Want to be a Giant Squid? (squidoo.com)

Member Name: AndrewPo

Product:	squidoo.com
Date:	21/10/08 (332 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Quickest way to make a web-site and you get paid

Disadvantages: It takes months and lots of effort before you make any money

I discovered squidoo in a review in dooyoo a few months ago, so I thought I would give it a try. Squidoo is yet another money making web-site that allows you to write reviews and articles in exchange for money, but it is far more versatile and complicated than most review sites such as dooyoo or ciao (I didn't say better)

Reviews you have written on dooyoo could also be published on squidoo, but it would take you a bit longer, you wouldn't get 50p and probably no one would read it. With Squidoo you make a web-site (or "lens" as they call them) using their clever modular web-site creating tools, add the text and photographs and publish. You then need to promote the web-site you have created if you want anyone to look at it. The advantages over making your own web-site is it very quick, free, there are standard modules that can be stuck together then reordered as required and you don't need to know anything about html (web-site programming language)

How do you get paid?

I created a couple of quick lenses, then sat and waited for the money to roll in. I made about 4p in the first month. The threshold for payment is variable, but can be set to a minimum of $10. The amount you get paid is complicated, but is based on a variety of things: the traffic to each lens; clicks on adverts (i.e. GoogleAds); and any purchases made from adverts you have inserted in between your text modules. You will only make a lot of money if you get a lot of traffic to the lens. According to people who have been using this site for years, it takes months to start making decent amounts of money and even then you have to work on the promotion of your work. Once you have lots of lenses and lots of visitors to each one you could (allegedly) make hundred or even thousands of dollars per month.

What can I put in a lens?

The basic module is simply text with an optional picture, but adding a table of contents module will automatically build a TOC listing all of the other modules you have created and helps navigate the lens. If you want to add adverts that are relevant to your text or to recommend books etc. then an Amazon, eBay or CafePress module can easily be added, from which you will receive commission from any purchases. For my travel reviews I use Amazon modules to recommend guidebooks and camera equipment. A guestbook at the end of lens is a good idea for feedback and there are also various voting modules. You can also use basic HTML language inserted in the other modules, if you are a reasonably proficient with web-site building. The new "Text with BIG photo" module is a good way to get you photos displayed without having to use HTML.

The content of the lens can be anything you want. Blogs, travel reviews, product reviews, photo galleries, interactive quizzes or surveys or any other article or web-site you can think of. It is recommended to have a "Lensography" lens - i.e. a Biography to introduce yourself to the community and to list all of your other lenses.

How do I promote my lens?

I learned a lot from Squidoo. I knew HTML fairly well from building other websites the old fashioned way, but no one ever bothered to look at them unless I told them to. Adding a few keywords to a web-site does not automatically get it searchable by Google. There are many articles on the subject on Squiddo. Adding keywords in the form of "Tabs" in Squidoo makes the lens more searchable by the Squidoo search engine, but doesn't help for external searches, so the lens needs to be promoted externally. This is done using social networking sites, such as Facebook, Myspace, Linkedin, but also social bookmarking sites such as Digg and Stumbleupon, which just list and promote your favourite sites. Twitter is another good way of transmitting your canges to your "Twitter followers". The address of your new lens should also be submitted to Google (and any other search engine):

www.google.com/addurl

Traffic Statistics

In addition to the many web-building tools Squidoo also provide analysis tools giving traffic statistics to each lens, showing how you were found (e.g. a Google search and which keywords were used) so you can optimise your lenses accordingly.

Squidoo Community

There is a social community on Squidoo, similar to dooyoo, (although not a nice people of course) but they won't automatically read your work just because you published a new lens. You need to go out a "meet" people with similar interests. You can rate their lenses, "favorite" them or promote them in the ways described above or become a "fan" in the hope they might do the same for you. You will however make most of your money from external visits to your lenses.

Giant Squid

When you have 50 lenses published you can become a "Giant Squid" when you reach 100 (I have written 53 so far)

Summary

I like Squidoo. I have spent as much time making web-sites (I mean lenses) on Squiddo as I have writing reviews for dooyoo and I have made far less money so far, but theoretically the money should keep coming if the search engines keep finding me. Even if you don't want to make lots of money it is the easiest way to make yourself a web-site and it's free.

My "Lensography" is:

http://www.squidoo.com/AllAboutAndyPo

which links through to many of my other lenses.

Summary: Its fun