Is squidoo Marketing Dead? Draconian New Rules

[Tomwood]

I have heard that squidoo is deleting a lot of lenses with a affiliate links in them especially with clickbank links.

Does this mean squidoo role as a newbie learning ground is over.

[sahi]

This has also happened with me as several lenses of mine have also been locked, and some of them have been deleted. That's why I'm in the process of thinking out a new strategy to deal with this issue.

[TommyBoy]

I never even see squidoo lens ranked for the keywords I research. I see tons of ezinearticle stuff so I would think your time is better suited to writing and submitting articles than lenses that may be taken down one day.

[Droopy Dawg]

Not necessarily "dead", but the train is slowing down. One way to get around the "afiliate link" issue is to send people to your review site, which further presells the product.

Or send them to a squeeze page that offers a free download to an info product in the same niche... redirect them to the affiliate product's sales page from there.

Many ways to keep your lens without them shredding it

[wisecrone333]

Jennifer (Pot Pie Girl) and Tiffany Dow (I am fairly sure they are both members here) have done a lot with Squidoo - you could do a search for them on this forum (or through Google) and see how they have handled it.

I am switching to hubpages - harder to get accepted (they don't like affiliate links either) but I only use them to point to my own site, not an affiliate page.

Best wishes
Lisa

[wisecrone333]

Chuubaka - hi what niche were you in if you don't mind my asking?
Thanks
Lisa

[acedalright]

I've only ever used the big squid for links, not sales, so most of my content is article directory quality.

Though I get a bit peeved at having good 500 word lenses being called works in progress, 'coz there's no polls or other garbage they try to hook you up with.

[thefluffanutta]

Originally Posted by Tomwood

I have heard that squidoo is deleting a lot of lenses with a affiliate links in them especially with clickbank links.

Does this mean squidoo role as a newbie learning ground is over.

Squidoo is still happy with you putting affiliate links on your lens - this has not changed.

What has changed is how many times you can put a link on a lens, and which topics aren't allowed on there. Read these lenses for more details:
- NEWSFLASH! A Squidoo Policy Update
- About the limit on "overly promotional lenses"

[SMP]

Originally Posted by thefluffanutta

Squidoo is still happy with you putting affiliate links on your lens - this has not changed.

What has changed is how many times you can put a link on a lens, and which topics aren't allowed on there. Read these lenses for more details:
- NEWSFLASH! A Squidoo Policy Update
- About the limit on "overly promotional lenses"

I read this thread with interest as I'm just in the process of writing my first lens. I'm wondering if it's the right thing to do now although hub pages seem just as fraught.

This is very useful. Thanks for these links.

Steve.

[newBum76]

Originally Posted by thefluffanutta

Squidoo is still happy with you putting affiliate links on your lens - this has not changed.

What has changed is how many times you can put a link on a lens, and which topics aren't allowed on there. Read these lenses for more details:
- NEWSFLASH! A Squidoo Policy Update
- About the limit on "overly promotional lenses"

On their update they mention getting a lot more strict about not allowing "junk topics"......I think that's where the problem lies, as "junk topic" is somewhat subjective. They had a list of examples of what they consider junk, and they mentioned topics like "world of warcraft" "lose belly fat" and "acai berry juice"......things that a lot of people are selling.

I just put up a lens on a health topic with my affiliate links and spent time building a link wheel around it......kind of a bummer that my first real attempt at IM might be shot down, maybe that explains why the lens isn't showing up in the SERP's.

[jesa8406]

I only have two lenses that are still up

Great motivation to dish out a couple of bucks and start building your own wordpress

Your wordpress = your rules!!!

Just what I needed

Thank you squidoo!

[Andyhenry]

Haha,

This is not Squidoo using Draconian laws - this is them finally coming up to date.

Squidoo lenses were never the best way to monetise a niche anyway, but there best benefit has always been links and if you were overdoing it - you were always going to get hammered.

Like everything to do with IM - once people abuse something, the owners finally do something about it.

This was always expected and like a ticking timebomb - but only if you threw up too many links.

They're great for getting things indexed and helping link juice, but on their own they're a tiny part of what you should be doing so these changes will only affect people who never really built a proper model anyway and will probably do them a favor by getting them to rethink their strategy.

[kkchoon]

I think quality to user is the most important rule, I saw many affiliate just putting junk on their page, and some keyword stuffing without thinking about the user and search engine...