HubPages versus Squidoo

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   EmpressFelicityposted 14 years ago

   I've just joined Squidoo and published my first "lens".  My initial impressions of Squidoo are that it's less easy to use than HubPages (from the point of view of actually publishing something rather than just browsing as a reader), and is also slower.  I do however like the fact that the choice of capsules is so much greater - for example, I was able to add an Etsy capsule to my lens with items from my Etsy shop.
   
   When it comes to Adsense earnings, my impression is that HP is fairer than Squidoo - I gather that Squidoo pools all the earnings and redistributes them, so that people higher up the hierarchy get more. 
   
   Is there anyone else out there who publishes on Squidoo as well as HP?  Which one do you prefer and why?  And what sort of subjects do you find do well revenue-wise at each?

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      lakeerieartistsposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      There are quite a few people who write on both sites, and they are completely different animals.  It is hard to determine fairness when they have completely different business models.  I think that it takes a while to get comfortable on both sites, and if you are predisposed towards one because you started there first you are bound to think that one is better than the other.

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         relacheposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         This is an excellent description.

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            Neil Ashworthposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            I wouldn't necessarily agree with you on this point. I started with Squidoo a few years back but have only been writing here on hubpages for a few months but prefer HP for a number of reasons - it's functionality for one and also its ability to rank well in terms of google search results - faster at least for specific keywords Squidoo gets nowhere with.
            
            One thing which I do prefer about Squidoo though is the lens capability - being able to add twitter capsules to bring in live, targeted content in addition to RSS feeds and various other functions which HUbs doesn't yet have in place - as a marketer using both sites, I agree, both have strengths and weaknesses or require a different approach but for me the winner is hubpages..

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         Wendy Krickposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         agree 100%! I have over 100 lenses at squidoo. I love both HP and Squidoo. They are both very different business models. But I make money and get google traffic from both.
         ~Wendy

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   2. 59

      Mariapaulposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I've joined HP and Squidoo a few days ago. But still I couldn't create a Lens on the topic Casino whereas I've already published 9 hub on the same topic. I've tried several time but don't get success in Squidoo. HP is more open in discussing every topic than Squido. Also I notice that HP is more resourceful and user friendly.
      
      
      
      
      

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         lakeerieartistsposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Just like Hubpages, Squidoo has topics that aren't allowed and gambling is one of them.

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      Jezzzzposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I publish on Squidoo and Hubpages.  At first I thought it to be a lot easier to publish in Squidoo.  I have since chanced my mine.  Hubpages has been a lot quicker to publish content.  But, I have found that my squidoo pages have ranked faster in some cases and higher in the serps.  The one thing I really like about HP is that they share adsense better than squidoo.  You don't need to have a lot of content.  As long as are article ranks well you will receive some money.  All and All I like both.
      
      

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   relacheposted 14 years ago

   They work differently and take really different strategies to make them profitable.

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3. 59

   DesignerHandbagsposted 14 years ago

   From experience, I can tell you the forum here at Hubpages is a friendly and respectful and a very resourceful place, compared to the forum at Squidoo where I never felt the sense of community, more like I was being bothersome.
   
   Jennifer

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   Marisa Wrightposted 14 years ago

   This has been discussed at length before:
   
   http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/15127#post198055
   
   I also find Squidoo harder to use than HubPages, but I think it just depends which one you arrived at first - and people who know even a little HTML can't understand what we dummies are complaining about on Squidoo.

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   jess can help uposted 14 years ago

   Hi EmpressFelicity,
   In answer to your question concerning Squidoo. I published on Squidoo, and I had the most difficult time with their lenses. Most of the time when I would try and submit it, there was always something wrong, and I would have to go back and correct. Even when I was told what to correct, and I did, they still said it was wrong.  One time, I didn't make the corrections, and re-submitted and article it was accepted!
   
   I write about relationships and addiction, and when I would try submitting help info for broken relationships, I was informed that i was near to crossing their x-rated rules...how to get help for a relationship is x-rated?
   
