Exemplore and SpinDitty are Live!

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   Christy Kirwanposted 8 years ago

   Hello friends,
   
   Today I'm pleased to announce that two new HubPages Network Sites are up and running. Some of you may already have noticed that our music site SpinDitty.com launched late last week, and this evening our paranormal, spiritual, and alternative belief site, Exemplore.com also went live. Congrats to the Hubbers who have been chosen on the first pass.
   
   If your Hubs were not selected, remember we'll be reviewing more to transfer once all the sites have launched. As always, you can help us make the process easier and increase your chances by deleting products you don't mention in the text and unrelated or promotional links. Thanks!

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      paradigmsearchposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      You are so late. Stop that.

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         paradigmsearchposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         And holy crap re Welcome to Exemplore, https://exemplore.com/

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            paradigmsearchposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            I mean positive here.

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               Jean Bakulaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               I am very excited that about 12 of my pieces have been moved to Exemplore.com. And I'm grateful they didn't call the category "New Age." But Exemplore? Is that a  word? If a person is looking for Astrology or Tarot or Crystal info, essential oil healing, reiki, clairvoyance, etc, I have concerns they would never find it.
               
               I have one Amazon capsule on 2 of the hubs, and the product is basically what you need to understand the hub. Congrats to others, I know we have a few talented Astrologers on here.
               
               Oh, and the correct word for topics such as this is Metaphysical.

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                  dungeonraiderposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  If Exemplore gets viewed as an authoritative site about astrology, tarot or crystal info, it will make no difference what the site is called.  What will matter is what people type into the search bar, as always.  Who knows?  A few years from now people interested in tarot, etc. might be talking about Exemplore like social media lovers talk about 'Twitter'.  See?

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                     Venkatachari Mposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                     The names very much amusing and even ridiculous, presently, as we have never heard them before. But, maybe, just like twitter, it may become much popular among all people in future.

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                        Wesman Todd Shawposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                        Exactly. I've been amused at folks worried about site names. As if the name 'Hubpages.com' ever meant anything in regards to whatever they were writing about.
                        
                        The entire idea is to group things with related material. The site name never matters much when compared to the quality of the content. Quality content can still do well enough with a name like Hubpages even.

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                     DrMark1961posted 8 years agoin reply to this

                     Good point. I am sure there were plenty of people out there who said "Twitter! What a stupid name for a web site. Surely no one will ever type that into a search engine."

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                        NateB11posted 7 years agoin reply to this

                        +1

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            Millionaire Tipsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            It is a pretty site. I like the font used for the site name and the darker pictures.

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      paradigmsearchposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      If all my relevant hubs aren't transferred to Exemplore by the end of the week, I will cry.
      
      Not to mention the meme fest.
      
      If HubPro cleans up one, I'll do the other 11 to duplicate. Then there's the others beyond that. I think they are already ok?

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         Christy Kirwanposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         We won't be making the next pass that quickly, sadly (we sure wish we could, though!). But if you'd like, you can email me for suggestions on getting your relevant Hubs ready.

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            paradigmsearchposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            Done!
            
            No doubt my feelings are about to be hurt, but I'm a big boy.

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               paradigmsearchposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               Got your email. I will comply.

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      misterhollywoodposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I just noticed a few of my hubs are on Exemplore. While I'm happy to have been  niched into a new domain, I must say the name Exemplore just escapes me. It sounds like a heavy duty dose of Excedrin or a really strong anti-diarrhea med.
      
      Can someone decipher the name? Any thoughts?

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   janderson99posted 8 years ago

   mysticalblogs(dot)com is available - surely that is a better one than exemplore = meaningless word.

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      Jean Bakulaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Right? What a strange word! I cast astrology charts and give tarot readings, and don't think anyone looking for an article on any of those or other metaphysical topics would ever think to go to a site called Exemplore. Is that even a word? It's a bit upsetting.
      
