My Squidoo Log
Ranked #423 in Squidoo Community, #57,700 overall
My Squidoo Diary
I am a Squidoo newbie, just a baby squid. This lens is to record my journey at Squidoo. My observations may be somewhat naive at this point of time as I am still learning.
I joined Squidoo on June 26, 2011. Today is July 22, 2011. It is almost a month since I joined Squidoo at this point of writing.
I joined Squidoo on June 26, 2011. Today is July 22, 2011. It is almost a month since I joined Squidoo at this point of writing.
A Little About Me
I am an avid Blogger. I have been blogging for about 7 years since 2004. I write and maintain 5 blogs on an almost daily basis. I write mostly Parenting Articles. I also like to write poems in my free time. My family is my inspiration.I have a boy aged 7 and a girl aged 9 at this point of writing. When I first started blogging, they were a newborn and a toddler. It is amazing how time flies.
I've only just discovered Squidoo and I'm loving it.
I have created this lens to tell you more about me and my time here at Squidoo and I will be updating it from time to time as my journey and adventure here at Squidoo continues.
Why am I here at Squidoo?
Recently I set up an Amazon Quotes Store for my Quotes Blog. Then I searched around the internet for ways to market my store. It is not use having an online store if no one finds it.
I read some articles on the internet which suggest Squidoo for getting good quality backlinks as well as traffic so here I am.
I read some articles on the internet which suggest Squidoo for getting good quality backlinks as well as traffic so here I am.
The reason why I am here
My Quotes Store.
Now that I am at Squidoo, What do I do?
What now?
I have 4 blogs, no, make that 5 because I just started a new Health Blog. I have been blogging for many years. My first blog was set up in 2004.
I quickly set up my squidoo lenses about my blogs.
1. Mums Gather Here
2. One Stop Parenting Cyber Cabinet
3. A Quote A Day Keeps The Blues Away
4. Being A Mother Changes Everything
I quickly set up my squidoo lenses about my blogs.
1. Mums Gather Here
2. One Stop Parenting Cyber Cabinet
3. A Quote A Day Keeps The Blues Away
4. Being A Mother Changes Everything
Before Squidoo
Before becoming a Squidoo lensmaster, I was a blogger. I have been blogging since 2004.
Squidoo is Addictive
Once I have finished building lenses about my blogs, I could not stop. I had fallen in love with Squidoo. Squidoo with its encouraging community, the points up and level up and trophies was almost like playing a game, a writing game. It was certainly challenging.It also motivated me to write more and I found that I was learning new things everyday.
Thinking of joining Squidoo? Why not give it a try. It is fun. Join Squidoo now.
Learn how to drive traffic and make money on Squidoo
Squidoo Quests
As I moved up the levels, I unlocked quests. These Squidoo Quests were fun and it gave me even more new ideas for things to write about, things outside my normal scope of writing and this challenged me even more.
Squidoo Quests are fun!
It gives me new idea about what to write and challenges me to write outside of my normal scope of writing.
Squidoo Community
I like the Squidoo Community and the Community at SquidU Forum. Everyone is very understanding and supportive. When I ask a question , I get quick, professional advise. Everyone knows why they are here and what they are doing. It makes me feel less alone and lost as a newbie.
Caught in Squidoo Spam Filter!
I like it that Squidoo has a spam filter. It gives me more confidence in Squidoo. Before joining Squidoo, I had read many negative things about it. I read that it was spamish etc. However, now that I am here, I have not seen any spam so far.
I have visitted many Squidoo lenses to observe and learn and so far many of them are amazing and filled with unique content.
One day, I was working on this Barney and Friends Online lens. I had spent a significant amount of time on it but when I tried to publish, I could not because somehow my lens had been caught in a spam filter.
I was so upset because of the time I had spent working on it. So I wrote in to dispute the rejection. At the same time, I returned to edit my lens. I studied it to find out what could have caused the lens to be caught in a spam filter.
