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Niche site numbers

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TIMETRAVELER2posted 11 months ago
Just curious: How many hubs do you you currently have online right now and how many of them have already been moved to the niche sites?
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  Solarasposted 11 months ago in reply to this
  I have 43 published hubs and 30 have moved to niche sites.
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  NateB11posted 11 months ago in reply to this
  104 published Hubs, 9 on niche sites. I used to have more Hubs, moved a lot of them.
  
  Good exercise in seeing where I'm at with niche sites.
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Jodahposted 11 months ago
Hi TIMETRAVELLER2, I have currently 269 hubs all featured. Of those, nine have been moved to niche sites. 5 X Letterpile, 1 X KindredBond, PetHelpful, FeltMagnet, DenGarden. Admittedly three of my last five hubs published have been moved.
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DrMark1961posted 11 months ago
I look at it this way:
I still have 143 hubs that have not been moved to a niche site. Even though HP is doing a great job moving them over, it is still going to be about a year before they are finished. I am trying to edit my HP hubs according to what they want (full width photos, fewer Amazon ads, links that are very specific to the subject matter) so that the editors can spend less time on my hubs and move as many as possible.
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  sallybeaposted 11 months ago in reply to this
  23 Hubs of mine been moved to the niche sites. I also have 60 remaining which are all currently featured.
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Paul Edmondsonposted 11 months ago
@DrMark1961 That's about as good of a plan to get your articles moved quickly. The less editing work they need, when they're reviewed, they're much more likely to get moved immediately.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 11 months ago in reply to this
  I totally agree. As soon as the team announced the niche sites, I began upgrading, and it has paid off. Of my 102 Timetraveler hubs, 64 have been moved to the niche sites. Several of my Dreamworker hubs have also been moved as well. It is very clear to me that the sooner you begin your edits, the faster your work will be moved and the more page views and income you will receive. I have had the best year ever and know it is because of my upgrades as well as the niche sites. It's a lot of work, but can pay off big time if you keep at it.
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  makingamarkposted 11 months ago in reply to this
  However that really depends on whether the focus of the niche site that matches your hubs best is one which you think is suitable.
  
  For example, some people with art related hubs might be happy for have them moved to a very craft dominated niche site - and others (like me) are not (i.e. art is not craft - they're different!) and think there might be other options which are more suitable.
  
  If you've got a good fit then by all means upgrade and go for it - if you've got no other plans for developing your writing in other directions.
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Chriswillman90posted 11 months ago
Everything has gone up since the introduction of the niche sites, nearly every month since April has set me a new earnings or viewership record and October is crushing previous stats. I hope things continue to go well because I don't want to get off this train.
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Marisa Wrightposted 11 months ago
I have 100 Hubs, of which 21 have moved to the niche sites. Well done to Solaras and TT2 for having such a large number moved over! I do think it helped, when they were doing the initial setup, if you had a lot of Hubs on a specialist subject - once they'd identified you as a resource for that subject, they would choose a bunch of Hubs and move the lot.

I've seen a modest uptick, nothing spectacular. The problem for me is that my dance Hubs are on a niche site that's about games, not about performing arts. So although they're out from under the shadow of the main site, Google is never going to recognise the new niche site as an authority.
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  agilitymachposted 11 months ago in reply to this
  Are they in How They Play? That is too bad. I've had some of my dog agility articles go into How They Play rather than PetHelpful where they would get more views. I'm OK with that though as agility is a sport as well as a thing to do with your dog. But dance. That's sport in a small sense, but it's ore art.
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  Marisa Wrightposted 11 months ago in reply to this
  I will fight to the death anyone who dares suggest that dance is sport, even in a small way!
  
  Dance should be 100% about art, it just so happens my instrument is my body. Saying dance should therefore be a sport, is like saying that playing the violin should be classified as woodwork. In my lifetime I've seen dance debased by the rise of competitions, which place emphasis on technique at the expense of artistry, which is a shame.
  
  Rant over!
  
  TT2, I don't hold any great hopes that HubPages will see the light and create a separate niche site for the Performing and Visual Arts, because it's such a low-earning subject area. They probably feel it's not worth the investment. So I'm resigned to the status quo.
  
  I moved most of my dance articles to my websites ages ago, anyway. I did move a heap of flamenco articles here when I closed down my flamenco site but I would've thrown them away otherwise, so it's not a big deal.
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  lobobrandonposted 11 months ago in reply to this
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 11 months ago in reply to this
  Marisa: I hate that your dance hubs have been hidden in the wrong categories. Hopefully the team will be able to correct that after things have settled down. I agree that having already set up a niche with a lot of hubs in it helped. I changed my entire site to make that happen awhile back, am now happy that I did!
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agilitymachposted 11 months ago
I have 49 featured hubs. Of those, 39 are on niche sites. Of the remaining 10, only five are possibly fit for a niche site. The rest are creative writing, blog op-ed about my sport, and a few book reviews I should delete. I keep some of my creative writing columns here, but I keep them unfeatured. It's just a good place to "store" them. That should be about 80 percent on niche sites including PetHelpful, How They Play, Delishable and HealDove.

