Do you have to self-promote your hub to get real traffic

1. 60

   Ben Aidooposted 9 years ago

   The impression new hubbers may have is all they need do is write a stellar article that conforms with HP guidelines, and the traffic will begin flowing to their hubs. This has not often been the case. Is it true that to get any significant traffic, a writer has to do the bulk of promoting his/her hub? And while on the topic, could the experienced hubbers fill us in on the promotion techniques that have worked for them?

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      jansharesposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, Ben Aidoo, this is true. Unless you happen to have a topic that's hot, trending, and something searchers need, you have to promote your articles. I'm old school so when I started at HP, I emailed hub links to friends, family, colleagues, and associates. It was helpful, especially if they forwarded the links. But in reality, that kind of traffic is short-lived and will peter out at some point.
      
      Although social media is the way to go, I still believe in having a solid base of friends/associates to get your work out for that initial boost. In the end, a well-written hub that has had time to mature and rise over time in the search engines will get the most significant and sustained traffic.
      
      Tips: quality, quantity, originality, keywords, hashtags

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      1. 60

         Ben Aidooposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         My thanks to all for your helpful suggestions.

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         stricktlydatingposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         I edit my Hubs regularly to ensure they are "Evergreen" (All the boxes in the right top corner in edit mode are ticked - text, photos, aditional capsules).  My best performing Hub has about 2 million views (At 2 years old) and traffic is always steady.  I have done nothing more than share it on Twitter a few times, my traffic comes mostly from Google without any self-promotion.  I've found if it's a popular topic the traffic comes automatically.  I don't get involved in keyword research or anything like that.  What I do though is regularly check for copied content and report each copyright infringement to Google (It takes up a lot of my time, for example I reported a dozen instances to Google today alone!).  Good luck!

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      relacheposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Depending on the quality of the writing and the topic chosen, a writer might have to do the bulk of promotion for a Hub.  But not always.  That's my experienced opinion after writing here for eight years and counting.

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      NateB11posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Use keywords correctly and write a decent article and you can get a lot of traffic.

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I have been here for more than three years and it has only been in the last 6 months or so that I have done much promotion.  I had over 200,000 views until I took a hit from Google last August and lost 90% of my traffic...never did find out why.  Now am back up over 191,000, even though I removed 49 articles following my problem in order to restructure my subdomain.  I do think my topic has much to do with all of this and will say that even after getting smacked down by Google, I have met payout every single month since that time.  So, in answer to your question, promoting is good, but topic and quality writing are much more important.  Good luck.

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      MarleneBposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Even though you write a stellar hub, you still have to go out and market the hub to gain readership. Through email, I send links to my hub to family and friends who I know have an interest in the topic I've written. They tend to share the link with other like-minded people. I also post a link to social media sites like Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn. And, whenever I post a link, I always give an introduction of the hub and state why I believe the hub will be interesting to the reader. I participate in the HubPages community as much as time will allow. I read other people's hubs. They, in turn read my hubs. I participate in other writer's forums as a way to be known as a writer. I write other articles and blogs that have a link to my HubPages profile. One of my favorite marketing tools is sharing other people's hubs. I tweet and share hubs written by other hubbers. I make sure the hubs I promote are relevant to my audience. It shows them that I am conscientious of their time.
      
      I have some readers who will read anything I share. When they re-share a link, it gives me more exposure.

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   paradigmsearchposted 9 years ago

   Occasional social media promotion, good. Frequent social media promotion, bad.

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3. 74

   Barbara Kayposted 9 years ago

   Be sure to use Pinterest if they are articles that women like. I use Yahoo groups to promote my articles. Just be sure you belong to groups that are interested and don't bore them by doing it constantly. Some people have luck with a Facebook page. I just get so-so traffic from there.
   
   If you haven't found popular topics, try writing about different subjects. Watch which ones do the best. Then write more about the popular ones.
   
   It does take patience and you need to let your hubs age before they do well. You'll here a certain time period from different writers. It is different for each hub.

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4. 0

   Amie Saysposted 9 years ago

   I belong to several groups that allow relevant links, so I promote there, where I know people will be interested in reading. I don't spam, though. I don't promote every article, because they are all on my profile if they choose to see more of what I wrote. I probably only promote two links a month, if that. As for social media, I use the rule of 4 comments to one link. I comment on four posts from people I know will be interested in my link, then I post my link. That way, they aren't seen as spam. I also then post something else, like a quote or a cute animal picture or a news story. You need to get your name into the brains of these people, so when you do post a link, they want to read it.

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