Top 10 Reasons to Publish Articles on Squidoo

 

A question has been rolling around my mind for a while now, and if you’re visiting my Squidoo blog it’s probably crossed your thoughts as well.   It’s this:

After all the ups and downs and changes on Squidoo this past 

year,why do writers stay on? 

The answer is simple, my friends. 

We keep working Squidoo because we benefit in one way or another from our time and efforts.   

To address this issue more thoroughly, I’d like to present my Top Ten Reasons for Publishing an Article (lens) on Squidoo.

Drum roll, please!

The Top 10 Reasons to Publish Articles on Squidoo

First of All, it’s FREE

Joining Squidoo is free.  Publishing on the platform is FREE.    We can’t beat free now, can we!

Writing for Squidoo Gives You a Presence on the Web

Writing for Squidoo allows you to build up a volume of work that is accessible worldwide via the Internet.  This alone has value. 

This might be a good time to remind you to make sure you choose you Squidoo name carefully since your good work will now be associated with your Squidoo name /nom de plume.

Squidoo Makes it Easy to Publish an Article (or Lens in Squidoo Speak)

The Squidoo format is easy to use.  You don’t have to be a computer geek to build your lens.  You don’t have to know how to build a website.  It’s a simple matter of following directions to publish a Squidoo lens.

It Doesn’t Take an Enormous Amount of Time

Research your topic, write your article, and round up some images.  Once you’ve written a final draft of your article, it’s quick and easy to transfer it into the Squidoo lens format. 

From start to finish, you can be up and running in no time flat.

You Can Use Your Squidoo Lenses to Drive Traffic to Your Own Website

Do you have your own website? 

Write articles for Squidoo that correspond to your niche and back link to your own page.  Write more than one article for Squidoo and keep the traffic coming!

Squidoo has built-in SEO tools to help your Article Rank High with Search Engines

The folks at Squidoo Headquarters keep up-to-date on the latest SEO trends and the system cues you to make use of their tools.  You can also check out SEO articles written by other lensmasters who are active in the field.  You’ll have lots of information to help you understand Search Engine Optimization best practices.

You Can Make Money through Affiliate Links and Advertising

You can make money on Squidoo. 

Okay, realistically to make money on the site you’ll need to have many, many articles and lots of time and patience to allow these articles to move up the tiers of Squidoo rank.  But in the meantime you’ll have to option to link to affiliate products and make commissions on the side.

If Something Goes Wrong on the Website, Squidoo Fixes It

Squidoo programmers are a hardworking group of people.  If something goes wrong with the software, they’re going to fix it. 

You’re not going to have to spend hours and hours trying to problem solve your site.    

You Can Keep the Money You Make or Donate it to a Charity of Your Choice

Writing for Squidoo doesn’t have to have a profit motive.  Many folks on Squidoo are hobbyists and are writing just for fun.  You can choose how the revenue you earn will be distributed. 

Do good things with your writing!  Choose to donate what you make to a charity.  Do it for the kids, do it for the animals, do it for the planet!

It’s Beneficial to You – And It’s Fun!

There’s only one reason to write an article and publish it online through Squidoo and that reason is because for some reason it’s of value to you. 

Whether you’re writing for profit, writing to promote another site, or writing for personal satisfaction, the reason to write lenses on Squidoo is because it’s beneficial to you.  Make sure you keep those benefits clearly in mind and follow your plan, whatever it may be.

Many things about publishing on Squidoo can be fun.  Sharing information is fun.  Seeing your creation online is fun.  Interacting with other members of the Squidoo Community is fun.  Promoting your products and your websites with originality is fun.  So get going and get writing!

 Keep the Faith, y'all!

@SanneCollins

Squidoo’s New Scorecard – A Squidoo Change I Like!

After spending several months disliking so much that Squidoo is changing on their site, I have to admit that I like their new Scorecard.

The Squidoo Scorecard

Scorecard is a new lens rating system that Squidoo algorithms give your article---a little feedback on whether your work ticks all their boxes, so to speak.

