Today was payday - both for Squidoo AND for Associated Content. I love paydays!!! Oddly, since I saw both payment notifications in my email at the same time, it got me to thinking about time spent vs revenue earned.

So - let's discuss it!

Squidoo Earnings - November

Squidoo is still continuing to increase it's payouts each month. Needless to say, traffic is improving, the Google-love is back... PR is up. It's all good.

Last month's payout on Squidoo, the highest paying tier earned $4.67 each (remember, this is the co-op shared earnings that is split amongst lensmasters based on lensrank. This is not earnings from affiliate modules).

The payout we received from Squidoo this month paid out $6.05 for each top-tiered lens! Way to go Squidoo. Thats the best Squidoo payout yet!

Lets take a look at Squidoo earnings of past:

Squidoo Earnings - Past Payout Schedules

Paid in--------Month Earned-------1st Tier------2nd Tier----3rd Tier

July--------------May-----------------$3.80--------$.65-------- $.05
August----------June-----------------$5.99--------$1.03--------$.06
September------July------------------$4.12---------$.73--------$.04
October-------August-----------------$3.32---------$.56--------$.03
November---September--------------$4.67----------$.79--------$.06
December -- October -----------------$6.05--------$1.03--------$.05

Very nice!!! Squidoo earnings keep getting better and better!

After careful examination, mathematical evaluation, and a calculator - it looks like I earned $28.64 just from the adsense share of this Squidoo payout.

Not bad - Thank you, Squidoo!

Associated Content Earnings

I also received my November page view bonus from Associated Content today. Associated Content awards a bonus payout to their content producers based on a fixed amount per so many views of each article you have published.

I've had a couple of articles do really well on AC lately. I started writing for them around the first part of June and I am already just about at 100,000 page views. =)

My page view bonus for the month of November on Associated Content was $41.62.

And a big thank you to Associated Content, too!

Associated Content vs Squidoo - which do YOU do?
Personally, I love both sites and I use both sites. With Squidoo, while the monthly shared payout is somewhat low, the earnings and traffic I see thru-out the month are fabulous. Plus, Squidoo is fun!

On Associated Content, I get paid upfront for my article (usually between $5-$10) and then continue to receive earnings from each article from the page view bonus.

I like 'em both - so I'm not choosing!

Sadly, I haven't had much time for either site lately - been busy building my own sites! But I'll go in and freshen up a lens or two - maybe create a couple each month... and they still seem to do ok. Not as well as constantly tending to them - but they do "ok".

I haven't written for Associated Content in what feels like forever - but the articles I already have there continue to bring me some revenue that I use to buy more domains =)

I made over $70 today from those 2 sites for work I did long ago... know how many domains I can buy with $70? Enough to keep me busy this month! =)

Thank you Squidoo and Associated Content for giving me the opportunity to grow my business!

Hey, one last thing....

If you are looking for unique content/ articles for your blog, website, OR your Squidoo lenses... check out UniqueArticleDirectory.com. You can get a unique version of any article you find on that site... for free!







Brand New to Internet Marketing? Read my four-part blog series - How to START Making Money Online

Its payday at Squidoo! Squidoo just released the payout information for this month. Remember, what we are getting paid now, in November, is for what we earned for our performance on Squidoo in September.

Many people ask me, "How much can you earn with Squidoo?" and it is always a difficult question to answer. I mainly want to respond, "How much do you WANT to earn with Squidoo?"

The potential is unlimited...seriously.

I integrate Squidoo into my marketing efforts for many purposes - whether it be traffic generation or list building, etc - so earning because of effort on Squidoo are truly unlimited.

However, I think what most want to know is "How much can you get paid FROM Squidoo?"

THAT, I can answer =)

This answer will NOT take into account shared affiliate commissions for affiliate modules on your Squidoo lenses. Once you add those co-op affiliate modules for Amazon, eBay, etc, again - the sky is the limit as to how much you could earn.

I want to answer based on what you will earn by just having a lens on Squidoo. The Adsense co-op shared revenue that is distributed each month. This revenue is split up based on performance on a three-tiered payout schedule. The amount each tier is worth changes each month - and these 3 amounts are based on the performance of the Squidoo site as a whole.

The top tier payout goes to the top performing lenses (by lensrank), the 2nd tier to the middle performers, and the 3rd tier goes to the bottom third of lens-rank.

Following me =)

To add more confusion to this explanation, the Squidoo payments we are receiving now in November are actually for the performance of our lenses in September. Earned in September, calculated in October, paid in November.

Got it? =)

I've been involved in 5 payouts from Squidoo. In July (earnings from May) , the top-tier payout was $3.80 per top-tiered lens. Not bad, considering that is just from Adsense co-op shares. In August (earnings from June) the top-tier was paid at $5.99 per lens! NICE!

Sadly, it was about that time that the after-shock of the "Squidoo Slap" start to sink in. The next 2 months, the top-tier payout dropped to $4.12 per lens, and then to $3.32 per lens.

I am happy to report that the top-tier payout for a top-performing lens on Squidoo for performance in September is back up to $4.67! Squidoo took the time to clean it all up, regroup, and come back like gangbusters. The page rank for squidoo.com is back to a PR7 and many, many lenses have very strong PR of thier own. I know I have many PR5's and PR4's in my lensmaster collection alone.

Google also seems to be showing love to Squidoo lenses again, too. Lenses of mine that felt some "ouch" from the Squidoo Slap are now back in the top returns and are seeing a definite increase in Google traffic.

Squidoo is not only "back", but its better than ever. My hat is off to the crew over at Squidoo - they took a nasty situation and made it work for them and for ALL of us =)

Squidoo Earnings - Past Payout Schedules

Paid in--------Month Earned-------1st Tier------2nd Tier----3rd Tier

July--------------May-----------------$3.80--------$.65-------- $.05
August--------June-------------------$5.99--------$1.03--------$.06
September-----July-------------------$4.12---------$.73--------$.04
October------August-----------------$3.32----------$.56--------$.03
November---September--------------$4.67----------$.79--------$.06


So, let's take for example that you have 60 lenses. For ease of math, we will break it down to where you have 20 top-tier lenses, 20 in the 2nd tier, and the last 20 in the 3rd tier.

How much did you make on Squidoo?

20 x $4.67 = $93.40
20 x $.79 = $15.80
20 x $.06 = $1.20

With a total payment from Squidoo of $110.40

And that payment is JUST from Squidoo co-op shared revenue based on the performance of squidoo.com. It has nothing to do with how much you can earn if you have affiliate links on your lenses, and make sales - or if you generate 50-100 more visitors to your blog or website, and make sales - or if you have an eBay store and get much more exposure to your products, and in turn, sell more.

The potential earnings power from participating the in the free social site of Squidoo is unlimited - only YOU can control that. As for your monthly payment from Squidoo, the only thing you can control is the quality of your lenses to keep them ranking well in order to receive top payouts each month.

How can you create high quality lenses? Simple - The Squidoo Profit System.

I'm sure there are many happy - and relieved - lensmasters today. Seems like the storm has passed and the Squidoo Slap is now in the history books. Thankfully, this now not only makes the Squidoo site back to what it was, but also makes it an even better place to have your own, free, website platform and presence.

If you're not participating on Squidoo - you are missing out. If you had been participating, but let it slide since the slap, get back in there.

