Is Squidoo & Other Types of Hubs a Waste of Time?

[Bryan]

When comes to concentrating on money making tasks, I don't see how
these type of pages can be worth the time and effort that needs to go
into them.

If you think they are worth the time and effort and should be a focus
included in IM efforts, let me know why.

Here's why I think they could be a waste of time:

- They don't seem to rank for long tail keywords as they used to. You can post a simple article on Top Article directories and get a better ranking usually.

- All out going links are No Follow and so there isn't any benefit of off page SEO benefits apparent.

- Goog appears to love article directories much more than Squidoo these days

- To much work -- when that work could be put into a blog or website, and other promotional tasks.

I'm thinking that adding content to a blog or html based site, and building incoming links would be much more beneficial and more worth the time.

So, if you are USING Squidoo and other types of sites like it, and are SEEING
that they are worth the efforts -- and more so than doing what I stated above, let me know why.

In addition, how do you make Squidoo work for you?

I might not be getting it, but I'm willing keep an open mind and hear your
thoughts on how it can STILL be useful and WORTH the time.

Bryan

[uncletiger]

mark and waiting for useful suggestions~~

[Droopy Dawg]

Originally Posted by Bryan

When comes to concentrating on money making tasks, I don't see how
these type of pages can be worth the time and effort that needs to go
into them.

If you think they are worth the time and effort and should be a focus
included in IM efforts, let me know why.

Here's why I think they could be a waste of time:

- They don't seem to rank for long tail keywords as they used to. You can post a simple article on Top Article directories and get a better ranking usually.

- All out going links are No Follow and so there isn't any benefit of off page SEO benefits apparent.

- Goog appears to love article directories much more than Squidoo these days

- To much work -- when that work could be put into a blog or website, and other promotional tasks.

I'm thinking that adding content to a blog or html based site, and building incoming links would be much more beneficial and more worth the time.

So, if you are USING Squidoo and other types of sites like it, and are SEEING
that they are worth the efforts -- and more so than doing what I stated above, let me know why.

In addition, how do you make Squidoo work for you?

I might not be getting it, but I'm willing keep an open mind and hear your
thoughts on how it can STILL be useful and WORTH the time.

Bryan

I guess it all depends on what you're using Squidoo for Bryan. If you're trying to make money directly from your lens, then you'd have to come up with a good strategy to get traffic to the lens.

It seems you haven't had much luck ranking for long-tail keywords for your lenses... but I've had great success (see sig).

I use my lenses purely to get optins... I could care less about a front-end sale. I create lenses that rank well, and I also send traffic to them from EZA, Hubs, and Squidoo other lenses... all of those I link to my websites.

Alot of people don't see immediate results from Squidoo, and they simply give up. At first I was just like that because I'm a web designer, and I couldn't care less about lenses and hubs, but once I realized how well and FAST they could rank, then I dug a little deeper into it, and I've come to love creating them now.

One cool thing about Squidoo is that you can create a lens in a half-hour or so by populating it with PLR... and STILL rank high in searches.

So what are the benefits?

- Rank well in searches (gotta do good keyword research as with anything)
- backlinks for your site
- alot of people don't know that you can collect optins... I beg to differ (WSO coming soon )
- yes its possible to promote your affiliate products, and some have had great success

Squidoo is not for everyone... but I for one love them... you have to figure out exactly how its going to help your business.

Just my $0.02

DeShon

[tommygadget]

I think Droopy's right on the money. Your lenses should be part of your sales funnel. You need an overall strategy first. Plan your business, it has been said many times before and then put these free resources to work in the right places and then you'll see results.

TomG.

[bgmacaw]

Originally Posted by Bryan

- All out going links are No Follow and so there isn't any benefit of off page SEO benefits apparent.

This is incorrect so far as Squidoo goes.

[Bryan]

@ Droopy Dawg.

Thanks for your insights.

I haven't really concentrated on squidoo, and thought I might be better off
building links to website or blog. I could see that yours squidoo lenses would
get a higher ranking since you're getting back links from EA. Otherwise
EA usually out ranks squidoo for long tail keywords... it appears.

