After a hiatus of three months, I finally returned to my desk and settled on the task of studying the
Squidoo website. Previously, I had created nine "lenses", single-page html websites, so to speak, that serve to show off what the subscriber knows; they can be anything from tribute pages to a "How-to" page, to pages involving polls or debates.
To this extent, Squidoo is really fascinating, and it also, by the way, generates money based on the success of your work.
And therefore, late December, early January, I've been building some news lenses, trying out the scenery, and testing the system to see what it can do. I've put a few writing projects on hold while I take the time to learn some of the intricate ins and outs.
To couple my use of Squidoo, I've decided to join with two 3rd-party affiliations:
Commission Junction and
ShareaSale. I'll be posting my revenues from each on a monthly basis.
Summary for the December 2010 and January 2011 payouts:
I had started my Squidoo account back in mid-September, before I actually had to stop for the next three months; during that time, I had managed to make a total of nine lenses.
Then I had to let them sit in limbo. Those lenses (from September) are and why I made them:
Making Money With Mechanical Turk (09/07/2010) was created because I had previously written the article and wanted to give it a home. It's an in-depth, sincere review of the website.
Captian America VS. Wolverine (09/08/2010) is a fan site. As a comic book fan, I was looking for ideas, something in the real of hobby, to splash onto a lens.
Muscle Building Overview (09/08/2010) is a previously written article that I had not yet sold. I decided to house it on Squidoo, just to see what it would do.
Avengers Movie Fan Page (09/09/2010) is another fan site page. My thoughts are that it will generate more interest as the movie gets closer to screen, but will drop thereafter. I actually plan on developing a marketing strategy with the site, before and after the first showing.
How To Make A Magical Sword (09/10/2010) is an attempt at comedy, because I want to see how well comedy, mixed into lenses, perform. I'm also attempting some light Amazon sales with the lens.
The Top 10 Stories of H.P. Lovecraft (09/10/2010) is partially a tribute to the author, but based on my idea of "Top 10" articles, which always seem to draw extra interest. The beauty of this lens is that it's one of my hobbies, I have good background knowledge, and it's a decent niche topic.
Best Elliptical Machine Reviews (09/13/2010) is a lens purposed with the sales of high-end items. I wrote it because I wanted to see what happens if I try to throw more expensive items on Squidoo.
How To Handle Debt Collectors (09/14/2010) is an informative article I had lying around, which I decided to house on Squidoo. It's a sincere article that will eventually be linked to some affiliates.
How To Be A Sidekick (09/15/2010) is a comedic page with know general purpose, other than inspiring something off-the-wall to talk about.
Edit Add: (10/07/2010) I submitted a nearly finished lens in October called
10 Top Horror Classics. It follows the "Top 10" line of thinking.
When I returned in December, after doing no work, I noticed (around the 11th), that they had earned $.38, a small, paltry amount. The H.P. Lovecraft lens seems to be generating the most interest, which I accrue to a "niche" topic (plus, he's one of my favorite authors). The worst performing lenses are the ones on Elliptical Machines and on Muscle Building; I believe that the topics are too broad to generate interest. I remained interested, though, because I knew I hadn't tapped out the Squidoo resources.
On January, the earnings doubled, through no extra effort of mine, to $.85. As of now, I'm in the process of creating more lenses.
and laptop are all I need. (Neither are useful while I'm driving or walking.) I mean, c'mon! Social media is great, but this is definately going too far. 
