My Squid Life

I’m still committed to spending little or nothing related to my online business endeavors. This is supposed to be an avocation for me but one that generates some spending money too. I don’t want it inadvertently turning into an expense. For this reason I continue to focus all of my efforts on methods and sites that have no cost associated with them. Of course, many of us are aware of the positive and negative aspects of free sites. A new one hit me in the face this month however.  When involved with a paid site or service I have to assume that any significant changes are announced to the clientele in advance, and anything that would influence earnings would be conveyed in great detail to assure users continue to be satisfied.

Not so much with free services.  I’ve encountered this with free websites such as when mine changed their blogging service and my blog URL was changed without notice. It was a catastrophe of sorts. I’ve  had article and bookmarking sites switch from “do follow” links to “nofollow” links without notice, and of course there have been innumerable policy changes at many content sites over the years that can influence income significantly as well. In most cases such changes are announced on the site, but often I’m not on the site daily or the information may be hidden away in a blog somewhere that I never even see.  In the end, the lesson is that if you deal with free sites, they won’t feel the same obligation to assure your satisfaction.  You need to constantly and actively seek information to keep up with changes that affect you.

Earlier this month I reported that Qassia.com had become Qondio.com.  It offers 100% AdSense revenue sharing.  The blog had very little  information about what this change meant. I searched through a handful of previous blogs and still nothing.  Then about two weeks in, I found a post on the site about signing up with a third party service to post ads but nothing very specific. Upon investigation and repeated e-mails to support, I found that there was no revenue sharing until you signed up with the third party and placed ads on your content yourself under this new system. Hmmm, so that’s where that AdSense revenue got to! I’ve finally gotten things straightened out, and it’s great. I can post all kinds of ads on my Qondio content, but geesh…I lost almost a months worth of  revenue sharing because I missed out on this information. Lesson learned.

I’ve had a busy week with taking care of Mom, she’s experiencing some visual problems we’ve had to address. In the meantime, I’ve created only a few lenses amongst my other content.  I added Summit Lake, the Zionsville Rail Trail, and Whitewater Memorial State Park to my group of outdoor activity lenses.

I spent more time this past week creating more content. On Squidoo, I created a lens about GPS devices for your car. I had done a couple of lenses about specific devices but not a general one. I know that “reviews” are supposed to work well, but they’ve never done so well for me.  On the other hand, doing a category with  more specific key phrases, has worked in my case.  I guess I defy common logic. My other new lens was created for newbies. It’s just an attempt to get them to understand the need to create more content and to spread it around a bit.  Internet Marketing Tips for Success is the result. On Hubpages, I stuck with my series on one of the most basic business related topics, Handling Complaints; something that a lot of frontline employees aren’t properly trained to handle.

I’ve continued to spend a fair amount of time developing content outside of Squidoo. I had indicated before that I was giving Bukisa a try. I’ve found it easy to use, however, I’ve just noticed that the links are “nofollow”. I’m not sure I can blame Bukisa for my misunderstanding that their links were “do follow” but rather, it’s more likely I read it in articles others had written about the site.  I’m now reconsidering whether I want to spend my time there. Qondio gives me “do follow” backlinks and Adsense Revenue Sharing.  Hubpages and Squidoo of course give me “do follow” links, the chance to sell related products, and adsense sharing as well.   I guess Bukisa may fade in the distance a bit as I start the search for more sites with revenue sharing and “do follow” backlinks. Any suggestions?

I was asked by one SquidTop blogger to provide more feedback about RedGage. I probably spend about 15-20 minutes a day on the site. The content that I have seen there is quite good, but I would imagine there is some spam that comes in, I just don’t see it. Articles, photos, and such are featured each day. Those make up the front page. It’s a nice way of letting “the best” rise to the top. When you have something featured you get a bonus, typically around $5. Otherwise, you earn for page views. Most of my submissions thus far have earned between 1 and 5 cents. (I think I’ve been there two months)

There are also contests each month. Some of them are challenges but many are just drawings. I’ve seen people win as much as $400 in a drawing.  I won $50 and have had a couple of featured pieces as well.  The community is friendly and support is responsive. Mostly I have submitted my own work, but you can submit other pages from around the internet as long as it’s just a link. Documents, photos, and other submissions must be your own. I find photography and art to be the most popular items on the site. Overall, I would highly recommend the site, not as a primary source of income of course, but definitely bookmarking that’s worth the time. I am particularly appreciative of the fact that it’s ok to submit my own stuff. It’s not a license to spam, but it’s approval to freely add your own work. The traffic I have received from the site is only moderate thus far. My only complaint is that the site is very slow at times. Their traffic continues to increase and they haven’t yet upgraded their capacity. I’m hoping this will change soon.

As I indicated previously, I’ve been spending some time writing other places. I’m trying in part to boost the links to my Squidoo lenses but also trying to add “real estate” from other domains.  I’m seeing glimmers of hope that it will pay off.  

The  AdSense revenue I’m earning directly has doubled in the past couple of months. Don’t get too charged up though because I was in the under $1.00 to $.50/day category. Pitiful but I don’t run AdSense on my blogs or anything.  I wrote my first few Bukisa articles this week and have earned as many pennies. Not so encouraging but the reality is it took a few months before I made anything on Squidoo too.  I’m up to about $62 on RedGage, hopefully that’s a trend that will continue. Again, not big money, but it helps.

Finally broke down and wrote a few hubs based on my years in management positions. Not a favorite topic for me but they were easy to write.  I started out very basic and did one on How to Fire Someone (uplifting, huh?) and one about How to Delegate (don’t you WISH you had someone to whom you could delegate?). They are both getting Google attention but it’s sad to note that people are more interested in how to fire somenone than delegating effectively.  Oh, well.

My only new lens this week was for my local niche; this one is on Fort Harrison State Park. It was formerly a military post and has a rich history but it’s now a park and offers some great birding, wildflower viewing, hiking, and more.

At last, it looks as if I will have a few days to myself. Hubby is visiting family, well actually doing some autocross with his brother and nephew, my mother has no appointments, and I have a few days to do whatever I please. First a few chores around the house, maybe some shopping, and then…Squidoo?

My only new lens since my last post is a short one for my local niche on State Parks; this one focuses on Tippecanoe River State Park. It was kind of an accidental lens. We had driven to that part of the state for other business, and I decided to reserve a couple of hours to visit the park and create a lens. 

With my free time in the next few days I hope to do more writing. I continue to use Hubpages, ezinearticles, and Qassia for much of this. For anyone who hasn’t been over to Qassia in a while, you might be in for a surprise. The name has changed, it’s now Qondio.com. I’m unclear as to what this means functionally, but the blog does note that they want to expand the types of content the site accepts. I’ll have to see how this evolves. In the meantime, after numerous false starts, I’m making my maiden attempt at creating additional content on Bukisa. Like Qassia, er, uh, Qondio, it seems very simple and a great way to earn some AdSense and gain some backlinks. Hope to see some of you there.