Is there a creative writing niche site? I thought there was talk about it once. It would be a fun site to sit and browse when looking for something quick to read at a doctor's office, at the airport, in a waiting room, etc.
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  Jodahposted 11 months ago in reply to this
  Yes, although some creative writing gets put in LetterPile, there is a creative writing niche site outside of HubPages called "The Creative Exiles."
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  agilitymachposted 11 months ago in reply to this
  Thank you, Jodah. I will have to look into that.
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erorantesposted 11 months ago
Hello mister traveler2. I was reading your hubs. Your RVS selection is excellent. The experience traveling around can be beautiful and exciting. I will say many. I do some in my own in different sites to get readers into hub pages site. You can make a lot of money with your hubs if you find someone who owns an RVS company. They can come with an agreement with hub pages to sale the entire RVS book for travelers. You did excellent with your hub. Congratulations to you mister traveler 2.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 11 months ago in reply to this
  Thanks...but I'm a "she', not a "he".
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  Will Apseposted 11 months ago in reply to this
  I always had you down as a time travelling sky, lol. And lobobrandon as some kind of mutant melon.
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  lobobrandonposted 11 months ago in reply to this
  Hey I just changed my avatar recently. I wasn't always a mutant melon. So check your older records, I was once 100% human.
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  Will Apseposted 11 months ago in reply to this
  I will always think of you as melon-headed savant. I think it's a soul thing. I am more of a tasteful but rather flat cider. In the hierarchy of the astral plain, I'm not sure either is really Brahman level. But we should aspire, lol.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 11 months ago in reply to this
  Will Apse: The pen name came from the fact that I have been travelling in RVs for a very long time...more than 50 years...and I'm now old lol!
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  Jean Bakulaposted 11 months ago in reply to this
  I have 159 hubs and 65 have been moved to niches. All of them are featured.
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  Jodahposted 11 months ago in reply to this
  Wow! Well done Jean. That's the advantage of having a niche yourself.
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  Jean Bakulaposted 11 months ago in reply to this
  Thanks Jodah,
  It was a saturated niche when I began, but I studied for years and it has served me well! Now I have a small blog that is really just a landing site for clients who want readings. But as the niches began making more money for me, I began fixing up some of my hubs. It can't be my first priority anymore though.
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janderson99posted 11 months ago
I have 1147 hubs with only one in a niche site. I have moved many pages to my own sites.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 11 months ago in reply to this
  janderson99: That's unbelievable!! Out of that many hubs only one has moved to the niches? Someone needs to be fired!
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earnerposted 11 months ago
I have 265 hubs. I mostly stopped at that point as there were so many changes going on at Hubpages that it was taking me a solid month to go through each and make any necessary changes as the rules changed .... so I stopped writing much more as I realised I CBA and it was a HUGE undertaking for future changes

I have a total of 6 hubs across four niche sites.

In the main I've not written much "niche-worthy" stuff as I live in the UK and Hubpages has a US-bias in terms of language/spelling and being affiliated with Amazon.com not Amazon.co.uk - making it "awkward" to write a lot of things very well, or targetting specific items.

e.g. if I'd wanted to write about Bum Bags - they're called Fanny Packs I think in the US. Amazon.com might sell Fanny Packs, Amazon.co.uk would sell Bum Bags.... so I'd end up with something that'd never do very well and wouldn't get picked for a niche site as it's not going to ever rate/rank highly due to a lack of solid US traffic.
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  Marisa Wrightposted 11 months ago in reply to this
  Earner, I'm a British-born Australian and I have NEVER altered my style to suit US language or spelling - so that has nothing to do with your Hubs not being chosen! Also I don't see why using Amazon.com is a barrier - you can search Amazon.com for products just as easily as you can search Amazon.co.uk.
  
  I suppose the British bias in topics might be holding you back - maybe, for instance, Americans don't have a problem with Japanese Knotweed and don't need to hold insurance to make crafts.
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  earnerposted 11 months ago in reply to this
  I didn't mean that - not sure I can communicate what I mean correctly ... so I'll not even try as I'll just confuse matters more
  
  Re .com/.co.uk - I'd often find that products I was searching for simply don't exist on Amazon.com. UK specific books, say. Most often the books that are relevant simply don't exist.
  
