What I've Been Up To Lately At Squidoo

I haven't written in ages, lots have happened, some good, some not so good. Basically the last few months Squidoo lost a lot of traffic from Google, so overall our traffic and sales went down quite a lot. Mine is still slowly sliding, but I hope at some point it will start climbing again.

Squidoo is really doing a heavy spring cleaning trying to get rid of some of the spam that brought the site down overall. Also they've started really handing out lots of Purple Stars, I guess to encourage us to make more great lenses. I got about 4-5 the last few weeks as well. Granted, that Purple doesn't replace our lost sales or traffic, but it is a motivator to keep going.

Here are a few lenses that I made the last few weeks, these are all new, since the spring cleaning.

The very last lens written yesterday is about my favorite top science-fiction books. I love reading books, and this genre is one of my most favorites.

I also love reading books for kids, and classics will always remain classics. How about these classic children's books made into movies?

And going back to books, one of the genre I like best is related to mystery.thriller with a CSI aspect. So I've written a lens about the best forensic fiction written ever, from my point of view.

I wrote more, but these are the last three. Now let's see if Google will actually pick them up as fast as they used to do with lenses before the big drop.

Became A Giant Collossal Squid 250

On November 16 I became a 'collosal squid' with 250 quality lenses under my belt. I had around 270, just to make sure that there were enough to choose from, but I seem to have made it with flying colors. I can't believe it, just about a year ago I had around 30 lenses and was struggling with less than $50 at Squidoo per month. Now one year later, and I've achieved so much...

In addition on the 18th of the November I've just celebrated 4 years of beeing at Squidoo. Woohoo! Congrats to me!

Christmas Lens On Front Page Of Squidoo

It's been almost 2 weeks since I last posted here. So let's see what things have happened with my Squidoo account since.

Some of my lenses have been featured on the front page, including my Halloween lens on Grandma Halloween Costumes and my new one for a Christmas quest called Book Holders for Reading. Actually the book holders lens also got last week a purple star and it's been featured on the front page for the last couple of days already. I'm tickled pink!

I've started making a few Christmas lenses since the 2-3 I already have are making me some random sales. The two lenses I made so far are:

Presents for New Mums
Secret Santa Gift Ideas for Women

My goal is to make 10 Christmas lenses in November, so let's see if I can meet this challenge.

Made 250 Lenses

It took me a while, pretty much the entire year, but I've finally got to another milestone at Squidoo yesterday: made 250 lenses from scratch. And of course I got a fun monster for it and 500 points, lol.

My next goal: make another 20 or so lenses and then apply for the next Giant level 250. And then next? Well 500 lenses of course!

Oh and speaking of 'monsters falling', not sure if I've already showed this one from a few days ago...

New Halloween Lens On Front Page

I took part in a new quest at Squidoo in listing an already existing (or new) lens as 'best that we made' for Halloween, and I added one that I made towards end of August on Halloween candelabra. It was accepted and the next day I saw it on the homepage. Yeppee! And here it is in action...

Halloween Costumes Lens On Front Page

Remember the lens I posted about just yesterday on the Grandma Halloween Costumes? Well I've sent it in to Squidoo HQ as a completed quest, got 200 points and just now spotted it on the front page. Noticed a post in the Facebook forum that others have seen theirs too, so I refreshed the Squidoo homepage and there was mine too!

Here is the screenshot, my lens is the green one right in the middle with the red arrow above it. Feels great to see it there.

Last Halloween Lens This Year And Sad News

I've just received some sad news from my mom this morning, my grandma died in her sleep last night at the age of 86. Sadly I can't go to the funeral as I'm living in another country and across the sea, so it's not so easy. My parents are going, however.

This morning I started on a Halloween lens for a Giant Halloween Quest, but as I found the news about my grandmother, I scraped that lens and started a new one. It's a fun one about Grandma Halloween costumes, and I dedicated this lens to my granny.

