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Squidoo Versus Hubpages

By Christina Mulberry

If you're reading this, you probably work online. You are either a writer, an entrepreneur, or an affiliate marketer. You spend many hours creating content to get traffic to your site or blog; to get people to notice you. You probably write content on at least one publishing site such as Helium, Triond, EzineArticles, Gather, Qondio, or a similar site. If you're smart, you write for many of them in order to spread yourself around and to take advantage of any possible backlinking among them.

As we all know, there are many advantages in writing for these sites. The backlinks, the recognition, the networking opportunities, the chance to develop an audience or following, and certainly for some of them, the opportunity to generate a stream of income. However, because there are so many options out there, I wanted to provide a "performance review" on two of the sites that are probably among the best known for creating direct revenue.

In recent years, Hubpages and Squidoo are the two sites that I hear internet marketers discuss most fervently; some making claims to earning several thousand dollars a month in income. Sounds nice, but is it true?

I can't really answer that question, although in my own experience, I think it's possible. All that I can do is discuss my personal experience. Although I'm clearly an affiliate marketer and not a creative or professional writer, I feel that these sites hold the same potential for everyone. I won't go into all of the details about what these sites offer, their wonderful communities, or their similarities and differences. I'll just talk about results. Here's how they have stacked up for me:

Squidoo

I've been with Squidoo for two and half years. I can't even remember how I came across it, but I did nothing with it for 6 months because I really couldn't make out what it was all about. What was a lens anyway?

Finally, after trying numerous other sites, I started slowly building lenses, or as most of us would call them, webpages on Squidoo. From early 2008 to present day, I have built approximately 242 of those pages. Do they get traffic? During the past month, my average visits were 292 visits/lens. That's certainly not huge, but remember it's an average. I certainly have several pages that get none. I can also say that despite the upcoming holidays, those visits aren't unusual.

Ok, so those visits increase my visibility. They may give me clicks on links that direct visitors to my site, blog, or other articles. But, here's where the rubber meets the road for a marketer, did they generate any revenue? Yes. I'm not getting rich, but I anticipate I earned approximately $5.69/lens this past month. That income is based on AdSense and Amazon affiliate sales that are made through Squidoo. It does not include, however, any money I made from other affiliate products I may sell on my lenses which don't go through Squidoo.

This payout is a large one for me, it was afterall the holiday season, and I am an affiliate marketer. However, I don't feel my results are due to any great marketing expertise that I possess, unusual for others who have done as much with the site, or impossible for someone who is not an affiliate marketer per se.

So would I recommend Squidoo to writers, enterpreneurs, and affiliate marketers alike? Yes, without reservation.

Hubpages

My experience with Hubpages is more limited. I wrote my first Hub in early January of 2009. To date, I only have 24 Hubs written. Hubpages also offers a number of ways to earn from your content, including AdSense Revenue Sharing and the ability to add related Amazon and e-Bay products to your page if you wish.

So the first question is, do I get traffic to my Hubs? Yes, although I can say my results have been less impressive on Hubpages, as I pulled in only 182 visits/hub in the past month. To be fair however, I've done a bit less promotion with my Hubs than I have with my Squidoo pages in an attempt to pull in traffic. However, the difference isn't enough to completely explain the discrepancy in popularity.

Ok, so what about that revenue stream? I'm sorry to report I haven't really made much of anything. My hubs are less commercial than many of my Squidoo lenses but even my Adsense Revenue is abysmal. I've made less than $10 in the entire time I've had Hubs, and I've earned less than that on any products I have posted on those pages.

Now don't get me wrong, I have no intention of giving up on Hubpages. Much of the problem may lie with me, my topics, on page SEO, and so forth. I think there is definitely potential there, but for now, I can't say that our combined performance has resulted in anything significant. Still, I would recommend it as a place to try despite the fact I can't testify to it's revenue generating potential.

The comparison was a great read, but I feel that Internet Marketers these days, are more focussed at deriving revenue using Twitter. There is no need to write articles, simply post 140 character Tweets including a URL. That's where MY focus has been over the past 12 months, and I am currently ranked #501 out of over 19 million registered Twitterers. I must be doing something right. *smiles*

Twitter is certainly a tremendous marketing force. I simply put this article together because I'm often asked about these two sites because I use them.

This intel must be solid gold for a lot of folks. Pretty amazing numbers you got from Squidoo.

I personally detest Squidoo. They block anyone using my ISP (SmartBro) which is half the population of the country. I suppose it's their prerogative to block whom they like, but the block is only revealed after one has gone through the sign-up rigamarole. I took action and got a reply from Seth himself, who turns out to be a pompous and unpleasant character.

I know Squidoo has begun blacklisting whole ISPs recently in an effort to combat SPAM ...I'm sure it's VERY aggravating for a lot of people! Personally, I think there must be a better way, but I'm not in charge.

I too have noticed that Squidoo has been putting tighter controls on what they allow from a commercial base. I think the key is Qondio and using it to bring attention to a blog where you can put any cash producing links you see fit.

Yes, Squidoo has put in tighter controls but I still find it allows much more than almost any other site I know. This is particularly true once you "prove yourself" and become what they call a "Giant Squid". It's all an effort to squeeze out bad content I think. I agree about Qondio of course! :) LOVE IT. If you use article writing...I just think you need to use multiple sites for the best results.

