I'd like feedback on my article: Conspiracy Theories and Mega Churches: Amusing.

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   Lucille Uttermohlposted 5 years ago

   Hi Hubbers,
   
   I'd like some help with passing the Quality Assessment Process. Will you please give feedback on my article? What can I do to improve? Thanks!
   Here is my article: Conspiracy Theories and Mega Churches: Amusing to the Well Informed: Deadly to the Credulous and Naive

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   Marisa Writesposted 5 years ago

   The first thing I notice is that you start most of your Hubs with your logo.  That's against HubPages' rules, but it's also a bad idea for reader engagement and SEO. 
   
   The first few lines of your article are your one chance to catch your reader's interest.  Remember, on a cellphone, that's all your reader can see when they first open the article.  If you fill that space with an unrelated image, you risk losing them.
   
   For each article, you should decide which is more likely to grab your reader - an engaging opening paragraph, or a "hero shot", i.e. a picture which encapsulates what your Hub is about. 
   
   Currently, I think you're trying to make your title do all the work and that doesn't work. It's too long and again, takes up too much space on the page due to the large font.  Keep the title shorter and put the detail in your summary and first paragraph.

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   Marisa Writesposted 5 years ago

   One more thing:  links to other sites.  HubPages likes links to other sites when they are directly relevant to the topic of the Hub.  If they are just "tangentially related", they're not allowed.
   
   For instance, you might write an article about Theodore Roosevelt and provide a link to a site about his heritage.  That's allowed.  But if you mention that he inspired the teddy bear, and then link to a site about teddy bears, that wouldn't be allowed because it's only related to something you've mentioned, not to the primary subject of the Hub.

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      Lucille Uttermohlposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you so much. I'll try your suggestions. I am a retired lawyer, and am used to siting all of my facts. I want to know, and tobe honest, I'm not sure anyone can answer this, should I use links to back myself up, and is it better to put all of my links in one capsule, or spread them out with an explanation like I've been doing for the last few articles? Thanks again. I deeply appreciate your time.

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         OldRosesposted 5 years agoin reply to this

         You can add a capsule with your citations at the end rather than sprinkling them throughout your article.  HubPages doesn't like us to send readers to other websites.

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            Marisa Writesposted 5 years agoin reply to this

            I've seen that advice given often, but it's incorrect.
            
            The correct version is, "HubPages doesn't like us to send readers to sites that are not directly relevant to the SUBJECT of the Hub."
            
            If you stick to that rule, you can have large numbers of links and you'll be fine. Just remember, it's not enough for a link to be relevant to one paragraph - it must be relevant to the primary subject.   
            
            If you doubt me, just take a look at some of the articles on any of the health-related niche sites.  Many of them are absolutely packed with links.

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   Lucille Uttermohlposted 5 years ago

   Thanks. Your suggestion will make it easier. Do you think I should group them all together in one capsule, or use separate capsules with explanations?

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      Marisa Writesposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      It's entirely up to you.  If you want to put them all in one capsule, put it at the end with a heading (e.g. References, Further Reading, Bibliography - whichever is appropriate).
      
      Two things to consider. One is, which option is most helpful to your reader?   The other is more selfish:  every time you include a link to another site, you risk losing your reader to that site.  If you add links early in your Hub, and the reader clicks and doesn't come back, that's not desirable.  So saving the links for further down the page is a wise idea.

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   Lucille Uttermohlposted 5 years ago

   Thanks again. I truly appreciate your feedback, and will redraft my brilliant prose accordingly. Then I'll submit it here again when I get another "heads up".

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