Looking for some Advice on a Topic

1. 87

   PageBeardposted 11 months ago

   I am attempting to get back into writing.  I'm hoping to realistically make about 200 dollars a month.  I have played video games for 30 years and was considering writing reviews.  When I first started here I was picking too many topics and I feel I could be more successful focusing on one topic.  Does anyone have advice on this?  Is it better to write about various topics or focus on one thing?  Thanks for any replies.

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2. 93

   sarahspradlinposted 11 months ago

   On hubpages it does not matter if you write on one or multiple topics because all your hubs will be broken into category. I think game reviews and game tips would be great. Make sure you add good pictures and break up the article into easier more appealing ways to read.

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      PageBeardposted 11 months agoin reply to this

      Thanks for the advice Sarah!

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3. 89

   paradigmsearchposted 11 months ago

   I do believe Sarah is right. I keep hearing success stories over and over again concerning game review articles. For that matter, everything else she said is deadbang right as well.
   
   I'll add that medical articles should be avoided or only written as a last resort when absolutely no other topic comes to mind. This has to do with Google's apparent, adamantine hatred of any medical article that is not on a .gov or other well-known, exclusively medical site. Seriously,  most any other topic will give you a better return for your time and labor. Sorry, I checked your profile and thought you would want to know. By all means, do keep the one you have already written; it won't cause any harm.

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   1. 87

      PageBeardposted 11 months agoin reply to this

      Oddly my medical article hit very well haha.  Apparently its the only article on the internet comparing altitude with arthritis.  Was just a personal experience and that hub ended up being featured even though I have almost no interest in the topic.

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         Marisa Wrightposted 11 months agoin reply to this

         "Featured" on HubPages just means normal.  It's not an accolade.
         
         When the process was first introduced, they called Unfeatured Hubs "Idle".   Hubbers got all upset about their Hubs being called "Idle", so they changed it to "Unfeatured" - but it doesn't change what it is.
         
         If your Hub is "unfeatured", it is invisible.  Search engines ignore it, and people can see it only if you send them a link.  There are two reasons why Hubs are Unfeatured - either it's not good enough, or it was getting so little Google traffic, HubPages decided it wasn't worth keeping.  If you have Unfeatured Hubs, chances are they are earning nothing.
         
         You can revive them - you need to edit them and improve them.  I have a Hub on How to Optimize Your Hubs which will help.  It would also be worth reviewing my Hub on the Basic Rules, as one or two may have changed since you were here last.

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            PageBeardposted 11 months agoin reply to this

            Thank you for that info...that is deeply helpful.  I deleted my low traffic hubs, I may change me up a bit and put them back out.

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4. 95

   Marisa Wrightposted 11 months ago

   I agree, the whole point of being on HubPages is to be able to write on a variety of subjects.   If you're an authority on one subject, then you can start your own blog and ultimately, you're likely to do better (though it is a lot of work!).
   
   There are two facts to be aware of when writing here.
   
   Firstly, although you have a profile page, over 90% of your readers will never visit it.  In fact, they probably won't even notice your byline on your Hubs.  That's because over 90% of HubPages' readers arrive on HubPages from the search engines, looking for the answer to a question or a solution to a problem.  It's very unlikely they will be impressed by your writing and want to read more of it -  they just want the answer to their question.  Because we can see all our work gathered on our profile, it's tempting to think we have our own discrete identity here, but actually we're more like staff writers on a newspaper.
   
   Also,  writing online is a long-term project. Don't count  your success or failure based on the readership you get in the first few weeks after publication - that's quite likely to be other members of HubPages, and we're all writers, not readers.  A professional blogger once said to me, "What you write today will make money next year", and I think there's some truth in that.  Pick evergreen subjects, write Hubs that are good enough to be accepted for the niche sites, and be content to let them mature.

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