Well, It's been 15 months since I've become "ilonagarden" on Hubpages, and apart from the initial adjustment for the move from Squidoo, there have been a number of rather large hiccups.
So large, in fact, that there is now a secondary exodus from the site, and many very disgruntled writers.
I've decided to stay. I thought about it, and the whole experience at Squidoo was one of changing, learning to adjust to the decisions of the staff, and adopting the techniques that were desired by both the site and the public.
The History So Far
Most people know that both Squidoo and Hubpages have been writing sites where an income is possible from the writing. Squidoo folded and was absorbed by Hubpages. That is why my pages went there.
Both sites have had problems with Google, with spam-makers and spinners, and with the changing internet. HP continues to try to come up with a viable system.
Grumblings
One of the grumblings that surface on FB and in their forums is the changes to the amount of Amazon listings (capsules) that writers are allowed to include before they get penalized (unfeatured).
I've had lots of problems with this myself, but realized I had developed some bad habits ( too much selling, not enough substance) while learning how to monetize on Hubpages ( and in other types of online writing as well).
When one is spending a huge amount of time creating free content, there needs to be a way to pay for one's time. That is monetizing for most webmasters and writers.
Hiccup #1
As Hubpages has been stricter and stricter, my Amazon orders have dropped by about 80%. My websites drive very little traffic to order from Amazon.
No wonder. I have had to delete most of the Amazon products from the pages, and then there is the fact they I only get some of the commissions from the orders. Hubbers (as we are called) get little or no information on how that works.
Squidoo was ideal for their system, one's own Amazon, Zazzle products and affiliates all syncing together on a wide range of posts. This is not possible anymore.
As you can imagine, the income has dropped precipitously.
Hiccup #2
The continuing unfeatured status, some of which is run by Mechanical Turks workers who seem to grade the hubs (as the posts are called) make it a guessing game as to what is considered a good article.
It is not as clear cut as simply good writing, or even fulfilling the rather large number of qualifications (word count, interaction features, videos, photos) each hub is supposed to have.
When unfeatured, the articles are not listed on the site. It has become difficult to find many articles in either search or on th efew that make it to the front page.
Choices Must Be Made
I am making choices now. Unlike some who are leaving altogether, I have decided to take down and rework many of my articles for my own sites.
Some that I have done so far:
On Reflecting Pool
On Garden Pages
...and many more coming
My Daughters Site
I had written more than two hundred and fifty articles, and very few of those are now featured. So, they are slowly being moved to appropriate sites.
The Remedy
Not that this will work for everything, but one remedy for loss of feature status is to get rid of just about all the Amazon capsules.
Another thing to do is get rid of most of the outgoing links. I think this is too bad all the way around for the web. Originally that was what "the web" referred to, linking information together. But in today's climate that is contrary to ranking well, apparently.
On the forums it is suggested by HP staff that updating often will help. That would be useful for temporary "unfeatured for lack of traffic", but not for those little empty circles that mean you were slapped for quality control.
Try:
- Linking to the traffic-challenged hubs from your blog might help.
- Increasing content and diversify the features.
- Sharing on your social media profiles
For those in the Hubpages Ad program, it helps to remember that increasing traffic to your hubs impacts the income that the hubs earn.
So increasing the traffic is important for more than just trying to improve feature status.
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