New Here - And Can't Figure Out Why Moderators Removed My Amazon Ads

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   rcmandevilleposted 8 years ago

   Hi Everyone,
   
   I'm new to HubPages and I have a featured article that is over 1600 words. I joined the external Amazon Affiliate program, and then I featured three books written by other people, all of which directly related to the subject I was writing about. Within a few hours, all three Amazon capsules were removed by Hubpages editors. I have written the hubpages team to ask why, but wonder if any of you might know here.
   
   Thanks so much!
   
   Rebecca

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      As I understand it, you can't just link to books that relate to your topic.  You must say that you linked to them and why they are the most appropriate ones and give examples.  Just linking loosely is not going to get it.  Also, if you have linked to three different books, that is probably two too many.  Why would you need to display three books about the same topic?  I'm pretty sure that's their thinking.

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      Christy Kirwanposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Rebecca,
      
      The rules vary on a case by case basis, but products should always be very minimal on an article that isn't geared toward sales. For example, if your Hub is about the "10 Best Books for Reconnecting with Your True Self" more products would be considered appropriate because your readers are presumably there to shop for books about this topic. But your Hub is not intended to sell but to detail your experience with a dysfunctional family and recovering yourself and to offer advice for others. Your readers aren't coming with the intention to shop, so if you include any products, make sure they are for the reader's benefit and that you explain why you are including them and what you liked about them personally. What was your experience reading those books and why did they help you reclaim your childhood and true self in a way you couldn't have without them? Why are you recommending them to your readers instead of other similar books on the same subject? Include as many details about your personal experience with the products as possible.
      
      A good rule of thumb is: if the article is just as informative and helpful without the products, leave them out. Less is pretty much always best except in Hubs written with shopping in mind.

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         rcmandevilleposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Hi Christy,
         
         NOW I understand. Thank you so much for your eloquent and thoughtful answer. I misunderstood, thinking that Hubpages WANTS us to use the Ad capsules. And that we should try to fit them in, as appropriate, and if connected directly to our article. But that is apparently not the case. They prefer you do not use the ad capsules at all, if possible, unless it is a 'sales' article. Am I hearing you correctly?

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            Christy Kirwanposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Yes, I guess that's a fairly accurate way to look at it, with the exception that products which are truly important to the reader's experience SHOULD be included. In other words, if there was a book that changed your outlook or that was deeply important to your personal journey of finding yourself, you should include that book in the article and talk more about your experience with it and how it helped you because it might be equally valuable to your readers. Hope that makes more sense!
            
            Product Capsules are kind of a balancing act. It's good to offer items that are necessary or deeply helpful to the reader for accomplishing the task discussed in the Hub, but you must also be careful not to spam readers with products when they are really just looking for information.

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               rcmandevilleposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               Got it. Because I am a licensed Psychotherapist, the books I included I know for a fact are enormously helpful to people who read them - my clients, and others. So this is why I was disappointed that they were snipped. But I also understand that we don't want our articles to look spammy. I am also grateful that my first hub was published and featured while I am still in boot camp, so I certainly do not want to appear to be complaining. However, I spent hours scanning the HubPages' learning links and tutorials and really never got a clear answer on this, and I seem to not be the only one, based on other forum discussions I have read.

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                  Christy Kirwanposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  If that's the case you should be able to include all 3 of the books as long as you discuss your experience with recommending each to your clients, how they helped, etc.

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                     rcmandevilleposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                     Ah, that is the part I likely missed. I am actually impressed that human moderators read our work, even if it results in snipping. I do like the fact that there is quality control here. Thank you once again, Christy. I am so glad I posted my question here, because you and others on this thread have already given me such wonderful advice and ideas - I will surely benefit from it all.

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                        Christy Kirwanposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                        My pleasure, and don't hesitate to post in the Forums if you have any more questions. Either I or experienced writers can usually be of help.

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                  Will Apseposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  HP should have a look at their learning center and try to make it clear that Amazon ads should only be used in certain circumstances.
                  
                  I know that when I started, I thought that using Amazon capsules was sort of mandatory. I also thought that the ads the capsules recommended when you used the 'search for keywords' feature were rock solid trustworthy, which they are not.