Eventually, I found the culprit. I believe that the offending word was "list of episodes". I had provided a list of episodes from Wikipedia but the spam filter was in place to catch lensmasters who are trying to provide "free episodes" for watching online. At least, that is what I presume because once I remove the words, my lens could be published at once. I was so relieved.
At the same time, I got a reply from Squidoo the next day to say that they had had a look at the lens and it was ok to be published. That was quick response.
I have visitted many Squidoo lenses to observe and learn and so far many of them are amazing and filled with unique content.
One day, I was working on this Barney and Friends Online lens. I had spent a significant amount of time on it but when I tried to publish, I could not because somehow my lens had been caught in a spam filter.
I was so upset because of the time I had spent working on it. So I wrote in to dispute the rejection. At the same time, I returned to edit my lens. I studied it to find out what could have caused the lens to be caught in a spam filter.
Eventually, I found the culprit. I believe that the offending word was "list of episodes". I had provided a list of episodes from Wikipedia but the spam filter was in place to catch lensmasters who are trying to provide "free episodes" for watching online. At least, that is what I presume because once I remove the words, my lens could be published at once. I was so relieved.
At the same time, I got a reply from Squidoo the next day to say that they had had a look at the lens and it was ok to be published. That was quick response.
Squidoo has a Spam Filter
I like that. It shows that Squidoo is serious about filtering out spam.
How to Make Money Online
Too many backlinks
I inadvertently went overboard with backlinks
I have been blogging for many years. During that time, I had recorded the many crafts I had done together with my children. I thought it would be lovely to put all those Children's Crafts together in a Squidoo lens. Surely they would look attractive together instead of scattered all over my blog the way it is now. So that was what I set out to do. When I created that lens, I provided links to my step-by-step instructions for my Children's Crafts.
When my lens was completed, again, I could not publish because of the spam filter. I had inadvertently created a huge amount of links back to my Parenting and Kids Crafts blog. I found out the hard way that Squidoo only allows a maximum of 9 outward links to the same place to prevent spam and abuse.
Eventually, I split up that Crafting lens into 4 different lenses! I had to do a lot of copy and pasting to make 1 lens into 4 for these lenses:
1. Easy Crafts for Young Children
2. Holiday Crafts for Children
3. Paper Crafts for Children
4. Origami for Children
At the same time, I found out that creating 4 specific lens was much better than making one huge lens. I could link them to each other that way.
When my lens was completed, again, I could not publish because of the spam filter. I had inadvertently created a huge amount of links back to my Parenting and Kids Crafts blog. I found out the hard way that Squidoo only allows a maximum of 9 outward links to the same place to prevent spam and abuse.
Eventually, I split up that Crafting lens into 4 different lenses! I had to do a lot of copy and pasting to make 1 lens into 4 for these lenses:
1. Easy Crafts for Young Children
2. Holiday Crafts for Children
3. Paper Crafts for Children
4. Origami for Children
At the same time, I found out that creating 4 specific lens was much better than making one huge lens. I could link them to each other that way.
Too Many Outgoing Links?
Would they compete with ad links?
I tried to make my lens as useful as possible for people searching for that particular topic by providing them with the links to pages they may want to look for. Take for example this lens on Online Stories for Children which also happens to be my top lens.
In a short time, I was happy to see that the lens was having people coming in from google from the following keywords:
youtube childrens stories online
youtube children's stories online
100 moral stories for children kids audio
the three little pigs interactive online story
children "read and learn short online moral stories
favourite tales for young readers cartoon
simple short stories for kids - enormous turnip
moral stories for children=lion and mouse audio story
read short stories online for kids fern
moral stories for kids on youtube
listen enormous turnip online
online free mandarin three little pigs audio
illustrated stories for begginers
crow and fox mandarin story
animated stories for kids online free three little pigs
the enormous turnip free online audio video
the lion and the mouse plus moral
However, all of them clicked on the outward links I provided and none of the ads. The lesson I learned? The highest traffic and most searched for lens does not necessarily translate to earnings.
