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Squidoo vs wordpress

by Davey T
13 replies
I am looking at building a blog. I have articles that I am going to submit to the directories and am going to have a link to point to my blog in the Bio box. I am wanting to create a blog with multiple pages of content related to my offer. I am going to purchase a domain name relevant to my niche and redirect to my blog.

I have 2 questions:

1: Which of these sites will do better for what I am going to set up; Squidoo or the free Wordpress blog? (I am not going to have my own hosting at first.)

2: I will have a link to my affiliate offer on each of the pages of my blog. Do I need to purchase another related domain name to redirect to my affiliate link? (To make it look pretty)

Thanks in advance for the advice!!!
#squidoo #wordpress
  • Profile picture of the author JeffMitchell
    Here is my suggestion.

    Stay away from Squidoo as a primary source of anything. They are getting as bad as Google...Ill call it the Squidoo Slap. They are killing home business lenses or anything related to.

    But, the free blogs is where you would want to start. Really though. You should go ahead and pay the $5-10 a MONTH starting now and it would save you a ton of money/time/frustration and lost income in the future.

    Hosting your own blog is one of the most powerful and cheapest ways to make a huge presence in your niche.....


    Plus, don't quote me on this...but I believe some of the free blog sites are kicking people out? (not sure, I don't pay a ton of attention.)

    Hope that helps.

    Jeff Mitchell
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  • Profile picture of the author Mohammad Afaq
    1: Squidoo ranks better than free wordpress but you will have relatively low conversions because squidoo lenses are filled with ads and other distractions. BTW, I'd say get a hosting with hostgator (baby plan). It's only 1cent for the first month (google the coupon code) and trust me it will make your life easier.

    2: If you have a .com domain with hosting then you can simply create a directory on your domain and redirect it to the affiliate link but if you will link to your affiliate page from the article then you need a separate domain.

    I HIGHLY recommend that you get your own hosting because Free Wordpress blogs don't let you promote affiliate programs (it's against their TOS) and free blogs don't get the rankings in SERP
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    • Profile picture of the author genietoast
      I'd go for Wordpress as well because Squidoo has changed their TOS about certain niches that you're allowed to write about. Some of the good ones have been knocked off.

      For you blog content, you can useful content for each post where at the end you suggest to people to click on the link to your product.

      Or...

      You can create a separate page on your blog for that product. And also submit your posts to ezines, article directories, etc. and lead the link back to that one page. That way you get the backlinks for that page which is part og your blog.
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  • Profile picture of the author smplylvn
    I am more of a wordpress person myself, but not the free version. I think it is well worth the few dollars a month for hosting to have my own site. I get to choose what is on the site as far as advertising. I started out with Squidoo, but have had much more success using my own site.
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  • Profile picture of the author Davey T
    Thanks so much for the input!!!
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  • Profile picture of the author abelacts
    Wordpress and own hosting. As I have said many times, creating an online business is just like any other business, you need a start up cost. Invest in your business by getting a domain name (which you have) and a simple hosting plan. Use other means to send traffic to your website. Eventually this website will become your virtual asset. Why spend time on other peoples' websites if you can build your own?
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  • Profile picture of the author thefluffanutta
    Squidoo is a great platform, but it's not for blogs. If you want to start your own blog, use a blogging platform like WordPress. Squidoo is an entirely different beast, which works very well for promoting affiliate products.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
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    • Profile picture of the author x3xsolxdierx3x
      Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

      That completely excludes WordPress.com as a possibility for you, Davey. Not only is any form of monetisation/affiliateship contrary to WordPress.com's terms of service, but they really will delete your blog there immediately, when they notice that you've done that.

      A good site for a blog for these purposes is any site you own and control yourself.

      If the hosting cost is the issue, then I suggest that you set up a free WordPress.org blog using the free hosting at Byethost.com, which is reliable, carries no advertising, and is a well-established "proper company".

      You might also want to look at hostica.com, where you can host one domain for $1 per month ($5 deposit payable).

      Other places where you can do what you want to do free of charge (though not using WordPress software) are yola.com, blinkweb.com and weebly.com.

      Squidoo would be a mistake, in my opinion. Not only will your site be plastered with other people's advertising, but as many Warriors found out to their cost, last year, their terms of service can suddenly change, and you don't own or control "your" site there in any meaningful sense of the words. Ideal as part of a backlinking strategy, but a really bad start as a "main site" for affiliate sales.
      Squidoo was my favorite place to submit content online....in fact, I wrote for them for a good 2+ years. I do tend to agree with you here, Alexa....

      Whether you are looking strictly to benefit from their revenue share, the use of affiliate links, or a combination of both, I would not make it a "main site" for affiliate sales....

      (I do like Squidoo and the marketing genius behind Seth Godin, but it just doesn't do the trick for me anymore...sometimes I do still visit and participate in their forum, though...)
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      • Profile picture of the author Marian
        I too would recommend self hosted WP blog. You control everything and your work is never deleted or censored in any way!

        Marian
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  • Profile picture of the author Paleochora
    Get free hosting (with 50 sql databases for your blogs) at byethost.com. & create sub domains for your blogs which you can install with Fantastico with a couple of clicks. Free all the way.

    And if you decide to upgrade to their expensive (lol) $2.99/month paid hosting with a free domain name, they will migrate them all for you

    Great for people starting on a tight budget

    EDIT: Ooops, sorry ....just read Alexa's post above.
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  • Profile picture of the author perfumer
    try both and see which one you like better
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  • Profile picture of the author dejon97
    Self-hosted Wordpress installation for site and use Squidoo for backlinks and to drive traffic back to your site.
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