Squidoo Payday Questions & Answers

$1.00 is the minimum amount required to receive a PayPal deposit from Squidoo.

You can select the amount you want to reach before you get paid. Start by going to your dashboard. Select the My Profile tab. Scroll down to your Payment Settings. One of the options there is Cash Payout Threshold:. Click on the Change link next to it. You will be able to choose from $1, $5, $10, $15, $20, $50...or $1 million ;)

I always suggest setting your threshold to $1.00. You only see your individual lens pay stats when you reach your threshold and get your PayPal deposit. If you want to wait for a higher sum you can leave it in your PayPal account before transferring it to your bank account.

If you do not reach your Cash Payout Threshold your earnings are held in your "Reserve Hopper" until the next month, or as many months as it takes to reach it.

Your first payday will be 2 months after you published your first lens.

Even if you haven't made any sales yet through a money maker module, you will most likely earn a portion of Squidoo's AdSense revenue.

One reason you wouldn't is if the lens is a WIP lens, a Work In Progress. If your lens has a symbol on your dashboard it's WIP.

Another reason you wouldn't earn AdSense revenue is if you created the lens near the end of the month. Your lens didn't have enough time to have an average lensrank high enough to reach the paying tiers.

According to Squidoo, expect it on the 15th of the month, and if it comes before that it's early. They really just say that incase they run into a snag. Payday is usually well before the 15th.

2009 payout dates:
January 9th
February 10th
March 11th
April 7th
May 14th
June 10th
July 10th
August 13th
September 15th
October 8th
November 5th

2008 payout dates:
January 8th
February 7th
March 8th
April 8th
May 7th
June 4th
July 10th
August 7th
September 8th
October 6th
November 10th
December 11th

2007 payout dates:




May 9th
June 8th
July 6th
August 6th
September 7th
October 10th
November 7th
December 12th

AdSense and Glam Ad revenue is not paid out based on clicks from your lens. The amount generated by all of Squidoo's lenses is added together and divvied up based on a Tier system.

There are usually 3 Tiers, I've seen a 4th reported on rare occasions. The "best" (read: worth the most $) is to have a lens in the first tier. The average lensrank, per lens, per month, is used in determining which Tier your lens falls in for payday.

Note:

The lenrsanks posted below are rough guidelines. Lens averages might be off by mere decimals from one another. After your lensranks are averaged they are then reordered based on the calculated ave. of all other lenses.

Tier 1 is for lenses with an overall lensrank of 1 up to 2,000.
Tier 2 is for lenses with an overall LR of 2,001 up to and including 10,000.
Tier 3 is for lenses with a LR of 10,001 up to 85,000.
Tier 4 ...some low rating lenses have gotten a 1 cent payout, sorry, I don't have any stats on that one.

Each month the amount each Tier receives varies depending on sitewide traffic and Ad click-throughs.

As an example, on the December 2008 payday:
Tier One got 25% of the ad pool
Tier Two got 17% of the ad pool
Tier Three got 8% of the ad pool

These are all of the previous tier payouts since this system was implemented:

2007

July 6, 2007
$3.80
$0.65
$0.05

August 6, 2007
$5.99
$1.03
$0.06

September 7, 2007
$4.12
$0.73
$0.04

October 10, 2007
$3.32
$0.56
$0.03

November 7, 2007
$4.67
$0.79
$0.06

December 12, 2007
$6.05
$1.03
$0.05

January 8, 2008
$6.23
$1.06
$0.05

February 7, 2008
$6.91
$1.18
$0.08

March 8, 2008
$8.77
$1.49
$0.08

April 8, 2008
$8.94
$1.53
$0.08

May 7, 2008
$8.32
$1.42
$0.07

June 4, 2008
$7.53
$1.28
$0.07

July 10, 2008
$8.09
$1.38
$0.07

August 7, 2008
$7.78
$1.32
$0.07

September 8, 2008
$11.27
$1.76
$0.08

October 6, 2008
$10.97
$1.85
$0.08

November 10, 2008
$11.75
$1.96
$0.08

December 11, 2008
$12.00
$1.94
$0.08

January 9, 2009
$11.63
$1.82
$0.08

February 10, 2009
$11.56
$1.82
$0.08

March 11, 2009
$11.43
$1.81
$0.08

April 7, 2009
$11.44
$1.85
$0.08

May 14, 2009
$13.06
$2.10
$0.09

June 10, 2009
$10.15
$1.51
$0.07

July 10, 2009
$10.36
$1.64
$0.08

August 13, 2009
$11.13
$1.79
$0.08

September 15, 2009
$10.22
$1.67
$0.08

October 8, 2009
$10.61
$2.09
$0.08

November 5, 2009
$13.03
$2.12
$0.10

You've seen the green, double underlined links that get added into lenses by Squidoo. Those are InfoLinks. If you don't like them they can be turned off, but doing that keeps you from earning from this new revenue source.

The Infolinks pool is separate from the Adsense pool. Although the size of each tier is the same (ie. 2000 lenses in the first tier), the lenses that fall into each tier may vary from the Adsense pool since some lenses are opted out.

InfoLink Tier Payouts:

September 15, 2009
$1.75
$0.30
$0.01

October 8, 2009
$1.80
$0.31
$0.02

November 5, 2009
$2.94
$0.50
$0.03

Squidoo takes 2% out of our AdSense pay to cover PayPal expenses.

That's why you might notice different amounts on the monthly stats verses individual lens stats.

If you see the payday "blue box" on your dashboard and then check to see if you have gotten the deposit in your PayPal account, don't be surprised if it's not there right away.

Some months the deposit happens later that day, some months it happens the next day, and on rare occasions it happens a few days later.

The $$$ column only shows sales that have been made through your lens' money maker modules (Amazon, eBay, CafePress etc.). Adsense earnings will not show up on your dashboard stats.

Since we are paid two months after a sale is made the totals you see are for more than one month's worth of sales. Don't expect to receive all of what you see pending in one payment.

Many lensmasters like to keep record of their earnings. I know there are quite a few of us with spreadsheets and other documents.

If you think you will want to do this it's best to start right away. It can be difficult trying to get it all together months down the road.

I use Excel to keep track of how each lens and group are doing, and to see how much I've contributed to various charities. At a glance I can see how I'm doing over a months time, or year, or since I've started.

I also earn money through my lenses from various affiliate programs that I've joined. I keep track of those sales as well.

It's also a good idea to print or save the lensranks of your lenses. Remember they have started using your average lensrank over the month, so doing this at the beginning, middle, and end of the month might be the way to go. I just print out the final day of the month for a rough idea. This way you verify if your lens was put in the correct tier.

For even more info visit Squidoo's recently updated Lensmaster Payment page.
You can also drop by the SquidU.com forum and ask lensmasters there for help.