I'm considering abandoning my claimed pages, after 3 months on most of them, still earning almost zero. The only page earning me anything..
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M$10 Answers
how often do you update those pages? google likes frequent updates
are you getting traffic? hard to tell, i know, until views is fixed but some do show
are you advertising the pages?
how are your pages arranged?
do you have unrelated links on those pages?
do you have added, informative information or just what was initially created?
have you selected categories for all pages? just doing this can get some pages earning
basically does the page have everything you would want to see if you were looking for information on that topic, and is there anything else you know about that adds to the topic but you haven't added yet?
i haven't looked at any of your pages, but i would be willing to take a look at a specific page and make suggestions, if you like.
i'm absolutely sure that staff would give you pointers as well.
you could also contact the top earners for pages and ask them for advice.
not all pages will earn. it is just the nature of things. but unless your pages are VERY obscure, which i highly doubt, then the possibility is there that you can make improvements that will make a difference.
myself... i'd try to improve those before giving up on them. you chose them for a reason, after all.
just my 2 cents...
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M$a) Stop managing pages and stick to answers and tasks
b) Abandon those pages and try some other ones
c) Explore what you can do to improve earnings from your pages
Given where you're at, a mixture of (b) and (c) sounds most appropriate. Option (c) because it looks like there's still plenty you can learn and try out, and option (b) because some of your pages may just not have much potential to earn money whatever you do with them.
Some tips on choosing pages:
- You don't get too many views for really well known, major topics because there are lots of pages about them on the net, and it's hard to stand out
- But... you don't get too many views for ultra obscure subjects, because too few people care about them
- So a topic that is in the sweet spot where a reasonable number of people care but there aren't a gazillion excellent pages on them gets the most views
- For a topic like a celeb or sportsperson, the views won't translate all that well into ad clicks and revenue. When people are looking for info on a sportsperson, they probably weren't searching for something to buy as well.
- A page about a product gets many more ad clicks from the same number of views than a celeb page.
This explains why your Erin Andrews page outdid my Roger Federer or Kate Winslet pages, but not my page which goes by the somewhat clunky name of Cheap PS3.
But Erin Andrews is probably getting much less interest now, since it looks like there was a big news story about her a while back and its blown over.
But you could always look for the next breaking story that will fill that role.
As for earning more from pages...
@smartweb and @lon have given you a few tips.
Once simple thing they didn't mention is to look at the ads on your pages, where they are and how many there are. It might be that there aren't enough of them, or they are too far down the page.
If it's any encouragement, by applying some of these thoughts myself, I'm going to earn more in August than I did in June and July put together.
In my case there are also pages that I'm happy to look after even though they'll probably never make any money at all.
I was pleasantly surprised to earn a few cents for a page on Richard Feynman, and I haven't so far abandoned The Lord of the Rings though it has yet to earn a cent.
I just get a kick out of being able to maintain those pages.
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M$
Very interesting. I always thought well knownw people would be my best bet because people will actually by searching for them a lot, whereas little known people wont get searched at all, decreasing the amount of views. As for the ads, I have a major issue with the types of ads on many of the pages. Seems like noone would click on them because many don't relate to the topic of the page. I think the ads should be better.
- Manage pages about topics that really interest you.
- Consider managing a group of closely related pages
- Create the pages that are needed to present a complete topic
- Subscribe to RSS feeds for your main topic or theme
- new links for existing pages
- ideas for new pages
- Promote your core topic page(s) in a variety of places
- Delicious
- Twine
- My Wikis
- Inlinks in my Mahalo Questions and Answers
This will supply you with:
The ones that are beginning to work for me:
Remember this community is still an experiment right now. If you don't get the results you are looking for, change the ingredients and change the process.
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M$
@philipy, I think my Dress Forms page is the best representation of what can be done. While the numbers on the page may not astound the high earners here in Mahalo, to me they are an indicator of what can be achieved.
This was the first page I created on Mahalo, I consider my promotion of the page to date to be modest.
On Del.icio.us, I simply bookmarked it with tags sewing and Mahalo.
On Twitter, I offered information and the link to a couple of tweets about how cool antique dress forms are. The e-bay listings on my page have lots of antique dress forms available.
On Twine I submitted the link and a few other of my pages to the Sewing and Textiles Twine.
I posted a question in Mahalo Answers with inlinks to Dress Forms.
I don't have a wiki for my local sewing resources yet, but for the Stroke page, I have embedded the page into the wiki for Southern California Stroke support. That wiki is still under development, so only a few folks are seeing it at the moment.
Like everyone here, I learn new tips and techniques each day. Questions like this bring lots of great ideas to the table. I'm taking them all in to develop an overall marketing strategy for my page sets. September is National Sewing Month, so I have an opportunity to participate in lots of blogs and tweets to really get some of my pages rolling.
