Format is a given for understanding as shared through the Learning Center and the description for a 'Stellar Hub'. Form can range from personalized style with a first person voice to completely objective in a style of scholastic being a third person voice. Could writing in the second person voice be seen as pushy or standoffish? Those may vary especially through learned experiences over time while seeing results with views and HubScores.
Any thoughts on those - Format and Form? Is there a happy medium with mix?
Could a more third person voice have a greater propensity of success with a Hub contrast a first person or second person voice at a blog of website? Would that offer value of having a blog or website seeking a fan base and following offering backlinking to Hubs. Hence there would be a trail or pathway similar to:
HP + third person → Blog/Website with greater latitude of voice and vice versa
Thank you for your time reading and considering.
It seems to me that writing successful online content is increasingly about making a connection with your reader. For that reason, I think my better Hubs are those written in a conversational tone. When I first started writing here I did my best to sound professional, writing in I guess what you are calling a 3rd-person voice. Looking back, I think it came off as preachy and sterile.
Most of us are telling people how to do something, conveying information, sharing experiences or otherwise giving advice. I think the fewer walls you can create between you and the reader the better.
However, some Hubbers do write technical and somewhat more academic articles. In those cases, it probably is better to avoid using the words "I" and "you" as it will affect a more professional tone.
As with everything else in writing, your intended audience is what's important. As for "format", the same applies no matter what your "form": Build pages that are valuable to humans and easy to understand for computers.
I do think maybe you are making things a little too complicated by trying to draw a distinction between HP and a blog or website. Most people who run websites have the same issues with connecting with their audience as we do here.
Thank you Eric! :-) Your reply offers great value to me. My goal is less creative writing and more practical Hubs. I am use to using the 2nd & 3rd person and am seeking a comprise with the 1st. I have no experience with a blog or website such as Weebly. Yet, many say those add value to the online writing experience with connections to HubPages.
I agree and have learned maybe through hard knocks writing for the audience is what is important. I like "Build pages that are valuable to humans and easy to understand for computers". That offers great food for thought.
Again, thank you!
I have written articles from all points of view and viewpoints. Readers accepted each for its merits. There is no single method, form, or format that works with every article. So much of what we write depends on the audience and the purpose for writing.
My personal experience has been that you have to have the right blend of authority and personal touch for online writing. The rules that govern writing for magazines and other publications simply do not apply to web content, articles, blogs etc.
You don't want too much use of "I", because it isn't about you, but at the same time, personal stories here and there make you a human and not just another generic article. Your writing should be an emotional connection with the reader and that is easiest to accomplish through relating some personal experiences that show you know what you are talking about. So long as the personal accounts are on topic.
Nothing is more annoying to me for example than going to a recipe blog to learn how to make something and having to sift through stories of the bloggers little cherub kids and their pet dog charlie. Unless those kids and charlie are directly involved in the making of the cupcakes, I don't give a hoot. What is useful though is a blogger who takes time to explain her experience and things she's tried that worked or didn't while making that recipe.
In my instructional hubs on soap making - I include the directions in detail, but I also interject here and there with personal experiences or things I encountered in the process, when possible I include pictures. This blend of both professionalism and a bit of conversational personal touch drives sales and shares. I refrain from talking about my pet cats or my beautiful children, because as much as I love them, no one who wants to know how to make soap cares about my personal life beyond my soap making experience.
If I didn't use any personal stories though and just listed the steps to making soap, many would question if I had actual experience with what I was talking about. My personal experience gives credibility and it is also a better way to drive sales. People who can see I know what I'm doing are more inclined to purchase things I recommend.
I've written for both print publications and different online venues - and it's vastly different than the traditional "rules of writing" we learned in college. Online, we are here to make money and get readers - you do that by giving the people what they want. What they want is for you to answer a question, solve a problem, teach them something or entertain them. If you can do all of these things in one piece - congratulations, you are a master of the craft.
Great reply, Christene. Your hints and tips are good giving a clear understanding of the issue. I agree with all that you said here and hope to gain from this great advice.
by Becki Rizzuti 10 years ago
For the past year or so, I've been paying very close attention to this subject. Squidoo pushed its lensmasters for a long time into providing personal content full of first-person perspective and personal pronouns. This has been a problem for me, personally, because I prefer to write in the second...
by Sanjay Sharma 10 years ago
I feel that first person hubs are considered as egotistic or egocentric. But they develop a personal rapport too.On the other hand, the articles in Wikimedia etc., are not written in first person. Maximum number of articles on first page of Google are also not in first person. Is it a coincidence ?...
by MSGolden51 11 years ago
How do you put the widget on another blog or website?The widget for your hubpage the HTML how do I perform the process.
by naturesencore 14 years ago
Why are subjective accounts (first-person) frowned upon in the writing world? How does one articulate a personal event in the (preferable) third-person context, without losing its intrinsic qualities?
by Fiction Teller 9 years ago
Hi all,I'm having some trouble communicating with the HubPages team. Can we include URLs for self-promotion in our bios on our profile? Has anyone heard that it's okay from HubPages?Not talking about the About the Author bios. Talking about our regular profiles. I'm not talking about the...
by God shet 9 years ago
We all know Facebook is for people to stay connected with their friends and family. Wikipedia is for acquiring instant 'knowledge'. Flickr is for sharing photographs, etc. But what is the ultimate objective of HubPages?I used to be sure that I knew the answer: HubPages is for making informative...
Copyright © 2025 The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers on this website. HubPages® is a registered trademark of The Arena Platform, Inc. Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective owners. The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers to this website may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website.
Copyright © 2025 Maven Media Brands, LLC and respective owners.
As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.
For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy
Show DetailsNecessary | |
---|---|
HubPages Device ID | This is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons. |
Login | This is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service. |
Google Recaptcha | This is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy) |
Akismet | This is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Google Analytics | This is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Traffic Pixel | This is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized. |
Amazon Web Services | This is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy) |
Cloudflare | This is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Hosted Libraries | Javascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy) |
Features | |
---|---|
Google Custom Search | This is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Maps | Some articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Charts | This is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy) |
Google AdSense Host API | This service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Google YouTube | Some articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Vimeo | Some articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Paypal | This is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Login | You can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Maven | This supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy) |
Marketing | |
---|---|
Google AdSense | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Google DoubleClick | Google provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Index Exchange | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Sovrn | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Ads | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Unified Ad Marketplace | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
AppNexus | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Openx | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Rubicon Project | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
TripleLift | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Say Media | We partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy) |
Remarketing Pixels | We may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites. |
Conversion Tracking Pixels | We may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service. |
Statistics | |
---|---|
Author Google Analytics | This is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy) |
Comscore | ComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Tracking Pixel | Some articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy) |
Clicksco | This is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy) |