Life is good =)






Brand New to Internet Marketing? Read my four-part blog series - How to START Making Money Online

I've decided I really like doing posts full of good stuff topped off with a flaky crust....errrrr... title. I spend all day online and I come across so many cool things; why do I need to do a properly focused and keyworded blog post on each subject when I can just run thru my day here.

Once you get past the flaky title, you're bound to find someone...something yummy inside!

Welcome to the PotPie Post #1

Squidoo Stuff...

So, as we all "patiently" await this next Squidoo payday, I got to poking around on my lenses. Now, I'll admit, I've been a bit of a slacker on Squidoo lately. I have spent so much time on my niche sites and other projects that I haven't devoted the time my baby lenses need.

Anyway, I hopped on over to SquidUtils and took a look at my lenses since I know ol' Google did their big song-and-dance lately.

Holy Smokes! Baby got PR!

Two of my lenses are a PR5 , there are 10 lenses with a PR 4, a TON of of PR 3's, and a handful of PR 1's and 2's.

Amazing! Wanna see? Go to SquidUtils and log in a PotPieGirl (really, it's ok)...then click on "advanced dashboard" and you can see ALL my lenses and their PR, etc. Heck, if you want to click the little RSS looking icon after each lens, that will ping them. I would certainly appreciate that ;)

Speaking of "Pinging"...

Yup, my buddy CaptainSquid has some awesome tips and tricks for pinging your Squidoo lenses. That Captain is so smart =)

Speaking of Smart...

Some of you may have heard of a woman by the name of Amy Bass. Amy has a blog where she discloses her earnings and her process of making money online as she attempts to support her beautiful family and pay off debt. She is one smart cookie!

I love reading Amy's blog - especially since I found out just how much she makes from GPT sites... She is like a GPT Goddess! ANYWAY - Amy has put an affiliate link cloaker/redirect program on her website that is wonderful. It is a BIG help for those of those that just don't get that whole thing. Thanks, Amy!

Speaking of Affiliate Links...

I don't know how many of you checked out the list of free keyword tools I posted, but you really shoulda. Did you know that one of those free tools allows you to SEE the keywords that other affiliates are using to promote the same products you are? I was absolutely blown away. You seriously need to go play around with this free keyword tool. It is totally different than anything else. Absolutely amazing!

Speaking of Keywords....

Wow, all this work and research I've done on niche sites and niche blogging has really been paying off. I can already see a HUGE improvement in my Adsense earnings alone. I thought I would be stuck earning 4 cents a day from Adsense forever! Now I'm at a few DOLLARS a DAY. I'm on my way to BIG money from Adsense! Wanna know how I got it going? Check out how I drastically improved my Adsense earnings.

There really is a method to the madness of making money with Adsense. If you want a copy of a great ebook that is an awesome case-study of Adsense earnings stuff, scroll on down to the bottom of the blog...somewhere on the right, you'll see my FREE eBook gift to you. Nope, no email needed...no nuttin' honey =) Just download and enjoy.

Speaking of earnings...

Little Miss PotPieGirl is celebrating! I had my best earnings yet on Clickbank this past payperiod (ended 11-01). I was squealing like a girl! Wait, I AM a girl. Anyway...

Speaking of S-P-A-M...

Ok, no one was actually speaking of that, but I like to play the game of - "Whats in YOUR spam folder?"

Seriously, the junk mail that gets filtered in my email account is always good for a laugh each day. Just today, I was offered a way to grow my hair back, enlarge the size of my.... well, you know.... I also found out that some Nigerian Prince is sending ME a LARGE sum of money! I can't wait to tell my boss to take this job and shove it!

Wait, I AM my boss.

Life is Good =)




Brand New to Internet Marketing? Read my four-part blog series - How to START Making Money Online

I am exhausted. What a week! I've been very busy with my niche sites and other projects that I could literally put my head on this keyboard and sleep like a baby. However, all this hard work is paying off. Just looking at my stats tends to give me a second wind...or fourth wind....fifth? =)

As we start a new month, I'd like to share a few cool things I've come across in my travels on the internet.

Wordtracker Keyword Research Tool

I cannot even begin to stress strongly enough just how important, and how profitable good keyword research is. Not just knowing HOW to do keyword research, but having the right tools to perform your research on. Wordtracker is the bestest ever. This small investment in your business will be returned to you ten, twenty, thirty... a hundred fold. Wordtracker is offering a great deal this month - it's worth taking advantage of their free trial to see what I'm talking about. Click here and use promo code us-annual-15 to take advantage of this deep discount. Offer ends November 30th.

If you'd still like to use free keyword research tools, I came across the most complete list of free keyword tools to use for your research over at websigity.com. Check them out - it's great stuff!

Free Stuff and an Awesome Affiliate Marketing Blog

I am a big fan of Zac Johnson's Super Affiliate Blog. His blog is FULL of solid affiliate marketing advice and direction, and he somehow mixes in his fun side. A definite must read. Zac announced that he is giving away free "I Make Money Online" bumper stickers.... drop by his blog to get yours.

Google Adsense on ABC News

Are you a "Gray Googler"? Check out this great news clip on ABC News about the Google Adsense program. Interesting stuff.... guess the "secret" is outta the bag now, huh? =)

Squidoo for Christmas

Yes all you good boys and girls...the holidays are coming. We are now officially entering the holiday shopping season. Get you Squidoo lenses freshened up and ready for business! Don't let your sales opportunities slip by you. Spend an extra 5 minutes on your lenses to make sure all your links work, your images are appropriate and your holiday decorations are up.

Speaking of Squidoo....

Captain Squid has a great Squidoo-related blog. Great tools and advice. Highly recommended.

Final thoughts from my exhausted state

And for a great laugh, read this blog that offers a copy of one womans eBay auction for Pokemon cards. Sound silly? If you have kids - this will make you laugh til you cry! Poor woman had to take all 6 of her young children to the grocery store and one of them slipped a box of pokemon cards into her cart. Funny, funny stuff. Read "Adventures in Grocery Shopping"

Ok, to bed I go. Here's to a great November!





Brand New to Internet Marketing? Read my four-part blog series - How to START Making Money Online

I made two new lenses on Squidoo today. Guess I had a sudden rush of inspiration come over me =) Ok - truth is that I came across some good keywords and decided to test them out. I like to test niche markets on Squidoo. The stats Squidoo offers on our dashboards are pretty good these days and that makes Squidoo a wonderful testing ground for potential niche markets I'm thinking of expanding on. And hey, Squidoo pays, too.... not a bad deal, is it?

Anyway, as I started making my first lens today, I wrote down what I was doing as I went through the lens creation process the way I do it. As I was looking over my notes I thought, "Hey, this would make a good blog post for my readers!" So - here we go:

How to Make a Lens on Squidoo

How PotPieGirl creates a lens.

Step 1: I call this step the "Chicken/Egg" step. You know, as in, "What came first, the chicken or the egg?"

Before I ever step "foot" into Squidoo, I do some brainstorming first. Sometimes my brainstorming comes from a product idea, sometimes it comes from a keyword idea - hence, the "chicken/egg" nickname. Regardless of what came first, the keyword or the product, both product research and keyword research are required.

If I found a product that looks promising, I do heavy keyword research to find those little golden nugget keywords that have decent search volume but little competition. I use Wordtracker. Wordtracker is flat out the best keyword research tool around - hands down. (Note: Wordtracker is not free, but you can get a free trial run with it by clicking here)

On the other hand, sometimes I am playing around in Wordtracker and I find some sweet keywords, so then I do product research to see if there is a way to monetize my idea. Either way it happens, I always have at least one product in mind and a list of keywords to focus on.

