Captain Squid http://www.captainsquid.com Squidoo Tips and Tricks to help you make more money Thu, 25 Jun 2009 01:55:18 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 en CaptainSquidhttp://feedburner.google.com My First 2 Years on Squidoo http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CaptainSquid/~3/1eHBdvVHrq0/my-first-2-years-on-squidoo http://www.captainsquid.com/my-first-2-years-on-squidoo#comments Thu, 25 Jun 2009 01:55:18 +0000 The Captain http://www.captainsquid.com/?p=385 Sweet Pirate Booty! I’ve been so busy the past few weeks that I just realized that i’ve celebrated my second anniversary on Squidoo during the past few weeks! Some Fun Facts about my time on Squidoo: I began using Squidoo right around when there was 100,000 lenses.. Now I think there’s close to a million. I’ve got somewhere [...] Sweet Pirate Booty! I’ve been so busy the past few weeks that I just realized that i’ve celebrated my second anniversary on Squidoo during the past few weeks!

Some Fun Facts about my time on Squidoo:

I began using Squidoo right around when there was 100,000 lenses.. Now I think there’s close to a million.

I’ve got somewhere in the neighborhood of 800 lenses. While I’ve slown down my output a bit since moving to Singapore (so much to do and so little time!) I’m hoping to maintain my rate of better than a lens a day for the foreseeable future. It’s too profitable and fun not too!

I’ve had multiple lenses earn over $1,000 in a single month.

I’ve had a nice handful of lenses earn over $100 in a single month.

I’ve got hundreds of lenses that have only ever earned pennies. (and that’s okay! Success with no failure is pretty boring..)

I was an original Giant Squid and Giant Squid 100 member.

I started Squidtop - a Blog network for lensmasters that is building up a nice community. I’ve got plans to make this even more awesome in the near future, if you want to help, let me know!

The Isle of Squid lens directory has grown to include thousands of hand reviewed lenses representing some of the best that Squidoo has to offer. This is another project that I’m hoping to expand in coming months and if you want to help, let me know!

I’ve met some amazing people from not only across the US but across the entire world. Some of you folks are truly amazing!

Posted 1,000+ times in Squid U…

and so much more I can’t think of right now…

Here’s to another 2 years and beyond of Making Money and Having Fun!!!

]]> http://www.captainsquid.com/my-first-2-years-on-squidoo/feed http://www.captainsquid.com/my-first-2-years-on-squidoo New Max layout Coming….. http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CaptainSquid/~3/AzSPd8scIko/new-max-layout-coming http://www.captainsquid.com/new-max-layout-coming#comments Sun, 07 Jun 2009 22:49:38 +0000 The Captain http://www.captainsquid.com/?p=388 Time for another squidoo layout.. I Sure hope this one was less controversial than the last one. The last time they changed the layout, a lot of lensmasters got really fired up about it… for about a week. Change is good. It helps you keep perspective on things. What i’m most excited about is finding out what the [...] Time for another squidoo layout..

I Sure hope this one was less controversial than the last one. The last time they changed the layout, a lot of lensmasters got really fired up about it… for about a week.

Change is good. It helps you keep perspective on things.

What i’m most excited about is finding out what the OTHER new feature HQ refers to in that post is… could be something very cool!

]]> http://www.captainsquid.com/new-max-layout-coming/feed http://www.captainsquid.com/new-max-layout-coming A Guide to Squidoo Lens Labels http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CaptainSquid/~3/bVcWLQLIp3w/a-guide-to-squidoo-lens-labels http://www.captainsquid.com/a-guide-to-squidoo-lens-labels#comments Mon, 25 May 2009 10:53:57 +0000 The Captain http://www.captainsquid.com/?p=383 I see remarkably little written across the various blogs, forums and other sites that populate the Squidoo community about lens labels. I can only assume that not very many people use them in their accounts or they are not used very effectively. This is truly a shame as I find that lens labels are perhaps one [...] I see remarkably little written across the various blogs, forums and other sites that populate the Squidoo community about lens labels. I can only assume that not very many people use them in their accounts or they are not used very effectively.

This is truly a shame as I find that lens labels are perhaps one of the most useful aspects of the dashboard. They easily allow you to slice and dice your lenses into smaller groups and let you track cool things like the traffic that a particular subset of lenses is receiving.

So, for those of you that don’t really use lens labelling, here’s 5 reasons to start:

