It's Traffic, Not Sales!

There have been revolutionary changes lately in the Squidoo rankings - especially in the Top 100 by LensRank (LR), but also in the Top 100 by Most Profitable (MP) and Most Visited (MV).

First of all, current (as of Feb. 14, 2007) Top 100 by LensRank is no longer dominated by 3 groups - illuminati, videosense and affiliate marketing contests. No, they are almost gone, with exception of illuminati - they still have 17 lenses, but it's much less than 2-3 months ago when they usually had about 20-30.

This time, the Top 100 by LensRank is led by the "free downloads" group. They have 18 lenses and I'm disturbed by that, because their lenses are of poor quality and the legality of services they offer are very disputable. In fact, I'm afraid Squidoo may be gone from the search engines because of them. This opinion is shared in the Squidoo Forum by others lensmasters…

Another big change - and it really is revolutionary - is the impact of Top 100 Most Profitable on Top 100 by LensRank. While in the past at least about 30-40% of lenses on the MP were making it to the Top 100 by LR, this time it is only 13(!). Two of them are "regulars" - mynameiskate's and Greendrv's handbag lenses (plus two other handbag lenses - this is very interesting…).

From the first 30 lenses that are listed on the Top 100 by MP, only 5 are also on the Top 100 by LR (incl. three "handbags").

So, somebody may ask, is there any visible trend among the lenses that are in the Top 100 by LR?

Yes, it is! The answer - TRAFFIC!

I didn't have time to analyze the whole Top 100 Most Visited (most traffic), but I looked at first 30 from the MV and the results are fascinating! 26 lenses from those 30 (i.e. 87%) are also on Top 100 by LR.

So what is the best way now to get the honor of being in the Top 100 by LR? The answer is simple - get traffic, as it's apparent from the numbers that the current LR algorithm prefers traffic to sales from the lenses!

I don't like that at all, because I know that the traffic numbers can be easily, very easily manipulated and giving lower weight to sales may - and I'm sure will - discourage many lensmasters who create lenses to make money.

I think there is a reason why Squidoo HQ decided to re-do the algorithm in this way. I also hope the change is also temporary… That reason can be seen on the graphs from alexa.com (they show the strategy is working - from Apr. 3 or so…):

http://alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?url=squidoo.com

Ilona Zuzalek
Squidoo Lensranking - How Important It Is And How To Make It Better
The Beatles Songs - My Favorite Kind Of Music

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High expectations from the coming Squidoo payment

If you're a Squidoo lensmaster, what do you expect from this coming payment? It was promised to occur on March 9 or some days later - most probably in the next few hours!

Here is what I expect - based on the rules set in the TOS, further explained in the FAQ and SquidU, as well as on the fact that during January 2007 (the pay is for that month) I had 6 well-established lenses, with nice traffic, some of them even had sales and were blogged about:

1/ I should get "attributable revenue" - money earned that can be directly tracked to each of my lenses, coming from sales made through Squidoo affiliate links (e.g., Amazon, ebay). I would like to know how much of that revenue each of my lenses earned;
2/ I should get my share in the "pooled revenue" - revenue that can't be directly attributable by the HQ to particular lenses, but is being earned:
a/ from selling sponsorship ads on a Search results page - that's what it says in TOS, but I think it's just part of Adsense revenue that comes from clicks on Google ads that appear not only on search results pages, but also on every lens (if the lens is maxed) and b/ by Squidoo participation in affiliate programs that pay Squidoo income based on overall performance (nobody ever explained what such programs are).

I just can't wait for the payment announcement. Who knows, maybe this will the most important day in the modern Squidoo history, when we finally get some Adsense income... Well, that's what Lewis - January's Most Profitable Lensmaster - wrote:

"I am OFFICIALLY the most profitable lensmaster this month (adsense, and money-maker-module sales)."

And maybe soon we'll get other promised goodies - like better Stats and quarterly Squidoo numbers (so that everybody could see exactly how much money was distributed to lensmasters and to charity - TOS, p. 23).

