While I haven't been touched by the latest Squidoo filters yet nor did I have a lens locked, I noticed that a bunch of angry and disappointed lensmasters got their "best of" and "year" lenses locked these past days.
Even some of the most prolific Squidoo lensmasters had their entire account locked with no warning nor explanation. After a while those accounts end up simply deleted. HQ doesn't reply to greenlight or review requests any more - ok they're overwhelmed but what about the lensmaster whose account has been locked without warning and who is expecting an answer to their question.
After all, that is HQ that makes decision... not the lensmaster. So if you decide to do something, whether your over busy or not, you should reply, that is what is called "courtesy and respect".
So, in order to delay the time my own lenses are going to be locked by the bad filter, I don't update any of them and delete some from time to time.
The task I had to do yesterday was deleting my "top Christmas toys for year ..." lenses. I'll move their content to my Best Gift Ideas 4U website, they'll fit in there very well. I'll just split each lens into a one toy post and they'll be ready for Christmas although some of these toys are a bit outdated. Luckily they're popular toys.
Today I took a look at my Top electronic pages and made a decision on deleting them too. So I deleted 5 additional pages, leaving me with 181 featured lenses, 3 lenses in the rank abysses and one in WIP which I'll never finish since I plan to move it soon to my gift blog as well.
Although HQ pretends that best, top, and year titles are sales pushers and are almost no-no's on Squidoo, I state that these keywords are highly popular and drive a bunch of traffic to Squidoo or any page title that would include "best of" or "top" or "year" in their catalog. But it seems that when it comes to please Google, HQ works a strange game: they delete all the good and leave all the bad. They don't seem to have the necessary knowledge to make changes according to Google's demands and blindly shoot here and there, killing even their best money makers in the process.
Now I know that a lot of junk is still dancing in the Squidoo top tier rank and that HQ AND the filters don't seem to worry about them, shamelessly featuring them on the home page.
You may wonder why I'm so angry since I haven't have a single lens locked (yet... I repeat : not yet !!! But this will happen, I feel that...) Let's say that I feel for my fellow lensmasters, especially those I know for so long, those I know worked so hard for making Squidoo what it had become, those that are rewarded with locked accounts and forfeit earnings.
To be honest, I'm not sure all earnings are forfeit but in the end, are locked account in which money lies getting paid on June 15th? Not sure... How the system is going to recognize those that must be paid if their account is locked, deleted or whatever ?
I won't be crying for locked lenses, though I might get angry, really angry and speak my mind through this blog. I could even finger point some lensmasters who lick the boots of everyone and pretend to cry when another lensmaster has their account locked, who cheat the system inviting their family to comment on their lenses each and every day so that it remains in the top tier. Those lensmasters who seem to pass the filters with flying colors while violating the TOS in many ways. Yes that is something I might do in the event my lenses end up locked.
But right now, I just sit and study my lens titles... and delete those that don't perform well. In the future, they'll be featured on one of my own sites, earning me Adsense money and affiliate commissions.
Posted by Squidoo Angel Prosperity66
Completely agree with you. I have been on Squidoo since the very beginning and until the recent changes it was my livelihood. I have had several lenses locked, which I deleted. I am now holding my breath waiting for this month's payment - if it comes. After which I will re-write my remaining lenses and just leave them to see what happens in future. We can no longer afford to keep up payments on our house as my income has dropped so dramatically, so we are moving out at the end of the month. Luckily we are happy and see it as an adventure - I may even make a lens about it, or not!
ReplyDeleteIf I were you I'd make a page about it elsewhere than on Squidoo - who knows, it might end up locked as well while being an amazing personal and emotional story to share ;)
ReplyDeletethe way the are handling the algorithm change in Google is just abysmal, they are excluding and driving people away. Today I got my most important lens locked and I'm considering deleting all content and taking it elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteIt's incredible, considering that last year they had incredible traffic and income to implode this way.
Indeed, it's really strange the way Squidoo's traffic dropped, I wasn't ready for such a dramatic change although traffic slowly decreased since October last year. But all in all, they're clueless what Google really wants, they aren't good at SEO and should definitely consider hiring specialists... The desperate housewives club won't buy from lenses to be read in small family groups. They must find a way to increase traffic and, therefore, sales if they want the site to survive such a mess.
DeleteI have 6 lenses, 3 were locked for alleged duplicate content, all original lens, i dont know really what is going on in squidoo now.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the club... :(
DeleteI had 76 lenses, 6 days ago they locked them all. Among them there was a Lens of the Day and 4 Purple Stars. I cannot understand what happens on squidoo.
ReplyDeleteIt becomes harder and harder to understand why they lock lenses, especially since they seem to lock accounts or all lenses all at once :(
DeleteI have just had my first (and probably only) lens locked. I struggle with why it was locked as I wrote all the content, so it wasn't duplicate.
ReplyDeleteI didn't get an email to advise me either - I just found out when i went in to edit it. So really I have no clue what to do. I am underwhelmed by Squidoo and won't be wasting any more time using it.
The biggest problem in these troubles times is the lack of communication or at least the low quality communication with the locked lenses' owners...
DeleteSquidoo will allow to export your lens as an XML file. You can take that XML file to http://piranhalake.com and import it. That will create a page for you on that website. It is the fastest way to get your content back online. Plus it will import Amazon products and links under your affiliate tag.
ReplyDeleteI know that it is going to be an option for some. Not for me: no way for me to work for a shared platform any more. I'll keep the remaining lenses on Squidoo and the day they end up locked, I'll just move them to my own sites and blogs. But for those who might be interested that might be an option.
Delete