In a short time, I was happy to see that the lens was having people coming in from google from the following keywords:
youtube childrens stories online
youtube children's stories online
100 moral stories for children kids audio
the three little pigs interactive online story
children "read and learn short online moral stories
favourite tales for young readers cartoon
simple short stories for kids - enormous turnip
moral stories for children=lion and mouse audio story
read short stories online for kids fern
moral stories for kids on youtube
listen enormous turnip online
online free mandarin three little pigs audio
illustrated stories for begginers
crow and fox mandarin story
animated stories for kids online free three little pigs
the enormous turnip free online audio video
the lion and the mouse plus moral
However, all of them clicked on the outward links I provided and none of the ads. The lesson I learned? The highest traffic and most searched for lens does not necessarily translate to earnings.
Natural Outbound Links Vs Ad Links
Will they compete with each other?
Promoting My Squidoo Lenses
Besides promoting my lenses on my blogs, twitter and facebook, I also promoted them at Digg, Delicious and Stumble Upon. I found that Stumble Upon brings in the most traffic with Digg almost none.
However, Stumble Upon also has its limitations on the number of links leading to the same place so I could not stumble upon my own Squidoo Lenses too often.
However, Stumble Upon also has its limitations on the number of links leading to the same place so I could not stumble upon my own Squidoo Lenses too often.
Blogging or Building Squidoo Lenses?
There is only that number of hours in a day. So which will it be?
Every day I ask myself this question. I had read that it is better to put all of your original content in your own blogs and earn everything 100%. Why should you share with Squidoo?I am still asking myself this question. When I look at the total traffic generated from my 22 Squidoo lens which is about 250 since I started on June 26, 2011 (I am writing this on 22 July, 2011) compared to my own blog traffic which has that many pageviews in a day for a blog, I wonder whether I should have put my content on my own blogs instead.
Blogging Vs Squidoo
Which is better?
Blogging How Tos
Can I Make Money At Squidoo?
I shall persevere because I feel that my blogging earnings have become stagnant. To make money online, one has to try new things and be willing to work hard. Hopefully my hard work will eventually translate into some earnings.
Squidoo Stats
It is fun to see my lenses competing against each other in the Squidoo lenses. Some will rise to the top and come down again. It is a challenge to try to get each of my lenses to rise to the top.... to the top of my own list of lenses that is.
I Am Having Fun At Squidoo
Earnings aside, I am having fun at Squidoo and I am learning many new things each day. Writing at Squidoo gives me more ideas for my blogs and publishing my blog posts gives me ideas for Squidoo lenses.
I believe that if you work hard at something, read a lot, learn and practise hard, you will become better at it. So wish me luck!
I will be updating this lens as I move along my Squidoo journey.
I believe that if you work hard at something, read a lot, learn and practise hard, you will become better at it. So wish me luck!
I will be updating this lens as I move along my Squidoo journey.
Squidoo Lens Stats vs Blog Stats
I find that the major difference is that for Squidoo Lens stats, I get a picture of what is happening on each and every one of my Squidoo lenses. This makes it easy for me to tweak and include more and more content which I think will be useful.However, for my blog stats, I get stats for my overall blog. My blog has been around for 7 years. Stats for the entire blog is less meaningful to me than stats for a particular page or lens.
I like Squidoo for that aspect.
However, according to my Parenting blog which is my first blog, I had 849 pageviews yesterday while I had 249 visits in total for a month for all my (as of time of writing) 26 featured lens. I am still wondering whether I have done the right thing to spend my time on Squidoo instead of putting my content on my blog but the thing is I do enjoy creating Squidoo lenses because they are so easy to create and so visually appealing compared to a blog.
