Niche site vs large subdomain on various subjects

1. 90

   Cardisaposted 10 years ago

   I decided not to leave hubpages but since my traffic was split in half several months ago it seems as if my subdomain is struggling to get back up.
   
   We all know that Google, the internet master, prefers niches sites over content farms (sites with multiple subjects). Given the newest update and nothing has changed (or maybe things have gotten worse), I feel it's time to do something about my account. As a matter of fact last week I was seeing the lowest views I'd seen since 2012!
   
   I have been wondering if it's time to classify my content into niches and keep only one subject matter here on HP. I had made preparations for this some time ago when I thought of leaving HP but changed my mind so I have several blogs and websites ready to post content by subject.
   
   What are your thoughts on this?

   replyreport
   1. 60

      Mark Ewbieposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I don't know much but it makes good sense.  My experiment is to just write as I want to on my own site for a while and compare the results with HP.  I think the lack of things like related links which are not, related authors they might like, floating ads and other aspects might allow me to have some mixed content.
      
      At least it will all be 'me' - for what good that is.

      replyreport
      1. 90

         Cardisaposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I see what you mean Mark. I used to post random stuff on my personal blog but decided to change into into a sort of writing blog so Google can index it the right way. I need my online work to make money because this is all I do all day: freelance, write stuff, write stuff, freelance.

         replyreport
      2. 79

         colorfuloneposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I think if a person has the desire, motivation and know how, that having ones own sites is the best way to go. (just thinking out loud)

         replyreport
   2. 68

      OldRosesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I write on a niche topic, gardening.  My hubs on herbs always did better than my other gardening hubs.  Last year, I moved all of my herb hubs to a website that I created for them thinking that they would attract more traffic on their own site rather than on a content farm.  In all honesty, I have to say that my herb website is not doing much better than my gardening hubs, especially since I have been adding more content on HP. 
      
      With all of the bad news and traffic dips, I've been sorely tempted to create another website and move my gardening hubs onto it.  What's holding me back is all of the support we get here on HP without realizing it.  I haven't added much content to my herb website because it's a lot of work being your own webmaster.  Trying to keep up with all the best practices, hackers, and new web stuff is terribly time consuming.  It takes away from my time and energy that I would rather spend writing.  I didn't appreciate how much HP was doing for me until I had to do it all myself.

      replyreport
      1. 75

         Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Old Roses, I have a lot of hubs about gardening also. Most of my views come from Pinterest. Gardening is a competitive topic with Lowe's, Home Depot, Home and Garden, Mother Earth News etc all having articles about just about everything to do with gardening. Herbs might be something they don't cover as much. Hang in there with whatever you decide. Maybe joining some of the groups on Facebook about gardening and sharing your links would help. I wish I knew more to help you out and help my own gardening hubs out.

         replyreport
   3. 67

      Rhonda Lytleposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I'm in the same boat with about five topics I tend to stay in.  Sadly for me, they are all mixed up between two HP accounts.  In the one that started when Squidoo moved here, I'm slowly deleting and will end up with only craft articles in that account.  In my original HP account, I'm thinking of getting rid of everything that isn't politics.
      Like you, I like the support provided here.  I'm wondering how many accounts can one have at HP?  I'm also wondering if my cyber personality can handle being split five ways .  I've never done the personal blog thing.  Do you have any recommendations for good free blogging sites?

      replyreport
   4. 86

      Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I wish I knew the answer to this question.  As you say, it's accepted wisdom that Google now wants specialist sites (that's my own word - I prefer it to "niche sites" because that expression can be used to describe sites concentrating on narrow subjects, and that's not what Google wants now). 
      
      In the past, HubPages was, apparently, able to get traffic in spite of being generalist.   Google said that the latest Panda update was designed to give small- and medium-sized websites a better chance, so maybe HP's luck has run out - but is it too soon to tell?
      
      My own feeling, which I can't back up with evidence, is that you should be specialising.  However, several blogs and websites is too many.  To do the job properly, you need to narrow it down to one or two sites and concentrate on them - you'll burn yourself out with too many.   Make sure each site is on a BROAD topic so you'll still be able to find new material in two or three years' time.  Choose your topics based on which ones you can best monetize - and I don't mean Adsense, I mean collecting email addresses and running a regular newsletter, with a view to selling advertising to relevant suppliers and selling your own ebooks or consultancy services or products. 
      
