Squidlog.net

All about showing good manners when leaving links on Plexos on Squido Lenses.

OK, I know some people hate plexos because, let’s face it, they can be Spam magnets. But I use Plexos a lot, In fact I use them so much that I have a Plexography that helps me keep track of them.

I also have my own “AJ psychology” that stops me deleting them out of sheer frustration because I get more Spam on some of them, than I do quality and, more importantly, relevant links – particularly my lens about losing weight on a wheat free diet!

To save my sanity I think of it like this

Someone has visited my lens, which is good. I delete their link to Belly Button Fluff R Us. I re-publish the lens. All good for Lensrank!

Yep, those low-lifes have no manners and they are also not very clever, because a lot of Lensmasters have invisible Statcounters on their lenses, as well as email notifications when links are added to their Plexos. This enables us to pinpoint EXACTLTY when the link was left and the IP ADDRESS of the culprit. Cue a Spam Report to HQ and if it is a Lensmaster then they are in trouble, ha ha!

However, although it may be time consuming to keep my Plexos clean, it does not bother me that much. What does bother me however, is the (probably unthinking) behaviour of some Lensmasters who leave relevant links on a Plexo.

Would you believe it? As I am posting this article I have just been spammed on my Weight Loss HQ Lens!

Here’s something else to think about

You set up a Plexo on a Lens. You invite people to leave their links via a Squidcast, perhaps through Twitter or any of the other methods you use to network. It gets traffic to your lens and it helps other Lensmasters with backlinks and hopefully traffic to their lenses. But some of these visitors just stay long enough to leave their link and off they go, without so much as a thank you.

To me that is like inviting people to dinner. You give them a lovely meal, which they consume with relish and then they get up and leave. No “thank you”. Nothing.

Next time you leave a link to your lens on a Plexo, how about dropping by the Guestbook and leaving a nice little note?

Thank You by dndartstudio

Just a short article from me this week. I have been in a show that has taken up most of my time since Christmas. However, I am now back and catching up. Next week, we will talk about recipe lenses.

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Recently reading the Captain’s latest post, I was then directed to this post by mac33.

The discussion in hand is how lensrank decays over time, and how traffic affects lensrank decay. While we all know that there is a mysterious algorithm in place that affects lensrank on Squidoo, we also know what some of the factors affecting lensrank are, and to no surprise, traffic is one of them.

Traffic is an important factor on any site because the more focused or quality traffic you get, the more clicks you get on ads, products or any other income producing item. (See Seth’s newest post Everyone gets paid on commission for more on this.) Empty traffic is worthless because it doesn’t produce income which is why the algorithm doesn’t rely on traffic alone.

I believe it makes sense that a lens needs to dynamically increase in traffic for the traffic to have a continued upwards affect on lensrank, because again, it is the traffic that produces income for the page that is the key factor, not just any traffic.

Mac’s analysis of his particular lens just points that out, and that it pays to update your lens periodically for changes and broken links. For those of you who haven’t found it yet, there is a “Need to be edited” link on the left side of your Squidoo dashboard, that shows you any lens that hasn’t been updated in two months or more.

I think that all of us realize that if we get traffic from people already searching on our focused topic (that is what making a lens is all about) that those people are much more likely to buy now or return and buy items from our page or click links on our page. This is the behavior that will pay you or Squidoo or both.

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Lately, we are all talking about lensrank, because lensrank has gotten momentarily stuck in a black hole, and interestingly enough, I read Greekgeek’s blog post about one more way to boost lensrank.

“I’ve been pondering lately how Squidoo’s business model promotes helping other lensmasters, because we all profit when one profits. That’s true more abstractly on other sites, where success breeds success.”

Lensrank is an important indicator for us lensmasters because it tells us how we are doing with our lenses, and where we fit in the community. Of course, it is also one of the things that we are paid for. What I find most fascinating about the Squidoo business model, is what Greekgeek points out, that it benefits us AND Squidoo for us to lensroll to other lenses, and promote other people’s lenses. The longer readers stay on Squidoo as a whole, the more chances there are that Squidoo will earn more money which then gets translated to revenue sharing for us. Squidoo’s community is fostered for support and to help us earn more money all the way around.

How cool is that?! By helping each other, we all earn more money. I wonder what genius thought up THAT plan?

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If you have been paying attention, a lot of things have happened on Squidoo in the last few days. Just in case you haven’t, here they are in brief:

• New Giants have been selected.
• New Angels have been appointed.
• There is a brand new front page for all of us.
• Rules for groups are changing.

Okay, so do you have all that straight? Take a few deep breaths. What does this mean?

Well, I cannot read the mind of the powers that be at Squidoo. But I can tell you what I think you are seeing. Like all good organizations, Squidoo has been growing. And what that means for Squidoo is this, growth is good. Growth means that Squidoo is earning more money, and achieving more popularity. But growth also causes problems for the leadership. Growth makes a group unwieldy, and harder to control. Cracks in the organization develop and sometimes, things get through the cracks that we don’t want in our group.

So now you are seeing the leadership at Squidoo taking control of the growth that we have seen. And it is going to cause some volatility in lensrank and other public indicators for a while until all the new plans are implemented.

And here is what I expect that you will see as you ride out the changes. New giants lenses will go up in lensrank. Angels will be looking for worthy lenses to bless, and that will cause lensrank changes. Groups are being reexamined for their value to Squidoo and to lensmasters. So we will lose some groups and that will affect lensrank. Other groups will become more active, and that will also change lensrank.

Standards are tightening for what it takes to be a Squidoo Giant, and top lensmaster. And this is a good thing. We have heard over and over again in the forum that people want change. Well, now you are getting it, so sit back and see what the changes will do.

Does that change what you should strive for as a lensmaster? No, it does not. You should still be writing good and excellent lenses, promoting them, and involving yourself in the Squidoo community. Is change a good thing? Yes, it is. It is important to remember that Squidoo is a business, and a business needs to control and police itself. Does Squidoo have a reputation? Yes, it does. Squidoo is responsible for maintaining and improving its reputation and that is what you are seeing now.

So hang on for the ride. I think it will be a little bumpy over the next week or so, and then it will settle down some. I think in the end, most of you will be very pleased by the results.
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Are you using all of the data and hints on your Squidoo dashboard to its full capacity. The dashboard is not there just to be pretty, but to give us valuable data about our lenses, their health, and our earning potential. Greekgeek has a wonderful new blog, and her advice about reading those clues is very useful.

“I submit, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, that Squidoo is not expending great gobs of computing and hosting power calculating and storing lens stats for our sole benefit. Most of these stats measure factors alluded to in the FAQ. I suspect that most if not all of our Squidoo Dashboard stats are lensrank factors. We don’t know which carry the most weight, and the lensrank algorithm changes from time to time, but dashboard stats tell us a lot about what Squidoo, at least, thinks is important for an effective webpage.”

This makes a lot of sense to me, and in the post Greekgeek goes on to explain each element separately. A post well worth your time for reminders and information. Click here to read the rest.

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