Only time will tell if I'm a dreamer, but really - we, the lensmasters, are co-operators and we are owed those things!

By the way, in my newest lens - "Making Money With Squidoo" - I try to show the rules and policies that relate to making money by creating and working on Squidoo lenses. Very interesting stuff, I highly recommend reading it - the earlier, the better.

Ilona Zuzalek
Squidoo Lensranking - How Important It Is And How To Make It Better
The Beatles Songs - My Favorite Kind Of Music

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What's new in Squidoo's Top 100?

Not a big change, but there are some interesting developments - as always...

Although it looked that Gil was only joking when he said after the last tweak (it happend on Jan. 22/23, 2007): "Every third sunday we keep the lensrank algorithm on 'random' just to screw everyone up :-)" it seems that the current LensRank algorithm is here to stay... At least until next third Sunday, most probably.

So, what do we have now?

Independent lenses made some progress - at the expense of "illuminati", whose share decreased from 30 lenses to 26.

Also the "affiliate marketing group" got some advantage over the "videosense group". While both had 8 lenses each on Jan. 23, today videosenses have 6 lenses in Top 100 and the affiliates - 9.

In other words, the independent lenses presence in Top 100 increased from 54 to 59.

Among the "illuminati", relache has huge lead - 14 lenses, jeffryv has 5. He beat MrLewisSmile who has now 3 lenses in Top 100. The other Citizens in Top 100 are: KimberlyDawnWells - 2, boredofeducation - 1 and oniyagi - 1 lens.

I don't count here Alumni Citizens, but something tells me that I should... Maybe soon I'll change that.

There are interesting developments lately among the "affiliates". That group has a few new rising stars - Barkely even made it today to Top 100 as a newcomer.

Today's Top Rookie - the highest new lens in Top 100 by LensRank is at #71 Toe Socks. It is surprising to me, because the lens itself and its numbers don't fit Megan's recipe for success: she said, a good lens should have great content, be handmade, well promoted and well talked about... So what is this lens missing? It:

• has absolutely no content - only CafePress and ebay modules, amazon plexo, empty(!) Guestbook and empty Netflix module;
• was updated more than one week ago (!);
• has only 4 ratings (5 stars, OK)
• is not on Top 100 Most Blogged and not on Top 100 Most Visited (found following jeffryv's links on his blog; not available anywhere else)

Its only"achievement" is #34 on Top 100 Most Profitable! Yesterday and 2 days ago, it had the same position on Top 100 Most Profitable, but wasn't in Top 100 by LensRank yet... In fact, it started from #37 among Profitable on Jan. 30, 2007 and is going up since then.

So it's a nice proof that it "pays" to have a profitable lens! Sure, it's always good to earn money and having a profitable lens will help you to be high on Top 100 by LensRank. It helps a lot, it seems... 39 lenses from Most Profitables are in Top 100 by LensRank and extra 10 lenses are not, but their owners have lenses that are. In total there are such 49 lenses (39+10).

I'd like to mention two lenses from Top 100 that I found very interesting - although for different reasons. Barbro at #4 is an excellent example of a lens that is very, very well done and it tells about a current news - death of a Thoroughbred colt, named Barbaro, his incredible career and tragic end after an accident. The lens is fresh and has 26 ratings - all of them 5 stars! Well done, Ghost_Moth...

The other lens that attracted my attention is at #8 - Homemaking & Housekeeping - Get Yourself Organized. It was already higher before. What is really strange, are its tags - almost all of them are art-related and none has anything to do with homemaking and housekeeping and getting yourself organized! But it must work, if the lens is so high (I have to give the lens credit, though, for its content - from this point of view, it's one of the best!)...

Another strange thing is that this lens doesn't have an Adsense ad in the sidebar - like all others lenses have (except for two more lenses in Top 100) and its two Adsense ads have background while other lens don't have. And it is not as wide as other lenses. Fascinating... Will other lenses get also get such fix? But why one of the Adsense ads is gone?

