my first hub idea - is it overly promotional?

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   Deirdre Rposted 14 years ago

   I am planning my first hub and I'd love to write a review and walk-through of weightwatchers iPhone app with screengrabs. I could do it with or without a WeightWatchers affiliate link. Would that be overly promotional? Another idea would be to do a comparison of weightwatchers mobile tools with others such as nutricheck, myfitnesspal, and sparkpeople. Would be grateful for any advice before I go and write something that doesn't meet the site guidelines. Thank you!

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   ns1209posted 14 years ago

   No, that should be fine as long as you only use 2 or less affiliate links but make it informational as well as the comparison sounds good. Hope this helps!

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      Deirdre Rposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you ns1209! can I just ask for clarification - if I write a series of hubs on different mobile tools, would that meet the guidelines as long as I didn't have more than two affiliate links per hub?

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   Uninvited Writerposted 14 years ago

   Just make sure you do not use more than two links to any one site, affiliate link or not.

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   R-J-Tposted 14 years ago

   I would be very careful with affiliate links now. HP has recently made changes banning some affiliate links. So before publishing the hub I would send a message to HP to make sure the links are OK.

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      Deirdre Rposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks all. I really appreciate the advice.

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   ns1209posted 14 years ago

   Yes, two per hub and it should all be OK but don't make it really spammy!

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      Deirdre Rposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks very much all for the advice. Have now published my first hub. No affiliate link this time, because for some reason I didn't get accepted onto the WeightWatchers affiliate programme. Still it's all learning.

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   Rosie2010posted 14 years ago

   If you are doing a product review, then just make sure you follow the 50 words per affiliate product.  But if you are review of another site, two or more links to that site will be deemed overly promotional.  Putting a link to another site might drive your traffic to that site, and it is more likely than not, that your visitor might not come back to your page, so why bother with the link.  Best wishes.
   
   BTW, I just read your first hub.  Two of your pictures are down.

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      Deirdre Rposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks Rosie - what's this '50 words per affiliate product' rule? There are no affiliate links on this hub, but I would like to make sure I'm clear on the rules for the future.

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         WriteAngledposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Hi Deirdre,
         
         You've got 9 Amazon products featured in your hub. According to the new rule, you need at least 50 words per product shown, i.e. the total word count of your hub needs to contain a minimum of 450 words.

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            Deirdre Rposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            Sorry, I've not seen that rule - have looked for it!  Also didn't realise that the Amazon block counted towards this. Will revise the Amazon block. Thanks!

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            WriteAngledposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            Your main text is just under 450. If the illustration captions count, you're OK. However, that might not be immediately obvious. You only need to put in a few extra words into the main text to be safe

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               Deirdre Rposted 14 years agoin reply to this

               Thanks WriteAngled. I just removed some of the Amazon products - would prefer to have fewer more carefully chosen products and monitor them regularly! Thanks for all the advice!

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                  Rosie2010posted 14 years agoin reply to this

                  Hi Deirdre, I'm glad you already got the answer from WriteAngled. 
                  
                  Affiliate links are promotional links that financially reward marketers for sending visitors to another site.  You are adding links to Amazon products,  Amazon is an HP affiliate site and Amazon pays us if someone buys their product through our link.. that is if you have an Amazon account.  If you don't, apply for one, so can get paid.

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                     WriteAngledposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                     Ah yes! Forgot to mention that. And also, if you want to use the Amazon capsules on your hubs, like you did just now, you need to be an affiliate of Amazon.com. The capsules do not work with the Amazon.co.uk affiliate scheme. Thought I'd better mention that since I noticed you are in Scotland (or "yn Yr Alban" as the Welsh would say!).

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