Once your article is set up and ready to go, hit "Publish", and the Scorecard will grade your work.   

What you’re looking for, of course, is 100 points out of 100.

If you haven’t reached 100, the Squidoo program will tell you what they don’t like.  

 

Here’s some examples to will bring your score down:

Your Keyword Density

Have you loaded up your article with keywords to the point of spam?   Squidoo won’t like it.  Correct the density and your score will go up.   You’ll want to check any keywords in titles and subtitles too.

Excessive Amounts of Links

Squidoo no longer allows many links to other articles.  This includes other Squidoo articles!  Try and keep your links to 5 or less.  This includes your profile page links.

Duplicate Tags

Squidoo is now asking that you check your tags for duplicates or near duplicate wording.  Where they used to want all the tags you could creatively come up with, this is no longer the case.  Tags count in keyword density patterns.

Content Quality

Squidoo is looking for good content and they're looking at word count and informative articles.  But even with good content, this sector could be flagged because you’re using excessive CSS (making the article too flashy), your link density is too high, there are links to sites they don’t like, your article is on what they consider to be spam topics, or they feel your work is an overly self-promotional article. 

Squidoo is looking for content that is educational, informative or just plain fun.  You can still sell products, but this type of article should be written as a personal review.  

Is your article long enough?  Do you have enough sub-topics or paragraphs with subtitles?  Check your word count.   These all count towards quality.

When linking to another site, your goal will be to provide good links, not every available link on your subject.  Squidoo’s algorithm is checking word count against the number of links you use.  Make sure you’re not including too many links.  

Make sure you have a Guestbook module.  Social modules are assets on Squidoo.

While Squidoo loves Amazon links and encourages you to use some, they will block you for too many product links.  You can now use only 20.  You’ll be locked for using more than that.

Here’s the Rub

This Scorecard sounds good, doesn’t it!  It sure gives a writer the guidelines he or she needs to do good work.  But here’s the problem.  According to Squidoo, even if your article (lens) has a score of 100 it could still be flagged and locked.

Don't believe me?  Read official statement HERE (last paragraph) and actual long-time user experiences HERE.

Squidoo says its staff reviewers can still lock an article even with a score of 100.  

Why would they do this to you?  The reviewer may feel your article is too stiff or formal, or they may feel it is too much of a shopping lens.  

So in the end, its subjective.  

Arghhh!

Well, we can only keep trying.  Right?

@SanneCollins

Squidoo Locked Me Out!

A Word to the Wise

Recently, I’ve written about the many changes the Squidoo organization has been instituting and the problems these changes are causing writers or “lensmasters”.

Today I want to share the thoughts of a top Squidoo Lensmaster, known in the community as a “Giant Squid,” who’s been active in the community for years. I've followed her blog and admire her work.

As you read through her posting, I’d like you to think about the amount of time and energy that has been put into her association with Squidoo--the time to write 838 lenses; the amount of time expended in keeping that enormous volume of work updated; and the time she volunteered in helping newer Squidoo members.  We’re talking years here.

If locking an account has happened to a high profile Squidoo member who has direct access to Squidoo staff, it can happen to you.  

Maybe it’s time to reassess your time commitment to Squidoo.

Now, I’m not advocating dropping out of Squidoo—at least not completely.  But it is absolutely necessary that you consider all your writing options at this time and safeguard your work. 

Edit all articles you’ve left on Squidoo.  Make sure they tick all the Squidoo buttons.  Personalize your material where you can.  Move work to your own site as necessary.

Stay on your toes.

Good luck and keep writing,

Sanne

My Squidoo Account Has Been Locked, 838 Lenses

Posted: 19 Jul 2013 09:29 AM PDT

To show you that no one is immune to the clean up that Squidoo has been going through in the last few months, my own account was locked last Friday. I do not have more than one account, so as you can imagine I was horrified, furious and incredulous.

Over the past week, I spent almost all of my time, going through my account, saving the lenses to my computer. Then I went through them to come up with a list of 100 that I could ask to save per the instructions on the email that I got. I am a Giant Squid, even now, so I did get better treatment than those who are not.

