I thought of a handful of different topics for the “H” letter of the A-Z Blogging Challenge and then I thought well then H is for Handful!

H is for Happiness

Happiness is important to me. Not everyone sees happiness as a goal … some people see it as a byproduct … but it is a goal for me. I would rather be happy than successful. I would rather be happy than rich. Not that these things are mutually exclusive but for me happiness is the ultimate goal. To that end I am always exploring ideas of what makes me happy, how to change my thinking to increase happiness and how to manage unhappiness to minimize it as much as possible.

Do you see happiness as a goal or the pleasant byproduct of other goals?

H is for Health

Because not much matters if you don’t have decent health! And it sure is hard to be happy without it.

H is for HubPages

I have to throw in a mention for HubPages because I really like writing for the site. I have written there for four years and recently reached a milestone of having written more than 1000 articles on the site. I earn passive income on the work I’ve done there through Adsense and some affiliate programs. I write about the topics that interest me most at any given time.

Right now HubPages is running a contest where you can earn money for writing about long tail topics. Check it out!

H is for How To

The first “H” that came to mind was “how to”. I write a lot of “how to” articles for a lot of different sites. And when I don’t know how to do something the first thing I’m likely to do to remedy that is to look up a “how to” in Google. I noticed that a lot of other people chose this phrase for the H of their A-Z blogging challenge too!

Tags: a-z blogging challenge, happiness, how to, hubpages

I was just reading through an old article that I wrote a couple of years back about lowering your risk of cancer. As I was reading it, I couldn’t help but think that the information I’d shared there seemed so incredibly obvious. Only then it occurred to me that sometimes we need to have the obvious stuff shoved in our faces again and again so that we remember to do it.

If you want to lower your risk of cancer, you need to use common sense to take care of yourself. Eight obvious things that you should be doing to lower your risk of cancer are:

1. Eat right. Don’t eat too much red meat or drink too much alcohol. Do drink enough water. Eat moderately. We know these things but are we doing them.
2. Exercise. Regularly. Even though you don’t want to.
3. Avoid smoking. C’mon, you know this one.
4. Make sure you get preventative shots. Reducing your likelihood of getting such other diseases as HPV is going to reduce the likelihood that you’ll get certain types of cancer.
5. Get outside. Spend time in nature so that you’re not just sitting inside the toxic chemicals of home and work.
6. Green your home. Speaking of toxic chemicals, stop using them in your own home.
7. Get preventative health screening. You need to know early on if there are signs of cancer so you can combat them.
8. Talk to your doctor about cancer. The more you know, the more likely it is that you’ll be able to prevent it.

Tags: common sense cancer, lower your risk of cancer, prevent cancer

One of the sites that I particularly enjoy writing for is HubPages. I get to write about a lot of different topics here and to interact with a great community of writers through the site.

I like to see which articles do well through the site and which ones don’t. I think it provides a good overview of what people are reading on the web at any given time. If that’s something that interests you then maybe you’d like to know how my Hub articles did in August.

The ten articles that got the most traffic in August were:

1. Short Layered Haircuts and Styles
2. Calorie-Burners: Swimming vs. Running
3. How to Delete a Browser Cookie
4. Indoor Activities that Bring Couples Together
5. 25 Fun Things to Do at the Beach
6. Teacher’s Checklist for the First Week of School
7. How to Build a Treehouse
8. Can’t Find a Job: Make Sure You’ve Done These Things
9. How Do You Know when Mushrooms Go Bad?
10. Simple Trail Mix Recipes

What a range of topics people were reading? I’m not surprised to see that the articles on summer stuff and back-to-school stuff are popular right now. But what about the article on deleting browser cookies – isn’t that a strange one to be so popular? I guess it’s information that a lot of people need so I’m glad it’s been useful.

The ten hubs that got the least traffic in August were: Keep reading…

Tags: hubpages, hubs, kathryn vercillo, smartchick

Earlier today I wrote about the HubPages articles of mine that haven’t been getting much attention in the past 30 days. That’s not to say that people aren’t seeing what I write there, though. Several of my hubs did really well in terms of traffic.

Here’s a look at my top ten most popular HubPages articles for April:

1. How to Delete a Browser Cookie.
2. How to Build a Treehouse.
3. Calorie Burners – Swimming vs. Running.
4. Indoor Activities that Bring Couples Closer Together.
5. Tips for Getting Rid of a Caffeine Headache.
6. How to Tell When Mushrooms Go Bad.
7. Olive Oil vs. Canola Oil – Fat Profiles.
8. Where to Buy Alli Online at the Lowest Cost.
9. How to Open a RAR File.
10. Top 10 American Fashion Designers.

There are a few reasons why these hubs might have been popular. First of all, they’re on popular topics – technology, health, weight loss, relationships … Secondly, they mostly provide concise and clear tips for getting things done. And finally, these are articles I’ve worked hard to promote around the web in the past and I think that’s continuing to benefit them now.

