January 2012 Squidoo Payout

Squidoo payday is early this month, and I've already received the PayPal payment. I'm happy to report that I've reached 4 figures for the first time in my time on Squidoo. This $1,057 payment was made possible by first-tier lenses bringing over $50 each, and also increasing Amazon sales due to my own efforts.

You will find the January 2012 Squidoo tier information below:

Ad pool:

Tier 1: $40.64
Tier 2: $6.91
Tier 3: $0.35

In-Text Ads:

Tier 1: $12.61
Tier 2: $2.14
Tier 3: $0.11

Chitika (smaller payout as Chitika ads were removed in the middle of the month):

Tier 1: $0.37
Tier 2: $0.06
Tier 3: $0.00

As for news, Squidoo launched a new UpMarket magazine this month for business-related lenses. I was pleased to see that two of my lenses, 'Ad Managers' and 'What Is PPV Marketing?' were selected. Sadly, they weren't actually featured anywhere on the magazine, so I'm not getting any extra traffic from this.

I understand Squidoo wanting to showcase only the best lenses. Still, while my 'ad manager' lens could be seen as somewhat promotional, I'm rather proud of my lens on PPV marketing. I have no idea what the criteria for featuring are, however, and other lensmasters have pointed out that the selection itself (but perhaps not the featuring on the magazine) is automated, which of course diminishes the happiness at having your lens selected.

December 2011 Squidoo Payout

Squidoo just sent out the last payments in 2011. December tier rates were pretty high, so a lot of lensmasters are reporting impressive profits at SquidU. My payout definitely wasn't the highest ever, but I'm not going to complain about a nice sum of $740.

The tier payouts are as follows:

Ad pool:

Tier 1: $38.93
Tier 2: $6.62
Tier 3: $0.33

In-Text Ads:

Tier 1: $12.29
Tier 2: $2.09
Tier 3: $0.10

Chitika:

Tier 1: $0.90
Tier 2: $0.15
Tier 3: $0.01

Since Squidoo removed Chitika ads from our lenses around November 22nd, this is the last full Chitika payout. I'm not sure if we'll get a partial payout (for the 20 or so days) in January, but Chitika was never a big earner on Squidoo, so it shouldn't affect our income all that much.

All in all, this was a pretty successful year at Squidoo for me, and I'm looking forward to a profitable 2012.

November 2011 Squidoo Payout

I've received a respectable $840 payout from Squidoo this month, bringing my total earnings to over $10,000. It isn't that much considering I've been a member of Squidoo for over 4 years now, but I am indeed very grateful for the opportunity to make money that they provide.

Squidoo payment tiers for November 2011 were a bit lower than last month, but still very good:

Ad pool:

Tier 1: $35.89
Tier 2: $6.10
Tier 3: $0.31

In-Text Ads:

Tier 1: $10.30
Tier 2: $1.75
Tier 3: $0.09

Chitika:

Tier 1: $0.93
Tier 2: $0.16
Tier 3: $0.01

This time I'd like to share one affiliate program that I'm using on Squidoo and elsewhere with you. It belongs to BookDepository, an online bookstore with free worldwide delivery. It can be a nice alternative to Amazon because of free shipping (especially relevant in Europe, seeing how BD is based in the UK and delivery here is quite fast), and they pay via PayPal instead of check. You make 5% commissions on sales, and affiliate cookie is stored for a month.

It hasn't made me rich by any means, but I have received 3 payouts up to date, worth about $180 in total. Might be worth your time if you have lenses about books and want to give your visitors an alternative to the mighty Amazon.

October 2011 Squidoo Payout

I am receiving a personal highest-ever Squidoo payout for the fourth month in a row now! This time it's $919. Every time I tell myself that it won't be higher next month, that I have barely touched my lenses lately, but Squidoo still manages to surprise me. Lenses that I've made years ago are still making me $$$ with very little maintenance.

The tier payouts are also on the rise:

Ad pool:

Tier 1: $36.28
Tier 2: $6.17
Tier 3: $0.31

In-Text Ads:

Tier 1: $9.94
Tier 2: $1.69
Tier 3: $0.08

Chitika:

Tier 1: $1.47
Tier 2: $0.25
Tier 3: $0.01

Another great moneymaker for me is VigLink. I've actually written a short review of it on Squidoo. It's a system that helps you "affiliatize" links on your website or blog automatically, without having to signup at affiliate marketplaces like CJ or LinkShare and manually replacing each and every link. They actually made me around $1k on my gaming blog last month, which rivals my Squidoo income. It works especially well if you have outgoing links to online stores like Amazon, but you are not a member of their affiliate program.

September 2011 Squidoo Payout

The famous Blue Box has arrived in our dashboards again, although the actual PayPal payments will apparently be a day late (Sep 16). I'm pleased to share that I'm getting yet another highest-ever Squidoo payout - $817 - this month.

It's truly phenomenal (for me, anyway), especially considering I haven't been working on my lenses all that much lately. This is largely thanks to the increasing tier payments:

Ad pool:

Tier 1: $32.83
Tier 2: $5.58
Tier 3: $0.28

In-Text Ads*:

Tier 1: $9.02
Tier 2: $1.53
Tier 3: $0.08

Chitika:

Tier 1: $1.45
Tier 2: $0.25
Tier 3: $0.01

*InfoLinks have apparently been replaced by Vibrant In-Text Ads at some point (served from intellitxt.com). They do not appear for my country at all, so I can't really say whether they are more annoying than InfoLinks or not. I suppose the general idea is the same. However, the tier payments from these new ads are definitely good!

Big Squidoo news this month include Squidoo Magazines (a sort of replacement for groups), and possibly the option for lensmasters to use subdomains (like yourname.squidoo.com/lens-name), currently in the testing phase.