Make Money Online with HubPages - 3 Hubs that Get Lots of Search Traffic
81Search Engine Traffic is Key to Making Money Online
Make Money Online by Getting Hits from Search Engine Traffic
Making money online with HubPages is just one of many ways to make money online. And I would be willing to bet that the vast majority of HubPages writers began their "career" at HubPages with this ambition. Certainly there are many who have succeeded, but unfortunately, many have never realized their online-money-making goals, let alone grander dreams of becoming the next HubPages success story.
While I have only been writing on HubPages for five months, I have been involved in web design for more than ten years, giving me the ability to more easily recognize a "search engine friendly" hub when I see one. With an understanding of the HubPages business model and experience on how to get search engine traffic, I am a believer that you can make money online with HubPages.
3 Succesful Hubs that Get Lots of Search Engine Traffic
Rest assured, this is not another hub full of tips and tools on how to optimize your hubs to get search engine traffic. Rather, this is an in-depth look at 3 hubs that have actually succeeded at getting lots of search engine traffic. And we all know that search engine traffic is the key to making money online!
The fact of the matter is quite simple: if you want to make money online with HubPages then you have to get organic search engine traffic. One very good way to figure out how to accomplish this is to examine hubs that have succeeded in bringing the most search engine traffic to HubPages.
Not to give away the "ending" ahead of time, but after putting 3 of the top-search-engine-traffic hubs under the microscope, some unexpected discoveries were made. If you are interested in learning how these 3 hubs have succeeded in the search engine traffic game, then this is a must-read tutorial!
Why Search Engine Traffic is Needed to Make Money Online at HubPages
The 1989 baseball film, Field of Dreams, starring Kevin Costner, popularized the saying:
If you build it, he will come.
Although the prophecy in this movie is eventually fulfilled by many onlookers coming to Ray Kinsella's baseball field in the middle of an Iowa cornfield, the same is not at all true for many writers at HubPages, or anywhere else on the web.
A good money-making idea is not enough to make money online, nor is a well-written hub. Readers need to come to your hub.
That is why organic search engine traffic is a necessary to making money online!
How to Use This Tutorial
The Make Money Online with HubPages tutorial guides you through three hubs written by three different authors, each of which get a lot of organic search engine traffic.
Explanations as to why each hub manages to get a lot of search engine traffic, as well as an examination of key hub components is described for each of the three hubs.
You will discover that the reasons for search engine success vary for each of the three successful hubs so you will want to be sure and read this tutorial in its entirety!
Please note that the three hubs that have succeeded at ranking well on search engines and getting click-through are not displayed in any particular order in this tutorial.
TIP: Since a lot of very valuable information can be gathered from this tutorial, you may want to bookmark this hub for future reference.
Let's get started...
3 Hubs that Get Lots of Search Engine Traffic:
Content is definitely king in "Making Money Online"
Content
| Content Matters
|
|---|---|
Word Count in Body
| 4,217
|
Content Type
| Evergreen Content *
|
What is evergreen content?
Why the hub "Making Money Online" by Mark Knowles is so successful at drawing in search engine traffic.
In a nutshell, Mark's hub is successful because of Mark! As an SEO consultant and internet specialist, Mark not only writes about a topic with which he has first-hand experience (making money online), but he puts all his SEO and internet know-how into practice in one superbly crafted hub. And it certainly helps that Mark has picked a wildly popular evergreen topic.
Content:
A little less than half way through the hub, "Making Money Online," Mark makes the point that content is king. Indeed it is, and Mark certainly practices what he preaches! His hub is chock-full of valuable money-making content and it's not sparse. In fact, his hub tips the scales at over 4,000 words.
In Mark's blog, "How to Improve Search Engine Ranking," found at his internet marketing website, Mark states:
Most people attempting to market a product or service on the internet are faced with ... generating search engine traffic to their web pages through search engine rankings.
My most favorite way – which is often ignored by the internet marketing and make money online brigade – is to write decent content in the first place.
And Mark definitely accomplishes the goal of writing "decent content" in his "Making Money Online" hub.
12/1/11: "Making Money Online" by Mark Knowles Ranked #5 on Google!
Main Keywords: making money online
| Use of Keywords & Variations
|
|---|---|
URL
| YES
|
Title
| YES
|
Summary or 1st Sentence of Hub
| YES
|
Headings
| YES: 7 times
|
Body Text
| YES: 32 times
|
Link Text
| YES: 6 times
|
Comments
| YES: 89 times
|
Keywords:
But Mark admits in "Making Money Online" that content is not the only component to succeeding in the search engine marketing/search engine ranking game. He writes:
I still believe that content is King, but without the Queen of keyword research and the Prince of link building, the King will fail.
Mark's use of his selected keywords (making money online) and keyword variations is readily apparent in his hub. Woven throughout, keywords can be found both within headings and body content. Additionally, Mark's hub has sparked a lot of commenting activity and the comments left include numerous usages of the keywords and keyword variations. And guess what? The text and keywords in comments is picked up by search engines too.
Other Stats for Mark's Hub
Age/Activity/Sharing
| Key Stats on 12/1/11
|
|---|---|
Age of Hub
| 2 years+
|
# Comments
| 270
|
Comment Section Word Count
| 14,029
|
Commenting Timeframe
| Continual from publishing date to present
|
Who is Commenting
| Mostly hubbers
|
Twitter
| 43 "Tweets"
|
Facebook
| 3 "Likes"
|
Google +1
| 1
|
Hub's Age, Activity and Sharing:
Typically when all other cylinders are clicking, a well-aged, yet active hub does very well in search engine results; Mark's hub was published approximately 2 years ago. But, search engines also rank websites and hubs better that have updated activity -- that are fresh. In the 2+ years that Mark's hub has been published it has received 270 comments, and each new comment "updates" his hub, so to speak.