  1. Sort by affiliate program - Create a separate label for Commission Junction, Pepperjam, etc. and place lenses that use each program under that label.
  2. Lens Cloud labels (see ‘What is a Lens Cloud?’)- Every ‘cloud’ I make has it’s own label. Sometimes, i even have labels for sub-clouds etc. This cuts wayyy down on fishing around for the right lens.
  3. To-Do - When I’m sitting down for a session of lens editing I always begin by assigning all the lenses I want to work on to a ‘pending’ type label. As I complete what I hoped to do for each lens, I remove it from that label.
  4. Lenses can have multiple labels!
  5. Tracking Lensrank - During some months, I’ll label every lens I have in the top tier with one label and every lens in tier 2 with a second label. Then, I’ll check it every week to see which lenses are rising or falling. This is great for helping me pick out trends that are occuring within my lenses.
Do any of you guys actively use the label system? If so, I’d love to hear in the comments what you find them most effective for!
]]> http://www.captainsquid.com/a-guide-to-squidoo-lens-labels/feed http://www.captainsquid.com/a-guide-to-squidoo-lens-labels A Well Deserved LOTD http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CaptainSquid/~3/sTqWo-lxSTk/a-well-deserved-lotd http://www.captainsquid.com/a-well-deserved-lotd#comments Sun, 24 May 2009 06:38:38 +0000 The Captain http://www.captainsquid.com/?p=381 Fluffanutta was awarded with a lens of the day award for his totally outstanding lens on how to use CSS in Squidoo. For those of you that haven’t seen much of fluffanutta’s work, he has several tools that are absolutely essential for managing lenses and getting the most out of squidoo. I use all of these tools, [...] Fluffanutta was awarded with a lens of the day award for his totally outstanding lens on how to use CSS in Squidoo.

For those of you that haven’t seen much of fluffanutta’s work, he has several tools that are absolutely essential for managing lenses and getting the most out of squidoo.

I use all of these tools, and all are currently free to use.

  • Firefox Add-on for Squidoo - This extension uses Greasemonkey to show some cool summaries, graphs, shortcuts and more on your dashboard, workshop, and individual lens stat pages. It consumes almost no system resources and saves me tons of time on a regular basis. If you haven’t updated your version of the addon recently, click over real quick and get the latest version, it’s fantastic!
  • Squidoo Toolbar - Can you say one-click login into each of your accounts? This toolbar does this and more. Note: I’m currently working with fluffanutta to bring even more little tools and tricks to the toolbar so make sure and grab it so you are ready to roll when we release some of this stuff!
  • SquidUtils - You can’t forget where it all begins. SquidUtils has everything from table makers, amazon links and stat tracking, ping services, and TONS of other good stuff. If you haven’t been by in a while, it’s definitely worth spending some time looking around there as there is a ton of new squidoo tools there.
]]> http://www.captainsquid.com/a-well-deserved-lotd/feed http://www.captainsquid.com/a-well-deserved-lotd Interview with Glen at Lensroll.com http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CaptainSquid/~3/a_k8pV5Qrdg/interview-with-glen-at-lensrollcom http://www.captainsquid.com/interview-with-glen-at-lensrollcom#comments Tue, 19 May 2009 23:16:40 +0000 The Captain http://www.captainsquid.com/?p=378 I totally missed that Glen published an Interview with The Captain from last year on the Lensroll.com blog. I just re-read through it (we initially did the interview last year sometime) and it’s surprisingly still quite relevant to the way I continue to build lenses today. Definitely worth a read. I had forgotten I’d written so [...] I totally missed that Glen published an Interview with The Captain from last year on the Lensroll.com blog. I just re-read through it (we initially did the interview last year sometime) and it’s surprisingly still quite relevant to the way I continue to build lenses today.

Definitely worth a read. I had forgotten I’d written so much for that interview, probably should have kept my mouth shut about a few things in there but oh well :).

]]> http://www.captainsquid.com/interview-with-glen-at-lensrollcom/feed http://www.captainsquid.com/interview-with-glen-at-lensrollcom New Blip.fm Module for Squidoo Lenses http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CaptainSquid/~3/ka2DzPfMZzw/new-blipfm-module-for-squidoo-lenses http://www.captainsquid.com/new-blipfm-module-for-squidoo-lenses#comments Mon, 11 May 2009 14:04:54 +0000 The Captain http://www.captainsquid.com/?p=375 Lensmaster and Giant Squid Kab stopped by the chat room the other day and asked if it was possible to create a module for lenses that showed the most recent update from your blip.fm account. After a few tweaks and bumps, I’m proud to present the Blip.fm Squidoo module. Bip.fm on Widgetsquid Lens about Blip.fm Module with FAQ Now, [...] Lensmaster and Giant Squid Kab stopped by the chat room the other day and asked if it was possible to create a module for lenses that showed the most recent update from your blip.fm account.

After a few tweaks and bumps, I’m proud to present the Blip.fm Squidoo module.

Bip.fm on Widgetsquid

Lens about Blip.fm Module with FAQ

Now, it’s easy to add live updates of your blip.fm stream to your lenses :)

Enjoy!

]]> http://www.captainsquid.com/new-blipfm-module-for-squidoo-lenses/feed http://www.captainsquid.com/new-blipfm-module-for-squidoo-lenses Make $1000 with CJ and Squidoo Yet? http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CaptainSquid/~3/X0o14P7o2Fk/make-1000-with-cj-and-squidoo-yet http://www.captainsquid.com/make-1000-with-cj-and-squidoo-yet#comments Mon, 04 May 2009 14:41:03 +0000 The Captain http://www.captainsquid.com/?p=373 Okay, so you probably haven’t made $1,000 from Commission Junction and Squidoo quite yet but hopefully the video series of the past few days has proven useful to a few young squids out there. As a special follow up treat, if you can’t seem to watch the videos in your browser for whatever reason you can [...] Okay, so you probably haven’t made $1,000 from Commission Junction and Squidoo quite yet but hopefully the video series of the past few days has proven useful to a few young squids out there.

