Advice for someone who has been away from HubPages for a while.

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   Art Westposted 4 years ago

   I took a few years hiatus from HubPages.  It is my understanding that the system has changed some.  Back when I was writing regularly, you had to provide back links and search for key words and do all sorts of stuff to try and get traffic to your articles.  I was never very successful. 
   
   So what's the secret to getting traffic to your articles and making some money these days?  Please explain on a very basic level, like you are talking to a first grader.  I was not very good at it to start with and now with a few years away, I have forgotten what little I knew. 
   
   Thank you.

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      chef-de-jourposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      The basics! Well, great content always wins the day - quality writing, evergreen material, helpful information for the visitor and grooving out your niche.
      Key words and SEO are still important and you should definitely read the updated info at the Learning Center.
      
      HP created the niche sites to help with organic search and to keep the Google happy. So far, so good I think.
      
      Maven is now running the show. There have been big changes regarding Adsense and Amazon.
      They're steadily revamping the niche sites.
      
      The idea is to keep updating solid articles, writing new ones, building up  readership/contacts and getting past payment thresholds, which many still do, despite ad blockers, algorithms and the odd pandemic.
      
      Best of luck.

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      theraggededgeposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Here's the Learning Center: https://hubpageshelp.com/
      
      Lots of clear info there.

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         Art Westposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks!

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   Art Westposted 4 years ago

   Thanks chef-de-jour!

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   Marisa Writesposted 4 years ago

   Not much has really changed, however maybe the reason you didn't do well last time, is that you didn't fully comprehend how the site works.
   
   The basics:  to make money here, you need to write long, information-rich articles.  That means 800 to 2,000 words, and on the longer end is better.  Don't bother with topical articles - it can take articles a year or more to start getting good traffic, so it's pointless to write something that will go out of date.
   
   If you want to write on topical subjects, try Medium.com instead.
   
   Think of topics (hobbies, work, interests) that you're knowledgeable about. Ask yourself how you could help people with useful advice on those topics. That's what works here.  You don't have to stick to one subject, in fact it's best not to at first - try out a few and see which one works best.  Then once you know what works best for you, you can concentrate on that topic if you like.
   
   HubPages doesn't just have one site any more. It's got a whole suite of "niche sites", each one specialising in a group of related subjects.  How it works is that you write your articles on the main site (HubPages.com) and then pray that one of the niche editors will like it enough to move it to their site. 
   
   Basically, the main site is now just a slush pile for the niche editors to choose from. If your article doesn't get chosen and moved, then it's very unlikely to make any money.  If it's not good enough, you won't be told - but if it isn't moved within a month after publication, you can be pretty sure it won't be.  However all is not lost - you can revise and improve the article and submit it manually for reconsideration.

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      Art Westposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks Marisa! 
      
      I think my first move may be to review the articles that I have already written.

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         Marisa Writesposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         Some would be worth revising, but not all.  Remember, HubPages is a place to write articles that offer to help people solve problems, or answer questions they have about a hobby, or help them with research on a topic.
         
         Ask yourself if your articles help people do one of those.  If they do, they're worth revising.  If not, they are a lost cause. And remember, you may not get much traffic for another 12 months, so if a subject is going to be out of date by then, there's no point writing about it.

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   Art Westposted 4 years ago

   Thanks Marisa.  Yeah, some of my Hubs are outdated and not worth the effort of revising but there are a few that I think are fairly good.  I am currently working on revising them.  Then I will work on writing again.

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