One Profile or Two

1. 0

   KellyEngaldoposted 14 years ago

   I am new at this and have started with everything except my paid profession - health and fitness.  Should I have a separate profile just for health and fitness?  What are the pros and cons?  I have reviewed some top writers and it seems many do this to segregate major topics.  What is your recommendation?   
   
   The Split would be: 1.) Health and Fitness Articles Only and 2.) Everything else ranging from peace articles, history to internet items to favorite artists - paintings, actors, artists, etc...

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   1. 71

      Hauntyposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I can recall one Pro once said it wasn't a good idea, but she didn't tell me why. And I didn't ask...

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2. 60

   moanalisaposted 14 years ago

   I am by far newer than you! Your question is also one that I've contemplated, however I came to the following conclusion:
   
   People ARE interested in more than just one topic...someone that loves tattoos and is a tattoo artist, for example, may have other interests in cooking, parenting, or who knows what. Getting to know you as a writer of quality hubs is more likely to draw followers of all walks of life than a particular niche market.
   
   Another pro for keeping it to just one is that you have the ability to separate your topics into groups and your fans can select from there what topics they'd prefer to read. Besides, it'd be so much easier to manage in many ways.
   
   There certainly may be other cons or pros I'm not considering, but those are the reasons that for now, I have chosen to keep everything centralized.
   
   I wish you the best of luck!

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3. 67

   relacheposted 14 years ago

   I've never had a problem using one account for everything I write.
   
   The group feature is how I organize the different topics within my overall bunch of Hubs.

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      Marisa Wrightposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Me too.  Relache is a highly successful Hubber so her advice is well worth listening to. 
      
      If you are looking to garner a Hub following, then I can see the point of separate profiles. However if you're here to earn money, that's not where it comes from - most of your income comes from people visiting via search engines.  So long as you have your Hubs grouped by subject and include links to related Hubs where relevant, that will be more than enough for those readers.  They're never likely to be looking at your account as a whole anyway.

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   Crazdwriterposted 14 years ago

   I would say stick to one...just do as relache says and catagorize them in different topics and you'll be good to go.

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   Cagsilposted 14 years ago

   I prefer having one account and combining everything I write into everything else I do. I see no sense in a second account.

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   baconmidgetposted 14 years ago

   yep just one i think it would be to confusing for 2 or 3 or any more than 1. well now that just sounds repetitive

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   Jeffrey Nealposted 14 years ago

   I have multiples.  Just this one is a "public" profile, but the others serve a purpose for certain niches.  It can be difficult to keep all scores over 75 unless you have some good hubs getting consistent traffic, but I imagine two profiles wouldn't be that hard to keep up with.  I'm not even telling how many I have.

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8. 64

   Lisa HWposted 14 years ago

   I can see how you may want to have a separate health/fitness thing because that would lend itself to your doing something like having your own website/blog and tying things together under the health/fitness "umbrella".   One pro I would see is that it would leave open options for doing things you may later think you'd like to do. 
   
   Right now, I've got a "big mess" on my hands with my HubPages and other online writing.  On the one hand, I have writing/work I do "for business" and don't post online because it's not what you do.  On the other hand, my Hubs and other writing were things I started as "hobby writing".  In the beginning I didn't know what I "should be" doing, so I just wrote Hubs in answer to requests, because it was a "little challenge".  So now, I have a big mess of stuff all lumped together, without any particular "identity" and without the polish I'd want on sites tied in with my professional writing samples.  Then, because stuff built up I ended up adding blogs and other online (to organize) writing all under one "identity" - and, as I said, it's a big mess.  It doesn't stop my Hubs that will be found from being found, of course, but at this point I don't want to take some of them down because they're earning; and at this point, whatever has been associated with this name is "all associated" (and taking everything down and starting over, with a better "business plan" wouldn't be the best thing to do).
   
   Just the other day I started a new, separate, account and name. (now that I know better what the plan needs to be, as opposed to starting in new and just kind of having things unfold and build along the way).  I'm going to kind of phase out of this "identity" a little at a time; start new with a more professional, organized, approach (not "half-hobby/sometimes-not approach").
   
   Online writing/writing sites in general has grown in the three years or so since I started.  It continues to evolve.  I would have been better off if I could have seen where things would lead and knew how to set things up as a foundation for future stuff.  As it is, I've got the benefit of hindsight and this mess on my hands (an earning mess, but a mess nonetheless).
   
   There's no reason anyone should feel the need to separate their "categories"/niches; and the more decent Hubs you have under one name, the better (for the most part).  If I were just starting out today, and if I had a particular niche that was related to my  profession, I'd "keep the options open" and have the separate, "cleaner", niche that would allow me to take it in a direction I may want to in the future.

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9. 81

   starme77posted 14 years ago

   playing like your different people may mean you have some sort of disorder or something, really , I mean some on here are like 5 or six different people , they have conversations with each other , thats o.k but, they also answer themselves , so , to me there is a problem there , just stick to one , keep the sanity

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      Lisa HWposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Oh - I agree when it comes to people being on the forums. The thing with people talking to themselves on here is funny but no, shall we say, "professional" (by any means).   
      
