Happy (HubNuggets) Valentine's Day

Saint Valentine's Day - renown for the giving and receiving of love tokens: chocolates, candy, flowers, jewelry, sexy lingerie, and fanciful cards. Renown also for massacre and mayhem, February 14 has, in modern times, become a day when we declare our regard for that special someone.

Whether you have received many or few Valentine's cards, you know how special those cards made you feel - even after the butterflies in the tummy, the sweaty palms, and the nagging torment waiting to see if your special someone would return your feelings and bless your day with a cherished, heart-shaped card.

This St. Valentine's Day, along with cheering on the eighteen HubNuggets nominees, we will be celebrating nine special people who help out each week on HubPages. These special people, quality hubbers in their own right, lend their support to a program that helps bring new writers to the attention of the HubPages community through the HubNuggets Program.

Each week, team members KoffeeKlatch Gals, Patty Inglish MS, RedElf, ladyjane1, and Enelle Lamb, supported by staffers Simone Smith, Maddie Ruud, and Jason Menayan, sift through all the eligible hubs in each of the three featured categories.

Following strict guidelines, they search out eighteen examples of fine hubs - hubs representative of the "gold standard" of the HubNuggets, by new-to-HubPages writers.

Then, each member takes turn-about to create a round-up hub showcasing the eighteen hubs, and invites the HubPages community to visit the round-up hub to read the nominees' hubs and vote for their favorites.

Then team cheerleader, ripplemaker, visits each nominated hub, leaving a message about the contest with a link to the round-up hub, and urging the nominee to have all their friends and family visit the hub and vote for them in the contest.

The HubNuggets Program holds a contest each week to spotlight the work of new writers on HubPages, in an effort to help them gain recognition, traffic, and assist in fostering a positive HubPages experience that will help them grow and develop as online writers.

I can tell you, from my personal experience, that the program can make a big difference. Two months after joining HubPages, I was nominated, and won a spot as one of that week's HubNuggets. I did gain page views, mainly from HubPages at first, but more importantly, I gained confidence. People responded to my articles - they read my hubs and left comments - and as my SEO skills improved I began to reach a wider audience.

These days, though most of my traffic comes from search engines, I cherish the comments left by my many friends and readers on HubPages.

Aside from personal testimonial, what empirical evidence exists to show the program works? After reading AEvans' hub Top New Hubbers Of 2011 I thought I recognized the names of some past HubNuggets winners, and decided to do a bit of research. Here are some interesting statistics:

• Of the 116 featured as top hubbers and honorable mentions, 26 are HubNuggets winners (that's 22.4%, or, almost 1/4)
• Of the 116, 17 have won Hub of the Day, (that's almost 15%)
• Of the 35 HubNuggets and Hub of the Day winners, 8 have won both awards.

There are also 8 winners of the HubPages Hubbie Awards on her list, and one person, Denise Handlon, won all three awards!

Looking at these numbers, it would appear that the HubNuggets and Hub of the Day programs do a good job of highlighting top-notch work. Between HubNuggets and Hub of the Day winners, there are 35 featured hubbers that have won either HubNuggets contest, been selected as the Hub of the Day, or both!

Being nominated helped me gain the self-confidence to put myself "out there" as a writer. That, in turn, helped me to grow as a writer, and develop my craft. I was raised to honor the ideals of service and duty, so serving on the team allows me the opportunity to give something back to the community that helped me both personally and professionally.

When I was invited to join the team, the "e" on our avatars was nonexistent. The only way anyone knew we were on the team was by reading the HubNuggets hubs.

There has been much discussion of that "Elite" title lately, and of those who bear it, and of what might be a better title, or more indicative of what we do, or less objectionable to the community.

I will not speak to that, but I will tell you that the members of the HubNuggets Team would do what we do with or without the accolade, the badge, the title, or the acknowledgement. We do it to help and support a great community of writers that helps and supports us.

So pour a cup of your favorite beverage, and settle back to enjoy some fine reading in this weeks' selected categories, and make sure to vote for your favorite in each.

...and now, from us to you - Happy Valentine's Day! We wish you yummy chocolates, lots of heart-shaped cards, success in your writing, and the very best life has to offer!

HubNuggets were a way for hubbers to support and celebrate new-to-us writers through the weekly HubNuggets contest:

• About the HubNuggets Program
  Each week 18 great Hubs written by new Hubbers were nominated in the HubNuggets contest. We invited the HubPages community to vote for their favorites, and the winners were featured in our newsletter.