What now? Woke this morning to find my squidoo empire has been locked!

by Cheeth
58 replies
Hello warriors,

I kind of regret using squidoo now. I woke this morning to find all my squidoo lenses have been locked! I couldn't believe it.. all the lenses were under different accounts as well and not all were promoting clickbank products.

Has any one else had this experience with squidoo before - whats the likely hood they will over turn their decision? and what is the approch I could use for the best chance?

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

Thanks,
#empire #find #locked #morning #squidoo #woke
  • Profile picture of the author Deepak Media
    Originally Posted by Cheeth View Post

    Hello warriors,

    I kind of regret using squidoo now. I woke this morning to find all my squidoo lenses have been locked! I couldn't believe it.. all the lenses were under different accounts as well and not all were promoting clickbank products.

    Has any one else had this experience with squidoo before - whats the likely hood they will over turn their decision? and what is the approch I could use for the best chance?

    Any help would be greatly appreciated,

    Thanks,
    Do not build something on other's property!
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    Digital Marketing Author | Speaker | Consultant

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    @ Bangalore, India.
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  • Profile picture of the author thebitbotdotcom
    I hate to hear that.

    I really don't like relying on third part operations...especially when money is involved.

    That is why I am experimenting with self-hosted solutions for every aspect of IM constantly.

    Ask them what you need to do to get them unlocked and then get to work fixing whatever it is...if they respond.
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  • Profile picture of the author fern
    I agree with the above poster. Try to salvage one account. I have several lenses under one name and have never had a problem.
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    • Profile picture of the author Cheeth
      Originally Posted by fern View Post

      I agree with the above poster. Try to salvage one account. I have several lenses under one name and have never had a problem.
      Thanks, its crazy to think how much power they have, one of the lenses is making at least $800 a month! 1 account is the best approach, but they know I own all of them,

      In fact I'm now blocked from loggin into the accounts! Squidoo keeps redirecting. Maybe if I kick up a fuss in the squid forums that would help?

      Thanks Warriors!
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      • Profile picture of the author Andy Fletcher
        Originally Posted by Cheeth View Post

        Thanks, its crazy to think how much power they have, one of the lenses is making at least $800 a month! 1 account is the best approach, but they know I own all of them,

        In fact I'm now blocked from loggin into the accounts! Squidoo keeps redirecting. Maybe if I kick up a fuss in the squid forums that would help?

        Thanks Warriors!
        So let me get this straight...

        You violated their terms of service.

        Are angered and surprised by their response.

        And think that kicking up a fuss about it will help?
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        • Profile picture of the author Cheeth
          Originally Posted by Andy Fletcher View Post

          So let me get this straight...

          You violated their terms of service.

          Are angered and surprised by their response.

          And think that kicking up a fuss about it will help?
          Your half way there, I violated their terms of service on 1 lens, and they locked all my lens without any notifications as to what the problem is. I'm throwing my hands up, I should have been more careful I checked their TOS but I did look them over enough, plus social proof came into play, I saw other lenses doing the exact same thing and I knew I could do it better.

          I'm not angered, I don't recall the last time I was angry, I feel more surprised and vulnerable with a platform I felt safe with.

          Kicking up a fuss, you can say that although I think the reason I started this thread was to learn something and increase awareness. I'm not a bad guy I made a mistake and they gave me the death sentence.

          I do take your point I should have read the TOS and have only my self to blame, although at the same time I fell that my rights have been abused. Yet the reality is I've got no rights what so ever and what I'm doing is.. standing up for rights I do not have.
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      • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
        Banned
        Originally Posted by Cheeth View Post

        Thanks, its crazy to think how much power they have, one of the lenses is making at least $800 a month! 1 account is the best approach, but they know I own all of them,

        In fact I'm now blocked from loggin into the accounts! Squidoo keeps redirecting. Maybe if I kick up a fuss in the squid forums that would help?

        Thanks Warriors!
        I'm certain that you broke their TOS. Note the word "their." It's their site and Squidoo has for a long time now been closing affiliate marketer's accounts. None of this should come as a surprise to you.

        Your chances of getting any of them unlocked is practically nil.