As a special follow up treat, if you can’t seem to watch the videos in your browser for whatever reason you can download a zip file of the CJ-Squidoo Training. (it’s about 35 MB so it takes a bit)

As a quick re-cap, here are all the lessons we’ve learned in the past few days:

An Introduction to Commission Junction

Applying for Programs on Commission Junction

Adding affiliate products to your Squidoo Lens

Using Commission Junction’s reporting tools for maximum benefit

Remember, this training is really only a blueprint illustrating one way you can use an affiliate program on Squidoo. Most of the concepts translate pretty easily across all the major networks as well, the reporting and application process is usually quite similar.

I hope you all enjoyed it and stay tuned for some more fun posts this week!

]]> http://www.captainsquid.com/make-1000-with-cj-and-squidoo-yet/feed http://www.captainsquid.com/make-1000-with-cj-and-squidoo-yet Using Commission Junction Reporting Effectively http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CaptainSquid/~3/QYeuOxQRu3k/using-commission-junction-reporting-effectively http://www.captainsquid.com/using-commission-junction-reporting-effectively#comments Sun, 03 May 2009 14:30:06 +0000 The Captain http://www.captainsquid.com/?p=369 The last two videos in the series (Yes a bonus! 2 videos in one day! ) are all about how to use Commission Junction’s powerful reporting features to drill down to each Squidoo lens (and each link if you want) to determine what is working the best and which products are converting the best [...] The last two videos in the series (Yes a bonus! 2 videos in one day! :) ) are all about how to use Commission Junction’s powerful reporting features to drill down to each Squidoo lens (and each link if you want) to determine what is working the best and which products are converting the best for you.

I’m a huge believer in analytics and collecting as much actionable data as possible from my web properties. CJ lets you do that in a way that is very powerful once you learn how to use it.

Commission Junction Reporting Tutorials:

Performance Reporting with Commission Junction

Transaction Reporting with Commission Junction

If you are catching this series for the first time, make sure and check out the earlier videos so you’ll have an idea what I’m talking about here :) :

Introduction to CJ and Squidoo

Applying for an Affiliate Program on Commission Junction

Adding Commission Junction Links to Squidoo Lenses

Tomorrow, I’ll wrap up the series with a few special downloads for you guys so stay tuned!

]]> http://www.captainsquid.com/using-commission-junction-reporting-effectively/feed http://www.captainsquid.com/using-commission-junction-reporting-effectively Adding CJ products to Squidoo Lenses http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CaptainSquid/~3/RfkHuypEUQg/adding-cj-products-to-squidoo-lenses http://www.captainsquid.com/adding-cj-products-to-squidoo-lenses#comments Sat, 02 May 2009 14:13:25 +0000 The Captain http://www.captainsquid.com/?p=364 This is the 3rd video in my Commission Junction training course. If you already have a good understanding of how commission junction works but are unsure how to use it to your best advantage with Squidoo than this video is definitely a must watch. The video covers how to insert products, descriptions, and images into your [...] This is the 3rd video in my Commission Junction training course. If you already have a good understanding of how commission junction works but are unsure how to use it to your best advantage with Squidoo than this video is definitely a must watch.

The video covers how to insert products, descriptions, and images into your lenses in an SEO-friendly manner.

The video tutorial can be found here:

Adding Commission Junction Products to Squidoo lenses - CJ training Part 3

Also make sure and check out the first two posts in the series:

An Introduction to using CJ and Squidoo

Applying for Affiliate Programs on Commission Junction

]]> http://www.captainsquid.com/adding-cj-products-to-squidoo-lenses/feed http://www.captainsquid.com/adding-cj-products-to-squidoo-lenses CJ and Squidoo - Applying for Programs http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CaptainSquid/~3/4P0y8SEHF_Q/cj-and-squidoo-applying-for-programs http://www.captainsquid.com/cj-and-squidoo-applying-for-programs#comments Fri, 01 May 2009 11:09:53 +0000 The Captain http://www.captainsquid.com/?p=360 The Next video in the Commission Junction Training Series is on applying for a program on CJ. For large networks like Commission Junction, each company has their own affiliate program and they are ‘applied’ to separately. you must be accepted as an affiliate by a company before you can begin earning money from them. The second [...] The Next video in the Commission Junction Training Series is on applying for a program on CJ. For large networks like Commission Junction, each company has their own affiliate program and they are ‘applied’ to separately.

you must be accepted as an affiliate by a company before you can begin earning money from them. The second installment walks you through applying for an affiliate program and provides some helpful tips for getting your application approved quickly.

Here’s the video:

How to Apply to Affiliate Programs on Commission Junction -CJ training part 2

And in case you are just joining us, the first post in the series can be found here:

Using CJ and Squidoo to make $1,000 a month

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