2. Write my content: To me, having my main content written before I get to Squidoo to create a lens is very important. I can focus completely on my content and make sure it is keyword optimized properly before I get to messing with any of the modules, etc. I want to be sure that my content is high-quality and could stand on it's own without all the other whistles and bells. In essence, the above steps are just like article marketing.

Sometimes, I use PLR (Private Label Rights) articles for the content on my lenses. PLR means I didn't actually write the content, but I have rights to it that I can change it up, edit the article, and add my name to it as if it was my own work. Problem with PLR content is that most likely, it has already been indexed on the internet - meaning I am not using unique content on my lens. That's why I re-write the PLR articles to make them unique. I use a free web-based program called DupeCop to make sure my re-write is at least 30% unique from the original article. Therefor, my Squidoo content will be seen as unique content by the search engines and I won't suffer any duplicate content penalties.

3. Create a lens: Yup, time to go to Squidoo. I have my keywords, I have my content, and I have my products. I go to Squidoo, click "create a lens" and go through the steps.

-- First, I give my new lens a title. I don't stress over this too much because this can be changed at any time. I also always tend to choose "do my own thing" when asked what I want to do with my lens. Why? I guess just because I like working with a "blank piece of paper". I guess that is really just personal preference.

-- Second, I give my lens 3 main keyword tags. Again, not a big stress thing either - these tags can be changed and added at any time. Key thing to remember is that if your title is a strong keyword, make sure to add it to your tags.

-- Third, its choosing a url time. I believe the words you choose for your url are very important. I like to get my best keywords in here if at all possible. There are over a quarter of a million lenses in Squidoo now - odds are, your first choice might already be taken. Don't be afraid to use hyphens if needed - I use them all the time. I think that when someone sees your url on Google as a search return, that it is easier for them to read puppy-training-tips than it is to read puppytrainingtips. Google doesn't "read" hyphens, so it's all good to do it that way.

Thats all for the actual set-up part. Enter your capcha code and get into edit mode for your new lens

4. Putting the lens together: Since I chose "do my own thing" in the original set-up for my new Squidoo lens, I get into edit mode and only have an intro module - and nothing else.

Content comes first. I choose "add more modules" and get 4 or 5 new text modules, click save and get to copy/pasting my pre-written content in.

Some things to remember -

-- Your intro module is VERY important. Make sure your keywords are in there and you follow good SEO rules here. (Hint: I offer some great SEO tactics for Squidoo lenses as part of my nine-ebook Squidoo Profit System).

-- My pre-written content is never intended to fill only one module. I will use all 4 or 5 modules and fill it with the content I have already written. When I wrote the content, I broke it into sections. Each section/module will have its own well keyworded title. Module titles are also VERY important.

5. Linking/monetization: Now, I take the steps for my lens to do what it is intended to do. For some, it is to drive traffic to a site, for others it is for affiliate products... whatever the purpose is, I go back in my lens and link as needed.

6. Beautification: Time to "dress up" my lens. I add images, Rss feeds, guestbook, etc, etc to make the lens flow, look better, and suit my needs.

7. Tags: Remember that keyword list I already had prepared? This is where it comes into play. I used that keyword list at first to write my content, now I use it to add relevant tags to my lens.

8. Pre-Publish: Now, I usually hit publish to take a look at my almost finished product. I read through it, check for typos and bad grammar and look for opportunities to bold this, space here, italics there - all to make the readers experience more enjoyable.

9. Clean 'er Up! Last shot in "edit mode" as I make any edits I feel I need. Then I hit "publish" and git'r done!

10. "View This Page" and admire my work! Thats all folks!

10 steps to create a Squidoo lens - that's it. Honestly, the hardest part is step one- the chicken/egg thing. Finding what you want to make your lens about, and get it to where you have a chance in the search engines is most important to me. The actual creation of the lens takes time and patience, but not too much brain power.

When those 10 steps are done, I leave the lens alone. Remember, your new lens is still considered a "work in progress" lens until the next Squidoo lensrank update. Don't do any marketing or pinging to it until AFTER Squidoo has had its chance to rank it. All others will see is an "Under Construction" sign on your new lens, anyway.

In my opinion, the single most important part of your lens is created BEFORE you even get to "create a lens" - the content. It needs to be unique and well-optimized. While lensrank is really cool when you hit a Top 100 lens status, the main purpose, to me, is for the search engines to rank me well and send visitors to my lens - let me re-phrase that... for the search engines to send me targeted traffic to my lens.

So, what do I do to my lens AFTER the next Squidoo lensrank update? How do I promote it? How do I use it to test a niche market?

I think THIS post is plenty long enough.... I'll save those steps for another day.

Have a GREAT weekend!

P.S. - If you use this link for Wordtracker, and look about half way down on the far right, you will see a link for a free pdf eBook called, "Keyword Research Guide". This 52-page eBook is totally free, no need to even give your email address or anything, and is excellent. This is a case study by nine keyword experts written in "real" language - and it is really, REALLY good.





Brand New to Internet Marketing? Read my four-part blog series - How to START Making Money Online

In yesterdays post, I shared an opening email exchange between Joe and I regarding making money with Squidoo. Joe expressed his frustration in not getting the money train rolling with his time on Squidoo - and I offered my oh, SO insightful insight into this issue. (hmmm..."insightful insight" - how's THAT for copywriting skills? haha! Sorry, I've been doing SEO work allllll day, and I'm about out of clever and properly optimized content)

In my last email to Joe, I asked him about his knowledge of proper keyword research and if he knew how to use that research within his online content.

Here is Part 2 of the email exchange between Joe and I:

Jennifer,
That was by far, the best reply I have EVER received to an inquiry. By all means use my name and email, at least I'll be read some where...;) As for keyword research, I don't know if I actually know how to research keywords, but my 1st Len's that I made called The Affiliator was #1 on Google when I searched specifically for The Affiliator. But I guess the name was unique enough to make it so. However, when I put in just the keywords affiliate, or other words of that nature?...NOTHING. So I changed the whole lens around (keyword wise) and haven't even sniffed Google ever since. But my lens's where listed maybe 2000-5000 (my main one is still at #6234) over-all on a daily basis for a long time. In there respective category they were either in the top 100 or less many times. My main lens, Affiliate Advertising from The Affiliator is still at #148 in Seo & Affiliate Marketing and I haven't touched it in over two weeks. I have no idea if any of that means squat, and I am not trying to impress you, I guess I'm trying to say that I think I understand keywording.
But I do get what you are saying about how to earn with Squidoo, but I don't have time for that many lens's. I love to write (can you tell?) so maybe that is the direction I need to be going...but doesn't it help to know what you write about? I know a little about a lot of things, but not a lot about specific things.
Thank you so much again for your response, I will re-read it for retention purposes. lol.
Joe T

Here we go with my "insightful insight":

Ok, Joe - heeeeeeere we go.

let's talk keywords.


Ranking high in Google for a keyword or keyword phrase is AWESOME..... BUT, if no one is LOOKING for that keyword or phrase...well, it don't mean squat =)

I went back and looked at your lenses -

Two things first off -

1 - You, sir, have a beautiful family, and
2 - You certainly have put a lot of work into your lenses - that is obvious.

