful.

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   1. 94

      Cre8torposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I don't know why HP wouldn't be as successful if you're driving the bus. Either way you're having to self promote except that here, you don't have to maintain a site on top of it. It may be tough to go viral because of the QAP but I've seen some do well. (I mention QAP because with social media, no one wants to spend much time on a page. They like the pic with 100 or less words not so much the lengthier articles.)

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      1. 86

         Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         What Mark said.   On HubPages, readers have no way to sign up to get notified of new episodes (unless they're members of HubPages).   
         
         The other big problem is that it's not easy for someone to come to HubPages and browse around your work.    If they come to your website, everything there is yours.   If you're posting a serial using a blog format, it's easy to read the episodes in sequence (though the latest episode will be at the top of the page, which is a bit confusing...).  On HubPages, it's not that easy - and from your viewpoint, you're at high risk of losing the reader to some other Hubber's Hub, because they are displayed so prominently.
         
         Smashwords now allows you to publish series or a serialised book - which you could then promote via Facebook etc.  Might be worth a look.

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         1. 83

            CMHypnoposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Or Wattpad lets you publish books by chapter and is set up for creative writing - although there are a lot of teenagers using the site which makes it harder to attract readers if you are a more mature writer

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3. 59

   paradigmsearchposted 10 years ago

   I periodically contemplate giving them all to Bubblews. I just don't know...

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4. 78

   Mark Leesposted 10 years ago

   Blog formats let you get subscribers who aren't signed up members. It allows you to engage easily with a broader range of readers and once you have their e-mail address you can e-mail them knew pieces or send them marketing materials (with the added benefit that you know they are interested because they signed up to your subscriptions).
   
   HP will give you a useful platform and it certainly isn't one to ignore but I think it is a little easier to get repeat visits in a blog format and that is when your writing will pick up fans.

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   1. 94

      Cre8torposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Good points.

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5. 74

   merej99posted 10 years ago

   SEO is crucial.  I've learned a lot from my freelance jobs about the importance of key words in the title, first paragraph and summary of your hubs.  By doing a little tweaking I've noticed viewer growth on my hubs.  Not quite the steady heartbeat but better than an occasional blip.
   I've also post them on twitter, G+, FB and pinterest for a broader reach.
   I'm not that familiar with RSS feeds but wouldn't it be nice if HP gave us that option in our supplementary hub building tools?
   What say you HP?  Is that a viable option?

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   1. 78

      Mark Leesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      SEO is not really possible within individual creative writing pieces. You could write a short introduction for each piece with come SEO but it wouldn't really be effective IMO.

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   2. 31

      Writer Foxposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      HP discontinued the RSS feeds.  It was too easy for content scrappers to steal our work with RSS feeds and I'm glad they're gone.

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      1. 91

         Jayne Lancerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I wondered what had happened to the RSS feeds.

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   3. 86

      Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      We used to have RSS feeds but they were removed because they can be used to steal Hubs.  So I doubt they'd put them back.

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   4. 74

      merej99posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      THIEVES!  I hate thieves.

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6. 81

   Mark Ewbieposted 10 years ago

   I have done very well with creative writing.  Why only last week I had a visit from someone who had searched for something else.  No matter.  According to my Analytics he or she hesitated for thirty-three seconds which was long enough to leave a comment saying "you suck".

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   1. 0

      Beth37posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      lol

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   2. 74

      merej99posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      LOL - sadly I found that amusing.  Sorry.

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7. 88

   WryLiltposted 10 years ago

   You CAN get traffic with creative writing. BUT you need to know how to SEO it. And you're unlikely to make a lot of money off it, even with PPC, although you may be with PPV.
   
   If you're using keywords in your title that people are searching for, there are ways.
   
   Check out Cardisa's hub on SEO for creative writing.
   
   http://cardisa.hubpages.com/hub/SEO-Tip … nd-Fiction

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8. 31

   Writer Foxposted 10 years ago

   Creative writing can do very well on HP. In the past six months my poetry Hubs have received over 110,000 views – 97% sent from search engines. But you do have to use good SEO, just like you should for any other webpage.

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