@ Tom G - I'm sorry, that all sounded kind of vague and I not seeing how
Squidoo can benefit the sales funnel -- I'm not necessary disagreeing, I'm
just not clear on that. Wouldn't branding your own site and and getting your
own pages ranked for specific keywords be a better plan?

@ bgmacaw - How's this incorrect with Squidoo? Check the source of pages yourself
and you'll see that outgoing links are NoFollow.

I'm just trying to decide if these type of hubs are worth the time to seriously implement
it into my business plan. I'm not trying to stir any thing up with Squidoo lovers.

Thanks for your comments,

Bryan

[jayden.fellze]

Squidoo lenses/hubpages are just part of your strategy, it is just a part of the whole, so you don't actually just blame one if a thing does not work out the way it should

[Bryan]

Originally Posted by jayden.fellze

Squidoo lenses/hubpages are just part of your strategy, it is just a part of the whole, so you don't actually just blame one if a thing does not work out the way it should

Fair enough, so you're saying throw a few things at the wall and see what
sticks?

What would you guys say is an effective strategy or strategies of using
Squidoo?

Thanks,

Bryan

[Melford Bibens]

Can I put an aweber optin form on my lens?

I've always had a tech guy to handle this kind fo stuff for me, but I'm "between" tech guys right now.

Like Droopy I'm most concerned with pumping up my list by having visitors opting in right then and there, no hesitation.

Is it possible???

Thanks, Melford

[dotslash]

How's this incorrect with Squidoo? Check the source of pages yourself
and you'll see that outgoing links are NoFollow.

I think Squidoo are only nofollow if your lenses are work in progress or don't have enough content. Hubpages are dofollow if hubpage ranked over 40 and author rating over 75 which is quite easy to do.

So even if they don't rank that well - a handy related link for SEO purposes.

Neil

[egavasyak]

Hi

I am quite a newbie and as yet have not had much success but I have just started a niche affiliate marketing plan and have used squidoo. As someone just starting i found it quite easy to set up and have linked to my blog and product and although I have had little traffic has resulted in a sale.

It is too early to tell at the moment but I think there is a place for this type of marketing but you musn't spend too much time on it!

[Droopy Dawg]

Originally Posted by Melford Bibens

Can I put an aweber optin form on my lens?

I've always had a tech guy to handle this kind fo stuff for me, but I'm "between" tech guys right now.

Like Droopy I'm most concerned with pumping up my list by having visitors opting in right then and there, no hesitation.

Is it possible???

Thanks, Melford

You most certainly can... thru a widget.

There was a time when you could insert an iframe into the lens, and place your Aweber code in the iframe, but Squidoo killed that.

But you can use a widget... I'll create a video soon.

Here's another one of my lenses that contains an optin:

Strategies For Forex Trading

I created this lens this past weekend... Until the lens indexes I'll use other methods to send traffic to the lens which includes a CPA offer as well as an optin for a free report.

[Bryan]

Originally Posted by dotslash

I think Squidoo are only nofollow if your lenses are work in progress or don't have enough content. Hubpages are dofollow if hubpage ranked over 40 and author rating over 75 which is quite easy to do.

So even if they don't rank that well - a handy related link for SEO purposes.

Neil

Just double checked, by checking the source of a Lens ranked #10 in its
category and was lens of the day recently.

[bgmacaw]

Originally Posted by Bryan

@ bgmacaw - How's this incorrect with Squidoo? Check the source of pages yourself
and you'll see that outgoing links are NoFollow.

My Product's Lens: Blog Content Wizard

Check the source on it. The links to my sales site are followed. There are some links that are nofollowed, such as those on the RSS feed section and some sidebar and footer links but the links in the main article are followed.

[Spiritjoy]

I am a newbie but there was a great article on the net on how spammers killed squidoo with google. Squidoo use to work for everyone and google fell love with it but soon everyone was creating 50 lens then google backed off and looks at them a lot more suspicious , like anything else when everyone starts to do it it loses value. Ezine article is a good example everyone is writing an article today but not everyone is a writer so now ezine is so very,very critical of every article submitted, so only the best wrters are going to benefit. Slapping up a SQUIDOO LEN is no longer a sure thing. It is hit or miss

[Bryan]

Originally Posted by bgmacaw

My Product's Lens: Blog Content Wizard

Check the source on it. The links to my sales site are followed. There are some links that are nofollowed, such as those on the RSS feed section and some sidebar and footer links but the links in the main article are followed.

