Extra long hub- not sure what to do

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   mariexotoniposted 11 years ago

   Hi,
   I'm looking for help on improving my hubs- Panda 4.0 has cut my traffic approx. 200 views/day so I'm going to fix every single hub.
   
   I have hubs on tips for freshmen It was originally one hub of about 2k words. I was in the process of separating it into 3 different hubs because it was so long.
   
   My hub scores are going down,so I'm assuming this is a bad approach. I would like help making this more concise and to learn about what a successful voice sounds like for online writing for money.
   
   
   Hubs in question:
   http://mariexotoni.hubpages.com/hub/Adv … e-Freshmen
   http://mariexotoni.hubpages.com/hub/Tip … de-Part-II

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      mariexotoniposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Although my original hub dropped 10 points, I'm getting more traffic to both. Maybe I should wait it out.
      
      I wish we could have personal hubpage mentors for a month- who are super critical with our hubs.

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         kenneth averyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         My advice is wait it out.

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            mariexotoniposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            I think I will and see what happens and go from there.

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   2. 79

      spartucusjonesposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I know that Hubpages generally discourages parts 1,2,3 etc... Even if a Hub is a continuation of what you have written before, it is good if it still standalone. Also I don't think 2k words is totally unreasonable, my top performing hub traffic wise is just under 2000 and one of my top performing traffic hubs is 2751 words long.
      
      That being said if you have noticed a traffic increase, maybe it is working for you. I would definitely worry more about traffic than Hubscore.

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         missoliveposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I agree, traffic is more important than hub score. Personally, I would have kept it as one Hub. Don't worry too much about updates. Let Google settle and crawl your hubs. I'm sure traffic to this original hub will pick up as the Fall semester nears. Plus, I'd be concerned what three repeated titles does for seo. Good luck to you, I'm curious what others will have to say.
         
         Regardless, not sure what you could do now that you have published into three parts.

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            tsmogposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Is it fair to say welcome back? Nice to see you again . . .

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               missoliveposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Hi tsmog! One more week of school.....yes!

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            mariexotoniposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Thank you- I think you're right. Search engines will probably penalize me for using the same title. Probably just going to do the work and put all the parts back into one hub!

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      Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      When it comes to length, there are two factors to consider.   One is that for readers, length is bad.  There's some research which found people's eyes glaze over at around 1,500 words - but that was a few years ago, so I'm guessing the limit is lower now.    The other is that for Google, length is good.  Also a longer hub gives you more opportunities to use keywords naturally.
      
      One of our top Hubbers did some trials once, and found her Hubs did best when they were between 800 to 1,500 words.  So I think your instincts are right, wanting to split this Hub - but two would be better than three.   However it depends if the subject splits naturally.  Never, ever write a series of Hubs where one just continues on to the next.  90% of your readers won't follow the series in the right order (or even follow it at all).  Sit back, look at the subject and see if you can separate it into different aspects.  Then title each one accordingly (NOT Part I, Part II etc which Google hates).   Then make sure you put them in a Group and also interlink them in your text.

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         mariexotoniposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you so much. I think I may try to just reorganize the whole hub and organize them into separate parts with fitting titles. Something tells me that this would be the best thing to do. I think a 2k-3k word piece would look very overwhelming- even with awesome formatting.
         
         Some other things:
         (I am finding this question hard to ask. I apologize if it is unclear!)
         -When using trial and error methods to improve traffic, how long do you think it takes to see how an article is going to do? (In your traffic/ search engine ranks) 
         I had always figured it was 2-3 months. But that's a pretty long time when you want to move forward. I hope I'm wrong.
         -I posted a question in a forum today asking for book recommendations on web-writing. I'd be very interested if you had any recommendations!

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            Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Trial and error is a waste of time, because it is almost impossible to ascribe cause and effect.  You change something, Google traffic goes up - honestly, it's more likely to be a coincidental change in the algorithm than something you did.  There's no way you can tell.
            
            The whole concept of HubPages is passive income.  That means, write the best Hub you can, then leave it.  Move on to the next.  As you write, be conscious of interlinking all your related Hubs - and I don't mean just Groups, I mean referring your reader to them in the text.  If you must tinker with Hubs, give it 6 months before you change anything. 
            
            I wrote a Hub on optimising your Hubs, you'll find it on the slider on my profile.   If you're on a mission to revise all your Hubs, you might find it useful.  '
            
            I don't recommend any books.  Books take too long to revise - by the time they're published, they're out of date.  Udemy had some good courses last time I looked.

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               mariexotoniposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Ah, actually just signed up for this course:(https://www.open2study.com/courses/writing-for-the-web)!
               
               I'll check out your hub and see what your tips are. Thanks again

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            Glenn Stokposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            I agree with Marisa that books may be obsolete by the time they are published.  I had taken a free course with Yahoo's Contributor Academy and I highly recommend it. All their lessons teach about writing for the web...
            
            https://contributor.yahoo.com/academy/

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               mariexotoniposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Oh this looks great! Thank you- just what I was looking for

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   crazyhorsesghostposted 11 years ago

   To really do well your Hub Pages need to be on Evergreen Topics and need to be over 1500 words with photos, videos, polls, and etc. Evergreen Topics are topics that people will be looking for long term not just this week or this month. Build those and you will succeed but it will be long term. Build Evergreen Long Hub Pages and you'll make money but it will take time. Set a goal of a dollar a day for each Hub Page and if you build the right kind of Hub Pages you will get there. 300 - 500 word Hub Pages will never get you to your target of a dollar a day per Hub Page though. It will take over 1500 words, photos, videos, and etc. You can do it but it is not a over night or few weeks thing. Think long term.

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   Author Cherylposted 11 years ago

   In my opinion super long hubs lose my attention.  Just say what you have to say, make your points valid and don't write a huge hub page. I keep mine at 750 to 1200 anymore then that what else would you have to say.  Just sayin

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      Aneegmaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I'm with you on this one.

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   Lee Strongposted 11 years ago

   Did they consider it too long?

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