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Squidoo: I don't get it

by YseUp
79 replies
Ok I've signed up to Squidoo.

But I don't get it... it's like a poor version of MySpace.

What's the point in having an ugly site that points to your proper site?
#squidoo
  • Profile picture of the author procopywriter
    Squidoo, so far, has been a waste of time for me. I put a lot of work into creating a lens with great content.

    The result? One visitor. Great payoff there.

    Now I have to work to get traffic to it? Why don't I just work to get traffic to my real site?
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    • Profile picture of the author YseUp
      Interesting Joshua.

      Everyone says that Google likes it and it will help drive people to your site, but to be honest I think Squidoo is a terrible site and I would never voluntarily use it myself. Don't care if it's Seth 'Guru' Godin's site.

      But all the old-hands swear by it. So there must be something to it?
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      • Profile picture of the author quartz22
        There are a few top squidoo lensmasters that do really well out of it,i get a trickle of money from squidoo themselves every month,but i get more from affiliate products that they promote. Although not nearly enough for me to sit up and get excited about,and want to put any effort in to heavily promote them

        To be honest i am thinking of just making my own sites and using my energy to promote them instead!

        I will most likely just use squidoo to help send a bit of traffic to my own sites as well.

        But i do think it could be useful for newbies who have not got any start-up money to do there own site,they can easily build a few lenses and make a some seed money so they can start building there own sites.

        and you never know you could be lucky and hit on something big that brings home the bacon
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  • Profile picture of the author sgooey
    Google really likes Squidoo pages if they are properly optimized with groups, tags, links, and variety, and good content.
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    • Profile picture of the author stacyfox
      I'm no "old hand" but I've got one money site that gets 60 uniques a day from 4 lenses - half of which are from one lens. I've got about 30 active lenses in all. They don't take long to set up and when they "catch" they can give your main site some love.

      I also use Squidoo to generate some high pr backlinks to my EZA articles. I publish 4-5 articles on the same topic at EZA. Then, I copy 1/3 of an article and put it in a text box on Squidoo. At the end of the article fragment, I put a variation of the "to continue reading, click here" button.

      Then, I use blackboards or sticky notes to direct people straight to my money site.

      I don't try to make money with Squidoo itself. I have any profits donated to Kiva. This way I can use the minimize ads feature and not have so many distractions away from the links that I want used.

      Anyway, those are two ways I use Squidoo and I find that the relatively little amount of time invested gets some good returns.

      Stacy
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      • Profile picture of the author Mrs S
        Once you create a lens how long should it take to be indexed into Google?
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        • Profile picture of the author BlueJam
          Originally Posted by Mrs S View Post

          Once you create a lens how long should it take to be indexed into Google?
          I've found a couple of days. Also if you drop a link to your lense from another site you own it can help a lot. Lenses aren't just for the traffic, they are also for the links you gain from the lens.
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        • Profile picture of the author Droopy Dawg
          Originally Posted by Mrs S View Post

          Once you create a lens how long should it take to be indexed into Google?

          I had 1 lens that got indexed within 24 hours... but that was 1 out of the 20 or so lenses that I've created.
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      • Profile picture of the author HiTom
        Originally Posted by stacyfox View Post

        I also use Squidoo to generate some high pr backlinks to my EZA articles. I publish 4-5 articles on the same topic at EZA. Then, I copy 1/3 of an article and put it in a text box on Squidoo. At the end of the article fragment, I put a variation of the "to continue reading, click here" button.
        Stacy
        That's about how I use it too. Basically you want more backlinks to your website or more exposure. So creating a lens for me is just doing article marketing. In addition to submitting to article directories you can put your article on a lens.

        I almost always use and only use the Text module. I think you need 3 modules to have your lens published (not sure), so you can just split your article on 3 text modules. I've done that. Not sure about the traffic I get but that's still some more backlinks/advertising for your sites.

        Tom
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  • Profile picture of the author TheNightOwl
    That's a nice tip, Stacy. Thank you.

    I'll be watching this thread because I have to agree with the first two posters in my experience to date.