        Getting Started With Squidoo (The official overview, FAQ and TOS): Terms of Service

        Squid Spam

        The SquidDon't Content Policy

        NEWSFLASH! A Squidoo Policy Update and living addendum to the TOS
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      • Profile picture of the author fern
        Originally Posted by Cheeth View Post

        Thanks, its crazy to think how much power they have, one of the lenses is making at least $800 a month! 1 account is the best approach, but they know I own all of them,

        In fact I'm now blocked from loggin into the accounts! Squidoo keeps redirecting. Maybe if I kick up a fuss in the squid forums that would help?

        Thanks Warriors!
        I don't think causing a fuss on the forums will do you any good. It will most likely backfire. I would contact support or help desk and explain politely the circumstances. It may work, but showing your frustration will make them less likely to help you. You can also try hubpages as an alternative. Good luck.
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      • Profile picture of the author AnniePot
        Originally Posted by Cheeth View Post

        ........... 1 account is the best approach, but they know I own all of them...........
        NO! You own NONE of them. Squidoo does!! :rolleyes:
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        • Profile picture of the author Cheeth
          I hear you loud and clear! This definitely a wake up call

          thanks Warriors
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  • Profile picture of the author Nail Yener
    I recently deleted all my Squidoo lenses and closed my account because they were all low quality work that I had created when I first started. Besides, I don't want to keep growing others' businesses anymore for a small return compared to how much it could have been better if I had spent that time on my own assets.

    If I were you, I would forget about Squidoo or any other third party site to grow my business and start focusing on my own sites which I have full control over. If you have backups for the content of your lenses, post them on your site and continue from there.
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    • Profile picture of the author Cheeth
      Originally Posted by Nail Yener View Post

      I recently deleted all my Squidoo lenses and closed my account because they were all low quality work that I had created when I first started. Besides, I don't want to keep growing others' businesses anymore for a small return compared to how much it could have been better if I had spent that time on my own assets.

      If I were you, I would forget about Squidoo or any other third party site to grow my business and start focusing on my own sites which I have full control over. If you have backups for the content of your lenses, post them on your site and continue from there.
      Great advise, since the lenses will deindex eventually, posting the content on another site - could that count as duplicate content?
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      • Profile picture of the author Nail Yener
        Originally Posted by Cheeth View Post

        Great advise, since the lenses will deindex eventually, posting the content on another site - could that count as duplicate content?
        As long as you are sure that the lenses are gone, you are good to post the content on your site.

        Originally Posted by Cheeth View Post

        I used squidoo because they are quick to rank, and can handle a lot of backlinks. Is there any other web 2.0 site that have similar attributes without strict terms and conditions?

        I see alot of people using blogspot for ranking sites now and seem to be doing really well, but I've not been able to find any internal link structure that is comparable with squidoo.
        Whatever you do, whichever platform you choose to start over, be sure to also start your own site as a plan B, in fact it should be plan A, but you seem to prefer other platforms. No matter how slow it goes, keep growing it and you will thank yourself in the future for doing so.
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    • Profile picture of the author John Romaine
      Originally Posted by Nail Yener View Post

      If I were you, I would forget about Squidoo or any other third party site
      This sends the wrong message. You can, and should be leveraging other properties in an effort to drive traffic to your own sites.

      The problem isnt with Squidoo, its with the way the user has used it.

      In any case, always syndicate your content across multiple properties to avoid being single source dependent.
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    • Profile picture of the author wendyann
      Originally Posted by Nail Yener View Post

      I recently deleted all my Squidoo lenses and closed my account because they were all low quality work that I had created when I first started. Besides, I don't want to keep growing others' businesses anymore for a small return compared to how much it could have been better if I had spent that time on my own assets.

      If I were you, I would forget about Squidoo or any other third party site to grow my business and start focusing on my own sites which I have full control over. If you have backups for the content of your lenses, post them on your site and continue from there.
      I do agree with this, however there doesn't seem to be any security in even building your own sites anymore. You can get wiped out just as easily.

      At least Squidoo has their TOS in black and white so people know what to do.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by Cheeth View Post

    I kind of regret using squidoo now.
    Only "kind of"?!