Ilona Zuzalek
Getting Married In Las Vegas - Romantic, Extravagant, Or Just Convenient...
The Beatles Songs - My Favorite Kind Of Music

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What illuminati know and we don't...

It pays to read blogs...

I've just found this interesting post by jeffryv on his post of Jan. 28, 2007 at "Lensmastering" blog:

Lensmastering: Other Top 100 Lists

That post shows that even though the Most Visited and Most Blogged disappeared from the rankings presented to the public (since Jan. 22 or 21, 2007), they are still being prepared and Jeff has access to them. Other Citizen Squids possibly too (see the "shhh"). Other - regular - lensmasters don't...

Top 100 by Rating (star system) was officially gone long ago. Top 100 Lensmasters (by Average LensRank) - which has - in my opinion - very negative impact - was discredited ages ago...

So why does jeffryv blogs about those categories? Is it an indication they they are still included in the current LensRank algorithm? No wonder Gil jokingly calls it a "screwed up" version...

Ah, talking about Gil and his famous sense of humor - if you go to Jeff's blog, you'll see "Staff Favorites". The only lens listed there is "All About Gil" by giltotherescue!

Ilona Zuzalek
Getting Married In Las Vegas - Romantic, Extravagant, Or Just Convenient...
The Beatles Songs - My Favorite Kind Of Music

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Sexy Sadie, you made a fool of everyone…

Jan. 29, 2007 - what a day of hot discussions, with a number of heavy-hitters involved, especially Orthia, N376, jeffryv - all of them attacking lensmaster Margaret and me too for our stand against violation of the TOS by at least one adult lensmaster.

In fact it was me who fueled the whole-day discussion by starting in the Squidoo Lounge a thread that had a title: "Time to celebrate? Mature lenses gone!"

I wrote yesterday that the "Mature" segment (aka "Adult") was gone from Squidoo. I posted that last night at 10:16 PM PST and very quickly there were responses from adult lensmasters telling me that I was wrong and that "Mature" lenses were still present and doing well at Squidoo. One of them even show the users a link to her porno site so that everybody could see. Thank you!

I also wrote that lensmaster Tammy aka Ladylove for the nth time violated the TOS by failing to mark her adult lens "Blow Job" as "Mature" and submitting it instead as belonging to "People" category.

From the morning today (Jan. 29, 2007), the discussion was very hot and intense, but I was too busy to participate in it. I noticed though by looking at today's ranking that the situation didn't change - Ladylove repeated her tricks with even better "success" - her two lenses - were today at:

"How to Give Your Man the Best Blow Job" (LensRank: 85)
"Sex Guide - Adding Spice to Your Relationship" - lensrank of this lens was unknown because is doing again the same trick - 3rd day in the row - she was shifting sidebar (that should be on the right) so much to the left that the category, which was in fact "Mature", was not visible. I saved the PrintScreen pictures of that, but won't show them here as it is a family-friendly place...

Anyway, as I said the discussion in that thread was very intense. I even got insulted by Orthia when she wrote:

"Anyone whining about seeing adult content is failing to take any responsibility for themselves. If you don't like the adult content, turn the Safe Search feature in your account preferences to ON."

For her it was my responsibility to try to avoid seeing adult lens ("Blow Job") in a place where it shouldn't be (People category)!!! Obviously, she didn't criticized Ladylove for showing her lens in the People category - not as an "Adult" lens or for the disappearing act with the "Sex Guide".

Jeffryv was trying to encourage lensmasters who don't like presence of adult lenses to leave Squidoo ("do not use this site") as the Safe Search is not 100% effective. Margaret didn't like that idea; I also don't like it. We all love Squidoo!

Jeff also didn't address the fact that Ladylove clearly violated the TOS, for the nth time, but he wrote what may happen when a naughty lensmaster misleds the community and doesn't marks a "Mature" lens as such - he or she could a) get "reported" by fellow Squidoo members as inapppropriate b) get locked for administrative review.

