A (Not So) Secret Squidoo Lab

When I originally began updating and improving my lenses this Fall I thought that would automatically increase my earnings. I thought that the cream would rise to the top and everything would be happy. Not to be as you can see from my disappointment in the introduction to this lens.

So after receiving some advice from some other lensmasters I have decided to ignore everything that is outside the tiers (or close enough that some attention can make a difference). It is hard -- oh so hard to ignore so many of my babies but I'm working on it.

I believe this month's stats bear out the advice I received. I have a higher payout this month despite the fact I have fewer lenses in the money. Definitely the right strategy.

One of the things I have done since I've started really working on my lenses (as opposed to the dabbling I did previously) has been to keep track of my numbers -- especially how many lenses are in each Tier. Now this is tricky because lenses do fluctuate (although my top 2 lenses say pretty steady) and this means there is some movement between tiers. This is further complicated because some of the Squidoo income streams (infolinks etc.) do not break at the same point as the tier payouts. There always seems to be a gray area between the tiers that I'm still trying to understand but from what I've seen that gray area has boggled smarter and more experienced lensmasters as well.

A look at my Tier 1 numbers:

I tracked that throughout February I had between 3 and 5 lenses consistently in Tier 1 -- my February payout included 4
In March I managed to increase that to between 4 and 7 lenses consistently in Tier 1 -- my March payout included 4
In April I had between 4 and 9 lenses in Tier 1 -- my April payout included 5.
In May I had 4-6 lenses consistently in Tier 1 -- my May payout included 5.
In June I had 4-7 lenses consistently in Tier 1.
In July I had 4-7 lenses consistently in Tier 1.

Tier 2:
February 18-25 (including the Tier 1 lenses) -- my February payout included 15 (so if you add in the 4 that were in Tier 1 that looks about right)
March 23-29 (including the Tier 1 lenses) -- my March payout included 22 (so if you add in the 4 that were in Tier 1 that looks about right)
April 26-29 (including the Tier 1 lenses) -- my April payout included 20
May 24-27 (including the Tier 1 lenses) -- my May payout included 17
June 21-27
July 16-21

Tier 3:
February 32-47 (including Tiers 1 and 2) -- my February payout included 149
March 37-47 (including Tiers 1 and 2) -- my March payout included 145
April 36-49 (including Tiers 1 and 2)-- 104 in my April payout
May 34-42 (including Tiers 1 and 2) -- 119 in my May payout

So that is where I am -- we'll see what the next payout brings!

January 2011 royalties (paid out 03/15/2011)
Total featured lenses on date: 116 lenses
Total paid: $174.63

February 2011 royalties (paid out 04/14/2011)
Total featured lenses on date: 168 lenses
Total paid: $245.31

March 2011 royalties (paid out 5/13/2011)
Total featured lenses on date: 171 lenses
Total paid: $293.92

April 2011 royalties (paid out 06/10/2011)
Total featured lenses on date: 146 lenses
Total paid: $329.38

May 2011 royalties (paid out 07/14/2011)
Total featured lenses on date: 155 lenses
Total paid: $332.60

December 2010 royalties (paid out 02/15/2011)
Total featured lenses on date: 133 lenses
Total paid: $218.85

November 2010 royalties (paid out 1/11/2011)
Total featured lenses on date: 147 lenses
Total paid: $233.48

October 2010 royalties (paid out 12/15/2010)
Total featured lenses on date: 146 lenses
Total paid: $219.94 * This is grand news because this is the time period I started work on lenses so hopefully this is a result of my efforts!