      Also, my email contained a strong suggestion to get bios on the hubs that have been moved. I went to my account page and made one short bio to cover them all. I can't say they give you much room. The bios are on the HP page, but didn't show on the ones moved to Exemplore. I did find them later, after being forced to change my password after about an hour of aggravation. If our work is still on HP, and moved to a niche site, shouldn't we already be logged in if we are on HP?
      
      Plus all of the pieces that are part of a series are not moved together. I hope that is remedied. I understand it's a lot of work, but wouldn't it be better to do one set of hubs at a time? It looks like they are about a third of the way through mine. Not all are metaphysical. But a set or group is not easily understood if split up.
      
      And one that was moved just has the green pencil, and the red exclamation point is gone. Will that be the case with other moved hubs?

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         Jodahposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         You just use the same username and password as you have on HubPages...it's just that you have to sign in separately.

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            Jean Bakulaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            No Jodah,
            For some reason I've been unable to log in for a few days, and finally I had to change my password to get in. I don't usually log in, I have HP set up so I never log out. But thanks for your kind assistance.
            
            Wesman,
            I think you are correct, people will type what they are searching for into Google, and my articles are usually on the first page. I just thought Exemplore was a really strange name, I still haven't looked to see if it's really even a word.. I understand the team is trying to be cute or interesting, but still think the name should actually have something to do with the main topic of the search. Plus they threw in some things that are not metaphysical at all. Astrology, tarot, crystals and other alternate healing methods, or reincarnation, auras, and meditation have nothing to do with vampires.
            
            But I'm willing to see how it goes. Thanks for the reply. As you say, "Hubpages" doesn't mean anything to most people either, only to those of us who write here.

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   Adam Harkusposted 8 years ago

   Fingers crossed for a surge in traffic....

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   spartucusjonesposted 7 years ago

   I have 11 hubs that have been transferred to SpinDitty and they all appear to have experienced a nice increase in traffic. So hopefully that will continue. Of course there is an issue that those that don't get transferred might end up suffering, but most of the hubs they chose not to transfer weren't getting much traffic anyways.

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   carolynkayeposted 7 years ago

   Great photos on the Exemplore home page.

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   Annsaloposted 7 years ago

   What is up with these names? They don't even begin to give readers an idea about what they are about!
   Am I just lacking in knowledge about these words?

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      Jodahposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      You are not the only one. "SpinDitty" makes some sense in a vague kind of way, actually quite catchy, but "Exemplore" don't get it at all. Maybe they are using some kind of texts speak dictionary that I'm not up with.

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         Annsaloposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         I wish they would include us on how and why they chose these names, and what makes them think these names would be a good fit. When I read Spinditty, my first thought was an exercise class because we have Spin classes here.

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            Jodahposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            "SpinDitty" sounds like "spinning  a yarn" or "telling a story". Then again my wife uses a spinning wheel and spins wool etc into yarn...so it could have been a site devoted to the craft of "spinning."

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               Solarasposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               I think of DJ's spinning disks and Sean Puffy Combs aka Puff Daddy aka Puff Diddy aka P-Diddy - "I got my mind on my money and my money on my mind..."

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                  spartucusjonesposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                  I was also thinking of the idea of a DJ spinning records. Plus ditty is a common expression for song. So the name to me makes sense and is kind of catchy. But for the most part I'm not to worked up about the sites name. Numerous popular websites have names that don't directly seem to have anything to do with their sites. I mean there are popular music websites called Pitchfork and Brooklyn Vegan. Ultimately, the success of the niche site will depend on how well the content does on Google. No one will type SpinDitty in a search engine, but they may type P Diddy and if you happen to have written a through hub on P Diddy that happens to show up on the 1st page of Google, no one is going to care what the name of the site is.

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   justholidaysposted 7 years ago

   Glad I deleted my clairvoyant account last year; I wouldn't want my hubs on a site with vampires, UFO and other unrelated stuff on it. Clairvoyants are not evil.

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      Jean Bakulaposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      HI justholidays,
      That's exactly what they did on Exemplore. I write about Astrology, The Tarot, and other Metaphysical topics, and they threw vampires in with that!  I also write about Clairvoyant experiences and meditation. I fear many topics will be lost, but if people search through Google, our work will be found.
      