    I know, i know, it gets crawled like every 13 seconds by the warm hand of Mummy-G, and all that... but as far as I can tell, it's basically just a fancy article directory that I can put my own affiliate links on.

    I'm keen for the Squidoo-folk (squids?) to wade in to the debate (as it were).

    TheNightOwl
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  • Profile picture of the author timesaver22
    Hi been playing around for a few month now with squidoo and hub pages as a way of just increasing the numbers of links to one of my sites and it is working..

    the site has moved up in the search listing on Google and I am seeing more traffic.

    Ok I'm not making much from the lens and hubs...but that was never the idea..I am making from the traffic from Google...

    they are free to set up easy to use so why not use them.....in the past i have played for links that got me a lot less then they do
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  • Profile picture of the author CDawson
    Banned
    What I like to do is take my ezine articles and flip them alittle bit and paste them to a squidoo lens and put my actual site below every article, as far as getting traffic to the site, social bookmarking can take care of that.
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    • Profile picture of the author dmarzean
      Squidoo is useful with an article marketing campaign. It is just one more site with high pr to increase the seo of your main landing page.

      It has its advantages over the typical article database due to the lack of editorial guidelines.

      I don't think anybody will be making millions from their Squidoo lens, but I could be wrong.

      If used in conjunction with other marketing efforts to drive traffic it can be effective in that aspect.

      The trick to getting indexed quickly with Google, is the same as getting an article indexed. The lens has to be optimized for the keyword you are targeting and there can't be too many competing pages. Under 150,000 is usually best.

      I think the confusion with BUM marketing methods is that you can see quick results by submitting just a couple of articles and setting up a lens. BUM marketing is a very time consuming endeavor. It can be effective, but for every dollar that you are saving, you better be willing to invest a couple hours of your time.

      Doug
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  • Profile picture of the author yourreviewer
    Some folks are making a killing from Squidoo. To think Squidoo is a waste of time and money is WRONG. People often come up with horrible lens and thoroughly deserve what they get. Take a look at the link below and you will understand what I mean.

    Are you a Stay at Home Mom (or Dad) Interested in Earning a Monthly Income?
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      To be honest i am thinking of just making my own sites and using my energy to promote them instead!
      That's a "light bulb" comment.

      I think of Squidoo as a TOOL - just like hubpages, article marketing, reciprocal links (a few good ones), directory submission, bookmarking, etc.

      Using those methods will get traffic to your site or your blog when they are used correctly.

      kay
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  • Profile picture of the author Simon74
    I traied squido in the past but did't work for me, I do think it's a bit of wast of time.
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  • Profile picture of the author Traffic101
    Hi, I've just come around to squidoo, so I can't really weigh in here. I've read other posts where people make a killing. But I've created a few lenses, what's the harm in getting more backlinks. But I've heard hubpages are great, and I really know nothing about them. Anyway this weekend i plan to do some reading and figuring things out. We'll see if it's time well spent.

    I do know there is a warrior on here who offers a squidoo course for those wanting to learn more.
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    • Profile picture of the author JackieLee
      Wow, it's so amazing to see this point of view since I do a lot of work on squidoo, make quite a bit of money from it, and teach people how to use it successfully.

      There is money to be made with squidoo. Like anything else online it takes work, focus and you have to know what you are doing. To set up successful lenses you need to make sure you are making them very keyword targeted. You can easily build a few backlinks to the lenses and find them ranking very well.

      You can put the RSS feed from your own site or blog in a module on your lens so people can click through to your own site. I get quite a bit of traffic to a variety of my money sites via sqiudoo. Whereas I may target bigger/more competitive keywords with my money site, I use very long tail keywords/less competitive keywords for my squidoo site, so I can get some traffic and then move it through to my money sites.

      It is also great for a nice high PR do follow link back to your site.

      I make a good deal of money from my lenses on squidoo every month. It's just like having a mini site up. It doesn't happen overnight, but what does?

      IF you really think it's impossible to make money on squidoo I suggest you take a look at this post: Can Squidoo Make you $500 in one day? Yep. | Captain Squid

      I love squidoo, it is a valuable tool in my SEO and money making arsenal.

