Confused

1. 83

   The Stages Of MEposted 4 years ago

   I have been failing miserably with my hub. Not clear as to why! I have utilized an editing tool to some degree to imporve, and though my articles are rating fairly well on the editing programs online, they bomb on Hub.
   
   I am at a loss as to how to imporve my hubs. I am at an all time low score of 59. Any suggestions on improving the writing and or editing software that I could use. Editing is not my gifted area. I am not a grammar girl! Just ask the editor of my book! My book does well on Barnes and noble and amazon. But Hub seems to be disappointed in my writing. I don't want to get kicked off hub. I am sad, as no matter what I do, it doesn't seem to work.
   
   It is quite discouraging, I am a Christian author so that has been my main focus of sharing on Hub. I use to do fairly well in the 80's at least. I am not clear on what has changed? Is hub weeding out folks and trying to get them to leave the site? Any support or guidance would be helpful - Thank you

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2. 60

   paradigmsearchposted 4 years ago

   Emphasis is money earning articles these days. Religion dying, try evergreen articles.

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      The Stages Of MEposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Though I am not a religion focused Christian, rather relationship focused, I can't believe that Faith is dying! I am a writer not for money however, that would be nice, it is not and has never been my focus.
      
      Still there are books such as the Shack, War Room, I can only Imagine, that have made quite an impact on the big screen lately. Therefore, God's not Dead! Just my opinion.
      
      Are you saying if I continue to write from my heart and on the topic of faith or inspiration that Hub will not support my writing. I choose to believe that my writing needs work and not that it is no longer relevant.

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         TIMETRAVELER2posted 4 years agoin reply to this

         It is not hubpages that supports or does not support various types of articles...it is the general public.  People want to read articles that help them in some way or answer questions for them.  These can be religious based if properly handled and, if so, can do well.

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3. 89

   Kenna McHughposted 4 years ago

   Are you using keywords?

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      paradigmsearchposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Those things don't work anymore.

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      The Stages Of MEposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      What do you mean by Key Words?

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4. 98

   CYong74posted 4 years ago

   I have a few suggestions, if you would allow me:
   
   1) Your titles should be in APA casing. This is among the first things editors look out for. You have no chance of going into a network site without doing that, and frankly, that's where the traffic and money is.
   
   2) I read bits and parts of your hubs. Your grammar, overall, is decent. But I think you do need to work on your commas. You have quite a lot of rambling sentences. The free version of Grammerly should rectify most of these. At least, till you get the hang of it.
   
   3) Forgive me for saying this. And admittedly it might be because I am not into the Faith. Most of your hubs revolve around the same experiences in general. I think even for the faithful, the incentive to read more than one is not that great. This really doesn't have anything to do with God, by the way, it's human reflex towards saturation. Naturally, the ... erm ... rambling and flowery sentences do not help. I apologise for being very blunt and possibly offensive with this.

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   1. 83

      The Stages Of MEposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Dear Cyong74
      No worries I'm not offended. I don't offend that easily. I actually appreciate your input and suggestions. Commas are most assuredly my down fall as are!!!! I have used grammarly and pro writing aid and Hemmingway. When I edit on those sites they seem to be improved and rating fairly well. Then I update to Hub and my score goes down even further.
      
      I don't seem to get the basic comma rules. Brain block I guess. As for APA format I do not know how to do that and need some help.
      
      My articles are similar in topic, however, they have had some benefit to others. I will work to improve in that area and thank you for your candor.
      
      Sincerely, The Stages Of Me

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5. 85

   Wesman Todd Shawposted 4 years ago

   I looked at 'The Key to Surviving Crisis and Crashes,' and dang, when I was 6 years into this I was nowhere nearly so good as you are. You've got the visual aesthetic down, and what I mean by that is you do great at dividing the text into readable chunks, and you break up the page with images at well positioned intervals.
   
   I had no such concept of making a page visually appealing. This is just a damned hard gig. You have to enjoy doing it for the sake of doing it, I think. Like a job. No, they don't want us to think of this as a job, but I certainly do, for it is most definitely work.