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                     Christy Kirwanposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                     We do our best to offer general guidelines for product capsules in the Amazon Learning Center Entry.

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                        Will Apseposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                        That advice is a lot better than I remembered it.

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                           paradigmsearchposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                           I've been following this thread.
                           
                           This is what a moderator's face looks like when they stumble across an Amazon ad (I have it from an inside source).
                           
                           Simple as that.
                           
                           And apparently they're even more brutal on the niche sites, http://hubpages.com/community/forum/135 … ost2802027

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                              Will Apseposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                              Frankly I reckon the face is more like this:
                              
                              

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                                 paradigmsearchposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                                 You could be right!

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                              rcmandevilleposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                              I was starting to wonder that as well. Our ads do 'compete' (technically) with whatever ads HP is 'featuring' on our hub. But I will give it a good 'college try' one more time, i.e., I will follow the guidelines to a 'T', and then hold my breath, click my heels three times, and see what happens.

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                                 paradigmsearchposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                                 I don't think it's the "competition" HP is worried about. I think HP is terrified of Google seeing the Amazon ads and slapping on a penalty for overly promotional/commercial/whatever.

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                                    rcmandevilleposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                                    So what happens if we just don't advertise and then turn off ads  - does that mean that HP also cannot clutter our articles with ads that at times greatly detract from the content we are putting up? I'm new, not lazy, happy to look this up if you can tell me where...Thanks!

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                                       Will Apseposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                                       Paul Edmonson recommended switching off normal ads on hubs that use Amazon ads to reduce the overall burden of advertising.
                                       
                                       I think the issue is a lot more complex than that. Affiliate ads have been targeted by Google for years. The SERPS used to be dominated by lousy pages packed with affiliate ads and Google has blown most of them away.
                                       
                                       Affiliate ads are fine if appropriate but poison if misused.
                                       
                                       This is a fairly intelligent article if you are really interested: http://www.hmtweb.com/marketing-blog/pa … -analysis/
                                       
                                       Quote:
                                       
                                       Affiliate Marketers Crushed
                                       I analyzed a number of affiliate websites that got destroyed during Panda 4.1. Now, I’ve seen affiliate marketers get pummeled for a long time based on previous Panda updates, so it’s interesting that some affiliate sites that have been around for a while just got hit by Panda 4.1.

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                                       rcmandevilleposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                                       I just learned what Panda was this week. I will read the above link, thank you, Will. At this point, I am less concerned about ads, and more concerned about how informative, well thought out articles with good content can get read on HP. I see some hubs that are basically sensationalistic in tone and content, reading more like a tabloid piece at times, and they are listed as being the most popular and on the front page. I imagine that these attract a lot of comments. But this would seem to lower the high quality standards HP is wanting to establish far more than a few well placed, relevant ads.

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                                          Will Apseposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                                          Pustules do well. Impossible diets do well. Pets with funny hats, excel.
                                          
                                          Other stuff can succeed. too, though. Best of luck.

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                              Anita Haschposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                              I don't understand. Am I correct that once I have 15 hubs or 1,500 views I can apply to have adsense ads on my hubs as well as Amazon ads. I am writing hubs to raise some money, so I would obviously need ads on my hubs.

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   Jesse Drzalposted 8 years ago

   Hard to say without seeing what you had, but from taking a quick gander at your musings there can't be many Amazon items that match the subject matter, other than books per se.

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      rcmandevilleposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for replying. Am I allowed to link here to my featured hub so you can see it? Yes, all three items were books that directly related to what I was writing about in the paragraphs (one book per paragraph. Paragraphs were spaced apart from each other). I am not affiliated with any of the authors in any way, so I am confused. I see people link books to their hub articles all the time here. Thanks again, Jesse.

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         Jesse Drzalposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         You can link to your own Hubs in the forums, sure.

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            TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

            actually, no, you can't.  It is generally against the TOS to link to your hubs here because it is considered to be self promotional.  However, in certain circumstances you can, for example, when you ask for help with improving a hug.

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               Jesse Drzalposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               Ok, only for QAP purposes then. Thank you for clarifying, T2

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         Jesse Drzalposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Your best bet may be to drop Hubpages an email and ask for clarification.

