Tweaking or Moving on...

1. 80

   misslong123posted 5 years ago

   At what point do you stop nitpicking on old, beautiful hubs that make no money and just start belting out new ones instead??

   replyreport
   1. 78

      Wesman Todd Shawposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      It's a great question, and I guess it is one you have to answer for yourself.

      replyreport
      1. 80

         misslong123posted 5 years agoin reply to this

         LOL. True. I am just wondering if anyone else has been in my shoes. I guess I write on a lot of ideas that no one wants to read or the subject is already out there, because I bust my butt making them as pretty and comprehensive as ever, yet I still get super low scores and no traffic. Before I knew what SEO was I made decent money; doesn't make much sense to me!

         replyreport
         1. 78

            Wesman Todd Shawposted 5 years agoin reply to this

            I'm going to completely rewrite some of my older things which had once been somewhat successful, but are no longer doing much.
            
            Your titles always matter a whole lot. Sometimes just tweaking your title, making it more representative of the content on the page, can work minor miracles.

            replyreport
   2. 71

      greenmindposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Almost immediately! I have found that polishing articles that I love but get little traffic is pretty pointless. Low-performing articles seem to be permanently unloved by search engines no matter how much you work on them or how much you yourself love them.

      replyreport
      1. 80

         misslong123posted 5 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you greenmind! That is actually really helpful, because apparently I don't write on subjects people want to read! I need to move on and find a more needed topics like knitting, which I have another username for with only 10 hubs compare to this one with over 100 hubs, yet they both make the same money! It's all about the niche!

         replyreport
   3. 84

      jansharesposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Very good question, misslong123. My short answer is start belting out new ones because you're more likely to get those on the niche sites and make new money.
      
      My long answer is a question: What will you do with those articles you stop tweaking? Is it beneficial to keep them? It depends on your goal.
      
      For some of us, I guess it also depends on how long we want to stick with all the metrics that make us good hubbers at HP: "write lots of stellar articles," "keep your hub scores up," "have a decent hubber score," "edit your articles often," "participate in the community forums."
      
      My point is perhaps the Maven acquisition and the changing environment of online writing in general has caused us to rethink what we're doing and why we're doing it.
      
      Philosophical rant over.

      replyreport
      1. 80

         misslong123posted 5 years agoin reply to this

         Yeah, lol, a bit of that went over my head, but I like your idea of aiming toward new money. I have read about people who delete their unpopular hubs,etc. but I am just not sure I have the heart to do that to my babies. lol. Maybe just unpublish them (especially if they are seasonal).
         
         I do like you sharing the elements that make us good hubbers (which I'm a flake, but I have goals to become better).
         
         I have written several stellar hubs, but only a few of my hubs have made it to 10,000 views over the past 6(ish) years.
         
         I have also racked my brain trying to worry about my hubber and hub scores, but unless they give me some guidance there or if I read something new in the Learning Center, it's all up in the air as to what I am writing or changing!
         
         You definitely kicked my butt in gear with the last part (participating in community forums). We need to find a hub that explains the best way to do this and how it can help you. If you find an article or help section that lays that out black and white, I would love to read it!
         
         You are an excellent hubber Janshares, as I have found you many times in my browsing history!

         replyreport
         1. 84

            jansharesposted 5 years agoin reply to this

            Glad I could help, sorry if some of that was just me talking out loud and not making sense. I hope you make the best decision for yourself.

            replyreport
   4. 83

      Kenna McHughposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      I tweak my articles and write new articles. I find it rewarding. When I tweak, I see mistakes and learn from them, so when I write new articles I am more aware of any possible mistakes I might make. The reward is CPMs, money, and portfolio.
      
      The Internet is a fickle beast, and being competent is the key to taming it.

      replyreport
      1. 80

         misslong123posted 5 years agoin reply to this

         Kenna,
         
         I have done that too in the past, but I have also found that my somewhat ok hubs that I choose to redo and refresh a bit to go down in hub score after I update it. I'm like, Whaaaat?!?! I was making it better
         
         So, I'm a little more cautious as I don't want the hub score to go down, although isn't it traffic we are trying to achieve, not high hub scores?
         
         I don't know, but thanks for sharing!
         Michele

         replyreport
   5. 65

      OldRosesposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Stop tweaking and start writing new material.  Believe it or not, those old, unloved hubs will eventually come alive.  My most popular hub for the past 6 months was one that I wrote in 2014 which languished literally for years.  I tweaked it a few times and then gave up.  Suddenly Google loves it.  It's getting more traffic than any other of my other hubs, including my previously most popular ones.

      replyreport
      1. 80

         misslong123posted 5 years agoin reply to this

         Wow! That is awesome! That may be what I should do. My first hub that swallowed the scores of all my others has now gone to dead last as a hub score. i don't understand why. They made it unfeatured as well. I did make some changes but it went no where. I may just leave it alone instead of having nightmares of someone cutting off my hair because of the bad hub score. lol (it's about growing long hair)
         Thanks, Michele

         replyreport
         1. 65

            OldRosesposted 5 years agoin reply to this

            Ignore hub scores and hubbers scores.  They are meaningless.  The only score that matters is Google.  Google does not send traffic to a hub because of its score or your score.

            replyreport
            1. 80

               misslong123posted 5 years agoin reply to this

               Thank you. That is very helpful, because it's just not touched upon in the HubPages learning center. I suspected as much, but it still bugged me to see great hubs I wrote to be scored at 49. I'm like, well, crap, I spent 4 days on that! lol

               replyreport
               1. 78

                  Wesman Todd Shawposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                  I'm just seconding what she said. I've nearly 10 years of messing around here, and I know what she said was true.

                  replyreport
                  1. 0

                     Will Apseposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                     I misread that as "I'm just absconding", lol.

                     replyreport
2. 83

   Kenna McHughposted 5 years ago

   My changes are subtle, but I occasionally catch typos and grammar mistakes.

   replyreport
   1. 80

      misslong123posted 5 years agoin reply to this

      I see them from time to time, but I have gotten in the habit of ignoring them, because when I fix them (sometimes) my score just drops like in half! lol. I never understood that!

      replyreport