How writing about what you know, in a niche, can help your traffic

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   DrMark1961posted 8 years ago

   A few days ago I reposted a comment that another hubber had taken from Google. The comment stated that if you wrote about what you know, your reputation would improve. In fact, if you were writing about issue relating to money or health, unless you had some authority your articles would be graded down. Several people read this and stated that they did not understand how this was related to writing in a niche market.
   Here is an example:
   Hubber A writes one hub about the stock market, one about acne, one about used cars, one about cancer, etc.
   Hubber B writes all her hubs about basic health care, hospital admission, what goes on during surgery, anesthesiology, etc. Her niche is medicine.
   Which hubber does better? Almost always the second one. Google may recognize that authority, despite the fact that I was told that Google was not able to recongize the difference between Hubber A and Hubber B. Do you really think Google is that stupid?
   If you have an area in which you are knowledgeable, write in that area. Write plenty of articles in that area. Your traffic will improve.

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      ARaineyposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Sounds like I good hub for you to write Mark.  I just wrote about this in an article earlier today.  Thanks for backing this up.

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         DrMark1961posted 8 years agoin reply to this

         I do not feel like I have enough knowledge in this area to write a hub, but thanks.
         There is another writer here who has published a hub on SEO that might be helpful to you. His name is WriterFox. I just read http://hubpages.com/literature/How-to-f … amid-schem
         There is some interesting info there, but I would like to add some criticism, apropos of nothing. The title is too long, so it is not as likely to come out on a search. (Marisa Wright has made some great comments about this. WryLilt also has some info-and I think a hub-about finding your info by typing into Google Search. You might try it and see how your article ranks when it is added to Google.)

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            ARaineyposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks Mark!  Excellent resources to search out once again.  Thanks!

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I agree with you.  It also helps if you post your articles on FB or Pinterest because you then become known as a person who knows things about a specific subject.
      
      Furthermore, it is easier to link your articles together so that people can find others in the same grouping.

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      Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I think you misunderstood what we were saying, DrMark.
      
      There are two different issues here:
      
      (a)  You will generally do better writing about what you know, because the quality and depth of your articles will be better, and you'll be better able to offer unique information.   No argument there.
      
      (b) On a blog, it's essential that all articles on the site are in the same broad subject area - otherwise Google will not send traffic.  Over time, the reputation of the blog's author as an expert will grow, enhancing traffic further.
      
      Put the two together and you have a great recipe for success.
      
      But what we were discussing was whether a niche was important on HubPages.   In that context, item (a) can still apply.  Item (b) may have applied in the past, but with the removal of sub-domains, it will not. 
      
      Let's take yourself as an example.  While you had a sub-domain, Google could see that you were specialising in dogs.   Now you don't have a sub-domain and Google doesn't see all your articles in one place any more - what it sees is the sub-category "dogs", with articles by lots of different writers, including you.  Do you really think the algorithm goes off and checks the reputations of every individual author in that sub-category before ranking them?   Google itself has stated clearly that it does not use authorship information to determine ranking, so no it doesn't.
      
      Like Will, I think it would be a shame to frighten Hubbers into thinking they have to pick one topic and delete all their other Hubs.   There are very few places where you can write about a variety of topics and still get readers and earn income - and HubPages is the best of them.  There is definitely a place for generalists like me on HP!
      
      And by the way, most of my Hubs are about dance, but my best performing Hubs have always been one-off, unrelated Hubs about some other subject altogether - even when we had sub-domains.

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         TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Marisa:
         
         I agree with everything you just said except for one thing:  I don't think Dr. Mark is trying to "scare" anybody into thinking they have to write in a niche.
         
         He is simply stating his views, which you and others may not agree with, but should understand that he completely understands the situation and simply prefers to keep his niche.
         
         I, too, understand the situation, but I happen to prefer niche writing because it keeps me focused and organized.  So far, it's been working out OK, as well.

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         DrMark1961posted 8 years agoin reply to this

         I think it is a shame to mislead hubbers into thinking that they can keep everything on their hub page, including poorly performing hubs that do not get traffic and will never make them any income.
         
         Your last paragraph indicates that you are basing these recommendations on your personal experience, not on some web page you trust to tell us exactly what Google is thinking.
         
         You can disagree with me--that is what these forums are for. Then again, I can disagree with you. None of us have any idea exactly how the search engines determine ranking, despite any number of blogs that might state otherwise.

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            Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Perhaps, as TT2 says, we are misunderstanding each other.  I'm struggling to understand why this seems to be upsetting you so much.
            
            I have never said people shouldn't write in a niche, if that's what they want to do.  All I have said is, it's not necessary if you don't want to - and based on my 7 years' study and experience of writing online, it's not likely to help much in the new setup (though only time will tell for sure).
            
            I have also never said, keep poorly performing Hubs.  What I say is, since there's no concrete evidence that a niche helps, you'd be mad to delete GOOD Hubs.
            
            And no, I am not basing that advice solely on my experience with my own HubPages account - I cited my own experience as an example contradicting your theory.  I've been very lucky to be mentored by some top Hubbers and webmasters over the years and while a lot of dealing with Google involves a degree of guesswork, they are educated guesses and I've always found they do a pretty good job.

