whydowork.com

[Dave B]

There’s a huge fuss going down in the Wealthy Affilate forum and in loads of other IM forums and blogs about an upcoming Squidoo Slap.

More details here from the Squids themselves.

Whole topics (like weight loss) are gonna get canned (apparently). Yep! No matter how good your lens is, no matter how non-spammy you might think it is. Come mid July they’ll be gone. Poof!

So, what to do?

Well, first check out that lens about the changes and think about how it applies to your own lenses. Do it before the clampdown… and if in doubt pull the lenses. You do NOT want your whole account locked!

Next… I don’t think people should abandon Squidoo, etc… just make sure you create good quality original non-spammy content (but not in the ‘banned’ topics).

And remember the bigger picture…

The thing is, if you are making any kind of sales with Squidoo, you should already have started thinking about branching off, having your own site, getting other traffic sources…

I mean, Squidoo has got to the point where it’s almost as complicated to build lenses and get them indexed as it is to build your own site and SEO it, so start thinking about that.

Squidoo is certainly good to use in some ways, but to build an entire business and income source around it, is probably NOT a good long time plan anyway.

These so called ’slaps’ have happened before… at Ezine, at Squidoo, at Hubpages… and they’ll happen again!

So start preparing now!

I have to say that you’re better off in the long run creating your own sites and blogs on your own domains.

It is NOT that hard to do. Even with something like Dreamweaver, if you can do the HTML stuff on a Squidoo lens you’ll soon get the hang of it.

Ditto Wordpress. But with WP make sure you host those on your own domain and use Themes. There are plenty of free ones and some really good paid ones (for a one off fee).

And before you dismiss the idea of investing in Dreamweaver or some of the better Wordpress Themes consider this…

How much would it cost you to set up an offline shop (or business)? An awful lot more than the cost of DW or a good WP Theme. And you can set up an unlimited supply of online ’shops’ with either.

Building sites is just another learning curve…

And if I can do it, anyone can.

Hell, I’ve even got a lens on it.

Dave B

[annalaurab]

I don't get why people are so upset. I'm a giant squid and I get great results from Squidoo and I don't use spam and I abide to their new rules already. Give good quality and content and all will be just fine.

[Dave B]

Well, Giant Squids are exempt completely so that's fine for them.

And I have to say, IMO, that's THE worst part about the whole thing!

But you're right, and as I said, create good quality original non-spammy content and you'll be fine unless you happen to have something to say on any of the 'banned' topics.

Dave B

[SamWinport]

Hi,

Over the past year I've noticed Squidoo pages on the first page of Google suddenly disappear for a month and then appear back again.

I reckon these changes are happening because Squidoo has been slapped by Google a few times.

Sam

[Dave B]

Hi,

Over the past year I've noticed Squidoo pages on the first page of Google suddenly disappear for a month and then appear back again.

I reckon these changes are happening because Squidoo has been slapped by Google a few times.

Sam

Well, that's kinda the normal Google 'bounce' for things to appear in Google like that. They often put new stuff at the top before they decide where to index it properly.

One thing to note about this Squidoo 'slap' is that it is NOT Google driven (unlike the last major one in 2007). Rather it is Squidoo themselves cleaning up their act. Almost certainly to head off another Google slap.

The biggest uncertainty at the moment is what niches will get hit and what won't. I think their blanket approach to some niches like 'weight loss' is a bit lazy but then that's easy for me to say, I don't police the thing.

Bottom line is 'weight loss' will always be a hop topic and now Squidoo won't have anything on it. I find that hard to believe...

But if you are in that niche (or any others on the 'banned' list) get your content saved somewhere, anywhere and move it to a blog or website. Don't hang around waiting to see if your lenses get locked because if you do you will not be able to access it again.

Dave B

[MLMRomania]

Hi there,

Do you think MLM or Network Marketing niche is going to be policed, too?

Thx,
MLM Romania

[Dave B]

ON MLM or any 'make money online' niche, I just don't know.

And I think that's one of the biggest problems with this. They almost seem to be saying that if any niche becomes spammy (could that mean just popular?) it will go on the 'banned' list.

Dave B