I don't really know which is frustrating me more right now. Google or Squidoo. One of the approaches that I'd had pretty good luck with was Squidoo lenses. My success was modest (maybe averaging $5 a month per lens). Some of the pages I created were total duds with no one looking at them and some took off.
Here is one that I did on digestive enzyme supplements. I tried to provide some useful information, to select some books on Amazon that had good ratings and tell people where they could learn more. And then I'd have some products or websites with additional information -- most, but not all of these, included an affiliate link. The lens on digestive enzyme supplements followed a typical pattern. I linked to it in a couple blog comments, bookmarked it a place or two, watched in frustration while Google seemed to not notice it and then gradually some traffic came. And then I noticed more traffic. One thing I will say for Squidoo is that they give you nice traffic statistics -- how many people are coming, what search term they used to come to the web page, or where they followed a link from. No need to hassle with setting up Google analytics or learning your way around traffic reports on Cpanel.
When I noticed digestive enzyme supplements was getting more traffic, I looked and was delighted to discover that I was on the first page of Google when you searched on 'digestive enzyme supplements'. Now I had chosen this topic (and most of my topics) because they were something I had once researched on Google and discovered there was only a modest amount of information on. So life was good. I was getting traffic (which earns you more money directly from Squidoo) and occasionally was making a referral sale. I wasn't going to be able to pay the monthly car loan, but if I could get 10 - 20 of these to do so well, then maybe... So I started to add more Squidoo lenses. Some did well, others did not.
And then it happened...
About 2-3 weeks ago, I logged in to Squidoo and discovered the traffic to digestive enzyme supplements had dried up completely. I googled the term 'digestive enzyme supplements' and sure enough I was no longer on page 1. So where was I?
I changed to advanced Google search and went for the first 100 entries. I wasn't in there! The next 100? What the hell? (Pardon the strong language). I mean, are you kidding me?
So here is my rant today. What's up with Google where suddenly for no reason, they drop you like a hot potato? I had not done any huge link building campaign that might have set off a SPAM filter. On the other hand, I had used a link in a signature or two on a forum where it was appropriate, so it wasn't as though there was absolutely no new links to it.
Plus I had used a couple of the widgets in Squidoo that cause the webpage to automatically get a modest amount of new content, so it should not have been deemed stale. But there you have it, Google has stiffed me and I'm left with nothing to do but cry about it.
My next post (I didn't intend to go on and on so) will be about my frustration with Squidoo and What's Better than Squidoo.
Stay tuned!
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