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               DrMark1961posted 8 years agoin reply to this

               Why do you think this is upsetting me? If I respond to a statement, does that seem I am upset?

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                  Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  Perhaps I am reading too much into the tone of your posts.

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                     DrMark1961posted 8 years agoin reply to this

                     Sorry if my tone is too gruff. I really am just suggesting something that I think will help most hubbers with their traffic.
                     People complain about this issue a lot.
                     When I first started on here, I decided to just read and listen. Too many new hubbers write "How to get great traffic on Hubpages" and I certainly did not want to be among them. I read recommendations from you, Relache, WryLilt, Writer Fox, and many other successful hubbers.
                     The recommendations have been helpful. Is there still room for improvement?
                     I hope so.

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               tsmogposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               With the wise advise could a strategy be stepped heading toward a blog using HP for a niche as the experimental side? Or, would it be more productive to begin learning the blog site page format while remembering the blog itself has SEO principals.
               
               Frankly, I am happy understanding enough SEO to get started again, even though still mind boggling to me. With a timeline in mind I know my best niche topics with life experience is saturated markets. My next question is it wiser to explore other topics and just not write on those niche's?

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                  Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  If you are not sure what your niche should be, HubPages is a good place to experiment by writing a group of articles on each niche, and watching to see which gets traffic.  You can then move on to create a blog on the niche that gets most traffic.
                  
                  However if you already have a niche that you are passionate about, and have personal experience and/or expertise in, then you would be wiser to start a blog on that subject immediately.  You can then write a few Hubs on the same subject to promote it. 
                  
                  You say your niche topics are in "saturated markets".   I had a look at your account and can't see what they might be.

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                     tsmogposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                     Thank you! The first 2 years here I had a ton of articles. I wrote 50/50 info & creative. The focus was NHRA drag racing, sales, using Excel, mental health, wellness, and leadership. Flooded markets I feel. So, when began again this year I just wrote some experiments then started researching and listening here. I'm going to follow your advice exploring 1-2 dancing with different topics looking for niche. I have plenty of time :-)

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   janderson99posted 8 years ago

   The sinking of the subs means authors can no longer establish authorship, individual niche identity and authority on HP. RIP

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      That does not mean they still cannot write about their niche topics and be successful.  There's a much bigger world out there than just HP you know!

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      DrMark1961posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I doubt that Google no longer knows who writes what, despite some of the gems we read in the forums. If even the NSA comes to Google for information, maybe they know a little more than we think they do.
      (And, as TT2 points out, maybe your niche topics are going to do better off of HP anyway.)

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   Bob Bambergposted 8 years ago

   But what if you know about a subject but are unable to convey your knowledge effectively?  A lot of people who are knowledgeable are lousy teachers.  I would think that there are people who aren't experts but can still write effectively about topics that interest them.

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      The trick is to be both:  someone who knows a lot about a topic and is also able to write about it effectively.

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      DrMark1961posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, maybe they can write about topics that interest them, but are those articles (hubs, in this case) going to get good traffic?
      In my experience, they are not.
      I had several hubs on local religous practices/holidays, and others on Braziian recipes. I went ahead and deleted them since the traffic to them was abysmal.

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   Will Apseposted 8 years ago

   Goof idea to write what you know. But it need not limit you to a particular niche on a site like HP. Authorship is not recognized by Google anymore, that experiment failed.

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      DrMark1961posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Yes Will, and we all know that Google divulges everything they know. If they state that they are no longer rating an article for authorship, that means that they have no idea who writes what, correct?

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         Will Apseposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Google is not magic. It needs signals. It tried to provide some for authors to use but they did not prove useful enough to keep.
         
         Sites can get authority still, of course.
         
         You should not try to scare people into limiting themselves unnecessarily. Writers can try a whole range of subjects and then focus on areas that are successful for them.

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            DrMark1961posted 8 years agoin reply to this

            I am not trying to scare anyone. I see hundreds of people join this site and proudly gain their 10,000 or 100,000 page view award 3 or 4 years down the road.
            If that is what people are happy with, it is okay to write whatever they want.

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               NateB11posted 8 years agoin reply to this

               It does depend on subject matter. Some subjects get very little traffic.

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                  DrMark1961posted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  Yes, but some of them get poor traffic because they are not presented well in the search engines. Writer Fox has some poetry hubs that have very good traffic. Cardisa has a hub on how to get good traffic when writing fiction and poetry.
                  I do think that if you write 50 hubs on cars, and one poem about flowers that you publish as a hub, the search engines are not going to rate the poem about flowers very highly.

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   Stacie Lposted 8 years ago

   I usually write what i know about but its not one niche....

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      Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      The point I'm making is that you may not need to add a sad face to that statement, it may not be a problem at all!
      
      At this point, we don't know if there's any point in having a one-niche account under the new setup.  Based on past experience and research, I believe the answer is "no", because Google has stopped tracking authorship as a ranking signal - so now your sub-domain is gone, the Google "robots" are looking at HubPages by topic, not by author.
      
      DrMark disagrees with me.

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