Keywords are the words that people type in Google Search to find what they are looking for.

I want you to mess with this keyword tool:

http://www.homebizfactory.com/RESEARCH/index.php

I have no clue if I'm supposed to give that out or not, but oh well ... lol. It's the best free one I've found and the results are VERY close to the expensive super keyword tool I use with the guys that contract me out.

With this tool, type in a main word or two about what you want to write about.

For the sake of an example, type in "puppy training" (without the quotes)

It will take a few seconds to give you results - and if you haven't looked at results from a tool like this yet - it may seem like a whole bunch of gibberish at first.

The top phrase (keyword) puppy training has 213,304 searches for it a year - then it breaks down into how many per month, per week, per day, and per hour as you read across. The last number , under "google results" is how many sites come up on Google when someone types in "puppy training" - 761,000. That number is your competition. You'd have to beat all those sites to get to the top of Google for this search term.

For me, using my free methods of Squidoo, blogs, and articles, I find it VERY hard to beat out any search term that has more than 20,000 competing Google results.

If *I* was going to do a blog or a Squidoo lens on "puppy training", I would look at these results and scan down the "google results" side and look for results that are under 1000. Those search terms are money for a free marketer like me. My key to getting "found" online.

I would pick keywords like - "crate puppy training" and "puppy training pad", etc.

My Squidoo lens title would be something like

Puppy Training - Crate Puppy Training Your Pooch (or something like that)

I would be sure to use a dozen or so of those good keywords within my text exactly as they come up on this tool. I would also be sure to use these keywords as my module titles. Your into module and your module titles are SUPER important as far as SEO.

This way, when one of these many people types "crate puppy training" into their friendly Google search tool, MY site will come up for those terms.

Learning to write for the search engines and still make it a good human user experience takes practice - but to write online for any type of income, ya gotta learn it and LIVE IT.

Remember, too, that a Squidoo lens should be like the lens on a camera -- it should "focus in" on a subject (such as "puppy training").

Any of this make ANY sense?

~jennifer

And Joes response back to me:

Jennifer,
Are you a teacher? I have received replies from a few folks who have asked me what I would need to make it in Internet marketing, bla, bla, bla. When I told them SEO, they have all responded in hieroglyphics. Thanks for typing in English and laymen terms. I'm not a dummy, but unless I learn something, well...you can finish that sentence easily enough.
Thanks for explaining it correctly. And thanks for the compliment on my family. Never a dull moment here.

Joe T

The bottom line about creating content for Squidoo, or for ANY web presence, is proper keywording. If you write what people are looking for, they will find you. If you present those keywords in an enjoyable user experience, they will KEEP finding you.

I hear "Content is KING" all the time during my travels online. I'm sorry, but I disagree.

I think of online writing like it is a royal dinner party. King Content knows WHO to invite (proper keywords), but he relies on his beautiful partner, Queen Content, to present it all so that all the guests have a wonderful time (guest being readers AND Google).

Yes - I AM a bit weird...but that image helps me create complete content for both the search engines AND my readers.






Brand New to Internet Marketing? Read my four-part blog series - How to START Making Money Online

I get a good bit of email of my Squidoo Profit System users asking for some feedback on their lenses and ideas for improvement. I love it! In my little world, knowledge ain't worth a darn unless it is shared - and I spend as much time sharing as I can.

Since I announced my Squidoo achievement of being awarded Giant Squid status by the Squidoo staff, I have also been blessed to receive so many congratulatory emails from some super people all over the world. I imagine I should be posting one, or all, of those emails. It would be better PR, right?

Instead, I'd like to post an email I received from someone who is frustrated and is having a hard time turning a profit from Squidoo. I feel like this email exchange would be a lot more help to my readers than the fluffy, "Congrats" emails.

Meet Joe. (Yup, thats Joe over there in that picture). Joe is an All American Guy, ex-Marine, family man....making his living online. Just a good guy. Joe gave me permission to post this email exchange between us in hopes that we can help others get over the "I can't Make Money on Squidoo" hump.

Here we go -

Hi,
You know, I have 3 Squidoo lens's. I use to have 5 but I deleted the other 2. Honestly I got tired of updating them daily, optimizing my brains out and frankly, getting no where. I certainly don't blame Squidoo or any one else. It is just very frustrating reading how everyone else is making money doing the very same things I'm doing.
Okay, I'll get off the pity-pot now. I had to get that out. All I want to know is...ALL YOUR SECRETS!!! NO, kidding. I do have a question however and it involves Squidoo and making money. HOW? I honestly have no clue how people are doing it. I'm beginning to think that no one really is making any money, but they tell every one that they are in order to get people to buy from them so that they can actually make money. I know that isn't happening, but it makes my failure more palatable.
I know I may sound like a wet rag in this email, but I really love doing this, I guess I just wish I were better at it or what ever ingredient I'm missing would magically appear. Do you still even remember my question? I don't. LOL. I better end this before you block me from ever emailing you again. Have a great day.


Joe T

I won't interject too much with my rambling here before I post my response to Joe. Only thing I'd like to say is that I don't think Joe is the only one that feels this way. I spent a LOT... A LOT of time on Squidoo. I do NOT have hundreds and hundreds of lenses (I believe my count is at roughly 60 currently).

I DO make money with Squidoo. Both paid to me BY Squidoo and paid to me thru my marketing and promotion efforts that include Squidoo.

I would never offer my advice, nor market a system that I created, if I didn't know what I was talking about. I'm not a big believer in the ol' "Fake it 'til you make it" mentality that is SO common online.

Here is my response to Joe:

Hiya Joe =)


Nah, not gonna block you from emailing me - you'll have to be a LOT meaner than THAT to get me to block you ;)

Before I get into any of this - I'd like to ask you something:

If I don't use your name (unless you want me to), can I use this email on my blog? I don't think you are the only person with these concerns and I'd love to address it.

Now then - on to your questions/concerns/rants (lol)

Making money with Squidoo.

As far as what Squidoo actually pays me each month - well, it ain't much. Each lens is usually worth about an average of $1 per month. I don't really use the Squidoo amazon and ebay modules on many - occassionally I see a sale from the ones I do use - but mainly Squidoo pays me each month from the co-op portion of the earnings from the site as a whole.

Now, if you knew that one lens would average $1 a month - how would you get to having Squidoo pay you $100 a month? Yup - make a LOT of lenses. Link them to each other, keep 'em fresh...and get out there in the Squidoo world and sign guestbooks, etc (oh, and join groups, too). I spent much of May and June doing just that - and it IS a lot of work.

Getting a good lenrank - and KEEPING a good lensrank is work. Squidoo is a tough "popularity" contest.

Now, you want my "secrets", do ya?

Ok- here's one - I don't make my lenses for the Squidoo popularity contest - I make them for the GOOGLE popularity contest. Yes, I have some lenses that I work on and try to keep as close to the top of the Squidoo lensrank as I can. To be honest, I sell a Squidoo guide - if *I* can't get a top 100 lens, how in the world could I show anyone else how to?

The rest of my lenses however, are for Google and the search engines. With good keywording and a lucky topic here and there, Google sends me traffic and it does not matter what my lensrank is. I simply try to keep most of lenses above the 25,000 or so over-all lensrank to get a better payment from Squidoo, but thats about it.