I must remember that this is not a fair comparison. My blog is 7 years old. My Squidoo lenses are barely a month old. I must be patient and give it time.
Your Lens is 100% Complete!
Lens Progress
Today, about 1 1/2 months after joining Squidoo, one of my first lenses, my Quotes Lens reached 100% completion. Yahoo! *happy dance* Simple things can really make a person happy. I had waited a while to get here.
Most of the time when I work on a lens, I would make sure I work right up to 91% completion before publishing. To get up to 91%, I would have to make sure I include a photo in my introduction to the lens, have a minimum number of modules and remember to include all my categories in before publishing. To reach 100%, I must have at least 20 squid likes. Whoa!
Most of the time when I work on a lens, I would make sure I work right up to 91% completion before publishing. To get up to 91%, I would have to make sure I include a photo in my introduction to the lens, have a minimum number of modules and remember to include all my categories in before publishing. To reach 100%, I must have at least 20 squid likes. Whoa!
Finding My Niche
My Niche is writing lenses for Children Learning and Playing Online
I have found my niche. It is writing lenses for children. Children's online sites, Children's Learning Sites. There are so many things to learn, English, Chinese, Music, Music Theory, Math, Science. There are so many areas of play, playing online for girls, boys, toddlers, songs and lyrics for children. There are so many crafts children can do, paper crafts, holiday crafts. There is no limit. The possibilities are endless. It is wonderful to be able to write and link the lenses to one another.
Squidoo Payday
Going through my Second Squidoo Payday. Still zero earnings as Squidoo pays two months in arrears. Can't wait for the next payday. I shall persevere despite the big fat zero!
My Squidoo Lensrank
17 August 2011
I now have 31 lenses on Squidoo. My average lensrank is 72,857. usually my average is about 60,000. It dropped because yesterday I created a new lens: Simple Cross Stitch Projects for Kids. Being just one day old, that lens has a lens rank of 219,860. This has brought down my average lens rank.That is the other difference I notice between blogging and creating lenses. With lenses, I tend to check my stats each day. I love the challenge of trying to make my own lenses compete with each other. A lens that is languishing at the bottom of my list at around 30 may move up to 15th place (among my own lenses) the next day if I add content to it. I love being able to track my progress in this manner. I can see progress and immediate results. It is a challenge to make my own lenses better and better by maintaining and adding new content to it.
It is also a challenge to me to add new content and check my lens stats to see whether it has brought me any new search engine visitors.
Yesterday my top lens was my Popular Kids Book Series lens with over 9000 lens rank. Today, it has dropped to 15,231 and my Online Stories for Children is now at the top with 15,129. I wonder what made it drop so much. I wonder when I will ever reach top tier ranking and if ever???
My First Squidoo Pay
15 September 2011
Today, I received my first Squidoo pay for July 2011 earnings. I joined in the last week of June, so I didn't receive anything for June.
For my first Squidoo pay, I received a grand total of..... wait a minute....*drum rolls*..... tadaaaaa!
$2.68! Make that $2.62 minus a transaction fee of $0.05
Can't wait to see what I will earn for month of August to be paid out in October. Will my pay increase exponentially? Will it stay the same? Will it disappear? Only time will tell. In the meantime, I shall continue to work hard.
For my first Squidoo pay, I received a grand total of..... wait a minute....*drum rolls*..... tadaaaaa!
$2.68! Make that $2.62 minus a transaction fee of $0.05
Can't wait to see what I will earn for month of August to be paid out in October. Will my pay increase exponentially? Will it stay the same? Will it disappear? Only time will tell. In the meantime, I shall continue to work hard.
2nd Squidoo Payday and Little Achievements
13th October 2011
Today is my 2nd Payday at Squidoo. I made $8.86 from 23 lenses. Ok, so its not that much but it is a 4 fold increase from my first Squidoo Pay which makes it not that bad after all.
This month, 2 of my Halloween lenses participated in the Squidoo Halloween Magazine.