      It hurts a little, I studied Astrology for over 40 years, and most people still think it's just about where your sun was in a zodiac sign on the day you were born. That's about 1/10 of it.

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         justholidaysposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         Hello Jean
         
         Yes when searching for a specific keyword covered in Exemplore they will find the related info.
         
         Yet the Exemplore site is too broad and includes unrelated topics; which don't help the professionals in the metaphysical or spiritual niche.
         
         Frankly I'd rather like to see my tarot niche next to religion than Dracula's customs and ET's family. NOt to mention that the esoteric world is so wide that a niche site entirely devoted to it is a must.
         
         When readers come to my tarot blog, they look for tarot stuff, not for vampires, UFOs and the like. Just tarot. And from time to time even ask for a reading over the phone or by mail.
         
         As a clairvoyant, I wouldn't feel comfortable landing on Exemplore when lookiing for accurate info on astrology, numerology, palm reading, psychic readings or even wiccan customs and find out that the piece's neighbor is an alien.

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            Jean Bakulaposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            Hi justholidays,
            I understand. I had a metaphysical blog of my own, and wrote about astrology and tarot, two long time loves. But I also covered what each planet in the sign meant, and sometimes wrote about soulmates or crystals. I never made much money from the blog directly, but got clients for readings. I stopped writing when I decided it wasn't paying off, and now read in person out of a business.
            
            But mixing aliens and vampires with astrology and tarot is way off the mark. I guess we better fix our titles to make sure it's clear what our work is about. Or is it too late?
            
            Our topics should be in a metaphysical niche or spiritual one, as you say. I think metaphysical is scary to some people, they still call it all New Age, which I'm sure you despise as much as I do. Most of these topics have been around for thousands of years. Astrology was the science before Astronomy was. And Tarot goes back to the Zohar and Tree of Life.
            
            I guess we wait and see what happens. Take care.

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               Solarasposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               Perhaps if each category had its own landing page or subdomain, with sub-categories tightly knit within that niche or area of topics. 
               
               If I am interested in Astrology, then I would want to click on Home to get a page that gave me several Astrology topics to drill down on. The same for Tarot.  I imagine vampire seekers would want the same.
               Something like Astrology.exemplore.com; tarot.exemplore.com.
               
               That might help with the SEO issue people are concerned about.  I am no SEO guru; so talk among yourselves.

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               justholidaysposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               Well Jean, the site doesn't earn me thousands every month but it would bring me more money if I focused on it. Adsense is the big player on that kind of site, so three ads are a must. Then come the tarot decks with the Rider-Waite the most popular. And lastly the direct readings - I only do by mail since I'm in Europe and my readership all over the world.
               
               But yes it's a lot of work, more than in my other niches where affiliate sales come on their own just because I wrote an article on a holiday or product that is in favor.
               
               New Age... Er... New Age is such a melting pot that even after so many years, I wonder what New Age actually consists of. Not to mention it's been a trend that is beginning to fade even though some are still trying to make it survive.
               
               When it comes to esoterism, astrology and related things, just like religions, there's no doubt what they are. So I'd like people to avoid throwing us in the New Age pot.
               
               In my area (Europe) New Age fans are mostly yuppies or snobs... It "sounds smarter" to say they're attending a New Age gathering instead of simply admitting they have a an appointment with their fortune-teller.
               
               Good luck with your hubs moved over to Exemplore

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   Nell Roseposted 7 years ago

   I like the new sites and am glad they have moved a lot of mine. its pretty cool!

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      Stacie Lposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I like them too! They are unique and draw attention which is the whole idea!

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   Wesman Todd Shawposted 7 years ago

   I've had trouble sharing some Spinditty to facebook. Sometimes the wrong thumbnail will load up. Now, I've only had the problem with one article, but the article has a very prominent full length image above everything else on the page. So I knew the problem wasn't for me not having a good thumbnail in place. But I understand the network site is perfectly new, and you all will work out whatever bugs there are in time.

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