Interesting, the link to your sales page is follow and the blogs posts you
mention in the lower module are nofollow. Maybe they only allow follow links
in the first module or something like that.

[paulwaltz]

The internet is constantly changing, and as something rises in volume the value often decreases. I still believe Squidoo is worth the effort, just the return usually isn't as great as it was. I've been relying much more on article directories for ranks as of late (in my whole 4 month career! :P).

[imac1912]

I think Spiritjoy is 'spot on'. You need to really think what you are going to write about that is of value - even on Squidoo lens - if you want to get anything from it.

With so many people climbing on the bandwagon of lens their value (usefulness) will drop. Google always seems to like something for a short while then changes its outlook and before you know, it becomes out of favour (favor).

Ian

[Bryan]

Originally Posted by Droopy Dawg

I guess it all depends on what you're using Squidoo for Bryan. If you're trying to make money directly from your lens, then you'd have to come up with a good strategy to get traffic to the lens.

It seems you haven't had much luck ranking for long-tail keywords for your lenses... but I've had great success (see sig).

I use my lenses purely to get optins... I could care less about a front-end sale. I create lenses that rank well, and I also send traffic to them from EZA, Hubs, and Squidoo other lenses... all of those I link to my websites.

Alot of people don't see immediate results from Squidoo, and they simply give up. At first I was just like that because I'm a web designer, and I couldn't care less about lenses and hubs, but once I realized how well and FAST they could rank, then I dug a little deeper into it, and I've come to love creating them now.

So what are the benefits?

- Rank well in searches (gotta do good keyword research as with anything)
- backlinks for your site
- alot of people don't know that you can collect optins... I beg to differ (WSO coming soon )
- yes its possible to promote your affiliate products, and some have had great success

Squidoo is not for everyone... but I for one love them... you have to figure out exactly how its going to help your business.

Just my $0.02

DeShon

After taking a look at your report, it looks like you left out researching the
traffic estimates that each keyword gets with the Google keyword tool.

The keyword phrase examples you were using had barely any competition...
because they get no searches for those phrases. And that was
just checking the broad match of the phrases in the external keyword tool.

Why on earth would anyone want to spend time building lenses that have
no searches. I checked 3-4 of the phrases you mentioned. Geez... you could
probably rank for those with a bare bones WP blog, with the title optimized.

I'm sure one can get some traffic for some lateral keywords, but really it would be a waste of time to target the phrases you mention in your report.

[wordsmith101]

Originally Posted by jayden.fellze

Squidoo lenses/hubpages are just part of your strategy, it is just a part of the whole, so you don't actually just blame one if a thing does not work out the way it should

I have to agree with this one. I try to focus on each and every strategy possible to make the most of my SEO campaigns. Nothing is useless and pointless because it gives me traffic and sales.

[mikemcmillan]

One advantage of Squidoo or Squidoo-type platforms is that you can have a direct link from your lens to a publisher's page where the product is actually sold. eZineArticles does not let you put affiliate links into your resource box. Thus, to get a sale from an article, the reader must read your article, click to go to your review site, and then click to go to the publisher's sales page. You loose a lot of potential customers if they have to go through that funnel.

Someone asked about opt-in pages on Squidoo. Yes, you can do what others said above. An alternative is to create an opt-in image and have it link to an opt-in page where you can put the javascript for your aWeber form in. That accomplishes the same thing.

[Droopy Dawg]

Originally Posted by Bryan

After taking a look at your report, it looks like you left out researching the
traffic estimates that each keyword gets with the Google keyword tool.

The keyword phrase examples you were using had barely any competition... because they get no searches for those phrases. And that was just checking the broad match of the phrases in the external keyword tool.

Why on earth would anyone want to spend time building lenses that have
no searches. I checked 3-4 of the phrases you mentioned. Geez... you could probably rank for those with a bare bones WP blog, with the title optimized.

I'm sure one can get some traffic for some lateral keywords, but really it would be a waste of time to target the phrases you mention in your report.

Very true... I even said in the report that I don't use the keyword tool (for Squidoo lenses), but I don't "lay all of my eggs in one basket" by only gunning for one keyword phrase... that's why I try to rank for as many keywords as possible in one lens.

