I'd like help to improve my article: Series to learn Spanish

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   JanisaChatteposted 4 years ago

   Hi,
   I'd appreciate receiving some help with my most recent article. https://hubpages.com/education/5-Series … ng-Spanish
   It didn't get featured for quality and I don't understand why. I spent a significant amount of time writing it, including some personal tips and suggestions, lots of tips, photos and also videos, yet it still didn't get featured. Could someone help me understand why that happened and what I could do to improve my article?

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      OldRosesposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      I just took a look at your article.  Word usage is a problem.  In the US, we say TV series or movie series or book series.  We don't use the word series by itself.  It is always modified to indicate what kind of series is being referred to.
      
      You will also need to use the word series less.  You can say multi-episode TV program.  It  sounds clunky but is a common usage.  Read some American TV reviews to get an idea of different ways to say series.

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         DrMark1961posted 4 years agoin reply to this

         Would TV show work?

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            OldRosesposted 4 years agoin reply to this

            Depending on the context, yes.  The term TV show usually refers to a program that is shown weekly, rather than a collection of episodes that you can view sequentially in one sitting.

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   AliciaCposted 4 years ago

   Hi. I noticed a couple of things that could be problems. The first photo is imprinted with a copyright sign next to the word "Disney". The Amazon capsule is probably a problem because  you don't describe your personal experience with the product. In addition, the text in the capsule that tells people to check out the options of thematic merchandise sounds like a commercial.

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      JanisaChatteposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Hi,
      Thank you for your comments!
      I didn't notice the copyright sign at first when I added the image. I think I'll create a cover photo for it eventually, but for now I just removed it.
      I also removed the amazon product capsule. I agree that it's a bit out of place and maybe something educational would be better or nothing at all for now

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         Marisa Writesposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         This suggests to me that you don't know the rules regarding the use of images on the internet.
         
         It's very simple, really.  ALL images on websites are copyright and NOT legal to use, unless there is a statement somewhere on the website that gives you permission to use them. You need to understand where to find legal images, this article will help:
         https://toughnickel.com/self-employment … -Your-Hubs

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   DrMark1961posted 4 years ago

   Janisa, that Amazon capsule looks spammy. That merchandise does nothing to add value to your article. I would delete that.
   I am not sure if this is the problem, but you do use the word "series" a lot. Can you think of alternatives? It looks like keyword stuffing, even if you did not mean it that way, and you should use a tool to figure out how often that was used in the text.
   Lastly, I think it is Argentinian in English, not Argentine like we use here in Brazil. (I could be wrong on this, but Google the meaning of the word Argentine and see the results.)

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      JanisaChatteposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Hi, thanks for the feedback!
      I decided to completely remove the Amazon capsule since it's not really related to the whole idea of language learning
      I think it would be a good idea to rephrase some of the capsules, so I'll do that in a bit.
      According to google, both Argentinian and Argentine exist, I would suppose that they're synonyms

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         OldRosesposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         In the US, we use Argentinian.  HubPages is an American site, so you might want to go with that usage.

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            JanisaChatteposted 4 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks for the tip! I'll change the spelling

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   JanisaChatteposted 4 years ago

   It got featured!! Thanks to everyone for the tips

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   Marisa Writesposted 4 years ago

   I see your article has already been Featured, but that's only the first step.  If you want it to be accepted for a niche site and get good traffic, you need to maximise its potential.  The thing that struck me was that I didn't understand your title.  I had to read quite far into the article to understand you were talking about telenovelas. 
   
   The English translation for telenovela is "Spanish soap opera".   However, anyone who is learning Spanish probably knows the Spanish word for them already.  I've seen and heard it used in English-speaking news items, even here in Australia, to refer to them.  So I would use that word in your title instead.  Alternate with  "soap opera" or "TV series" or "TV show" in your text.
   
   I notice that you have two different categories of telenovelas - ones that are written specifically for Spanish learners and ones that are for native speakers. I suggest adding a paragraph to highligh that, and also add headings (i.e. "Telenovelas For Spanish Learners" and "Telenovelas for Native Speakers"). 
   
   One final tip, which is a general one:  on paper, it's normal and desirable to write a long introduction giving the background to your subject, and then you can get more specific.  On the internet, you need to turn that on its head. Most people are looking at your Hub on a phone or tablet.  If they have to keep scrolling down through a long introduction before you give them some solid information, they'll give up and click back.  You need to convince them, in your very first paragraph, that you're going to give them good info.
   
   In this case, that means your opening paragraph needs to be something like this:
   
   "As a language learner and teacher myself, I've found that watching TV soap operas has significantly helped me improve my skills in all of the languages I studied, and helped me sound more like a native speaker.  Latin America is famous for its telenovelas and there are even some series which are tailored specially for Spanish language learners.  In this article I'll look at five of the most useful and talk about how to get the most benefit from them."
   
   Then list the shows and get straight into giving the specifics about them. 
   
   By all means, keep the advice that you've got in your introduction, but move it to the end of the article.

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