Squid Angel Tipi is sweet enough to put me in her Lensmaster Cool People List and my Origami for Kids lens go in the 50 Crafts I Want To Try Monsterboard.
As of today, I have 42 lenses.
This month, 2 of my Halloween lenses participated in the Squidoo Halloween Magazine.
Squid Angel Tipi is sweet enough to put me in her Lensmaster Cool People List and my Origami for Kids lens go in the 50 Crafts I Want To Try Monsterboard.
As of today, I have 42 lenses.
I am a Super Squid!
19th November 2011
Today I received two new trophies1. Giant Squid Club (25 Level) and
2. Giant Squid
I also received an email which goes like this....
Super Squid, that's what we call our newest members of the Giant Squid Club; lensmasters who have crafted 25 awesome lenses, in other words, YOU!
We've raised the bar in our search for Squidoo lensmaking excellence. And you didn't just meet it; you vaulted over it. Thanks for the wonderful work, dedication, and for believing in what you can do here.
What now? Well, first, celebrate and do a happy dance. When you're done dancing, keep reading......
Now, if you will excuse me, I am off to do my happy dance! Woohoo!
Other Recent Developments:
1. Somewhere along the way I received the perfect attendance trophy. You get that for logging in 30 days in a row. That wasn't too hard for me.
2. My third payday is still around $8 but nevermind that. Money is not everything. I am off to celebrate my non-monetary achievement.
I am a Squid Angel
24 November 2011
Today, I received my SquidAngel Wings. With that comes great responsibility. :) I am excited and happy to be able to contribute back in a small way to Squidoo by discovering and moderating good as well as bad lenses. (Giving a thumbs up or down).I start my 'job' with gusto by visiting and blessing many lenses. It was nice to receive angel blessings for my lenses and even nicer to give blessings to deserving lenses.
It is the holiday season. My kids are on holiday too at the moment. That gives me little time to make lenses. To make lenses, I need uninterrupted time alone. With the kids home, my priorities are with them at the moment, to teach and play with them. I don't have time to make lenses right now because it takes considerable effort and time to come up with a good lens.
However, I do have time to visit, read and give Squid Angel blessings to lenses. At the same time, I will tweak and maintain my existing lenses to get ready for the holidays.
Giant Squid 50 Level and Purple Star
5 December 2011
Today I received 2 trophies.1. The Giant Squid 50 Level Trophy which means that I now have at least 50 quality lenses and qualified to become a Giant Squid Club Member
2. The Purple Star trophy for my Popular Kids Book Series lens.
I also made 2 sales here on Squidoo and 5 more Squidoo related sales yesterday. The holiday season is picking up. Hope to get more.
Yahoo! Doing happy dance. Happy dance.
It's Squidoo Payday!
13 February 2012
Happy New Year 2012!
I have been so busy during the end of last year and the beginning of this year 2012 that I did not have much time to update this lens. Anyway not many things of note to update. However today 13 February 2012, I have to record that I received an early Valentine's Day Present from Squidoo. That's right. Its Squidoo Payday. This month, I received my Squidoo pay for my earnings for December 2011. Has it been good?
Yes! Still a newbie, only 6 months old at Squidoo (I joined Squidoo at the end of June 2011), this is my very first payday for the holiday and Christmas Season. My early Valentine's Day gift from Squdoo came up to a total of $103.85, certainly not as much as what some of the Squidoo veterans are earning but enough to make me happy. And that's not counting the earnings which I will be getting from my own Amazon Associates Account amounting to $92.96, over 90% of which comes from Squidoo.
