Good luck with your other ventures, Gordon. And sorry to hear that you're leaving - still, with over a hundred lenses, you'll obviously get diminishing returns via lensrank, but might get the occasional nice surprise if somebody buys something off your lenses!

And of course, there's nothing to stop you using your new online stuff to link back to the 'ole' lenses, to encourage buyers.

For me, it's a case of diversification over Squidoo and loads of other things, and somehow stretching myself to a mono-layer thickness. Hmmm - I'm sure I promised myself I'd work smarter rather than harder this year.

Anyhoo, take care and good luck!

Good luck with your other ventures, Gordon.

Thanks all for good wishes. I wrote the post after an extremely heated telephone conversation so have moderated it accordingly. I also note - quite incredibly and totally accidentally - that I omitted the details of the site where I'm making all the money!!

The site is Helium.com. If you are looking to earn money online, this site has more potential than the other dozen or so I have tried all rolled together and multiplied by ten. I promise you! Take half an hour to look at it and you will see what I mean.

Good luck to everyone.

Gordon

Gordon_Hamilton wrote:

The site is Helium.com. If you are looking to earn money online, this site has more potential than the other dozen or so I have tried all rolled together and multiplied by ten. I promise you! Take half an hour to look at it and you will see what I mean.

Good luck to everyone.

Gordon

Gordon, although we have never "met" on Squidoo, I wish you all the best in whatever you do. As for Helium, you are not the only Lensmaster who recommends it, so it is on my list for the next thing to check out!

Gordon...

How are you using Helium to make money? Is it just on these Helium article postings where other writers rate you, selling articles on Helium or competing in the Marketplace section?  Where are you most effective?  Will you be revising the content of this article now that you're saying bye-bye-Squidoo? Don't you think it's ironic that you're making money on Helium writing about the money you're (NOT) making on Squidoo? It looks like this is one of your top-rated articles.  I'm not meaning to be mean, honestly, I'm happy when any of us can find success writing online, I just want to understand what's going on so we can all grow as a community and learn how to make a go out of writing online.

http://www.helium.com/items/1315871-can … ney-online

P.S. Gordon, if Helium has a referral program, please leave us a referral link so we can join and ensure you get credit.  I hope you stay a part of Squidoo even just on the Forums.  Would love to have you pop in from time to time and even consider writing a Helium article or quick Squidoo lens with a tip for Squidoo lensmasters.  I think it's a niche in itself, helping Squidoo writers profit from Helium.  I am trying to do my best to help Squidoo writers benefit from Associated Content and vice versa.

Last edited by AdrienneJenkins (03/03/2009 5:07 am)

That's really too bad about your Squidoo success, but it sounds like you're doing just fine over at helium! At least you'll still have the royalties coming in from Squidoo even when you aren't working on your lenses (the biggest benefit of a lens!).

I've been lured from Helium (and Associated Content, in fact) by the instant gratification of lens production and blogging.  I can post little pieces of my research and then link them together later, as a "series", rather than forcing myself to write a cohesive whole.  I really must get back into the groove of working hard at my writing, and checking out Helium's new payment system.  I've made money with the site, certainly, and still do, but I haven't settled down enough to write an article since they started their up-front payments.  Thanks for the push, and I hope that you'll keep your toe in the Squid pool.  You may not make a million from Squidoo, but it's still a good resource for small residuals and the occasional bonus.

Sorry to see you go, Gordon, but am pleased to hear good things about Helium from you. I do enjoy measurable success with Squidoo, but as with any "investment" it's best to not use a single basket to carry the eggs ... best of success to you in all you do!

This always happens! Just as I am getting excited and enthused about a project, someone who has been with the program for a long time, writes to throw a bucket of freezing water over the aspirations and hopes of new users! I can see and accept that sincere, consistent effort will be required to make any income, but why is it that a "wonderful program" is always being overshadowed, supposedly, by something better? Why am I always on the outward wave? Does it depend on someone's income expectations? Gordon is talking about more money than I dreamed likely to be possible for me to make. I was hoping to supplement my current business, and would have been delighted with an eventual 2 or 3 hundred a month. I have lots of ideas for lenses, but I know it is going to take a good deal of time and effort to produce a quality product. I sure hope I'm not wasting that time.

sulynsi -- the trouble is, it's all relative.