Are there any other HubPages writers out there? Which articles did best for you in April? Do you know why?

Tags: articles, hubpages, hubs, kathryn vercillo, popular blogs, web traffic, writing

I write various articles over at HubPages on a regular basis. This allows me to write about many different topics and to stretch my writing beyond that which I’m assigned to write for different clients. But not all of my hubs get attention on the web.

Here’s a look at the ten hubs that did the worst in terms of traffic for the month of April and why I think that was the case:

1. Free Online Resources for Marketing your Business.
2. Choosing a Restaurant for Valentine’s Day.
3. 23 Simple Ways to Save Money During the Holidays.
4. 3 Important Ways to Deal with High Gas Prices.
5. 10 Celebrities Who Don’t Bother with Cell Phones.
6. The Daily Caffeine Fix on Limited Funds.
7. Benefits of Blogging with HubPages.
8. Evaluating Student Credit Card Offers.
9. Tips for Dealing with the Frightening Economy.
10. What we Learned from Low Fat and Low Carb Diet Crazes.

Some of these didn’t get traffic because they were time sensitive. Nobody is interested in Valentine’s Day or holiday savings right now. Students are getting ready to get out of school and don’t care about new credit cards. And the gas prices aren’t so high any more so that article isn’t currently relevant.

The others probably didn’t get traffic because they are older posts and I haven’t been working to promote them recently. I’m a little sad to see the lack of traffic to “tips for dealing with a frightening economy” since that still seems relevant but it’s been overshadowed by another post of mine on the positive things that have come out of the bad economy.

I’m also a little sad to see that no one’s been reading about the benefits of blogging with HubPages since it’s such a great site to write articles on!

Any other hubbers out there? What topics didn’t do so well for you this month? Do you know why?

Tags: articles, hubpages, hubs, kathryn vercillo, web traffic, writing

As mentioned earlier today, I think that it’s useful for me as a HubPages writer to take a look at how my hubs fare traffic-wise each month.

Here’s a look at my lowest-traffic Hubs for March and why I think they didn’t get much attention online:

1. Choosing a Restaurant for Valentine’s Day. How to pick a romantic restaurant.
2. The Perfect Valentine’s Gifts. Which romantic gifts are best?
3. Everyone’s Favorite Holiday Gifts. What do you want at Christmas time?
4. Tips for a Healthier Super Bowl Party. Great low-fat snacks for sports parties.
5. Great Wine Without a Great Cost. Good wine doesn’t have to be pricey.
6. Evaluating Credit Card Offers for College Students. Which deals are best?
7. Why to Improve Your Credit Score. There’s a reason that you really want to.
8. Job Trends for Real Estate Agents. What was going on with real estate jobs when this was written?
9. Small Business Marketing Guide. How to network and market for your small business (and small budget!)
10. Tips for Dealing with Frightening Changes in the Economy. How to cope.

It totally makes sense that the first four articles here weren’t getting traffic in March since they are seasonal articles that aren’t so appropriate right now (although some of the tips really aren’t time-sensitive). Several of the other articles are just old (older than a year) so that’s probably why they aren’t getting attention although I’m sad to see that no one is reading about how to deal with the economy’s changes since that’s important right now.

Tags: articles, hub pages, hubpages, kathryn vercillo, tips, web traffic, worst hubs, writing

I have been writing articles over at HubPages for two years as of this month. I’m always interested to see which articles stand the test of time and which ones fade away after their original publication. One of the best ways to do this is to look at the best and worth hubs each month.

Here is a look at the top ten articles for amount of traffic in March:

1. How to Delete a Browser Cookie. Tips for deleting browser cookies for Internet Explorer users.
2. How to Tell a Close Friend that You’re In Love with Him or Her. Thoughts on whether or not to tell a friend that you want more and how to do that.
3. Top 10 American Fashion Designers. A look at some of the great fashion designers that work from the U.S.
4. How to Open a RAR File. In case you need to open a RAR file and don’t know how.
5. How do you Know When Mushrooms Go Bad? You wouldn’t want to eat bad mushrooms.
6. Fat Profiles of Olive Oil vs. Canola Oil. Information on whether there’s more fat in olive oil or canola oil and what kind of fat it is.
7. Tips for Getting Rid of a Caffeine Headache. Many people want to give up caffeeine but they end up with headaches. Here’s how to get rid of them.
8. Indoor Activities that Bring Couples Closer Together. People who want to stay indoors together should figure out how to have fun there.
9. How to Build a Treehouse. Thoughts on how to start building a tree house and where to get more info to complete the project.
10. Swimming vs. Running – Calorie Burners. Which one burns more calories – running or swimming?

So the articles that people were interested in this month were a decent mixture of topics but the focus seems to be on food and exercise, tips for tech tricks and “how to” type articles. What do you think made people most interested in these articles in March?

Tags: articles, best articles, how to, hub pages, hubs, kathryn vercillo, top hubs