Joe, for this to work you have got to learn how to do keyword research. Do you know how? If you don't know how to pick topics and write content using the words that people are searching with, you just won't get anywhere.

There is a free program/report called Bum Marketing. Have you read it? Yes, it is written for those that market with articles - but in all honesty - that's all Squidoo really is - hyped up article marketing.

You can get that free course here:

http://www.bummarketingmethod.com

So - to make more money with Squidoo...

Mass create
Write good, original content (with good keywording)
Pick topics that have products associated with them that people want.

Want another secret? I haven't talked about this one (yet)

zimbio

Here's a hint - where it says "submit a blog", keep in mind that they consider a Squidoo page a blog.

Any of this help??

~jennifer

There you have it - a tiny piece of my insight regarding Squidoo. Obviously, there is way more to making money with Squidoo than this tiny piece of insight, and I go into all that in my Squidoo Profit System. Thing is, writing online is different that just writing on paper - not only must you provide a high-quality user experience - you also have to be FOUND online.

There is more of this email exchange between Joe and I that I'll save for my next post. I'll offer a great (and free) keyword research tool and go into more depth as to how the use of proper keywords is MEGA important when creating a Squidoo lens... or ANY content online.

While you wait, why not check out Joes lenses on Squidoo? Tell him PotPieGirl sent ya =)





Brand New to Internet Marketing? Read my four-part blog series - How to START Making Money Online

What exciting news I received yesterday in my email! I have been chosen by the staff at Squidoo to be a Giant Squid! Yes, ME! PotPieGirl! What an honor! See that over there ------> That is my honorary Giant Squid badge!

They like me...they really like me! (ok, sorry for the old Sally Field thing...haha)

I have a pretty good feeling that most of you reading this are totally UNimpressed, aren't you? What the heck IS a Giant Squid, anyway? and WHY is this PotPieGirl chick all happy to be chosen to BE one?

Ok, I hear ya - so let me back up a bit.

There has been a super secret competition going on within a select few lensmasters. Squidoo sent out invitations to a couple hundred of us that challenged us each to create more lenses and to try and have 100 or more high-quality lenses on our dashboard.

When I received the invitation, I took a long look at my dashboard and I "only" had 50+ - worse yet, I simply didn't have the time to mass-create more lenses at that time. Heck I am so busy teaching others how to make money with Squidoo thru my Squidoo Profit System and the follow up help (let alone the lenses I am contracted out to create), there was no way I could create that many more lenses on top of the rest of it!

So, regretfully, I had to let the opportunity to be a Giant Squid slide. I haven't thought too much about it lately as I've been so, so busy elsewhere.

Then - out of the clear blue sky - I get an email from Squidoo yesterday.

It reads:

Congratulations! You have been chosen to join the Giant Squids, our elite squad of the best and most prolific lensmasters on Squidoo. We're nothing short of honored to be working with you.

Then it went on to list all the super secret goodies I get for being chosen for this honor (and it's some real good stuff, too!). However, I imagine I'm not supposed to talk about the goodies.

So, how many lensmasters were honored with this recognition? My last check at the super secret Giant Squid blog showed me a count of about 25 or so that have responded.

All I can say is that this PotPieGirl is truly honored to be recognized by the Squidoo owner (thank you Seth Godin) and the entire Squidoo staff (that means you, too, Megan!) for this recognition as one of their best lensmasters.

Thank you!

I have worked hard on Squidoo and have also worked doubly hard to get others to this fantastic site AND teach them how to properly create high-quality Squidoo lenses with the Squidoo Profit System.






Brand New to Internet Marketing? Read my four-part blog series - How to START Making Money Online

I know the rules of blogging are to do focused posts and type about specific topics, etc, etc.... but there is one thing I love about rules - and that is breaking them!!

First off - Let's talk Squidoo. Squidoo paid out, and boy oh boy is it CRYSTAL clear that the so-called "Squidoo Slap" was very, very real. It appears that while this "Squidoo Slap" didn't effect me all too horribly, it sure must have hit the Squidoo site as a whole pretty dog-gone hard.

My Squidoo payment in August was $61.64 - which was quite good considering that was 54 lenses and just about all of that payment was from Squidoo adsense co-op revenue.

The payment I just received in September (for July Squidoo revenue) was for $35.81.

YUCK!!!!!!

I wasn't impressed. However, I imagine that some lensmasters on Squidoo took a much bigger hit than I did. Besides, its "free money" so my over-all opinion is... "Oh well".

It WILL be better next month.

Speaking of Squidoo... I have a lens that is being featured on the Squidoo homepage! My home energy lens has been there for a few days and man, has traffic taken off for that lens! It was funny in a way, too. That lens hadn't really done anything, then suddenly I noticed traffic to that lens was going thru the roof on my stats. I couldn't figure it out! Then I just happened to really LOOK at the Squidoo homepage, and there I was! Cool beans! Thanks, Squidoo!

For all you Squidoo-doers out there, there is a cool new site for Squidoo lensmasters out on the web now. This is like a luxury version of your Squidoo dashboard. From this site, you can access your stats, update, lensroll, bookmark...and even ping with one little click. It is AWESOME (and FREE). Check out SquidUtils. SquidUtils also makes getting those amazon links/images on your lenses possible now that the iframe option is gone (for those that use their personal Amazon links). Definitely a must-see for Squidoo users.

Associated Content has also updated their page view bonus threshold. Content Producers used to have to hit $15 (10,000 page views) before a payment would be sent. This threshold has now been lowered to $1.50 (only 1,000 page views)! This is a great change and helpful opportunity for those with lower page view counts to get paid much more quickly. Thanks Associated Content!

I've got some articles on AC that are really taking off. It's like a game to me to try and find those illusive little keywords that bring in major traffic. I found a little golden nugget of a keyword that brought in almost 6000 page views in less than 3 weeks....another article that has almost 20,000 page views, too! Considering I joined AC in late May, I am quite proud of my Clout Index of 7 - and very happy with the little revenue stream I now have coming in regularly.


Speaking of hidden "golden nugget" keywords - my love of the niche finding game is also showing in my Clickbank account, too. I've made some Niche Blogs last month and traffic (and SALES) are really picking up and showing some promising results.

Even my Adsense earnings from blogging have improved drastically! It's amazing what can happen when you learn to do something the right way... ha!







Brand New to Internet Marketing? Read my four-part blog series - How to START Making Money Online

How much can you make from a Squidoo lens each month? That seems to be the main question that is asked of me lately. Many ask if it is realistic to expect to make a certain amount each month or if it is possible to make x amount of dollars from one lens, etc, etc. I think you get the drift.

Today, I sat down with all my squid stats and really took a long look at how much each lens was making me.

When it comes to revenue earned from a Squidoo lens, we could be talking about affiliate revenue from your own personal affiliate links, or traffic you drive to another site from which you make money, and other ways you can profit from the use of Squidoo.

Today, in this post, I want to focus entirely on direct income that is actually paid to me by Squidoo.

To date, I have been paid by Squidoo three times. In a few days, I will receive my 4th payment for Squidoo earnings for the month of July.

(Just a quick reminder: Squidoo pays within 45 days after a month closes out. For example; earnings from May are paid out the first part of July, June earnings are paid in August, and now this payment in September will be for July earnings)

JUNE SQUIDOO PAYMENT

In June, I was paid for Squidoo co-op revenue I earned in April. I had a whopping grand total of four lenses in April. Honestly, not a single one of those lenses were any good, either ;)

Each lens earned me .20 in shared adsense revenue.

