Don't believe the hype, Squidoo is not the greatest thing since sliced bread. You won't make any money with it, and the world really doesn't need another lens crammed with cookie-cutter modules.
List of reasons why Squidoo is useless:
- You can't make any money of Squidoo. I've seen $2 per day mentioned in the FAQs, but you would need at least a couple of hundred daily visitors to make that happen. Not to mention that the Squidoo interface is slow and buggy.
- Squidoo doesn't have good content. Unlike wikipedia, which is maintained by volunteers, Squidoo invites you to make a lens in the hopes of making some cash. You end up with a lot cookie-cutter lenses made up of pre-fabricated modules.
- Other user driven content sites like YouTube, Ytmnd and Flickr feature a content portal on their main page, thereby attracting a large viewer base. Squidoo doens't give you a great reason to look around. The main hook is, make a lens, start making $$. As a result, the only people looking around Squidoo are other lensmakers.
- Squidoo lenses basically rely on other sites such Amazon, YouTube, Flickr, etc, for their content. There is little original or meaningful content on the site.
But don't take my word for it...
Here's what others are saying about Squidoo:
- Why Squidoo Monetization Sucks
- A much more in depth discussion about what's wrong with Squidoo, and it's not just monetization!
- Is Squidoo becoming a massive, dirty SEO back alley?
- An internet publishing heavyweight weighs in on the spamfest Squidoo was bound to have become.
- Squidoo, Edgeio and the "F-Word"
- Another industry pundit predicts failure for Squidoo because "the revenues haven't been great and the amount of work required is far higher than the reward."
- Squidoo: Seth Godin's Purple Albatross?
- Yet another web tech blog, TechCrunch.com, predicts failure and doom for Squidoo and it's founder.
- Does Squidoo Suck?
- Another fellow lensmaker expresses angst over the pros and cons of Squidoo.
Great Stuff *cough* at CafePress
As if Cafepress didn't have enough junk on their end, Squidoo decided to open up a swag shop. Somebody make some "Squidoo sucks" tees quick.
Squidoo Mug
Our project was borne by coffee. Get your SquidMug too.
Price: 12.99
Tag It. The Squidoo Bumper Sticker.
Get your SquidSwag. Brought to you from the fantastic five at Squidoo.com.
Price: 5.49
How much does Squidoo suck??
We really want your your expert opinion here...
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Reader Feedback
Let's talk about how much Squidoo sucks here:
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- Vusal Vusal Nov 23, 2009 @ 10:28 am
- You see? How many views you got from this lens?
I searched for Squidoo Sucks and found your lens, you want the reason why? Because one of the keywords I was searching for is in the domain name (squidoo.com).
Lately, squidoo lenses takes so much time to load, I don't know why, probably they are using some kind of other scripts.
Anyway, I was squidoo lensmaster a long time ago (before I deleted my account).
Wish you luck!
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- gamelinxx gamelinxx Nov 4, 2009 @ 1:44 pm
- I made a few nice quality lenses with good content, and the best I got was 3 views. I even optimized my lenses for SEO, but it still sucks. I put so much time and effort into my lenses, I get a sigh if frustration when all my hard work falls to the bottom the the search results.
They say this site can boost a page rank, and traffic... How, if nobody wants to look at a lense?
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- danielb25 danielb25 Oct 16, 2009 @ 12:54 pm
- My first lens ever locked...so sad...
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- shiznaught shiznaught Sep 25, 2009 @ 10:24 pm
- Hey, all-lens creator here. It's been more than a couple of years *ahem*, but the lens is finally seeing some traffic. Thanks for visiting and sharing your opinions.
While there have been some changes under the hood-the front page now features an Alltop-like content portal, more modules, etc., the fact remains that Squidoo's always been primarily a destination for creating and publishing content, and not for actually consuming it. Have you ever heard anyone say "Hey, let's go to Squidoo.com and check out this or that?" No. In fact, I've never seen an external link point to Squidoo, unless it's a lens that teaches you to make another Squidoo lens.
