Should We Boycott Squidoo? (Part 2)

17 Comments

1. Gunter Eibl from GetArticlesDone.com

   Hehe. Boycotting squidoo wouldn’t make much sense anyway I guess. They have now over 2 million pages/lenses indexed. They now have what they wanted and even if they don’t own the content, they 100% control it…

   Gunter
2. Martin - Security.

   “Squidoo is the perfect place to also build a brand, promote your area of expertise or your business or your eBay store or your charity or your own product…

   BUT…

   You have to play by the rules.”

   That sums it up nicely I think.

   Squidoo is still very useful, but not a basket that I’d put all my eggs in.
3. Dom

   While newbies might have think OWM taught them things that could be applied only to Squidoo and thus were highly frustrated by Squidoo’s new policies, I’ve never thought you would have wanted us to boycott Squidoo and perfectly understood what you meant after having read your first article on this subject.

   You might have lively reactions but they are the ones of an honest person who’s not afraid of saying of what she thinks. Until now everything I’ve read from you made sense and that’s what makes a great marketer out of you.

   Even if I don’t have any other choice than moving my Squidon’t lenses (some of them are two years old), and even if I already have my personal websites I don’t plan to leave Squidoo either. It’s a nice program that small amount after small amount helps people fund their main business as well as offer an income to those that prefer to not have to handle their own website and host.

   Keep up the great job!

   Dom,
   Addams Family Halloween Costumes
4. Cat

   I’ve no idea why those folks didn’t understand your last post – I thought your position was perfectly clear! Perhaps they were just skimming and didn’t bother to actually read it in detail. I don’t think you need to worry about your writing – it IS clear, and it’s hardly your fault if people don’t bother to read properly, or have limited comprehension skills.
5. Richard

   Great post, pot pie girl and great site. I much to do with my WordPress blog and i want to know Squidoo as well. I believe you know how it all works. Thanks
6. Adrian Donaldson

   I don’t plan to specifically boycott Squidoo but given my experience or lack of it, it will just be part of my traffic generating methods. I’m certainly not going to rely on it for any serious income, but if I earn a few quid – well it’ll be a bonus providing I can find topics that are of interest to somebody other than myself. Always reading PotPieGirl though 🙂
7. Carol

   Great posts (both of them). Don’t worry about being unclear…. I understood what you were saying.

   IMO, Why boycott a site just because some of their policies have changed to clean up some of the overwhelming amount of spammy lenses? Personally, when someone blatantly crams their sales and products (meaning multiple links and spammy topics on multiple lenses (sites)) down my throat, I tend to click away for good. The Internet and all its free and paid sites is Free for everyone to use, so IMHO, if you aren’t happy with one free sites’ policies you don’t have to use it.

   But if you:
   Play by the rules and are ethical and moral in your marketing tactics, Squidoo is still a great site to have in your marketing plan. I know I will continue to use it for what it’s for: one small link among many in my marketing campaign.
8. Azghar

   Well said PPG. Squidoo works well if you play by their rules and be creative. Why create a lens on a topic that has too much competition? Be creative and provide useful info for your viewer.
9. Cat

   Forgot to answer your question in my last comment – no, I won’t be boycotting Squidoo (though I hope the spammers do lol). I think that they’re right to tighten things up – unfortunately a lot of people do take the stuff that is taught in places like WA or even OWM, and use it to spam the site with poor quality hard-sell lenses (while ignoring all the advice about providing value to the reader too), so I can see why they’re unhappy with some of the affiliate activity on the site. And while it’s a shame for those who make high quality lenses on banned topics (and I’m one of them), there are plenty of other places to use, or they can, as you say, start their own sites.

   Personally I prefer to use my own sites as landing pages these days, and see Squidoo more as another article directory – good for a backlink, but it’s not my main focus, and my business won’t collapse if some of my lens topics end up on the Squid-don’t list. But for new people without their own sites, who are willing to make the effort to produce high quality, non-spammy lenses based around keywords that aren’t already saturated on the site, then it’s still a good place on which to make a start. I can understand why those who have based their business around it and have now lost their lenses and income are reacting negatively, but it’s unwise to put all your eggs in one basket/on one site, and boycotting it completely is a bit of an over-reaction IMO.
10. Mark

    To answer your question – NO!! Changes were needed as Squidoo was in danger of turning into a bit of a spamfest. I would still like more clarity though on which are the topics that are not allowed.

    So far I have had just one lens hit the spamfilter, but with a couple of pretty minor amendments all was sorted and is now back online!

    Keep up the good work PPG!!
11. Josh

    First I should say that I just read your first post on the subject and think it was crystal clear. But, as you say, brevity isn’t your thing, and I’m guessing most people didn’t read that far down 🙂 You explained very well how Squidoo allows so many things that similar sites do not.

    I totally agree that Squidoo needs to clear out the black hatters that make it so hard for us to get a fair shake anymore. I like the more restrictive rules because it weeds out the lazy and/or unethical marketers, leaving me with less competition.
12. CC

    PPG, don’t worry about the naysayers. I guess you can’t be successful without all that “stuff” coming along with it. I thought your post was perfectly clear, but some just don’t want to hear it.

    I marvel at the link you posted on the Squidoo forum where one poster was saying she just could not live with herself if she sold products she hasn’t tried. HUH? Has she ever worked at a store? Did she try every product before ringing it up?

    TELLING people about a product that is available is called marketing. There is nothing wrong with marketing. Adults have the right to do their own due diligence to see if the product works for their needs.

    Off my soapbox now…..

    CC
13. Barry

    I like the fact Squidoo polices their site, given they more or less allow instant publishing of all non-filtered content.

    I’ve always been of the opinion that if my content was bad it oughtta get whacked or not be approved in the first place – saves me the embarrassment of the public seeing bad content with my name on it.

    Now if we could just figure out a way to whack all the plagarists out there who steal and alter content, don’t publish source links and remove resource box backlinks… I’d be a lot happier.
14. Joan Adams

    My goodness! Of course you did not say boycott Squidoo!
    Personally, I am thankful to be part of an organization like Squidoo – who is interested in keeping the site as spam-free as possible!

    I am thankful every day for lessons I learn from OWM – People who use OWM to make tacky junky lenses – in an effort to make a million dollars overnight — are simply not following the simple directions in the book! Use personal stories and original content.
15. 3dogs

    Just out of curiosity – you mention 700 blogging sites. Do you have a list of those sites (like you have lists of directories/bookmarking sites?)
16. Forest

    Hi Jennifer,

    On recommendation of Josh Spaulding I purchased your guide a while ago and read it with great delight from start to finish. I am very familiar with wordpress and not at all unfamiliar with IM. However I still had a lot of light up moments. I have been traveling for a few months so have not had a chance to put it into practise.

    However I am almsot settled now and am looking forward to puting some of your methods to work, probably starting right off with a niche site.

    Thanks so much,
    Forest.
    Frugal Living Blog
17. mike

    Hi Jennifer,

    I found your information through WA and I wanted to ask you a question –

    I had followed your informaiton posted on WA and my lenses were indexed within 24 hours. 3 of them with a PR of 6 and 8. Very exciting. That was two days ago.

    Today I wanted to check and see if I had any traffic and now my lenses are no longer indexed – NONE OF THEM 🙁

    Is there something you can shed some light on for me? It is rather frustrating and then I hear about all of this stuff that Google hates Squidoo, etc.

    Any help you can provide would be absolutely fantastic.

    Sincerely,

    Mike