New to HubPages: Impressions of a Novice Hubber

I joined Hubpages three weeks ago and needless to say, it has been an interesting experience. When I joined HubPages, I thought all you had to do in order to increase your hubber score was to write some good hubs. However, I soon learned that there is so much more to it. I must admit that the more I have read about increasing your hubber score, the more confused I have gotten.

Below are some of my thoughts and impressions, but first, if you are looking for tips on how to improve your hubber score, here are the hubs I found most useful (though there are tons of others):

Hubber Score

What affects Hub Score, Hubber Score and Search Rankings

How to Increase Your Author Score to 100 on HubPages

Fix It 101?: My Hub Score Went Up My Hub Score Went Down!

How to Get a High Author Score on Your Hubpages: More than Just Writing A Hub

Okay, so now on to my thoughts:

1) Writing good hubs has nothing to do with it?

I still don’t know the answer to this question. Some people swear that the key to becoming a HubPages ninja is to write, write, and write some more. Makes sense. But is it true? Well, I’m not sure. But I’m leaning towards “not really.” I have come across numerous hubbers who have written very little yet have awesome hubber scores.

I guess it may come down to how you define a HubPages “ninja.” Someone who has a very high hubber score or someone who makes the most money off HubPages or both? For me, a HugPages ninja is anyone with a Hubber score over 90. And to do that, it seems writing good hubs isn’t a necessity at all.

Glenn Stok’s hub has a poll of people who don’t write or publish any hubs, and what their hubber scores are. I was shocked to see that 85% of them have a hubber score of 80 or above (with 54% over 90)! I admit, the sample size is not huge (13), but still, 11 out of those 13 people have a hubber score over 90 without publishing a single hub! I do wonder how long they’ve been on here…

2) It’s a matter of time?

Which leads me conveniently to my next thought. Does it matter how long you’ve been a hubber? This one I do know the answer to.

When I started, I totally thought time was a big factor in determining your hubber score… makes sense, you are rewarded for your tenure at HubPages. Well, this is not true at all. I’ve seen plenty of hubbers who joined HubPages two or three weeks ago with hubber scores of 90+, while many others who’ve been around for years are still in the 70’s. So time definitely has nothing to with your hubber score, it seems. So what does then?

3) It's all about who you know?

Ahhh, yes… interaction, hubitivity, community participation. I had no idea when I started that this was even a thing. Well, apparently it is a very big thing. Even those who think writing is very important admit that interacting with hubbers is equally as important. And then there are many who believe (and it seems Glenn Stok’s hub proves this) that interacting with the community is the single most important determining factor when it comes to your hubber score.

I guess this makes sense in principle. You want members who are actively participating in building the HubPages community. However, in practice I see this as a mixed blessing. On one hand, yes, most people are interacting in good faith and truly helping build a great community. However, on the other hand, there are some people interacting disingenuously, with their only intent being to raise their hubber score. It is apparent in their comments, them following tons of random hubbers, etc. that some people are just trying to “game” the system. Or are we all? And is that okay? It definitely seems to work or else everyone wouldn’t be doing it.

3) Traffic is the name of the game?

There are a lot of people on HubPages who write because they enjoy it, about topics they are genuinely interested in. And then there are people trying to write about “hot” topics… apparently to pad their stats or to make money. That’s fine. It seems traffic is a preoccupation for many hubbers. Yes, we all want our hubs to be read by as many people as possible. But for some people it’s only about traffic. Just an observation, I’m not condemning those people in anyway.

4) Lovers and Haters

The HubPages community, in my limited experience, is overwhelmingly positive. I have been a member of a number of social sites, forums etc. and there are a lot of blowhards, idiots, and partisan hacks everywhere it seems. I’ve found the HubPages community to be very welcoming, encouraging, friendly, and helpful. That is rare in my experience. Of course, there are a few curmudgeons here, but they are definitely outnumbered by the cool people. Very cool community overall.

5) What’s HubPages’ angle?

HubPages has done a pretty good job from both a technical and a community point of view. Most hubbers seem to really like HubPages and the staff seems to enjoy interacting with the community. People can make money here, which is always good. But, I’m sure HubPages makes plenty of money off its hubbers too.

This brings me to my last thought. The whole interaction angle I talked about earlier… what’s HubPages’ interest in it? Has HubPages made interaction so important because it truly believes that’s the best way to build a vibrant community or because it’s the best way for HubPages to make money? I’m not insinuating anything at all (please don’t ban me HubPages!). But, I do wonder. When we all visit each other’s hubs, leave comments, follow each other etc… does that make HubPages more money than if we just wrote hubs and didn’t interact? Who knows. Of course, the two don’t have to be mutually exclusive. What’s good for HubPages’ bottom line can also be good for its members, I suppose.

Anyways, so that’s my thoughts so far. Please share any thoughts you may have as a newbie or a HubPages “ninja.” And please don’t shoot the messenger… remember what I said about most hubbers being super cool!

And one more thing, it would be cool to see how many people are on HubPages solely or primarily to make money, so please participate in this poll if you feel comfortable doing so: