My Squid Life

Throughout the week I’ve tried to stick with short. Short articles, short lenses, short hubs. To the point. Provide useful information but don’t overwhelm people. The beauty of this is that I can get more done, cover more ground in less time.  There are no long creations that serve to be the ultimate resource of everything on a given topic.

Among my various writings this week, I have managed to add some new things on Squidoo and Hubpages. I added a lens about outdoor wireless speakers for all of those people who will be hanging out on their deck or at the pool this summer.  I know I’m looking forward to the warmer weather!  I also added a lens about camcorders under $100. Even the pocket camcorders aren’t really starting at this kind of price point anymore with HD quality video and tons of features. But through refurbished models or a willingness to buy a model that’s a year old, you can still do it and get a quality brand.

My new Hub is on the topic of shower MP3 players. For the first time I have a couple of hub requests from other writers. A couple of my recipes went over well, and they are looking for more. Amazing, but if that’s what they want, I’ll try to deliver.

I’ve been so focused on building lenses and Hubs, that I’ve been neglecting any social sites and article writing to promote my work. I’m always pretty good about blogging regularly but other things tend to fall to the wayside.

I’ve decided that I need to play some catch up over then next 7 or 8 days. Then I need to set 15-20 minutes aside for social site participation each day and maybe a few hours a week for article writing.  I’m ahead of schedule on my goals related to Squidoo and Hubpages so I can afford to do this. Now I just need to stick to my schedule. My work will be for naught if I create it but fail to promote it at all.

We had this month’s Squidoo payday this week. I was pleased. Things were much, much better than I anticipated with it being the post holiday slump period that I typically experience this time of year. 

Since my last blog I created two lenses. One on travel scanners.  I would think that there is a rather specific, but limited market for these.  But what’s really nice is that they do a pretty good job as compared to full sized flat bed scanners and therefore, they can be a good and affordable option even in an office where you have limited space.

The other was about outdoor WiFi antennas. They’re great of course if you have multiple buildings and want to get a WiFi signal to them from just one access point, but they’re also great for those times when you take a “working vacation” and want access when you’re on the beach, in the camper or RV, and so forth.  I, of course, would never do this…but I’ve heard of people who do!

My final creation was a Hub about glass measuring cups.

I am increasingly intrigued to look at results between Squidoo and Hubpages in few months. Squidoo gives me the thrill of a big payday in one lump sum at the end of the month. Hubpages is more subtle. You never see that one big payout. You see it trickle in through AdSense, Amazon sales, Kontera, etc.

A week or so ago, AJ2008 blogged a bit about link wheels and how the concept works. Buidling a micro-niche blog and then cross linking with articles, other blogs, lenses, and so forth. I’ve done this of course with my major niche area, but as time has passed, I haven’t taken full advantage of this with some of the smaller niche’s that have evolved over time.  I concur this is definitely the approach to take. However, time doesn’t allow me to always do this with every topic that comes along since blogs have to be maintained regularly and over time.

For now I’ve started making lenses and Hubs that are very specific and in groups of related topics even when they aren’t one of my primary niche areas. For instance, I did one a month or two ago about alarm clocks: projection alarm clocks, vibrating alarm clocks, talking alarm clocks, and so forth. More recently I started a group that focuses on WiFi devices such as  WiFi finders, WiFi USB antennas, etc. and have several others planned.  I seldom do a lens or Hub in isolation. If I do a lens on a park for hiking, invariably I end up doing 15 more on other parks. If I do a lens on caring for the elderly, I end up with 5 or 6 on related topics about caregiving and related information and products.

Then, the goal is to interlink among them and write articles that expand the topics or bring them all together. Then sprinkle them across a variety of publishing sites.  For instance, hiking  is pretty far away from my core niche. However, I have 15-20 Squidoo lenses on the topic. I have some on rail trails, some on specific trails, some on specific state parks, and so forth. I have articles about 10 things to take on a family hike, articles on the best state parks in Indiana, articles on hiking safety.  But I don’t think I’ll be starting a blog about it in the near future just due to the time in keeping it updated.

