The 10 Most Common HubPages Mistakes

I've been a user of HubPages since the beta test period for the site. It sure has grown and changed a LOT since the summer of 2006. From being on the site that long, I've read more Hubs than I can count and read more forum threads than I'd like to think about.

One thing I see are the same questions and problems coming up over and over again for Hub authors. It's sort of strange but it says a lot about how humans think, act and react. So if you'd like to get an edge over a bunch of other users or just learn to make the very best Hubs you can, here are my top ten biggest HubPages user mistakes. I've got a quickie list that is actually links to the more explanatory sections so you can get an overview or jump down to something that's been giving you trouble. Avoid these and you can't go wrong!

In my opinion this is the single biggest mistake that users make on this site. Really, every other mistake included on this list could be reduced or eliminated just by reading.

A few common signs that you may not be reading:

• You get email from HubPages admin saying that you've had one or more Hubs unpublished, and you think it's for no good reason. It turns out there are some very specific reasons why Hubs get unpublished and none of them are secret.
• You joined the site within the last few hours (or days or months) and have posted to the forums saying that you don't understand how the site works.
• Other site users keep answering your questions with links to the Frequently Asked Questions list or the Learning Center.

There's another big way that not reading can hurt you on HubPages and it's when you don't read the AdSense Terms Of Use. The majority of rules at this site are due to restrictions and regulations that are in action for having an AdSense account. Unfortunately, a good number of people who lose their AdSense (and thus lose their Hub Ads too) do so due to not being aware of some action or content that is a violation of the TOU. Remember, when you sign up for AdSense (and HubPages) the terms you agree to include the wording saying that you agree that you have read the terms, understand them and are willing to be legally bound by them.

Reading the rules and how-tos is the foundation for success here.... really!

This point has two explanations, and in the verbal short-hand of HubPages, both mean you are sort of being a spammer.

The first version is really blatant. It happens when you build a landing page. That's a web page which is meant to focus or drive traffic to some other web page. These Hubs often look and sound like commercials, which isn't surprising since that is really what they are. If all your Hub does is promote some other web site, don't be surprised if it gets moderated or unpublished.

The second answer has to do with how many links there are on a Hub. The HubPages system has filters that scan your outgoing links and your RSS feeds. Having more than two outgoing links to the same domain, or having one link and an RSS feed to the same domain will trip it, and you'll get an automated warning that only you will see at the top of your HubPage. If you fix or otherwise adjust the links so that you don't have too many, that warning will go away.

However, let's say that you only have two outgoing links on your Hub, both to the same domain. According to the manual flagging system, whereby any site user can report your Hub for violations, spam is defined as when all the links on a Hub point to the same site. So, technically, your Hub could be flagged by a site user and admin could review it and decide that it is spam. If your Hub is unpublished due to this scenario, not only do you have to adjust your content and outgoing links to not be viewed as overly-promotional, you'll have to contact admin and request an administrative review before the Hub will be republished and become live to a web audience again.

"Hey but I wrote it... it's original, it's not duplicated!" You'll find this angry assertion or something closely worded just like it about once a day in the forums. Let's take a minute and talk about duplicated content and plagiarized content.

• Plagiarized content means that you took something created by someone else and presented it as your own.
• Duplicated content means that content which was previously published and appears somewhere else on the internet has been replicated in the content of a Hub on HubPages.
• Plagiarized content is duplicated content, but not all duplicated content is plagiarized. Got it?

Following the Google algorithm adjustment of Feb 2011, absolutely no duplicated content is allowed on HubPages. If you are trying to do a Hub that quotes something and you're having problems, either reduce what you are quoting, write more original content or contact admin for a manual review. If you wrote it and it appeared somewhere else on the Internet first, don't use it for a Hub without either an extensive rewrite, or removing it from the other location (and don't forget that the search engines will have to clear their caches of any copies too). If you need more help with this, here's a Hub on avoiding duplicated content.

My favorite story about this relates to one user on this site who just loved to include a single pornographic image somewhere in the middle of the Hub. He would then rant in the forums after he'd been moderated by admin about how someone had it in for him and how his Hubs were always being flagged for no reason. He kept up this behavior and then was still surprised when his account was shut down.

The 'BIG NO-NO LIST" is

content or links that are pornographic, defamatory, libelous, tortious, vulgar, obscene, invasive of privacy, racially or ethnically objectionable, hateful, promotes or provides instructional information about illegal activities, promotes any act of cruelty to animals, or is otherwise offensive.

It's become really clear that if you decide you'd like to find out just where the limits are by trying to push them, you're going to wind up with Hubs that get flagged. Admin says flat out that if you'd like to contact them BEFORE you publish a Hub, they will review the content and let you know if there's going to be a problem. So you have the option of getting a Hub review, or taking your chances. Just because you hit publish on a Hub does not mean that days, weeks or months down the road a Hub can't or won't be reported.

Although not an exhaustive list of what is not allowed, here are a few more examples of what types of content can result in a Hub being un-published:

• pornographic images
• links to adult or pornographic sites
• discussion or promotion of sexual aids or toys
• detailed descriptions of sexual acts or practices
• excessive profanity
• use of sexual words even in a non-sexual context

If you really can't comprehend the above, here's some further clarification from a post made by the admin team:

• No bare bottoms - not in Hubs, not in the forums. They are considered nudity.
• Bikini shots - must be in the category Sexy Pictures & Videos
• Hand bras are also verboten...