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            rcmandevilleposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            OK, I did do that today, hopefully they will reply. The hub in question is http://hubpages.com/health/chainfreeliving
            Thanks again!!

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               Jesse Drzalposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               Ok wait a second. Do you have an Adsence account?

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   Jesse Drzalposted 8 years ago

   http://hubpages.com/learningcenter/contents 
   
   Here is a link to the learning center, it's all laid out in here as for as earning money on the site, as well as creating content.

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      rcmandevilleposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I looked at that prior to doing the Earnings Program, but maybe I missed something. I thought if I was using an external Amazon affiliate (as I only have one hub) it was allowed. I guess I am confused. Oh well, I will try again when I have more content up. Best, Rebecca

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         Jesse Drzalposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         I don't think you can just use an Amazon affiliate anymore. Perhaps someone else can chime in but I do not think so.

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            TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

            I think you can, but it pays about half as much as the HP Amazon thing.  I'd ask the team to clarify that, but I think most people use their personal affiliates on their own sites but the HP affiliate here simply because it's easier and it does pay much more.

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   Will Apseposted 8 years ago

   Susana S suggested a simple way to assess a particular page's suitability for Amazon ads. Search Google for the keywords and see if there are any pages in the search results with Amazon ads.
   
   If Google has worked out that a particular search term indicates a desire to buy something then you will soon notice the affiliate ads.
   
   Pages really should meet readers needs rather than your own.

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      Jesse Drzalposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I'm using very little Amazon right now. Many do not have any.

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         Will Apseposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         If rcmandeville wants to use Amazon book ads a title like the 'The 10 Most Telling Books about Lost Childhood' would be a better bet.
         
         It is a big subject and the phrase 'Lost Childhood' means different things to different people so there is plenty of scope.
         
         You could cover everything from poor parenting (vast subject) to social pressures (vast subject).
         
         I would never use Amazon ads on a page that gave no indication in the title that the page was aimed at people searching for something to buy.
         
         I know that someone will turn up and say, 'I use them on my blog and it is no problem', but unsupported anecdotal evidence pales if you look at the way the vast majority of successful sites use affiliate ads. They are used in special categories, clearly labelled 'store' or 'product reviews' and visitors arrive looking for ads to click.

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            rcmandevilleposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            I am really confused now, although I appreciate the discussion. I am new to hubpages and new to using ads. Again, the books I referenced are directly related to the content of my article on this hub page. It enhances the article to have them there, in my opinion. Is it best to directly cite the books if I am going to place these resources there? Also, the titles of the three books I included contain the word "True Self', so they were all directly related to my title. Meeting the readers needs is why I decided to start hubs here. I have no concerns about making money; I am simply annoyed because these very good book resources were removed.
            Thanks Again, Rebecca

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            rcmandevilleposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Will Apse, again, I am new here, and you have provided me with some wonderful suggestions and ideas, which I plan to implement very soon. Thank you so very much! -Rebecca

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   SmartAndFunposted 8 years ago

   rcmandeville,
   
   Yes, you can use Amazon as your sole source of income on HP. However, I recommend getting an AdSense account and adding the HP ad program, if possible.
   
   The rules keep changing here at HP, but I believe this is the latest regarding Amazon products, from this Learning Center article: http://hubpages.com/learningcenter/publ … standards:
   
   "Remove any Amazon or eBay products that are not directly related to the content of your Hub (e.g. any products are not explicitly mentioned in your Hub's content)"
   
   I think you will find success if you use only one or two Amazon products, and mention both of them specifically in your article as being helpful, interesting, important, etc. Also tell WHY. Then place the Amazon ad on the page near the text which specifically recommendeds the item.
   
   I'm not sure if this is foolproof, but it just might work. If it doesn't work, whittle it down to one product and see if that helps.

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      rcmandevilleposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you so much for this info'. I did put two back in, and they snipped one. However, the one they left in did specifically get mentioned in my text. So I will be sure to do that from now on. I have to say that overall I really like the community feeling here thus far, and I plan to stay. I'm sure things will get easier as I figure things out. It would be great if HP made a clear policy in writing around all this, with examples. Just sayin'. Best, Rebecca

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      rcmandevilleposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Also, I did apply for AdSense, but  I was rejected as I don't have enough content yet, which I understand. I will apply again later.

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