Furthermore, Mark's hub has been shared numerous times. Take a look at the image at the beginning of this section containing the hub's title; notice that "Making Money Online" has been shared on Twitter a lot.
In summary, "Making Money Online" by Mark Knowles gets lots of search engine traffic since the hub:
- Is about a very popular evergreen topic
- Is useful, well-written, and content-rich
- Effectively uses keywords and keyword variations
- Sparks commenting and sharing activity
LINK TO HUB: Making Money Online by Mark Knowles
Updated Content Keeps "The NEW iPhone 5..." Going Strong!
Content
| |
|---|---|
Word Count in Body
| 1,215
|
Content Type
| Current Hot Content
|
Why the Hub "The NEW iPhone 5 - Coming June 2012" by Clandestine Successfully Gets Lots of Organic Search Traffic
Whereas Mark Knowles' hub successfully tackles an evergreen topic in 4,200 words, "The NEW iphone 5 - Coming June 2012" successfully tackles a currently popular topic in 1,200 words. While both evergreen and popular topics both can get a lot of organic search results, the popular topic hub is usually much shorter lived.
But look carefully; "The NEW iphone 5" hub was originally published more than two years ago. Let's take a look at how this popular-topic hub has sustained search traffic for such a lengthy amount of time.
The URL:
Like a forensic scientist piecing together clues at a crime scene, an examination of the URL (uniform resource locator) of Clandestine's hot-topic hub reveals a lot about its history.
http://clandestine.hubpages.com/hub/The-NEW-iPhone-4G-Coming-2010
Notice that the URL refers to the iphone 4G, as well as mentioning its arrival time of 2010. So it seems this hub was written originally about a different iPhone model. Perhaps the hub's popularity surprised Clandestine, otherwise the author probably would not have included the rather limiting words, "Coming 2010" in the URL.
12/2/11: "The NEW iPhone 5 - Coming June 2012" by Clandestine Ranked #2 on Google!
Main Keywords: new iphone 5
| Use of Keywords & Variations
|
|---|---|
URL
| Partially (the "5" is not in the URL)
|
Title
| YES
|
Summary or 1st Sentence of Hub
| YES
|
Headings
| YES: 4 times
|
Body Text
| YES: 26 times
|
Link Text
| YES: 3 times
|
Comments
| YES: 170 times
|
Keyword Niche:
Clandestine's iPhone hub, now revised to iPhone 5 content, seems to always rank on the first page of Google results, usually between position 2 and 6 for the keywords "new iphone 5." However, if a search is performed using only the keywords "iphone 5," the hub is buried back on page 15 of Google results. Does this make the hub a failure? Absolutely not!
Wisely, Clandestine focused on a keyword niche, the "new" niche, if you will. The word "new" not only appears in the hub's URL, but also its headings, body content, and many, many times in comments visitors have written. By competing on a somewhat smaller field, Clandestine has been able to win!
Other Stats for Clandestine's Hub
Age/Activity/Sharing
| Stats
|
|---|---|
Age of Hub
| 2 years+
|
# Comments
| 830
|
Comment Section Word Count
| 57,783
|
Commenting Timeframe
| Continual from 9 months post-publishing date to present
|
Who is Commenting
| Almost all from non-hubbers
|
Twitter
| 274 "Tweets"
|
Facebook
| 2,000 "Likes"
|
Google +1
| 46
|
Keep a "Hot" Topic Alive
The Beginnings of Search Engine Traffic:
Interestingly, "The NEW iPhone 5 - Coming June 2012" hub did not receive its first comments until about 9 months after it was published, but they have been continuous ever since that time. The ensuing comment conversation began and has continued to be about carriers of the iPhone, making this hub "at the right place, at the right time."
Sustaining Organic Search Engine Traffic:
The comments written on Clandestine's hub are almost 100% from non-HubPage writers. Clandestine truly is clandestine in the HubPages community (at least with this profile name) and did not attract initial commenting-action from hubbers. But that is okay, since it is visitors from organic search engine traffic that will ultimately help a writer make money online with HubPages.
But how has Clandestine continued to get traffic to the hub about a popular topic (iPhone 4G/Coming 2010) that has come and gone? Rather than letting this hub slowly die after its hotness wore off, Clandestine cleverly updates its content as changes to the iPhone roll out. The 4G hub could have been abandoned and a new 5G hub created, but wisely Clandestine chooses to substantially update its content as needed.
By updating an older hub and keeping content keyword-rich, Clandestine takes advantage of the hub's age and activity - both factors in gaining good search engine rank. And "activity" this hub has. Notice that it has been tweeted 274 times, liked on Facebook 2,000 times, and received 46 +1s on Google. The popular-topic hub that could have been a mere flash in the pan, now seems to have a life all its own!
In summary, "The NEW iPhone 5 - Coming June 2012" by Clandestine gets lots of search engine traffic since the hub:
- Is about a popular/hot topic that is continuously updated to keep it current
- Focuses on a keyword niche
- Effectively used keywords and keyword variations throughout all its content
- Generates tremendous commenting and sharing activity
LINK TO HUB: The NEW iPhone 5 - Coming June 2012 by Clandestine
Content Born out of "Need" Gives Life to "50 Funny Facebook Status Ideas"
Content
| |
|---|---|
Word Count in Body
| 1,282
|
Content Type
| ? (You be the judge)
|
How "50 Funny Facebook Status Ideas" by Ryankett Successfully Gets Organic Search Engine Click-Through
Ryankett is a self-proclaimed affiliate marketer, webmaster, and ethical search engine optimizer. When it comes to search engine optimization, ethical is the only way to go and Ryankett's hub, "50 Funny Facebook Status Ideas" is on the up-and-up. It appears that funny content, born out of good, old-fashioned "need" works!
