Hubpages Tips after publishing 50 hubs

Welcome to my 50th hub. I have reached 50 hubs in seven months with (at the time of publishing this hub) 175 followers. This hub is published in March of 2010.

This is my contribution to the milestone hubs as I have noticed that other hubbers have produced a 50^thmilestone hub. The intention of this hub is to share with you what I have learnt since becoming a HubPages member. It may not seem very useful to an experienced hubber, however if you are new to this website you may glean some knowledge from this hub.

I don't profess to being a HubPages expert. I have not been here for a very long time and I have seen others who have been here for years with several thousand followers. However this hub is about what I have learnt and it will differ to what other hubbers have learnt, what they think and what they say.

I’ll share the categories in point form before I go into detail about each topic. This is for those of you who may be searching for quick information and are too busy to wade through this hub.

1. Goals, dreams and intentions of becoming a HubPages member and how it all changes.

2. Working out the mechanics of creating a HubPage and its layout.

3. Fans then Followers: Are they truly following you and should you care?

4. What’s with all those boobies!

5. Understanding AdSense keywords, and logic behind creating decent hubs.

6. Poems: Are they a recipe for disaster?

7. Riddle me this, Riddle me that, who has a question to answer?

8. Hubber Hubscore, does it all add up?

9. Feed the forum or is the Feed for them?

10. Is HubPages worth it?

11. My HubPages wish list...

Goals, dreams and intentions of becoming a HubPages member and how it all changes.

I am sure everyone first arrives (when they are born here) at HubPages with the dream of becoming rich and famous through their writing abilities. Come on, let’s not kid ourselves we all thought that we’d publish a couple of articles, called hubs, and bam, fellow hubbers would be blown away with what we had written. We probably thought that we could sit back and watch the tsunami of page clicks, by word of mouth, as everyone would want to read our prose? Yes, not the case? I know I had dreams of becoming famous, even rich after that.

What went wrong? I published my hubs, came back the next day and only 10 page views? What’s with that? Why wasn’t the global wave of internet users ripping up my page view count? I know I may not be a good writer or even write interesting articles but I had, in the early stages of using HubPages, thought that some of my informative Hubs should have done well.

After reading quite a few hubs on Hubscore and how HubPages work I slowly realized that in order to do well on HubPages you need hard work over a long period of time. Hubs or webpages need to 'mature' like a good wine or cheese and Google will take some time to find your article. Your hubs should be informative, well written and unique. Google is where your main attention should be, and Google will not place a hub high in its search results that is substandard or common.

Once you publish a Hub it will only be around on the Hubfeed for a few hours before scrolling off into history. This being the case then your hubs will probably not get instant stardom, unless you carry several hundred followers. Again getting those several hundred followers comes back to being able to write well written, informative and unique hubs. There is a bit more to getting followers, which I point out later.

Look, I know you could call me naive but I am sure most of came to HubPages with a dream.

Now I no longer write to get rich and famous, but I look forward to improving my writing skills and help change peoples lives with informative or creative hubs. Hopefully along the way I might make a few cents here or there though AdSense. (Hey I guess it could be called AdCents)

Working out the mechanics of creating a HubPage and its layout.

It has taken me some time, and a few hubs, to work out how to create hubs and how to present them in an easy to read format. The following are some hints and tips to help you out.

Don't just insert one text capsule to create all your writing in. For example in this hub I have inserted a seperate text capsule for each section and also the headings. This helps when you want to insert pictures between your text to break it up. It also helps HubPages place AdSense ads throughout your article, in between each text capsule. Also another reason for doing this is that it helps the reader pause between each section, catch their breath, as the hub flows and reads a lot better with this presentation. This may seem like a lot more work but your hub will look more professional. I will even insert a text capsule for each stanza in all of my poems, as it makes it easier to edit and allows for picture capsules and ads to be inserted between or beside each stanza. You can see this method in one of my poems by following this link.

I use this capsule per text group method for photos and pictures as well. If I am making a gallery like this tattoo photo gallery hub that I created then I insert one photo per photo capsule. This is more time consuming however I like the flexibility of being able to insert text boxes for comments in between each photo. You can add comments to a photo within the photo capsule but the text is small and grey. Also you can add multiple photos for a single photo capsule but as I have said I like the way that I can move photos around (plus to the side) and insert comments between them.

You can improve the look of your hub by inserting photo banners. These photo banners, which I have used thoughout this hub, break up the expanse of text and gives the reader something to keep them visually interested as they make your hub more appealing.