In the process, I deleted over 500 lenses, and now have only 255 left. I tried to save the ones I was making money with, my favorites, and the best. I don’t always agree with Squidoo as to what is the best, which is why I saved all of them to my computer.

While working through this with the powers that be, I learned a few things which I will tell you now.

    Squidoo is no longer a site that you will be able to make easy money on. They are frowning on commercial lenses, and want each lens to tell a personal story.

    Whether you believe it or not, the staff at Squidoo are not evil and they are trying to deal with their new directives the best way they can. I personally feel that they could do a better job communicating with the community, but in turn, we as the community need to tone down our rhetoric. Shouting and railing at people who are already stressed out does not help anyone.

    I need to take a break from Squidoo. I have resigned my post as a RocketSquid Greeter because I do not feel that I can help newbies anymore. I want to teach people how to make money online, and that is not what Squidoo wants.

    If you want to save your lenses from being locked, then you need to make sure that there are no other sites copying your work, and if there are, file a DCMA. You also need to remove any copied content from product descriptions and rewrite them in your own words. You need to give your lenses a voice.

    Squidoo really does want personal content. Personal content can sell, if you have the right topic, but it is harder to do this. Here is one of my lenses that is personal and also sells.  Best Computer Printer for College Students

I am going to take a hiatus from this blog, but am going to continue blogging about making money online on Writing Online. I hope that you will follow me there. You can get the posts in your email, and I will be talking about alternatives to writing on Squidoo. For those of you who love Squidoo, but are looking for a similar place to spread out to, I recommend Zujava because it is the closest to the way Squidoo works. Wizzley is also a great site, but it works more like Hubpages.

I will be pursuing a career in freelance writing, and working more on my own sites, where I have total control over the content. I do not agree with Squidoo as to what Google wants nor do I agree with them about what readers want. The proof of that is that I have had regular sales on my Squidoo account continually through the loss of traffic. However, we will have to agree to disagree because that is just the way it is. Squidoo is looking at its site as a whole, and I am looking at my income and earnings from Squidoo that feed my family and help me run my business.

I am thankful that I still have an account on Squidoo while I transition to a new type of income source. To find out more about that, follow me on Writing Online. 

- written by Paula Atwell – lakeerieartists

www.squidlog.net

and now:

http://writing-online.org/ 

Paula Atwell is an artist, writer, and owner of Lake Erie Artists Gallery at Shaker Square in Cleveland, Ohio. You can find her on Squidoo as lakeerieartists.




@SanneCollins

Write for Squidoo or Try Something Else?

You’ll note there’s been a pause in posting on this blog.  Wondering why? 

The Squidoo platform has been undergoing big changes since March and the ground has been shifting so often, it’s hard to decide what a blogger can tell you about the site that remains relevant.

The changes have disheartened loyal writers.   

Sharing and commenting on work done by others is way down.  

High ranking articles are being shut down with little communication or explanation from Squidoo staff.   

Writers have to “just guess” at why their longstanding work is suddenly blocked.

Modules and presentations which were once promoted by headquarters are now being penalized.

In other words, things are in disarray.

What to Do?

While I’ll continue to post ideas on writing on Squidoo, I would advise newbie Squidoo’ers to consider other options outside Squidoo as well. 

One of these options is to put more time into your own blogs right now. 

You’ll hear experienced Squidoo writers tell you all the time to “have patience, and you’ll make money.”   

What they’re telling you is that it will take at least a year of writing and at least 100 articles to receive much of a pay stream from Squidoo.   

You’ll find you can earn similar or better now from your own site using just Adsense, if you work it….and even more if you use affiliate marketing.

Let's face it.  One of the the good things about your own site or blog is that you’re making the rules, so you’ll lose all headaches and frustrations that Squidoo changes are causing us all right now. 

Don’t drop Squidoo--continue to write for the site.  But you just might want to branch out and try some other sites such as Zujava, Wizzley, or even several of your own blogs as well.

Until things settle down at Squidoo, you may not want to put all your eggs in one basket!