      For those topics, move all but one or two of your Hubs to the blogs - and link the ones you left behind to the related blogs.  I'd leave your other Hubs here for several months and see what happens as things settle down, before you decide what to do.

      replyreport
      1. 90

         Cardisaposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks Marisa, always with sound advice.

         replyreport
   5. 81

      sallybeaposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I write on a mix of subjects  but those on my niche subject far exceed my other writing.  Most of my traffic comes via twitter. Pinterest or Google.
      I don't think it matters much whether you write on more than one subject here.  Doing so may actually deter Hubbers from reading your hubs if they know you only write about one subject - especially if it is not something they are interested in.
      I have given a lot of thought to starting a niche blog outside of HubPages and may not be able to resist the temptation to try one out to see the results:)
      I have enjoyed reading the responses here

      replyreport
   6. 78

      TIMETRAVELER2posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Cardisa:
      
      I had been thinking for some time that I needed to get rid of my excess hubs and limit my account to just my main niche...and about a week or so I ago I did it!  I even deleted hubs that were earners because I had to know what would happen, and I wanted to please the big G.
      
      So far, the results have been only mediocre, but since everything is in a state of flux, all I can do is "wait and see"...  Mine may pick up after the first of the year when people start thinking about summer travel, but only time will tell.
      
      This is an experiment that may really hurt me in the long run, but I am hesitant to open a second account because of the complications that are involved.

      replyreport
      1. 90

         Cardisaposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I wish I were so brave as you Timetraveler2. I have been thinking about this for a while but need to make sure. I think I'll do mine slowly by creating the websites or blogs first then adding fresh content, and slowly removing the content here to whatever site/blog it's suited for.
         
         Good luck. It will take a while to make some headway. Keep building on that niche because Google also likes big sites. I think everything will be fine

         replyreport
         1. 78

            TIMETRAVELER2posted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Cardisa:  Even with the deletions, I still have 78 articles on this one topic and do plan to add more.

            replyreport
2. 91

   lisavollrathposted 10 years ago

   Honestly, this is something I'm waffling about right now. I write on two subjects: arts and crafts, and vegan cooking. I could easily move one or the other to one of my own web sites. I'm just not sure right now whether that's the right move to make.

   replyreport
   1. 90

      Cardisaposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Well, just in case you decide it wont be so hard for you. I write an many subjects, so far I counted 16 topic areas...lol. I am so confused!

      replyreport
3. 75

   Barbara Kayposted 10 years ago

   I am experimenting with this right now by opening another account and sticking to one niche on it. So far I only have 5 hubs, so it is hard to tell.
   
   With my account being 4 years old, it is hard to get another start on the new one, having a good hubscore (it's 83), and so few friends on it.

   replyreport
4. 76

   lobobrandonposted 10 years ago

   Cardisa, if you're working online the whole time you should focus on niche sites. Don't dwell into 16 niche sites to begin with - you'll just burn yourself up.
   
   Start with 3 - 4 (If I were you I'd go with 3, more time to devote that way) niche sites and try and become the best authority site in that niche. You're going to need good content, as well as a good site design to make it attract people and make them share stuff.
   
   Don't just move your hubs over, think of it as a new venture and try and write content for the new site. Plan the structure of the site before writing the content, then you'll know exactly what and how it needs to be written, to interlink etc.
   
   PS: I know I didn't answer your question exactly, but just some food for thought.
   
   Oh btw I say 3 because if one fails you'd still know that it's working and you're doing the right things. But if you begin just 1 and it doesn't do really well - there's no motivation to continue.

   replyreport
5. 0

   ArtDivaposted 10 years ago

   So, mixed content doesn't get good results? What if linked in some way? My hubs are mostly self-promotional, but all would link back to one and the other with my art used within each hub. Would that classify as a niche?

   replyreport
6. 60

   LindaSmith1posted 10 years ago

   Rhonda: You can have multiple accounts for niches. You are supposed to stick to one account for forums to prevent the sock puppet  thing.
   
   http://hubpages.com/faq/
   
   7. Can I have multiple HubPages accounts?
   You may have more than one account, as long as they are used in the spirit of contribution to the community. Creating large numbers of accounts primarily for promotional purposes may result in all of them being banned. Creating Hubs about the same or very similar subjects in different accounts is also prohibited. Creating a new account after being banned is also prohibited. Please stick to a persona in the Forums; using more the one account to post in the same Forum thread is not allowed.
   
   Word Press, the paid one, is popular.  You cannot use links in the free one and they can and do cancel you out with no explanation.
   
