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Squidoo Tiers Need to Change So a Larger Percentage of Lenses Get a Share

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Squidoo Tiers Need To Change - Yes We Can!

Squidoo has grown too big for the current Squidoo Tiers system and it's time to update and allow more lensmasters a piece of the advertising pie! Don't get me wrong, I love Squidoo! I am totally addicted, I am a giant 250 club member, the Squidoo angel and a rocket mom.

I also am a big believer in fair play. Since I started with Squidoo, a bit over a year ago, the number of Squidoo lenses has increase by over 75%, yet the tier ratings have remained the same. Based on the current statistics, published by the Squid team (see below) and a bit of math, it appears that only .14% of lenses rank as tier one. Another .57% are tier 2 with 5.36% falling in tier 3, so in total only 6.07% of all lenses are participating in the advertising payout. And, based on current payouts, this equates to less than 1% of lenses earning more than $1 per month for either the Lensmaster or their favorite charity.

I say it's a change we need now. A change we can believe in.

(Neon Squid from Free Squid Images for Squidoo )

Quick: What's Your Initial Opinion?

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Current Tiers - Based On Average Monthly Lensrank

Tier 1: Top 2,000 Lenses
Tier 2: 2,001 - 10,000
Tier 3: 10,001 - 85,000

Let's See Who Is Here: Please Tell Us How Much You Earn Monthly on Average

Please include only money from infolinks, Chitika, display ads and google ads.

(Do not include royalties from Amazon, eBay or any affiliates)

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Pukeko's Lenses

Average past 6 months
Tier 1: 4-5 lenses
Tier 2: 14-19 lenses
Tier 3: 150-200 lenses

Your Turn! Do You Agree - The Time for Change is NOW!

Here is your chance to tell us what you think

Lensmasters, this section is set up to allow visitor comments, so if you want to remain anonymous, just tick visitor and write "anonymous" in the name spot.

tiers

The Time Is Now, Squidoo Tiers Need to Change!

Yes, you're right! It's Time for a Change

jaredtheleo says:

If the Tier system is not expanded those of you with Tier 1 lens that are great content are going to eventually be punished by an overcrowding of Tier 1s which won't necessarily mean your lens is getting less views, it just means there are more, great lenses. Eventually they will have to change the Tier system to keep the top Lensmasters happy. After all, the Lensmasters are the ones who do all the work that brings traffic to the site in the first place so it would only make sense to appeal to them.

RosemaryB says:

I didnt even know Tiers existed until 30 minutes ago. Glad to read some info here tho.

mel-kav says:

Only about 6.07% are benefiting? Even though I am still a newbie and doing OK so far in my lens rankings, I think the current tier system is a little selfish. We should share the wealth. If some people are continuously falling below tier III, I would imagine that they may give up and go elsewhere. A more fair system would continue to motivate Squidoo members, thus increasing lens numbers and increasing revenue!

jalany says:

I think the tier system should grow by 1/2 what the ad pool revenue grows by. That way top lenses still make more money, but more people (who are probably contributing) also get a piece. Its a larger pie -- why not share it?

sayeen says:

It would be fair to increase the tiers by 25 - 50%...I havent been here for too long but i know that the competition on squidoo is pretty tough especially for us against the top ranking lensmasters who have been in game for far too long...if the tier sizes are increased it'll give newcomers an incentive to stay...and who knows, the newcomers could prove to be a valuable asset to squidoo in the long run...

KaneshiaKelly says:

Thank you so much for bringing this to squidoo's attention

juliet765 says:

Yes I agree its time to change

sipatquu says:

i like

SlapDashMom says:

I joined Squidoo to make money!

darkprinceofjazz says:

Boy this is a tough one, I am almost inclined to believe the top tier should be paid more for the lens, to keep or add to the lure of getting there, tier 3 is pretty easy to achieve with just a little bit of work, if you have 200 lenses in that group, that adds up to something worth having, plus I bet if you were that prolific, you would have many lenses inside the first 2 tiers any way, I think I would move back tier 3 to 125,000 lens rank or something like that, But that would take money out of Tier 1 and 2. After all, if you finally get lenses to the first tier, and you make half as much, I would be disappointed with that, but maybe you could make up for it with more lenses qualifying.

paulbarton says:

the tiers system needs to change - just not sure how

BenJacklin says:

I think as more articles get written and competition becomes more fierce perhaps it's worth changing the boundaries slightly.

CanadaREVIEW says:

I am new here, however I do know that all systems have their problems, too many times in the real world. Let's hope that we can make this space a wee' bit better for all!

Showpup says:

When holidays roll around, many jump into tier 1. Not that they shouldn't but then so many wonderful lenses are booted out of tier 1 which seems unfair to me... even if I've never had a non-holiday lens in tier 1 yet.