      Jackie
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  • Profile picture of the author Marhelper
    I primarily use Squidoo for SEO help but not to make sales from a product. There are those that swear by it and apparently do pretty well however.
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  • Profile picture of the author Janet21
    @yourreviewer: I received your PM, but I don't have enough posts here to be able to respond. Please contact me through my lens and I will be happy to give you some advice on your lens.

    Janet~
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  • Profile picture of the author mikemcmillan
    Most people don't stick around with Squidoo long enough to figure out how it works. I've had lenses get #1 front page rankings for affiliate product names for searches that returned over 400,000 pages on Google. I've got a Sqidoo lens right now that shows on the front page of Google and it has held it's position for over 4 months now. The search for the name of the affiliate product promoted returns over 300,000 pages.

    I don't care what anyone says, if you learn the ropes you can make a killing with Squidoo. Apparently, no one here likes Squidoo, so I'm not going to spoon feed my techniques, but you need to have a keyword density of from 2.8-4.5% to make Google love you. I go for 3.5 and it works well.

    Do some homework. Squidoo rules!
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    • Profile picture of the author SMD Marketing
      I have worked extremely hard on squidoo and have no results to show for it.
      I had 2 lenses even up in the top 50 and nothing.

      I am beginning to believe the only person making money is the owner, who is sucking the majority of the google adsense profits and calls his "sharing" with his members sharing.

      When it comes down he is making a killing off the clicks created by all of us and not by the owner.

      Smart man, he has us all doing his work with a smart way to get people to try.

      I am willing to bet some people might be making alittle profit but the owner is creaming some bucks from all of us who thought this was the way to go.

      The other Squidoo guru who is making money is the lady selling the "how to be successful using Squidoo". Catch the idea?

      Follower the leader type of thing, more of a MLM idea that the owner dreamed up and is making a gazillion from us all.

      I am going to buy a lense from someone else and do my marketing of it and see if I am wrong here. But something tells me only a select few are making any money with Squidoo while the rest of us bring those select people all the traffic.
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  • Profile picture of the author plexpert
    I use squidoo mostly for backlinks to my main sites. One of my friends in real life is making about $500 a month of squidoo and she doesn't know a think about making webpages. I guess it has it's appeal there where you can build pages easily without know much about seo, html java etc.

    I haven't put much time into squidoo because:
    1) You can't have an opt in page in squidoo and I do a lot of email marketing
    2) You can't effectively use ppc marketing in my opinion because the user is sent to a content site with too many bounce links (other squiddo lenses, advertisements, etc).
    3) You cannot track your affiliate sales.

    I see a few people doing using PPC for squidoo lenses, I just don't know how it would work.

    I guess it can be good for adsense if you find good keywords and work on seo. Good for people to get started with internet marketing if you've never built a website.
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    • Profile picture of the author Droopy Dawg
      Originally Posted by plexpert View Post

      I use squidoo mostly for backlinks to my main sites. One of my friends in real life is making about $500 a month of squidoo and she doesn't know a think about making webpages. I guess it has it's appeal there where you can build pages easily without know much about seo, html java etc.

      I haven't put much time into squidoo because:
      1) You can't have an opt in page in squidoo and I do a lot of email marketing
      2) You can't effectively use ppc marketing in my opinion because the user is sent to a content site with too many bounce links (other squiddo lenses, advertisements, etc).
      3) You cannot track your affiliate sales.

      I see a few people doing using PPC for squidoo lenses, I just don't know how it would work.

      I guess it can be good for adsense if you find good keywords and work on seo. Good for people to get started with internet marketing if you've never built a website.
      -> My lens w/opt-in http://www.squidoo.com/Forex-trading-overview

      1st page of Google within 9 hours... I swear...

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  • Profile picture of the author testaccount9998
    In my experience the people who make the most money from squidoo are making money by teaching other people how to make money on squidoo.
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  • Profile picture of the author GeorgR.
    its extremely wrong to think that squidoo is a waste of time.

    However, it needs GOOD lenses and time, then the traffic will come. The benefit is also not the lens alone, but the PR coming from the lenses, and interlinking the lenses with your sites, adding your site's feed on the lenses and vice versa.

