All products capsules snipped. Why?

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   Adam Harkusposted 8 years ago

   Not that I was making any money from them, but why has my directly related Amazon product link been snipped in the hub-pro edit ?
   
   I could understand snipped competitor products, but what is the point of having ebay / amazon capsules if they are being removed from the niche sites?

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      Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I agree, HubPages really needs to consider its rules and rewrite them to honestly reflect their views on Amazon.
      
      Robin wrote a post recently which said that you had to consider if even ONE Amazon capsule was "worth the risk".  So clearly, they see Amazon capsules as "risky" per se.  That, in my opinion, is a complete distortion of what Google has said about affiliate products but if they want to be paranoid, what can we do?

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         Solarasposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         I'll say it again for the umpteenth time - Amazon capsules earn twice what CPM does. For me and HP.

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         sallybeaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         It would not be so bad if staff followed the same rules with their own hubs.  In some cases, there are six amazon hubs placed one below the other and  there is the practice of having links to products instead of modules.

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         makingamarkposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Frankly I just come at this from a financial perspective
         
         1) I don't believe that those making the snipping decisions have ever had sight of the income cashflow from Amazon to HubPages - and don't realise the damage they are doing to the business model which underpins the site's profitability
         
         2) If the Amazon income modules are snipped it's probably a waste of time doing hubPro as the likelihood is that anybody with decent traffic will just transfer the content to another site
         
         Otherwise known as "the shooting yourself in both feet scenario"

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            Adam Harkusposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            All I can think of is that, in general, the capsule's are bad for traffic overall.  I'm not making money from them(yet), so I'm less annoyed by the decision.

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               makingamarkposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               People with their own sites which include Amazon recommendations would not agree with you.
               
               If the content is relevant and appropriate and if the Amazon recommendation is not merely repeating the standard text then they can do well - depending on how much traffic you drive to your site (or hub)
               
               If you have low traffic on your site (or hub) you won't get buyers. A decent hit rate re buyers requires  decent or highly targeted traffic
               
               Good and very highly targeted traffic works best.

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   2. 90

      Will Apseposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      If you are not making money from affiliate ads that is a good reason to get rid of them. If readers do not use any element on a page it should go.
      
      Sadly, HP is also getting rid of affiliate ads that readers use regularly. They are making subjective judgments  that fly in the face of all the data.
      
      I recently had a page snipped of all Amazon ads despite the fact that its ads received thousands of clicks a year. The page itself has accumulated a couple of hundred thousand pages views and has a read time of 06:25 minutes.
      
      In other words, readers and search engines think the page is fine.
      
      The reason for the snipping? I did not include enough personal input. I could have given a deluge of personal input but it would not have helped the reader (too idiosyncratic).
      
      So the problem is my fact-based style. If it is so poor, why move the page to a niche at all?

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         Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         I was going to post something then I read your response, Will.  You've expressed it so clearly, I have nothing to add.  Spot on.

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         makingamarkposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Why not move your hub off the site Will? 
         
         Get your traffic back - and then some - and get 100% of the income from Amazon.

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      RachaelLeflerposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      They took my ebay capsule. I wasn't making money from it, but I'd have been pissed if I was. This site claims you can do many different things for revenue, but really, they don't want Google to think your posts look spammy, which means they only want you to use Google's ads and not anyone else's. This system is stupid.

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   paradigmsearchposted 8 years ago

   
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   Reply to the email and state your case. Sometimes Robin grants reprieves.

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3. 84

   Solarasposted 8 years ago

   Having said that - If the capsule never generates any sales, why have it.  Find a product that will sell, or just don't have a capsule.  I ditched all the capsules from hubs that never made a sale. People looking for dog names somehow don't need any puppy or dog products..

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4. 78

   Wesman Todd Shawposted 8 years ago

   They can take my work and do what they think best for the new sites. Does it matter? Hey, I can do new ones with the ebay and amazon hubs that will be here, and original.

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   1. 60

      Adam Harkusposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I have no generated sales from Amazon or Ebay, but that's beside the point. The issue is I've spent quite some time following HP's own advice. In this case it's a product review hub, with a capsule to buy the specific product I'm reviewing. The capsule can't be more appropriate than that surely, can it? If they are generally against any form of capsule now, they should just say, as it's confusing to many.

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      1. 87

         Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Well exactly.  The trouble is,HubPages is doing its usual thing and over-reacting. 
         
         Some time ago, HubPages got a spam warning from Google for a couple of Hubs that had an insufficiently irrelevant Amazon capsule in them.   The right response to that was to tighten the rules about product relevance, which they did.  But they've gone much further than that, and from comments HubPages staff have made, it's clear they regard ALL Amazon capsules as "risky".   I suspect they'd like to dump Amazon altogether, they are so paranoid about it - but they need the income from them too, so they're stuck in this strange limbo.
         
         Several people have been able to reinstate product capsules in their Hubs, if they felt the product was completely relevant and justified.  So sometimes it's just that moderators are over-worked and making decisions in too much of a hurry.