 The other thing I like about this strategy is that it gets you thinking about more specific keywords. I don’t want to do a lens about WiFi antennas, I want to do one on outdoor WiFi antennas, WiFi USB antennas, long range WiFi antennas, and so forth. This is how people often search, and therefore I’m more likely to get targeted visitors who want to buy, not just random visitors. It also helps me to have things to link together when I’m writing on a topic that isn’t my true niche and I won’t be blogging about it routinely.

Well, that’s just me thinking out loud about what to do with stray topics when building a full link wheel with a regularly updated blog probably isn’t feasible.

Things, meaning sales, have been slow for the past 6-8 weeks but I’ve seen an uptick in the past week. I’m hoping it will continue. I know January-March are typcially my lowest earnings all year but it never feels good anyway. My lens rank stats have remained steady though so that part of it should look ok on the next payday. 

My hubpages sales are also gradually building. Of course, this is probably due to the simple fact that I have far more hubs than I did just a few short months ago. As I was once told, don’t despair if you only make a dollar/month on a page; just make more pages!

I was tied up with my mom’s doctor appts for a day and needed to take care of few personal things myself, but I managed to create a few things anyway. I finally completed my lens on wainscoting ideas. Our home has a narrow hallway that comes in from the garage. It’s been a problem as it’s dark and constantly “scuffed up” from the walls being brushed everytime we come in the back/garage door. Hubby suggested that instead of repainting, we put in some wainscoting.  We are most definitely DIY impaired but we finally decided to do it. Of course, I made a lens about it for others. We had to make it a bit higher than I would have liked in order to protect the wall the way we wanted, but although you can’t tell from the pictures, the walls are fairly high and it’s doesn’t look too bad.

My other two creations were hubs.  One on micro cut shredders to protect your information and another on heated mattress pads (a bit out of season).

Yesterday, hubby and I decided to pay a visit to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum.  I’ve been to several Indy Car races and a few F1 races when they were held at the track but I’m not an avid fan. We’ve been to the museum a couple of times before, but I thought I would take my camera along and document the place for others to see. Create kind of a virtual tour for people. We spent only 90 minutes there, but when I got home I felt sure I could create a lens about the excursion.

That is until, I managed to accidentally delete all 224 photos from my memory card with the click of a single button. I’m sure you all heard me scream.  I was thinking my next Squidtop post would be about “The Lens That Never Was”…but then I recovered and became rational. I began searching for some photo recovery software to help me. It’s amazing how they lure you in saying you can download their software for free. Yep, you can download it, wait an hour for it to find your photos, and then have them hold your photos hostage…until you pay the $40 fee to recover them. 

Not this girl. It took many missteps and a few hours but I finally found some photo recovery freeware that was fast and worked perfectly. Thus I ended up creating my Indianapolis Motor Speedway lens as well as one on the topic of photo recovery.  Now, to the point of my title. This little giveaway has me pleased beyond belief. This little giveaway has me so happy I’m blabbing about it everywhere and posting links to the site. I’m sure I’m not the only one. This little giveway that’s doing so much good around the world  must be providing a ton of free, effortless promotion.  This is actually the first place I’ve discussed it without providing a direct link…you can find that on my lens!

Aside from some blogging, my only other new creation so far this week is a Hub on Mens Umbrellas.

Like most people I set goals each year. These include my online goals to generate income and more personal goals. A few years ago when I first started out in internet marketing, I worked 7 days a week full time, and more. I had a lot of enthusiasm. I still do but I’ve of course had to come to the point where other goals, personal goals become important as well.  When I left my full time job, there were things I wanted to do and things I needed to do. From traveling to caring for my mother. In addition, I’m growing older of course. I hit 50 in the past year and taking time to focus on my health and fitness has become more pressing.

Now I start every morning with some stretching excercises, break from the computer every hour, and include a daily walk and some light weight lifting. I’m more frequently stopping my work to make time for my husband, spend an afternoon by myself, or take a day to go somewhere to see something new. I mention all of this only because I think it’s helping me to be more productive with my online work as well. I’m taking more time to do the other things I want to do and my mind is clearer and more focused when I sit down to work.  New ideas come more readily and writing is then much easier. I guess what I’m saying is focus is good, but if you’re like me, your work may be enhanced by making time for other important things as well.

I did create several new pages during the second half of the week. I created one about streaming movies to your TV. I rarely watch TV and I just hate the high prices charged for cable TV. I take the time to watch a movie periodically with my husband but that’s about it. I know a number of people who have opted to cancel their cable service and they use online TV and movie rental services only. I think this is a viable option for many people. There are so many services out there, I wanted to put something together to summarize the choices.

I also added a lens about electronic pill dispensers. This is an addition to other pages I’ve done that focus on caring for the elderly.  My final lens of the week was just a quick one to promote some flower stickers I’d made on Zazzle.

Hubpages got a bit of attention too and I created a Hub on Instant Film Cameras which are great for parties and kids as well as one on Underwater Disposable Cameras which are great for pool parties, snorkeling, kayaking, and so forth.

Now I’m off to do a few things before we take a couple days off to go snowmobiling. (If you can’t beat the snow, you may as well enjoy it.)

As I continue to build the number of lenses and Hubpages that I have, I will need to evaluate how each is performing. I’m holding off on that for now, but I can’t help but at least glance at things. All things are clearly not equal yet however. I still have slightly more than 4 times as many lenses as I have Hubs. And certainly I’ve done more backlinking to many of my lenses than I have ANY of my Hubs.

But…as it stands right now my average number of weekly visits to my lenses is 280% higher than to my average Hub. Of course if I were to take out my top 10 performing lenses this would probably drop significantly. Plus my Hubs aren’t as old as my lenses. Perhaps in a few months I will take a serious look at it. In the interim, I think I need to do a bit more backlinking to my Hubs to give them a fighting chance as well.

During the past few days I created two new lenses. One was designed to highlight Tracfone Prepaid cell phones since this was one of the most frequent questions I get about the service. They’re pretty basic, but being affordable and reliable is usually the biggest concern with these types of services.  The other was about wall mounted ironing boards. Mundane, yes, but great things for kids in dorm room, someone who lives in small quarters, and so forth.

On Hubpages I expanded with another related keyword and did a page on tabletop ironing boards. This makes cross linking pertinent and easy. I also did one on a tuna noodle casserole recipe. This isn’t really something I’ve made in years, but it is a memory from when I was a kid. My other new hub was on commercial free radio. The page talks about how to get commercial free listening, but mostly it highlights a new product that was introduced at CES earlier this year. It’s an FM radio that strips out commercials and DJ banter allowing you to just get the music. It works kind of like a DVR or TiVo, allowing you to fast forward, rewind, and so forth. I like the concept because it’s affordable.  You just buy it and that’s it, no service fee.

It’s been a busy week so far. It’s been tough staying on target with building Squidoo lenses and Hubpages when I have so many other demands on my time. I guess at this point, I have decided to merely write about whatever it is that I’m doing at the moment, if it could potentially be useful in any way!

I’ve completed two lenses and four hubpages in the past three days, in addition to some blogging and a sprinkling of articles. But I’ve also started several other items that aren’t yet published. The only way I’ve managed it, is by writing about a number of things that I’m involved with at the moment. The simplest examples are my new hubs on a creamy garlic sauce I make occasionally for pasta and a ginger dressing for salads. They are very basic, but I decided after some quick keyword research, they might be worth publishing.  I hope to publish a few more by the weekend that focus on some current activities as well.

My other hubs were on a travel surge protector and a car USB charger. I enjoy the fact my life is no longer so hectic that I travel a lot or have to stay so connected all of the time. But, I remember the days when keeping things charged up and all of my equipment and data safe was of paramount concern, so these topics are ones that are very familiar.

