squidoo.com

Squidoo is like the intersection between article writing (or review writing) and cash generation through your own website. More profitable in general than Helium, Triond, and Blogging; Squidoo allows you to build a page on a subject of interest to you, without having to worry too much about how to generate income from your page.

I actually cannot remember how I first stumbled upon Squidoo, all I know is that around 8 months ago I ...
...I have found it as addictive as any other site on the internet. And while I'm not going to try and tell you I have made a fortune from Squidoo, I will tell you that I have (without rewards intervention like Helium's Rewardathon) accumulated more money through Squidoo than I have through Helium, Blogging, and Triond combined; the added bonus of Squidoo is that you don't have to read the work of others to earn, or to source ways of income like Blogging ... more

Squidoo is like the intersection between article writing (or review writing) and cash generation through your own website. More profitable in general than Helium, Triond, and Blogging; Squidoo allows you to build a page on a subject of interest to you, without having to worry too much about how to generate income from your page.

I actually cannot remember how I first stumbled upon Squidoo, all I know is that around 8 months ago I found it, and despite my lack of using the site I have found it as addictive as any other site on the internet. And while I'm not going to try and tell you I have made a fortune from Squidoo, I will tell you that I have (without rewards intervention like Helium's Rewardathon) accumulated more money through Squidoo than I have through Helium, Blogging, and Triond combined; the added bonus of Squidoo is that you don't have to read the work of others to earn, or to source ways of income like Blogging or Hubpages.

My venture into the world of Squidoo is not as impressive as my history on Dooyoo, Helium or Ciao. At the time of writing I have only completed five pages, or lenses as they like to call them. However each lense has accumulated a minimum of 12 cents each per month, big deal I hear you cry; but if you think about it what you're doing is banking, that's 96 cents a month, and for each other page I add I can count on adding a further 12 cents per month. So imagine what I'd draw in with 50 or 100 lenses. But there are more earning outlets than just the general participation amount.

What can you write about? Well to be honest with you anything, from your sock collection, to your favourite movies, or even your favourite pornography. You name it, you write about it and further more you control it. While swearing and more adult subjects need to go under age certificates, there is no censorship with Squidoo, it's all yours. Some of my lenses include making money from the internet, Italian Horror, and the works of two favourite movie directors. While others might write about their adventures wearing funky Crocs footwear.

Once you have signed up you can start creating your lense, it takes a few minutes to get up and running. And Squidoo's modules allow you to add thinks like Ebay Links, Amazon links, polls. RSS Newsfeed, Video's, pictures, and chat forums, as well as the traditional guestbook.

I mentioned other ways of earning, this is a two-fold thing; you can add Ebay links, Amazon Links, and something called Cafe Press to your lens. For each link you post that scores a click through, you earn some money; for each click through that earns a sale, you will earn a portion of that sale value. The beauty being that you don't need to get involved with separate accounts for this and that, Squidoo handles that all for you. Do you notice I said it was two-fold thing? Well with all these sale venues it allows you total control, so you could list your own Ebay, Amazon, or Cafe Press items; so if someone clicks through not only do you score a personal sale, but earn commission enough to cover your advertising cost, clever huh? You can even use your lens for the simple act of self publicity, for example you want to draw people to your website etc. you can set up a page that simply promotes your website.

Lenses are not just something that you write and desert, you can update them as often as you want, gliding in and out regularly. Several of my lenses are ones that I can permanently plough into and update, the more you update the further up the Squidoo ranking you go, the further up the ranking you go, the more chance you have of earning more cash. While my earnings have been far from legendary there are 1000 Squidoo success stories, advertising executives that have given up large salary jobs and earn the equivalent through Squidoo. One guy that springs to mind publishes about three new lenses each week, and every month uses his earnings to subsidise his addiction for gadgets, like me this guy is UK based which gives me hope that this is not just a thing that you benefit from if your American. Most people sign up and abandon after discovering that their one lens has earned them 12 cents in a month, but it's all about those pennies. As my Grandmother always says, "look after the pennies and the pounds take care of themselves" and several months after signing up I can see this happening.

Squidoo is addictive on a variety of levels, not only does it give you the ability to do exactly what you want to do, it gives you a real feeling of appreciation, one of my lenses rose higher than 800,000 places from its original lens ranking, and whereas I used to score just a couple of hits a month, I now earn 30-40 unique hits each and every week, with each hit the earnings rise. It's this information that gives you the biggest buzz, Squidoo has one of the most advanced sets of statistics I have seen, allowing you to see who clicks through from links, and if they click through to listings in your lenses, as well as pages of graphs and statistics.

The real beauty of Squidoo however is that you need no technical knowledge whatsoever, but as you learn you can improve your page dramatically. The vast series of capsules and features you can add to your lens is more than enough to make your pages look really snazzy really quickly.

One last way to earn is through referrals, as your referral earns so do you.

It's not all jolly though; if you have not earned enough for a cash payout by the end of each year Squidoo pinch your funds as they don't consider your active enough. Your rewards incidentally once accrued are distributed to you via a Paypal account you can request this payout each time you receive $10 either manually or automatically. The earnings are distributed at the middle of each month.

If you're someone who is patient enough to play the longer game then Squidoo is for you, long term you see your earnings rise and rise, while improving your profile on-line and benefiting from links you add to the site.

Spencer Hawken 07/08 

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