Ryankett writes in the first sentence of his hub, which could never be accused of keyword-stuffing:
I have to admit it, to my eternal shame, I have actually sat in front of Facebook and spent a good five minutes trying to think of something funny to say..... and then failed miserably, so turned to Google for assistance.
Whether it was Plato that coined the phrase, "Necessity is the mother of invention" or Frank Zappa that propelled it into modern day, it's clear that Ryankett's "necessity" certainly had its hand at work in the "50 Funny Facebook Status Ideas" hub.
12/2/11: "50 Funny Facebook Status Ideas" Ranked #9 on Google!
Main Keywords: funny facebook status
| Use of Keywords & Variations
|
|---|---|
URL
| YES
|
Title
| YES
|
Summary or 1st Sentence of Hub
| NO
|
Headings
| YES: 4 times
|
Body Text
| YES: 2 times
|
Link Text
| YES: 5 times
|
Comments
| YES: 224 times
|
Content and Keywords:
So, how do the 1,289 words of content help his hub rank well in Google and propel searchers to click-through and read? If you notice in the stats, the hub is rather light on its keyword usage, but the keywords, "funny facebook status" do appear in two very critical locations:
- URL: http://ryankett.hubpages.com/hub/50-Funny-Facebook-Status-Ideas
- TITLE: 50 Funny Facebook Status Ideas
Based on the continual comments this hub receives to date, it seems that this hub has garnered a lot of search engine traffic for at least two years.
Whether or not search engine traffic will continue for the long haul remains to be seen as it is difficult to judge whether its content is evergreen or simply popular. If Facebook itself remains popular for a long-time then so too might Ryankett's hub. However, if Facebook fades off the landscape of pop-culture, much the way MySpace did, then it will turn out that this hub rode a long and successful wave of popularity.
Other Stats for Ryankett's Hub
Age/Activity/Sharing
| Stats
|
|---|---|
Age of Hub
| 2 years
|
# Comments
| 1651
|
Comment Section Word Count
| 39,710
|
Commenting Timeframe
| Continual from publishing to present date
|
Who is Commenting
| Hubbers & Non-hubbers
|
Twitter
| 18
|
Facebook
| 649
|
Google +1
| 15
|
Commenting and Sharing Activity:
Smartly, Ryankett did not stop with one hub's success; he has created an empire of funny Facebook hubs!
In the companion hub, "50 Funny Statuses for Facebook," Ryankett explains right off the bat that his second Facebook status hub is in response to demand from the first one. This gives us a clue that comments seem to be the driving force in his first hub's success.
Not only has the first funny Facebook status hub received over 1,600 comments, but the comments contain a lot of keywords that are indexed by Google and other search engines. In fact, the 1,600 comments contain over 39,000 words!
As expected, Ryankett's funny Facebook hub has been "liked" by fellow Facebookers! And it has been "liked" to the tune of over 649 times, making his hub take on a life all its own!
In summary, "50 Funny Facebook Status Ideas" by Ryankett gets lots of search engine traffic since the hub:
- Meets a need that the author and clearly many other internet searchers have
- Uses keywords in two very important locations
- Receives continual commenting and sharing action to sustain its popularity
LINK TO HUB: 50 Funny Facebook Status Ideas* by Ryankett
*As of 4/2012 Ryankett has unpublished most of his Hubs so he can focus on other ventures. Read about Ryan Kett's experience at HubPages, including some of his incredible traffic stats.
Conclusion:
Below are three tables that compare the three hubs which succeed at getting a lot of search engine traffic, side-by-side. Similarities and differences can be readily seen. But it is the similarities that tell the story of why these hubs succeed at helping these writers make money online with HubPages.
Similarities between the 3 hubs:
- Age of Hub (These are not new hubs!)
- Use of keywords in URL, title, body, and comments
- Sustained commenting activity
- A lot of sharing activity on social networks
Differences between the 3 hubs:
- Hub word count (but they are all over 1,000 words)
- Content-type (evergreen vs popular/hot)
- Who leaves the comments (hubbers vs non-hubbers)
Comparison of content between 3 successful hubs:
Hub Content
| Making Money Online
| The NEW iPhone 5 - Coming June 2012
| 50 Funny Facebook Status Ideas
|
|---|---|---|---|
Age of Hub
| 2 years+
| 2 years+
| 2 years
|
Word Count
| 4,219
| 1,215
| 1,289
|
Content Type
| Evergreen
| Current/Hot
| ? You be the judge
|
Comparison of keyword usage between the 3 successful hubs:
Keyword Usage
| Making Money Online
| The NEW iPhone 5 - Coming June 2012
| 50 Funny Facebook Status Ideas
|
|---|---|---|---|
Keywords
| make money online
| new iphone 5
| funny facebook status
|
URL
| YES
| YES (partially)
| YES
|
Title
| YES
| YES
| YES
|
Headings
| 7 times
| 4 times
| 4 times
|
Body, Link-text & Comments
| 137 times
| 199 times
| 229 times
|
Comparison of comments & sharing activity between the 3 successful hubs:
Hub Activity
| Making Money Online
| The NEW iPhone 5 - Coming June 2012
| 50 Funny Facebook Status Ideas
|
|---|---|---|---|
# Comments
| 270
| 830
| 1651
|
Comment Word Count
| 14,029
| 57,783
| 39,710
|
Comment Timeframe
| publishing to present
| 9 months post-publishing to present
| publishing to present
|
Who Writes the Comments
| mostly hubbers
| mostly non-hubbers
| combination of hubbers & non-hubbers
|
Twitter
| 43
| 274
| 18
|
Facebook Likes
| 3
| 2,000
| 649
|
Google +1
| 1
| 46
| 15
|
"Make Money Online with HubPages" Articles by this Author
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Drive traffic to your hubpages by selecting the best keywords for tags and titles for the hub. Also, discover how keyword relevant tags can increase search rank.