I agree with John... dawizonline. I do find that my Tweets get the hits, but very little follow through, i.e. sales. I have been toying with the Idea of Creating Squidoo pages, but I wonder if the time and effort spent creating them is really worth the bother? Maybe some one could convince me?? Please. Also, I think the new rules that Squidoo certainly put me off trying.

Squidoo isn't magical, but I can only say my personal exprience is that I've been more successful in generating revenue there than anywhere. Probably that is because I can slap any product I want, right on the page, right where I'm discussing something that is closely related. I can include a picture, not just text. I won't blabber on and on about it because as I said it's just a format and not a complete solution. But, like Qondio, I would highly recommend it based only on my experience. Their increased resrictions are only related to their attempt to increase the quality, and perceived value, of the content on their site. Their restrictions don't really touch most of us...but as someone else said, when it does, it can be nasty. I'm hoping they will work through this and it won't require this blanket banning. As I mention, Hubpages is quite similar, although I've done far less with it. If Squidoo scares you with their restiction, you could try Hubpages...as I said, I believe in spreading myself around a bit.

Thank you for the very informative intel Christina.
I know that I have to do more with social networking, but as a newbie, I'm on information overload. I'm trying to stay focused. I still need help getting ads on my Qondio pages.
Thanks again.
Frederick

Just take it a step at a time. That's what I do. Master one and then move on, adding something else to your routine. I had trouble with the ads too...I contacted support and they helped a lot! I don't know if I will remember anything, but contact me if you don't get an answer there, I'll see if I can help.

I appreciate this article as I was wondering about hubpages. I have been using Squidoo for 8 months now and just applied to be a Giant Squid. I have to say I am doing EVERYTHING I have been told to do with the site and I have only made $13 in those 8 moths of hard work. I am not giving up as it is fun, but it is VERY time consuming. I am quite impressed with your revenue from your squid pages and your views to each page. (I have probably visited them!) I have just started here on Qondio and will see how it goes. thanks!

I'll look for you on Squidoo! Hang in there, it took me a while.

I have been with Squidoo almost 2 years and have 70 lenses, but I have to admit that the traffic has dwindled in the last 6 months, as much of the focus these days is on areas like "RocketMoms" and these new lenses tend to hog the top 2,000, which is the top tier for payouts based on Squidoo revenue.

My lenses are not as commercial as yours, which makes it harder for me to earn from affiliate sales on them. I think the key is to have more lenses, on many different topics, and to also have plenty of sales/product oriented lenses in order to achieve popularity and traffic.

Twitter does little for me so far. My postings and comments from various sites get posted there, but I get precious little traffic coming back. Maybe one day I will get to understand how to use Twitter profitably, but so far I haven't succeeded.

Definitely scattering breadcrumbs around and getting yourself noticed, plus acquiring backlinks all the time is the key. As time goes on, those cross links between various sites and topics will get you noticed. It just takes time and effort, and often just pure luck when something you post takes flight.

Qondio really does have the potential to help, especially now that you can have followers, and have advertising on your intel pages.

I think if you get traffic and/or sales you can get in the top tier without any problem. Not that that's easy!! As you said, time, backlinking and so forth will help put you there.

I've doubled my Hubs in the past two weeks, so I'll post an update about how that goes in the future. (I was non-commercial on hubpages for the most part...now I've decided to try commercial for a while)

I've had a couple of Squidoo lenses for years and just recently started looking at Hub Pages. My "take-away" from your intel is that you need a ton of Squidoo lenses to make it work. However, I'm really a newbie at this and I'm finding out that you really need to use a ton a different approaches to get website traffic (and revenue) up.

As an aside to Nick's comment re: Seth Godin. I've never had any direct contact with him but I do read his blog pretty regularly and have read a couple of his books. Believe it or not I tend to agree. I think he's gotten to the point he believe his own press. He developed this rep. as a marketing guru and, now, he believes he can do no wrong. You gotta give him some credit. Squidoo has turned into a gold mine for Seth.

They say there are two approaches on Squidoo. One is to focus on very unique, high interest things and the other is volume. Some folks report great success with few lenses, they may have only 20 lenses and they all generate good revenue. For the rest of us, volume counts. Having a handful of niches is what works best for me. I have a few strays topics for the fun of it, but I tend to focus. I have a few big tag clouds.

As you said, you need to use a lot of tools, Squidoo, Hubpages, and and nothing else works well in isolation. Probably even Qondio ;)

I think that with ever site, the more articles that you have, the better your chance of getting noticed. It doesn't matter if that site is Squidoo, Hubpages or Qondio. If someone is going to look at your profile and see what else you are interested in, it's better if you have more items for them to see.

Then of course, cross link them all to other sites where you promote them, and the traffic will come. I just want to know who is causing the big traffic jam that is holding up my traffic lol :)

Poddys Jan 19, 2010 03:23

Hey Christina. Congratulations on your success. This is a great article. I'm focusing on Squidoo and Qondio right now. Do you have specific topics for your lenses or do you spread them out.

I started with one niche. It allowed me to create a lens, hubpage, or qondio article and then blog and write articles on related topics on other sites, participate in forums on those topics, and so forth, without spreading myself too thin. I gained backlinks and traffic this way.

Then later I expanded, another niche and also some topics that were just of personal interest or "hot". I've had some success with this, via AdSense and Squidoo Lensrank payments. Still, the sales I make on my affiliate products within my niche are typically 60% of my monthly income (estimate!).

Anyway, that’s what I did. Of course I'm an affiliate marketer not a "writer" in the traditional sense, so things might work differently for those individuals.

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