   I use blogger and Weebly free and one is with my own domain.  You can set up blog pages with them as well.  It is a drag and drop but does have a bit of a learning curve when it comes to adding products.  I have deleted all but 2 of my blogger blogs, and already have several niche site on Weebly. Personally, I prefer Weebly. No forced Adsense. I believe you can use Adsense if you want, as well as Chitika, etc.  No subdomains.   Weebly has a ranking of 8 with Google Page Ranker which is higher than HP at a 6.

   replyreport
   1. 67

      Rhonda Lytleposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you for the information.  I've seen Weebly before and will most likely wind up there with things outside the areas of crafting and politics which I can keep on the two accounts I have here.  I knew about the forum postings under only one account but must admit to having to constantly remind myself of it and check to see what account I'm signed in under.  I really wish we could have combined our old Squidoo accounts with pre-existing Hub accounts though for the purposes of creating a niche, separate accounts do make more sense.  Thanks for the information.

      replyreport
      1. 86

         Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Don't go near Weebly!    Avoid it like the plague.  I set up a blog for someone on Weebly after a recommendation, and I've regretted it ever since.
         
         Weebly has two versions - free and paid. They don't admit it, but my observation is that if you're on the free service, you're on a slow server - load times are not good.   If you're on the free service, there is NO support.  They do tell you that, but until you are using the service you don't realise how completely they mean that - you're on your own, if you have a problem it's too bad even if it's their fault.
         
         The other big problem is that if you ever decide you're not happy with them, you can't download your content and move it somewhere else - all you can do is close it down and start again.  So they could theoretically hold you to ransom.
         
         If you really must use a free service, use either Blogger or Wordpress.com.   The snag with Wordpress.com is that you can't monetize your blog in any way.  The only snag with Blogger is that navigation is clunky (use "labels" as categories, not tags, and then it's not too bad).

         replyreport
         1. 83

            Solarasposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            When you say you can't monetize Wordpress, what do you mean?  I bought some domains through Godaddy and added on managed Wordpress for 1$ a month for the first year.  Was this a mistake?  I understand it will go up to $3-5 in a year, but maybe I could move it to another hosting company if they are to expensive.

            replyreport
            1. 86

               Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               There are two Wordpresses!   One is Wordpress.com.   It's a blogging platform like Blogger (but better!).   You can't put advertising on the free service.   The other is Wordpress.org which is free software you can install on your own hosting.
               
               What you've bought is GoDaddy hosting which is specially set up with the Wordpress.org already installed.   It means you don't have to worry about doing the installation or managing any of the "back end" of the website - when you log in, you go straight to the Wordpress dashboard.      It's attractive to newbies but in the long run, it's limiting (not least because it's normally possible to run multiple websites on one hosting account, and you can't do that with this service). 
               
               I don't like GoDaddy as a host - just Google the reviews and you'll see most people say they're a good place to buy a domain name but a bad place to have hosting.   I really like ASmallOrange.com - cheap and really helpful.  You can use the domain you've bought at GoDaddy with them and they'll even help you get it set up.

               replyreport
               1. 90

                  Cardisaposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  You are right about Godaddy. I did a review on their services....terrible for hosting! I am currently using Arvixe where I pay $7 per month with a free lifetime domain name, unlimited subdomains and emails, and option to add 5 additional domains.

                  replyreport
               2. 83

                  Solarasposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  Thanks for the reply; I have a couple of questions - If I set it up on GoDaddy, then can I move it to another hosting company? 
                  
                  It seems I paid $12.00  for one year of Managed Wordpress for 2 accounts so I thought it was managing both sites.  Am I mistaken?
                  
                  I need all the help I can get on Wordpress; I am not a techie, and have had to stretch myself inordinately to get blogger to do the things I need, and I find my results there clumsy looking.
                  
                  Do you know of a good site that tells you how to make blogger look like a professional site? In particular the Amazon Ads will not take text next to them, so they are like sore thumbs in the middle of an article.  They have a feature where if you mouse over the Amazon text link, a buy box pops up, but I thought that might feel spammy and intrusive.  What are your thoughts?

                  replyreport
                  1. 90

                     Cardisaposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                     Re: the blogger site. You would have to have someone add the Amazon links directly to the HTML.

                     replyreport
                  2. 86

                     Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                     Yes, you can certainly move your site to another hosting company.  If the site is already set up with content it's a bit more fiddly, but it can certainly be done. 
                     