  I think the short of it is: If I write British subjects, there is less traffic; with less traffic they are less likely to get picked for a niche site.
  
  There's more, but I struggle to explain/communicate in most 'discussions', so I'll leave it at that. I find the less I say, the less tied up in semantic knots I get
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  Marisa Wrightposted 11 months ago in reply to this
  You specifically mentioned US language/spelling, so I was just reassuring you that you can stop worrying about that - it's been no barrier to me. My websites get a lot of US traffic, too.
  
  I do agree that if you choose very British-focussed subjects then the US-based editors may not understand the relevance or importance, so that is probably a barrier to getting moved to the niche sites.
  
  As for Amazon - for me, and for a lot of people, the HP Earnings Program is a much bigger earner than Amazon capsules. They are so strict on what they allow these days, it can be hard to get Amazon capsules into a Hub anyway!
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  sallybeaposted 11 months ago in reply to this
  I live in the UK and have found that it makes no difference to me at all. My traffic comes from all over the world.
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  Jean Bakulaposted 11 months ago in reply to this
  It looks to me like they are only allowing one Amazon capsule, and you have to write about how helpful the item was to you and how it will help the reader. And even some of those get taken off. I don't think it's worth it to even use Amazon capsules anymore, that's seems to be the way the wind is blowing.
  
  I did write 7 hubs about a rare tarot deck and because people were interested and it got a lot of views, they let me keep the deck on an Amazon capsule. But I believe that's the only one. And before anyone starts about public domain, many tarot decks in the US are part of the public domain, even those that are not in the UK, or are under dispute in the UK. I don't want to argue this again.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 11 months ago in reply to this
  This isn't exactly how it works. I have several hubs on the niche sites that have more than one Amazon capsule or link and have had no problems. The trick is to have them clearly relate to your topic and then be able to explain why those products are better than similar ones, citing your own experiences as examples.
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  Jean Bakulaposted 11 months ago in reply to this
  Hi TIMETRAVELER2,
  I'm happy to hear the Amazon capsules you have on your moved hubs have stayed and are working for you. I was just citing my own experiences. I have written about Buddhism and had some of the most respected books on it in Amazon capsules that were taken off. I suppose the topics you write about and what products you need to help with that make a big difference. I wish you continued good luck.
  
  I never went RV ing, it sounds like fun!
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 11 months ago in reply to this
  Those probably were removed because they were considered "overkill". Linking to just one book and saying why it is the best one to read would work better. Don't forget that the capsule is a portal into Amazon. Once there, people often search before buying. They may buy the book you mention or another one. You can still mention the others...just don't link to them. One is sufficient.
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  DrMark1961posted 11 months ago in reply to this
  I have quite a few that have been moved to niche sites too, and HP has left them untouched. I think that is why more of us need to participate in these Forum discussions: as Jean points out, this was her experience. Some people have read that and generalized that "all the Amazon capsules are being removed". That is not true.
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  Jean Bakulaposted 11 months ago in reply to this
  Exactly Dr.Mark1961,
  I was never heavy on using Amazon capsules anyway, and wasn't expecting a two part lecture. I've been here 6 years and know the rules. Many of the hubs of mine moved to niches were stripped of even one capsule, and I am intelligent enough to decide what is relevant to the topic I've been certified in for 41+ years.
  
  It's still good we learn from each other.
  
  Best Regards,
  Jean
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  Will Apseposted 11 months ago in reply to this
  Not sure a tarot background gives anyone an insight into affiliate marketing.
  
  Ever considered the possibility that there is still stuff to learn in life?
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  Jean Bakulaposted 11 months ago in reply to this
  It's an Astrology background, a pause from my days as accountant, banker and real estate agent.. And yes, I'm qualified to decide what books are the best to learn from, as I took many study groups and workshops over the years.
  
  Why is everyone so crabby on these forums lately? Every time I come on here I get insulting remarks. I have a great deal of life experience, Will, which has little to do with Astrology. It would behoove Hubpages to make a new list of rules so people would know what is correct and what isn't. I never made much money on Amazon because only books were relevant to my topics, and they don't pay anything anyway.
  
  The first person who jumped on me was over a fake example of two Buddhism books on a Beginner's Buddhism hub I wrote about on this thread. I never put two capsules on it, but posted it that way as a warning to those who still have hubs littered with capsules. Out of 65 hubs moved to niches, only one or two of my capsules were left. The one selling the rare Motherpeace Tarot deck, and I believe one other, can't recall.. So from where I sit, it's not worth it to use Amazon capsules. Just my opinion, but I was trying to help, not knock people down, a favorite sport here. So many of the "help" comments I see are so nasty or mean spirited, they seem more suited to making the person feel superior or just acting like a know it all. That doesn't help anyone. Tact does.
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  Marisa Wrightposted 11 months ago in reply to this
  The rules really are pretty clear, Jean, I think you managed to confuse yourself over the HubPro editing process. As I said at the time, if you were stripping out Amazon capsules during that process, you were doing it for no reason - the editors themselves snipped everything they didn't want.
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  Jean Bakulaposted 11 months ago in reply to this
  Deleted
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  Marisa Wrightposted 11 months ago in reply to this
  But you keep saying that they'll only allow one Amazon capsule. I understood you were basing that on your experience with the first Hubs moved over to the niche sites.
  