Can you tell us a bit more about how those methods in point 5 are beginining to work for you? Sounds like we learn something from sharing our expereinces on these things.
lots of great tips kerryk
surely something of these will help a lot!
good luck!
occasional revealing questions by Mahalo and my own experience
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M$
I think that there are 3 ways to manage pages:
1)
"Semi-Pro" : Form a plan to create, claim and update as many pages as your free time allows. If done properly, you can make a couple of bucks. It's still not to the point where it's worth the time in an hourly rate sense, but if you find it fun and interesting, it's better than a kick in the pants... so to speak.
2)
Casual : Claim a couple of good pages. Heck, if you see any of the pages that I manage that you think you'd do well at, let me know and I'll give them to you. Casual page management is mainly just updating. Check for some news once-in-awhile, check the links, update some text, etc on a handful of pages.
3)
Personal reward : This might be the best way for you to do it. Think about a couple of topics that you love and want to write about. Mahalo is a good platform to be heard on because what you write will be seen by more people than a simple blog. Create these few pages with love and care, update them often for PR value and above all else ensure that they're better than any other source on the Internet.
Regardless, page management isn't for everyone. If you opt-out, I'm 100% sure that Mahalo Answers is a better place because you're here.
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M$
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M$
Great point! @stevendiggsjr , You never know what, who, when, where etc, something will happen. Locational or subject oriented items of interests or happenings, discoveries etc, could mean jackpot searchclicks.
yep... and some have a seasonal aspect, like 'ole sergio... golf season
Some terms aren't searched very much-- if I were you, I would take a look at each of the pages you have on Google. If you are already on the first page of Google for results and you are not earning any money-- then it's just a low traffic term. If you love the topic, you can keep it because you love it-- but promoting the heck out of it will just have you make a little more.
If when you search on Google you find that your page is buried deep, then get going working to update it and promote it-- when the rank improves you'll get more traffic, and more clicks, and more money.
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M$
Updating a page can entail, adding a new section--or enhancing information that's already there. Do a news search and see if your person has done anything of note. Are there new videos or photos you can add? Is there a map that makes sense to add? Any of that would be an update.
Promoting your page can be done in a number of different ways.
1.You can add links to a page under your signature on your emails.
2.You can post a link on your MySpace, facebook, or blog.
3.You can ask friends to post links on their blogs to your pages.
4.You can post the page on a social bookmarking site like digg or Stumbleupon.
5.You can tweet the link, working it into a sentence about something the person did "Did you see that play last night?...followed by the url"
6.You can write a blog post about it. For a sample, look at this one I did about Daiquiris...http://2009goodtoknow.blogspot.com/2009/07/get-ready-for-national-daiquiri-day.html or this one about Bryce Harper http://saltandlemonade.blogspot.com/2009/06/16-year-old-bryce-harper.html
It's very rare that someone picks up a page and it starts earning money-- it's not easy. You need to pick a good term, write good content, keep it fresh, and pay attention to it's rank--tweaking content and promoting it as needed.
most math pages have already been written way back in the greenhouse days
Everyone says to "update it" But when nothing happens hardly and when everything like news, blogs, etc, is automatic, what is there to update??? To promote, you mean to just announce to the world, hey go to mahalo and check out such and such a page?? I'm getting frustrated because I am not sure what I am doing. I should stick with doing higher level mathematics, that's easy compared to this hahaha
everything done to the page is considered an update. some are more entailed than others. even promotion is considered updating your page.
but i find if i add some information, move sections to see if they will be better in another place, or add categories, it works... especially categories. most pages that i've seen don't have more than one or two if any at all... and look for more related pages. change the related pages order... mix it up and see if it gets better results.
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M$I think I will drop my very first page, it has earned me a few cents and everything but I don't think it's the type of page that earns profit. (Actor page). I like answering and asking questions a lot but I would still consider claiming a few pages here and then, they won't earn you a lot of money but they can at least earn you something. Tasks are great, they earn you money the fastest but only if your good at completing them. Another bad thing about tasks is that you barely have time for anything else. So make sure you think it through :D
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M$
if you are keeping your existing pages up to date, staff will review them and allow more if you request an update. just make sure your existing pages are updated before asking, and keep them that way. =)
Oh Thanks Smartweb, I have requested an increase. I just need to add something to one of may pages first, I haven't had time though! :D
sure thing!
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M$
i figured you chose that way.
google likes activity. even a small change in text can show google you are monitoring things. the more often a site or page is updated, the more often google will spider it and views it as current...which moves it above a whole lot of pages that are stagnant. it is just one thing that google looks at, but it is significant.
sometimes rearranging the sections is enough to make a difference. i try not to have too many image or text sections together, i break them up instead.
for categories, for instance, your lowest paying page on sergio garcia only has sports. at the very least i'd add golf, celebrities and maybe celebrity gossip. just troll through the category list and choose the ones that apply.
then incoming links can be a consideration...
you can look at your mahalo answers section... it only has two questions and only one is relevant. from your page ask 3 more relevant questions. they will immediately be incoming links as they will be generated with a link back to this page, but when they are answered, they will also show up on your page and add content.
i would bet you could find at least one video on him. and then you can comment on it and ask others to comment.
those are just a few suggestions... there is a lot more you can do as well. just getting creative and trying to maximize each type of section on the page, like the categories can really help.