Here at HubPages, there's a system in place whereby questionable Hubs have their AdSense ads removed until the admin team can take a look and have a human make a judgment call. This protects anyone from having their AdSense account terminated by Google.

The whole "trick" to success at HubPages isn't a trick at all. You just need to make useful web content. The thing to remember is that although something might seem important or interesting to you, it may not to everyone else. And the more people your content appeals to, the more likely it is that your Hubs will be successful.

In the FAQ, HubPages defines a Hub as "A Hub is a rich web page or article that you write and design on a single, fairly specific topic." Notice they say YOU write it. That not only implies original content but that some effort needs to go into the creation. There are a lot of great articles in the Learning Center which can help you with every step of the Hub making process, including how to create strong content.

If you really want to build a productive bunch of Hubs, grow your readership and earn money, you need to write things that are appealing and useful to a group of people. Not much content, bad spelling, bad grammar and a lack of focus all don't do much to make a Hub useful. I follow a fairly simple rule when I make a Hub. I ask myself, if I didn't know what I was writing about, would I use my own Hub to learn more and would it help me to do what I'm trying to do?

The HubPages TOS clearly states that you have to be eighteen (18) years of age to join the site. This isn't because HubPages is being mean or unfair (and you'd be surprised how many teens like to rant about how that is their reasoning). It's due to legalities and the fact that legal minors can't enter into certain kinds of contracts or agreements.

AdSense rules state you have to be eighteen to be able to join their program too.

So, if you are under eighteen years old and reading this, just keep working on that writing and come join the site when you are of legal majority (which means you are legally responsible for yourself). And to current HubPages users, you're actually protecting and helping HubPages by reporting underage users to admin. They just un-publish any Hubs and then save them until the user turns 18, at which point the Hubs are made published/visible again. That's really quite a reasonable deal.

HubPages only has a few simple rules to try and maintain some order in the forums, but most people have never bothered to read them (mistake #1!). Breaking the rules often results in a three-day ban from the forums. Repeated breaking of the rules can result in a permanent forum ban.

Prohibited Use of Forums

We take these points very seriously. Be aware that you may be banned from HubPages if you are found in violation.

* Promoting hubs or other sites: This includes linking to any site that you have a vested interest in promoting, especially using affiliate links. To be on safe side we recommend that you establish a presence in the HubPages community before you post any links in the forum.
* Signatures: Please do not sign your posts and especially do not sign your posts and include a link to another site. A link to your profile page is included with every post, and you can put information about yourself and links to sites you'd like to promote on your profile page.
* Making Personal Attacks: debate and disagreements on points of substance are all right, but personal attacks, petty bickering, and thread hijacking will be dealt with swiftly.
* Cross Posting: Please do not post the same message to more than one forum.

When you look at it, the cross-posting issue and the signatures are both sub-topics of being overly-promotional, which tends to be the number one reason for forums bans. After that, it's just a matter of not personally attacking other users. And in case you were wondering, creating new personas/logins to come back and complain about your three-day ban is a good way to get yourself headed the way of the permanent ban.

There's nothing that raises a red flag and the hackles in the HubPages community faster than someone new announcing that they are some sort of "guru" who then turns right around and making a really obvious request for help or information on that person's own supposed area of expertise. I'm sure you've seen what I'm talking about. Someone calling themselves "makemoney" asks about how to make money or "seoguru" posts because he can't get the hang of keywords. Those sorts of things are warning signs to your fellow site users.

This is a really efficient way to 1) turn other site users off to the idea of giving you any advice or assistance and 2) get your Hubs gone over with a fine-toothed comb. That part number two means that if you are doing anything against the rules, you'll find your Hubs flagged in short order for any site violations, and then of course, no one is going to give you help fixing what you did wrong.

This often goes hand-in-hand with number eight. First of all, there's a specific forum to ask for feedback and it's called Extreme Hub Makeover. That's the one place in the forums you can post a Hub URL and legitimately ask for people to visit it and tell you what they think of it.

However, remember that online we're all typing, and the replies you get come without vocal tones or inflections, so take whatever you read with that grain of salt that says "hey, they're just replying to you because you asked for feedback."

If someone says "your spelling and grammar are really poor," it doesn't mean you are a bad person. It means your Hubs contain content with obvious spelling mistakes and grammar errors, both of which wind up hurting Hub performance. If someone says "wow, your Hub looks like spam," it means you'll want to consider issue number one on this list and make sure you understand how HubPages defines spam, and fix your Hub so it doesn't look or act that way.

And remember there are people on the Internet with way too much time on their hands so if you want to be inflammatory, you'll find you can get plenty of verbal gasoline from others.

In mythology, trolls are somewhat nasty creatures that hide under bridges, are sort of hairy and smelly and they throw rocks. On the Internet, the term applies to people who like to make inflammatory statements to start arguments or get attention. For whatever reason, they just really enjoy making other people get really angry. It's usually a power trip connected to feeding their own egos, and they'll argue from positions they don't even personally support just to watch everyone else get upset.

The best way to deal with this stuff is to just not respond. I know, I know.... you felt so angry, it just overwhelmingly compelled you to say something. But really, with these characters, saying ANYTHING is like throwing gasoline on a fire. It never makes it better.

This also includes learning to not reply to spam postings in the forums. When that happens, the spam gets deleted and the replies get left behind, which winds up being visual clutter. It also shows a lot of people have a complete lack of online etiquette, as many of the replies are just as rude as being a spammer. Just flag those inappropriate posts and get back to writing something that's going to earn you money. It's SO much more productive!