Can you tell me why these two hubs won't get moved to niche sites?

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   sarahspradlinposted 6 years ago

   Out of 20 of my articles, I think only 3 haven't been moved to niche sites. 2 of those are gift guides. I have the most fun making those and I feel like they're good....can you tell me why these weren't approved. The emails didn't give me anything to fix. Basically just a vague "not up to our standards" email. I really have fun making gift guides but I'm wondering if I'm breaking some kind of rule or something? They're still featured though.... idk. Anyway, here's my two that I'm talking about.
   
   https://hubpages.com/holidays/Stocking- … -Will-Love
   https://hubpages.com/holidays/Gift-Idea … s-Under-50

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2. 96

   DrMark1961posted 6 years ago

   Sarah, I just looked at those hubs. Where do you think they would belong? It is too bad that HP did not start a niche site called "Squidoo".

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3. 91

   sarahspradlinposted 6 years ago

   holidappy is where most of mine are so I figured that.

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   DrMark1961posted 6 years ago

   In that case look at
   https://holidappy.com/gift-ideas/Gift-I … ween-Girls
   The author was able to suggest these gifts without putting in a lot of Amazon links, which makes it look like it is just about the sale.
   When the niche site has an article about the subject you are working on, and the article is successful, yours may or may not make the cut. Early on almost all of them did, but less so now.

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5. 86

   Marisa Wrightposted 6 years ago

   As DrMark says, if the subject is already well covered on Holidappy, they won't accept any more Hubs on the topic.   
   
   I could be cynical and note that HubPages' owner, Paul Edmondson, already has a Hub on gifts for tween girls on the site, so they'd be especially careful not to add another Hub which would compete.  But then, that would be cynical.

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      sarahspradlinposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you Marisa for always responding   You're so helpful as always.

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         Marisa Wrightposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         You're welcome. I confess I hadn't looked at the Hubs when I made that comment. I've had a look now and here's my feedback.
         
         These are the kinds of articles that used to be hugely profitable on HubPages and Squidoo a few years ago - but they were profitable because every product link was an affiliate link, and the writer was making money on every sale.  Without the affiliate links, the earnings potential of this type of Hub is pitiful these days - even if it were moved to Holidappy. 
         
         For one thing, you've left it too late - Hubs take time to rank well on Google, so you need to publish a seasonal Hub about six months before the date you're targeting. 
         
         Also it's not evergreen - at least some of those gifts will be old hat next year, and even if they're still popular, chances are they won't be on the same page of those sites as they are this year, so you'll have to keep an eye on all the links.  So your only hope of income from this Hub is this Christmas, and you've already missed that boat.
         
         This is a good type of article to use on your own blog, if you have a blog on a relevant subject - but it's no longer a good type of article for HubPages and not really worthy of your time and effort.

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6. 93

   Kierstin Gunsbergposted 6 years ago

   I'm wondering if there is official feedback from the editors that says they won't put competing subjects on the same niche site? I'm curious because I have a lot of hubs that are pretty similar to other ones (including ones that Paul has written) on the same niche sites but instead of competing, they drive traffic to each other which benefits "competing" writers as well as Paul and the rest of the Hubpages staff since higher traffic means higher ad earnings.
   
   Sarah, I looked at your two articles and here's what I would suggest:
   
   - Make sure you own the rights to the photos you're using and that you are crediting them in the source section. Pictures for gift guides are a PAIN. I've ended up having to use my own or scrounge and get creative on Unsplash.
   
   - The graphic you made for the men's stocking stuffers is a really good thing to have and the other article should have one too! It makes them more Pinnable.
   
   - Your articles need intros I would start off with around 200 words just introducing your topic.
   
   - If you add a table right away with a list of the products featured it helps readers to find the info they're looking for right away. The bullet points are good too though, I just think tables stand out better. It might be a personal thing.
   
   - Make sure you've hit at least the first word count marker. I'm not sure that you didn't, it's just a good thing to keep in mind.

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