                     Hosting would usually cost you from $50 to $150 a year - is that $12 on top of the hosting fee or is that some kind of special offer? 
                     
                     There used to be a great site for Blogger tips and tricks but I've just done some Googling and can't find it.  I agree, some of the features of Blogger are clumsy.   One big thing is to find a good template - they're not just pretty pictures, many of the more sophisticated ones have very different formatting and layout.  The other thing is that labels are not tags, they are categories - so you can use them to create a category menu, which is much more useful to your readers than a monthly archive, which is basically useless.

                     replyreport
                     1. 83

                        Solarasposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                        Thanks Marissa!  The $12.00 was a special promotion; one year of managed hosting at $1.00 per month.  I expect that will increase substantially once I am hooked in. I have not done anything with it yet; I just bought them this weekend, and need to install a new computer here and blah, blah blah.
                        
                        I am using a very basic template on blogger, I might need to fancy it up a bit.  I am using the labels as categories though. I was very proud of myself to get that accomplished lol.  My Amazon ads just look repulsive. That is the clunkiest thing about it, and x-large images are spilling over into the right hand ads and navigation, and large images don't properly fill the space. So frustrating, you'd think Google could do better.
                        
                        Are there some Wordpress blogs that you are particularly impressed with? I am especially interested in recipe sites.

                        replyreport
                        1. 86

                           Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                           Blogger used to have integrated Amazon ads, it's a great pity they don't still have that feature. I don't use Amazon ads on my Wordpress sites either because they're so ugly!   Instead, I grab the product image, create my own "buy now" button and link that to Amazon with my affiliate link or Skimlinks link.   That's pretty easy to do on Wordpress (you'll even find plugins to do it for you) but again, it's fiddly on Blogger. 
                           
                           With Wordpress, the design is mainly created by the theme you choose.  Here are a few themes specially created for recipe blogs:
                           
                           http://www.premiumwp.com/10-delicious-f … ss-themes/
                           
                           However you'll find many other themes that would work for you.  I'm a big fan of the Hueman theme, which is adaptable for almost anything.

                           replyreport
7. 83

   Solarasposted 10 years ago

   I recently purchased 2 domain names to start two new blogs. My thought is that HP pays much better for articles that will get lots of views but don't naturally lead to sales of product.
   
   Articles that can capitalize on a readers need to purchase a product can earn you much more on your own site without the 40/60 split.
   
   This will give me 4 sites to write on and I can already foresee a burnout just thinking about it lol

   replyreport
   1. 90

      Cardisaposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I had an idea for a site like that once and someone discouraged me because they thought I wasn't an authority on the subject area. This because I have not to it professionally even though I have had some training. I followed their advice and started a site on something I spent years doing but I lost the drive because that wasn't my first choice. I am a little upset that I didn't follow my heart I think I would be making some money now.

      replyreport
      1. 86

         Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Why did they think you weren't an "authority"?    You don't need qualifications to be an authority, all you need is the ability to create a solid amount of content on the subject.    It's the volume and breadth of your content which will convince Google - robots can't read qualifications.

         replyreport
         1. 73

            Barack Jamesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            +1

            replyreport
         2. 90

            Cardisaposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            , I now know better Marisa, I was naive to the internet at the time, and how things worked then. But then again, sometimes I forget that Google isn't omniscient...lol

            replyreport
         3. 85

            NateB11posted 10 years agoin reply to this

            I'm glad you mentioned this and I hope it gets mentioned over and over again on relevant threads. On another thread someone commented that somehow Google can tell if you have credentials. They didn't say that exactly, but that was the gist. I think things get mixed up in people's minds because this topic is pretty complex.

            replyreport
8. 60

   LindaSmith1posted 10 years ago

   I was considering the idea of opening another account for a niche.  But, is it like being a new member, having to reapply for Adsense, etc.  I already have adsense here, but would I have to wait until I have 10, 15 hubs etc or is adsense automatically approved and all I would have to do is put my codes in the appropriate spots?  HP is the only place where I use adsense now.

   replyreport
   1. 91

      lisavollrathposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Once you have an AdSense account, you use that same account for every site you own. When I migrated from Squidoo, all I had to do was plug the code from the AdSense account I'd been using for my own web site in here, and I was good to go.

      replyreport
   2. 75

      Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I also had the new account  say that I couldn't use that Paypal email address since it was already used and had to add a new email address at Paypal. Hubpages wants a different email used also to send notices. I ended up creating a new gmail address.

      replyreport
   3. 83

      Solarasposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      The problem with a new account, is that it is tiny in the beginning, and you are putting in a lot of effort for very little return.  You can't bombard it with new Hubs, as you will get punished by Google for being spammy.
      