June Squidoo Payment - April Earnings - 4 Lenses = .80

Each lens averaged a monthly "worth" to me of twenty cents each.

JULY SQUIDOO PAYMENT

The Squidoo payment in July was for May earnings. Now in May I really kicked it in gear. I read Squidoo Blueprint and finally learned how to create lenses. By the end of May I had a total of 34 lenses on my dashboard - four from the previous month and created 30 more (yup, thats like creating a lens a day!)

Squidoo has a three-tiered payment structure for calculating how much each individual lens makes each month. In a nutshell, the top 33.3% of lenses according to lensrank will make the top payout, the middle 33.3% by lensrank will make the mid-tiered payout amount, and the bottom 33.3% will make the bottom tier payout.

For May Squidoo payouts, the payout amounts per tier were:

1st tier: $3.80
2nd tier: $0.65
3rd tier: $0.05

I had 4 lenses make the top-tier payout (mainly the ones that were created early in May), 19 lenses that received the mid-tier payout, and the rest got the lowest payout (mainly ones that were created the last week of May). I also had a few small amazon co-op sales from the Amazon module that Squidoo gives lensmasters to use.

July Squidoo Payment - May Earnings - 34 lenses = $39.47

Each lens now had a monthly "worth" to me of $1.16.

AUGUST SQUIDOO PAYMENT

The Squidoo payment in August was from my June earnings. In June, I created 20 more lenses bringing my total lens count to 54. However, this same month Squidoo also implemented the "Work in Progress" lens classification. Lenses had to meet certain criteria in order to earn Squidoo shared revenue (and to also be available thru Squidoo search). Basically, if a lens on your dashboard has a green check next to it, you get paid for it. No green check? No pay.

The tiered-payout for this month on Squidoo was as follows:

1st Tier: $5.99
2nd Tier: $1.03
3rd Tier: $0.06

As you can see, the payouts went up dramatically which shows that Squidoo was doing well. I had 5 lenses make the top payout, 27 lenses earn the mid payout, 19 lenses make the bottom payout, and 2 lenses got paid na-da for being "WIP" lenses (not completed). I also made a few bucks from Squidoo Amazon shared profits for sales made on my lenses.

August Squidoo Payment - Earnings from June - 54 Lenses = $61.64

If I knew then what I know now, I would ALWAYS make sure my lenses ranked in the top 60%. A rough guess-timate would be above an over-all lensrank of 45,000 to get at least the 2nd tier payout. If I had done that, I could have earned an easy extra $19. Oh well, live and learn, right? Instead of the $1.14 each lens was "worth" to me that month, they would each be worth close to $2.00 each - just from Squidoo shared revenue. Remember, I am not taking any other income earned from my lenses into account here. These amounts are ONLY what SQUIDOO pays me.

So now here we all are - anxiously awaiting our September Squidoo payouts for July earnings. In July, I only created 8 more lenses. I also still have 2 lenses on my dashboard that are "Work In Progress" lenses (no green checks). This means I will be paid for 60 lenses (62 less 2 WIP lenses).

This payout will also show to what extent this so-called "Squidoo Slap" actually had on the entire Squidoo site. From personal experience, I can say this "slap" didn't really effect my lenses too badly. Yes, I saw a drop in traffic on some lenses, and on other lenses I never would have noticed anything different.

However, these Squidoo payments we receive each month are based on how the entire Squidoo site did - not just MY lenses. So, we'll see how that goes. Even if the payment tiers are down some, I have no doubt that earnings for August (to be paid in October) will be back on track.

How Do I Compare to Other Lensmasters?

The next thing I did after calculating my own stats was to take a look around and see what others were earning. I gathered this info from the SquidU forum, a few various blogs, and from a poll that is being done on this lens. Granted, I could only gather info from those that have actually posted anything - and we all know people can say just about anything...so take this as I did - a great resource for a basic idea, but not cold-hard facts.

In the Big Squid scope of things, I seem to be doing better than most, but not as well as some.

I would guess I am maybe in the top third of all lensmasters. Thats a guess.

There are some lensmasters who make three digits a month from Squidoo. Not many - but they are out there. These lensmasters are not only getting paid for Adsense shares per lens, but also they have MANY Amazon and other shared affiliate modules ( and they also have many lenses)

My personal opinion about Squidoo/Amazon modules - and take this for the two cents it might be worth -

I use my own personal Amazon affiliate id on my lenses.

Why? Simple. I would rather have 4% of a sale than half of that commission after sharing it with Squidoo. Actually, it would be less than half, so about 45% of that 4% commission would be more accurate. Amazon only pays 4% for the basic earnings off affiliate sales...so, let's just say, "Nothing personal, Squidoo, I love ya! BUT...this is a business decision."

That said, there are many lensmaster who only monetize their lenses with Squidoo co-op links.... and they do quite well.

I had an email thru the "contact me" link on one of my lenses the other day from someone who was wondering if it was realistic to count on each lens being "worth" $200 a month.

My official answer-

From straight Squidoo/Adsense shared revenue? Heck NO. Wait, let me re-phrase that ... Helllllllll NO! (that was said in my southern "twang"...lol)

BUT, can you make it so that each lens is worth $200 a month to YOU and brings in that much to YOU each month? Sure. Why not?

I have lenses that are worth more than that each month to me. I also have lenses that are worth exactly 6 cents a month to me.

Ok, so now we all want to know how to do this, right? Right.

First off, learn to make GOOD Squidoo lenses. You cannot just throw random content or banners on a lens and expect hundreds upon hundreds of dollars to flood your accounts.

Squidoo calls these free web pages a "lens" for a reason. A lens on a camera will focus in on a subject. So should these free web pages. Further, each lens should not just give info, it should also point readers to MORE info. Your lens should tell quality information and then send readers on their way to what the reader is looking for. All of this is started with proper keyword research and by learning how to put it all together into an effective lens. Quality wins this game. Squidoo is FAR from a Get Rich Quick scheme or concept, sorry. However, Squidoo IS a free way to get online presence for whatever you want to share with the world.

Focus, Tell, Send

Think of a layover at an airport. You get off the first plane and go straight to the info you need to find where you want to go next. You find what you need, then go on your way. Sometimes, you are sent to a flight on the same airline...sometimes you are sent to a different airline. Get my drift?

Where you send your readers to find the info they are looking for can be to another one of your own sites, or totally off somewhere else on the internet. This is totally up to you - and this is where your monetization of a Squidoo lens REALLY happens.

I hope this LONG post has helped someone get an idea of how much you can earn from Squidoo. I know it has really helped me.

I now know that if I get back on my create-a-lens-a-day track, I can have a nice additional income stream from Squidoo. A free web site that will pay ME to use it. All I have to do is continue to follow my own advice in my Squidoo Profit System over and over. I can just about create lenses in my sleep now! =)








Brand New to Internet Marketing? Read my four-part blog series - How to START Making Money Online

The basic premise behind Squidoo is the observation that people want insight and meaning when they search for information on the internet. This is what drove Seth Godin to develop Squidoo.

Squidoo is about developing a community of people who are building web pages (or lenses - which is what Seth has called them) on a range of diverse subjects.

Did you know that Squidoo welcomes Internet Marketers like us. You don't have to develop techniques to get around the Terms of Service (TOS) as you do with some other Web 2.0 sites.

