I have been involved in a discussion on a forum of experienced Squidoo lensmasters who have been lensmasters for at least one year. Most of these lensmasters have been members of Squidoo for 4 or 5 years. The discussion is surrounding the topic of why many of their lenses that used to stay in Tier 1, have dropped out of Tier 1, and the same thing is happening with longtime Tier 2 lenses.
Frankly, I do not have a good answer for that question, because I do not know what the Squidoo algorithm consists of, but I can guess that a large factor is just the number of overall Squidoo lenses in general.
One of the things that all of us must face over and over in all aspects of life is change. Change can be good or bad, but it is inevitable, and that is especially true in business. As technology grows, it affects everything we do in business, and although it can be hard to let go of old truths, if we want to succeed, we need to continually assess what is happening, and adjust.
I think part of the problem is that many Squidoo lensmasters do not think that they are in business. Another part of the problem that it is a human trait to resist change. But change does happen, and if we want to keep up, and improve our income, we need to change too.
So let’s examine the discussion of Tier earnings on Squidoo. If you understand the Tier payout system, then you will be aware that there are 3 Tiers on Squidoo that pay each month from pooling ad revenue. Tier 1 is roughly 2000 lenses, Tier 2 is roughly 8000 lenses, and Tier 3 is roughly 70000 lenses. 70000 lenses is a drop in the bucket of the total that Squidoo has, and that total increases daily. And while those of us who have been part of Squidoo for years may wish that we get special privileges for being a member for so long, the truth is, that in the end, it is a competition. I am not going to get into the discussion of whether the Tier system is fair. I have heard that discussion so many times that I am totally sick of it, and if someone brings it up in comments on this post, I will delete it. Frankly, whether it is fair or not does not come into play. The reality is that the Tier payments can no longer suffice as income for all of the worthwhile lenses out there, nor for the numerous excellent writers on Squidoo.
So the next step is how to combat this problem. While we may complain about the number of Tier payments we currently get, we certainly cannot complain about the amount of the Tier payments. Each Tier payment today is a lot more than it used to be even 1 year ago. But because we are human, we want more. And money does not go as far as it did 1 year ago.
How do we get more out of each lens?
There is really only one way to earn more from each lens, and that is by choosing items to sell on the lens that are related to the topic, and then clearly telling people that they can get more information about the items by clicking through the links. For those of you who are not thrilled with the idea of selling, think of it as offering links to more information on the topic that you are writing about. Here is the important point: EVEN IF YOU ARE OFFERING INFORMATION ON YOUR LENS, YOU CAN STILL SELL ITEMS THAT ARE RELATED TO YOUR TOPIC.
We have to remember that our readers are smart enough to make decisions for themselves. They won’t plunk down their hard earned money unless they really want to. After all, are you that easy to lead? But even if one person buys an item from you each month from each lens, you will be earning more than you are now.
So the simple answer to the title question of Does every Squidoo lens need to be a sales lens is “no” however, every lens should be selling something. At least if you think your work is worth enough to make money on it.
About lakeerieartists
Well, coming from someone who hasn’t really made any money in the tier system because I almost never make it to Tier 1 and apparently Tier 2 and once in a while to Tier 3, this topic is interesting.
I have yet to really figure out how to get my lenses out of the basement and the first floor except on occasion. Partly it may have something to do with this whole updating thing. As much as the tier system sometimes confuses me, the whole updating thing is a real perplexing mess. I’ve read about it but I don’t really understand it. It seems like there’s an assumption of knowledge that I don’t have.
I totally agree that every lens is an opportunity to pitch something and is a lost opportunity for potential sales if you don’t. I wish it worked for me but maybe one day I’ll get it all figured out.
There is a lot to learn about Squidoo, far more than you expect when you begin down the road.
I think the biggest frustation for me is knowing that Squidoo as a site is getting updated everyday by new lenses being added. Why on earth does updating a page count so heavily within the lensrank alogorithm? One can only speculate as to why this is, but I do wonder if it is because Squidoo HQ want to reward the people who are consistently active on Squidoo.
I guess no one wants to see a lens ranking high that has not had any attention for a year.
But to update, you don’t have to actually add any new knowledge. So if you have a lens that is difficult to add new information to, there’s other things you can do to update, such as add new products; add new to related information; change the module order around a bit.
Also, look at where your sales modules are. Are you hesitant to put them high up the page, in case you appear to be pushy? I (and others) have found, that a sales module just under the intro and even affiliate links in the intro, actually convert very well.