ClaudiaWrites says:

Yes they should change! I am having a hard time in keeping my lens in between the 6,000 lensrank!

oxfordian says:

The problem is that the system is really skewed agains newcommers, which can be very discouraging. There seems to be so many things that go into lens ranking other than ad clicks, so a lens can get lots* of clicks, but still earn no income. *Lots, meaning, it would be relatively little in the giant pool of clicks, but it means at least some income to newcommers. And the averaging system can be discouraging too. You could have 3 weeks of high ranking, and then a couple days where the rank drops so that it pulls the monthly average down just below the cut off, so no money. I've routinely seen drops of 20,000 to even 100,000 points overnight! That kind of movement doesn't have anything to do with lens quality. It had the same quality the day before when it ranked 10,000 points higher.

seo_optimisation says:

i think the structure should be changed to work on percentages. not all Lenses should be included for payouts, but Squidoo should offer the top 10% of lenses to earn from their hard work.

tirial says:

Since the number of lenses have grown dramatically since I started (by 4x or more), the proportion of total lenses getting payouts has dropped. Halving the payments and doubling the tiers would go someway towards restoring the balance - and also restore the tier payments to what they used to be, instead of nearly $50 a lens.

DeterminedDolphin says:

I totally agree with you. It doesn't seem fair or just the way it is set up currently. Apparently 50% of income (AdSense) is shared but if it's only shared with the 1% then it's time that the 99% of us Occupy Squidoo :)

fizanali says:

I think all tiers (1, 2 AND 3) need to be expanded ! and probably the way lens rank is calculated needs to be changed too because i feel that those of my lenses getting lots of traffic have a lower rank than others with less traffic only because of the difference in squidlikes ! It would be better that squidoo make a complete graph of lens rank 1 to about 150,000 and gradually decrease the royalties one lens at a time and not in chunks. Some of my lenses are always stuck just above the 10,000 mark (hence making negligible amounts)

CaliforniaGrown says:

I think that Tier 1 and Tier 2 could be expanded a little bit. I think Tier 3 is okay at 85k because after that you don't seem to get any traffic or clickouts.

Tenzho says:

I only got 1 out of 5 lens in tier 3

finalfantasyxvi says:

I think it needs changed slightly.

kingsrookie says:

I think it could be changed slightly. People are making more and more lenses and truly feel that they are making a worthwhile effort. I think it could be expanded to 100,ooo but only to lensmasters who are active. Make a few contributions a month. I'd say expand Tier 1 to 3k, Tier 2 to 40k, Tier 3 70k, and then the last teir be based on participation or Tier 4. This would give incentive for lensmasters to keep working on older lenses and at least newcomers would feel like they are making a worthwhile contributions.

bhthanks says:

I think that all active members should get a cut of the pie.

colesterol says:

What is the CURRENT payout system? It's 24.09.2011

katemiya says:

I agree with the percentage idea. It seems like they should be able to find a way to pay the top 50% of lenses. The payments per lens will have to decrease to add another tier or two, but more of our lenses will get money. I don't see this penalizing quality, but a way to encourage newbies to stick with it, and for veterans to maintain even their older lenses.

As Squidoo continues to grow it will become harder and harder for new lenses to break into the top 2000 lenses. OOTH, making the top 5% is within reason no matter how many millions of lenses exist.

Greekgeek says:

Two years ago, I said they should cut off tier one's payout at $20 and let tier two catch up with the excess.

Sooner or later, they have got to expand the payout tiers. It's far too arbitrary which ones actually earn money at this point. And I say this as one of those who's clawed my way up to a $500 payout. But each month it's harder and harder to stay there -- I keep having to make more and more quality lenses, and over time more and more formerly top-earning lenses tumble into tier three even as I'm getting more and more traffic.

skeffling says:

I have no idea why the tier system isn't based on a percentage, (say top 1% of lenses getting X, next 20% get y...etc, whatever the percentages were when Squidoo set up) rather a set amount of lens that remains the same from Month to Month. If the site has increased in size so much, why not do it that way? I guess the site quietly and slowly gets a bigger and bigger piece of pie!

I had actually just removed a lens and content as they are worthy in a microniche and I knew I could earn better payout elsewhere, i.e. not zero month after month. I have other lenses that do not earn a cent that have backlinks from people who have viewed them all over the world, I don't want to move them, they rank high and are comprehensive articles in a microniche, but I may end up doing it, slowly withdrawing. I really hope management listens, and reads these comments.

MaxReily says:

It's a bit disheartening to work so hard to produce quality lenses, and earn 25 cents or less each. It's really disheartening when you read the payout formula and see how much the relatively few lenses in Tier 1 are getting per lens. Maybe this was fair when Squidoo was smaller, but it's not now.

No way, Monkeybrain! The Tier System Works Fine

Millionairemomma says:

I thinks it's fair. Must be...so many are doing it.