      So it takes time to build up that new account; patience must be one of your virtues.  I started one on Health related topics and guess what, it went from 300 views a day to 56 with the Panda rollout.  Hard to feel motivated to add to that account right now, given Google's stance on that range of topics.

      replyreport
9. 60

   LindaSmith1posted 10 years ago

   okay, I will give it a try and if I hit snags, there is always the cancel account.
   One more question. Each account has its own earnings, but are the earnings combined for payout or do you have to reach payout for each one separately?

   replyreport
   1. 75

      Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      That is the bummer. You have to earn payout on each account. So if you start from scratch on a new one, it may take awhile to get paid anything.

      replyreport
      1. 83

         Solarasposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Months...

         replyreport
10. 70

    makingamarkposted 10 years ago

    My personal view is that it pays to invest time in becoming an authority on a topic. It actually matters much more that you know what you're talking about than which host you use for your articles or blog posts.
    
    Bottom line - don't confuse Google. I think it likes it simple - one topic area of authority per 'brand' name.

    replyreport
11. 60

    LindaSmith1posted 10 years ago

    Barbara: Okay, that is what I thought. Thanks you guys. Maybe I will take my hubs that aren't really doing much and move them.  I have enough to have a niche account now, if I move some of my hubs.  Back to the drawing board to figure it all out.  Some of my new hubs are already on page 2 and 3 of Google.  I don't want to mess that up.  Thanks for your help you guys.
    
    I will just have to create some lists, for each niche, and see which is doing the best in Google.  Those I should keep here, I think, instead of moving them.

    replyreport
    1. 83

       Solarasposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       Anything doing well over here I would leave be.  It's the hubs that languish that may be of value on your new endeavor.  I would unpublish them, update them substantially with an eye to giving the reader everything they need to be successful with the info you are offering, and then set them loose on your new platform maybe 3 weeks after unpublishing them.
       
       Best of Luck!! Keep us posted on how it goes for you over time.  We all need examples to watch in these uncertain times.

       replyreport
12. 60

    LindaSmith1posted 10 years ago

    Solaras:  Google shut down one of my new blogs for being spammy.  No warning, nothing. I lost all of my content in the process. I was concentrating on that one.  Maybe I added new content too fast.   Something to think about.

    replyreport
13. 92

    Rochelle Frankposted 10 years ago

    This has been a very informative thread.  Adsense is good to go --
    but building up your views and credibility on a new account is going to take some time and effort.
    Sounds fair. Everything worthwhile takes time and attention.

    replyreport
    1. 90

       Cardisaposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       I had thought of opening another account here but I don't want to. I had another account once but when I got bullied so much I deleted it first and was intending to delete this one, but I decided to keep this one. I also know which niche I would keep here. I think this is the best option for me. It would allow me to focus on certain areas more instead of just writing an article on a whim. My weakness is that I have worked in many industries and have a wide array of knowledge in several areas. :0

       replyreport
       1. 83

          Solarasposted 10 years agoin reply to this

          That's funny - I am in the same position, however, I don't know that I have enough to say on many subjects that would be compelling enough to fill a niche site.  For instance, I am a PMP and was a director of admissions at a technology school counseling people on the certification,  but I feel very little love for the topic.
          
          If you have something that you feel passionate about, then I think you will do very well with it.  That is the essential ingredient, feeling passion and continuing to learn and think in new ways about your subject.

          replyreport
          1. 90

             Cardisaposted 10 years agoin reply to this

             I totally agree and that's what I am going to do, thanks

             replyreport
14. 60

    LindaSmith1posted 10 years ago

    Cardisa: You write on some good topics. I was looking the other day for some of what I thought were your old hubs on SEO.  I thought you had done a lot of hubs on SEO, writing online, etc. Don't let the bullies bully you out.  Apparently they don't like the competition!

    replyreport
    1. 90

       Cardisaposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       Hi Linda, It wasn't a lot of hubs but when I wrote them they had a lot of impact. I am not leaving HP, just rearranging stuff to suit the internet master (Google)....lol. It seems we have to dance to the beat of the big G's drums...haha

       replyreport
15. 73

    LeanManposted 10 years ago

    I have a bunch of niche sites as well as hubpages accounts and my niche sites do an order of magnitude (10x) better than what I have on HP with similar numbers of articles etc.
    
