Over half my views come from just 20% of my hubs

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   Casimiroposted 11 years ago

   Anyone ever run the numbers on their views per hubs?
   
   I guess what this says to me is:
   
   1. I should study those more popular hubs to see if there are commonalities that I should focus on for future hubs
   
   2. I should write a LOT more hubs, figuring that I'm going to do a lot of culling of the less popular ones.
   
   Thoughts?

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      Simone Smithposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      That's typically how it goes! We recommend self-optimizing: building upon themes, formats, and styles of your most successful Hubs and putting less effort toward the types of your Hubs that do not perform well.
      The more one writes, the easier it is to see what works and what doesn't, but that doesn't mean that quantity trumps quality. It's more a matter of finding good opportunities when it comes to subject matter and present competition- things that aren't already getting extensive coverage online but will experience growing interest over time.

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      LCDWriterposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I'm with you Casmiro.  I'm now trying to sit back and observe and figure out what is working and why.

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      Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      It's a common experience.  Most of my income comes from the top third of my account.
      
      No matter how much keyword research you do, you're still guessing when you write a Hub.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.  As you say, it makes sense to look at the Hubs which have done well, look at the search terms to see why they're working, and write more on that topic. 
      
      That's why HubPages is such a good testing ground when you're thinking of blogging but don't have a niche.   You can try out various subjects here and see what works.

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         Casimiroposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Hmmm, that may be true about using HP as a proving ground for a blog, though I find blogging much easier to do than writing an HP article. Still, with HP at least you start out higher than PR0!

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            Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            So, how are your blogs doing? 
            
            I notice two of your blogs are about specific topics, and in those cases, I'd expect writing the blog and getting visitors/making money should be easier than here on HP.  Bear in mind that your sub-domain is judged independently of "big HP" and therefore you're not benefitting directly from the PR of the main site - only from the interlinking.

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               Casimiroposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               The blogs are fine, but they've been running much longer.
               
               What I meant in regards to the PR0 comment was that your subdomain here is leveraging HP's larger presence.

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                  Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  Only insofar as you get the links in the "related Hubs" and topics sections.  And there is some who feel those links count against as much as for you, because you can have poor quality Hubs showing on your account.  That's why we've seen roller coaster traffic effects on HubPages that you don't get on a blog, and one of the reasons why it's still worth HubPages trying to get rid of the rubbish.

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Casmiro:  I actually chart my daily numbers per group rather than per hub and by month.  It is interesting to see which groups are more popular, etc.  I have some hubs that do really well (for me), but many that just schlep along.  I think this is normal.  It isn't always about search terms...one of my most popular hubs was one of the very first ones I ever wrote, which was well before I knew anything about keywords, etc.  I just happened to hit a nerve with it...got lucky.  I don't know if this helps you or not, but I personally also like analyzing my daily stats page to see what is being read, etc.  I rewrite and update as needed and it really helps.

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         Casimiroposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         That's a good idea about charting it per group. Without even doing that explicitly, I think I can see which of my groups do better than others: ham radio and DIY articles.
         
         I often update, too, especially for bad grammar and better use of keywords, but I'm starting to think my time would be better spent simply writing more hubs, more often. The spaghetti on the wall approach.

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            jaymillsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Exactly that is pretty much what the article said throw it against the wall and see what sticks. It did say use the same basic idea behind any web writing you know good seo good keywords no lest than 5 to 7 word keywords. But other than that it said keep them short and sweet no more than 500 to 550 words. Out of my 6 hubs 2 have been about local historical figures mainly because it interest me but they where both over 1800 words and one is 2500 kind of like a small book. So what I think what I should have done instead of trying to tell his whole story was focus on just one part. And if there was interest branch out to other parts.

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      jaymillsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I am pretty new to hubpages and just finished my 6th hub so I am still trying to figure it all out. It is much different from blogging where you have allot more freedom on design and content. But I did read an article maybe here or somewhere else that the best way to find a good niche here is to use a kind of shotgun approach and write many hubs on all types of subject and then watch the numbers. It should be quickly evident which subject draw the most interest and then focus on that subject and spread out on that base to cover different aspects of it i.e. let say smartphones then smartphone apps and smartphone covers and so on. My question is is this how most successful hubbers do it? Or was this concept wrong?

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         Casimiroposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I think the most successful hubbers write a LOT, and/or have honed their SEO skills. I often, but not always, do some keyword research to help decided if 1) the topic is already saturated, at least in the way I intend to approach it, and 2) find good keyword phrases that are valuable and where the competition is not too fierce. I've had mixed results, however, so far.

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         TIMETRAVELER2posted 11 years agoin reply to this

         jaymills, what you say makes sense, but unfortunately it's not how things happen.  A hub can sit for as long as a year doing poorly then suddenly start getting good numbers.  You have to give it time, which is hard to do.  After a year, you can get a good idea of what is working and what is not...at least that's how it has been for me.

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         Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         The concept is good.  The only comment I'd make is that you need to be patient before deciding what "works" and what doesn't.
         
         In the early days of a Hub, especially once you've gathered a following, a Hub may get good traffic - but that's from other Hubbers, and means nothing.   You want to wait until that early rush has died down, and see whether Google decides your Hub is worth featuring.  That will usually take a few months, during which you'll have to watch to make sure your Hub doesn't fall out of Featured (and become invisible to Google).

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   theherbivorehippiposted 11 years ago

   Approximately 80 percent of my traffic across all of my profiles comes from ONE hub.

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      Casimiroposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Can we all say "viral!" Way to go!

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         theherbivorehippiposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         No, it didn't happen suddenly. It's been consistently like this for 3 years.

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      jansharesposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Ditto, theherbivorehippi, one single hub. I've done similar hubs to see if I can duplicate but for some reason, though, they have not taken off the same. Maybe in time.

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   Kangaroo_Jaseposted 11 years ago

   For most people, especially the more hubs you have published, the old 80/20 rule seems to happen.
   
   That is 80% of traffic/views, comes from 20% of your hubs, for those that have not read the old adage before.

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      Paul Maplesdenposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, this is known as 'The Pareto Principle' and is a general 'rule' that states 80% of effect comes from 20% of causes - e.g. 80% of your sales come from 20% of your clients; 80% of your problems come from 20% of your customers etc.
      
      It's not always true (of course) but it is a good rule of thumb in terms of effort vs. reward!
      
      More here for those interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle

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         Kangaroo_Jaseposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Good pickup Paul,
         
         Thats the component I did forget to mention, that it should be treated as a 'rule of thumb'.

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         Casimiroposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         My results are closer to Chris Anderson's Long Tail effect.

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