Niche ponderings

1. 95

   Jule Romansposted 12 years ago

   I've been here about 10 months- really active for about 3 of those months. I've published 50 hubs, exploring two potential niches, with a couple of others in there for fun. I've let them "age" a bit. I know they are not lucrative niches, particularly. I did not expect anything big, especially because I do not back link. Still, I am a bit disappointed in their performance.
   
   I am pretty sure that my hubs are clearly written and of reasonable quality. They are certainly not perfect.
   
   Given my limited writing time, should I:
   
   1. Improve and refine my existing hubs- removing all typos, carefully re-crafting SEO strategies, intensifying content, etc.
   
   2. Increase volume in a current niche to at least 200+
   
   3. Choose a new niche and  start over?

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   1. 95

      Jule Romansposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I forgot to add that my earnings are evenly split between adsense and amazon- I have earned about the same on each.  I am guessing that bespeaks a bit of "lack of focus" so I imagine that I'll need to address that, too, once I choose what to do.
      
      Thanks for any thoughts you wish to provide. :-)

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   2. 76

      daybreakposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Jule
      
      I wanted to add one idea to the mix here.
      
      I would challenge you to take a look at what you have accomplished and base the value of this project on more than just money.
      
      You have a genuine talent and have created quite a collection of content. You may find that income will follow, just a little slower than expected.
      
      I believe you have what it takes to obtain one or more domains and get involved in blogging or other types of websites.
      
      For many of us, building backlinks is a royal pain in the butt, but a necessary part of our businesses. If you wanted to do some experimentation before jumping into website ownership, you could use one of the free blogging platforms. That would give you an opportunity to try blogging while building backlinks at the same time.
      
      Many of us use blogger and there are some really good free blog communities that use the wordpress platform. You could start a blog there where you could write about your passion while including a limited number of backlinks.
      
      The nice thing about blogger and other free blogging tools is that most of them allow users to implement adsense, Amazon ads or other income producing tools.

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2. 72

   thisisoliposted 12 years ago

   I would say, do all three.
   
   I know that is not particularly helpful, but considering your limited writing time I would suggest option 2.
   
   My reasoning behind this is that you can keep your current content, but learn from it so future hubs are a little better.

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   1. 95

      Jule Romansposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you. I know you are very busy, but if you ever have time, I would appreciate any critiques you may have of my current hubs. I think I know what my main issues are, but I would appreciate hearing from a seasoned expert.  Thanks again, Oli.

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3. 62

   Mishaposted 12 years ago

   4. Backlink

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   1. 0

      TopUniverseposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks Misha, you have recently got 2 million views.
      
      What is the best practices of backlink?

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      1. 60

         saleheensblogposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         contextual one way backlinking from different high rank sources.

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         1. 62

            Mishaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            This is good, but in my experience often not enough

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      2. 62

         Mishaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Diversify and avoid spamming. Build backlinks to the pages that have links to your pages, too.

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            Autumn Lynnposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Sorry to jump in on this but can you just elaborate a sentence or 2 on what you mean by backlinking the pages that have links to your pages. I am new to the linking and what to make sure I get your point clearly.

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   2. 95

      Jule Romansposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      thanks, Misha. I really am not good at backlinking. Tried it for awhile, but lost interest. Lazy, I guess.

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      1. 62

         Mishaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Up to you. Though I don't understand what is the point of asking how to improve mediocre performance when you don't want to do what it takes to improve it.

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         1. 95

            Jule Romansposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            No, Misha, I was not rejecting your suggestion at all. I was confessing. :-)

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4. 0

   Nelle Hoxieposted 12 years ago

   Jule I spent this week taking a really hard look at underperforming web real estate. I think it's more than just SEO. You need to look at how convincingly you sell stuff. I'll never be convinced that informational hubs or personal websites with a few related products will reach high sales volumes. And it appears that from what I've seen both on and off HP. It doesn't mean that you won't make money - just not as much.
   