    So I would recommend a niche site or several. Just don't spread yourself too thin.
    
    HP is where I learned most of what I know through the people and the site but with Google's war on content farms it will just never be what it once was - but I still earn here and I will not be giving up just yet!

    replyreport
    1. 90

       Cardisaposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       Thanks Leanman. That's inspiring.

       replyreport
16. 65

    micko27posted 10 years ago

    On a long run blogs for sure could be better. But sometimes it does not just work good.
    
    I do have around 40 niche blogs and they are performing pretty well. I am not a writer myself but hire a writer and do that mostly for SEO purposes but try to keep high quality content.
    
    But experiences are different. Some blog are performing really great and some are just without much traffic but something like 100-200 visits a month which is bad for a 4 years old blog. But I must mention that I do not do many social media promotions or backlinking and if you will be serious that is necessary to do.
    
    If you want to start a blog you should know that in the beginning it will be a bit harder, probably 4-5 months only to develop it and make it grow steadily.

    replyreport
17. 60

    LindaSmith1posted 10 years ago

    My dilemma now is that I checked all of my hubs.  I have 15 that rank between page 1-10 on Google,most between 1-5.  Most of  those that have not ranked below page 10 are part of the same 2 niches as the others are.  I have one hub in another niche that ranks page 1, and only a few that fit with it.  Some of the others are stragglers but get views.

    replyreport
18. 84

    Millionaire Tipsposted 10 years ago

    I write on a large number of topics.  I think I would be utterly bored writing on one topic singularly, and would be overwhelmed if I kept a separate account for each niche. I have also found that some of my hubs with the most traffic have nothing to do with the topics I generally write about.
    
    One thing I did do to beef up the "expertise" is to write other hubs around a topic.  So, if I decided to write a health hub, I would write a few more of those to keep the first one company. That also helps with groups.

    replyreport
19. 60

    LindaSmith1posted 10 years ago

    I think you can monetize Wordpress, the paid one, with adsense, etc. You need to use the right plug ins.
    
    I avoid Go Daddy like the plague.
    
    Melissa was referring to her opinion/experience with Weebly.

    replyreport
20. 90

    Cardisaposted 10 years ago

    I didn't want to start a new forum thread but I had some questions.
    
    What if HP were a website that required each account to be about only one subject/topic? So therefore it's still a content site with each subdomain representing a different topic? What would happen then? Would they be affected by Google's mad efforts to root out content farms?
    
    I have no idea if those questions make sense. It just occurred to me while I had coffee and bread.

    replyreport
    1. 86

       Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       Hard to say.   There is so much debate about whether sub-domains are regarded as standalone and how much they're "polluted" by being part of a larger site!   
       
       My view has always been, if you know enough about a subject to specialise, why do it on a writing site when you could start your own blog about it?   That way you have no worries about the risk of closure, or about changes of rules, or restrictions on what you can do.  You do have the considerable hurdle of understanding how to monetize effectively, though, which is HubPages' great advantage - they do it for you. Plus of course, there is the cost:  but then you'll get 100% of the income so that offsets the investment.

       replyreport
       1. 85

          NateB11posted 10 years agoin reply to this

          This is very sound logic and how I've started thinking about it. I think the area that I need the most work is monetization, and as you said HP takes care of that here.
          
          At any rate, it makes sense to me to have my own sites for specific subjects that I can write a lot about, that I know well.

          replyreport
21. 60

    LindaSmith1posted 10 years ago

    Good Question Cardisa especially now with the subdomains.

    replyreport
    1. 76

       ologsinquitoposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       It is so difficult to move things that I think I'm going to keep my stuff here, as long as I'm earning. They wouldn't fit on my blogs anyway. I'm not so sure about the death of "content farms" just yet. Wizzley's traffic has been good.

       replyreport
       1. 86

          Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

          What's your definition of good?

          replyreport
          1. 76

             ologsinquitoposted 10 years agoin reply to this

             My definition of good is growing, and a continued upward trend, as I'm seeing there.

             replyreport
             1. 83

                Solarasposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                +

                replyreport
22. 60

    LindaSmith1posted 10 years ago

    Time Traveler: How do we know which hubs are best in earnings unless we are making sales and know which hub the sale is coming from.

    replyreport
    1. 86

       Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       You get paid per view, so the ones with the most views are earning the most money.   For most people, Amazon is not a huge part of their earnings so how Hubs are doing on the Earnings Program is the best indicator.

       replyreport
       1. 70

          makingamarkposted 10 years agoin reply to this

          Not so - on Squidoo people made a lot via Amazon even if they didn't get a lot of traffic.
          