Do you like to write about any topic that interests you? Give HubPages a try.
Sign Up Here ... It's QUICK & FREE to join HubPages. You'll be glad you did!
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ktrapp - this is a wonderful hub, and so ingenious. You have shared so much information, that I will need to read this again, and also read the hubs you have discussed. I have learned so much from you that I have created a bookmark folder with your name on it. I have only done that for one other person.
I am so glad I caught this on the feed. I am having a hard time making it through my notifications, although I am saving them. But the hub was one that can be used right now. Great job! I'm so excited to have this information.
Wonderful hub and thanks for the great hub. I see your point and you definitely took some time to get this hub done. Well done and keep it up! Marked useful.
Ok let get one thing straight: this is one quality hub you have written here. Great presentation of the information you are trying to convey. Though the tips you have shown here that enabled the three hubs to gain so much traffic is quite understandable, execution of these steps effectively would be always be the hard obstacle to surmount. Thumbs up!
nice job
homesteadbound - Thank you so much for your comments. I write these types of hubs hoping that they will help others. I am truly flattered to know that you consider these types of hubs to worthy of my own bookmark folder! You're very kind to say so.
how i wish i could be as clever as you..
Wow, thanks for taking the time for putting this all together. Lots of great tips and hints that I'll be putting into practice. Bookmarked and voted up!
k, I bookmarked this so I can study it. Nothing comes easy for me when it comes to online stats. Yeah, I can write, but online requires so much more than the ability to write. Thanks! Voted up!
Rednickle - I wholeheartedly agree - execution of the things we know is often where we get stuck. Hopefully, seeing tips in action will help people see how gaining search engine traffic is accomplished. Thanks for commenting.
Ktrapp, wow!!!! This is an amazing hub, and as other hubbers stated, I have to bookmark it for further study. I think it is so important to look at who the successes are, as far as money-making, and learn from them. You have done such an amazing analysis. Awesome!
romari - Thank you so much.
HarryMcg - You are very welcome. I am sure you will find the hub-writing to-get-search-engine-results tips easy to use. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
You have put together some really useful lessons in a very clear way - thanks!
Hi Arlene. Don't worry about all the facts and figures if you're not big on stats. What matters most is the body and conclusions drawn from them. If you do want to look at the numbers I would suggest focusing on the three comparison charts at the end. Happy reading :) and thanks for bookmarking, commenting and voting.
Prarieprincess - Thank you so very much. I truly hope this analysis gives some hubbers guidance as I know so many of us desire solid organic search engine traffic - and what better way to learn than by analyzing hubs that achieve this goal.
Marie McKeown - I'm very to know that you found this hub to be useful. Thanks for letting me know.
Hi Lindasmith1. Thank you for expressing your curiosity and questions. The statistics that you see in this hub is information that anyone can see if an analysis is done of a hub. For example, I could easily gather up data about one of your hubs and determine it's approximate word length, number of comments, dates of comments, publishing dates etc.
Please note that I did not say hub 1 was perfect, but it does a whole lot correctly. It certainly succeeds in the subject at hand - organic search results. The proof is readily available by searching "making money online."
Mark's hub will come up on the first page of Google results and seeing that the term has almost 4 billion results, I consider that top-notch. Honestly, the Google PR really is of little interest. Quite literally it is results that matter.
Thanks again for your interest.
Well, there must be a tool then. I found out about one that I used 2 ways for one of my use to be hubs and it was horrible. The only tool here is hub metrics that I am aware of, and only I can see that.
It would be nice though to have a tool that gives worthwhile data on any article that you have written so you can see where you may want to make changes.
You can simply copy and paste the text of any article into Microsoft Word. At the bottom of the page in the center you can see the document's word count. You can then do a "Command F" (if you are using a Mac) or Ctrl F and type keywords in the box. Keep clicking next and count up the number of occurrences. You can do the same for keyword variations. Likewise, you can copy and paste the comment text separately into Word and get the word count or keywords. I hope this helps.
It might help, if I had Word. I got stuck with Vista. I use open office, which I can't do anything with.
I can at least use the find and replace functiion just to count keywords. Never thought about using it for that.
Excellent hub! I learned from attending Hubcamp in Houston that it takes any hub a while to age and this confirms that. Other useful advice as well. Thanks! Voted up and useful.
Very useful hub! Thanks for sharing this!
Peggy W - Thanks for sharing that information. I have read in numerous places on HubPages that the age of the hub matters in terms of search engine rank, so it was nice to see it confirmed in this research and from what you learned at Hubcamp. Thanks for your comments and votes.
101 - I am glad to know that you found this hub useful. I hope seeing the traits of 3 hubs that get a lot of search engine traffic helps some hub writers. Thanks for leaving your thoughts.
I have learned from my time on Hubpages and blogging that perennial hubs are definitely the best for long term earning. I enjoy writing about current events from time to time, but those really only get traffic during the time of those news stories.
Thanks for contributing to the conversation, SweetiePie. It is nice to hear from hubbers that have been here for a few years. I see you have been with HubPages for 4 years now, so your confirmation that perennial/evergreen topics do the best for long-term earning is valuable.