More questions about Squidoo Payday? Read this Squidoo Payout FAQ
FYI, Squidoo allows us to use your own Amazon Affiliate links to earn money on Squidoo plus it has many other Amazon modules you can add to your lens. I use both. For how you can make money on Squidoo using Amazon modules and your own Amazon affiliate links, read this lens: Make Money With Amazon and Squidoo
I have been so busy during the end of last year and the beginning of this year 2012 that I did not have much time to update this lens. Anyway not many things of note to update. However today 13 February 2012, I have to record that I received an early Valentine's Day Present from Squidoo. That's right. Its Squidoo Payday. This month, I received my Squidoo pay for my earnings for December 2011. Has it been good?
Yes! Still a newbie, only 6 months old at Squidoo (I joined Squidoo at the end of June 2011), this is my very first payday for the holiday and Christmas Season. My early Valentine's Day gift from Squdoo came up to a total of $103.85, certainly not as much as what some of the Squidoo veterans are earning but enough to make me happy. And that's not counting the earnings which I will be getting from my own Amazon Associates Account amounting to $92.96, over 90% of which comes from Squidoo.
More questions about Squidoo Payday? Read this Squidoo Payout FAQ
FYI, Squidoo allows us to use your own Amazon Affiliate links to earn money on Squidoo plus it has many other Amazon modules you can add to your lens. I use both. For how you can make money on Squidoo using Amazon modules and your own Amazon affiliate links, read this lens: Make Money With Amazon and Squidoo
My Squidoo Earnings
At a glance
I joined Squidoo on June 26, 2011. No earnings for June since it is a short month. I start earning in July 2011 and payment for my July earnings is made 2 months later in September 2011.
September 2011 Payments for July earnings = $2.62 from 8 lenses
October 2011 Payments for August Earnings = $8.86 from 23 lenses
November Payments for September 2011 Earnings = $8.61 from 23 lenses
December Payments for October 2011 Earnings = $12.81 from 23 lenses
January Payments for November 2011 Earnings = $26.80 from 26 lenses
February Payments for December 2011 Earnings = $103.85 from 35 lenses (not including the sales I made via Squidoo on my own Amazon associate links of around $90)
What this means is payments are made forwards and you only receive payments for lenses that make money on sales as well as lens rank. For example, I have more than 23 lenses from August to December but I only made money on 23 of them. Read this to find out more about Squidoo tiers and how to improve your lens rank.
September 2011 Payments for July earnings = $2.62 from 8 lenses
October 2011 Payments for August Earnings = $8.86 from 23 lenses
November Payments for September 2011 Earnings = $8.61 from 23 lenses
December Payments for October 2011 Earnings = $12.81 from 23 lenses
January Payments for November 2011 Earnings = $26.80 from 26 lenses
February Payments for December 2011 Earnings = $103.85 from 35 lenses (not including the sales I made via Squidoo on my own Amazon associate links of around $90)
What this means is payments are made forwards and you only receive payments for lenses that make money on sales as well as lens rank. For example, I have more than 23 lenses from August to December but I only made money on 23 of them. Read this to find out more about Squidoo tiers and how to improve your lens rank.
About Me
My Lenses
Say Hi!
Any advise from Squidoo Veterans will be most appreciated. Newbies, please share your experience too!
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Sports-Gifts
Feb 20, 2012 @ 3:18 am | delete
- Great idea to document your Squidoo journey!
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CruiseReady
Feb 20, 2012 @ 1:53 am | delete
- Nice journal of your Squidoo journey. Congratulations on breaking the $100 barrier!
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mamabush
Feb 20, 2012 @ 1:46 am | delete
- I loved reading about your Squidoo journey...thanks for sharing! ;)
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scarlettohairy
Feb 20, 2012 @ 1:16 am | delete
- Thanks for sharing your Squidoo exploits and earnings!
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MiddleSister
Feb 2, 2012 @ 8:26 pm | delete
- It's fun to read of others' experience as squidooers!
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by mumsgather
mumsgather
Hello. I am a SAHM of 2. I own 5 blogs and have been blogging since 2004. I love to write. I love blogging and I love Squidoo. I blog at Mumsgather.com,... more »
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