      Having a separate account for a business niche doesn't mean someone has to pretend they're someone else.

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      1. 81

         starme77posted 14 years agoin reply to this

         exactly , your right , I guess if you were to do it for only that reason instead of being weird in the forums , then it may be a great tool for narrowing down niches for the search engines to pick up on

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      2. 87

         rebekahELLEposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         I know a few with separate business accounts and they never go into the forums. the ones with their alter egos are so obvious now, they follow each other around. I doubt if the OP falls into that category!!

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   2. 71

      Jeffrey Nealposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Just to be clear, this is not what I am talking about at all.  I would never use any other profile of mine to post on the forum under a topic I have already posted with this profile.  This profile is my public face, so to speak, and was my first created profile.  I know you probably weren't addressing anyone here in particular, but I just want to make sure no one thinks that I am using "sock puppets" on the forums to make points or support arguments or anything like that.

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10. 87

    rebekahELLEposted 14 years ago

    I think it's totally up to you. I like having varied topics in one profile as it shows your interests, profession if you choose, subjects you know well. If others are coming in reading your work, and see that you write well on another topic, they are more likely to refer you to friends, colleagues, etc, or other sites.
    seems it would bring in more traffic with one profile.
    
    but some do it very well with more 'work' related profiles as well.

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11. 0

    PJ_Deneenposted 14 years ago

    I have two IDs, one for many topics and one for niche.  I don't hide who I am on either one as I'm clear about that in both profiles.  It has nothing to do with being sneaky.
    
    I don't think either ID is hard to keep track of if you're organized.  LisaHW mentioned leaving the door open for something you might want to do later on.  I want to have a portfolio of articles on my niche topic all in one place and possibly branch out to print, and there are other possibilities I'm considering.

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    1. 81

       starme77posted 14 years agoin reply to this

       sounds like a neat idea

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          PJ_Deneenposted 14 years agoin reply to this

          Thank you.  One can only dream (and keep writing).

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12. 0

    Janettaposted 14 years ago

    I'm gonna agree with the majority here. I say just put it all on the one account

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13. 0

    shazwellynposted 14 years ago

    one account is better to organise and look after than two.  Listen to Gia Relache... she knows the laws of the land x

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14. 52

    kmackey32posted 14 years ago

    One

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15. 78

    shai77posted 14 years ago

    I'm not sure ,but it might be that the search engine will love
    one topic and not many topics .It might be more convenient to the search engine to decide what your "site" is all about.
    many different topics might get it a bit confused.

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    ddsurfscaposted 14 years ago

    I would agree with the one account, for this reason at least.  It takes quite a bit of time to get enough hubs written to make any money, for one, but it would also seem to me that it would take a lot of work to keep up with two.

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    thisisoliposted 14 years ago

    Personally I would suggest having only one Hub, teh extra effort of another Hub account just doesn't seem worth it!

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    earnestshubposted 14 years ago

    Three including this one, which is my personal profile. The others are more commercial so I keep the separate.

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       Lisa HWposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       It's good to know I'm not the only one who sees the benefit of having a commercial one separate.  I'm not second-guessing others here who see no need for it, but as long as there's the possibility that someone from outside or wherever) may click on the profile, where the big mix of miscellanous stuff is, I feel better to keep the commercial-related one separate.   The collection of stuff I've built up isn't something I want to connect to business-related stuff.
       
       At this point I'm not looking for a Hub following on "business" profile.  I have completely separate aims for it.  As it is, the "all-purpose" one is earning and has some following, so I'm happy with that part of it.  It just doesn't belong with my business-related purposes/plans.

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          earnestshubposted 14 years agoin reply to this

          Yes i think you have thought it through in a similar way. I chose my commercial profile name to match my hubs on one set of commercial hubs, another reason for using a different profile name for these hubs.

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    Miekaposted 14 years ago

    I thought it was not allowed to have more than one account? Thought I read that somewhere. Of course now I can't find where. Maybe it was just my imagination, because on most membership site you are not allowed to have more than 1 account.
    This may be something I will consider, as I have 10 hubs now, but the topics are already all over the place... On the other hand, I'm way too chaotic in character to be able to handle more than 1 account

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20. 61

    darksideposted 14 years ago

    If you're going to have a LOT of hubs about a specific niche, there is a benefit in separating it.
    
    I figure if you'll have at least 30 hubs all on the one topic then go for it.
    
    On the other hand if you lump them all together, that will work too as your username is you, and not fixed to a specific topic in itself.
    
    When I came here I planned on only publishing some old fan Star Wars ezines I had written back in 2000 and that would be it. But I stuck around. This year I've published hundreds of hubs under several aliases. Though you won't find me arguing for or with myself. Or even flirting with myself. The accounts are pseudonyms, not sockpuppets.

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       earnestshubposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       Same thinking Darkside, I have 35 hubs and growing on one subject. I only use other ID's for writing, not to be a sock puppet. I also disclose who owns the other profile.

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