   This year for me - it's all about the sales. And I went on a spending spree of programming and sales tools to help me do that.
   
   (It was spend it or pay it in taxes, so I helped out the private economy a bit.)

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   1. 95

      Jule Romansposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you for that. It's great advice, Nelle. I have been thinking about that, too. I agree with you.   I'm leaning toward sales as well.
      
      This, I think , says it all:
      
      "You need to look at how convincingly you sell stuff. I'll never be convinced that informational hubs or personal websites with a few related products will reach high sales volumes."
      
      In this context, I am finding that it is easy to get confused about purpose and focus.  I start thinking of one strategy- for example,  high volume in an extremely narrow niche.  Then I  start thinking about content, and I go off on a tangent about sharing expertise and writing a bunch of information.  Then I consider keywords, and get distracted by high potential earning words.  After that, I confuse myself even more by trying to  accommodate what I WANT to write... on the theory that my sheer enthusiasm for a subject will magically draw readers and transform into earnings. I add on top, like an afterthought, backlinking. By that point, though, I am so exhausted it just seems like too much.  (Which is why I told Misha I was "lazy." I'm not really lazy, I'm confused.)
      
      All that mushing around consumes an inordinate amount of time and energy, and generates VERY LITTLE publishable content.   
      
      That spending spree will  not only help the private economy, I have a hunch it will help the HP community, too! I  know you generously share experience, so i can't wait to hear more about how it works for you in the coming year.
      
      For myself, I am going to try to resolve this confusion and find a direction as soon as I can, even though my progress is going to be slower, since I have other commitments that will take me away from web writing for months at a time.

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5. 82

   Mark Ewbieposted 12 years ago

   Hi Jules,  I've been here two months so I know nothing. Oh, and I'm not very interested in flowers so not my subject.
   
   But every musing helps... maybe.
   
   I looked at a couple of your hubs.  Nicely laid out, interlinked with your other hubs, attractive.  A good set of hubs for someone interested in the subject.
   
   So I presume your 'problem' is traffic, rather than sales conversion.
   
   Thoughts.
   
   One hub I looked at seemed a bit short on Tags.  Tags are important.  If someone has entered HubPages on a different search, not one of yours, they may look at associated Hubs.  So Tags help you get on that list.
   
   Search areas.  As I say I don't know much about the subject.  But native flowers and ecology go together - you have done a Hub on that.  How about Bees?  A new hub, at the edges of your subject, which might hook some people in and then you can sell your other hubs to them?
   
   Maybe a Hub on water preservation in the garden - lower bills, save the planet - as a result of using less water for natural species.  Again, its about drawing visitors in, and selling your other hubs to them.
   
   As I say, just musing.

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   1. 95

      Jule Romansposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Hey, those are some pretty great ideas! Thanks.
      
      I appreciate the comment about tags. I forgot about those. They do need an upgrade.
      
      I also liked your topic suggestions. They are in areas I had not considered, but also have some knowledge in.
      
      Think I'll do some keyword research this evening.
      

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6. 0

   BenjaminBposted 12 years ago

   Just writing the Hubs will never make the traffic come in amounts needed for low profit niche terms.You can never expect to do any good without putting in at least a small amount of promotional work.If you are considering spending the time to write even more hubs I would say that effort would be better spent on a article campaign to gain back links.

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7. 94

   Dolores Monetposted 12 years ago

   Jule - I think that creating links is boring and would much rather work on a hub. But when I forced myself to buckle down and create just a few links, not nearly enough, I did notice an increase in traffic and earnings. Work is not always fun!

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8. 95

   Jule Romansposted 12 years ago

   I agree with both of you. I will go back and read more about backlinking. Misha- want to chime in with sonme reading suggestions... ??? Anyone else?
   
   I went to work on my tags yesterday, finished today. hope to see at least a small upturn in traffic from that.
   
   Thanks so much for the comments, folks-- keep 'em coming, please.

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