GeekySocket says:

No way, Monkeybrain! The Tier System Works Fine

SteveMcGUK says:

The current system provides incentive to create better lenses and promote them properly so they achieve tier rankings. Perhaps one more tier to reach a wider number of lensmasters.

danielmccarthy says:

Hopefully after being here 6 months I'll have a better idea of how easy it is to get into the top 2 tiers. As long as the system does a good job at working out who's really contributing quality content, and this is reassessed as time goes on, just as google does.

MarcGuberti says:

I started Squidoo on February 14, 2012, so those 75% extra lenses and percentages of actually making Tiers 1-3 were there. I had to persevere through those challenges as a new member. Within just about 2 months, I have a Tier 1 lens, another lens nearby with a rank of about 2,100, a couple of Tier 2 and possible Tier 2 lenses, and WAY more than half of my lenses are in Tier 3, so 35 of my 45 lenses are earning decent money. You only get the money if you earn it. If the Squidoo Tiers are changed to have more people, members who actually earned Tiers 1-3 will now lose earnings from Squidoo that they could have earned. I think the Tiers are fine the way they are.

donna mellow says:

I think they are fine - perhaps expand tier 1 to 3000

CodeBotics says:

I'm new here, but I think the system looks to be quite well done. If it was easy to get a tier 1 lens, then there would be no point as the money would be a lot loss and it would be much less rewarding.

RLWalker says:

I don't think they need to change because they haven't. What do I mean?

I think we're forgetting about the other half of the add pool(or 45% to be accurate). It is in the best interest of the owners of the site to bring as much revenue from the ads as they think they can. Therefore it is in their best interest to structure payouts in a way that ensure the site keeps getting quality content posted and keeps getting traffic and revenue. They have been kind enough to allow lensmasters to keep ownership of their content so there's always that other option that .... well lets not mention it :)

To make the decision that you're asking would require allot of very specific information. Statistics which I haven't yet looked for but which I know the Squidoo team must have available for their review. Think about it.... really. What makes you think they're not actually thinking of narrowing those tiers even more? What if the data shows that the site as a whole will actually benefit if the tiers margins are reduced.

The way the world works today is that "the rich get richer and the poor... remain poor". People complain, usually those from the very same capitalist societies that embody this law. Truth be tolled if it were up to nature and her laws, she's a much harsher judge than the systems set in place by society.

If a lens master can't make it through the sieve and gets placed amongst the chaff, instead of complaining, they should try to produce what is required.

I'm apart of the chaff and so far I've made exactly $2.11 since I started. I'm grateful that I still have the chance to try harder.

DavyCielen says:

I don't think the tiers need to be changed. I'm totally new to squidoo but I have learned so much from the community that I value much more then money.
It seems fair to me that the best lenses get paid most and I seriously doubt that a page with a lensrank higher than 100.000 attracts visitors.

BelleLumiere says:

I just started here, so I haven't made any money yet. While I would love to earn some money on Squidoo, I don't think it would be fair for me to be given a share of the pot for lenses that have had hardly any visitors. If you expand the tiers to include more people, the average payout per person will automatically decrease and those who are actually generating income for Squidoo will receive a smaller percentage. I don't think that's right.

NAnand says:

Totally new here. Will let you know in time whether the Tier System needs change. Till then keep up the good work. Discussion and debate form the backbone of progress.

Grandmaster3 says:

Just work hard and you can succeed.

bechand says:

Maybe a slight change - I would hate for the high quality tier 1 lenses to be paid way lower - Maybe change Tier 1 to be like 3000 or so ... and allow a good number more in on that - it WOULD drop the payments significantly though - even just going to 3000. 4000 would cut the $ in half ...

As for the low tiers - there are a TON of crappy lenses out there - and they do not deserve any $$$ and a lot of poor ones that dont deserve near the $$$ that the top tiers do ...

I do agree that more are worthy of being a bit higher paid then they are though ... so a slight change would be OK with me.
(I only have one tier 1, so I am not just trying to hold on to rank on much ...)

Andrea_RM says:

I'd probably expand Tier 2 and cut it at 20,000 lenses, but other than that I think it's fine as it is.

meisgood132 says:

The Squidoo system works fine the way it is.

DinosaurEgg says:

The tiers are fine. I don't think my lenses below Tier 3 deserve anything. The Tier 1 payout is a proper incentive. I wouldn't have a problem with the introduction of an extra tier, but I don't think major changes are needed.

Chadrew says:

They're fine, because lenses below 85,000 lensrank barely get any visitors or make any money for Squidoo via ad clicks.

Tier 1 could be expanded slightly though.

