EC/HOTD

1. 91

   DzyMsLizzyposted 9 years ago

   Pursuant to the discussion going on over the HubPro issues, and the "opt out" selection, I visited my profile to double-check my that my settings were set to "opt out."  They were.
   
   I then saw that my EC option was also set to "opt out," as I had made that change back in October of 2014, in an attempt to regain some traffic, since my earnings had dropped to a ridiculous point, I thought that reclaiming those articles to my own subdomain might help.  It has; marginally so.
   
   However, under the notification that you can only make this change once every 2 months, I decided to click on the "why?" link, for a refresher and any updated information.
   
   I see that in addition to the reasons given, there are also 'benefits' assigned to EC hubs, one of which is eligibility for HOTD status.  (So does this mean that we must be opted in to the EC program, and  that a hub must first be an EC hub to become a HOTD?)
   
   I had a couple of hubs that got HOTD prior to the EC program being launched, and a few others since, for a total of about 5 or so HOTD selections.
   
   I am now wondering, having opted out of EC, do those HOTD hubs also lose that status?
   It seems to me, we used to have a place where we could search how many such we had, under  the "designation" filter, and I now do not find that.
   
   Since the HOTD symbol is not displayed to us under our list of hubs in our account, how do we find this information? (and it seems to me that the HOTD symbol could be displayed as easily as the EC symbol was.)

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   1. 89

      wildernessposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Click the HOTD icon on your profile; it will show you which hubs have attained that status.

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      1. 91

         DzyMsLizzyposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Oh.  Ok, thanks, wilderness.  I got lost in all the tabs on the hubs list....LOL

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   2. 96

      PegCole17posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      You're right DzyMsLizzy, In order to find a Hub of the Day among the sliders of hubbers, we have to be diligent and perhaps accidentally fall upon the symbol. It makes me wonder if the criteria for HOTD will now be linked with being opted into the program.

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   3. 83

      Marina Lazarevicposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      HOTD status is permanent, so your old HOTD Hubs will not lose their status. To have new Hubs eligible for HOTD, however, you need to be opted into the EC program.

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      1. 91

         DzyMsLizzyposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Bah--phooey!  That did take away traffic!  Isn't there a way to make the EC hubs not  be removed from our subdomains?  What was the idea/point behind that action?

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         1. 75

            Barbara Kayposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            I made a mistake myself and opted out, because everyone was saying all the negatives of the Editor's Choice program. I had about 36 of them, not thinking that the status would be taken away when I opted out. I made a big mistake!

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         2. 83

            Marina Lazarevicposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            DzyMsLizzy, Paul E explains the reasoning for keeping EC Hubs on the main domain in his post here. On average, there isn't a big traffic benefit (or drawback) to moving EC Hubs away from subdomains but keeping them on HubPages.com gives us some interesting data to track over time.

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      2. 95

         jansharesposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Marina, isn't that a new policy with the updated EC benefits, that we now must opt into the EC program in order to be considered for HOTD? I do recall reading something like that in the blog post but didn't realize it was required. I thought it meant that EC hubs have an advantage but all hubs would still be considered. Bummer.

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         1. 0

            Christy Kirwanposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Hi jan,
            
            Hubbers must now be opted into EC in order to have a Hub of the Day since only EC Hubs will be considered for that honor. EC Hubs will also have priority on our social media channels, but we will be sharing some Hubs that are not EC as well. Hope that clears things up!

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            1. 95

               jansharesposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               Yes, it does, Christy, thank you. It feels weird, though. Hmm. It feels like being invited to the party but you can't get in unless you bring the right bottle of wine. And all that's at the party to drink is wine. But you don't drink. Not because you're anti-social but you prefer stability when things seem unstable. If you get thirsty enough, you will end up drinking the wine and run the risk of getting drunk.
               That's the best analogy I could come up with off the top of my head to the tips of my fingers and onto the keyboard. I think for now I'll let this sink in, remain opted out, and be grateful for the one HOTD I already have. After all, it's not about ECs and HsOTD, right? That's just icing on the cake for the love of writing, the views we get, and the earnings we receive. Yup. Carry on.

