'Your Hub has been identified as Overly Promotional' - Please help

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   Paul Maplesdenposted 12 years ago

   Recently, I've had a few automated messages from HubPages saying that my hubs are overly promotional. I must admit, this has left me a little baffled.
   
   I try to write tightly themed hubs, providing good, relevant information to readers, linking to mine and other's related hubs.
   
   I'd be very grateful to understand if others have run into this problem and how they sorted it out. My articles certainly aren't *intended* to be overly promotional, I'd just be grateful to know what I can do to resolve the issue.
   
   The subjects of my hubs that have been flagged are:
   
   - Blog monetization
   - Getting feedback from customers
   - Business podcasts
   - Google Analytics
   - Comparing Outliner tools
   
   I don't know if it';s my links to other hubs, the Amazon related content or something else that's a problem, but as I've said I've tried to make sure it's all related.
   
   Any help would be very much appreciated.
   
   Thank you,
   
   Paul.

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      Stina Caxeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I must need new glasses, for a moment I thought that said "overly emotional"
      
      I would be in trouble if there was a flag for that. 
      
      A while back I got the same type of message.  I think mine was due to the amount of Amazon ad's I had on there.  I was reviewing some products and I had ads for all of them listed.  I think I just cut those back a little and it was fine.

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   2. 86

      Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      The "overly promotional" rule is quite specific.  It can refer to a couple of things.
      
      1.  You have more than two links to the same website in a single Hub.  Links to other Hubs, Flickr and Wikipedia are exempt from that limit.
      
      2.  Your Hub reads more like a press release for a product or service, than an informational article.
      
      Did you have more than two links to your own site in a Hub, perhaps to different pages?

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         MelissaBarrettposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         What she said...
         
         Marisa correct me if I'm wrong but couldn't all hubs linking to a common page also be considered overly-promotional?

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            relacheposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Yes it can.

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            1. 86

               Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               If you go and look in the Learning Center, you'll see that rule has been removed.  It was removed last year, while Jason was still here.  It wasn't announced - it came up in a forum thread, where I (like you) said it wasn't allowed, and Jason told me I was talking nonsense.   That's why it sticks in my head!
               
               Sure enough, he was right - the rule had been quietly changed, amongst all those other changes.  The definition is now:
               
               -   including more than 2 links to any one domain
               -   short "teasers" with links to "read more" at another site
                 -  linking to sites/pages/Hubs that are unrelated to your Hub's topic
                  - solely promotes a product, site, good, or service
                   - including links to a page that contains largely the same content as your Hub

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         2. 86

            Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            There was a forum thread months ago where I said exactly the same thing, only to have Jason tell me I was wrong - and sure enough, if you go to the Learning Center, you'll see that section of the rule has been changed.  There is nothing in the rules to say you can't have a link to the same website on every single Hub - provided, of course, that it's relevant to the content.

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      2. 61

         Paul Maplesdenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I don't think so - Do links to my own hubs on HubPages count towards that? I will go through every link and check that I don't have more than two links, but I am pretty certain that I don't.

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2. 61

   Paul Maplesdenposted 12 years ago

   The Team at HubPages provided me with some good feedback, I was running into the following problems:
   
   - I had a call to 'Follow me on Google+' at the bottom of my hubs, that's a no-no
   - I had a small image in the bottom right of the graphics I created with my blog URL on it
   - I had text at the bottom of my hubs near my signature block letting people know they could go to my business blog for further information
   
   These were all identified as overly promotional and I've now gone through and removed them from my hubs, hopefully I'll get them back into being in good standing.
   
   Thanks for your advice here folks, much appreciated.

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   1. 86

      Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I'm guessing it was the combination of all these factors that made it overly promotional - because I can't see how some of these would break the rules if taken one at a time.

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         wildernessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Unless it was irrelevant to the hub, maybe.

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            Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Looking at the titles of his Hubs, they all sound reasonably related, but I suppose it depends how the moderators define it.

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3. 61

   Paul Maplesdenposted 12 years ago

   I believe that the hubs have now been given a clean bill of health - it's been an interesting process, getting them to the right quality. I've got a better understanding now of what the pitfalls are!

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