    I have a bunch of lenses which rank VERY high on google for certain search terms and products. So it cannot be that wrong.

    As always, this rule applied:

    Don't depend on ONE thing - but use EVERYTHING you can get your hands on to your advantage.
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    • Profile picture of the author KentuckyJeff
      Wow, it's surprising that a lot of people don't know what's possible with Squidoo. There's a lot of people making a lot of money with Squidoo alone, but there's also a lot (more ?) that use their lenses for links to their other sites too. Some use several lenses in a network on whatever campaign they'te running. Setting up one campaign after another.

      I just read a while back that one of the Big Guns at Squidoo had just had his first single lens to do $2,000 in a single month (1 lens). I know that's not Warren Buffett money, but the guy has like 400 lenses.

      Google loves Squidoo, and if you put up a decent lens, submit a couple articles to eZineArticles with links to your lens, and a little promoting it, and you could be near the top of the SERPS for really not much work. Monetize the lens, have a link to any other of your money sites, and you've got a winner.

      Also, for those that complained of getting traffic...if you put up a lens and then just leave it you won't see much traffic.

      Also.....

      I just bought Micro Niche Finder a couple of weeks ago. Just for the heck of it I did a Google search on it just now, and there's (2) Squidoo lenses on MNF on page 1, positions 3 & 4. That doesn't mean a whole lot with only 174,000 pages competing, but MNF pays a healthy commission through ClickBank, and I guarantee you that both those guys have made enough to be worth the 2 or 3 hours it took to do the lenses and maybe a couple of articles and/or links from other sites.

      I have too few posts to add a link, but go to Squidoo dot com/micro-niche-finder, he's on page one.

      Bet it didn't take this guy an hour to do this lens.
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      • Profile picture of the author GeorgR.
        Originally Posted by KentuckyJeff View Post


        I just bought Micro Niche Finder a couple of weeks ago. Just for the heck of it I did a Google search on it just now, and there's (2) Squidoo lenses on MNF on page 1, positions 3 & 4.
        one of them is mine
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  • Profile picture of the author Samuel Lee
    What many have said is true for sure, squidoo is a free alternative to making your own site and a great one at that. I have mostly used it as a landing page in the past quite effectively. Google tend to love squidoo pages when they are properly optimized and tagged correctly, so if you don't have a website, its a great place to start!
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  • Profile picture of the author brandonhess
    I use it for the SEO end. It ranks well with google so it helps get traffic to your site. They take about 20-30 minutes to set up, then you just let it go. Update it every so often,just to keep it fresh.

    I like them.
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  • Profile picture of the author ss61288
    I have been using squidoo aswell and haven't had much success with it, but I'm not going to say that its been a waste of time because I've seen the power of lenses showing up in the first 2 or 3 results of google for a very competitive keyword. If you are using squidoo i think stay focused with it, im certainly going to be revisiting my lenses to clean and optimise them
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    • Profile picture of the author Nathan Hangen
      I've used Squidoo quite a bit, and I'm not sure if I can recommend it. I have sites that rank #1 for busy keywords...I don't have a lens for any of them.

      Squidoo hasn't done me any favors, but it only takes a few minutes to make a lens.
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  • Profile picture of the author 4deb
    Squidoo lenses help me drive traffic I may miss otherwise to websites...they aren't huge numbers

    here's an example from my analytics for one of my websites:

    squidoo.com (referral) 67 7.17%

    on this lens, it has the opportunity to:

    1. go to a website
    2. buy my book

    so if someone doesn't come across my book website, or my main site this is working for -- this is an extra net to catch visitors
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  • Profile picture of the author Alex Sol
    Oh, Squidoo... When I first started Internet Marketing, I was only building Squidoo Lenses and writing articles for EzineArticles. Was it worth it? Heck Yeah! Just look at my DAILY traffic stats for just ONE LENS:



    ... and I get 25%-35% CTR to my links from all my lenses.

    - Lenses are free to build
    - Lenses are easy to build
    - Lenses are very easy to get indexed
    - Lenses are relatively easy to get ranked HIGH in the SE...