@kerryk...
to inlink for Mahalo users... just take opportunities that present themselves. for instance, i inlinked your sergio garcia page in three different posts now.
this thread is specifically about your pages... post one you want some suggestions on and we can all give you some feedback...
how about one of these:
Donovan McNabb
Ryan Howard
Howard Eskin
those are now inlinked. those are your three lowest paying pages after sergio so maybe we could help with those.
even if there is no recent news on that particular person, you can mention other things about what they do... for instance, sergio plays golf. have a text section on the left column that talks about the latest golf news... what competition is going on, what is the latest golf accessory... even better if you have a section that highlights the clubs sergio uses, for example.
during golf season this page can be very active. just post the latest golf news and change it as new news is available.
and i know there are youtube videos about sergio... choose 2 or 3 and add them one each week as a featured item...
and here's a little tip for all of you that you may not know... if you feature a youtube video on any page on the web and people click through to youtube to watch it... that is tracked. on each youtube video page they link to the top 5 pages that sent them traffic. so if you get an obscure video that not many people are watching and you get more views than #5 on that list, you can get an incoming link from youtube.com that should stay - that can only help you in the search engines. higher traffic videos make it harder to stay in the top 5.
and please don't stay you are stupid. you are not. ignorance is lack of knowledge... that can be fixed. just asking the question shows you are not stupid. you just still have some things to learn. and THAT is doable. ask us if you don't understand our suggestions. i think most mahaloians are willing to help.
i have a lot of suggestions... just let me know if you want my help... i'll help you with any page you ask about.
When you say "google likes frequent updates", what do you mean??? I check the pages regularly and if there is anything to add to the guide note or fast facts I will. Everything else pretty much is updating automatically. The news , blogs, etc. I can add videos when new ones come up, or images, but besides that and the gn and ff, not much I can do other than rearrange the sections. I didn't know we could pick categories for the pages. I'll have to check and see how that is done. I chose the pages because they are of interest to me.
oh. i should have mentioned that you should make any changes to a page over time... for instance the changes i mentioned for the sergio garcia page should be made one or two at a time and spread out over a couple of weeks.
one significant change every couple of days is more effective than a bunch of changes on one day.
How do i put recent info on my page when MOST of my pages have no real recent info to add?? I check the news and not a whole lot goes on that is worthy of adding? How am I supposed to link users on Mahalo to my page? Just post a question saying, "Hey everyone, go look at such and such a page?" I suppose I am too stupid to know what to do even with the suggestions. Maybe I should leave Mahalo since I don't know what I'm doing.
Has an update specific Mahalo Tutorial been completed yet?
One where Lon walks through a few different types of pages to locate updates around the web and then works them into the page?
Maybe we could submit one of our pages to him before the show and he could pick from those?
I don't understand the twittersearch that well, but i'll try
@kerryk just remember a few things when doing this.
1. Don't import any questions that have the @ symbol at the beginning of the tweet.
2. Remember to inlink with double brackets around the relevant terms.
3. Enter the SeRP the question is in relation to.
4. Choose the best answers category for the question.
Was going to answer this question, but @smartweb said pretty much everything I was going to say.
I think a big issue here is how you are promoting the page. What are you doing to get the word out about the pages you own? I know you are on Facebook, because we are friends there...haven't seen you post a lot of Mahalo links over there...In fact, even here in this Answers thread, a perfect place to get a few of your fellow users to take a look over some of your pages, you haven't linked anyone to them.
This would be my next suggestion for you. Put some recent information on your pages, and start getting them out there in the world. Post them to Facebook, leave them in comment threads on blogs and message boards, StumbleUpon them, suggest them to friends and ask them for feedback. This is a great way to drive some traffic to your pages, and let Google know that you are there.
Send me a page or two that you are not getting traffic on as a Direct Question. I'll happily help you brainstorm ideas.
If you want to abandon the pages and focus on Answers and Tasks, that's okay, too, but I think we could probably come up with a way for you to make enough on your managed pages to make them worth keeping. It's worth a try before you give up completely.
Hi @kerryk
You asked.. "How am I supposed to link users on Mahalo to my page? Just post a question saying, 'Hey everyone, go look at such and such a page?"
I think you are saying you don't want to do that, there is another way.
To help with linking Mahalo users to your pages you can use the twittersearch tool to import relevant questions to Mahalo Answers and by doing that it gives Mahalo users and you an opportunity to answer questions related to your pages.
With the appropriate inlinking everyone will get direct access to your pages.
I hope this helps.
edit--
For instance I just found this question on Twitter regarding Alex Gonzalez
I added the SeRP and the category and I believe this is a good example on how to get Mahalo users to answer questions regarding your lower traffic pages.
I think I get it now, just check the box on any question posted on twitter that i think would be good to use.
@kerryk I think I could help if I knew specifically what you would like to get to know more about in twittersearch.
Just let me know how I could help.