This emphasis on easy content creation, and overuse of external content via modules creates an oversaturation of bland content. Squidoo beckons you to put together a lens even if you don't have much to say-"Someone, somewhere, wants to know what you think." That, my friends, is putting the cart before the horse.
Your turn..
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- Sep 22, 2009 @ 9:40 am
- Squidoo sucks big time. It is time to change publisher, which pays.squidnose
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- Jose Jose Jun 26, 2009 @ 3:40 pm
- Fuck Squidoo. Squidoo sucks fucking shit!
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- pennyroll pennyroll Jun 21, 2009 @ 5:31 am
- So far, I've never had so much trouble with a website. I've never had so much trouble logging in, I've never had so much trouble publishing something. I have some knowledge, I know how to code, I know what an rss feed is, I know how this is supposed to work but either because I'm using google chrome, or because they don't know how to build a user friendly system I just can't seem to make this work smoothly.
http://www.pennyroll.com
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- May 4, 2009 @ 10:14 pm
- I don't really like it either and I want to delete my account... I just got it 10 minutes ago too. lol & It's funny because I have really been searching for how to delete it and it's like someone has tried very hard to prevent that from being possible. I really want to, so please help me!
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- shiznaught shiznaught Apr 24, 2009 @ 4:02 am
- Hey, everyone, and thanks for taking the time to comment. It's been two and a half years since this "lens" was created, and I can now confirm with unequivocal certainty that Squidoo *still* sucks!
-The creator of the best lens on Squidoo.
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- Organic Baby Emporium Organic Baby Emporium Apr 3, 2009 @ 9:18 am
- You can't voice your opinion from the moderators on any subject (like the boy in the smoking ad) without getting yourself banned.
I made a whooping $20 in 8 months, I'm RICH!!
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- TracyVA TracyVA Jan 27, 2009 @ 8:14 pm
- Hilarious lens. Thanks for the laugh. And yes, I can see where you're coming from. I have like 20 lenses that only make about a whopping $5.00 a month total after a year (and I've spent a LOT of time on them). I get more money on my private sites that include my own Amazon and Google affiliate links. I'm starting to wonder why I spent so much time developing the Squidoo sites.
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- Greg Greg Jan 27, 2009 @ 3:37 pm
- Two major bugs I noticed with squidoo has to do with the signup. One bug I noticed is that Squidoo is not able to distinguish a real email address from one that is flawed. I forgot to add a ".com" at the end of my email address but is STILL accepted it. When I tried getting my password for my email address that didn't exist, it reset my password and send it to my "non-existing" email. So basically I'm locked out of my lense with no way to login. Another problem I noticed with the signup is that Squidoo doesn't require activation when creating a new account. So basically, if you type in the wrong email address, your account will be activated anyways. I don't understand how these simple problems could exist on a website that appears to be created by talented programmers. Shows you how some people can be really smart when it comes to technical things and really dumb when it comes to "common sense" stuff. Did any of you guys ever watch the movie "Rain Man"?
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- Greg Greg Jan 27, 2009 @ 3:37 pm
- Two major bugs I noticed with squidoo has to do with the signup. One bug I noticed is that Squidoo is not able to distinguish a real email address from one that is flawed. I forgot to add a ".com" at the end of my email address but is STILL accepted it. When I tried getting my password for my email address that didn't exist, it reset my password and send it to my "non-existing" email. So basically I'm locked out of my lense with no way to login. Another problem I noticed with the signup is that Squidoo doesn't require activation when creating a new account. So basically, if you type in the wrong email address, your account will be activated anyways. I don't understand how these simple problems could exist on a website that appears to be created by talented programmers. Shows you how some people can be really smart when it comes to technical things and really dumb when it comes to "common sense" stuff. Did any of you guys ever watch the movie "Rain Man"?
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- Oct 3, 2008 @ 4:18 pm
- Well at least you my friend are a testament to Squidoo having a free speech policy.