    I still build occasional lenses and all of them start getting decent amounts of organic visitors within weeks, sometimes within days. Google still seems to love Squidoo as well, so why not?

    Alex
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  • Profile picture of the author AnneE
    I've had reasonably good luck with Squidoo. I like it for topics that I want to spend a day or two on and then periodically update. Probably my most successful lense is one that is gradually growing its number of visitors (okay, it's still only about 80 a WEEK).

    I have some affiliate links in there about where to buy this product and periodically I make a sale from them. Just in this last month I sold $200 worth of a product which garnered a $50 affiliate payoff. Okay, I can't pay the mortgage with it, but you can bet the $50 made me think about what I could do to continue to increase visitors.

    I think Squidoo is great for topics where you don't want to do even a mini website or a blog, but you have some information that people would find useful and some products to associate with that information.

    Others use it as described above, to drive traffic to other websites or blogs.
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  • Profile picture of the author rlnorthcutt
    Marketing with Squidoo is just like any other strategy... it takes some time, effort and it needs to be part of a comprehensive larger plan. You may have to create several lenses to get one that is "worth it", and figure out the system.

    If you are looking for immediate results, then you probably are not going to like ANY strategy out there... it can happen, but it can rarely be counted on.

    One of the great things about Squidoo is that it is work that is done once with repeated pay-offs over time... getting one hit from a squidoo lens is not so exciting, but getting one hit a week forever is a different story. And - if you take the time to study what works and practice a bit, you could get great results like Alex!

    One more note - not only can Squidoo pages get indexed quickly and build up PR for your site, but they are located on a different IP from your host. This means that most Search engines will give them even more importance when evaluating YOUR site...

    One way link, different IP, easy to setup, no cost and highly flexible... its a fantastic tool. Your job is only to figure out IF its the right tool for you, and then how best to use it in your strategy.

    Ron
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  • Profile picture of the author mikemcmillan
    Plexpert said,
    I haven't put much time into squidoo because:
    1) You can't have an opt in page in squidoo and I do a lot of email marketing
    2) You can't effectively use ppc marketing in my opinion because the user is sent to a content site with too many bounce links (other squiddo lenses, advertisements, etc).
    3) You cannot track your affiliate sales.

    Not true at all! You can have an opt-in page through Squidoo. I simply take a screen shot of my opt-in pop up from my main site, insert it into Squidoo with a clickable link to an HTML page I've set up at one of my domains, and bang--the names go into aWeber as slick as you please.

    You say that you can't track your affiliate sales. Why not--everyone does that.

    By the way, and I'm not criticizing folks here, but Squidoo is much more powerful than you think. I can pick any niche I wish on Squidoo, do some research, put up a lens and have it rank #1 or #2 on Squidoo for the name of the product and get it on the front page of Google 99% of the time. A lot of big name gurus use Squidoo lenses and I slap them silly even for the names of their own products. I do this because I have taken the time to study how it works and test, test, and retest my techniques.

    I'm not being critical when I say this, but a lot of you are missing the boat on this.

    Like anything else, it takes time to master.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alex Sol
    OPT-IN in Squidoo? Possible!
    And using an image that when clicked takes you to a blank page with an opt-in form is outdated.

    You can have an actual opt-in form on your lens now
    Check this out: How to add an opt in form to your Squidoo lens
    (not it is not my lens, or my method, but it works!)

    Alex
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    • Profile picture of the author philleep
      squidoo could work if you put more time into it.
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  • Profile picture of the author FearlessIncome
    I never did well with Squidoo, either. I'll take the advice from here and modify my lens and see what happens.
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  • Profile picture of the author gerrihabib
    I would agree that Squidoo is a great place to start if you don't have a webpage or blog, as its free and it has heaps of easy to use templates. I've been using squidoo as a general information page about my business and it does well as a landing page for me! I wouldn't want to host my entire business on it, but as far as giving people general information and posting some affiliate links for my business, it works great! Some great posts on using it as business tool here though!
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  • Profile picture of the author tonywarrior2
    I followed some of the links in this thread and it looks like there are some dedicated and focussed people here making some money directly off their squid pages. More power to them.
    My particular interest is in how lenses support a hub network beefing-up the backlinks, themes etc etc. Does anyone have some insight or experience into that aspect ?
    Tony
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  • Profile picture of the author ebizman87
    Squidoo can be used to provide backlinks for your main site.
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    • Profile picture of the author Rich Mann
      I have been using Squidoo for months now and I think I have some descent lenses but the traffic is pathetic. I have spent a lot of time promoting, pinging, bookmarking, Twittering you name it to drive traffic but the results are dismal. Maybe someone would like to critique my lenses and tell me what I'm doing wrong.
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  • Profile picture of the author Bennielechat
    Hey it's free to use folks that counts for something.
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  • Profile picture of the author GeorgR.
    i am now #1 (yes, ONE) for "micro niche finder" on google...should asnwer your question. I have other lenses which rank well too.