Fans then Followers: Are they truly following you and should you care?

When I first came to HubPages I broke one of the unspoken rules on Fan (as it was called then) etiquette. I clicked on hundreds of fellows hubbers profiles and became their Fan (now called Followers). I would do this in one session, one hubber after the next. I hadn't realized that this was conducive to spamming and for the thousands of hubbers that I followed I had little in return follow me.

I targeted new hubbers, as you can click on the hubbers tab at the top of HubPages and list the latest. I thought these guys would like to follow me because they would be new at HubPages and might be more willing?

Since then, I have learnt the error of my way, and I have 'trimmed' my list of hubbers that I follow and I now follow other hubbers where I find an interest in what they have written. I would rather a fellow hubber followed what I had to write about because they were interested in my writing rather than just because I clicked on their profile and followed them.

This comes down to having quality hubbers fill your email inbox with new hubs with rich content. And also having fellow hubbers with similar interests writing meaningful comments on your hubs.

... I'd say that 10 to 20 percent of my Followers actually read my new hubs within days of publishing... 

And on quality hubbers, how could I possibly publish a 50th celebration hub without the thanks of these quality hubbers for their support and kind comments:

Montana Farm Girl was my first Fan and she was the first to make a comment on one of my hubs. That hub was Basil Pesto Sauce Recipe. I haven't heard from her in a while, maybe she is snowed in trying to keep warm?

Dohn121 has been a constant source of encouragement and must be the busiest commenter on HubPages. I remember when I first saw his Transformer avatars on my hubs and thought to myself, "gee this guy must be interesting." I wasn't disappointed as his creative writing hubs are some of the best here on HubPages.

ainehannah, akirchner, Heuchera, I*n*v*i*c*t*u*s, Micky Dee, Moulik Mistry and Randy Behavior have all been loyal followers and are never too far away to write a kind comment on one of my hubs from poetry (Pomes) to recipe ideas or even creative writing. I enjoy their praise and comment as it makes writing on HubPages worth while.

Sorry if i've missed you but these guys have been commenting on my hubs over the last 7 months and I thought they deserve a special mention.

So yes, fans and followers do follow you and you should care. HubPages is more than just a place to publish "how to articles" on health insurance and such. HubPages has a community of loyal followers and if you publish quality hubs with unique content than you will be rewarded with kind comments on your hubs and loyal followers.

...some hubbers don't reply to comments that you leave on their hubs, but others hubbers are champions at replying to comments that you write...

Oh, and don't forget to repay the kindness from other hubbers by remembering to read the hubs of the hubbers you follow and comment on them when you think that their hubs have moved, provoked, educated or inspired you. This will encourage them to continue to write quality hubs and it keeps the HubPages community alive.

What's with all those boobies!

Breasts seem to make a big impact here on HubPages. I guess they can be quite titillating for male readers flicking through the listed hubs within the topic area. You may have already noticed quite a few listings of hubs which show female breasts as the main hub photo. When you click on that hub it has really nothing to do with females or boobs. It worked to suck you into clicking on that particular hub. The more clicks the more chances of getting an ad clicked on.

I don't subscribe to the idea of misleading a HubPages browsers who is probably judging your hub by its cover. I'd like my hub to perform based on written content rather than grabbing your attention by showing scantily clad women.

Galleries of big breasted women with little written content to back it up are quite prolific in HubPages. Some hubbers go close to breaking the rules on how risque their photos are that they publish. These hubs generally get a lot of traffic within HubPages but do poorly with Google listings. A high Google listing is where you will get long term, maximum page views and hence a higher revenue potential. Remember you can go to sites other than HubPages to get much raunchier material.

Sex does sell. Sometimes I think, if you can't beat them then join them. Go ahead LeonJane fill your hubs full of breasts. You might get thousands of hits? But alas I am drawn back to reality. My intention in hubpages is to create as many diverse and interesting hubs as possible. I don't really want to get onto the boob train (which leaves Smut Station). If I were to write hubs which had bikini babes throughout them then I'd be creating too many hubs of the same genre. I'd be limiting my revenue potential to probably only male readers who wouldn't click on an ad because they would be mesmerized by massive mammaries.

I might slip and make a boob of myself in the future, but if you want sexy babe galleries with Bollywood actresses showing skin, then click onto the entertainment topic area and look around. But don't click on my profile because you won't find any naughty barely covered breast galleries there.

