Traffic just keeps plummeting!

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   hclpdposted 3 years ago

   I have tried everything. From updating the pieces to publishing new, in-depth articles, nothing seems to have much impact on the traffic.
   
   I csnt help but wonder if the ramped up competition and intrisive ads are to blame here. Who'd want to go through the whole article when it's riddled with ads left and right? Heck, I had to turn on adblocker to make sense of my own article!
   
   I wonder if any of you are facing these issues.

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      JeremiahStorytellerposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      This Ad blocker is revolting!

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      OldRosesposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      I took a look at your portfolio.  You are writing on super saturated topics so your competition numbers in the millions.  It's no surprise that you are not having the kind of success that you are looking for.
      
      You might have more success if you drilled down and took on very specific topics within the general ones that you have written about.

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         hclpdposted 3 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks for looking into my pieces. With over 20 million views, however, I think I was doing reasonably well until last year.

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            DrMark1961posted 3 years agoin reply to this

            Are you still writing a lot or just updating? My page views are half of what they were in 2020 but I also stopped publishing New articles until recently. Since I started again things are better

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               hclpdposted 3 years agoin reply to this

               I didn't publish much in 2020 and 21, but it's been a productive year so far. Published around 30 or so pieces thus far!
               
               That's why it's worrisome. Despite the efforts, the new articles are barely getting any views.
               
               The network sites are nowhere near as popular with search engine algorithms as they were a few years ago.
               
               I used to make at least double the money with half the number of pieces I currently have published over here.

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                  DrMark1961posted 3 years agoin reply to this

                  Even some of my most succesful pieces do not show much traffic for the first year or two so hopefully things will pick up down the road.
                  Although...we may be looking at a new reality here. I find that a lot of my older pieces have fallen in SE ranking, like you mentioned, and my traffic is way down on many articles. (I really hope that I am wrong on that! Maybe this is just a temporary fall.)

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                     hclpdposted 3 years agoin reply to this

                     I am in the same boat. Artciels that ranked well once upon a time have fallen from the grace.

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                        TheShadowSpecterposted 3 years agoin reply to this

                        HubPages turning off all the comments on our articles hasn't helped the situation either.

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      charlesnuamahposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      Probably due to some of the recent Google updates. I'm sure your traffic would return to normal soon.

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         TheShadowSpecterposted 3 years agoin reply to this

         After HubPages restores the comments feature on our articles, the traffic to our articles probably will jump back to normal, if not skyrocket for a while.

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         hclpdposted 3 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks. I'm still hopeful.

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      SerenityHaloposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      What I've found in my time at Hubpages is once you think you've figured out a formula for success, you'll need to head back to the drawing board to start all over again. I can't really explain why some articles do extremely well and others don't at all. The gap is really big too with some articles struggling to make it past 1,000 views while others somehow make it to the million mark.
      
      It's worth experimenting with different niches, putting out like 20 or so articles dedicated to one niche and seeing where it takes you. You don't need to go after everything, but having like 5-6 niches can help. I use Semrush to track which niche sites have the most potential for success.

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         PaulGoodman67posted 3 years agoin reply to this

         That's good advice, in my opinion, my experiences and approach are similar. 
         
         There's actually lots of good advice out there. The HP Learning Center, for instance, tells writers all the essentials that they need to know if they want to be successful, including how to do the research, but most people seem to ignore some or all of the info.
         
         It sounds like you know what you're doing!

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            SerenityHaloposted 3 years agoin reply to this

            I should probably take a look at the learning center. There is always something I can refine.

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   eugbugposted 3 years ago

   Traffic since January is well down on 2021 levels, but a bit higher than 2020 and equal to what it was at mid-March 2019. Traffic should be rising now to Dengarden and Owlcation articles, but it has plateaued.
   
   
   

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      OldRosesposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      Traffic is rising on my Dengarden articles, just more slowly than in prior years.  I am discounting last year's traffic because everyone was stuck at home and gardening became a huge hobby.  People are returning to work this year, so there is less interest in gardening.

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   PaulGoodman67posted 3 years ago

   My experience is similar to what Eugene says: traffic is pretty stagnant, but generally no worse than it's been for the last few years. The situation certainly isn't good, but I'm not experiencing anything dramatic like "plummeting."
   