    Secondly, you all know how "reviews" can turn many visitors into buyers. And the lenses are excellent to make pre-sell review pages for whatever products.
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  • Profile picture of the author hanleo46
    Originally Posted by YseUp View Post

    Ok I've signed up to Squidoo.

    But I don't get it... it's like a poor version of MySpace.

    What's the point in having an ugly site that points to your proper site?
    Hello YseUp

    We all need to find ways to get content in front of visitors that are interested...some call it getting in the way of traffic....( thats what Squidoo has lots of)

    Think of it as owning more internet real estate, or building our virtual assets....so how do we get our content marketed?

    There is a great way to integrate Squidoo, articles, and blogs together into a giant traffic net, by building keyword targeted lens campaigns....that not only builds links, but generates direct traffic to your website, blog, or affiliate landing pages==>>
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  • Profile picture of the author A8ch
    This is quite an interesting thread.

    I am a Squidoo newbie. I published my first lens less than a month ago as a tool to drive traffic to another site. Traffic to that site has already increased and so have sales. I'm still learning about Squidoo and finding out what it can do, and I find this thread particulaly informative because it reveals an interesting range of points of view.

    A tool can only be as effective as the skill of the person using it. So before I started working on my lens, I looked at scores of lenses to see how they were presented and to get a general feel for Squidoo. I looked at lenses with high rankings and those that were probably never seen by anyone besides the lensmaster.

    I noticed the various ways people use Squidoo. Not everyone has a primary money-making motive. Some simply want to socialize and meet people who share their interests, and that was obvious from their lenses. I recognized those who specialized in making money directly from Squidoo and could see the strategies they use.

    As I climb the Squidoo learning curve, I know that I've got to use my lens in conjunction with other tools and tactics to get the most benefit from it. I do have the advantage of a few years of online marketing experience so I'm familiar with many of the pitfalls. I also understand the elements of SEO and so on.

    I think every lensmaster owes it to him or herself to first develop a clear understanding of Squidoo benefits and limitations, and then figure out if (and/or how) they can navigate these components to reach their objectives. And that ought to be done without being distracted by what others may be experiencing - positively or negatively.

    BTW, my lens is in my signature, if you care to take a look.

    Hermas.
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    • Profile picture of the author lh1234
      A8ch

      Great lens - you can tell you put a lot of effort into it. Is it still helping you get traffic?
      lh
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  • Profile picture of the author misterlmno
    i have never tried Squidoo, I was going to give it a go soon, I hope I do not waste my time!. Thanks for the input guys.
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  • Profile picture of the author JeffreyM
    I agree. I took a look at the sight a few days ago./ I did know what all the fuss was about. It seems to be a huge waste of my time.
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  • Profile picture of the author t!
    according to my friend, that makes several million a year, you hook squidoo into a network of high pr site pages
    wetpaint.com
    squidoo.com
    hubpages.com
    tumblr.com
    wordpress.com
    about 8 others

    each page on each site connecting to another high pr site page and also connected to your page. If you do it right, he says you get to the top of google.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chika Nwoko
    I think Jacquie Lee said it best. You must optimize your Squidoo lens effectively with the whole enchilada otherwise it won't work for you....
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  • Profile picture of the author mortbort
    I have an idea.

    Up to date I'm scared of automated link building software for established domains. But what if I used those types of programs to build links to a squidoo page and then passed the juice to a credible website from there?

