Exact Definition of "Overly Promotional"?

1. 65

   Lisa HWposted 16 years ago

   I've searched the site and forum, and read the Help and TOS (etc.), and I haven't yet been able to find an answer to my question about "overly promotional".  I have a multi-part question about this:
   
   (Of course, if the answer to my general question is, "Write about absolutely anything all - within the limits of being non-R-rated, but make sure you have something unique to say (rather than a repeat of what everyone else on the Internet says)", then I guess there would be no need to go through all these questions and address them.)
   
   A.  To the best of my understanding, a Hub that doesn't say much but has a lot of links to something like where people can buy a product would be overly promotional? 
   
   B.  What about a Hub that offers a lot of information in general (for example, a Hub about heart disease in general) (again, lots of solid information); but that may ALSO include lots of links to where people could buy stuff someone with a heart problem could buy?   Is there a limit to number of links?
   
   B1.  Would it make a difference if the links were to things to buy versus more reading?
   
   B2  Is there something like a percentage/balance of products to buy versus more reading versus, maybe, a site that someone could sign up for?
   
   C.  What if I bought a pair of, say, BlahBlah Brand shoes that I found just right for a person with - oh, I don't know - heels that tend to get blisters in a lot of shoes)?  Could I write about how much I love the shoes and recommend them to others?
   
   C1.  If I can write a Hub about these great hypothetical shoes, do I have to make sure to really make the Hub about my very personal experience with something like the hypothetical heel problem?  (Something like, "Oh, the woes of always have shoes that make blisters.  My life was a horror show until I bought....., and now my life is saved.")
   
   Or, is it better to write a less personal thing like, "A brand of loafers that are made in a way that doesn't cause blisters", with maybe a single statement of, "By the way, I've found this to be true because I've had six pairs of these things; and they're good."?
   
   C2.  Could I add links to where people can buy them?
   
   C3.  Should my links on such a Hub remain limited to, say, articles or general information about the problems associated with "blister-prone heels", and leave out buying links specifically for all shoes?
   
   D.  That brings me to Amazon links:  Are there guidelines about which type of links are most acceptable for any hub?  For example, on the hypothetical shoe Hub, should we only include Amazon links to shoe-/foot-problem-associated books/products, but stay away from links to actual shoes?
   
   D1.  Should there be a "fairness doctrine" type of thing when it comes to any links that sell shoes?  In other words, if I write about BlahBlah shoes should I make sure my Amazon links go to only BlahBlah shoes sold at Amazon, or would including links to all kinds of brands make my Hub less promotional of BlahBlah shoes?
   
   E.  If I absolutely love or hate a certain type of, say, cheese crackers - can I just write a hub about how they changed my life for the better or worse (for example) (without adding a whole, big, personal, history of my travails in finding a good cheese cracker?)
   
   I guess to clarify that last one:   Can I write a Hub about BlahBlah crackers, add all the ways I've used them in recipes and talk about how they great they are, with the focus/subject being on how great I think the crackers are; or (assuming writing about a product is ok at all) would it be more acceptable to write about all my years of searching for a good cheese cracker, what was wrong with all those other brands, and how BlahBlah crackers have solved all my problems (with the subject being on all my difficulties, and BlahBlah crackers only being mentioned incidentally?)
   
   E1.  Does the fact that I love a product/service, hate a product/service, or feel neutral about one make a difference?  (In other words, do I need to act like a newspaper reporter, or can I act like a friend in a conversation and just talk about how much I love those BlahBlah cheese crackers? 
   
   E2. Is there a standard of "degree of impression" a product/service makes that would increase the use/acceptability of a Hub?  In other words, if I use good old, classic, BlahBlah coffee all the time and it's fine enough but not particularly memorable does that make it less worthy of discussion than "the new caffeine BlahBlah coffee that is absolutely amazingly great"?

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2. 65

   Maddie Ruudposted 16 years ago

   Hi Lisa:
   
   I'm the Community Manager here at HubPages, so I am perhaps best equipped to answer your question.  Our rules regarding what constitutes an "overly promotional" hub are pretty straightforward and static, in order to make them enforceable.  What you are writing about, or in what manner, doesn't necessarily matter as much as whether or not the content is original and has no more than 2 links to a domain.  I've laid out the usual reasons for an overly promotional flag in a hub.  Hope you find it helpful.

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   1. 59

      JYOTI KOTHARIposted 16 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for guidelines. I am already following those.
      
         Jyoti Kothari

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3. 65

   Lisa HWposted 16 years ago

   Maddy, thanks for the quick reply.  I did go to your Hub, and it did offer information about links that I didn't realize.  As my post shows, I knew there is such a thing as "overly promotional" - but wasn't sure what was covered under that.  Thanks again.  (I guess the reason I didn't find what I thought I needed to find was that it isn't part of the "overly-promotional equation".    )

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