First submission rejected with vague feedback

1. 78

   callmealexposted 4 years ago

   Hi all,
   Thanks in advance for any help.
   I submitted my first piece yesterday. It was rejected with feedback that was very broad - either not up to standard or spammy. I thought it might be because I had included an Amazon capsule so I removed that, but left the writing as it was and resubmitted the piece. It's been rejected for a second time – with the same broad/vague feedback but with a lower hub score.
   I'm wondering if my writing style doesn't suit the site. A lot of what I've read on here is written in the first person and my writing isn't.
   I'm unable to republish it now as it says I need to change it. I'm just not sure what to change though – and I haven't received any emails from editors explaining anything further. Here's the link, though I'm not sure it will work now that I can't publish the article.
   https://hubpages.com/travel/things-to-d … Waterfront
   Cheers!

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 4 years agoin reply to this

      I rarely write in first person, but my articles regularly are moved to niche sites, etc., so I don't think it's your style.  If you are a newbie, I would advise not putting ads in at first...there is an art to placing ads and few people "get it"  early in their writing careers here.  I have always found the notations from monitors clear in what they are requesting, so I suggest you read the emails again.

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2. 99

   DrMark1961posted 4 years ago

   No, that link does not work.
   The first rejection email you received will contain a link that you can post here. The people on this board can read it and give you more detailed feedback.

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3. 78

   callmealexposted 4 years ago

   Hey, thanks for your reply. I haven't received any email from hubpages - in relation to the first or the second rejection.

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      theraggededgeposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      You said it was 'rejected with feedback'. There will be a link there somewhere that says 'get help from the community' or similar.
      
      The problem is that the editors have not got the time to give detailed feedback to the hundreds of articles that are published daily. So you have to have to research what is required of you: spend time at the Learning Center (click Help, top right) and look at other articles on the platform. You only joined a few days ago, so you probably haven't had time to research properly.

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4. 78

   callmealexposted 4 years ago

   Hi, sorry what I meant was that there was a note at the top of the rejected piece that wasn't very clear about what was wrong. I haven't had an email from hubpages with a link to post on the forum.
   It does look like I'm a newbie but I have actually held an account on hubpages for ten years. I just wanted to start afresh that's all. I've written for Expedia, Trip Advisor, HomeAway, etc for the past eight years, so I'm thinking it's a clash of styles - but without being able to show anyone, who knows?
   Cheers for your reply anyway.

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5. 78

   callmealexposted 4 years ago

   Thanks for your reply but I haven't had any emails. There was one amazon capsule and that's it. I removed it and the hubscore went down.

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   1. 0

      Beth Eaglescliffeposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      You keep saying you've not had any emails, but you've had "a rejection with feedback". So, if not by email, how did you get the rejection and feedback?

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      1. 78

         callmealexposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         The article was unpublished and at the top it said that this article has been rejected for ... not meeting quality score or spammy elements. There was no link in this feedback. I definitely haven't had any emails. All a bit weird.

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6. 77

   psycheskinnerposted 4 years ago

   An email is sent, check your spam folder

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7. 78

   callmealexposted 4 years ago

   I already have. Nothing there. No worries. I'll follow up with hubpages directly. Thanks.

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8. 77

   psycheskinnerposted 4 years ago

   check your email is entered correctly -- it's an automated process

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9. 78

   callmealexposted 4 years ago

   Hello again. Yes, my email is entered correctly. Checked that already but
   I've had notifications for this thread come through, so it's definitely not that. Thanks for the suggestion.

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10. 78

    callmealexposted 4 years ago

    Still no email But I've gone ahead and updated the text and images in the hub. I also realised that one of the videos I'd used had a watermark on it, which is against the rules regarding spammy content, so I've removed that. Fingers crossed it will get through this time.

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       theraggededgeposted 4 years agoin reply to this

       It looks great. Put the second subtitle into title case though.

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       1. 78

          callmealexposted 4 years agoin reply to this

          It just got rejected again. I'm at a total loss now really. The only thing I could think to do was remove the only link I had in there and try again. It was to an official what's on page for an arena so I wouldn't think of it as spammy really. I can't think of anything else it might be.

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             AliciaCposted 4 years agoin reply to this

             I think you’ve written a good article. I know that HubPages doesn’t like the excessive use of italics or bold print, so you could try removing the italics from the introductory paragraph. You could also try adding the source and license for the photos without this information (as you have done for the other pictures) in order to show that the images are being used legally.

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                callmealexposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                Thank you for the feedback.
                I think you spotted the problem. Attribution for a couple of the pics was needed according to the license and I'd missed it. Thanks!
                I've taken out the italics too.
                Fingers crossed!

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11. 78

    callmealexposted 4 years ago

    Ah great spot. Thank you! All done

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12. 95

    daydreamsposted 4 years ago

    I think you could tighten up the wording a lot - your article is hard to read and a lot of it is in the passive voice. Try putting the text through the Hemingway app (google it)
    
    For articles on travel Hubpages likes first person voice to make it seem authentic and add more value than you would find in say Wikipedia etc.
    I've been told to add my own experience/recommendations into an article before it went on a niche site and others have been rejected for niche sites because I haven't had enough of it (though they are still featured on hubpages with no problem)

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       callmealexposted 4 years agoin reply to this

       Thank you for your feedback. The article is featured now, so I'm going to leave as is for now and move on to the next.

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          DrMark1961posted 4 years agoin reply to this

          That is not how you should approach this. Featured only means that it was not that bad, and certainly does not mean you will get any traffic. If you want readers, you need to improve it enough to get it moved to a niche site.
          Those suggestions in Daydreams post are very helpful.

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13. 78

    callmealexposted 4 years ago

    I was more looking for feedback on hub layouts and rules to adhere to rather than feedback on my writing style. The piece is on the first page of Google for my keywords already, so I'm happy enough for now. Thanks.

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       theraggededgeposted 4 years agoin reply to this

       That's because you are probably logged into Google
       
       I'm not seeing it. Even typing in HubPages first doesn't bring up your article. It's too early.

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          callmealexposted 4 years agoin reply to this

          Sorry, my mistake. It was Bing I was looking at

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