I think I may have shot myself in the foot...

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   cosetteposted 15 years ago

   on December 10, I retitled my Christmas Challenge hubs. they were titled:
   
   On the 1st Day of Christmas
   on the 2nd Day of Christmas
   etc.
   
   all the way up to my current one, #9.
   
   then I decided to tweak them, as "on the 1st day", etc. seemed tedious, and I started titling them like this:
   
   GIFTS: Guitars
   GIFTS: DVDs
   
   etc.
   
   ever since then, I went from earning dollars a day to pennies.
   
   i also wrote a non-Christmas hub on the 10th, and turned off all of my ads on that one hub because it was a rather sensitive subject. i deleted that hub because it seemed out of place and inaappropriate, actually, within the context of my other hubs.
   
   so, was it turning off my ads that caused the problem i am now having, or messing with my titles?
   
   i am perplexed and annoyed with myself. any advice would be greatly appreciated, and hopefully my stupidity will serve as a good object lesson for other hubbers, who won't make the same mistake(s) i did.
   
   thank you.

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      sooner than laterposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      a drunk old man yelled to me one time, "don't fix it if it aint broken!!!"

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      ryankettposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      The answer is change them all back now, you might not recover this year, but they will be great again in 11 months time   Changing titles is sometimes a great thing to do, but only if they are getting no traffic!

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         cosetteposted 15 years agoin reply to this

         ok, i will change them all back right now, and keep writing. i only have 3 more to go, and my 12 day challenge ends on the 14th, so i can still make it.
         
         thanks very much you guys!

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2. 69

   lrohnerposted 15 years ago

   I'm not sure I have an answer, Cosette, but perhaps they were simply subject to a downturn in traffic on the weekends? Did the hubs have any decent ranking before the change? Has the ranking changed since you changed the titles?

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   prettydarkhorseposted 15 years ago

   oh cosette, i am sorry to hear about that, at least you will know what to do next time, just difficult at times when you want to do something different regarding titles etc, you want to play around an idea, you have gained some thing at least, to be careful next time, smile

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   cosetteposted 15 years ago

   well, i am going to be a lot more careful with titles, and understand that they are cast in stone when i publish and not play around with them.
   
   i am going to have to bow out of the 12 Christmas Hubs challenge because i need to figure out what the problem is and try to resolve it. thanks ((you guys)).

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      Green Lotusposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      If the original titles worked for you, I also think you should change them back. HubPages is kind in that instance. If sales return to where they were, great, and you'll have a good experiment for future reference.
      
      I think your sharing this has taught us that warm and fuzzy beats out commercialism, especially during the holidays Changing a title; though, can work for you in other instances. I know because it has worked for me.

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      Nelle Hoxieposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      I would just keep writing hubs. You've established in your mind what went wrong and have a strategy not to do it again.

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   Dame Scribeposted 15 years ago

   I would've stuck to the original titles since they are from a popular holiday song we learn from our mistakes even when it's a bitter pill to swallow maybe you can change them back?

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      cosetteposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      yes, i will probably do that so they match the URL. maybe that is the problem. it would be the easiest fix anyway. thank you. and you're right, STL. thanks.

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         Green Lotusposted 15 years agoin reply to this

         Is it more powerful if the title matches the URL? Sometimes that's hard to do.

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   Nelle Hoxieposted 15 years ago

   I think it was more the Changing of the Hubs titles so close to Christmas. Really Change nothing between October 1st and January 2 of any year.
   
   The title of any webpage is a very important part of SEO. When you change a page title, that tells Google that you might be making really big changes. And that can be very good or very bad.
   
   The web is so dyanamic, that you'll never really know for sure. But my advice is if it's working on Dec 9th, don't change it on Dec. 10th.
   
   Just consider it a lesson learned and don't fret too much.

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      cosetteposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      yes, i am learning a lot, the more i write
      
      i will bronze that comment of yours and take it to heart. thank you for your advice, i really respect and appreciate it.

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   sooner than laterposted 15 years ago

   why do I feel like ryankett and Nelle are brother and sister?

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      Nelle Hoxieposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      Is it the glasses and cute smile?

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         cosetteposted 15 years agoin reply to this

         and your helpful natures and immense knowledge base as well.
         
         
         
         
         
         it does help, enormously. thanks for taking the time to type all of that. i appreciate it. and yes i have been thinking about putting little pictures in sidebars with small 'narratives' underneath to support the text capsules. i am learning so much, and trying to remember it all until it just becomes second nature.

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            yoshi97posted 15 years agoin reply to this

            It takes time to learn something new. All you need to do is ask, and we'll do our best to help.

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   charanjeet kaurposted 15 years ago

   Cosette so sorry for the turn of events, However the lesson learnt from the hard way is never forgotten for a lifetime. Thanks for posting this thread as the inputs which experienced hubbers are giving is worth taking note of.

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   cosetteposted 15 years ago

   GL, i only want them to match because that is how they were originally, i mean my title WAS my URL. i have no idea if them matching enhances them in any way.
   
   thanks CK. i like your avatar, by the way.
   
   well back to writing and this time i won't screw up

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    yoshi97posted 15 years ago

    Think of the title as your keywords for Googlers to find you. When you change the title of your hub your changing your *address* for lack of a better word, which means those that found you before will now find you under a different address - and that address could pay a lot less and have fewer hits.
    
    Here's a good example:
    
    Let's say you wrote a hub titled: My Artificial Christmas Tree but then you decided to shorten the title to My Artificial Tree. You would think it wouldn't be a big deal right? Afraid not ...
    
    Artificial Christmas Tree gets 201,000 hits a month ... but Artificial Tree gets only 22,200 hits a month - that's a huge drop in traffic. The ad dollars are about the same on them, but the huge drop in hits will produce a huge drop in clicks, as you can *typically* figure on one click for fifty page hits (this widely varies, but it's a good average to go by).
    
    So, in this instance changing the title of the hub reduces the page hits which reduces the income of the hub.
    
    By the way, these keywords are too competitive to be of use to many people here. I just threw them in as an example. Here's another:
    
    Let's say you change your title from Where To Fresh Christmas Trees to Where To Find The Best Christmas Trees On Sale.
    
    The first phrase could pay up to $2.63 a click, whereas the second would only pay up to $.05 a click. That's a major performance difference!
    
    So, what's the fix?
    
    Change the titles back and hope for a reindex from Google before Christmas! By moving around some of the material in your hub (by moving picture and text boxes around) you just might trigger the reindex, setting the world right again.
    
    And the moral of the story is ... when you have a hub that's paying regularly ... leave the title and content as-is. If you have a hub that does nothing, then try changing the title and reorganizing the material inside of it.
    
    I hope this helps.

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    Jane@CMposted 15 years ago

    Cosette, aren't we luck to have to such great support here?
    
    You just wrote a forum post that many can learn from!

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