    Originally Posted by Cheeth View Post

    Has any one else had this experience with squidoo before
    Yes, hundreds of Warriors.

    There are two things you can do ...

    (i) Appreciate that you're not getting any real benefit by using Squidoo rather than your own sites, for all the reasons explained in all the threads listed below (and about 100 others just like them);

    (ii) Don't let your business be dependent on the ever-variable terms of service, and their weird, inconsistent and idiosyncratic interpretations of entirely unnecessary third parties.

    Is posting on Squidoo a waste of time?
    Anyone make money on Squidoo?
    Anyone Making above $ 100 Per Month with Squidoo ?
    Affiliate Market in Squidoo?
    Too Much Advertising on Squidoo??
    Is Squidoo still okay to post article to?
    How to subtly advertise on Squidoo and Hubpages?
    How do I Use Squidoo Effectively?
    Advice on Squidoo
    What's the value of a Squidoo Lens?
    Using Hubpages, Squidoo, and Tumblr to generate backlinks
    A question about squidoo..

    Originally Posted by Nail Yener View Post

    If I were you, I would forget about Squidoo or any other third party site to grow my business and start focusing on my own sites which I have full control over. If you have backups for the content of your lenses, post them on your site and continue from there.
    This ... exactly this - this is the way forward - and good luck!

    I'm giving looooo-o-o-o-ong odds against you getting them unlocked, in the circumstances. They'll disappear. Save the content, if you haven't yet done so.
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  • Profile picture of the author Cheeth
    I used squidoo because they are quick to rank, and can handle a lot of backlinks. Is there any other web 2.0 site that have similar attributes without strict terms and conditions?

    I see alot of people using blogspot for ranking sites now and seem to be doing really well, but I've not been able to find any internal link structure that is comparable with squidoo.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Cheeth View Post

      I used squidoo because they are quick to rank, and can handle a lot of backlinks. Is there any other web 2.0 site that have similar attributes without strict terms and conditions?
      Read the threads linked to above. And change your mind about being unnecessarily dependent on third party sites and their TOS. You don't need "Web 2.0" sites. You need to own and control your own business.

      Originally Posted by Cheeth View Post

      I see alot of people using blogspot for ranking sites now and seem to be doing really well
      People see what they look for.

      I see all the people using Blogspot and losing their sites just like you've done, and having very similar and related problems to the ones you've just had at Squidoo. Don't make the same mistake all over again, somewhere else! :p

      These threads will help you understand Blogspot and why you shouldn't use it ...

      http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...y-website.html
      Blogger and deleted blogs?
      Blogger blog removed
      Wow Blogger Deemed All My Hard Work Spam
      Is blogger blogs worthy?
      have blogspot energy?
      is Wordpress really a better choice than Blogger in my case?

      How clear do you want it to be?

      Good luck, but read those threads: I mean this helpfully, not critically, but you haven't yet "got the point".

      Or come back again and ask us about "Tumblr" or "HubPages" and I'll offer you another list of threads explaining why you shouldn't use those, either ... the situation is the same: you need to own and control your own business.
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  • Profile picture of the author cjshu99
    I also depend on squidoo and blogspot. I use them mainly for the reasons stated and because I dont do this full time. Although my income is under $1000 a month, 99% comes from using these sites. I know they can delete them at any time - and they have closed accounts and deleted some sites in the past - but Google has kicked my ass on my personal sites, ppc is too expensive and competitive and Bing just has too little traffic.

    I am not dependent on this money but it provides a nice second income.
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  • Profile picture of the author Cheeth
    You I'm starting to see that they can be good money spinners, however they are far to risky. All the time I was thinking google would screw me over but I was wrong.

    I take Nail Yener point - have a Plan B and make it Plan A
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  • Profile picture of the author Cheeth
    Yeah I agree with Nail Yener, have a Plan B and make it a Plan A

    Fortunately I have a plan B and it exactly what you said Nail.

    All this time I thought it would be google that would bring me down. It just goes to show that taking into consideration even the smallest things, should go into your risk analysis.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sarevok
    Well, if you NEVER get it back, it's worth it.