I have to admit I like the rabble-rousers though.
Good luck to you!
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- Chadrew Chadrew Aug 27, 2008 @ 7:38 pm
- Your 'proof' doesn't mean anything at all, except that you don't know how to build lenses which attract traffic.
On the other hand, I agree that Squidoo has huge amounts of spammy lenses created just to get 'backlinks' to improve search rankings of some other site.
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- JigsawForte JigsawForte Aug 7, 2008 @ 12:49 pm
- This would make a great topic for a lens... if you did it right! *laugh* Shame, you know. You could really make this a better lens.
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- jstonedotorg jstonedotorg Jun 11, 2008 @ 6:02 pm
- Great lens. I don't agree with it all, but I thought you would want to join the Worst Ever Group.
http://www.squidoo.com/groups/Worst_Ever
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- Reco Reco May 25, 2008 @ 7:41 pm
- I agree with Squidoo SUCKS! I have been building and maintaining my lens with my own effort and hardworking, without illegal contents, and with only 1 outbound link on it, suddenly closed for spam reason! What the f***!
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- Blud Blud May 18, 2008 @ 1:29 pm
- What do you mean? The world needed a great place for know-nothings to come and tell other know-nothings about stuff they know nothing much about.
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- dougler dougler Apr 9, 2008 @ 6:03 am
- Just joined Squidoo this morning and now I find out it sucks?!!! Bummer...
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- Mar 12, 2008 @ 8:25 am
- neat!
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- Kia31 Kia31 Mar 1, 2008 @ 4:59 pm
- Squidoo is fun and I make a lot more than 2 bucks.
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- Brian Brian Jul 10, 2007 @ 8:05 pm
- She's pretty cute, I'd take her up on that offer.
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- GannonBeck GannonBeck Jun 14, 2007 @ 9:41 pm
- I disagree with you about Squidoo. I think it's very useful and I've been able to help people with my lenses, mostly with my lenses on art. Still, I enjoy the irreverence of your lens, and I think you used the technology well to make your point--a fact which drips with irony.
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- MrLewisSmile MrLewisSmile Jun 12, 2007 @ 9:25 am
- Your flickr screenshot of you not making any money using Squidoo is not proof that nobody can. Just that you can't. I make over $1000 a month from my lenses. But I still wouldn't claim it will make (significant) money for everyone. It depends on the person. As Kimberly says, just learn the craft :)
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- nemezide nemezide Jun 12, 2007 @ 5:22 am
- This lens is funny :D I just googled "squidoo sucks" and I found you. I've only spent a couple of months on Squidoo, and I had some suspicions... One way or the other, I think Squidoo needs a negative guy :)
How much are you making on Squidoo now? How much on this lens alone?
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- PaulaFarris PaulaFarris May 11, 2007 @ 3:41 pm
- I think Squidoo is just like any other web business project. You get out of it what you put into it. Sorry you're not satisfied with what Squidd has to offer. Perhaps you should look for opportunities elsewhere.
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- Teacher-of-acourseinmiracles Teacher-of-acourseinmiracles Apr 29, 2007 @ 6:16 pm
- Well, I guess you must be right.
BUT I have worked for about 20 hrs, made ten lenses and now I have a keyword showing up #2 on google, from lenses made here on squidoo. Somethings working and sure ain't me.Yeah, your right, that sucks! LOL
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- N376 N376 Apr 15, 2007 @ 11:06 pm
- Interesting lens. If you can find a site that makes you money AND you don't need visitors (lots of traffic) then let us know okay.
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- SteveMNash SteveMNash Jan 15, 2007 @ 6:19 am
- I understand what you mean in this lens, especially regarding the money. However, I would prefer to vote for a fourth option:
Squidoo is a great idea, but only time will tell if my repeatedly building great Squidoo lenses will 'work'
Squidoo is kind of like article marketing don't you think?
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by shiznaught
This lensmaster has been a member of Squidoo for just under a month, but that's seems like plenty of time to find out how much Squidoo sucks.
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