You can get tons of traffic onto Hubs without Google,Yahoo or Bing. Follow these easy and simple steps, which I have tested out over the years and have gotten me RESULTS. No fluff `n puff, just pure results. That is what you are after right? (What are Hubpages?)
All of these 7 steps are necessary and highly recommended that you do, whilst posting new or editing old hubs. They get juicier with each one and I have saved the coolest ones for the Premium section on the bottom (don’t worry its FREE).
So let`s get Hubbin…
1.) SEO for your Hubs
Although you cannot influence the pure html code of your Hubs, there is a lot of basic SEO that you can do without the hustle and bustle of html-ing:
– Keyword in Title
When choosing a title, be sure to put your targeted keyword you have preselected, while doing keyword research, in the title itself. The title will be shown next to the sub-domain and domain name in the URL therefore giving you the “KW in title tick” (Meta title). That’s a good thing!
Yourname.hubpages.com/hub/your-title
I would suggest getting a long tail keyword in the mix, so aim for title with at least 6 words, but make sure they make sense.
- Tags
For starters just add in a couple (2-5) in the “Create a hub” section. You will get recommendations for the rest later, when you post your content. Don’t go overboard and don’t lose focus. Keep it simple and related.
There is a very cool “tag trick” related to tags, that gets me 50-150 visits per day to a single hub. Its available in the Premium content section bellow (again no worries, its absolutely FREE).
- Description
Yes, you can determine the Meta description of your hubs. It simply collects the first 150 characters of your first paragraph of text. Make sure to include your keyword(s) in that part, preferably in bold or italic, if it makes sense.
- Generic SEO
Generic SEO rules apply as with any other page. Keep a certain keyword density; I suggest 3-5%. So, if you have a keyword of “How to make quality Hubs” and an article of 500 words, make sure you use the phrase around 3-5 times in the entire content.
If you are adding pictures, make sure to have the image name, file name as well as alternate text your exact keyword or a long tail of your keyword, if it is a 1-2 word keyword.
Keep in mind, that none of the techniques will do much good, if your article is not relevant and of high quality in the first place.
“Aim to help others, not just yourself.” Buyseech, This post
2.) How much Content, Pictures and Videos?
“Content is king.” - Anyone who knows what they are doing @ The web
There is a minimum amount of words needed for a hub to meet the standard. I believe it’s around 350-400. You shouldn’t focus on those numbers, because I prefer 500+ words as the minimum. The more content, the more combinations of keywords that people will find you by.
Focusing solely on the keyword and thinking traffic will come only via it is misleading, in a good way. Long tail keywords with searches of 100, 35 or even 10 searches per month will add up to quite a lot, but no one ever calculates this into their kw research.
I would suggest that you use “text capsules” (see picture bellow) into which you put 150-200 words. The reason for this is to give the hub some visual playfulness, not just a large chunk of text rolled down the screen. Use the titles of the text capsules, because they are H1,H2,H3 tags as well. Preferably add your keywords into some of them, not necessarily all of them though. The picture bellow is a typical layout I used for 500-600 word articles.
As far as pictures goes, keep in mind that the same rules apply than any other pictures on the web. You can’t just rip them from any page. Search for free images (not royalty free <- these still cost money to purchase).
I would suggest adding 1 picture per 500 words right bellow the first block of Google Adsense (note: there must be some content, 1 line is enough, between the Google Adsense and the picture, otherwise you are violating TOS).
I would really advise that you get pictures without borders and with white backgrounds. These blend in the best with the Hubpages standard layout.
After 500 words I would suggest embedding a related Youtube video. People love videos and will be happy to play it, therefore lengthening the time spent on your site and lowering bounce rate (which is important for ranking high in Google). If you have let’s say 1500 words you might wish to get 2 videos 2 pictures and fill the rest with an amazon banner, if there is a related product to your account.
Always keep in mind, that people are rating (vote up, vote down, useful, funny…) your hubs and all this counts for the positioning on Hubpages itself and by Google in the big picture of it all.
3.) Linking (Link Out and Link In)
It is very important to do linking in as well as linking out. Both must be done to/from related quality sources. I have stumbled upon a tremendous increase in rankings and traffic when I accidentally clicked the “Suggest links” button on one of my hubs. It linked out about 5-6 links on Wikipedia.
All the links were contextual based (so hyperlinks were made in the content itself). That Hub has been the best Hub to date, with a constant score of 90+ and 50-120 visitors A DAY via search engines alone.
I couldn’t say for certain that it’s all because of linking out to Wikipedia, but I know it helped massively. The latter will of course depend on the overall Hubscore of the Hubber; it must be 75+ in order for any outgoing links to be DO follow.
If you are using Hubpages for back-linking your own money sites/pages/blogs I suggest you wait a week or so, before you start putting any kind of links on them.
As far as linking in (backlinking), I would use my own related Hubs for starters. You can use back-linking services (but be carefull, cause Google has been pouncing on them for a while now) or hire a freelancer to do any sort of MANUAL <- I can’t stress this enough, not automatic/Software generated back-linking.
But in the 7.th step (Premium content section <- FREE for you) I unveil a secret which has brought me Hubs which are getting 100+ visitors per day, without any exterior back-linking at all.
4.) Monetizing – Where to put your ads?
Can you make money directly from your Hubs? Of course you can. How much can you make? All depends on how much traffic will you bring. You can have two pretty similar articles targeting the same keyword, one uses none of the tactics shown here, yet another uses all of them. I guarantee the latter one will be making a lot more than the former.
The first paragraph is suggested to be 200+ words, because the big Google Adsense block will be placed on the top-right part of the content area. If you have pictures make sure they are not touching the blocks in any way (there must be content in between, not just empty space or a border).
If you will put only 100 words, the ad box will drop lower and with that, it will lower your CTR. The CTR itself is not that high on Hubpages, compared to other “Adsense sites”. But it is doable to get 5-8% CTR, if there are relevant ads showing or you are in a niche filled with buyers.
There will usually be 2 blocks (1 block, 1 banner) of Google Adsense in the contemt itself, and a couple of them around the layout. Hubpages controls this, so don’t bother changing them (except the first paragraph). You can add Amazon banners and products as well, and position them as you please (the same as pictures – Amazon capsule).
You must of course become an Amazon affiliate prior to this, unless you don’t want any commissions and are just doing this for a laugh. Jokes aside, it’s easy to become an affiliate so I suggest you do it even if there are no products for you to sell now. There will be endless possibilities with them in the future.
NOTE: Do not try to incorporate links or banners from Clickbank or any other information product marketplace, because Hubpages hates it. Your hubs will be flagged, disapproved or even deleted.
IF you want to know my secret how to “Stay above Hubscore 75 effortlessly” and “Get relevant followers/readers” as well as the before mentioned 7.th secret which has brought 100+ visitors to Hubs without them actually ranking in the search engines? This is Premium content, but it’s yours today absolutely FREE! Enjoy.
|
I wish you great success with your Hubs. Feel free to post any questions or concerns you might have in the comment section bellow.
To your online success, Igor Buyseech