So strange, today I've seen and heard several mentions of 'grandmas' during the day, at some point the church bells went off without any real reason (there was no wedding, or funeral or christening around here), then I saw an ad in the TV about food that grandma used to do, then I also so another Squidoo lens by another lensmaster with something related to grandmas. Most probably it's nothing, maybe I was just more sensitive to the whole 'grandparent' idea and I took more notice on things that usually I wouldn't.

Anyway I don't think this lens will have time to do anything this year since it won't get any tier payment the first month of creation, and unless it gets picked up by Google and visited by searchers on the net, it won't make sales. But it's ok, it will do next year. In the meantime I just felt that I had to do something while mourning my grandma today. While the costumes are rather silly and some ugly and scary, I know my grandma would have smiled (or made a cross) when looking at them. Rest in peace grandma.

Is It Too Late To Make Chrismas Lenses?

I've been wondering when is the best time to start making Christmas lenses, and while I could have started a bit earlier (I do prefer to make more evergreen lenses rather than seasonal ones), I figure I still have 2 months before the Christmas season is in full swing. Although I did start to have some sales on my Christmas tree toppers stars lens on my own Amazon account - which brought me to make a new lens, one that I worked on several hours in fact.

It's called Fiber Optic Christmas Decorations, and some of the decor items here are truly gorgeous, especially the Christmas villages. Perfect for a Christmas gift to a family member, loved one or friend.

Just check out this gorgeous village right here - isn't it awesome?

And a bit of a fun trivia...I've just received this little squid monster...did I really like 4000 lenses? *gulp*

October Earning Stats Are In

The October earning stats for August have just come in to our Dashboard, there is even a discussion about it at the Squidoo forum. There is a nice upwards trend which I like, for all 3 tiers, but especially for tier 1.

For example when comparing with the same month last year, this is what it looks like?

October 2012 earnings:

Tier 1 Earnings
Adpool: $45.28 Text link: $14.55 Total: $59.83

Tier 2 Earnings
Adpool: $7.70 Text link: $2.47 Total: $10.17

Tier 3 Earnings
Adpool: $0.39 Text Link: $0.12 Total: $0.51

October 2011 earnings:

Tier 1 Earnings
Adpool: $36.28 Text link: $11.41 Total: $47.69

Tier 2 Earnings
Adpool: $6.17 Text link: $1.94 Total: $8.11

Tier 3 Earnings
Adpool: $0.31 Text Link: $0.9 Total: $0.40

A nice change compared to last year, particularly for tier 1 with over $10 increase for that tier. It's worth fighting for keeping as many lenses in tier 1, that's true. However with these nice increases, it's also true that the fight for this coveted tier is stronger and stronger every month.

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!

The Death Of The Old Squidu Forum

Well, the Squidu forum is no more. A few days ago Squidoo HQ pulled the plug on it without any warning. I went one morning to check out on new threads, only to see the forum locked for posting, with a link to the newly created Squidoo forum that is directly on the Squidoo domain.

I'm not going to go into the details of how and why this happened, but right now it looks like we have two main Squidoo forums. The official one, and the one that the Squidoo veterans have started to have a retreat of their own. Personally I'm active in both because I see a value in each of them.

The official forum (at least so far) seems like a very easy way to get newbies introduced to Squidoo. It is a safe and cozy playground that is void of negativity (or so we hope) and of ill will. I love hanging out there for the games, the show and tell, and conversations that are there.

On the other hand the new Yuku forum is more serious in nature. Obviously now at the beginning there is still a bit of bad blood (understandingly so), but once things settle, I see great future for this forum as well. Here the discussions are more serious and the questions are beyond the basics. Here we talk more about Squidoo strategies and what works and what not. In the official forum I love answer questions about how to add an html code or to critique a lens by a new lensmaster.

Plus of course we also have a few Facebook groups for Squidooers, the most active of which is Squidoo Facebook community. Showing off lenses and doing the task of the day and then showing off the results is a fun way to get interactive over there.

All in all I think the situation is not so bad. I do understand the need of HQ to keep things under their own domain and keep discussions strictly on topic and stuff. But I also understand why those who have been for a few years around and know quite a lot about Squidoo need to have a place of their own where they can push the limit a bit beyond the basics. I'm glad to be part of both - or all three of these communities.