UKGhostwriter says:

I've only been here for two weeks and don't expect to earn for six months. Selfishness would say yes to change but in six months time when I'm actually making money I might say no change.

bethd821 says:

I have to agree with those who came before me. Just because the numbers have increased, doesn't mean the quality has. Like anything else in life, you need to work for it!

pkmcr says:

The split of payment should be allied to the percentage of income that each tier brings in which is how I assume that the system works currently. My own statistics indicate that lenses in the different tiers have visitor numbers which roughly align with the percentage payouts. Yes we need to encourage people to build better lenses but equally we need to ensure that we are rewarding those who bring the income in.

The choice is between "Tiers Need to Change" and "Tiers are fine As Is" and I don't know enough to be able to agree with either. Whilst I am more than open to the tiers changing if the evidence supports that the income comes from a broader range of lenses we don't have that evidence available to us to make an informed decision.

Hiking-Hong-Kong says:

I depends on your perspective. For example, the number of Lenses may have increased by 75% since you started, but what percentage of those Lenses are quality Lenses, and how many people are in the higher levels, people who have stuck around for a while? If the majority are low quality then there is no need for a change.

Brick_House_Fabrics says:

There are an awful lot of lenses with little content, just long lists of ads... I think the cream rises, and it should stay the way it is.

superbob17 says:

The Tier System works fine the way that it is. It rewards the people that put the most work into thier Lenses. And even with a minimal amount of work a person can get his lens into tier 3 and still get some money for his lens.

Nibbled says:

I'd be curious to see how that would change payouts. More lenses in each tier would mean less money to spread throughout the rest, right? I don't know if that is fixing anything.

AllyVuitton says:

Because of the small % in Tier 1, this acts as a good motive. Also, if you think logically, if Squidoo widens the Tiers, then everyone will get less money. It's survival of the fittest! Haha

nukemdomis says:

Don't fix something that is not broken.

Chadrew says:

I think it's fine as it is for now. Well, maybe the first tier could be increased slightly, or perhaps a bigger share of the ad pool could be given to the second tier instead.

Third tier is fine however and does not need an expansion. You can get into third tier with just 10 weekly visitors which is basically one visitor a day.

riff999 says:

I believe that the tiers are fine as they represent the lenses that are getting traffic and therefore where most ads are being seen. Alternatively, royalties could be paid on traffic stats.

CofCJenny says:

I think the tier system itself is fine but I would like to see more tiers added. I think there's too big of a jump from first to third, should be a few more in there.

Sam says:

The lenses I have in the top tiers get 300-1500 page views a week. Obviously my weaker lenses don't deserve more money because they are not bringing in traffic or getting the clicks.

Swapping money out of other tiers wouldn't really help me as I have over 350 lenses spread across the lines...so it's would just equal about the same.

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Let's Review Some Information from the Squid Team

from Getting Started With Squidoo

Squidoo has more than 1.4 million custom lenses. According to the SquidTeam there are many lensmasters earning (for themselves or charity) an excess of $1,000 a year from Squidoo while others are happy with $40 or $4. The Squid Team believes most of the best users write out of passion rather than for the money.

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kovid7 May 26, 2012 @ 12:46 pm | delete

Has it changed now or is it still the same?

Reply

kovid7 May 26, 2012 @ 12:46 pm | delete

Has it changed now or is it still the same?

Reply

domjohnson May 23, 2012 @ 6:10 pm | delete

I don't understand the tier system at all! :S

Reply

ninakreativa May 13, 2012 @ 6:31 am | delete

Hi! The topic of this lens is very interesting and I doo agree it's time for the rules to change in favor of all.

Reply

mel-kav May 5, 2012 @ 3:27 pm | delete

Very interesting lens. I agree with the need to change the tier system!

Reply

fashionality Mar 21, 2012 @ 5:54 pm | delete

Why have tiers at all? Why not just give all lenses a percentage of the advertising revenue that they actually generate? I suspect that if that were the case, it would be more economical for Squidoo users to start their own websites. That said, I hope the tiers are expanded.

Reply

cffutah Mar 17, 2012 @ 5:12 pm | delete

Enjoyed to write up, I learned some things about squidoo.

Reply

Cumberland Mar 3, 2012 @ 10:29 pm | delete

I do think the $ should be spread around a bit more. No brilliant suggestions as to how to do so however.

Reply

Showpup Jan 5, 2012 @ 6:57 pm | delete

If not changed, it may discourage some lensmasters from writing more lenses for fear of not being able to properly keep them pushed hard enough to stay in the top couple tiers or getting discouraged enough to leave all together. By expanding the tiers, Squidoo itself could stand to make more money, too.

Reply

WerewolfCustoms Dec 27, 2011 @ 5:16 am | delete

I really don't know what to think about tiers - I'm kinda divided on this.
My first thought was: "Expand the tiers, so my lenses could make more money."
But then, I thought about it, and I think that it's better keeping the current tiers, so I actually can have a goal here - to get as many tier 1 or 2 lenses as possible!
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