I'd like feedback on my Hub: 11 Creative and Unusual Ways To Memorialize Your Lo

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   Marinda Seiwellposted 9 years ago

   Hi Hubbers,
   
   I'd like some help with passing the Quality Assessment Process. Will you please give feedback on my Hub 11 Creative and Unusual Ways To Memorialize Your Loved One After Cremation !. What can I do to improve? Thanks!
   
   It says my hub is too "spammy" ??  Help !

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      Marcy Goodfleischposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Hi, Marinda - it appears you have numerous outbound links with very little actual text. It reads like a sales catalog, and is not particularly informative.
      
      I'd include original text (at least 1,000 words - all original) that explains things related to the title - why people memorialize loved ones, why they might pick one choice rather than another, the meanings behind various types of memorials, the pros and cons (durability, ways the memorials can be preserved, etc.) or other information readers might want.
      
      Also - although I didn't check all links, it appears they go to outside sites that sell those things. You can have no more than two links to any one site, and you cannot be in a relationship where you earn money from the site.  The body of your hub needs to clearly show an objective reason for including the links (such as the fact they support some informative element of the hub), or the hub might be flagged as spammy. 
      
      Hope that helps.

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      wildernessposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Marcy is correct - there is no original information here at all, or at least none I could find.  All the phrases that I checked were copied from other sites, as were all the photos.
      
      While it is a nifty mix of ideas it also appears to be nothing but copy/paste (most of the ideas are repeated on ht tp://www.budgetlife.com/blog/weird-cremations/) with both text and photos being snagged from other sites.  This is both against HP policy and the law - you cannot simply search yahoo for a photo or text and take whatever you wish.  (Google DMCA and find the law on using copyrighted work).
      
      Strongly suggest you thoroughly read the HP learning center for guidelines on plagiarism and for what HP considers a "stellar" hub.  You will find it is unique, original content, not a sales catalog put together by copying information from the web and re-publishing it under your name.
      
      While what you have done with this is perhaps understandable (and far too common) for a new author, but it is both illegal and unethical and will not survive long on HP.  Study the learning center, and study it well - it is a very valuable resource for the beginning author on HP.

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         Marcy Goodfleischposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Good catch on those issues, Wilderness - I didn't have a chance to check for copied text, so your tips are very helpful.

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      Rachel L Albaposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I understand now what they are trying to say.  That was the problem with one of the hubs I was telling you about.  I copied and pasted, even though they were my own words, I couldn't do that.  You know a lot about this subject since you work there, so search your memory about how people choose those things and how it might make them feel closer to a loved one.  You have an imagination, I know because I am your mother and when you were little you had quite an imagination so just tell it like it is from what you hear.

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   Marinda Seiwellposted 9 years ago

   Yes.. Thanks for the tips. I guess I really don't understand how it all works yet. I wanted the links to show the different cremated remains options. Am I allowed to reference without links?  I'm not making any money off it.

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      wildernessposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I don't think links are that much of a problem, although I did not check to see if there were more than two to any one domain.  That they all go to commercial sites selling something might be a problem, though.
      
      But the biggest problem is that there is nothing there from you - just copy from other sites and copyrighted photos you have no right to take.  If you want to keep and use this hub idea, you should probably start over with a clean slate.  Write, in your own words, a paragraph or two on each option.  Take your own pics or get some photos that are legal to use instead of just grabbing copyrighted work and re-publishing it.  Do not copy anything from other sites; for this type of hub there is no need for quotations or anything else to be copied.
      
      Here's the thing - if you don't have personal knowledge of these things, and preferably experience, you probably should not be writing on it.  Write what you know - not what you have found on sales sites.  Only then will you be believable and only then will you find traffic increasing to your hub.
      
      Your recipes and photo hub are good examples of this - you already know the information, you have your own photos, and you can (and did) write your own copy without need to take it from elsewhere.  It's the right, legal, ethical and most rewarding way to write.

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3. 74

   Marinda Seiwellposted 9 years ago

   Wilderness,  I went back and and put sources for all my pictures.  I added some more original text as well.  I really didn't copy anything from other sites except for when I was adding the descriptions for the websites.  I really did intend it to be informative because I had a previous hub about the process of Cremation.  I work at a crematory so that is original..and I wanted to follow up with some things you could do with the ashes after the cremation. I hope it's a little better now. Thanks for your constructive criticism.

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      wildernessposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      You misunderstand.  You have taken photos without permission, copyrighted work that is illegal to republish anywhere else, and published them.  That you have attributed them to someone else does not make it legal or ethical to steal the work for your own use.  Only with express permission from the owner can you reuse their work, and you did not get that.
      
      You added some text, yes, but at a guess well over half is still copied from somewhere else.  The copied text is probably legal as you did not copy large sections from any specific site, but it is not what HP wants to see in a hub.  Quotations are fine, a very limited amount of copy/paste is acceptable (though not ideal), but your own words need to comprise the large majority of text.  Say, 80-90% at a minimum.
      
      You could run afoul of Google as well, with the phrase "below is some information about...", followed by a link.  This sort of thing is typically used by "gateway" articles; articles written solely to get a reader to click through to another site rather than provide real information for them.  Google does NOT like the concept and can penalize you heavily for it, and HP is not happy with gateway hubs, either. 
      
      Consider the section devoted to hourglasses.  You wrote 41 words, followed by a link and 17 words of copied text from the website.  This isn't original information, it's a lead to draw the reader onto that site.  Write a coupe of hundred words here.  Talk of different sizes, shapes, materials, colors.  How they could be used/displayed, perhaps with track lighting spotlighting the urn.  Talk of the symbolism of an hourglass for ashes.  Follow it with a legal picture of an hourglass:
      
      
      
      by Keith Evans, via wikimedia commons, cc 2.0
      
      as just one example of many.
      
      Add a link to a possible site, clearly saying it is but one of many (as you did) if you wish.  Now you have given valuable information to go with that link, without using copied text or illegal photos.

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