    Why? Because you just learned a valuable life lesson. And, more importantly, a marketing lesson.

    First, never put your eggs in one basket, especially if the basket isn't under your FULL control.

    If you were an egg scavenger, would you like your eggs to be under your direct control, or some stranger who says "I will hold your eggs".

    Sorry for a deranged metaphorical symbol here. I hope, you can get something out of it.
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  • Profile picture of the author paul nicholls
    That is not good news at all sorry to hear that

    That being said you have to look at it as a learning experience because if there is 1 thing which I have ALWAYS told people and that is to NOT put most of your income in free services and platforms like squidoo because you own absolutely nothing

    A few sites making you a little bit of extra income is fine but you have to draw a line somewhere

    It happened to me back in 2008, i was on for my first $200 day and youtube deleted all of my 30 accounts lol because they were all from the same IP

    Lesson learned

    Hope you manage to come back from this :-)

    Paul
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  • Profile picture of the author prasanth5
    A single account is always the best policy. Be it any make money online program or any home based business. It is very sad to hear that a lens that fetched $800 a month is blocked!
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  • Profile picture of the author WeavingThoughts
    Are multiple accounts allowed?
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    • Profile picture of the author Cheeth
      Originally Posted by WeavingThoughts View Post

      Are multiple accounts allowed?
      I've always thought that they were but now you mention it. I'm not entirely sure
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  • Profile picture of the author Cheeth
    Originally Posted by Paul James View Post

    That sucks man! I hope you get everything sorted out
    Thanks Paul I appreciate it man!
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  • Profile picture of the author MisterMunch
    I read in the "SquiDonts" section that Squidoo can choose to eliminate entire niches and products if they get over-promoted on their website.

    They even directly mentioned Travis Sagos' "get your ex back" niche. Travis invented the bum marketing method back in the days and was one of the most active promoters of Squidoo as an affiliate marketing plattform.

    I find it kind of wierd though as Squidoo in the beginning was wery focused on how we could make money by promoting affiliate programmes using them as a plattform.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by MisterMunch View Post

      I find it kind of wierd though ...
      Interesting, though, isn't it, that people always run into these problems over things seeming "kind of weird" when their pages are on someone else's site, and yet by a remarkable coincidence the same problems somehow seem never quite to arise for them when they're on their own site?

      Call me old-fashioned, but I can't help wondering whether there might even be a point to be made about that, somewhere? ...
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      • Profile picture of the author Cheeth
        Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

        never quite to arise for them when they're on their own site? ]
        This is all interesting information, so where to start with a brand new site that will take the place of squidoo?

        Sure I know wordpress etc but to get the kind of domain authority squidoo has would take years
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        • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
          Banned
          Originally Posted by Cheeth View Post

          to get the kind of domain authority squidoo has would take years
          The page rank of Squidoo's own home page is the page rank of Squidoo's own home page. "Your" pages there - which aren't ever really "yours" anyway - are not on Squidoo's own home page! Yes, you can build up some page rank there (for what it's worth, which is very little) but you can in other places, too. You don't need Squidoo.

          Websites don't "have page ranks". Only pages have page ranks. And you should want your high-ranking pages to be on sites you own, not on sites Squidoo owns.

          Don't imagine that by foregoing Squidoo's so-called "domain authority" you're going to be hard put to create something just as good wherever you want. Like many Warriors, I used to use Squidoo until a couple of years ago, imagining that it was some kind of "authority site" and that I'd get benefits "just from being there". It isn't really true. I don't actually believe in page ranks much (and Google doesn't seem to either, these days), but I've had no difficulty getting plenty of PR5/6 pages on my own little sites (for all the good those page ranks do).
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          • Profile picture of the author Cheeth
            Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

            difficulty getting plenty of PR5/6 pages on my own little sites
            Impressive and you say you built the page ranks from scratch - how do you build this kind page rank?
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            • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
              Banned
              Originally Posted by Cheeth View Post

              Impressive and you say you built the page ranks from scratch - how do you build this kind page rank?
              There was a time during 2011 that quite a few pages on my new-ish sites suddenly acquired PR-5's (for all the good it did) without me having any real backlinks other than those from syndicated articles (mind you, those are particularly good backlinks, because they're all from relevant sites, which is "what counts", and some of them were quite decent sites, too).