   Writing competition has obviously got more challenging over the years. Difficult to find topics that haven't been done to death nowadays. When I began here, it was much easier.

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      TheShadowSpecterposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      Not only that, but HubPages has restrictions on what we can and cannot publish.  There are controversial topics that need more attention; but if we publish an article about them, we run the risk of the ads in the article being disabled or the article not being approved at all.  Not enough journalistic freedom.

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         PaulGoodman67posted 3 years agoin reply to this

         It's really the advertisers that are at the root of the restrictions that you mention.
         
         If you have an article on a controversial subject that you want to earn money from, my advice would be to put it on Medium.
         
         HP isn't going to change any time soon, because it needs the advertising revenue.

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            TheShadowSpecterposted 3 years agoin reply to this

            Yeah, there is this one decentralized writing platform called Steem that used to be firmly against all censorship.  However, after they started allowing for advertisers to place ads on their platform, many writers began to suspect that it would become a recipe for censorship.  Many people on that platform moved over to the Hive-Blog writing platform because of those same concerns, among other things.  I've heard of the writing platform Medium; but if I am not mistaken, I believe that one has to pay some kind of fee or something to post articles on there.  Correct me if I am wrong.  HP probably won't change any time soon, but it's really a question of whether the advertisers are willing to take their policies into the 21st century.

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               theraggededgeposted 3 years agoin reply to this

               You can join Medium without the $5 monthly subscription and you are free to write and earn (after reaching 100 followers). The restriction, as a free member, is that you can only read three articles a month (I think it's per month).
               
               The subscription supports writers and is how they get paid. There are no adverts.

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                  hclpdposted 3 years agoin reply to this

                  It's unfortunate that I can't make any money on Medium as Stripe isn't available in my country yet.
                  
                  I'm still curious as to how much are you guys making? Is there anyone here who's making more through Medium than Hubpages?

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                     SerenityHaloposted 3 years agoin reply to this

                     I’m not making more on Medium, but the extra income from it has filled a hole where Hubpages has declined in recent times.

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                        hclpdposted 3 years agoin reply to this

                        Ah. In that case, I hope you make more over there!

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                           PaulGoodman67posted 3 years agoin reply to this

                           I'm the same as SerenityH, clawing back some of the money I've lost with HP since it's been in relative decline recently. I still make more here, though.
                           
                           96% of writers at Medium make less than $100/month according to their stats, which is probably similar to HP.
                           
                           Medium is a very different set up and the style of articles you need to write is different. But the overall earning potential for writers is pretty similar, it seems to me.
                           
                           Medium is harder work though, as you essentially need to keep churning out new material constantly. Your revenue quickly diminishes if you slow down or stop. I much prefer HP in that respect.

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                              eugbugposted 3 years agoin reply to this

                              I made $4 on Medium so far this month for 132 published stories.

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                     OldRosesposted 3 years agoin reply to this

                     I'm making much more on Medium than here.  I like to have multiple income streams so I write here, on Medium and on my own website.

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                        SerenityHaloposted 3 years agoin reply to this

                        I just looked at your blog. It is really beautiful and inspiring!

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                  TheShadowSpecterposted 3 years agoin reply to this

                  Thank you for the information.  I was just wondering if you had heard anything about the ErzineArticles writing platform.  Like if you've gotten wind of anyone making a lot of money on that writing platform.  I've browsed around their website, and it doesn't seem that they impose as much censorship on their writers as HubPages does on us; but I haven't had the opportunity to communicate with anyone who has actually published articles on that platform and has made a lot of money doing so.  Any information about it would be appreciated.

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                     Solarasposted 3 years agoin reply to this

                     If you are referring to Ezine Articles, it is an old platform that pays nothing. It was used to create backlinks to webpages, but is now pretty much discredited by Google for giving page rank etc...

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   Jodahposted 3 years ago

   I made .30c on Medium with eight articles before they introduced you need at least 100 followers to be able to earn.

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   eugbugposted 3 years ago

   Falling below 2020 levels now.
   Traffic didn't increase for me this spring like its done for the past 10 years.
   
   

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      hclpdposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      Deely concerning, more so because we don't know where this ship is heading.

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