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2013/03/11

Has Google affected article writing on Hub Pages?

06:56    1 comment


Has the Google update to theGoogle algorithm changed yourGoogle Page rank, and affected your Hub Pages? Is your traffic drying up? Are you finding less people coming to your Hubs? People are asking many questions about theefficacy of the Google search engine formula, since it was changed a short while ago? Many think it has changed for the worst and now is weighted in favor of people who are more willing to pay for Google Adwords programs to bring up their pagerank. Many writers here have said to me that traffic to their hub pages is way down in recent times. Many writers are looking at their options - many are asking is it time to make a move? Can writing on Hub Pages continue to provide any decent earnings for writers? Or has the model for writing articles for the web been tarnished now by a set of unreasonable rules that contradict themselves?
One writer says Hub Pages and article writing in general pays well. A Freelance writer told me this today. Another writer (not a freelancer) said his earnings are way down and the click-rate on Hubs all over is down, and depreciating further. Theoretically writing should be paying you money, even on the web. You can monetize anything on the web, within reason, so why not a good piece of writing, here on Hub Pages? Writers have read the tutorials and read the rules and the do's and don'ts. So how hard can this be? It isn't. But Google have recently made it very complicated.
Writers who over-promote hubs can be penalised. Writers who write articles that don't meet requirements of what the rules allow can be penalised. Some writers are writing on Hub Pages almost every day and still their Hub score stubbornly refuses to climb and they ask why? A year ago, things were so much different here? What happened? What we need here are some frank reality checks and assertions.
Anyone who has recently arrived on Hub Pages with a view to making a go of it and publish articles here to earn money, will only be successful if their writing is high quality, theirhub subjects are highly sought after, are relevant and topical, have keywords that are frequently searched for, and which meet the requirements and conditions of Google, Hub Pages, Amazon, eBay and Kontera. They have to be willing to write often - a minimum of three to four hubs a week to be consistently good or just consistent.
And there are other things that they need to do. Backlinks, one-way links, two-way links, three-way links, page rank has to be watched, Google SEO has to be observed and followed ...and it goes on and on. Ever more conditions more tricks, more tweets, more links put on facebook, MySpace, Friendster, SheToldMe, StumbleUpon, AddThis, until someone realises this isn't writing any more. This is turning into the search for a kind of holy grail using more and more ways, means and tricks to stay ahead and get highly ranked in Google's coveted First Page. And this will not make you money over night or immediately. There is no guarantee. No hourly rate, no minimum wage rate. No absolutes. Just more uncertainty.
Yes, it can be done. Money can be made on Hub Pages and article writing in general. Some use Hub Pages as Bill Boards, Blogs to just air their feelings, vent their frustration or call for help with a genuine issue, many look for friendship, many more just want to belong to a community. Thousands of people and thousands of reasons to be here on Hubs.
If you are a Quality Writer and are already assured by others you are worth it and worthy of being published, here's a warning. There are better ways to make money from article writing. Go Freelance. Take it up as a profession. Write magazine articles. Buy the Writers and Artists Yearbook. It is a proven resource and works, and the community of writers is incredible. The rewards that come from writing on websites like Hub Pages - though most admirable and entertaining - will not pay the bills and help you get out of the recession.
Money made from not writing but from just waiting for someone to click on a Google advert on the same page as your writing is a poor man's game and it doesn't pay a lot. A Good writer who has made money from writing already knows this. Hubs could have the nearest thing to Shakespeare on them if need be, but they may not earn that writer money. Writing can be very "writerly" and stylish and hip, but make hardly any money from Google Adsense. For them to be successful, they would have to advertised and marketed to a wide and waiting audience. And not all this support and requirement is provided for you.
Maybe a miracle happens along one fine day and a beautiful thing happens and good fortune comes your way. It is great when it happens. And it happens! The discovery of a check in the post, or waiting in the bank account for your Adsense is a moment of elation. But the wait for the next one can be so long in coming. Little wonder that some get fed up waiting and move off and move on to other things. Clickbank. Amazon Affiliates, Commission Junction, Paydotcom, Linkshare, the list is long and winding, and some will set up their own shops and stores, eCommerce sites, stores, malls. Some believe that article writing can end up being like having a gun with just one effective bullet, but a few blanks that don't do anything but make noise and smoke.
Wordpress, Weebly, Wix, Jimdo, Webs, Tumblr, Blogger, these are just a fraction of some of the free sitesand blogs that can be used and set up in less than a day, which - with targeted themed Keywords based around a high-paying group of words / products...can all lead to a good income. Use the Google Keyword Tool to find what pays and what sells, and what is searched for.
Okay, it's taking you away from that all-important writing, but to make money in this game, you have to put the cart before the horse. Companies like Google have ruined the conventional means of writing to be successful, and replaced it with rules, systems,formulas, page rank, anylitics,adwords, adsense and the damnGoogle Algorithm.