So lets say you write an article and submit to EZA... you target 4 keyword phrases and only get ranked on page 2 or 3 once it settles for 1 phrase. You'd get a decent amount of views for that.

OK now lets say you take that same article and link it to your Squidoo lens in your resource box. You get your lens to page 1 or 2 for 4 or 5 keywords that get a decent amount of searches. You don't think your site/squeeze page/whatever wouldn't get more views?

I didn't go into any details of what I do with Squidoo in my report because I wanted it to be short and to the point... I didn't want it to be a 50-pager... but use Squidoo as only part of your strategy... not your entire strategy.

I think a better question to ask is... are you in it for the "quick dollar"? Or do you look long term?

[JayXtreme]

Yup.. Squidoo is completely useless... don't waste your time with it (leave it for the rest of us to milk ).

On a more serious note...

The mis-information in this thread is terrible, the good advice is almost lost with some of the other stuff posted, please.. if you are reading this thread, do your own research to find out if something will work for you..

Unless, of course, me or tommygadget told ya

Peace

Jay

[JohnMcCabe]

Droopy, I scanned part of your report. When you get to the section on your keyword research, you state that the number you get when searching without quotes is the total number of searches, which when divided by 12 gives the searches per month.

Sorry to tell you this, but when Google puts "results 1-10 of 1,290,000" it means that 1,290,000 pages in its index matched for one or more of the words in your keyword phrase. Has nothing to do with the number of searches.

I do like your approach of using your own brain to suss out keyword phrases rather than relying on a robotic approach with a keyword tool.

I believe that's why you are succeeding in spite of misinterpreting the search results. You are finding low-competition phrases that a real person might enter in the search box.

Going back now to read the rest of the report...

[SurviveUnemployment]

Personally, I haven't found Squidoo helpful.

[Droopy Dawg]

Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe

Droopy, I scanned part of your report. When you get to the section on your keyword research, you state that the number you get when searching without quotes is the total number of searches, which when divided by 12 gives the searches per month.

Sorry to tell you this, but when Google puts "results 1-10 of 1,290,000" it means that 1,290,000 pages in its index matched for one or more of the words in your keyword phrase. Has nothing to do with the number of searches.

I do like your approach of using your own brain to suss out keyword phrases rather than relying on a robotic approach with a keyword tool.

I believe that's why you are succeeding in spite of misinterpreting the search results. You are finding low-competition phrases that a real person might enter in the search box.

Going back now to read the rest of the report...

Right... I had watched some vids a while back and also read some products that noted the search results were at the top-right of the screen. I have sense found the truth, and I thank you for bringing that to my attention.

I created the report back in january when I didn't know "the truth"... but I actually only use that method for Squidoo... I use the "real" SEO tools for websites and such.

I do get some organic traffic to the lenses. For example... I created the lens at the end of january... I've gotten a few hits from searches.

But as I said... I don't rely on the Squidoo for my only source of traffic... if I could get 10 hits per month from organic searches to the lens... that's fine... I normally create 4 lenses per campaign and a couple hubs.

Thanks for checking out the report... I'll soon create a video to show how to put optins into your lenses.

** Edit - Here's a snapshot of the last 7 days for the lens in my report... (attachment 2)

And remember... I haven't taouched the thing since I created it in january... no articles pointing to it... nothing. I only created it as a case study.

[IMDimWit]

Good question. Although I have not spent a lot of time on hubpages and squidoo, I tend to get more leverage with my strategy from articles and free blogging platforms like wordpress and blogger.

[Michael Lee]

Why squidoo is better than any article directory:

You can put any link you want anywhere on your squidoo lens, and as many outgoing links as you want (but don't overdo it, of course).

Squidoo also gets great search engine rankings. One squidoo lens I made is number one for a search term that gets hundreds of searches a day. I get around 2,800 visitors a week from that lens alone.

[Bryan]

Originally Posted by Michael Lee

Why squidoo is better than any article directory:

You can put any link you want anywhere on your squidoo lens, and as many outgoing links as you want (but don't overdo it, of course).

Squidoo also gets great search engine rankings. One squidoo lens I made is number one for a search term that gets hundreds of searches a day. I get around 2,800 visitors a week from that lens alone.