September 2010 royalties (paid out 11/16/2010)
Total featured lenses on date: 151 lenses
Total paid: $134.22

August 2010 royalties (paid out 10/13/2010)
Total featured lenses on date: 147 lenses
Total paid: $198.39

July 2010 royalties (paid out 09/13/2010)
Total featured lenses on date: 166 lenses
Total paid: $176.88

June 2010 royalties (paid out 08/13/2010)
Total featured lenses on date: 170 lenses
Total paid: $192.15

May 2010 royalties (paid out 07/14/2010)
Total featured lenses on date: 181 lenses
Total paid: $234.98

April 2010 royalties (paid out 06/10/2010)
Total featured lenses on date: 194 lenses
Total paid: $237.54

March 2010 royalties (paid out 05/06/2010)
Total featured lenses on date: 200 lenses
Total paid: $217.24

February 2010 royalties (paid out 04/13/2010)
Total featured lenses on date: 191 lenses
Total paid: $221.50

January 2010 royalties (paid out 03/09/2010)
Total featured lenses on date: 203 lenses
Total paid: $178.01

December 2009 royalties (paid out 02/10/2010)
Total featured lenses on date: 218 lenses
Total paid: $163.89

November 2009 royalties (paid out 01/12/2010)
Total featured lenses on date: 221 lenses
Total paid: $151.70

October 2009 royalties (paid out 12/15/2009)
Total featured lenses on date: 245 lenses
Total paid: $161.86

September 2009 royalties (paid out 11/05/2009)
Total featured lenses on date: 238 lenses
Total paid: $132.80

August 2009 royalties (paid out 10/08/2009)
Total featured lenses on date: 237 lenses
Total paid: $83.66

July 2009 royalties (paid out 09/15/2009)
Total featured lenses on date: 227 lenses
Total paid: $87.97

June 2009 royalties (paid out 08/13/2009)
Total featured lenses on date: 190 lenses
Total paid: $87.60

May 2009 royalties (paid out 07/10/2009)
Total featured lenses on date: 211 lenses
Total paid: $84.20

April 2009 royalties (paid out 06/10/2009)
Total featured lenses on date: 216 lenses
Total paid: $94.99

March 2009 royalties (paid out 05/14/2009)
Total featured lenses on date: 212 lenses
Total paid: $127.22

February 2009 royalties (paid out 04/07/2009)
Total featured lenses on date: 225 lenses
Total paid: $140.51

January 2009 royalties (paid out 03/11/2009)
Total featured lenses on date: 219 lenses
Total paid: $118.17

December 2008 royalties (paid out 02/10/2009)
Total featured lenses on date: 236 lenses
Total paid: $161.19

November 2008 royalties (paid out 01/09/2009)
Total featured lenses on date: 234 lenses
Total paid: $179.22

October 2008 royalties (paid out 12/11/2008)
Total featured lenses on date: 233 lenses
Total paid: $195.09

September 2008 royalties (paid out 11/10/2008)
Total featured lenses on date: 227 lenses
Total paid: $197.08

August 2008 royalties (paid out 10/06/2008)
Total featured lenses on date: 213 lenses
Total paid: $212.75

July 2008 royalties (paid out 09/08/2008)
Total featured lenses on date: 215 lenses
Total paid: $144.12

June 2008 royalties (paid out 08/07/2008)
Total featured lenses on date: 199 lenses
Total paid: $113.15

May 2008 royalties (paid out 07/10/2008)
Total featured lenses on date: 185 lenses
Total paid: $121.10

*** Named A Giant Squid on May 2!

April 2008 royalties (paid out 06/04/2008)
Total featured lenses on date: 152 lenses
Total paid: $99.70

March 2008 royalties (paid out 05/07/2008)
Total featured lenses on date: 117 lenses
Total paid: $106.95

February 2008 royalties (paid out 04/08/2008)
Total featured lenses on date: 79 lenses
Total paid: $21.04

January 2008 royalties (paid out 03/08/2008)
Total featured lenses on date: 67 lenses
Total paid: $21.85

November 2007 royalties (paid out 01/08/2008)
Total featured lenses on date: 41 lenses
Total paid: $11.64

June 2007 royalties (paid out 08/06/2007)
Total featured lenses on date: 18 lenses
Total paid: $11.