In fact Squidoo practically falls over themselves to provide you with a free and easy-to-use environment to help your online business grow.

Are You Using Squidoo To Make Money On The Internet Yet? If you're not, then you're leaving subscribers and money on the table!

You're missing out on one of the most powerful free advertising mediums that has ever hit the internet.

Squidoo, at this moment, is one of the fastest growing social networks on the internet. A growing number of Internet Marketers have been using this website's free advertising to:

> Expand their affiliate marketing business

> Establish themselves as an expert in any niche they desire

> Build lists and generate targeted traffic to their websites

> Claim top rankings in Google for highly competitive keywords

The trick to actually making this work for you is to have access to the right information and the tricks of the trade from experts that are actually building lenses themselves and optimizing them to help Google's natural search engine pick them up.

These are the things I teach in my Squidoo Profit System, and now, I have come across a great deal on a new Squidoo Guide to hit the market.

Module 1 of the Squidoo Training Formula "What The Heck Is Squidoo?" contains an interview with Bob Jenkins. Bob is an ex-school teacher and is the force behind the premier site on the internet for all things associated with Squidoo.

In this interview Bob demystifies the Squidoo terminology and shows you how he has created lenses that rank in the top three of Google.

Go ahead and type in the phrase "top network marketing companies" into Google and you will see that Bob's lens www.squidoo.com/moneymakers is ranked in the top three listings.

Do you understand what that will do for your Internet Business?

Squidoo Training Formula is currently in pre-launch and I have a special link to get a very special rate (the only way to get this special rate is detailed at the end of this post). You may notice that the direct link to this product is a "sign up to be notified when this product is released" type page. If you follow the link at the bottom of this post here, you can "sneak in" before the rate goes up.

John is also including a full ebook transcript of the interview and Master Resale Rights to anyone that sends him an honest opinion about Squidoo Training Formula.


Squidoo is one of the fastest growing Web 2.0 websites for Internet Marketers. You can build a Squidoo lens in less than 15 minutes and best of all it is free. "What The Heck Is Squidoo?" will get you up and running quickly and heading towards the 1st page of Google!

Maybe you have heard about Squidoo but don't fully understand what it is and how it can be used to fast track your internet marketing business.

What if you could sit down and grill a Squidoo expert who has his Squidoo lenses ranked on the 1st page of Google's natural search engine time and time again and has been featured in the New York Times, what sort of questions would you ask?

Perhaps you'd want to know...

> What the heck is this thing called Squidoo and why should I care about it?

> How can Squidoo be used to build my business?

> How can I build a FREE visitor interactive website in 5 minutes that will rank highly?

> What are the three things you need to do to generate tons of free traffic?

You can get all these answers - and so much more with Squidoo Training Formula.

The only way to get the special pre-launch rate is to click here. Right now, it is $7 - but just for a few more days. This product is scheduled to officially lauch at 6 am on August 28th. As of that moment, this special rate will no longer be available.

Heck, It's almost as good as my Squidoo Profit System ;)







Brand New to Internet Marketing? Read my four-part blog series - How to START Making Money Online

I get many emails, private messages, and questions in forums about my experience with Squidoo that I figured it's time to spill it and do something very unconventional.

This will be unusual.

No, this will be flat-out WEIRD.

I am about to interview myself.

Now, don't get me wrong - I am not going to talk to myself, but I am going to re-print the most common questions I get asked about my "career" on Squidoo.

Why not, right? It's not like Squidoo is some deep, dark secret.

So, here we go. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to leave them in the comment section. I'll answer asap.

How long have you been active on Squidoo?

I think I signed up for Squidoo in Feb or March of 2007. I remember hearing about it and really liking the concept/vision Seth Godin had for the site. However, I signed up and had NO CLUE what I was supposed to be doing or how to do it. I messed around with it for a little, and then I guess I gave up and forgot about it.

What brought you back to Squidoo?

A little book called Squidoo Blueprint. I read that ebook and it's like a lightbulb went off. Not only did I "get" what I was trying to accomplish, but I had a uhhh...well, for lack of a better word, I had a blueprint to follow that showed me HOW to accomplish it. It certainly was a defining moment.

After that "defining moment", how did you do with your lenses?

I made notes of my first attempt with making Squidoo lenses after reading Squidoo Blueprint. I created a few lenses on May 2, 2007 and they all did well, and it was QUICK.

For example, my still best-performing lens, Lens Exposure was #132,965 the day i created it. Over night, it went to #2,495 and #77 in its category. Within 5 days, it was at #1268 over-all and #35 in its category. Once I had the total concept of what I was doing, and how I needed to do it... I was off running!

In the 3 months since creating that lens, it has gotten better and better - it has even spent time in the Top 100 lenses OVER-ALL!

Is the "secret" to Squidoo all in making the lenses?

No. While it is super important to do "on-page" optimization properly, it is equally important to learn how to promote your lenses. I learned a lot about that from Squidoo Marketing Systems.

Ron Pass, the author, is such a neat guy. From Ron, I learned not only about creating lenses, but about marketing them to get the most traffic possible. There so many things you can do to increase traffic AND lensrank. Simple things - like signing guestbooks, but knowing when to leave a link to YOUR lens - and when NOT to leave a link. There are so many tips to doing better on Squidoo and Ron has so many of them in one place (AND he sends a regular update newsletter when he finds something else).

How many lenses on Squidoo do you have?

I believe I am currently at about 44 lenses. The ones at the bottom of the heap are patiently waiting for me to stop playing on my blog and come love them a little =)

Out of all your lenses, which is your favorite?

Actually, I have a couple of favorites.

I love What is Squidoo? Squidoo is such a cool site and I want everyone to be as fired up about it as I am.

I also really like my Blogging Advice lens. I made that lens right before I started this blog. Blogging was intimidating to me and I wanted to learn how to do it right. That lens offers a lot of solid advice on how to get the blog going.

I love making lenses that allow me to have the real "me" shine thru. I have an odd and conversational writing style that may annoy some - but it's me. I type the same way I would talk to you if you were sitting right in front of me.

Whats the best single piece of advice you would give a new-comer to Squidoo?

While there are so many important things to know and practice on Squidoo, I would say this is the #1 -

Write your own content.

Nothing works better than your own unique style and wording. Once you learn how to create properly key-worded content, the sky will be the limit for you. Copy/paste ain't gonna cut it on Squidoo - or anywhere on the web.

What do you think of the recent "Squidoo Slap"?

This may sound odd, but I am actually glad it happened. So many lenses with sub-par content were riding the coat-tails of Squidoos powerful Page Rank... it wasn't fair to those that were busting tail to make solid and high-quality lenses. I'm afraid that if the spammers kept on being rewarded from Google by simply abusing Squidoo, that the entire site could have fallen apart. To me, this so-called "Squidoo Slap" was like a good rain shower that cleared the air. Now we can all get back to work.

How did you do on the last pay-out from Squidoo?

I did well...about double the previous month. I made a bit over $60 and that made me quite happy. Heck, Seth Godin is the only person I know that pays me to hang out with him! That payment was purely because I have lenses on Squidoo (AND I learned HOW to create them). I can't wait for NEXT month! Is it September yet?

Is Squidoo your sole source of online income?

Oh no....definitely not. One really good rule is to never put all your eggs in one cyber basket. I love Squidoo, and Squidoo has been darn good to me - BUT, it is ONE free platform I use to create a whole system of revenue on the internet.