          Number of visits is immaterial re. Amazon income
          
          The key thing is the number of visits by the right people. Hence if you write on a very niche topic it's unlikely to generate a lot of visits and AdSense income but it might do very nicely re Amazon.

          replyreport
          1. 83

             Solarasposted 10 years agoin reply to this

             True - I have one article that doubles or triples all of my pageview earnings. I wish I could make 20 of them, but just the one is consistent.

             replyreport
          2. 86

             Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

             That's not the experience on HubPages - probably because of HubPages' attitude to Amazon ads, which has frightened many Hubbers away from using Amazon capsules to any great degree.  The majority of Hubbers earn far more from the HP Ads Program than from any other element. 
             
             Also, I don't think Squidoo paid per view (or am I wrong?), whereas the HP Ads Program IS a pay per view program.

             replyreport
23. 79

    ForLoveofCupcakesposted 10 years ago

    My blog is in a niche but I have more to say and I thought HP was a good place to write whatever I wanted. However, I too am seeing much lower page views than even a couple of months ago. It's very disappointing.
    
    I wonder about having multiple accounts o have separate niches but I have a hard enough time keeping up with my one account... Not sure what to do.

    replyreport
24. 60

    LindaSmith1posted 10 years ago

    I tried Wizzley and have removed most of my content.  Most of the traffic came from other members, not search engines or even social networks.  I didn't have  a lot of articles on there, but even after a year, nothing.

    replyreport
25. STAFF

    Paul Edmondsonposted 10 years ago

    It's been a while, but I've had feedback from Johnmu at Google on if a site needs to limited to a specific topic.  He said there was a lot of room for a broad site to do well.   I've also moved content around a bit.  I moved all my bbq hubs to another account for several months so that it only had bbq content.  It did exactly the same.
    
    My feeling is that highly concentrated sites can do better, but more important than topic is ensuring that Google thinks the content is high quality.  I really believe content quality trumps the other factors.

    replyreport
    1. 83

       Solarasposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       Thanks for this info.  I know Relache and Crazyhorsesghost have many views, and each has several areas of interest on their account, along with tons of articles on each niche.  Maybe that means go big or go broke. lol.

       replyreport
       1. 86

          Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

          Relache has only 150 Hubs.

          replyreport
       2. 78

          TIMETRAVELER2posted 10 years agoin reply to this

          Solaras:  I don't know about crazyhorseghost, but I do know that Relache has considerable background and training in online writing, among other things.  It is not always size that matters, but what you know.  In her case, I think she knows much more than most of us here!

          replyreport
          1. 83

             Solarasposted 10 years agoin reply to this

             For some reason I thought she had 300 hubs; still 150 is a lot compared to my 30 something

             replyreport
             1. 75

                Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                She kept it at exactly 200 hubs for years. I always wanted to ask her why she did that. Now with 150, I bet there is a reason for that too. To bad she doesn't share what the secret is.

                replyreport
                1. 83

                   Solarasposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                   If you pay her she might lol.

                   replyreport
                2. 86

                   Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                   Like all of us, I'm sure she's had some Hubs unFeatured, and some might have become outdated.  I've dropped about the same amount due to unFeaturing. 
                   
                   Also, it's worth remembering that Nelle Hoxie shared her secrets and all that happened was that several people didn't just try to emulate her, they stole all her ideas as well.  So while it's great to be helpful, being too helpful can come back to bite you.
                   
                   It's also worth remembering that Relache has been here a very long time and a very large proportion of her views would've come in the heyday of HubPages, when we were all getting thousands of views a day.  She is not adding new Hubs here and hasn't for a year or so, because she (like me) feels that traffic has dropped too far to be worth it.

                   replyreport
                   1. 87

                      viryaboposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                      +1
                      I too have not published new hubs on this account for a long while now. I'm even reducing the numbers by deleting not only some unfeatured hubs, but those that have been doing poorly for a long time. I am re-writing them and transferring them to my blogs and websites, depending on their topics.
                      
