My Most Important First Year Tip- Read the Forums Section of Hubpages

If you are new to Hubpages, you are anxiously trying to learn the ropes. If you have settled in at Hubpages, you are no doubt still looking for tips and advice about how to best maximize your Hubpage experience.

Please allow me to share the most important tip I have learned during my nearly one year experience here at Hubpages.

-READ THE FORUMS SECTION ON A REGULAR BASIS-

Of all the tips that I could chose, why has reading the forums regularly taken the number one spot?

• I can think of no better place where all areas of hubbing is thoroughly discussed.
• Forums just might be the most under-utilized section of Hubpages.

Want to learn how to set up your hub correctly and seek constructive criticism for what you have already created? Open a thread at the Extreme Hub Make-over Forum.

Want to start earning money right away? Don’t forget to stop by the Hub Pages Knowledge Exchange forum. Tips, advice, and answers to questions are readily available.

The Need Help Ask Here Forum is a quick reference for help of all types.

Want to see how you are doing in comparison to others? Want to read of accomplishments and goals being reached? Check out the Hubber’s Hangout, a great forum for learning and ideas.

Having trouble with Adsense, Ebay or Amazon? Turn to any forum for help, with the exception of the Make-over forum. Also, the help tab, located at the top of the page, far right hand side, contains a section, Making Money on Hubpages, as part of its FAQ section.

Is the site down? Are your pages loading slowly or not at all? Does it seem like your traffic is too low or too high, or not moving at all? Stop in at the Report A Problem Or Suggest a New Feature, forum. Also the Official Hubpages Announcements Forum, where important announcements are posted.

Do you wonder how your writing style is developing and if your hubs are grammatically correct and their spelling and sentence structure is acceptable? Join the Books and Writing Forum, and read the hubs that are written about those very subjects to improve your writing. Also you can ask a hubber you respect to comment on your hubs privately, so that you know areas that need improvement

Have you ever wondered how your hub score and author score are holding up when compared to others? Again, don’t forget to check out the help Section, Getting Started, located at the very top of the page, far right hand side. You will find FAQ about your scoring and how it is determined.

Countless Miscellaneous Benefits

Though I have outlined the major benefits of regularly reading the forum boards, there are countless miscellaneous benefits to doing so.

 In my personal experience, I have learned many small tips that have helped me to understand search engines, key words, and why the right title of my hub is so important if I hope to make passive income writing on hubpages.  For that matter, I learned what passive income means!   

I now have a better understanding of how Google works, and how Hubpages compares with other writing sites.

I was glad to save a hub containing the major writing sites to post my work and whether the income would be passive or not.

Obtaining New Followers

Everyone starting out looks forward to knowing their hubs are being read and that they are acquiring fans. Unfortunately for some new to Hubpages, they think the way to do this is by becoming a fan of everyone. 

They don’t understand that they should participate in the community. Actually read and post relevant comments, visit and post on the forum boards, acknowledge the comments others have left on their hubs and patiently wait for their fan base to grow.

If such ones took the time to read the various threads on the forums they would learn why it is important to leave fan mail or a comment on a hub so that you are not considered a spammer or a mass fanner. 

Personally, when someone becomes my fan yet leaves no comments on any of my hubs nor do they leave any fan mail, I conclude they are only following me to get me to follow them. 

When I check their profile and see they have fanned many people with hardly any participation in the hub community. I don’t worry about fanning them. I lose fans, because of this, but I don’t worry about it, as I’d rather have readers who genuinely like my writing or my personality over people looking to grow their own numbers.

The different ways fans are viewed by other hubbers is lost  to you if you haven't read the forum threads.

The meaning of exactly what a good quality hub is, how it is  noticed by others and how your writing improved is also an added advantage gained when the forum threads are read regularly.

Not All Forums are the Same

Personally I steer clear of the contentious forums which contain political and religious topics, nor do I participate in the wide variety of extra activities openly available for those looking for diversions. The choice is yours.

 You can totally skip those posts and read just the posts that will educate and enlighten you, as I have done for almost a year now.

You miss out on interesting choices if you forget to click on the forums tab every now and then. Milestones are reached, goals set and accomplished, relationships formed and it is all being documented on the Forums

Understanding Adsense

If it were not for the forums, I would never have learned to understand the whole google-adsense-search engine dynamic.

While many have posted info that aided me, I must especially thank darkside and sunforged for their ability to talk to me like I am five years old, without being condescending.

I know I am not the only one who appreciates your help even when I haven’t specifically asked the questions you both answer so effectively.

A recent case in point is the understanding I have gained about how to determine the potential monetary value of keywords by making sure to click the epc (estimated price per click) tab from the drop down menu.

Just last week I added to my knowledge by following the suggestion to click on the “exact” tab versus the “broad” tab in the Adsense tool.

Lessons such as these stay with me because I learn them gradually and keep checking the forums section to make sure I am doing everything those with more experience suggest.

It is because of hubbers like the two of you that a well-rounded hubber education is possible.

Signing In and Out

It took me some time to realize why I have to sign in and out. I think my friend Connie alerted me to it when she informed me I was a featured hubber on the homepage of the site.

You can only see this page when you are NOT signed in automatically. So if you want to see how your writing is going, don’t forget to sign out every now and then and see if you are featured in any way on Hubpages’ home page.

  This information was placed in my long term memory after reading helpful posts about checking on the successful placements of trackers and the like, by signing out of Hubpages.

A Year and One Goal Still Not Achieved

Sadly, as of this writing I have one heartbreak here at hubpages, one goal I have worked earnestly to achieve which has escaped my grasp.

I desperately want to experience what it’s like to achieve a 100 hubscore.

That’s right, just once before I die (exaggerated dramatics intended) I want to know a hub I wrote received a 100! The closest I have got, is 99 a couple of times. So close, yet so far.

So this second year I want to see more passive income than my first year and ONE hub that reaches 100. Hopefully I have not set my goals so high that they can’t be reached, after all I am only striving for two main achievements, and surely it can be done.

In Conclusion

I hope you come away from this hub rethinking the importance of regularly reading the forums section of Hubpages.

I hope you realize you are missing out on a mountain of knowledge and vast experiences from those who know what they are doing whenever you neglect this section of the community.

 I hope you will find yourself more successful as a result of taking the time to read and learn as you go.

I would like to offer a personal and heartfelt thank you to all you hubbers who take the time to teach us newbies what we need to know in order to succeed here at Hubpages.

You are an invaluable source of information and I just want you to know there are many of us here who would be lost without your patient guidance.

 Thank you most sincerely.