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      The Stages Of MEposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you so much for your encouragement. I am sure I could learn from reading your Hubs and I will be doing that. You are very kind

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6. 95

   RonElFranposted 4 years ago

   First a word of encouragement. I have a number of Bible-based or Christian-themed articles here on Hubpages, and have never had any problem with them being published, featured, and moved to niche sites. Several are among my most viewed articles. So, don't be concerned that Hubpages discriminates against Christian content.
   
   I think the problem has to do with the quality of your writing. I took a look at your "The Key to Surviving Crisis and Crashes" hub and found it a bit confusing and hard to understand. Take, for example, your opening paragraph:
   
   "I recently experienced a tough spot a balance adjustment in my routine, and while life is a bit more bumpy than routine, I had grown accustomed to a maintenance of sorts, at least with my treatments for a serious health condition. This maintenance afforded me some sense of normalcy. Still what is normal when the world we experience is anything but?"
   
   I had to read that several times before I thought I understood what you were trying to say. With most readers, you'll only get one shot to capture their interest. If the writing, especially the first paragraph, is not crystal clear, a casual reader will quickly click away to some other article.
   
   I notice also that many of your titles won’t help potential readers find your articles. For example, a title like "The Journey has a Varied Route" may be very appropriate to the subject of the article, but nobody is searching for that wording. Remember that on Hubpages most readers will find your article because they put a search term into Google that in some respect closely matches your title. If your title is not something people are searching for, it will rank very low in Google search results and very few people will ever see it. There's a lot in the Learning Center and in the forums on how to craft SEO-friendly titles. You'll need to do a fair amount of study to learn how to do that.
   
   As far as the writing itself is concerned, I'm not sure how to advise you. One thing I am sure of is that reading good writing is the first step to becoming a good writer. So, I'd start by spending quite a bit of time reading the hubs of successful writers here on Hubpages. I'd also recommend that you try to find a friend, perhaps someone in your church, who'll be willing to review and critique your writing until it's well structured and crystal clear in expressing what you are trying to say.
   
   This will take a lot of work, but I think it will pay off for you. Please don't be discouraged - it can be done!

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   1. 83

      The Stages Of MEposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you for your honesty and I have had a church friend quite skilled review the articles prior to posting or after and they make minimal changes. I do have a published work and it does fair online and has been in some bookstores locally and has decent reviews, however, I had an editor that probably had very little hair on their head after working with me.
      
      I am a motivational speaker and I must say I am much better at speaking than writing. Yet, I enjoy reaching others with writing and don't want to quit. I also have time to improve. At least I hope I do
      
      I do not know where to find the learning center?
      What is a niche site?
      I have been trying and will continue to have others read and critique.
      I am not a quiter but quite discouraged as the enemy is kicking my butt as of late.
      I really do thank you and will read more of your articles.
      Is it possible to change Titles after they are published?
      Why oh why can I not write the way I speak. I can mesmerize a crowd and people ask me to speak on my book all the time. Hub does confuse me, but I won't relent!
      
      Thank you Sincerely,
      The Stages Of Me

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      1. 97

         theraggededgeposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         You do now
         
         A 'niche site' is one of HubPages new network sites. You can see them all listed down the right-hand side of this page: http://hubpages.com/
         
         Click on any of them to see a selection of articles published there. Articles that are moved to a niche (or network) site tend to do better traffic-wise
         
         Yes, you can change titles after the article is published. Just go into Edit and click on the title. It's easy.
         
         Your title is really important, as is the opening sentence. You can use Google to find out what people are looking for around your topic.
         
         For example, go to Google and type in the word 'cheese', don't press enter. You'll notice a list of suggested searches will come up. You've probably seen it a hundred times without even noticing. Those suggestions can be incorporated into titles because that's what people are looking for.
         
         Now press Enter. Ignore the results and scroll right to the bottom of the page. See there? More searches. More opportunities to craft a good search-friendly title.
         
         Does that help?

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            The Stages Of MEposted 4 years agoin reply to this

            Your awesome

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            The Stages Of MEposted 4 years agoin reply to this

            Absolutely thank you!

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         TIMETRAVELER2posted 4 years agoin reply to this

         If you look at the upper right corner of this page you'll see the word "help"...that's where you'll find the learning center.  I strongly suggest that you take the time to read through it.
         
         If you writing skills are not up to par, I suggest you take a composition class at your local college.  You cannot expect to do well if what you are writing is not well organized and well written.

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   2. 83

      The Stages Of MEposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Ron
      Might you take another look at the article Surviving Crisis and Crashes? I also asked Polly to look at it and she was very helpful. I worked on it a bit today and just wonder if I am heading in the right direction?
      
      Sincere Thanks

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7. 97

   theraggededgeposted 4 years ago

   There are also loads of resources to help you with titles, content and layout at the Learning Center: http://hubpages.com/learningcenter/contents
   
   The articles will give you a idea how to create a search-friendly, easy to read article. Try to keep your writing so that an intelligent 12 year old could understand it.
   
   Titles should be a phrase that people are searching for. If they aren't, no-one will find and read your articles.
   
   Good luck.

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   1. 83

      The Stages Of MEposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Thank You

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8. 98

   CYong74posted 4 years ago

   Hi: I use this to do my titles in APA. It's quite reliable.
   
   https://titlecase.com/

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   1. 83

      The Stages Of MEposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks

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9. 94

   aesta1posted 4 years ago

   I'm sorry to hear that. Why don't you post your article here and ask other hubbers to help you out?

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10. 91

    Polly Cposted 4 years ago

    I'm not someone who writes about religion, so cannot comment on the subject matter. I really think, as you have already considered, that the problem is the grammar and structure of your writing. I'm not familiar with editing software, but your writing shows a lack of flow and clarity, even when correct spelling and punctuation are present. My thoughts are that if you can work on that element, then you won't have a problem anymore.  I used to write here and recently decided to come back , and I am aware that Hubpages has a much stricter policy now as to the quality of writing. I think that, even though I personally don't like reading about religion, you have the potential to produce very good work, but that you are struggling with general grammar and form.

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    1. 83

       The Stages Of MEposted 4 years agoin reply to this

       Thanks Polly,
       I appreciate your thoughts and input very much. I have edited the article Surviving Crisis and Crashes. In the prowriting tool it rated in the 80's plus. Might you read it and see where it needs more imporvemnet. I feel if I can get one corrected I have a chance. I do not understand APA format in the titles. I tried to correct that but unclear if I did or made it worse.
       
       Still so very confused

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       1. 97

          theraggededgeposted 4 years agoin reply to this

          APA title format is basically capitalize every word apart from prepositions and very short words. Editors will often correct titles if there are very small errors. Plus they don't seem to be able to agree half the time
          
          The Cat Sat on the Mat with the Mouse
          
          If you are confused, just ask. And try to take it step-by-step.
          
          Use Grammarly (it's free online) to correct your grammar, and Hemingway (also free) to improve your style. Just paste your text into them.
          
          Also, I'm wondering if you are reading these threads right? Make sure to click on Chronological at the top of the forum page.

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             The Stages Of MEposted 4 years agoin reply to this

             I like you more with every tip thank you so much!!!!!

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       2. 91

          Polly Cposted 4 years agoin reply to this

          Hi, I'll take a quick look tomorrow sometime if that's ok? As I've only just got home and it's 10.30pm here! As for  capitalising the titles, as long as the rest of the writing is ok it's not a massive problem as they'll just change it for you. I think the main problem is in the body of your articles, but as I said I'll have to look tomorrow as I'm really tired now!

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             The Stages Of MEposted 4 years agoin reply to this

             Thanks

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11. 60

    paradigmsearchposted 4 years ago

    Am I wrong, or is the OP gone?

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12. 67

    Miebakagh57posted 4 years ago

    Hi all, HP is still friendly, right or not?

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       paradigmsearchposted 4 years agoin reply to this

       Still worth attempt.

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