Finally, jeffryv appealed to the Adult lensmasters - "If your lens contains Adult content, please mark it as such. You can always change it in the righthand sidebar of your Lens Workshop." If only Ladylove listened to him… She didn't - her right sidebar in the "Sex Guide" lens was moved so far to the left that most of the info from it was invisible - especially that part telling that it was a "Mature" lens. I saw that trick being done 3rd day in a row (haven't seen to be done at any other lens).

And her "Blow Job" was again listed in "People" category, having full-blown, official LensRank of 85, higher than "Mastering The Office Prank" (LensRank 86), OMG, the sky must be falling down…

But seriously, it was interesting that Orthia enlightened the public by saying that it was the Citizen Squids' job to deal with the adult lens classified incorrectly:

"If there are adult lenses that are NOT correctly marked, as Jeff pointed out, that's one of the jobs that the Citizen Squids handle. You can help them by reporting lenses that are not marked as adult content."

I don't know where she knows that from, but she must be wrong, because I just wrote that jeffryv - a prominent Citizen Squid - participated in the thread discussion and didn't say anything that he would spank Ladylove for her transgressions - repeated violations of the TOS with her "Blow Job" and "Sex Guide" lenses.

No, I don't think Orthia is right about that… By the way, jeffryv was the only Citizen to take part in that discussion.

There was much more going on to report on and I see it's after midnight (PST) already, but I have to at least write about one unfortunate incident - when N376 was the second person today to violate the Forum Rules and he insulted Margaret and the Amish community she's helping with her Amish lenses. It was really very, very bad and I didn't like that at all…

Margaret, tired by her big battle taking almost all day, let it go rather easily. I expect some consequences, though, from the HQ.

I also just mention that there were some arguments trying to explain the problem (or maybe solution) with the "Adult" issue by blaming it on the technology, various versions of browsers, but that didn't convince me - as that again didn't address the main issue - the problems exist if the rules are not followed!

I'm not a big expert on those AJAX and php coding tricks and most of other computer geek talking so I was falling asleep reading two last posts - N376's and Margaret's, but found her concept of "leakage" very, well, refreshing and funny too…

Because I remembered that the top "Mature" lens today was, Ladies and Gentlemen:
"Used Panties For Sale" - at LensRank #194. No kidding.

By the way, I found a partial solution for those who don't want to see the Mature/Adult category - just clear the cookies and it will disappear from Squidoo Topics - http://www.squidoo.com/browse/topic_list . Detailed instructions are as follows: In your Interenet browser, go to the top of your screen and click on Tools (in Firefox, there will be something similar in IE), then select Options. You'll see there a number of tabs. Select the Cookies tab and click on Clear cookies now button, then click OK. Finally, reload the browser (click a button with such name) and the Mature/Adult category will be gone! You have to Reload to make it work! I'm sorry it's a partial solution only, because the cookies are very naughty and any time I did that, after 15-30 minutes they were bringing back the "hot stuff" again. Really annoying, but still, you may find it worthwhile as it works.

Obviously, as Orthia says, you can - or rather you should, if you consider yourself to be a responsible non-adult lensmaster - turn the Safe Search feature in your account preferences to ON. OK?

Ilona Zuzalek
Getting Married In Las Vegas - Romantic, Extravagant, Or Just Convenient...
The Beatles Songs - My Favorite Kind Of Music

P.S. For those missing my analysis of the current Top 100 by LensRank (as of Jan. 29, 2007), here is the summary - illuminati - 26 lenses, videosense - 7, affiliate contest - 9. The highest new lens in Top 100 - at #61 - "Tribal Belly Dance" by relache. Congrats! By the way, instead of Top 100 we had only Top 99. And whose fault it was? Sexy Sadie made a fool of everyone - see above - "How to Give Your Man the Best Blow Job" (LensRank: 85). But what LensRank? There seem to be two kinds… With and without "Adult" lenses. And what if the lensmaster misleads and uses a wrong category? Then we have a mismatch and maybe spanking...

