A New HubPages Challenge/Contest: Grow the HubPot
We aren't limiting this to an 8 or better; we are just giving this as a guideline. HubPages Staff will be evaluating the Hubs, not MTurkers.
The spirit of our challenge is to give Hubbers a chance to earn a bit more on their high-quality Hubs and to work as a team to grow the pot. Many Hubbers have been asking for a contest, and we thought this would be great. Maybe the best way to think of it, is to write the best Hub that you can. If you read through the contest page and our judging guidelines, it might be clearer.
I always do, and I haven't had any problems when it comes to QAP or quality. Just think that it might be difficult for some people who have a lot to offer, but limited experience when it comes to writing. Surely the way the forward is to raise the standard and bring everyone to a particular level, then to lower the standard in favour of doling out grades (so to speak)
I would check out this Learning Center entry: How to Improve the Quality of a Hub. There are before and after examples and the reasons why the latter are better. The after examples are all at least an 8. You can also see daily examples with Hub of the Day. Here's the HOD Archive. I'm working on ways to help new Hubbers learn the tricks of the trade here. We should have one piece of the puzzle soon. I promise we are working on ways to make the process better. Thanks and I hope you participate in the contest, Hollie!
I don't think all HOTDs are 8 or better on the quality scale. Ive' seen HOTDs which makes me wonder if there was a mistake choosing them
I am in !!!! I just published my hub at 10 PM. This is so exciting. Good luck to all who enter the contest. I love being part of this.
Neat challenge. Sounds familiar. I remember this challenge back in 2012 minus the money incentive. It should be fun. Will participate if I can find the time.
Edit: Yes there was money, $25 I think. I recall entering only to be disqualified because I misunderstood the time deadline. Ahh, the memories.- Will Apseposted 11 years ago
0 This sounds like a great challenge, Robin! It's is a nice way to get more high quality hubs on this site. We should have challenges like this more often! I am looking forward to giving it my best shot. I will publish four to five hubs next week.
Hi all,
I notice you have to be in the Hubpages earning program to do the challenge. How many hubs do you have to have to join the earning program? (I don't have any yet)
And how likely is it I'd be approved for the earnings program in time for the challenge?.
Thanks.- Natasha Petersposted 11 years ago0
Yep, you just have to be enrolled in the HubPages Earnings Program and publish a Hub that is featured to be automatically entered in the Challenge.
Only the first Hub per AdSense ID per day will be counted, so if you're planning to publish multiple Hubs in a day, make sure your first one is the best because it's the one that will be judged.
Each day of next week that you publish a new Featured Hub, you'll have a new chance to win (and each Featured Hub will increase the amount of the prizes too).
Some of us behaved ourselves.
Well, not quite. Hub entries may first be submitted Monday, February 24th at 12:01am, Midnight (PT). Here's the contest page to read up on the official rules and guidelines.
ok--thanks, Marisa.
CNN is already preparing a press release about their impending coverage.
LOL! This time, I was interrupted by a series of personal issues, so I have more "leftovers" than I normally would.
Cool on your completion of a hub with template! I often end up in one of those templates, and it never seems to fit what I want to do, so I usually just select the basic article template, and add the capsules I want to use..except for recipes--then I'll use the recipe template.
Hi Sally, thanks
It's people like you why I do stick around.
I have never liked negativity. Reminds me too much of volatile environments I worked in before. I had a nervous breakdown once and my work place help contributed to my depressed state of mind. I try to stay clear of negative people...better for my health
I agree with Everyday Miracles. Negativity is everywhere and maybe it's not the best "community" but just be yourself and write what you're passionate about! If it's interesting to you, chances are it's interesting to others as well. It's not like writers, journalists and bloggers are opinionated, right? LOL
As for me, hubpages is training grounds for me. I feel like I've learned so much and grown as a writer and I hope that continues.
Alas. I was industriously working on my contest hub, and I suddenly realized I don't have a chance.
It was my subconscious memory of previous contest(s) that led me astray. In at least one of those contests, half the hubs were picked on merit, the other half were picked based on luck.
Such is not the case this time. In order to reach the luck stage, the hub must first be picked by a human as one of the top 10.
My hub is guaranteed to not be picked.
Why so?
Cuz it's a narrow-niche, 99.99%-of-the-world-population-won't-care, boring, minimal word count, 3-picture, no-other-bells-and-whistles hub.
It's guaranteed there will be more than 10 other hubs that will have and be: of broad, general interest; 1000+ words; pictures coming out of its ears; videos; polls; maps; and soft music playing in the background.
So, why am I going to go ahead and publish it?
Because it's a worker hub. It will lay dormant for 6 months. And then it will earn me an extra 25 cents to 75 cents a month from then to the day I die. I'm fine with that.You rock, Paradigm!! It's not always about the winning. I'm probably going to enter a hub with a lead photo that rocks (it's a cute puppy....you can't go wrong with a cute puppy...), a poll, 1000 plus words, a video of a puppy, and even music (with the video). The only issues? The music isn't soft. It's "Last Train to Clarksville" by the Monkees. And, I have no map. I guess I'm doomed without the soft music and map, but I'll enter anyway!!! Maybe the puppy pics will push me over the edge.
Why not include a map showing where Clarksville is? It'd be relevent. Just a thought
Hahaha!!! The article has nothing to do with the Monkees or the song. It's about dog agility, new genetic research and agility puppies. I've included a video of my own baby puppy training in puppy agility, and the music that goes with the video is "Last Train to Clarkesville." If I included a map to Clarkesville, readers would get REALLY confused.