But if boobs are your thing, then you probably haven't read a thing that I have written. Please scroll on...

Understanding AdSense keywords and logic behind creating decent hubs.

It took me awhile to get my head around the idea of Google AdSense keywords or as it is called Google AdWords. You can sign up to this application for free and once you begin to use AdWords you can use a tool to search for popular keywords that Internet users type into Google.

To use this application to your advantage you would search for your hubs theme idea before you generate the words for your hub. If you type in a few words that you think might get Google users, who are searching, to your site then AdWords comes up with a list of alternative search input strings/text/keywords. The ideas is for you to use as many (if not the most popular) of these keywords throughout your hub text to optimise your hubs search potential.

That is my basic description on the importance of keyword optimization. If you are after a more detailed description then why not search for "SEO" or "AdWords" in the HubPages search bar. You will no doubt find more information from other hubbers.

I have read quite a few hubbers thoughts on how to generate more AdSense clicks and I think that they have got it wrong.

I have read quite a few hubbers thoughts on how to generate more AdSense clicks and I think that they have got it wrong. They preach to the masses that you should write sub standard hubs. Write hubs that don't give your audience all the information, so that they have to click on an ad to try and search for more information. To this I say blah! This might work some of the time but in the long term you are just damaging your earnings potential. If you create informative hubs with, packed with as much information as you can, then your hub will rate well with Google and 'rise to the top' of the search engine lists. Your revenue potential will also increase as your site is worthy of listing high. If you write hubs with limited information you will drop down the order and hence probably never be seen.

Poems: Are they a recipe for disaster?

Poetry and recipes don’t fare well on Hubpages when it comes to Hubscore. This is because they lack the 300 to 400 words required for Hubpages to register whether the particular hub has enough content. This doesn’t really bother me too much as I believe my hub will be found by fellow hubbers who are interested in poetry or recipes and who are looking in those topic areas. Therefore it doesn’t really bother me if Google doesn’t pick up my poems or recipe hubs.

However lately I have tried to not let these individual poetry or recipe hubs drag down my overall Hubscore. I do this by adding a background description to my poetry hubs or by inserting more photos and related points of interest to both my recipe and poetry hubs.

But overall I understand that poetry, creative writing and recipe hubs don’t perform too well with Hubscore ranking and hence are not great revenue makers however I enjoy making these hubs the most.

Riddle me this, Riddle me that, who has a question to answer?

The Anwers and Questions section of HubPages is a great idea. Here is where you can post a question and ask fellow hubbers if they know an answer. This is left to anyone to answer and you can rate the answer if you like it. From asking questions two of my questions have sparked hubbers to answer in a hub. I myself have answered a few questions and a couple that I have answered via hubs and in the HubMob environment.

I think that this section of HubPages is a great to visit for ideas on what hubs to create or to help others with their creativity.

Hubber Hubscore, does it all add up?

When you first start out at HubPages your individual Hubscore (which is the number in the lower right hand of your avatar) is really low. But don’t worry because as you continue to write quality hubs then it will quickly increase.

There is some science into working out how your Hubscore fluctuates with time and activity but you shouldn’t be too concerned over it. You will do your head in otherwise. Just be rest assured that if you continue to write quality hubs with unique content than your score will increase and then plateau at a reasonable number from between mid 80’s to mid 90’s.

If you go on holidays and don’t use/login to HubPages for a while then your score will drop. If you publish bad quality hubs then your score will drop. Your score might drop as quickly as it rises, so I wouldn’t lose sleep over this.

If your Hubscore reaches 100 then I believe you are a star, and you interact with all of the HubPages environment (also your hubs traffic must be massive). This is something for me to strive towards but I will not get hung up on it if my Hubscore never gets over mid 90’s.

Feed the forum or is the Feed for them?

…feed the forum…

The forum is a great place to search for advice and ideas. However I hardly use the forum. There are quite a lot of time wasting forum topics, like “Last one to post wins”. These forum posts might seem like a fun idea but in reality they take away from the time that you could be generating your own hubs. I’ll click onto the forum tab for any announcement if Hubpages appears to be “playing up” and that is about my extent of it. Each to their own as some hubbers relish in the contact of being part of a forum.

In the beginning I tried to spark debate/comment with a few new HubPages forum posts but they floated dead in the water. I have heard of the famous religious debates that spark forum wars, but I haven’t even been interested to look. I guess there is a famous expression that goes something of the lines, “if you don’t want an argument then don’t mention sex, politics or religion.” I’ll leave the forums to themselves; if I wanted more community interaction then comments on my hubs I’d leave to join Facebook.

