How does a writer get 1 million views with two articles?

1. 93

   Kenna McHughposted 4 years ago

   A million views are fantastic for an HP writer. It's what we strive to achieve. Recently, a write hit a million views with just two articles! How is that possible?

   replyreport
   1. 94

      PegCole17posted 4 years agoin reply to this

      That is amazing and I wish I could bottle the formula to reach  million views. I thought I was on the road to stardom when one of mine took off and had (relatively - for me) good views for about a year, then, dropped like a rock after it was "possibly stolen."
      It took a while to get the copied site down and the article has yet to recover.
      Anyhow, swimming lethargically with the turtles here.

      replyreport
   2. 95

      greenmindposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Out of 140 hubs, I have a guide to caterpillar identification that's top of SERPs for my keywords. In the past few years that one article has 1.3 million views, so it can be done. But lightning has to strike!

      replyreport
      1. 93

         Kenna McHughposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         Oh, lightning please strike!

         replyreport
   3. 83

      Chuckposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      A million views for two articles is very impressive.  Personally I have always tried to follow Paul Edmondson's advice and write evergreen articles that continue attracting visitors and clicks over time.  Last time I checked, one of my early Hubs written in 2006 had earned me about $80 during the past 12 years or so since then.  Granted it has only generated a few cents each month.  But given that it only took about 15 minutes to write that works out to be quite a return over time.  If that had been my only article I would have waited years for my first PayPal deposit and still waiting for the second one but that plus the earnings from other Hubs have earned me some money every year even in years when I published only one or two Hubs.  Over all HubPages has been a plus to me financially and if the person hitting a million views with just two Hubs stopped writing after that  I think they are missing out by not continuing to write even if subsequent Hubs don't generate a million views right away.

      replyreport
      1. 93

         Kenna McHughposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         Chuck,
         
         You offer good points. Evergreen articles that continue to attract visitors and clicks over time is essential.  How do you determine the money generated from one article?

         replyreport
         1. 83

            Chuckposted 4 years agoin reply to this

            I don't recall how I did this as the estimate comes from a few years ago.  In the past few years I was very busy with work and family and I ended up publishing very few articles each of those years.  Since retiring las fall I have more time and have been writing more.  The fact that  a number of my older Hubs continued to generate enough income to pass the threshold and receive a payment two or three times a year encouraged me to start writing more not that I have the time.

            replyreport
            1. 93

               Kenna McHughposted 4 years agoin reply to this

               Chuck,
               Thank you for the clarification. I hope you are enjoying your retire!!

               replyreport
2. 93

   Beth Eaglescliffeposted 4 years ago

   They may have had more articles, but have since removed them. I've done that.

   replyreport
   1. 93

      Sherry Hewinsposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      I believe that the views get subtracted when you delete an article. It does not really matter as you've already been paid for them, but they don't count toward your million views.

      replyreport
      1. 93

         Kenna McHughposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         I never thought of that, but it makes sense.

         replyreport
      2. 93

         Beth Eaglescliffeposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         @Sherry
         
         Yes that's true. When you delete an article, you lose any views they generated from your total.
         
         My logic for my original comment is as follows. Most hubbers find the majority of views are generated by a tiny proportion of their published articles. What works best for me is to concentrate on updating and expanding the successful articles.
         
         I usually wait a year before deleting, but if an article fails to gain traction by then, it goes. The number of views I have lost from my total over five years probably amounts to a couple of thousand, but put in the context of nearly 2 million views remaining, it's not that significant.

         replyreport
         1. 89

            lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

            I had an article dormant for 7 years which I updated and got moved to a niche site. Traffic in 1 week doubled what it was in 7 years. On another note, two of my hubs make up 1 million views. I would not be surprised at all if there are many that have just one hub with a million views.

            replyreport
            1. 93

               Kenna McHughposted 4 years agoin reply to this

               It is good to know. So, two articles hitting two million is not uncommon.

               replyreport
3. 93

   Kenna McHughposted 4 years ago

   Good to know!

   replyreport
4. 92

   poppyrposted 4 years ago

   Around when I joined (so about 5 years ago), a writer wrote a guide to a Kim Kardashian game. It went amazingly viral and she got the 10 million view accolade in just a few weeks. She probably made thousands of dollars. I’m not sure how many articles she has altogether but she isn’t really active on HP anymore; she probably realized she’d likely never be able to write anything as successful again.
   
   Some articles go viral and get the traffic we all hope for. Some, as has been said already, delete or move their articles but their accolades remain.

   replyreport
   1. 93

      Kenna McHughposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Good to know. Thank you!!

      replyreport
   2. 96

      DrMark1961posted 4 years agoin reply to this

      I remember that article, and was so jealous!
      Us turtles never reach those speeds but we continue on long after the rabbits have dropped out.

      replyreport
      1. 93

         Kenna McHughposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         ...or take a nap.

         replyreport
         1. 96

            DrMark1961posted 4 years agoin reply to this

            Actually those of us who are of the turtle persuasion take naps every afternoon too. It is a great way to beat the heat.

            replyreport
5. 92

   FatFreddysCatposted 4 years ago

   Whoever you're talking about, I am in awe of their awesome voodoo powers.
   
   Meanwhile, I'm happy if I post a new article and it gets 100 hits in its first week. (sighs, kicks rock)

   replyreport
   1. 93

      Kenna McHughposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      The Hubber hit 1 mil today. It's on the forum, UK bloke.

      replyreport
6. 96

   eugbugposted 4 years ago

   I've reached 750,000 with one I wrote 3 years ago. For the first couple of years it didn't have a huge amount of traffic but then took off at the start of last year. I still haven't identified what makes it popular.

   replyreport
   1. 93

      Kenna McHughposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      It must be the cologne between the prepositions.

      replyreport
      1. 96

         eugbugposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         If we could bottle the formula, we could spray it on all articles

         replyreport
7. 89

   WryLiltposted 4 years ago

   I have one article with 5 million views after 8 years. After that, my next highest are 750k and 500k on Hubpages.
   
   It can be done, but it's about choosing evergreen content and using good keywords, quality content and social media prompts (such as Made for Pinterest images) to encourage traffic from multiple sources.
   
   This account is at 8.9 million views but I haven't written much in years, so I suspect it'll take me another 5 before I get my 10 million badge.

   replyreport
   1. 93

      Kenna McHughposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Wrylit,
      Five million views after eight years is a great accomplishment. It makes sense to chose topics for the Internet.

      replyreport
8. 95

   Sue Adamsposted 4 years ago

   My best performing article has 2,354,773 views so far, It was published 05/06/10 so it’s over 9 years old. These days it still gets around 200 views a day. It has a few backlinks from reputable sites in the same niche.

   replyreport
9. 95

   Eurofileposted 4 years ago

   I have read all of the posts with interest as I am definitely of the turtle persuasion myself. I'm hoping that slowly but surely I will make progress in the end.

   replyreport