But thank you guys for the ideas, though. That is really sweet of both of you to take the time to do.
I've got one half finished and ideas for 2 more...my problem is TIME. Ah well - I've got a paid project that's due before I can finish my own work/hobby/project. Mama's got bills to pay! lol Good luck everyone! Let's build that pot!
Hi Susanne! We will make a daily blog post with the top 10 Hubs of the day as well as the winner (chosen using random.org from those top 10). We are going through the Hubs now. It's so difficult to choose 10; you all did a fantastic job! Yesterday there were 180 Featured Hubs! Not bad! I will have the blog post out before 2pm PT.
Ah, but at least it would be an absolutely guaranteed twelve and a half cents!
You should be hoping for more posts to be made the day that you post your hub! The more hubs there are, the bigger the pot will be for you to win. If 200 people enter the pot, for example, the pot will be $50. You'll win half of that, and therefore $25 dollars. This is what Hubpages' goal is.
But let's say that 500 hubs are published on the day that you publish. That brings the pot up to $125 and half of that (what you'd win) is now $62.50. The more hubs published, the better for the winner!
I publish at least one hub a day on most days. Some days I publish up to five in a single day (usually on different accounts and almost never on this account). This will hopefully help to build the pot for /anyone/ who wins. I just hope that it's me
I know, right? I could use that 12 bits.
Wow, I'm on the list! I can't believe it. Thanks Judges.
Congrats to the top 10 and Virgina LynneThanks Sally. When I saw the other hubs I thought for sure mine would lost in the other 170 that didn't make the top 10. I am so honored.
Hi Cardisa, congratulations! I knew you'd make the top 10 when I read your hub yesterday, a no-brainer.
Your suggestions yesterday were very helpful, I jotted down a format for two hubs and wrote a poem. Still quite busy but may pull an all-nighter to get one done. But if I don't, it's cool. But I will least add to the HubPot by getting something published before the contest is over. Happy hubbing!
Good work people, enjoy the moment! As I shuffle away from this thread with Hub Envy...
Agggh...I'm not going to make it to publish a hub today! My in-queue ones require additional research for which I don't have time, due to a meeting we have to attend, and my next-up ready-to-roll are waiting on more photos, which I cannot take before I get to the next stage of the project!
Go to the Hub and right click on your mouse. Choose 'View Source' or 'Page Source.'
When the code screen opens, do Ctrl (Control) F (for Find). A little search box will pop up (either at the top or the bottom of your screen, depending upon the browser you use). Type in: NoIndex. If those words are found on the Hub, the Hub is not featured. "NoIndex" tells search engines not to crawl the page.
On your personal Profile (if you have it set up just to show your featured Hubs) when your newly published Hub is featured, it will appear as the most recently published Hub on your Profile page.Well, goodness--no wonder I didn't see it! It's not a straightforward publicly visible notation. You have to know "behind the scenes techie-stuff" to figure it out. And as a non-techie, that leaves me out.
Thanks for the instructions!
Humans are like that.
Caption: Funny Human
If you guys haven't been watching the feed or checking out the new hubs coming out today, you should really take a look...
There are some AMAZING hubs coming through this morning... and I do mean AMAZING. (I don't give complements very often).
I actually feel bad for the judges, I think they are in for a tough dayThanks for the kind words GH. We are indeed getting tons of great entries. We've had a tough time choosing only 10 Hubs each day-- so many have impressed us! It's so amazing to see what the HP Community can do.
Just a reminder, only one of your Featured Hubs from all of your accounts will count toward the pot each day. You're welcome to publish as many as you want; I didn't want you to be mislead. Also, it's in your best interest to publish your very best Hub first because that is the one that is entered in the contest.
Writer Fox is correct. One Hub per day will count toward the contest, but you are free to publish as many as you would like.
Yes, I published today the linked pair I've been working on, and which I was unable to finish in time for yesterday or Tuesday.
I did make sure to publish first the one I thought would be better material for the contest.
However, I hope there is not a timing penalty for having to go back in and edit each after publication, in order to capture the URLs to link to each other....There isn't a timing penalty, but I would wait until your Hub is no longer pending to be Featured before you edit. Once it is Featured, you should be fine to edit.
Congrats on writing a couple of Hub, Lizzy!oops--too late...I had already done the edit when I asked the question.
I kind of had to, because each article had a stated referral to the other..."check out my linked article...." Which is why I had to publish them both today, as well. ...You don't want to say there is a link, and then have it not be there..that doesn't help your credibility. It looks like it is Featured, so you are fine. We give the Hubs until 2:00pm PT the following day to become Featured. When you edit your Hub while it's pending, sometimes becoming Featured can take a bit longer.
Then I got lucky--because I did that edit the moment the second one went live...so yes, both were still "pending." LOL (Whew!)
- Me, too.
I've got an idea for one that I would like to post tomorrow. That's going to be my silly one but I've still got A LOT of work and research to do before I even start writing. I'm getting smart thanks to you guys! Working in Word then posting. It make so much more sense.
Yay!
Awesome that the contest has been extended! Hope to be able to contribute another article.
Love that the contest will be extended! That gives those of us with other obligations more breathing space, and ensures that we can all focus on quality.
Plus, that is really going to pump up the volume of new hubs on HP too. Thanks!