Thanks for some excellent advice and handy reference tables. I had completely forgotten about the aging factor so this was a good reminder as many of my hubs are new. Voted uup.
Donna - I think some of us newer hubbers (i.e. less than 1 year) do tend to forget that the age of a hub does have an impact on search rank. Thanks for taking the time to comment and vote.
Very detailed and thorough information! Great way to use your SEO background and then give concrete examples of hubs that are generating traffic over time. One of the best articles I've read on this topic. Best, Steph
Steph - I really appreciate your kind words. They certainly mean a lot coming from someone like yourself who has had success with HubPages.
~Kristin
Excellent hub! It is detailed and very interesting! I will think about it and come back to read it agin! Bookmarked, voted up and useful! Thanks for all the work you done,
Tina
Awesome hub! Detailed, useful information that are sure to come in handy to many hubbers - including myself!
This is very interesting and enlightening. You've detailed the success features of each of the three hubs. Thanks for doing all the legwork and I can tell you that I've definitely learned a few tricks from your hub.Rated up.
Thoughtforce - I'm glad you bookmarked this hub so you can read it again. The three hubs discussed that get a lot of search engine traffic certainly are worth "studying." Thanks so much.
Kim - I am glad you appreciate the detail. I think this is a case where the devil is NOT in the details. I think these stats about the three hubs that get a lot of organic search engine traffic help answer a lot of people's ongoing questions about what makes a hub work.
Definitely answered mine. I've bookmarked it for future reference. Thanks again!
anginwu - I love knowing that giving the details about successful hubs has taught you a few new things. Thanks for sharing that with me.
Thanks again Kim. I see so many questions in the "question/answer" and forum areas about how long should a hub be, or whether to reply to comments or not, or where to put keywords, etc. So many people have so much knowledge and so many opinions, as well.
But for me, turning to the facts, the "numbers," is usually the best way to get answers. I am interested in learning about successes and applying those lessons to my hub writing. Thanks again for reading and bookmarking.
~Kristin
Great resource! Thank you!
More helpful stuff from the master, (er, mistress?) of SEO. Thanks - again - for sharing your expertise, ktrapp.
ktrapp - excellent source. I appreciate the research you have done here. Definitely bookmarking this one. I was impressed with the amount of FB likes and tweets on some of the examples you gave (title pictures). Incredible traffic.
Voted up
Writeronline - I wouldn't go that far (master/mistress), but thanks for the compliment :)
missolive - I too was impressed with the amount of social networking going on with the 3 successful hubs that are profiled here.
I can certainly see how the "funny facebook status" hub took off on with all its Facebook likes. You may be too young to remember, but there used to be a tv commercial for shampoo (I think Pert) and the lady in it said something like, and they tell two friends and they tell two friends and so on, and before you knew the screen was filled with many faces.
And that I am sure is how ryankett got so many Facebook likes for his funny Facebook status hub - One person likes it, then a few of their friends like it, and their friends' friends like it and so on - until next thing you know you've got 2K Likes. Amazing.
Thanks for your comment and vote.
Thanks for the youth complement! hehe
I do remember the Pert commercial - perfect example of how this would work.
pppsssssttttt I'm in my 40's ;)
HaHa missolive. I'm in my 40s too; you just seem like you have a lot more energy than me, so I assumed that it had to be youth :)
yay! lol
It is probably because I work with middle school kiddos - they keep me "cool" LOL...(insert whiney and drawn out 'whatever' here) haha
Anyway - I truly wish I had the Pert phenomenon affect my Facebook and Twitter - one day, one day - I'm still a novice that is learning and sharing along the way. Very glad and thankful to be following your hubs and comments. They are truly very helpful. Plus, I'm extremely determined to make this (HP) work for me. I only wish I had joined in the summer when I was off from work - I ended up joining in Sept, but I'm happy how things have worked out for me. So far so good - doing better than I expected.
Continued best wishes to you 'kiddo' ;)
I think the topic may be the biggest factor in a hub taking off into the Facebook/Twitter stratosphere. If you look at the hub comments for the iPhone hub, those people are passionate about their phones and carriers. Look at the last table: the iphone hub has half the # of comments as the funny facebook hub, but about 18,000 more words in the comments. Those people have a lot to say and share I guess. It definitely is a hot topic for some and I think they have the need to tweet about what seems like something controversial (iphone & verizon, etc.)
I think we may be sort of on the same path with HubPages. I started at the very end of July, but didn't accomplish much in August since I had to spend a lot of time getting my son off to college. In Oct. I started a new part time job working at a high school on their website. Like you, I have spent a lot of my time reading and writing, but I hope to get into more of a rhythm here at HubPages now that I am settled in my new routine at home/work.
Very helpful. Just have to have brilliant idea, slog out loads of good text and socialise and backlink like mad. It doesn't come easy! Many thanks for an excellent analysis. Your comments are flowing quite well ....
BookMarked! Thanks :D
Sort of Les Trois Chenes.
I'm not sure of the Clandestine's inspiration for the iphone hub, but Mark Knowles was based on what he already knows (making money online) and Ryankett's inspiration for his funny Facebook hub came out of his need (thinking of something funny to write on Facebook) that he figured others must have as well.
I think some of the best ideas come from what we know or what we experience. That is where our expertise shines through. And when that's the case, the words usually come easily. While Mark's hub was over 4,000 words the other two were each just over 1,000 words. One-thousand words isn't too difficult for a subject you know about or are passionate about. And keep in mind, the body text word count that I used included words in link capsules since search engine spiders crawl that text too.