              At the time that happened, there were a lot of threads here started by people who had also suddenly acquired a lot of PR-5 ranks without really understanding why. It seems to me that it's all very arbitrary, and means very little anyway.

              My PR-6 pages, I think, are on bigger/better sites over 3 years old. (I check them very rarely, to be honest ).

              The point is: we can all see for ourselves from Google's SERP's the ever-increasing regularity with which lower-PR pages with fewer incoming backlinks are outranking higher-PR pages with far more incoming backlinks. Rankings are primarily about quality and relevance, just as Google has been saying they would be - not about page ranks or "numbers of backlinks".

              There are still some people in a state of denial about that, though. Two main groups of them: the ones still trying to sell "backlinking services"/"automated submissions" and the graduates of the "Urban Myth School of Internet Marketing". :p

              Originally Posted by fin View Post

              I know huge sites with millions of visitors per month that are only getting pr6 on the home page.
              The one that springs to my mind, when you say that, is Ezine Articles, whose own home page was PR-6 the last time I looked. And that's an absolutely useless site in terms of "sites on which to have a backlink" (fortunately it has other benefits for my business, though!). All of which, IMO, goes to show how hollow and futile this whole "page-ranks" business is. I wish Google would simply stop silently maintaining the myth that it signifies anything worth talking about, while it so obviously doesn't.

              I'd far, far rather have a PR-0/1 backlink on a relevant site than a PR-2/3 link on a site that has nothing to do with mine.

              But you try telling that to the people selling mass/automated backlinks, and for understandable reasons, they'll argue with it. (Though the Penguin update, admittedly, has quietened them down to some extent!).
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              • Profile picture of the author fin
                Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post




                The one that springs to my mind, when you say that, is Ezine Articles, whose own home page was PR-6 the last time I looked. And that's an absolutely useless site in terms of "sites on which to have a backlink" (fortunately it has other benefits for my business, though!). All of which, IMO, goes to show how hollow and futile this whole "page-ranks" business is. I wish Google would simply stop silently maintaining the myth that it signifies anything worth talking about, while it so obviously doesn't.

                I'd far, far rather have a PR-0/1 backlink on a relevant site than a PR-2/3 link on a site that has nothing to do with mine.

                But you try telling that to the people selling mass/automated backlinks, and for understandable reasons, they'll argue with it. (Though the Penguin update, admittedly, has quietened them down to some extent!).
                Let's forget EZA for a minute since it's a directory.

                I think the reason people like high pr sites is because link juice is passed on much easier at each Google update. So if you have a post on a pr5/6 site, then your article will move up to 3/4 a lot quicker and easier, even if the page doesn't prove very popular.

                I don't really have much to say about whether a link on a pr1/2 relevant site is better than a directory because I haven't tested it. I would only go for a link on a pr1/2 site if I thought the site/page was capable of one day reaching pr5/6, call it a long-term investment.

                But I don't really know what pr means and whether it has any relevance or not. I'd say it does in the short-term, but they're not exactly hard to outrank. Which is a good thing if people think they can set and forget.
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              • Profile picture of the author BIG Mike
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          • Profile picture of the author fin
            Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

            I don't actually believe in page ranks much (and Google doesn't seem to either, these days), but I've had no difficulty getting plenty of PR5/6 pages on my own little sites (for all the good those page ranks do).
            That's pretty good. I know huge sites with millions of visitors per month that are only getting pr6 on the home page.
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  • Profile picture of the author alpinewood
    Banned
    Always a risk to put all your IM eggs in one basket but sorry to hear of your misfortune
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  • Profile picture of the author Cheeth
    Guys and gals thanks for coming along and pitching in, I'm really grateful. Theres a lot of useful information here and realisations =)
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    • Profile picture of the author PR Wizard
      Ugh, this really sucks but as others have already mentioned you run that risk when you use 3rd party sites. It seems like you know what products to pick and how to get your content noticed, start your own sites and before long you will be back in the money. Good luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author KimboJim
    Everyone has given you good information about never using a third party (maybe for some backlinks here and there, but never as a main source of income), and how you should lift the articles and place them on another site.