   My experience here at HubPages has been extremely good. Everything is easy when putting together an article, and the hubbers are the greatest! Honestly speaking, I wish that I had come here a long long time ago!!!
   
   I hope that I helped a little bit with some answers to your questions. Have a nice day EmpressFelicity
   Jess

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   CarpetDiemposted 14 years ago

   HubPages or Squidoo?
   reminds me of Mac or PC...
   They both work fine, but one is easier.
   
   As for me, I love HubPages, and see no reason to venture over to the "other side"...

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   BookFlameposted 14 years ago

   Which one is bigger in terms of members?  Is the qualiy of writing about the same?

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   Chloe Comfortposted 14 years ago

   I've been writing hubs and lenses for my employer on both sites for over a year now and while I do like the the variety of modules/capsules on Squidoo I find that I personally prefer HubPages. Hubbers I find are much more friendly than Squids :-)

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9. 0

   EmpressFelicityposted 14 years ago

   Thanks for everyone's responses!  I agree with Jess about lenses being harder to publish than hubs (I ran a "health check" on my one lens and it came up with several pointers, but I found it impossible to correct them).  I think I will concentrate the bulk of my efforts on HP, at least for now (and maybe sign up with an article submission site as well... see whether that yields any joy income-wise).

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    akihanposted 14 years ago

    i've been on both and i feel that squidoo has a greater problem with spam. some lenses are either empty or just plain full of ads.

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    kerrygposted 14 years ago

    I've used both and like both (I'm a Giant Squid over at Squidoo) but prefer HubPages overall because it tends to have a cleaner look, whereas with Squidoo you have to design your lenses very carefully or they start to look cluttered and difficult to read.
    
    I can't say I've noticed any significant difference between the sites in the friendliness of the forums or the ease of use, but I know HTML and knew it before I started using either site, so I may not be the best judge about that.

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    Nelle Hoxieposted 14 years ago

    How fast can one become a Giant Squid at Squidoo? I ask because if I understand their business model. Some of the money is distributed on the basis of your place in the squidoo community.
    
    If a hot new squid creates lenses that start to make affiliate sales and adsense sales immediately. Do they see that money immediately or do they subsidize the giant squids for any length of time. Quite frankly that's one of the reasons I've never cared very much for Squidoo. It seemed that until I was a bigshot my earnings might go to others.
    
    But please correct me if I'm wrong.

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       lakeerieartistsposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       Hi Nelle,
       Adsense revenue is pooled and shared dependent on lensrank, not Giant status although many Giants have higher ranking lenses. Lensrank is determined by a mysterious algorithm based on traffic, sales, clickouts, etc.
       
       There is no time factor involved although you do have to get appproved for Giant status and there are a lot of people competing.  Just because you have 50 lenses you will not necessarily become a Giant.
       
       However, being a Giant does not stop you from making lenses nor from making money.  Cafe Press, Amazon, and Ebay modules revenue are split 50/50 between Squidoo and you, although with the changes from Ebay, Squidoo is having reporting and communication issues right now.  Not sure how that will play out.
       
       You can put links to most other sites from Squidoo unless they have been blacklisted.  There is a 9 link limit to any one site from a particular lens for non-Giants.  Squidoo made some policy changes recently which is all outlined in their TOS.
       
       But adsense sales are not tracked like on Hubpages.  They go straight to Squidoo, and you do not see those numbers. As to your question about payment timing, it is similar to elsewhere.  You are paid about 60 days after the fact for sales that go through Squidoo and adsense revenue about the same time you would on most other sites. If you would like links to more information, I would be happy to provide them for you.

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    kezan98posted 14 years ago

    I started with Squidoo before coming over to Hubpages (haven't been here long).  I do agree there is a sense of community within hubpages that you don't get at Squidoo
    
    @Nelle Hoxie
    It's only adsense revenue is shared out amongst memeber and depending on how much traffic your lenses get will depend on your share. Other revenue streams such as amazon and ebay are shared between you and squidoo.
    
