How to Successfully Attract Fans on HubPages

HubPages provides a great platform which allows you as a writer to express yourself on nearly any topic under the sun. However, that doesn't always feel gratifying enough in and of itself. You also want to make sure that people are reading what you write. Although the best way to get readers for your work is to promote yourself off of the HubPages site, you can also share your work with those people who are active on HubPages. There are additional benefits to networking within the HubPages community which include feedback on your writing, fun online conversations and great resources for topic ideas.

One of the best ways to develop this kind of network within the HubPages community is to build up your fan base. It's easy to become the fan of anyone else on the site but not quite so easy to convince people that they want to become a fan of yours. Here are some tips that will help you boost your fan potential and start growing your fan base on the site:

• Write quality content articles. This is the number one thing that's going to get you fans because it's going to mean that you have work that people want to read. HubPages sends you email updates when anyone that you're a fan of publishes new work. After you've received a few links to really poor quality articles, you'll be really tempted to leave that person's fan club. Write good articles so that this isn't something that happens to you!
• Be a fan. One of the easiest ways to start getting fans is to become the fan of other people. However, you don't want to just start adding fans left and right. You want to actually seek out the people who content that you enjoy reading. It's even better if that content is similar to what you write because those are the people most likely to have an interest in what you've got to say (and therefore the ones most likely to become a fan in return).
• Start commenting. The reason that you want to have a fan base is really that you want to be a part of the HubPages community. That means being involved in the conversations that are happening on HubPages. One of the places that those conversations take place is in the comments that follow each article. Seek out those articles that interest you (and are relevant to your own if at all possible) and leave meaningful comments on them. Note the word meaningful. It's nice to say "great hub" and that'll get you a little attention that might end up gaining you a fan but you're much more likely to increase your fan base if you actually contribute meaningfully with a thought, resource, link or idea that's related to what you're commenting on.
• Head to the forums. Comments aren't the only place that conversations are taking place. Go participate in the rest of the water cooler chit chat over at the HubPages forums. Again, you want to make sure that you're making a meaningful contribution that other people are actually going to care about and that you're doing it primarily around those topics that relate to the article topic you write on most often. The Hubber's Hangout is where you should spend the bulk of your time but browse through the rest of the forum on a regularly basis as well.
• Promote your hubs off of the site. One of the ways that you are going to get new fans is if you bring new people to the site who aren't yet using it. You can promote your hubs in a number of ways including adding a link to them on your email signature, being active on social networking sites like Mixx.com and including links to them in others articles that you write. By doing this, you send people who don't know about HubPages over to the site. If they like it, they may join. And since they got there through you, there's a good chance that they want to be your fan.
• Get familiar with tags and keywords. Once you've gotten the hang of networking on and around the site, you'll want to go back and boost your content even more. By using better headlines and learning how to incorporate the right tags/categories, you're going to make it easier for people to find your articles. Once they find them, they may like them and then they may become your fan.
• Don't stop doing any of this. The thing about a social network of any kind, including the fan base that you're going to make around your HubPages, is that you have to keep at it. You have to continue writing high quality articles on a regular basis. You have to continue promoting those articles through social networking sites and connecting with others there and through the HubPages forum. You need to continue reading the work of other people and commenting meaningfully on it. If you start to slack off on this stuff, it's going to cause a lull in the number of new fans that you're getting and may ultimately cause your fan base to decrease in size.

If you're trying to gain fans on HubPages, you are really trying to establish a social network for yourself around your hubs. The key to doing that is to remind that you're trying to get attention but not of the negative variety. Just like in the real world, you have to be outgoing and active in trying to make friends and you have to do it in a way that's positive instead of negative. Do that and people are going to want to get to know you and your writing.