I have a big fat portfolio (though it's lost about a fourth of its value in the last year.) I feel happy with my savings. But compared to big investors out there, I'm poor, and I'm not doing enough to grow my portfolio -- I just leave it in the hands of a competent manager.

I have felt many times that Squidoo typically takes more work than many online projects for the amount of money you tend to earn. But there are exceptions. Some people hit it big with a lens or have the knack to do well with Squidoo, just as there are more and less successful people with golf clubs. It's a tool.

Squidoo also is a platform that tends to help you deliver playful and slightly creative content, and it has a dose of social networking. Those are intangible benefits that let certain types of lenses and lensmasters prosper.

However, a good professional blogger with a timely updated lens -- IF they write well and capture a lot of people's imagination -- will probably earn much more than Squidoo lenses ever will.

There's also longterm versus short-term. I haven't investigated Helium, but it sounds like, to me, you get a one-time payment for your article, right up front. Write lots of good articles, keep writing them, and you will pull in money. Whereas Squidoo income is a slow but steady trickle from the same content. Old lenses continue to earn money. My lenses don't make that much money each month, but collectively they make more and more. The main downside to Squidoo is that it does pay better for fresh content -- over time other lenses will probably push your lens out of the top payout tiers, unless you continue to update and work on it. It's like fighting inflation. EXCEPT there's a level at which a lens transcends lensrank drop. Some excellent lenses will stay in the top payout tier or at least the second, because even as new good lenses get built, more people keep linking to the "authoritative" lens, rating it, visiting it, and building its lensrank relative to newer lenses.

I didn't touch Squidoo for about 5 months, and the payout and lensrank for most of my lenses tumbled. When I got back, a few of my lenses now stood out much, much more, continued to take in top or second tier earnings in my absence (one of these lenses totally surprised me-- it was a popular topic that had taken off).

I don't monetize. I have 4 product review lenses with Amazon modules to those products, but most of my lenses are about things I love, which are usually obscure rather than popular. I don't bother with affiliate marketing, because money is not my primary goal. Yet I was taking in $40-60 during the months I was ignoring Squidoo completely. Now that I'm back, I'm sure I'll quickly pop back over $100. If you concentrate more on money-earning tactics than I do, paying attention to those who know best (Janet21 is a good person to check), I don't see why you can't get your 2 to 300 dollars a month.

What Gordon is saying is that it's hard to make a living on Squidoo. I think that's true. I think it's probably true there are other online vehicles that earn money faster or more consistently. But they probably don't offer the unique blend of content-delivery, creativity, and communicating that Squidoo offers. Each vehicle has its own benefits and drawbacks, and you must figure out for yourself which ones work for you and how much time to sink into them.

Thanks for reading through my longwinded post.  Not exactly a good return on your time investment.

I say -- hang in there. I think Squidoo is worth it. There are other people who posted in this lens, or who have clicked my polls, who indicate to me that there's a small but significant chunk of lensmasters earning 4 figures a month. I don't know how they do it. I think your goal of 3 figures a month with Squidoo is realistic, and that you can do it.

The thing about squidoo, is that I would not count it out totally.  Yes some people make great money through squidoo and yet others don't make much, but as you have more lenses and that they stay in a decent rank, you can still make some money.  I would not totally count out squidoo.  Its just another set of extra money.  A lot of people here write on multiple sites and we know what they are so I am not going to go into it here.  By going through multiple sites, you have the benefit of extra money than if you only wrote for only one site.  What I like about squidoo is that I can be more creative with my lenses where I can spiff them up with html.  None of the other sites that I am on do that.  One site may work for one person and another may work for others.  Not having everything all in one basket is really a good idea.