Needed--- Advice from the Experts

1. 67

   Heather Trippposted 8 years ago

   Hey guys,
   
     I am just coming back to HP after not writing for about..... 4 years or so. LOL.. I was surprised to find my account was even still active. I see a lot of changes have occured here on HP. No more Ebay it looks like, niche sites, etc.
   
     I am going to spend my first little bit working on sprucing up my existing articles. And I love your input on how best to do that. I believe they are all still here on the main site, and haven't been moved anywhere, as the traffic to them is to low. If you guys can give me some pointers, that would be fantastic.
   
     Also, I keep seeing this writing assessment thing now, and something about submitting to a niche site? So..... Any explanations of that would be super helpful!
   
   Thanks in Advance!!
   Heather

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   1. 45

      Ashish Dadgaaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Hello Heather,
      
      Welcome back to HubPages.
      
      Yeah, that is a great idea to update your hubs so they would have a good opportunity to upgrade to vertical sites.
      
      Which Hub are you updating first?
      
      Happy Hubbing
      Ashish

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      1. 67

         Heather Trippposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Honestly, I am not sure... LOL.. I figured I'd start at the top of the list, and work my way down.
         
         BTW... how do you tell where a Hub is published?
         
         Thanks!

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         1. 70

            SmartAndFunposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            When you are on your account page, toward the top, under the "filter" heading, there is a box labeled "select a site." Click on that, and the dropdown menu will show the different sites on which your articles are published. Click on each site name individually to see the which of your articles are on each site.

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         2. 45

            Ashish Dadgaaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            @Heather ,
            
            Haha...That would be the best way to kick off, otherwise, you will keep on thinking where to start.
            
            And about Hub Published this please follow what others hubbers has said. It's simple and easy.
            
            You are welcome

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   2. 75

      TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Heather:
      
      I agree with Wilderness.  So much has changed that if you start updating hubs without first reading the rules, you most likely will have problems
      
      All hubs first go to the man HP site.  From there, if they get featured and are accepted, they are automatically moved to a niche site, of which there are 25.  You can also request to have one hub moved every 60 days.
      
      To be accepted, a hub must be stellar, which means it must meet all of the Quality Assessment Program requirements. 
      
      Good spelling and grammar,
      properly used capsules,
      properly used and placed Amazon ads,
      limited links to outside credible sources,
      excellent properly accredited images,
      all work original to you,
      no duplicates,
      etc.
      
      It's a big nut to crack, and it will take time to do the upgrades.  You might want to link to one of your hubs and ask for help so that writers here can guide you at first.  You might also want to take a look at some of the hubs already on the niche sites to see how people are formatting them.  They need to be formatted for mobile now, so make sure you learn how to do that, too.
      Good luck.  If you need help, we're here for you.

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   3. 88

      Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I can offer you a shortcut.  I've written a Hub which summarises all the rules in one place, something which the Learning Center doesn't really do. 
      
      You'll find it on the slider in my profile.
      
      I also have a Hub explaining the whole Featuring/unFeaturing thing which has happened while you were away.

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      1. 75

         TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

         That's great, Marisa.  Perhaps you should call the team's attention to those hubs so that they can include them in the Learning Center.

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2. 77

   wildernessposted 8 years ago

   Probably the wisest thing you could do as a "first thing" is spend a couple of days giving the learning center a thorough read over.  Make sure you understand the changes, what is expected or desired, etc.  Only then should you begin work on your hubs.

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3. 70

   clivewilliamsposted 8 years ago

   Get ready to cry weep and moan....google slapped us

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   1. 67

      Heather Trippposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Are earnings here that bad now?

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      1. 99

         DrMark1961posted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Not at all. A lot of people have been posting on the forums that this is their best year ever. If you do not get your hubs moved to niche sites, however, you should not count on making much. (As far as I know none of the niche sites have been hit by a Google slap.)
         
         You have several good suggestions here about reading the learning center for help. If you still need more, read some of the more recent forum posts from people struggling to make a few changes to their hubs so that they will be moved to niche sites. Those posts should be a lot of help.
         
         And, if you get one of those form letters from HP and still need help, ask for it through the forum.
         (Did you delete some of your hubs? I remember you from way back, but thought you had writtten more.)

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         1. 68

            Chriswillman90posted 8 years agoin reply to this

            I can attest that earnings have been amazing since the niche sites were launched. I don't know how long it'll last but will enjoy the ride.

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         2. 88

            Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            I agree DrMark.   I was just thinking, Heather has come back at a great time - before the niche sites were introduced, I was pretty pessimistic about HubPages' future, but those sites have really rejuvenated the place.   As you say, the niche sites are the future of HubPages, so getting your Hubs moved to the new sites should be everyone's goal.
            
            On that score, I tried the experiment of unpublishing old Hubs, leaving them unpublished for a while, then republishing.  It doesn't work, at least it hasn't for me!   Did you try it?

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            1. 99

               DrMark1961posted 8 years agoin reply to this

               I just unpublished three and made some changes. Unfortunately, it has not worked for me. I still have about 100 hubs but they are the ones with very low traffic, and I guess that HP has decided that most of them are not worth moving to Pethelpful. A few of them get a little Google traffic from all over the world, as they are very unusual, so I guess I will try to submit one of them every 60 days. The majority of them Google does not like, so I guess HP thinks the same.

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            2. 75

               TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

               One thing that has worked for me is to look for hubs that are similar, unite them into one hub, delete the one that has the fewest views and add the info from the other to the hub that remains.  I then adjust titles, images, etc. The result is a better, more informative hub that starts getting traffic and often gets moved to a niche site.  Not always, but it does work some of the time.

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               1. 88

                  Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  I don't really have any Hubs which would combine sensibly.   
                  
                  What did work for me was checking the categories and making sure each Hub was in the right category - I found I'd made some stupid mistakes there.  A couple of my Hubs got picked up very quickly after fixing the category, so that's definitely worth a shot.
                  
                  I had already done some work to improve and expand my Hubs before trying the unpublish/publish idea.  It was an idea that came up on another forum thread so I thought it was worth a try.  It didn't work though!

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4. 36

   Janellegemsposted 8 years ago

   Welcome back, Heather.   Along with reading the Learning Center, you might also want to read Hubpages FAQ from the Help section.   It is very thorough and should answer most of your questions.  Writing has tighten up a lot, from when I started to write four years ago for Hubpages.

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5. 0

   calculus-geometryposted 8 years ago

   I recommend reading the HP blog posts and staff's official announcements in the forums in chronological order because that's where the important policy changes are. Best of luck

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