Google Traffic Before The Lens Is Featured

I've read a recent post on Greekgeek's blog about how Squidoo can get Google traffic BEFORE the lens becomes featured (i.e. enters in the next day's lensrank update) and I decided to make my own test.

I created a new lens yesterday on Black and silver bedding, did the usual posting on the Squidoo forum and the various Facebook groups and then waited to see what happens.

The next morning when I checked the lens stats (lensrank update happens usually at around 3 pm my time), it already had 4 visitors from Google and the lens is still In WIP status. You can see in the screenshot below the lens in red with total of 40 visitors. The next screen shows the 40 visitors broken down in 4 direct and 36 referrals. I'm not quite sure why Google visits are considered referrals, but there it is - 4 visits from Google, and the rest are from within Squidoo and Facebook.

And yes indeed, the lens is already indexed in Google:

So it's true, lenses in WIP status (work in progress) before getting featured for the first time can get Google traffic, so WIP doens't immediately mean noindex as many of us previously thought. Now I'm not sure about lenses that get into WIP status after they've been already featured, i.e. due to lack of updates, or no traffic or simply low quality content that is not rewarded. But at least initially the red WIP before the lensrank update still allows Google to find the lens and index it.

Some Recent Trophies and Squidoo Monsters I got

It's such fun when I see points dropping on my Dashboard and I see what they are for. Some are actually fun to read and really bring a smile on my face. Following this earlier post on Funny Squidoo monster messages, here are a few recent ones I've got.

Passed 230 lenses

With the new lens I made today on Free printable Halloween invitations I've just made 232 lenses, woohoo! The goal is to eventually apply to Giant 250, but I want to have a few extra lenses under my belt before I do that. In the meantime I'm working creating more lenses, some salesy ones like the one I made yesterday on the cute Dr. Seuss wall decals, or non-salesy ones like the free printable one I made today.

I'm hoping that with the traffic I will get on the non-salesy lens and clickouts that should follow, my lens will jump to tier 2 at least, if not to tier 1 for the month of Halloween. We'll see how it goes. I know it won't sell anything, but my free printable lenses so far are doing pretty well.

The last week I've been quite busy creating new lenses, I think I've made a lens every single day. Hope to keep it up. I got the flu from hubby so I'm kind of sick right now, but I'm glad to see that my motivation to create Squidoo lenses hasn't diminished.

My latest wall decal lenses

I love creating lenses on wall decals. There are just so many gorgeous ones out there that simply need to be looked at. For example just a few days ago I made a lens on the beautiful Marilyn Monroe wall decals, followed by the cute Disney princess wall decals, then the motivational and inspirational Live, laugh, love wall decals and finally the John Deere wall decals for little farmers wannabes.

The great things is that there are wall decals and wall art for everyone: for little girls who love the Disney characters, for little boys who love tractors, for moms and dads who are in love with Marilyn Monroe or enjoy a motivational saying above their heads. I have many more ideas on wall decal lenses, and I'm actually itching to start them. There is just something energizing when I'm looking at all these posters, decals and stickers, and I guess since I can't have them all (I love decals at home as well), I'm living vicariously through my Squidoo lenses!