Squidoo - What a pain in the ass! Alright, so I've already voiced my opinion on Squidoo many times before, but there are a few positives I have taken away from the site.
1) It's a very loyal community. Scratch their back and they'll scratch yours.
2) Long lenses, no matter what is on them, is a plus. 50 Amazon mods, 1 content mod, a voting mod, and comments is a great way to get stars! Lots of people don't even read what you right, they just look at the length, star and comment so you'll do the same to theirs.
3) It can make you money.
I've talked--more like ranted--in length about the first two. So let's move on to the third.
I have around 50 lenses currently on Squidoo. I haven't updated, starred, commented, or added others as friends in months over there. I bring in around $4.50 a month from it still. When I was active, I made about $8.
That may not sound like much, but let's go into it a bit more in-depth.
1) I'm not a big squid. Being a Giant Squid allows you to boost your rank on a few articles of your choice. Do this to your big money makers or your lenses close to the next level and that's a few more bucks, easily.
2) Being more active in the community would have brought in a few more bucks. I did some commenting, some starring, and some posting in the forums, but not nearly enough as I could have if I strictly wanted to use Squidoo as my income source.
3) Time. Even though I've been a member of Squidoo for several years, I barely used the thing besides during a couple months earlier this year. If I kept doing that for a year or more, I would have increased followers, increased stars, and increased comments and links--which all equals more money.
4) I don't have many articles. 50 may sound like a lot to a newbie, but it truly isn't that many. Since I only used it a few months, that's about 16 2/3 lenses a month. If I kept at it for a year, that's 200 articles. Or 4 times as many lenses as I currently have. Do it for three years and that's 600 articles.
5) I could have cranked out one or more articles a day if I was passionate about it. That's twice as many. Instead of 200 articles, it could have been 400 lenses after a year. 8 times as much money!
6) None of my lenses were commercial. Most of the money people are making over on Squidoo is from affiliates, mostly Amazon. One of the big-time money makers was the Kindle 2 or whatever the hell it was that released earlier this year. If you sold one, you get 6%. That's $12 a pop! Sell one a day and that's $360 off of one article. Niiiiiiiice.
Add in all of the above, and that's how you'll make some nice money. How nice? Well, that is tough to say. I wouldn't be surprised at $300/mo. after a year. But it all depends on how commercial your lenses are. In theory, you could easily get $1000-$2000/mo. after a year with the right lenses and community.
TLDR: Write a ton of lenses. Make the lenses long. Make the lenses commercial. Star, comment, and friend others. Be active in the forums. Become a Giant Squid.