My new lenses include one on the battery backup surge protector, which I have been considering for myself and an internet viewer.  The toughest part of putting together this last lens was deciding what to call it. There are handy devices emerging on the market that allow you to access internet content without using your computer. Some are internet radios that also provide access to other content, some are glorified digital picture frames that also allow the user to view some websites, and so forth. Anyway, deciding exactly what to call these devices and figuring out how people would search for them was quite a task. I prefer doing lenses about product categories, but this category is yet to be defined. We’ll see how it does.

I’ve decided that my first e-book, due out in January 2020 will be entitled either Get Rich Slow or Get Rich, Maybe. As I talked about in my last blog, I got Kontera text link ads enabled on my Hubs now. I’m up to 25 cents a day with Kontera! Which lags behind the $1.00 a day I’m earning from Adsense via Hubpages.  I refuse to give up however. I do have a handful of Amazon sales that I’ve gained in the process as well.

Squidoo continues to perk along nicely. My most recent payout (for the Christmas holiday) was just under $1,800. My biggest so far. Early indicators and history however, indicate the next two months will be much lower. This is the ugly side of commercial lenses!  So I’m preparing for that pyschologically, and practically. I’m still trying to stick to a minimum of one new hub or lens every day.

This week my new lenses have been Volcano Pictures and Pictures of Waterfalls which provide some facts and beautiful prints as well. I also put a lens together on the Wireless Rechargeable Mouse as well as Charging Stations. I also spent a bit of time creating a lens about a home improvement project my husband and I are working on but we’re still in the midst of getting it done, so it won’t be ready to publish until next week. We are very inexperienced in this type of thing so hopefully we won’t botch it so badly it can’t be presented to the public! So far, so good.

On Hubpages I added pages on How to Sew a Button On (pretty high tech stuff!) and Cell Phones with FM Radio.

I recall a couple of years ago when I was spending the majority of my time writing articles for sites like ezinearticles.com, goarticles.com, and so forth, I would try new sites and quickly abandoned them if they included those text link ads on my posted articles. They were everywhere and I hated the way they made my hard work look like a spammy mess. And, I supposed I didn’t like it that others were benefiting so much from my work, and giving me nothing back while potentially stealing MY traffic. My thoughts on that haven’t changed much but I guess conditioning has made me a bit more tolerant.

Squidoo of course implemented the Infolinks text links ads some time back and I left them enabled.  Only because they limited it to 3 on a page and we benefit by revenue sharing. The financial reward for that has been great in my eyes.  It may end up being only a couple of dollars per lens each month, but when you multiply that by the number of lenses you have, it can be significant.

Based on the good results on Squidoo, I finally decided to enable the Kontera text ink ads on my Hubpages as well.  After a couple of missing e-mails, I think I now have this task completed and should start seeing those text link ads there as well. If there are too many to suite my taste, I can reduce them through the page editor.  Gotta love that! Now I just need to see if they bring in anything additional.  I’ll let you know in a few months.

My new Hubs over there are on remote cooking thermometers and pocket recorders. We love a remote cooking thermometer we got back a few years ago. It’s great to be able to leave the grill or the kitchen, mingle with guests or continue watching a movie without worrying that you’re going to turn some meat into a brick. The pocket recorders are something I had when I worked for an employer and needed to keep notes and dictate reports.  I would have loved to have had one as a student. The digital voice recorders are very portable and have great audio quality.

On Squidoo, I went ahead and created a lens about e-book readers. It’s such a “done” topic, one that everyone has discussed, but I could no longer ignore it on that basis.  I put the page together particularly since so many new options are now out there and even more are on the way in the coming months. Luckily, some are pretty affordable. My other new lens is on heavy duty tape dispensers. The ones I’m talking about are the weighted dispensers for your desk.  I’ve grown to just hate those cheap little plastic dispensers you buy at the drug store. They’re always misplaced, broken, and you have to use two hands to use them.  I inherited one of the heavy duty ones recently, and it’s changed all of that.