I wonder how much back-linking and socializing these authors actually did. What I mean is, Ryankett could have shared his hub on Facebook one time and then other readers kept liking/sharing. That's not too much effort on his part. And I am curious about all the tweeting for the iphone hub. I wonder about the profile of the people who commented - they certainly are passionate about iphones. Almost all are non-hubbers, maybe more technically inclined and more likely to tweet. Who knows? But it would be interesting if there was a way to find out how the socializing-ball got rolling on that hub.
My guess is, the 3 profiled hubs may have actually come rather easily to these authors. My longest hubs, about html/hub stuff/web design certainly came the easiest to me since I am very familiar with the subject from my work.
It certainly does not come nearly as easily though, as you point out, for other types of subjects. Personally, I definitely need to put more effort into the back-linking and sharing.
Thanks so much for reading and for taking the time to comment. You certainly captured the "formula" for HubPage success in a nutshell!
Digitskyes - I envy your ability to say so much in so few words. Thanks!
A very useful and informative hub ktrapp. Thanks for sharing this, it is really helpful.
Thanks moiragallaga. I'm glad you found this information helpful.
Wow. This is by far one of the best Hubs I've read so far. Awesome job.
Random observation: I think the people who are most successful on HubPages are those who view it as a community to grow with, not those who view it purely as some sort of backlink-building monetization scheme. It's obviously good for the second, and I'll admit that I joined for the second reason as an experiment -- but I think I've changed my mind. The community here is really vibrant, and it's easy to spend hours getting lost in the site, learning about hundreds of new things you never knew before.
I can understand why HubPages was named one of the top new tech companies.
[On an entirely unrelated note, I just wrote a 4,000+ word Hub along the lines of Mark's. It would be pretty interesting if I got that much traffic on it. We'll see -- I'm not doing anything to promote it.]
great hub, I will bookmark it.
Thanks arusho.
I really learned a lot from reading this Hub. I'm a little confused. When you mention keywords in the comments, are you referring to our comment in response to a comment. There would be no way we could control how the original commenter used key words. I've also bookmarked this Hub. Vote it UP, etc.etc.
Great question Mary. I am referring to the ALL the keywords in the comments, whether they are by the author or not. Obviously we cannot control what other people write, but if we write a hub that attracts comments, invariably the non-author comments will contain keywords. No matter who writes the comments, search engines will index those words.
Additionally, the comments provide new content, thereby updating a hub. So, while we cannot control the words readers choose to use in their comments, we can control the subject matter (that may or may not attract comments), the hub/article itself (which may inspire readers to leave comments), as well as our own author comments (which can serve to regulate or redirect the commenting conversation if necessary).
I actually wrote a hub about getting the most out of the hub comment section that you may be interested in reading sometime:
http://ktrapp.hubpages.com/_hubassist/hub/hubpages
Thanks for taking the time to bookmark, comment, and vote.
This is a great hub...well written, well laid out, really a gem.
I'm curious whether you think its better to have a long list of tags or to just have a few focused ones. Someone advised me when I first started not to exceed 10 tags, but I see many hubpages "successes" with long lists of tags.
Wow, This definitely has a wealth of information as I am starting out in the hub world! Thanks for writing!
Thank you Stephanie.
I think the subject of tags is the "million dollar question" around here. I have never found a definitive answer on HubPages or by doing my own searches elsewhere. But I do have some opinions...
If you view the page source of a hub, the "tags" in the bubbles do not show up in the code. So quite frankly I am not sure if any search engines see them anyway. IF that's the case then the quantity is neither here-nor-there.
They do have value within HubPages itself, though. If you click on one then you are taken to a list of hubs by various authors on the clicked topic. So you want to have them so your hub is sure to appear on those pages but the tags must relate to the topic.
Here's an example from the iphone hub profiled.
About halfway down the tag list is one that says "new iphone 5 review." The hub never specifically uses the word "review" in it. I did a Google search on that specific term and I didn't find the iphone hub anywhere in the first 5 pages of results (quit looking after that). Then if you click the tag on the hub, this iphone hub does not appear in the HubPages list either. That specific tag is not reflective of the topic and Google and HubPages knows it. Yet, including it doesn't hurt the hub for relevant search terms such as the one's discussed in this hub, "new iphone 5."
I guess this is a long-winded way of saying, "I'm not sure." But to me the evidence suggests that they neither help or hurt as far as search engines go. And using tags that don't quite match the content doesn't get you anything, but it doesn't hurt the relevant terms.
To answer your question specifically: I think fewer focused tags that specifically match the content is plenty. If that can be accomplished in 5 then no need to add more, if 15 terms are relevant then that is probably fine too.
Artsygal - I'm so glad you found this hub since you are just starting out. Now you will always know to put keywords in your URLs, Title, etc., as well as real good content, out of the starting gates. Best wishes.
Well done! Seems this hub might end up with the Hubs you spoke about...Now wouldnt that be nice?
Ktrapp, thanks so much for sharing this information. I know so many others hope to be making more money online over time. By applying these helpful tips, hopefully that will be the case. Thanks again for sharing.
Thank you so much for sharing your information. This is an excellent hub and will be very helpful to me. Voted up!
Barry - I'm not sure that this hub has the wide appeal that the three profiled hubs have based on their topic, but it would be nice if it did well in its own small niche. Time will tell. Thanks for your comment and uplifting thoughts.
Oceansunsets - I would be really thrilled if other writers applied what they learned in this hub in order to make money online. I know so many writers at HubPages (including myself) want to make more money writing online, that residual income that is a selling point of HubPages, and getting solid organic search engine traffic is a must. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Sgbrown - I am so glad you came across this hub about hubs that get search engine traffic early in your HubPages "career." I think it is so much easier to apply the principles from this hub (as well as others I have written) before publishing for the first time, as opposed to editing later. Plus, it really is critical to get good search terms in the URL (not necessarily catchy titles) and URLs cannot be edited. Best wishes.
