I'd like feedback on my article: My Favorite Lemax Christmas Village

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   gina1209posted 6 years ago

   Hi all,
   
   I could really use some advice regarding my article. It's unfeatured and I'm pretty sure it's due to spammy elements and/or being too promotional.
   
   My Favorite Lemax Christmas Village Houses for 2017
   
   The problem I'm running into is the concept of the article lends itself to being promotional - I'm highlighting several products. I don't really know how to do this without being promotional. So should I just not write hubs like this?
   
   The only ideas I have for changes are 1) take out 2017 from the title and 2) highlight 3 products instead of 6.
   
   Thanks so much for any insight you can give me! I really appreciate it.
   
   Gina

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      Marisa Wrightposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      This is just a guess, but I suspect the problem is that your comments on the various houses are not personal enough. 
      
      You say these are your favourites, but (with one or two exceptions), your descriptions of the houses sound more like sales blurbs than your personal reaction to each house.   The editor could be suspicious that you've been hired by Lemax to write a promotional article, which isn't allowed.
      
      I'd suggest cutting the opening section, and instead open the article with this paragraph:
      
      "For over 10 years I've been collecting Lemax Christmas village houses and accessories. Nothing gets me into the holiday spirit more than setting up my village every year (yes, it's more fun than setting up a tree - at least to me anyway!)"
      
      Then follow it with a picture of your existing village (could you take a slightly better photo?).  That will establish you as a real collector.
      
      Where you mention that you buy at least one house a year, I would add something about drawing up your list of favourites before deciding which one you're going to buy first.  It could be worth adding a few more and renaming your Hub "My Top Ten Lemax Christmas Village Houses" - or cut one, and make it your top Five!
      
      Then I would choose ONE of the houses as your favourite, and rank the rest in order. List them all and make sure to say something personal about each one.  Then for your last one - the one you've decided to buy - you could include an Amazon capsule to buy it on Amazon.

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         gina1209posted 6 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you Marisa. That all makes a lot of sense. I appreciate the suggestions very much!

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      galleryofgraceposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      I'm wondering if the sub-headings are not causing the confusion. Coffee, cocoa, popcorn, etc.  Do these words relate to  "villages"?

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   Jeremy Gillposted 6 years ago

   Hmm.. I didn't find this spammy while reading; it was informative and fun, not a sales pitch. Did you link to the same website more than twice? That could be it.

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      gina1209posted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you. And no, just one link in the whole article.

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   pen promulgatesposted 6 years ago

   There is an outgoing link. When you click it, it downloads something on the phone. Maybe that's why.

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      gina1209posted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Oh thank you for pointing that out. On my PC it was just a link to a PDF. I'll change the link.

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   gina1209posted 6 years ago

   I took out the 1 link I had and removed the year from the title. Still not featured due to "spammy elements."
   
   I'm so disappointed and don't know what else to change.

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      Jeremy Gillposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      If no one else chimes in with advice, try contacting the editors and politely asking what they still find spammy. I've had good experiences in the past communicating with them and I'm sure they'll help.

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         gina1209posted 6 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you Jeremy. I'll do that.

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   Kierstin Gunsbergposted 6 years ago

   As a reader, I didn't find your article spammy at all. However, Google might (and we all must bow down to the almighty Google...) - here are some things that might help Google be more accepting of your article:
   
   - Add more words to your article. I know that can be frustrating, especially because we're taught to be concise in our writing, but Google really favors longer articles. So you could add some history on why you personally love this topic, what inspired you to start collecting, etc.
   
   - I personally love the way call outs look because they help break up the article, but I found out from the editors here that Google can't see them! And you want Google to see your words, so I would take the call outs out and put that text back in as regular text.
   
   Honestly, the rest looks awesome - your pictures are full sized and credited, the poll and video seemed perfectly placed. You MIGHT want to change your title to something more searchable. So just think of how someone might type something into Google and retitle that way. "The Best Lemax Christmas Village Houses" or "Lemax Christmas Village Houses 2017" (I don't think having the year in there is a bad idea at all because a lot of times, people are searching by year in queries like this).
   
   I hope this feedback helps

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      Marisa Wrightposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Kierstin, I have to correct one thing that you said.
      
      Google CAN see the text in Callout capsules.   The problem is that it reads that text as ordinary text, not as a heading.   So if you've used them instead of a heading - which HubPages encouraged us to do, at one point - Google thinks you've got no headings or sub-headings, which is not a good thing.   However, callout capsules are still ideal for adding some highlighted text, as Gina did.
      
      Personally, I don't think the Hub needs to be any longer.   True, the ideal length for a Hub used to be stated as 1,500 words, but anything from about 800 words to 2,500 words is just fine.
      
      Besides, she's been told the problem is that her Hub is "spammy", and that never has anything to do with length.   "Spammy" always means EITHER self-promotional OR containing a link to a website or product that breaks the rules.
      
      I'm wondering if the problem is that all the houses are by the same maker.  A moderator might think she was writing the Hub on behalf of that maker.

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      gina1209posted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you Kierstin for your feedback!

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   psycheskinnerposted 6 years ago

   It might help if you posted a picture at the top of your own collection.

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   Linda Robinson60posted 6 years ago

   Gee psycheskinner those sound like rather good ideas. I know that hubpages do strongly dislike too much promoting of anything. But you have nothing to lose. Keep to the topic in great detail, keep it interesting to hold the reader's attention with lots of exceptional detail and add some outstanding photos, and give it another shot to get it featured. Best luck to you.

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   gina1209posted 6 years ago

   Thank you all for your support and suggestions. After many edits, my article is finally featured and on Holidappy! Yay!
   
   I think the main issue was that I was only discussing one company which probably made the article lean towards too promotional. When I added information about a few other companies, that immediately did the trick.

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