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               1. 0

                  Christy Kirwanposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  Hi jan, thanks for taking the time to explain (very eloquently). Hopefully you'll decide to give EC a chance at some point, but I'm wishing you the best on HP either way.

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                  1. 95

                     jansharesposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                     I probably should have made it a hub. You're welcome.

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            2. 91

               DzyMsLizzyposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               Okay--so, if I opt back in to the EC program, do my hubs that were formerly EC selections get reinstated to EC, or does it re-set everything back to square one when you opt out?

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2. 61

   LindaSmith1posted 9 years ago

   If I am not mistaken, a hub has a URL that gets indexed.  Then the URL gets changed for the EC url it is given.  But that is only for so long, and then it reverts back to the original URL.  No wonder traffic drops on these hubs.  This is like having and article that ranks high in search engine and then moving it to another site, which will result in a new url. Now that article has to start all over again where ranking is concerned.

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3. 76

   psycheskinnerposted 9 years ago

   Interest shift in emphasis there.  If there is no benefit to the shift at this time, I am not sure why it is still being incentivized. It was a sensible experiment at the time but maybe now HOTD should be made openly available again?

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   1. 83

      Marina Lazarevicposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      The goals of the revamped EC Program are to: reward Hubbers for creating creating great content and help HubPages readers discover great content. When the program first launched over a year ago, there was also the hope that EC Hubs might see a traffic benefit. It turns out that on average, they did not (on average traffic changes were a wash), but we decided that the other benefits of the program justified keeping it and giving it more attention.
      
      By our metrics and standards, EC Hubs represent the very best of HubPages.

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4. 84

   WriteAngledposted 9 years ago

   "On average, there isn't a big traffic benefit (or drawback) to moving EC Hubs away from subdomains but keeping them on HubPages.com gives us some interesting data to track over time."
   
   Oh, so no benefit to the author whatsoever, only statistics for HP management. Well that clarifies things, thank you. I've just opted out.

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   1. 44

      Writer Foxposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      
      At least we know now that EC didn't improve traffic for Hubs.  We've been waiting since August, 2013, for this feedback.

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   2. 83

      Marina Lazarevicposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I was just explaining the reasoning for keeping EC Hubs on the main domain.
      
      We (along with many others Hubbers) think there are plenty of benefits to the EC Program that are unrelated to short-term traffic.

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5. 76

   psycheskinnerposted 9 years ago

   What other these benefits for hubbers themselves?  To get buy in and support calling it a "reward" it would be kind of helpful to say what the benefit is?

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6. 83

   Solarasposted 9 years ago

   Here is my experience with opting in and then out of the EC program. 
   
   Initially, when I opted in, I had few hubs (20) and not much traffic.  Opting in brought attention to one of the 6 EC hubs, and increased its traffic considerably.  Because it linked to several other hubs on the same topic, views went up across the board (50% over several months time).
   
   In November I noticed one of my hubs had been returned from the EC subdomain, and was no longer considered EC material.  Based on a comment by Dr. Mark, that he had taken the advice of Writer Fox and left the EC program with no ill effects, I reconsidered participating in the program.
   
   As I still only had about 38 hubs and 5 were on the EC domain, I decided it might behoove the other hubs to bring these back and increase the number of articles on my subdomain.  So in early January I opted out of the EC program. The result was a decrease in traffic to the one hub performing well as an EC hub, but its return brought increased traffic to the other hubs. 
   
   The net result is an overall increase in traffic of 25%, which has remained in effect for a month now.  My thoughts are, if you have very little traffic to your hubs, EC can get views that can boost other hubs on your subdomain, and perhaps help catch Google's notice.  However, once that is accomplished, having the best of your content together on one subdomain will improve overall views.

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7. 91

   DzyMsLizzyposted 9 years ago

   Okay--since I posted the original question, I've re-opted in to the EC program.
   (As of about a week ago--that is, around the 2nd or 3rd of April, 2015--I didn't write it down; I'm guessing.) 
   
   At this point, I've now seen my daily earnings almost double since taking that action. (That's not to say I'm raking in huge amounts; I am not.  I still get less than a buck a day.)  But if this is a trend, or result of the EC status, then it may be worth keeping turned on.

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   1. 76

      psycheskinnerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      It would be worth hearing from staff again, because last time the comment there was no average traffic effect of opting in.

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