    To be a giant squid you need to have 50 execellent lenses.

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14. 0

    Nelle Hoxieposted 14 years ago

    This is very helpful. I've read their TOS, but haven't been able to "get" exactly how it works.
    
    Can I have an shareasale affiliate capsule on Squidoo, and would I get paid by the merchant direct deposit. Like on my own site? Is it impossible to do this?
    
    Or am I limited to Ebay, Amazon, and Cafe Press similar to the limitations on Hubpages?

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       Jeffrey Nealposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       Affiliate links are allowed.  Some HTML widgets do not work, but there is one Squidoo member there (can't remember who at the moment) that has created a "wrapper" of sorts to get some things working.  Straight links aren't a problem, though.

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       lakeerieartistsposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       HTML works, javascript does not, you cannot use iframes.  Shareasale is fine and so is Linkshare.  Most affiliate companies are just fine.  You would have to create the capsule in a Text/Write capsule to use those types of links or in a text part of another capsule.
       
       You can also use Amazon direct links.  All that would pay out directly to you.

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    Madfunposted 14 years ago

    I was a Squidoo fan the most but now I am here, I have to say I do prefer hubpages. Overall though, both are great to have to be able to add content to the web and talk to people and not via Facebook.
    
    Rob

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    TimTurnerposted 14 years ago

    I started both at the same time and quit Squidoo within 3 weeks.
    
    I got ZERO views after 3 weeks and no Google submission on Squidoo.
    
    With Hubpages, I had over 100 views and my Hubs were placed on Google during that same time frame.
    
    I gave both websites 2 articles a piece.
    
    Squidoo has the better interface and look but didn't produce for me one bit.

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17. 0

    Nelle Hoxieposted 14 years ago

    This has been very helpful. Thank you all. I might consider fitting Squidoo into my affiliate model yet again. It is indeed a very different animal. The ability to put some Shareasale affiliate links into a lens is very attractive. But if it's hard to get a lens to rank, I might as well build up my own site. I do love the Hubpages google traffic.

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    Susana Sposted 14 years ago

    I've been reading this thread with interest - I have an account at squidoo but haven't written there yet. It's weird that some say that squidoo lenses don't do as well in google as hubs, because squidoo has a higher pagerank than hubpages ???
    
    Squidoo is 7 and HP 6.

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       Jeffrey Nealposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       Must have been updated recently?  Last time I published a lens it was 6, I thought.
       
       @Nelle, I started with Squidoo first because I had read up from potpiegirl.com.  Her site has a lot of info on Squidoo as it seems she does a good portion of her affiliate marketing from there.  I've found the information from there helpful.

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    viryaboposted 14 years ago

    I joined Squidoo before i did HP. i must say i really prefer HP because i find it user friendly, and the awesome help from the community gave me a great jumpstart. I felt isolated at Squidoo, and traffic is disgustingly slow. Almost non-exixtent sometimes.
    Till date, i've earned less than $10 at Squidoo..AFTER 10 MONTHS!!. My earnings at Hubpages is heaven, compared! Much more impressive, and i like the transparency exhibited here.
    Maybe, just maybe i'll re-visit Squidoo after my 200th hub. But i doubt it!
    

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    SingaporeSlingerposted 14 years ago

    I LITERALLY just joined HP. I'm looking forward to writing some stuff so that I can also get a feel for the differences between the two.
    
    I've been a Squid since June, but haven't really been active there so I can't fairly comment on the feel of community or anything like that.
    
    But I definitely have to agree that there's a point when people mention that setting up lenses can be a bit difficult at first.
    
    Though I've not used html in the years since I first learned it, the basics I know have always gotten me through simple customization tasks on sites that allow for a bit of customization.
    
    I found Squidoo to be not as straight-forward as I'm used to. It was almost like needing to relearn the basics just to get things to come out the way I'd intended on the lenses.
    
    Anyway, I found this thread super useful, because I like hearing perspectives from both sides. See you all again in a bit!

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