Great hub - you must have spent some time getting the info together.
Thanks lobobrandon. It did take some time, but for me concrete facts are more reliable than opinions on what works and doesn't work. Thanks.
Very true :)
I'm spending my time doing research as well instead of writing at present. When I write it will be in full swing.
Great thorough information for a newcomer. I know when a started a few weeks ago, I just wanted to jump in, but then didn't. I researched for a bit then wrote, but then soon realized there is so much more to learn. This is very useful information, laid out and easy to understand.
Ktrapp, This is an awesome hub! Your ability to analyze and explain data is simply amazing.
I think that some quality hubs simply take off and fly on their own with minimal promotional effort. It reminds me of the expression "the cream rises to the top." These hubs do have to hit all the right notes and I don't think as a writer we always know which ones they will be.
Great useful information. I am voting this hub up and awesome!
Tracy
Hi The-Best-Mouse-Trap - That's great that you're taking some time to learn first.
I've seen a lot of new writers jump in and take on the "30 hubs in 30 days challenge." Even if the writing quality is good, I have noticed that often the seo qualtiy is not.
While this is a great goal, personally I feel it is better to take on this self-imposed challenge after knowing more about the ins-and-outs of writing good seo hubs.
Best Wishes ~Kristin
Tracy - Thanks you for your very kind words. I think the "cream rises to the top" is an excellent way of paraphrasing how some hubs reach success. To continue the analogy: I guess our well-written hubs about topics people are interested in are the cream and solid SEO is what makes them rise.
Thanks for your thoughtful comment and vote!
Dear Kristin ~ Congratulations on this hubpages round up of the top three money making articles. I predict this to be a very successful Google search for this topic. I love the clear way you presented the information and the graphic analysis. Many thanks to you. Blessings, Debby
P.S. I did a Google Search of your Title and it turned up #1 above Mark Knowles Hub.
Debby, Thank you so much for the compliments on this hub. I like your prediction, but time will only tell. As you point out though, this hub is already indexed by Google, and in just a few short days. That's the power of being part of HubPages! You're right, this hub is #1 if its exact title is searched, but not for the more general term "making money online" where Mark shines :)
I do just want to clarify one point so as to avoid some confusion for anyone reading these comments. The 3 successful hubs profiled are definitely successful in getting search engine traffic. However, I cannot say that they are the top 3 money-making articles. I would have no way of knowing that. But, I do know that to make money writing hubs, you most certainly have to first succeed at getting organic search traffic, as these hubs do.
Thanks for taking the time to comment and testing out some of the search terms yourself in Google.
Best Wishes ~Kristin
Excellent Hub 'K'. Clear and concise information put out there for everyone to understand and take advantage of. Up to your high standards!
Hi Don. That's very kind of you. I do hope hubbers take advantage so they get more organic search engine traffic to their hubs.
I was inspired to write this profile of the three hubs which get search traffic after continually reading complaints in forums about Google. However, oftentimes with a mere glance at some of the discouraged hubbers' hubs, there are obvious things that can be fixed so easily.
Thanks for your nice words.
I read those 3 hubs in the past and always felt they were the way to write a hub. Your hub is bookmarked, ktrapp, for future reference. The hubs you review also have some reference value which keeps readers coming back again and again. Repeat customers are the best.
Very well done ktrapp...I will study this, having trouble w/ views lately and not sure why. Thanks for all the info !!
This is very useful information, and well researched. Thank you for sharing it with us. Can you please tell us how you decided to focus on those three hubs? I guess that is another way of asking if the over 1,000 words is what the top hubs have, or whether you chose good hubs you knew about, and they wound up having over 1,000 words.
I have a hard time writing a lot of keywords in my articles, just because it seems so forced and not as easy to read. I am sure that Hubbers will understand, but regular viewers? Not so sure.
Keith - You are so correct; the profiled hubs also do have good reference value. I know the hubs I bookmark fall into two categories (1)information I want to save to use at a later date(s), and (2) information that I deem good enough to want to read but don't have the time to fully digest at the moment. Either way, I return to my bookmarked hubs and am a repeat customer. By the way, thanks for bookmarking this hub!
Wmod514 - I think you have a great collection of recipe hubs and a lot of great culinary knowledge which deserves to get traffic. I hope the model hubs profile in this hub help you in your endeavors in increasing views. ~Kristin
Millionaire Tips - I'm thrilled to know this information is useful to you. To answer your question, these are hubs that I know are good at getting lots of search engine traffic, that when analyzed had 1,000 words or more in the body. By no means does the reverse hold true - that hubs that are over 1,000 words will do automatically do well - not the case at all.
If I were to suggest the two most important things it would be to get your keywords in your URL and Title. But don't make those long and spammy. Then get keywords or variations in some of your capsule subtitles (headings). Finally, they should be in the body as well but it by no means has to be excessive or unnatural language. Just be sure to use variations, not the same keywords over and over. Keyword stuffing is horrible for humans and search bots. The fact that they wind up in comments is a bonus!
I think so many people miss out on getting the keywords in the URL, which cannot be edited later, and this hurts.
Best Wishes ~Kristin
Thanks for the reply Kristin. You write many great, useful hubs and I enjoy reading them. You're right, I need to take my focus away from the length of the hub and focus on putting the keywords into my hubs in a natural way.
Hello, ktrapp! I have shared this hub with my followers by including it in my latest Hub Luv Series.
Great Hub!