Became A Mammoth Squid - Giant Squid 100

Woohoo on July 31st I applied to the next Giant Squid level, 100, and only 3 days later, on August 2 I officially became a Mammoth squid. I'm really happy about it, actually overjoyed. Becoming a giant squid was one of my major goals at Squidoo, but I've never dreamed that I'd once have not 25, but 100 lenses that meet the approval of the Squidoo HQ. I guess I must be doing something right afterall.

This achievement just pushes me to do more lenses, more quality and informative lenses that I can be proud of. It's been already a few days and I'm still feeling the euphoria, although it does start to slowly settle down...

Squidoo Lens Featured On The Front Page

This week a second lens of mine has been featured on the front page. I entered in the second Woot competition and while I didn't win, my lens about 'How to get rid of fruit flies fast' has won a purple star and it's now randomly featured on the main page of Squidoo.

This is a topic that I actually know something about since due to the extra heat in our parts of the world, there are lots of fruit flies in many kitchens, including ours. I've been using various ways to get rid of them, some working better than others, so here I listed a couple that I'm familiar with.

I currently have 209 lenses, and on another note, I've reached 8% commission at Amazon, mostly through my lenses, and this for the second time now. The first time it was last month while I was away on holiday visiting my parents. The months is not yet fully over, and I'm already in the 8% bracket. Next I'll be working towards getting that elusive 8.25%. That's over 1571 products sold, so it's quite a bit until I get there. First, let's make sure I stay in the 8% bracket in the first place.

Sold One Of My Lenses

Yesterday somebody contacted me for one of my lenses, a tier 3 lens with a PR 3. Basically the lens was related to the topic of a website the person has, which makes sense. Initially I didn't want to sell it,as it's a good lens that I've worked quite a lot on, but in the end I realized that I can always create more lenses (currently I have 202 lenses once this has been sold), and the money in my pocket is also something.

It only sold for $50, but that is money I can use for hosting or new domains. I do predict, however, that the lens will go at some point to tier 2. Yesterday it had lensrank of 22k, while today (I did delete a few links from it and tidied it up a bit), it has 15k lensrank, which is a nice upward trend. I'll keep checking the lens, I think it has real potential. But still, I'm not sorry that I sold it as long as it went to a good home.

Became A Monster Giant Squid And Got A Purple Star

It's quite late in the evening, was about to go to sleep when I checked my email and noticed two mails from Squidoo. I applied to the next level of Giant Squid 50 called Monster Giant, and I've just been accepted AND I got a purple star, my 4th one so far for the lens Kindle Touch case with light. I'm doing my happy dance right now.

Just a year ago I treated Squidoo as some free web2 site to backlink my actual websites. Little did I know that things would turn around so far. Not only I've started earning on Squidoo, every month more than before (just passed $500 for the direct Squidoo payments this month for the April earnings), but I became a Giant squid, got 4 purple stars and learned to make great lenses and got to enjoy doing them too.

Here is the Squidoo dashboard notification about the monster giant squid entrance and the purple star on a lens:

Reached New Milestone: to Write 200 Lenses

Finally one of my milestones at Squidoo has been reached: I've just written my 200th lens on Beach wall murals, with some lovely beach scenery artwork for the walls.

So what is my next milestone? Well one of my goals is to become a higher level Giant squid. Currently I am in the level 25, the first level of a giant. The next one is level 50 - monster level. With 200 lenses under my belt I'm pretty sure Squidoo HQ will find 50 lenses that quality.

Next I will go for 250 lenses and then eventually 300. Not sure if I can manage to hit the 300 this year, but it is a goal I'm going for in any case.

10 More Lenses To Reach 200

I'm so close to reaching one of my milestones of this year: 200 lenses. Today I've published my 190th on Gifts for guitarists. My brother plays guitar for fun, so I had plenty of ideas to give him or others like him for birthday or Christmas gift, etc.

So what is my next goal once I make 200 lenses? I'm hoping that I'll reach 300 this year. It's 100 lenses more, so I'll have to really get busy to reach this goal, but it might just be possible. That should put me on another earning bracket altogether - hopefully.