Squidoo is a really popular website that has been listed in the countdown the top 100 websites in the US. Many people make use of it, but for those who have never heard of it or aren’t entirely sure about it, what actually is Squidoo? Can it help you to earn money?
Essentially, Squidoo is a service that is free to use. It allows you to set up individual web pages, which is calls ‘lenses’. Each of these pages is about something specific that the person who created it is interested in. For example, you could set up an ‘about me’ page, or a page about your favourite hobby, a subject you are interested in, a good cause, your business or anything else you can think of. As each page has a single focus, it is like having a camera lens pointed at it – hence the term ‘lenses’.
Most people just use Squidoo for the fun of it, or to raise awareness of favoured causes or the work they are personally doing. Some people, however, use the site to make money through the lenses they set up. So, how does this feature work? Basically, when you set up a ‘lens’ page, Squidoo puts ads on that page. The person who sets up the page (known as the ‘lensmaster’) can also suggest products that they could sell through the page. This is done through affiliate programs that Squidoo has set up with partners such as Amazon and eBay.
So, if you had a lens that was all about cakes, for instance, you could also include links to cookery books that you use and your favourite suppliers for ingredients and so on. Squidoo would also feature relevant adverts on your page. Then, every time someone who look at your page clicked onto or liked one of those adverts or links that you had included, you would earn royalties from it. Users normally get 50% of all the royalties, with the rest going to Squidoo to pay for servers and salaries.
This means that it is possible to earn money with Squidoo, but the amount you earn is going to depend on a couple of things. One is how many lenses you actually have. Another is how many ads and links you include on each lens, and another is how many people subsequently make use of those adverts. Also, many lensmasters choose to send their royalty earnings to charity so they don’t actually keep the money themselves.
However, plenty more people actually do keep the money and the top earners on Squidoo are earning thousands of dollars. Quite a few earn more than $10,000 every year; these tend to be people who devote significant time and attention to their lenses. Other people earn less money, such as $100 or as little as $4. Every little helps, though, and you essentially get out of it what you put in, so if you’re serious about making money on Squidoo there’s a good chance you’ll have a decent amount of success with your lenses.
