Article Feedback Needed: Very Brutal Honesty Needed

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   Wolfyposted 6 years ago

   I haven't written on here in a while, but I finally did. I decided to do some writing while on vacation. I reviewed the flight my family took.
   
   I gave this Hub the best I had as far as research, writing, authentic images etc.
   
   BUT I still got a pretty low Hub Score. If you wouldn't mind having a look and being BRUTALLY honest with me on what I can do to improve I would be very thankful. You wont hurt my feelings I promise, just hit me with brutal honesty! It's what I need right now.
   
   Here's my article: https://hubpages.com/travel/JetBlue-A32 … rustrating
   
   Thank you so much for taking a minute to help a fellow hubber out! :-)
   
   Kate

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Your article already appears on a niche site, so I don't get why you are asking about its quality.  One thing that did strike me was that it almost seemed as though you went through a JetBlue brochure and repeated the ideas that they used but with your own judgments attached.  Didn't seem horribly original to me, but if the team accepted it and posted it on the niche sites I have to assume they felt it was OK to do this.

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2. 79

   Natalie Frankposted 6 years ago

   Your article was already featured so you shouldn't worry too much about the score.  Hub scores don't really matter at all and often start off low when an article is first published then go up as it begins to gain traction.  None of the hubscores really reflect anything about quality or potential to gain traffic and I've had articles that went immediately to a niche site right after being published that were in the high seventies or low eighties.
   
   I don't see much to change with your article.  There are a few minor punctuation mistakes you'll want to take care of. 
   
   You might want to tighten up your writing a bit -
   
   "So, I decided to do the same and find out for myself. Was JetBlue really all it was hyped up to be or was it going to fall flat?"  -  "I decided to find out for myself if JetBlue was really all it was hyped up to be."
   
   "Well last December, I finally did it! I booked my flight for my husband, my 18-month-old son, and myself from Oakland International Airport (OAK) to John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) in New York City."  -> "Last December, I booked a flight for my husband, my 18-month-old son, and myself from Oakland International Airport (OAK) to John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) in New York City."
   
   "I was pleasantly surprised with at least one majorly great feature they offered for free to all their travelers (something that’s unheard of in the airline industry), but there were definitely a few things that I wish I had known about ahead of time." -> "While I was pleasantly surprised with one great feature offered for free there were other things that I was less satisfied with and wish I had known about ahead of time."
   
   Your summary table leaves out several points you go on to discuss.  Ex.Storage space -  Overhead bins are roomy, under seat space is limited. 
   
   A knit picky point - you say you book a flight for yourself, your husband and your child but later when describing your seats you say you had the window seat, your husband the middle one and your child sat on your lap.
   
   Is there a way to find out when the updated planes will be rolling out? You say they will start updating them in 2019.  People might be interested to know if they will be updated in time for a spring or summer vacation or if they won't see a difference for a year or more.
   
   I think that if you tighten up your writing a bit, make your table more inclusive of the points you are making, and proof read it well you can easily get it into a niche site.
   
   Welcome back!

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      Wolfyposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you so much Natalie! I guess I forgot how these HubScores work. I forgot they changed with time.
      
      I dumped my heart and soul into this review and was hoping for perfection! Haha. Anyway, things can always be improved and I've already taken some of your input and put it to use. Thank you so much!
      
      Quick question: Do you think HubPages likes it more when we have "tighter" writing style as you described, versus the looser "talking to a good friend" style of writing that some people say helps the reader relate more to the author as a human being?
      
      Just curious. I actually prefer the tighter style, but I've been trying to write a little more "relatable" lately with some looser language as an experiment to see if articles written in that tone perform better.
      
      Any thoughts?

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   Natalie Frankposted 6 years ago

   HP tends to like magazine style articles so a bit less "loose" if you will.

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   1. 70

      Wolfyposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Great, thank you!

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4. 70

   Wolfyposted 6 years ago

   Thanks for the feedback TimeTraveler. It wasn't accepted at the time I posted this and I was definitely looking for feedback regardless of if it got accepted or not. I'm certainly not just going for "good enough."
   
   I appreciate your input. Some of the information (such as carry on size and personal item sizes etc) are policy of JetBlue so I'm sure it appears in multiple places for them. My opinions on the flight is what the bulk of the article is, but I felt it was important to provide some useful information for potential travelers also.  Strictly writing my opinion wouldn't be terrible useful I dont think. Actionable information can be very valuable... at least for me I like good info when reading reviews.
   
   I'll work on not making it sound like a brochure though. Thank you for taking the time to read it and provide feedback! Much appreciated!

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 6 years agoin reply to this

      I doubt any of us ever think our articles are "good enough"...which is why so many here constantly go back, even to niche site articles, to make upgrades.  It's the nature of the beast.  I do think, though, to have credibility that we all need to find ways to present info that appear to come from us.  Who wants to read articles that have info that can be found anywhere else on the net?

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         Wolfyposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         Good tip! Thank you! Although I will say that providing "info that's not anywhere else on the internet" is a little unrealistic. Google any of your keywords and you'll find the core information on anything you've written on available elsewhere on the internet.
         
         I think the key is to deliver the information quicker, in a better, easier to understand, or just more useful way than it has been anywhere else on the internet. That's where readership comes from.

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