…is the Feed for them?...

Since I have joined Facebook, er um I mean, since I have joined HubPages the Feed section has changed. It now looks like a Facebook rip off. I am not sure if I like it, it will probably take some time to grow on me. It allows for a HubPages user to fly in and drop a comment without even reading a hub. Probably not the desired affect that the team at HubPages wanted but I guess it gets more page clicks and hence more revenue. For me it might be something I’ll have to get used to, it does look visually attractive with little hub pictures and avatars when previously there wasn’t. I am not going to join a mob to try and get things changed but I will have to tolerate this change until it sinks in.

Is Hubpages worth it?

HubPages is addictive, in a good way though, as you are constantly trying to improve your writing skills to impress your followers and audience. Also Hubpages has helped me increase my writing output through poetry or creative writing. I could go as far as saying HubPages has given me the drive to write more and for that I think HubPages is worth it.

HubPages is much more than a social networking tool, like Facebook, as it is more than a competition on who has the most friends. Friends, fans and followers are important, as it gives HubPages a community feel, however they are not the most important element of HubPages. Being able to express yourself freely and creatively is (in my humble opinion) the most important element of HubPages.

So if you haven't already why not join HubPages and find out what all the hype is about! Like me, I am sure you will get hooked!

My Hubpages wish list... 

1. I wish you could merge photo capsules to the left instead of only to the right or centre of the page/hub. Not sure why the capsule doesn't allow for this flexibility but it would be a great improvement to allow your hub to look less lop sided with photos and pictures.
2. I wish that the Amazon capsule would allow you to "showcase" one product and have its product picture a lot bigger. This is what I have had to do manually, by inserting photo capsules above each Amazon capsule in my hub on Chocolate Body Paint.
3. I wish you could insert AdSense capsules so you could place ads where you wanted them to appear. I'd like this because sometimes ads show up in places where you wouldn't like them to be i.e. they split headings from the main body of text or they go in between stanzas on poems and break the flow of the poem up. I know that this might lead to hubbers flooding their hubs with ads but you could be restricted to how many ad capsules that you place in your hub before it could be published. Not sure on how hard the programming for this would be?
4. If my third wish was granted then my next wish would be that you could choose the industry/field of ad that was placed in your AdSense capsule. That way you would try to prevent weight loss ads showing up in mathematical hubs etc. I know that ads generally 'work themselves out' but it would be great if you could manually override the type of ad that appears on your hub by selecting the type of ad group that best describes your hub.
5. I wish there was some sort of regulation on the quality of a Hubber. With that I mean if a hubpages users hubscore should fall, say below 50, then all their hubs should be unpublished (but not deleted) and they should get a time period, say 3 months, to correct this problem. This would ensure that the general quality of hubs on hubpages remains high. I know a hubber can have hubs with score below 50 but still sport an individual hubscore that is high. Also if a hubber hasn't logged onto hubpages for 3 months, then their hubs should be unpublished and then if they still haven't logged in for a further 3 months then their account should be terminated. This would 'clean up' hubpages of users that tried to use hubpages but left and no longer want to return but have left behind a 'mess'. This system would be similar to Google email or Hotmail email accounts that remain dormant.
6. I wish there was a few more options on font style within the text capsule. I understand that hubpages don't want you to run loose on the whole spectrum of fonts available in Microsoft Word (for example) however a list of 5 to choose from would make a big difference. Come on HubPages team we are a creative bunch, why restrict or font options to 1? I could go on with more option that aren't available in the text capsule, like colour choices etc, but I will leave it at that.
7. I wish there was a live tally on the HubPages home page which showed how many users were acutally logged in (online). That would be cool.
8. I wish you could insert a page hit counter capsule on your hubs. If a HubPages user didn't want to show which hubs were doing well then they could remove the counter (or not even insert one in the first place). But if you wanted to show how well a particular hub was performing by showing how many hit your hub had then this particular capsule would be handy.

As of November 2011 I have been revising all my hubs to remove the RSS feeds that I have created on each of my hubs. This is because the RSS feeds that I created which linked to my other hubs had no relevance to the original hub. Make sure you comply with Hubpages terms of use and if you are going to link anything from your original hub that it has relevance to it.

I guess we have reached the er, um, 'rear' of this hub! Make sure you pick your thongs up at the door when you leave! (thongs are also Aussie foot wear)