    I was wondering why you had several Squidoo accounts? I could understand setting up several domains so that they are targeted to specific keywords and people, but it doesn't work like that with Squidoo. All of your accounts are still bringing people to Squidoo. So, what was the point of that?
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  • Profile picture of the author clever7
    This is really frustrating. All your lenses locked… If they had accepted them before, why did they suddenly decide to lock all them?

    I’m using Squidoo to send traffic to my websites and it’s helping me, but I stopped creating lenses because most of them are not getting traffic.

    I’m also having strange problems: pictures disappear from my lenses, then they appear again when I update the lens, or I have to replace the missing pictures, and my Twitter updates are not appearing at my lenses even though I didn't change username or password, and Squidoo’s support desk is simply ignoring my support requests since last summer.

    I love creating lenses, but now I decided to send traffic to the lens I already have and improve them instead of wasting my time creating new lenses and then, having to update all these lenses all the time.

    It’s really bad to depend on someone else’s system. I believe we need a judge online that would protect us from these sites that let us use their platform, but do whatever they want whenever they want with our pages without respecting our work and our rights.

    In 2009 I lost 4 blogger blogs that got infected by malware because a hacker caused this problem but nobody helped me. Blogger is a chaos.

    When I became a Giant Squid I stopped having problems with lenses containing old articles already posted everywhere because I couldn't update them. It’s a good solution to become a Giant Squid. Now you only need to create 25 lenses with original content to become a Giant. You have many privileges this way, but they must belong to the same lensmaster. Having multiple accounts is for people who have different interests and want to appear as experts in different niches.
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    • Profile picture of the author wordwizard
      Originally Posted by Cheeth View Post

      I've always thought that they were but now you mention it. I'm not entirely sure
      To the best of my knowledge, it's okay to have multiple accounts. It's even considered a good idea if you have wildly divergent niches. See clever7's response below.

      Originally Posted by clever7 View Post

      This is really frustrating. All your lenses locked... If they had accepted them before, why did they suddenly decide to lock all them?

      I'm using Squidoo to send traffic to my websites and it's helping me, but I stopped creating lenses because most of them are not getting traffic.

      I'm also having strange problems: pictures disappear from my lenses, then they appear again when I update the lens, or I have to replace the missing pictures, and my Twitter updates are not appearing at my lenses even though I didn't change username or password, and Squidoo's support desk is simply ignoring my support requests since last summer.

      I love creating lenses, but now I decided to send traffic to the lens I already have and improve them instead of wasting my time creating new lenses and then, having to update all these lenses all the time.

      It's really bad to depend on someone else's system. I believe we need a judge online that would protect us from these sites that let us use their platform, but do whatever they want whenever they want with our pages without respecting our work and our rights.

      In 2009 I lost 4 blogger blogs that got infected by malware because a hacker caused this problem but nobody helped me. Blogger is a chaos.

      When I became a Giant Squid I stopped having problems with lenses containing old articles already posted everywhere because I couldn't update them. It's a good solution to become a Giant Squid. Now you only need to create 25 lenses with original content to become a Giant. You have many privileges this way, but they must belong to the same lensmaster. Having multiple accounts is for people who have different interests and want to appear as experts in different niches.
      They do reserve the right to tighten their rules and then lock lenses that no longer fit. Same deal as on Ezinearticles, where I lost a whole bunch of articles in my primary money niche because they no longer allowed articles in that niche!

      And the fact that I had had those articles prevented me from being promoted to Diamond for a long time even though they were legit when I originally wrote and published them.