  If, at that time, the editors snipped all your Amazon capsules then I can understand you got that impression. What confused me was some comments you made about you having to edit your Hubs to take out more and more Amazon capsules and links to get your Hubs transferred, which didn't make sense as that wasn't part of the process. So I keep wondering if you had a fundamental misunderstanding somewhere which has led to your conclusion about Amazon capsules.
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  Jean Bakulaposted 11 months ago in reply to this
  NO I wasn't Marisa. I never stripped out Amazon capsules until I decided myself they weren't worth the trouble for me. And I don't know why you thought I made changes on hubs that required no changes, most of mine required no changes except for a picture or two. I did have links to my own work when we were allowed to, but took them down when they were frowned upon.
  
  Most of my hubs that were moved were moved before I even noticed, I wasn't on here for a few months due to personal problems, and was surprised (pleasantly) to see how many hubs had been moved without my knowing. I never touched them.
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  Marisa Wrightposted 11 months ago in reply to this
  In that case, I can't understand why you kept posting about how stressful and difficult it was! Obviously I misunderstood.
  
  Anyway, the rules for Amazon capsule are largely clear. The product or book must be directly relevant to the main topic of the Hub. You must also include a sentence or two to explain why you personally recommend that particular book or product. Both those rules have been stated by staff in the forums several times now.
  
  The limit on the number of capsules is, admittedly, less clear. Officially there is no limit if the above rules are adhered to - however I'm finding that I can't get more than three approved, regardless of the length of the Hub. I would be interested to hear other people's experiences.
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  Jean Bakulaposted 11 months ago in reply to this
  I posted that splitting up two part hubs and then having them put on different niches was annoying, though it won't matter anyway, as people come to them from Google.
  
  Someone else asked about Amazon capsules, and I related my own experience. But I never used so many anyway. I think we have two threads mixed up.
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  Sherry Hewinsposted 11 months ago in reply to this
  I recently submitted a hub to be moved for a network site. They accepted it, but snipped one of the two Amazon capsules. It was a how-to hub, and both of the items were used in the project and directly mentioned in the article. It has 1133 words.
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jansharesposted 11 months ago
I have 83 hubs (all featured); 9 hubs are spread across 7 niche sites.
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cam8510posted 11 months ago
208 total hubs. 35 to niche sites. About 10 non fiction and 25 fiction. Great results in page views on most. Top 4 quadrupled. Overall tripled. Income doubled.
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Solarasposted 11 months ago
In my experience, they leave Amazon capsules that generate sales and remove those that have not generated sales.
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  Sherry Hewinsposted 11 months ago in reply to this
  That is not what has happened to me. In two cases, I had capsules that had sales deleted in favor of ones that didn't. When I emailed, they said I could trade them out if I wanted to.
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  Jean Bakulaposted 11 months ago in reply to this
  Sherry,
  Thanks for sharing. The administration is usually helpful when you ask them about something, they are just really busy now.
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  Solarasposted 11 months ago in reply to this
  My experience was in Hub Pro, where you knew who was editing your hub, and you got their reasoning behind the changes they were instituting. Now they anonymous.
  
  It is the difference between wanting to do a good job and researching the sales, and not giving a sh!t, and just randomly reducing capsules, because they were told a certain number is good, beyond that is bad. Perhaps HP HQ should keep a better eye on the results each editor is producing.
  
  Removing selling capsules in favor of non-producing capsules will put HP out of business. Lots of people wrote here once upon a time, and just see their income hit the bank once a month. They won't be investigating which capsules were removed.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 11 months ago in reply to this
  ...which makes lot of sense and seems to be working for those who now have articles on the niches.
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Will Apseposted 11 months ago
The issue, to some extent, at least, is how far people who make good money should go in offering money-making avenues. I try my best, without unleashing a tsunami of spam.

Actually, (lol, UK culture, 25 years ago) I am sort of coming round to trusting the eds.

But I will certainly pull back if I think the site might suffer.
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  Solarasposted 11 months ago in reply to this
  For the most part, I do trust the editors. However, there may be one or two that don't "get it." They follow the rules, but don't understand what they are trying to accomplish or at least how to implement the rules sensibly.
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