    It would be "link laundering" kind of like money laundering but for links. Thoughts?
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    • Profile picture of the author kkchoon
      Originally Posted by mortbort View Post

      I have an idea.

      Up to date I'm scared of automated link building software for established domains. But what if I used those types of programs to build links to a squidoo page and then passed the juice to a credible website from there?

      It would be "link laundering" kind of like money laundering but for links. Thoughts?
      Automated or not, your site won't get banned... if you can get someone site banned with automated tool, go open up a WSO, I will be the first to purchase, I have tons of sites I wanted to sandbox!
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeGriffith
    I use Squidoo and it's great for me. But you have to know how to optimize it for Google. I know a lady from Georgia who made over $150,000 in one year with a marketing plan she devised using Squidoo. PM me and I'll tell you about it.
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  • Profile picture of the author InternetMarketingIQ
    This article is a bit old now... but I'm not sure Google Love's Squidoo as much as people want to believe. Those ranking in Google are likely not ranking because of Squidoo, but because the content is relevant.

    Google Acting Against Squidoo Due To Spam
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  • Profile picture of the author SumikoW
    I'm with most of you, not much activity from my Squidoo lenses.
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  • Profile picture of the author dsmpublishing
    I was a bit of a late starter with squidoo and can understand how you feel. When i first came across it i thought it was some freaky uperclass version of blogger. Another free site that would shut me down after a while even if i did nothing wrong once i had excellent traffic in there direction.

    Then last xmas i reviewed this amazing traffic generation ebook from a fellow wf member and the section on squidoo really got me thinking.

    Since then ive outsourced and created my own lenses and the traffic and backlinks and sales together have been amazing. Like everything new we are often afraid of it but i thoroughly recommend that you give it a go.

    Here is a free squidoo ebook (no email addy required) to show you how to become a squidoo expert:

    Samantha Milner's Expert Series - Become a Squidoo Expert in 24Hrs

    kind regards


    sam
    X
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  • Profile picture of the author Cutthroat
    I don't understand how anyone uses Squidoo? I have been a chronic internet user since the mid to late 1990's (at least a few hours every day) and not ONCE have I EVER encountered a Squidoo page and I use Google instead of the address bar half the time to find websites LOL.

    Is the best advice to use Squidoo as a backlink and not spend too much time on it?
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  • Profile picture of the author KentuckyJeff
    Don't underestimate Squidoo. Even if you don't have another 'money site,' using GOOD keyword research and some good keyword-rich articles published on EZA, you can make very good money.

    There are people making unbelievable amounts of money using Squidoo. Some of the Giant Squids especially are making many times more money just from Squidoo than I could ever hope to earn working a regular job.
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    • Profile picture of the author Cutthroat
      Originally Posted by KentuckyJeff View Post

      Don't underestimate Squidoo. Even if you don't have another 'money site,' using GOOD keyword research and some good keyword-rich articles published on EZA, you can make very good money.

      There are people making unbelievable amounts of money using Squidoo. Some of the Giant Squids especially are making many times more money just from Squidoo than I could ever hope to earn working a regular job.
      Like who? What is the URL's to their pages?
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      • Profile picture of the author KentuckyJeff
        Try looking for Lenses by thefluffanutta for a start. Here's one of his Lenses to get you going. There's lots of links from there. Captain Squid is a major player also, there's many. Here's a Captain Squid Lens on $500/DAY from Squidoo!! That's from almost a year ago though, there's a link below with even more impressive numbers.

        Here's a link for the Top 100 Rated Lensmasters. I'm not sure how old it is, but it should have some of the Squidoo big guys/girls on there. It'll get you started.

        If you look around, starting in the Squidoo Forum, you can find some posts about how much money some of those people are making.

        Not everyone likes to brag, some donate everything to charity, and some maybe stretch the truth, but you can get a general idea about what is possible. Just do some Google searches.

        If you're willing to put in the time and effort, you could earn a good living with Squidoo and some good articles on EZA. I'd have your own hosted sites too though.

        Oh, read this one closely. The Captain is amazing.