      The Giant Squid is indeed a great solution, but it's not easy to become a Giant, especially since they don't tell you why they turned down the application. I've tried a couple of times. I plan to try again, but not until I have beefed up ALL of my lenses...
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  • Profile picture of the author fin
    It's amazing when you hear about pr2/3 sites that are making $500K+ and you realize pr doesn't mean anything.
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  • Profile picture of the author BIG Mike
    Banned
    [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author fin
      Originally Posted by BIG Mike View Post

      Not to me - I've been preaching about this since about 2004, when the writing was on the wall. Back then and even today, very few people look at SEO as a long-term strategy - instead they're too focused on short-term results.
      It's also around the same time people were making millions getting a link on a pr9 site and ranking for huge keywords in big niches.

      Some people play the short-term game and some don't. I can't see that changing.
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    • Profile picture of the author RogueOne
      Originally Posted by BIG Mike View Post

      Aside from some basic, on page SEO, I've never spent a dime on or made any effort to gain organic traffic. And yet it floods in
      As I try to tell people, and almost no one listens.

      Organic, Organic, Organic.

      Google is getting really good at spotting - Organic.
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      • Profile picture of the author easy does it
        Originally Posted by RogueOne View Post

        As I try to tell people, and almost no one listens.

        Organic, Organic, Organic.

        Google is getting really good at spotting - Organic.
        I agree. I wonder how you would you define organic?

        Makes me wonder about syndicated articles, press releases, submitting rss, social bookmarking...

        Tom
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  • Profile picture of the author kislany
    Haven't read through all this thread, but if all your lenses were like the one in your sig (can still find it in Google cache), I'm not too surprised they've been locked...Talking about things like buying Youtube views and such, that's a clear violation of Squidoo TOS.

    Regardless of what the usual 'against Squidoo regulars' say about it, there's nothing wrong with Squidoo platform for making money (making a good amount myself every month), but - treate it like garbage and it will treat you like one as well.
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    • Profile picture of the author Cheeth
      Originally Posted by kislany View Post

      Regardless of what the usual 'against Squidoo regulars' say about it, there's nothing wrong with Squidoo platform for making money (making a good amount myself every month), but - treate it like garbage and it will treat you like one as well.
      I understand your point, although even now I don't feel like I've been treating Squidoo like garbage, in fact the lens your speaking about went through many iterations, I conducted poles to see what the readers wanted and I tailored the lens to their needs. I gave options and solutions to readers problems. I was very fond of that lens, I've had it just over a year, it's even been liked by many giant squids, the content was by no means garbage. It was ranked within the top 2000 lens and the money generated through ad sense all went to charity. It wasn't a lens I made to spew out garbage and then make a quick buck. There are still similar lens on Squidoo even now.

      I believe one of my lens broke the TOS the one I was actually making money with and so they decided slap everyone of my accounts. But even this lens was a very high quality review of a clickbank product. And it was a product I believed in. And again there are many lenses on Squidoo right now with lesser quality promoting the same clickbank product.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kurt
    While PageRank is per page, Authority, Hub, Hilltop and TrustRank, as well as Whilelistings are applied domain-wide, and each can and does influence the amount of link juice passed.

    As far as using third party sites, IMO it's the 80/20 rule. 80% of your effort should be for your own domains, with the other 20% split between the 5-6 "best" third-party sites, with a wider mix of secondary sites.
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    • Profile picture of the author curly sue
      diversify. google slap was a wake up call, you cannot rely on one source of traffic anymore, invest in other methods too
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  • Profile picture of the author aizaku
    Right in time for halloween! thats frightening! I dont use squidoo but I can only imagine.

    Whats your next course of action?
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  • Profile picture of the author celente
    not meaning to be shallow, but here are some tips.

    1) Stop being a BIG baby!

    2) There are tons of other ways to make money.

    3) Sit down with a wine, and formulate your next plan of attack.

    4) TAKE MASSIVE MASSIVE ACTION!

    Good luck.
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    • Profile picture of the author Cheeth
      Originally Posted by celente View Post

      not meaning to be shallow, but here are some tips.

      1) Stop being a BIG baby!

      2) There are tons of other ways to make money.

      3) Sit down with a wine, and formulate your next plan of attack.

      4) TAKE MASSIVE MASSIVE ACTION!