Very interesting article. Nice to see everything broken down in an easy to understand way. Thanks for taking the time to write and share this article with us.
Thanks homesteadbound. A link/share is a very high form of flattery so I appreciate it very much!
Truthfornow - You are very welcome. I'm very glad to pass along the information.
Unbelievable hub. So much useful information that will help me with hubpages. Thanks for the help this hub will bring me!
Mtbaliz - Thanks for letting me know that the information about why these hubs get search engine traffic is helpful to you.
Oh you have done lots of homework to write. Really really useful stats. Thanks for working so hard for all of us.
This article definitely took a lot of work and analysis to determine some of the factors that make these three hubs successful at getting organic search results, but I was more than happy to do it and share it with everyone else. Thanks for you comment.
What a fantastic hub. I've book marked it so that I can come back and study it in depth. Thanks so much for writing this as I am sure it will help many of us.
This is a useful hub that was interesting to read. I have reached the stage where I am trying to compare what I am getting right (and not just about money) and what I can improve in my writing style here. Topics like this one are worth reading as I attempt to draw conclusions about writing on HubPages. Thank you.
Susan - Thank you very much. I hope that seeing what helps other hubs successful at getting search engine traffic will in fact help all of us who hope to also do well at HubPages.
2uesday - I see you have a nice collection of hubs and it is a great idea for all of us to periodically take a step back and evaluate what's working and what needs improvement. I'm glad that you found this hub useful to you in that regard.
I'm back ktrapp. I wanted to know that I wrote a hub about my favorite hubs I read this week, and this hub is definitely on the list. So much great information here.
Thank you Millionaire Tips, both for reading and for thinking highly enough of this article on hubs that get search engine traffic, to include it in your "favorites list." I will be sure to check it out. ~Kristin
Very useful article! Like the old addage says, "Emulate those who are doing well, and you'll do well yourself." This is great! Thumbs up, and a follower now.
Pearsonm - Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I think so many of us have read a lot of articles on search engine optimization, but sometimes it is just so much easier to understand the concepts when we can see them in action. I think taking a look at these 3 hubs that get search engine traffic provides some people the necessary "visualization" factor.
Glad I stumbled across this. Very helpful information. Thanks for going above the usual generic advice. Bookmarked and shared.
Marriedwithdebt - Nice to know that this will be helpful to you. Thanks for sharing it as well.
Hello ktrapp,
What a brilliant analysis of the performance of these 3 quite different hubpages, how did I miss this?
I thought I was one of your followers but apparently not. I will correct that forthwith.
Great hub bookmarked and voted up.
Hello molometer. I certainly appreciate your generous comments and am glad to have you following along. And off topic, let me say that one thing I love about HubPages is meeting people from other countries. Your "forthwith" gave you away and your profile confirmed my suspicions. What a great word. Thanks for taking the time to read and comment.
Thanks for this hub - I'm a returning hubber trying to pick up where I left off and hopefully will be able to make some money this time. Your hub together with the 3 featured hubs are going to be read and re-read until I've really got the hang of the mechanics being used. A great read, bookmarked and voted up.
Annie May - Thrilled to know that you are going to use this hub to help you build more search traffic in an effort to make money with HubPages. I might also suggest that you take a look at another hub I wrote, "Get Hits on HubPages - How to Use Keywords in all the Right Places." The hub describes five places that writers often miss putting keywords. There is a link to that article and three others at the end of this hub. Best wishes on your money making journey and thanks for letting me know.
Very helpful hub! Thank you for the in-depth explanation of what works.
Leegis. You are very welcome. Hopefully, by breaking the in-depth explanation on why these hubs get organic search traffic into numeric form, you, as well as others, will be able to see what works in these cases.
Probably the most amazing SEO hub I've ever read that puts it in such a way that I can easily understand! Thank you so much! You gained a follower :)
Fortadam, It's nice to know that I earned you as a follower through the content of this hub. I do hope that seeing how these other hubs get search engine traffic organically really is of help to you.
Ktrapp, you found some great Hubs there to dissect. I have actually read these 3 Hubs before and thought it would be great to have a Hub that's as successful as one of these.
It's also great how you've created a picture/comparison so other Hubbers have a tangible idea of what they need to do to get more views or get a following or earn more money on Hubpages.
Thank you for your comment Lauryallan. Having a hub that gets lots of search engine traffic of course begins with writing about a topic that people actually search for. It's always interesting to look at examples of success and learn from them.
Really enjoyed your hub and so I voted it Up and Interesting, Thanks for sharing.
Thank you athena2011.
This hub is obviously much appreciated but wanted to add my thanks for helpful info on making money with HubPages. :) Always appreciated learning from your work and the confirmation and encouragement that comes when an aspect of hubbing is clarified thanks to your posts.
RTalloni - What a very thoughtful comment that is much appreciated. I'm thrilled to know that a lot of my SEO hubs have provided you confirmation and encouragement, as well as clarification. That was very kind of you to say so!
Thank you for such an informative Hub, to be sure I will be referring back to it as I continue on my Hub adventure!
Cosmic Bus - I do hope this guide on making money with HubPages helps you on your adventure. Best wishes.
Again very useful. Voted up!
I agree with you ktrapp if we want to make money on hubpages than we need great traffic from search engines ,we should do keyword research and write article according to it ..Thanks for your nice hub
Thanks urmilashukla23 and amithak50. Sustained search engine traffic is definitely key to online writing success.
LindaSmith1 5 months ago
curious as to how you got all of the stats since we cannot see everything for all hubs. Google PR for first hub is only a 3, and that is a top notch, perfectly done article??? Many of us have, or did have until we moved them PR 3 in very short period of time, and they were new hubs.