        I think I have 20 Lenses, and about 20 of them suck!! :confused: Even so, I have managed to make about $200 on one lens since June 29th. That's pretty much a single article on EZA (which is setting on 1st. page of Google right now), and that single Lens.

        I never really applied myself before because I wasn't making any money, but now I know for sure it can be done.

        I will be stepping up my Squidoo activity for sure!!
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        • Profile picture of the author Cutthroat
          Thanks for the links Jeff.

          Question, what if you want to build your own virtual real estate empire (I heard John Reese say this phrase before)... would it be best to make simple lens pages for the main purpose of a backlink to your "real" site and thus making any income from it is just an added bonus?

          I want to grow traffic to my own sites... not grow Squidoo.
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          • Profile picture of the author KentuckyJeff
            I'm obviously not an expert by any means. I do always have links from my Lenses to my personal sites, but I would always try to add decent Lenses though. At least something of some value and/or interest to others. There were too many people just throwing up trash trying to make a quick buck or just to get the link value.

            I know a lot of people don't like having all of their financial eggs in one basket, unless they own the basket too!! So, I would have personal sites for sure. If you make money from Squidoo and your personal sites to boot, you don't stand to lose everything if Squidoo (or your hosting) goes away for some reason.

            Just imagine if you were making $10,000/month only from Squidoo, and your account got shut down for some reason, or Squidoo went through some drastic changes that took away your livlihood somehow.
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  • Profile picture of the author acedalright
    I don't like squidoo, it's too busy, it implies you need to continuously tend to lenses and it's covered in links.

    Talk about link dilution.

    As for the Google loves it quotes, I tend to think Google loves highly optimized, long pages with great keyword focus.

    Still, at least the links are dofollow, unless they deem it to be a work in progress.

    I've written 800 word lenses that are wip's.

    - Delete

    - Add to Ezinarticles

    Hello links, traffic and sanity!
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  • Profile picture of the author Ryan6
    I wrote an article about Squidoo just a few days ago. Here's the link for it!

    The lenses seem to rank extremely well in Google and there's no waiting around to get each lens approved. You can throw in nice anchor text for inner pages so it definitely has value. I think Squidoo is good for experimental projects where you target one such product.

    Their referral program is quite sneaky though, whereby you get 5$ per referral, but each referral has to earn 15$ before you get the money. It'd take some work getting that 15$ cos they share the revenue out between the very top guys. HubPages offer a flat 10% share, which is more fair.

    Create the best lens you possibly can and you'll probably earn some good money. Otherwise, just use it to join up the dots for all of your sites.
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  • Profile picture of the author CatherineAKACeeCee
    Hey YseUp, I've been tackling Squidoo Lens for the past 6 months with no really success as yet. I painfully learnt that there is a right way and a wrong way to use Squidoo Lens... I think I'm finally going to make a break through and if I do... dare I say it... then sure enough... anyone can. Fingers X'd
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    • Profile picture of the author Cutthroat
      Originally Posted by CatherineAKACeeCee View Post

      Hey YseUp, I've been tackling Squidoo Lens for the past 6 months with no really success as yet. I painfully learnt that there is a right way and a wrong way to use Squidoo Lens... I think I'm finally going to make a break through and if I do... dare I say it... then sure enough... anyone can. Fingers X'd
      What is the right and wrong ways to do it?
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      • Profile picture of the author davesanclemente
        Originally Posted by Cutthroat View Post

        What is the right and wrong ways to do it?
        You shouldn't just rely on Squidoo for your marketing. Nor should you ever rely on your earnings directly from Squidoo. Squidoo is most effective when used in combination with other Internet Marketing methods. It's not a silver bullet but is super-effective when done right. It especially helps your SEO and backlinking efforts.

        I hope this isn't breaking any warrior forum rules by posting this here, but I used to sell a Squidoo training course. I took it off the market in 2008 and am now giving it away free. Check out my signature for the link.

        I have almost 3 hours of videos that show you the right ways to Squidoo. I hope it helps you.

        - Dave
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  • Profile picture of the author Kory Pearman
    I have used Squidoo to make all my money that I am now using to create actual websites. O.o
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