What's your golf handicap?

Uh boy - now who went and asked that? Once upon a time, before my butt was parked in front of a computer all day, my handicap was about a 9. If I play to a 14 now, I am thrilled. I just don't get to play enough.

You and your hubby play a lot of golf together....do you place wagers on your round?

Always. And honey, it can get quite serious. He is my husband and best friend...but on the golf course he is just another player (as I am to him). Being that we are both highly-competitive people, we both enjoy this trait about each other ...most of the time ;)

Who wins most often?

Oh dear, can I take the 5th on that? Hmmm....

Alright, here is my official answer since this blog is available to be read 'round the globe.

At this moment we are all square. That's my story, I'm sticking to it.








Brand New to Internet Marketing? Read my four-part blog series - How to START Making Money Online

When it comes to making money online, it is so exciting to get paid - for doing nothing. I'm very passionate about my online business and I work on it every day. Lots and lots of hours have gone into doing, learning, reading, re-learning, re-reading...and then, of course, re-doing! I have been dedicated to learning how to earn money from this computer of mine for the least amount of over-head as possible to not only improve the finances in my life, but to also pass that knowledge along to help others.

Knowledge is useless unless it is shared.

Besides, we're all friends, right? If you won the lottery, you'd send me a cut of your millions, right? (ha-ha!)

I adore Squidoo. I am so thankful to that site for giving me, and EVERYONE, a free platform to raise their voice and be heard online. Today is one of those days I adore that squiddly website even more.

My best performing lens, Lens Exposure, has now enjoyed 5 days or so on the Top 100 over-all list. Today it sits at #87 (and has gotten as high as #73). This was the first lens I made after reading Squidoo BluePrint back in May. Squidoo certainly changed for me once I had an good concept of how it all works.

As I checked my stats on Squidoo today, I noticed the pretty little blue screen that pops up on special days.... days also known as PAYDAY!

Squidoo shares it's advertising revenue with it's lensmasters (page authors). There is a one month "delay" in payouts, meaning what I earn now, in August, will be paid the first part of October. Todays payment is for my Squidoo earnings for June.

As you can see from the right sidebar, I got paid last month in July for my May earnings on Squidoo. May was the first month I got serious about Squidoo and as you can see, I made a little over $30 in co-op advertising revenue. About $10 of that was from some sales off co-op affiliate modules, but the rest was from plain ol' page-view advertising revenue.

This payment I will receive for June is about $5 in co-op affiliate income, and the rest is simple co-op payout. In a nutshell, that basically means that I am being paid just because I participate within the Squidoo community and make quality lenses.

In June, I had about 30 lenses with some of those being created towards the end of that month.

Guess how much my payment is? If you guess hundreds of dollars, you are so wrong...haha!

BUT - my payment is almost DOUBLE what I made for May!!!!

Yes, I am doing the "happy squid-diddly dance"!!

This is FREE money! This is passive, residual income from work I did one time, but continues to pay me. At this rate, now that I have even more lenses, this will also be recurring residual income.

Ladies and gentlemen - I am LOVING that!

You can do this, too. Heck, you can far out-do what I've done - but you have to start.

Read my four-part series on How to START making money online - Step by step. Sign up for the programs, use all four methods I offered to promote - and learn NOW. Once you know how, you can rinse and repeat - rinse and repeat - rinse and repeat - until you have more money than you know what to do with :)

Learn HOW and learn NOW.

Have a great day!

I was first exposed to the whole Internet Marketing world at the end of February of this year. I started asking questions to a friend who already was involved with internet marketing and I guess I started asking too many questions. He pointed me to a popular online marketing forum and little Miss Curiosity was hooked. I read and read..and read more. I researched online...learned about affiliate marketing, HTML, php, article marketing, making websites, ftp....Squidoo....and so much more. It was like an intense college semester slammed into a 2 month period.

It wasn't until May of this year that I really got started. I learned to put Squidoo together with article marketing -and also learned how to get paid for my articles with Associated Content - and money coming in got more regular. It was quite fun - but so much to learn. Seemed like each time I started to do something, there was yet another thing to learn.

When I first started, I only worked with free platforms to make money online, and I only promoted/affiliated with products that offered instant commission.

Why? To be perfectly blunt - I wanted money NOW, not in a month or two when the affiliate companies paid out.

While I did ok (about $900 in May and $1200 in June), I knew there was more to earn and knew I could earn it without overhead or paying to advertise.

I really wanted to promote Clickbank digital products. Clickbank has the largest inventory of digital products available and they pay every two weeks. BUT, you had to earn at least $100 for the first check to be cut, and that $100 had to consist of at least one visa payment and one mastercard payment. In this time of Paypal's popularity, this could prove to be difficult.

At the very end of June, I decided to give Clickbank a try. It wasn't the best effort, but it was enough for me to try it out.

Today I received my first Clickbank check in the mail. This check is for my first pay period with them (7/1/2007- 7/15/2007)

Look:




It ain't millions...and it ain't thousands... but I now know it CAN be done!!

I am so excited, and I hope that this inspires even ONE person to get involved with internet marketing.

I posted my July earnings in the sidebar to the left. Not too bad, but what really excites me is that in July I just started trying Clickbank and the GPT sites. I really feel that August will be so much better.

I'd like to share with you just one of the things I do to promote my Squidoo lenses. This tactic gets bonus points because it earns me money paid directly to my Paypal account usually within a few days.

I am a Content Producer for Associated Content. I write articles that are 400-600 words on any given subject and get paid for them. AC is a PR 6 website (at the time of this writing) which also offers me an opportunity for a strong link in to my lenses.

I have this lens - What is Squidoo .

I love this lens.

I love Squidoo so it was a very easy topic for me.

Within the content, I give a brief over-view of Squidoo and answer some of the most common questions I receive. For those that are looking for a "how-to" guide for learning Squidoo, I offer direction to all the ones I know of.

At the very bottom of this lens, there is a copy of a forum post I made in the eWealth forum for Internet Marketers

So many come into that forum (and most IM forums) asking how they can started making money online. I truly believe that Squidoo is a wonderful opportunity for anyone, regardless of experience level, to get started. My post reflects WHY I feel that way.

Ok, back to this promotion technique.

I wrote this article -The Squidoo Community and You - How to Join the Squidoo Family - and within the resource section, I linked to my lens. I made a whopping $4 + on the article itself, I got a high PR link IN to my lens, and I also accomplished a traffic generation opportunity - all for free.

Is this a "be a millionaire over-night" tip? Uh, no...hardly. However, this is a free way to promote your lens and get more targeted traffic TO your lens, this technique also gives that high PR link in that is SO helpful for lensrank and search engine ranking for my lens. This is a tip that also makes you some money very quickly, and for that little bit of effort on the front-side, I get to benefit from recurring passive income from not only traffic to my lens, but also for page views of the article itself.

I also get recurring income from Squidoo, too. Squidoo is a co-op affiliate opportunity. Each lens gets a share of the revenue Squidoo generates.

Do this a bunch of times, and you'll have yourself a LOT of little "bread crumb" trails that give YOU the opportunity to earn some extra cash online - or start to make a living off of it.

And it all cost me nothing but some time.

For more information on how to write articles for the internet, please visit my article marketing lens. There are two great (free) ebooks available there that explain how it all works available from that lens.








Check out my Technorati Profile