      Good luck.
      This brought a big Cheshire cat smile to my face! thanks = )
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  • Profile picture of the author tjaysen70
    So they kept your original content up, and just changed the user name? Was it hacked? Yeah this just goes to show you, that while 2.0 sites have their place in the backlinking strategy, it's always best to have most of your content on your own sites that you control.
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    • Profile picture of the author dsimms
      Originally Posted by tjaysen70 View Post

      So they kept your original content up, and just changed the user name? Was it hacked? Yeah this just goes to show you, that while 2.0 sites have their place in the backlinking strategy, it's always best to have most of your content on your own sites that you control.
      lamo! easier said then done, if it were so easy, then people would
      be doing that, rather then taking advantage of squidoo high rankings,
      so why do you think people use squidoo? and i do not see why anyone
      would need multiple accounts, as you do have the option to transfer
      the lens to your own account from the previous owner, most services
      will ban you for having multiple accounts, so always transfer your
      lens to your master squidoo account and be done with it.

      and I doubt squidoo is the ugly monster people make them out to be, they have their terms of service for a reason, and when people violate the TOS, then they get pissy as if squidoo really owes them for bad content.

      if someone is making $1000/mo and his account is locked, then the lens owner probably already knows why, regardless if he was notified with reason; when squidoo locks your account, then that means they are cutting their income also, so do you think they do this for fun? Its like telling your best client,
      take a hike, I dont want your business anymore...seriously? It is likely when they lock your account, then all of your pages go offline, otherwise this would be highly unethical for them to lock your account, and continue to receive paid compensation; at this point, i bet you could sue them! Because if you violated their terms, then it would be a double standard to lock your account, then continue to earn from all of your hard work; so i bet your lens were disable also; It is one thing if you violate their terms, it is another if you
      are running an honest business, and they shut you down just because....
      and I bet 100% that squidoo does not shut people down just because...

      and if your account was locked for what-ever reason, then continue to
      work out a solution that would benefit both parties, agree to fix
      whatever the problems were, and do not repeat the problems; You are
      at the mercy of squidoo, so if you send them hate emails, then
      I would suspect you will never get your account(s) unlocked, and I
      would never-ever use more then one account, ever, no need!

      I agree, dont put all your eggs in one basket, and use squidoo
      effectively, for every high quality lens you create; then create
      a high quality lens on your own site, do not use duplicate content,
      you can not control squidoo, and squidoo can not control the
      lens content you put up on your very own site, and yes, we
      should be creating high quality lens on our own sites, for the
      most part, our own sites will never rank as high as squidoo....

      DON'T CHEAT THE SYSTEM, WORK WITH THE SYSTEM....
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  • Profile picture of the author Dong Lee
    I think you should e-mail administrators.
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  • Profile picture of the author Isabellas2007
    I lost one of my affiliate accounts with them. It was ranked in the top 1000 even. Then I log in one day and bam they had locked the lens. It was a really terrible time for me because it was the one which was driving over 600 clicks a month to my affiliate page. I feel your pain because losing that much in income can be a shock all at once!
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  • Profile picture of the author Bichons9
    I just noticed that my Squidoo lens has been locked AND have no idea why? I SPENT A LOT OF TIME ON IT. IT'S ABOUT HEALTHCARE RECEIVED BY MY MOTHER..I AM TOTALLY CONFUSED. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO FIGURE this out. How can I contact whoever did this? I can see no rules that I violated. I simply recalled care received by my mother with photos.
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  • Profile picture of the author DeanJames
    @Cheeth - It sounds like you just lost a fairly significant revenue stream in your life. It doesn't matter what ANYONE on here says right now, that is going to hurt emotionally and financially for a while but you can bounce back from it. Try not to get too hung up on what was and now concentrate on building your income streams based on assets you control and leverage as much as possible. Obviously you cannot control and own everything, so have contingency plans in place. Avoid free platforms as much as possible and anything built around a single third party site that exploits any loopholes or are subject to change if your 'assets' are locked in on that site.

    It's a tough lesson and one many marketers will go through as things change over time. It doesn't matter if you do everything 'to the book', if they decide the rules have changed, then they have changed and you can evolve or die (excuse the turn of phrase).

    Take stock and come back out swinging. Good luck!
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