I find in my research that E.A generally out ranking Squidoo for long tail
keywords these days. Much better usually, except if there are a lot of
back links to the Squidoo lens.

BTW EA allows you to link to an affiliate program through a masked domain.
As long as the domain is original they don't have a problem with it. Especially
if you're testing a market you're best to use a short article using a masked
domain. That's what Jeremy Kelsall does, which I think is a good thing to do.

I've wasted my time in the past with making the testing process longer than
it should be.

[Bryan]

Michael,

Do you promote the lens to get the results you get, or
is that without backlinks?

Thanks,

Bryan

[Bryan]

Originally Posted by JayXtreme

Yup.. Squidoo is completely useless... don't waste your time with it (leave it for the rest of us to milk ).

On a more serious note...

The mis-information in this thread is terrible, the good advice is almost lost with some of the other stuff posted, please.. if you are reading this thread, do your own research to find out if something will work for you..

Unless, of course, me or tommygadget told ya

Peace

Jay

Hey Jay,

If everyones contribution was useless, why don't answer the question
I asked. How do make squidoo work for you? Do just find long tail
keywords and build lenses around them or do you also spend time
promoting the lenses directly?

[Kuma]

By now Google has decided not to rank backlinks from Squidoo as high as they used to.
When I started with Squidoo last year I put a lot of effort into them not completely aware then about how few backlinks you may include and how few keywords you actually may use to be in accordance with their rules. Then they killed my lens
I have about 14 Squidoo lenses now (bought quite a number of them when they came out and because they fit to my business fields). They were ranking very well and state of the art but I can only say boy you have put almost daily efforts into them to keep them well ranking if you hate seeing them drop like a piece of iron from a skyscraper. I personally do not have the time to do that. Personally I think they are not really worth it and the nice and funny motivational (automated) words from them won´t change my opinion either. Apart from that they don´t answer any inquiries or questions. 5 thumbs down !
Bernard

[JoshuaCreighton]

Originally Posted by Spiritjoy

I am a newbie but there was a great article on the net on how spammers killed squidoo with google. Squidoo use to work for everyone and google fell love with it but soon everyone was creating 50 lens then google backed off and looks at them a lot more suspicious , like anything else when everyone starts to do it it loses value. Ezine article is a good example everyone is writing an article today but not everyone is a writer so now ezine is so very,very critical of every article submitted, so only the best wrters are going to benefit. Slapping up a SQUIDOO LEN is no longer a sure thing. It is hit or miss

Correct. SLAPPING up a Squidoo lens is no longer a sure thing (if it ever was). You actually have to keep your lenses updated with fresh content and do something with them to see results. It's a marketing tool just like anything else. It's not going to be some type of savior that you can rely on to do everything and anything. Your lens or lenses should have a specific purpose in your overall marketing strategy; and not just something that you prop up with a little bit of content expecting a flood of visitors without any work.

[MatthewPope]

Originally Posted by Bryan

When comes to concentrating on money making tasks, I don't see how
these type of pages can be worth the time and effort that needs to go
into them.

If you think they are worth the time and effort and should be a focus
included in IM efforts, let me know why.

Think about this:

Create one lens promoting a Clickbank product with an average of $20 per sale. Maybe make one sale per month with each lens. I know there are some naysayers here, but with the proper research this is totally possible.

Make 1 lens per day for a month and you have the possibility to pull in $600 a month or more. Keep making lenses and do the math.

Squidoo can be a great way to pull in fast cash for a newbie. I know I'm still getting checks from my lenses

[Kuma]

Originally Posted by MatthewPope

Think about this:

Create one lens promoting a Clickbank product with an average of $20 per sale. Maybe make one sale per month with each lens. I know there are some naysayers here, but with the proper research this is totally possible.

Make 1 lens per day for a month and you have the possibility to pull in $600 a month or more. Keep making lenses and do the math.

Squidoo can be a great way to pull in fast cash for a newbie. I know I'm still getting checks from my lenses

Matthew - how are you going to update your lenses without a staff doing that for you ? I doubt that you can be successful with this strategy. Maybe you can -if you want to ruin your health


Another thing that p...s me off with Squidoo is the extremely low adsense return - ridiculous !