Rinse and Repeat

A Hub Page has an inherent value. They won't be worth hundreds of pounds or dollars. You would have to be professional, a true author. Sure, Hub Pages is a great place to find out if you have what it takes. But don't use it to make a writing exclusively to the detriment to everything else. Set up a Blog or website. Buy a domain. Own it and then you can earn more. Subdomains like every writer has on Hub Pages get much less since they own their content but just not the page itself or the domain. £14 will get you a one page Blogger Blog and Google Adsense and Amazon Adverts, and it will be yours and it will make money faster. Set up a forum, like TattoGuy and watch your membership climb. Use the money from its success to build more blogs or webpages and rinse and repeat!
Google recently changed its Algorithm and it now downgrades and devalues content farms, forcing many to worry about the future of communities like Hub Pages. People want to believe it won't affect them. So what will they do? If the change in the Google Algorithm made Hubs in general fall in page rank or value in some way, and result in less income from the respective Google Adsense on those pages - what would the Hub writers do? How would they react? One possibility is it would drive writers away from Hub Pages, feeling that having to constantly refine their pages for such a small reward would make their efforts almost pointless. Another possibilty is that writers would switch to another way of making money. They would fight the system initially and try back-linking, banners, inner-links or referrals, outer link s like social media. But what if they over promote and get punished. It becomes more like an exercise to breathe oxygen, the more you try to breathe, the less oxygen you seem to get. It has the danger of becoming an exercise in futility.
And why this manic dependence on Google's conditions? Why? What is in it for us any more? Who feels like downing tools and walking off the job? Is that the final outcome? Or is Hub Pages about to pump some air back in the tyres by releasing this new advert system and campaign. Something is needed to kickstart Hubs in general if they experience a lowering or downgrading in general. We don't know for sure this downgrade will happen or will even last long, or just rebound up again. It would be nice if someone put it to us straight and told us. Either we all get certificates in Google SEO and Google PR or get sent off for retraining. That is how a job in a company is dealt with. Unless on the other hand - this is purely a hobby and for recreation. If it is, fine...enjoy your life and Happy writing! I fear the old system is not working like it used to, and I am not the only one saying it. People walk away from something when it is dead.
Perhaps the time has come to revisit the model for how Hub Pages works - and who it's working mostly for. A change would be welcome. A change of sorts is definitely needed. Some of the recent events and outcomes to Hub Page lowering in some kind of value might be down to indifference or resignation of writers to the inevitable wind of change, and what cloud might (or might not) be on the horizon. I believe that no thing or state lasts forever. But there has to be a quantifiable reason for wanting to be on Hub Pages. We are looking harder than usual at what those reasons are lately.
Although most of what is here is opinion, we are a democracy so I welcome all thoughts on the subject here. Let me know your views and leave your comments below.
Copyright (c) 2011 Cassy Mantis / Cheeky Girl. All rights reserved.
Late Update: 
We know Google no longer has a "neutral" algorithm. The New York Times, eHow, Wikipedia, even the IRS is listed in the white list as immune from the algorithm, and some websites clearly are delighted with this news. How did they manage this amazing feat? Google has admitted to using a "white list" a way of allowing some websites a "Get out of Jail" card or exception to the Algorithm rule.
And even Microsoft /  Bing admitted that they too use the same white list method to allow some exceptions for certain websites. So not all web sites are equal under the eyes of Google. I wrote about this recently, I even published a list of sites that have done even better as a result of the algo change. Would have been nice to see Hub Pages on it.
Google were accused of anti-competitive practices by the EU over alleged "White Lists", which would give some companies unfair advantage and preference - something Google denied. Now it is admitting it favors some web sites over others. So we have a two-tier search engine here folks!

1 comment:

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