Network Marketing News: Squidoo Policy Changes & Your Internet Network Marketing Business
Wednesday, June 17, 2009 at 03:39PM Network marketing news of the best kind! Squidoo just released a list of intended site policy changes that will make life much better for attraction marketers and internet network markters doing business there.
The goal of these policy changes is to increase the VALUE of the content being posted on Squidoo. With that in mind if you are providing VALUE to your visitor with your Squidoo content, as all Renegade Professional students are taught to do, these changes will bring a smile to your face and you’ll do just fine.
When ever changes like these are made to a content sharing site or when you inadvertently get into trouble with one of them (as I did… see here for details) it’s best to look at it as a learning experience. Sites such as Squidoo & Hubpages pay many experts BIG MONEY to determine how to best provide value to their visitors. This is YOUR opportunity to leverage off their investment. Learn from them what is optimal and adjust your content creation accordingly.
To that end, here’s a heads up straight from Squidoo on the changes coming in mid July…
1. No Spam. This one's not new, but it's worth saying again.
It's simple: given our pedigree, our point of view and our dyed-in-the-wool, we-will-never-change-our-mind conviction on this issue, spam is not okay at Squidoo. For a few years now we have had a very strict and enforced stance against spam. That's staying the same, and if anything, getting even more rigorous. If you actively spam people with your Squidoo lenses (by email, in blog comments, by stalking and harassing people on Twitter, by tricking people with the content in your lenses, and more) we'll lock your entire account.
2. No more X-rated or Porn lenses
If you came to Squidoo to create X-rated or pornographic content, the time has come to say farewell. We're not discontinuing these lenses because we've suddenly grown shy, or because we no longer believe in the freedom to publish what you want. We do. Practically though, supporting X-rated pages no longer makes sense, and it invites more spam and empty traffic and wasted overhead than anything. Find out more about why we're making this very hard decision, and what it means for your X-rated lenses. (Don't panic! You can export your content and take it with you).
3. No Junk Topics from our "SquidDon't" List
Lenses on free movie downloads. Toenail fungus cures. LoseBellyFatNow promotions. Reverse Phone Lookup 4U. You know junk when you see it. And lots more examples.
Unforunately, topics like these are overwhelmingly conditioned and proven to attract spammers. If a topic has displayed enough trickery and spam and bad activity, we choose not to support it. If we find a lens on a SquidDon't topic or something very similar to it, we'll lock it. For good. Our best recommendation: Don't bother with topics like these. There's plenty of incredible stuff to write about and recommend online without having to go near the edges of what we're got going here.
4. A new limit on overly promotional lenses
Making a lens to promote or recommend something is a terrific endeavor. It's a big part of why a lot of our people are here. But: Less is more! Sales lenses far too often turn into junk lenses, as described by the relentless number of outbound links to the same exact domain. Being overly promotional rarely works. "Buy here buy here buy here!" never does.
So to help you focus your lenses, and sell even better--and to help surfers find our pages more useful overall--we're introducing a limit to the number of outbound links to the same domain that you can have on a lens. If you have more than 9 links to the SAME domain on a single lens, your lens will get locked for review. Of course we'll have domains that are whitelisted out of this (meaning, you can have as many outbound links to them as you like), as well as sites that are blacklisted (meaning, even a single link to that domain will get your lens locked).
Of these changes the one most likely to affect internet network marketers trained and other Renegade Professionals most is #4’s limit on OUTBOUND links. I encourage you to become familiar with these new rules NOW and adjust your content accordingly so you’ll have no problems when the changes take effect in mid July.
Shelly Begarowicz is The Rat Race Rebel. She shows "Every-Day-Folks" how to get off "The Hamster Wheel" and Join The Party.
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Reader Comments (11)
Squidoo incepe sa se curete de zgomot. Asta e bine.
Squidoo starts to clean up the noise. This is a good thing.,
http://mlm4romania.wordpress.com/2009/06/17/squidoo-isi-schimba-regulile/
Shelly,
Great reaction time (I mean to grab this recent topic so quickly and get it out there)! I was going to do the same thing but saw you did it so I'll just refer people here instead :-)
As the Internet evolved, we'll see it continue to move more and more toward rewarding those who provide value--the more you focus on giving and learn the art of getting (which is exactly what we're teaching in Renegade Professional), the more a person accelerates their business growth.
I'm surprised Squidoo took so long reducing spam and overly promotional content. I'm surprised they're not doing more yet. For example, 9 links to one domain is still a lot of links!
Great way to leverage the news Shelly--you are a leader doing it right. People who model you will do well!
Mike
Thanks for the update ,glad to hear about positive changes taking place especially those about junk content and porn. I give a hooray for squidoo.
Thanks Mike!
I never would have thought to turn such a thing into an article a year ago. Understanding what's important and how to spread the word about it (leveraging the news) is one of the BEST things (among soooo many) you've taught us in Renegade Professional. I and everyone else appreciate all that you do. It has literally made ALL the difference in my business :)
As for the number of outbound links Squidoo is still allowing, I too am surprised. 9 is truly a lot (Hubpages for example only allows 2) though I'm afraid in some of my early work I may have to go trim out a few... LOL.
We'll just have to keep an eye on things and continue to adjust our work accordingly as the internet evolves. The beautiful thing about attraction marketing is it's flexibility. And if we're doing it right, we'll be leading the marketing changes instead of reacting to them :)
ShellyB
Shelly, thanks so much for your excellent material and information.
Hi Shelly,
What are your thoughts regarding the ban on "Affiliate lenses promoting other affiliate programs."
Do you feel that MLM/network marketing falls under this? Or is it seperate?
Andrew Desilets
Shelly,
Way to GO! What an excellent piece work. You jump on it. You know "Leveraging The News."
You have demonstrated what we are learning at the Renegade Professional and what others are longing to know. Keep it are going, lady.
Donna Wells
Good question Andrew,
I'm thinking that the only lenses that will be affected by the Squidoo policy change you're asking about are the ones that DO NOT ADD VALUE. If all you do is slap up a lens that is simply an advertisement or glorified splash page then it'll run into trouble.
However, if you are ADDING VALUE to what ever topic or product you are wanting people to look at, purchase or subscribe to then you are being an ATTRACTIVE marketer and your stuff will be fine.
Sadly the network marketing industry (MLM industry) has historically fallen into the SPAM category of marketing. Not because it has no value or isn't a wonderful industry to be in... but because of the sadly amateur marketing practices taught to most of it's members.
So, will MLM/network marketing fall under the ax of "Affiliate lenses promoting other affiliate programs."? Yes, many will. But this is a GOOD thing both for the network marketing industry as a whole AND for us attraction marketers.
Network marketing/MLM or affiliate lenses that are created on the principles of Attraction marketing by ADDING value will shine all the more strongly for this purging of the SPAM on Squidoo.
Any other thoughts on this?
ShellyB
Shelly,
As a "reformed" network marketer learning to apply attraction marketing principles and build my company sales online, I salute you. Your post is so timely as I've just begun a new marketing campaign with Squidoo lenses as a key content sharing piece. Thanks for keeping me clear and focused on a content development and linking strategy that will keep me firmly grounded in attraction marketing.
Kate Williams, Good Body Buddies and Simply-Home-Business
Thanks for the timely information. I agree that nine outbound links seems like way too many to me! Glad to know I'm on track!
Shelly,
Thanks for sharing this. Squidoo's policy change is proof positive that all of us attraction marketers are on the right track. In the world of marketing, both online and offline, content is king. And even more important, Valuable Content is King.
It's the folks who educate and provide value for their customers that build lasting businesses.