P.P.S "Ob-la-di-bla-da" - it's what Gil said about the latest algorithm tweak. Which in the geek language means - "Every third sunday we keep the lensrank algorithm on 'random' just to screw everyone up :-)"

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Eventful day at Squidoo. Is Mature - Adult segment gone?

It was a very interesting weekend, with lots of important events within for me with regards to this blog and my Squidoo presence.

I had a number of interesting discussions in the Lounge and got another praise for this blog - this time from Rick (RickPhillips), which I appreciate very much because I consider him to be one of the best thinkers among the lensmasters. And he knows how to rock'n'roll...

I also made some comments on importance of proper classifying our lenses. I did that by using a very powerful quote from Seth's book. I didn't think at that time that this issue would become hot in the evening...

Here is what happened. I think I helped Squidoo to get rid of the whole Adult (Mature) segment that was making so much trouble every day.

On Saturday I sent a feedback email notifying the HQ and asking them why Ladylove is still with Squidoo despite being found violating the TOS. On that day her lens "Sex Guide - Adding Spice to Your Relationship" was at #44 of "All Lenses by Popularity", today it was at #62. She wasn't in Top 100 by LensRank and was classified as Mature/Adult, but that info wasn't visible - somehow the sidebar showing that info was shifted so much to the left that nobody couldn't see that!

Plus because of her inclusion in the "All Lenses by Popularity", all the lenses below it had mismatched their LensRank - they were too low and some fine lenses were out of Top 100 because of that - at least they were not being shown on Top 100 by LensRank, which yesterday became Top 99 and today it was only Top 98!!!!

The impacted lenses were - "Google Earth" and "Mission Lamps".

But that lensmaster did even worse trick today - Sunday. Apparently encouraged by her success with tricking the HQ with the "Sex Guide", she delivered today even more explicit-sex lens - "How to Give Your Man the Best Blow Job" and instead of marking it as "Mature", she placed it in the "People" category. I know that she didn't do it a first time!

From the morning, this lens was on #98 of "All Lenses by Popularity".

Interestingly, it was not on Top 100 by LensRank, which was really puzzling because only lenses from the Mature category didn't show up on the LensRank ranking and it was under People... Anyway, this created another mismatch...

Ladylove misled the Squidoo community few days ago with the "Sex Guide" lens and it was on Top 100 by LensRank at #81 and #62 between Jan. 21-22, 2007 because she wasn't showing it as a "Mature" lens.

That owner was warned and she changed the classification of this particular lens to "Mature", but she was playing tricks with the lens so that nobody could see that it belonged to "Mature" category. How? As I mentioned above, for the second day (I checked it yesterday too), the sidebar on that lens was showing the category was screwed up! It was moved to the left so far that the category couldn't be seen!

I checked that both in IE and in Firefox, so I know it wasn't my computer fault...

I was so shocked because I saw that in the People category that the "How to Give Your Man the Best Blow Job" lens was being placed right above my lens - "Eugeniusz Tytyk - An Auschwitz Survivor, My Father, My Hero" - and it made me very unhappy. It was a real blow (nomen omen) to the Squidoo image - to have such different lenses next to each other. That just shouldn't have happened...

I was starting to write a protesting message to the HQ when I noticed - around 7 PM PST - that the HQ reacted appropriately and not only those lenses were gone; it looked that all the Mature segment - that was creating so much trouble - was gone too; I hope for good...

I cleared my cookies and the cache on my computer and right now I don't see the Mature category among the "Squido Topics". It was always at the bottom of the page, but it's gone from the page. I think it's fantastic news for the Squidoo community.

Ilona Zuzalek
Getting Married In Las Vegas - Romantic, Extravagant, Or Just Convenient...
The Beatles Songs - My Favorite Kind Of Music

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