                      I hate to 'throw' my works away, so the very bad ones are reworked into better articles and then 'housed'  elsewhere.

                      replyreport
             2. 86

                Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                Yes, but it's not a lot in the scheme of things.  Google sees a sub-domain as a separate entity to some extent, and it doesn't like small sites.  30 Hubs would make a very small site indeed!   A few Hubbers have said they saw big improvements in traffic once they got to 100 Hubs.

                replyreport
                1. 83

                   Solarasposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                   It's true - I am small.  Meow!

                   replyreport
                2. STAFF

                   Paul Edmondsonposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                   It's really hard to know exactly how Google treats subdomains. 
                   
                   From what we understand is subdomains are generally treated as separate sites on HubPages, but Google's algorithms treat content that started on a site and moved to a subdomain different than if it was started on a subdomain for reasons that they don't know why other than that's how the machine learning algorithm decided to treat them.
                   
                   In the past, I've felt that there was enough of a variance in subdomains going up and down with updates that I felt that HubPages was treated more like separate sites.  We saw that trend break with Panda 4.1 that I thought it was worth asking Google to see if things had changed.  They say no.

                   replyreport
                3. STAFF

                   Paul Edmondsonposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                   I don't think this is true that you need lots of Hubs to do well.  We see lots of subdomains with a few Hubs and lots of traffic.  To me, it's less about how many and more about finding something that really sticks. 
                   
                   Writing more Hubs gives you more opportunity to write a hit Hub which I think is an important part of the learning process.  This gives a writer the opportunity to figure out what works for their style. 
                   
                   For me, I've found writing about bbqing whole animals is a niche worth exploring more and writing about what I'm getting my daughters for their birthdays and christmas.  I've written about a lot of different topics, but this is what really sticks for me.  I could probably cut down to 15 hubs and keep over 80% of my traffic.

                   replyreport
          2. 83

             Solarasposted 10 years agoin reply to this

             I think Crazyhorsesghost has more energy than the sun. He is always working every angle, lead, opportunity, referral source etc...

             replyreport
    2. 85

       NateB11posted 10 years agoin reply to this

       Good to know. This is an issue I've been wrestling with for awhile, what you said clarified a lot.

       replyreport
    3. 79

       colorfuloneposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       It makes sense that quality content is still king.

       replyreport
       1. 78

          TIMETRAVELER2posted 10 years agoin reply to this

          colorfulone:  If quality is king, why is it than when I recently checked to see who was number one on page one for one of my formerly biggest producing hubs, I found AN OUTLINE of links to articles that were part of someone's blog...not an article...a list of links.
          
          I'm not so sure that what Google says it wants is what it really wants if that is any example of what is first on page one for a niche!

          replyreport
          1. 79

             colorfuloneposted 10 years agoin reply to this

             That is a good questions. I do not know the answer, wish I did. Sorry I cannot help you.

             replyreport
    4. 90

       Cardisaposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       Hi Paul, thank for the response. This really means a lot.
       
       I have been wrestling with whether or not to move any at all because my biggest earners are in several different areas. For instance my most traffic comes from a wellness hub, then the second best is from a recipe hub, followed by a few others that don't even fall into a specific category.
       
       I do think quality trumps everything else so maybe I'll wait and see if things will turn around.

       replyreport
    5. 81

       Lee Hansenposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       I agree content trumps in most cases, except if the original has been mimicked/copied/or somehow usurped and the robots get tricked -for awhile anyway. I have been online for nearly 20 years and have seen the ups and downs, run into all types of plagiarists and coat-tailers, and am still getting a decent amount of traffic on my own web sites.
       
       My HP traffic (I am a S-doo emigre) was ok, just ok, until the latest Google dropout. I was still trying to figure out the site and get set up when it tanked. Now it's minimal compared to what S-doo was in its final days.
       
       My own web site traffic has recovered a bit from last year, but is no way near the formerly wonderful 20K-30K daily uniques I got on each site. My HP traffic to my best hub is 1/10 what it was on S-doo. I am not marketing heavily for any online work right now, but I am seeing more traffic on my HP content from Pinterest than from all the search engines combined. I don't see much HP content on page 1 of Google search results, but I see plenty of Pinterest hits. This leads me to conclude that the site overall, not simply only the individual subdomains, has taken a slap and has lost SERP traction.
       
       As for my own blogs and web sites, they're getting page 1 and 2 Google attention, US and worldwide, as well as other search engine traffic.
       
       I have yet to publish a new hub, either on my transfer account or a pre-existing account that's been dormant a few years. I plan to create new content after I'm satisfied with my S-doo cleanup and have had time to analyze the time-cost benefit.

       replyreport