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            makingamarkposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Personally I have a theory they're employing somebody who had a grudge and is determined to undermine HubPages - and he's very active with his snipping.....

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         2. 90

            Will Apseposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            The impression I get is that they do not know how Amazon capsules should be used at all.
            
            No one wants individual product reviews, (HP have grasped this, at least). People can get more reliable opinions from Amazon buyer comments or professional review sites.
            
            What  is still valuable is a page that gives an insight into the kinds of products that are available to meet a particular need.
            
            Someone looking to buy an unfamiliar product like their first lawn mower will proceed through a number of stages. The first thing they will want is an overview of the lawn mowers available and the different features that they possess. They do not want someone telling them to buy this item or that, they do not especially want personal opinions, either, they just want plain, old fashioned info.
            
            So if you write a product comparison page give them the basics, add technical explanations of how things work if it helps and point out products specially made for different groups (the elderly, tall people, whatever).
            
            This allows people to narrow down the choices and move on to the next stage: checking individual product reviews and taking note of buyers' opinions. The best place to do this is Amazon so give them a link to each product.
            
            Product comparison pages with Amazon ads work well because a good page saves people hours of research and provides a link to help them complete the next stage.
            
            As long as you have not tried to sell them anything or sway them in any way, the page will not be perceived as spammy.
            
            You should obviously know what you are talking about and it is usually a lot of work. If it is not a lot of work the page will probably be worthless.

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               Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               Well said Will!   One of the things that really frustrates me is that HubPages now won't allow a proper comparison Hub.  As you say, they are a lot of work but they used to be a great way to make sales - because they were offering a real service to readers.
               
               A proper comparison Hub doesn't review a range of products, then choose ONE product to feature and say "this is the best" - because that is rarely the case.  As you say, different products will suit different people and a good Hub will offer several products, each suited to a different type of buyer.    It's a missed opportunity for sales if you don't provide a link to each of those products.

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               makingamarkposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               Totally spot on!
               
               HubPages haven't got a clue how difficult it is to find the best of available products and how helpful comparative sites are.  Properly curated selections are extremely helpful to those trying to make buying decisions.

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5. 90

   Will Apseposted 8 years ago

   HP have good reason to be worried about Amazon ads. In the majority of cases their use is spammy.
   
   Also, I don't think they have Amazon data in a good enough format to pick out those pages where the ads are genuinely useful to readers and harmless as far as Google is concerned,
   
   So why not wait a little? It is not hard to recognise a hub where the ads are integral to the page. If editors come across a page with a good history of traffic but a lot of ads just make a note of it and let it stay on the main site. When the niches are well established, consider moving those pages over.
   
   My income here seems to have been pretty much destroyed already but this kind of policy might save a few other writers. It might keep some money flowing to HP, as well.

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6. 70

   makingamarkposted 8 years ago

   Well they've just snipped my very first hub and told me that my hub might be moved to a new site. It's a hub which has had a consistent record of decent traffic. They've left just one Amazon item on the hub despite the fact that every single one was relevant and mentioned in the text.
   
   The only reason it is still here is it is big - but they've just created a huge incentive to move. So it will be unpublished today and moved tomorrow. (Got to go and pick up unsold artwork from an exhibition today - otherwise it would move today!)
   
   Fortunately I already have a complete webpage archive saved in Safari (makes excellent pages copies with live links) and also in Evernote (ditto re live links).

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      Adam Harkusposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      If you go it alone though, you'll need to pay for hosting won't you? The reason I started writing here was because it made it easy and free to explore a new hobby. A lot of people won't want to shell out to do that.

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         Mark Ewbieposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         You are right up to a point.  HubPages makes it as easy as it could be to start writing and see if there is an audience, if you enjoy it, if you can do it.
         
         My experience of self hosting is that it is not a quick ticket to more money.  For me and my creative crap it does not make much at all.  But it doesn't cost much either.
         
         I started a site with Weebly for FREE.  That was to check out the process.  It works.  They have since changed their rules due to spammers so FREE does not get indexed.  That's a shame.
         
         But I was already paying three to four dollars (starter site) a month to get rid of their footer advertising.  For that I get a whole site to play with endlessly, internet search traffic and my Adsense income now covers the cost.
         
         So I have a FREE site again.

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         makingamarkposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Adam - the website already exists - and was started with the first few hubs I moved off HubPages.
         
         It now gets c.1,500 visits a week (way more than the hubs I moved were getting with HubPages). The only reason it doesn't get more right now is that I've been busy developing the other site I started plus starting a third and writing articles for 'proper' magazines!
         
         HubPages has just provided the incentive to remove the other content which needs to move this site and then I can award it its own dedicated Facebook Page and Twitter account - and then traffic should really get going.....
         
         PS I don't pay for hosting per se. I use Weebly which has hosting built into the package. The great thing is I can rearrange content in a more structured way and create pages under topics - and that of itself generates more traffic.

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            Adam Harkusposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Now that's food for thought..... I may look into that.

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