I've been listening to Seth Godin for a few years. His books, blogs and articles have offered good information and he followed up with Squidoo.com last year.
I started building lenses at Squidoo back when it was still in beta and I really like the idea of Squidoo and the tools it offers.
I'll be the first to admit that some of my lenses are much better than others. I try to do the best I can, but it's obvious that I'm much better at technical stuff than I am at writing. I'm still trying to improve the quality of everything I do, but sometimes I miss the target.
Now and then, I feel really good about something I do, especially when it helps other people. An example of this is my Site Build It Webmasters lens where I'm promoting Site Build It and the people who use the service to build their sites.
Other times, I don't feel so good about something. If I can't make it better, eventually I'll delete it and consign it to the bit bucket of failed projects. I have a lot more failed projects than successful ones, but I keep trying to improve the ones that work and to try new things as I discover or create them. Examples of failed projects include my attempt to create a success cooperative, a favorite travel destinations group of sites, and others that have disappeared from cyberworld.
One thing I never do is try to mislead anyone or use any technical tricks to send you somewhere you don't want to go. Never.
I know how to do it, but I won't.
The closest I ever come to that is when I use domains and subdomains to redirect to other sites. I don't consider that misleading.
For example, I use http://sbi.linktodetails.com to redirect to my affiliate page at http://buildit.sitesell.com/sellmoreonline.html. I don't think that's misleading. Do you?
Sometimes I register a domain and point it to another site. One example of this is http://GetAFreeMarketingSite.com which points to my page at LinkScout. Another example is http://BuildBiggerDownlines.com which points to one of my Squidoo lenses.
I register these domains to make it easier to market the destinations. I think it is obvious from the domain names what types of sites you'll go to when you click them or type them in from one of my business cards.
Apparently, however, Squidoo has been having a lot of trouble with people building lenses that tricked people into going where they didn't want to go or seeing things they didn't want to see.
I don't know any specific instances or examples, but I can imagine. I know I'd be angry if I went to a lens that said it was about one thing only to find that it was about something totally different - or that it redirected me to another site that was totally unrelated to what I thought I'd see.
So, Squidoo has made some recent changes to try and get a handle on the problem.
It has been theorized that Google penalized Squidoo because of these low-quality and spam lenses. Someone called that the "Google slap" and the name stuck.
I've seen the rankings of my lenses drop in Google's search results, but now some of my lenses are starting to regain their former rankings.
There has been a lot of speculation and many people have started writing their Squidoo obituaries. I don't think this is a major problem and I believe Seth and the rest of the Squidoo team will get past this blip in their growth.
Instead of speculating, the Searchingdot.com blog posted Interview with Seth Godin on The Squidoo Slap.
Nobody can speak with authority on what Google actually did, but Seth can speak for Squidoo, and he did so in the interview.
I still believe that Squidoo is one of the best on-ramps to the Information Superhighway and I believe it is worth your time to build lenses and write about what you know and love. As I'm hearing repeatedly, "keep it real."
Don't try to trick people and don't try to game the system. These tactics will always work against you in the long run. I don't know about you, but I keep a list of the people who have tricked, scammed, spammed, and misdirected me and I'll never do business with them - no matter how well their sales pages are written.
Conversely, I also keep a list of people who offer great advice, useful information, and outstanding value. Those are the people I'll work with again and again.
Maybe I'll write about that second list one of these days.
One of the people on that second list is Ken Evoy. I've been buying products and services from Ken for years and I'm a better person because of it. He has perfected the under-promise, over-deliver marketing position. He, and his team, developed Site Build It! and I believe this is the best way to develop, build and market your online business.
I mention this because Ken has been recommending to us that we should be careful about linking to Squidoo and the lenses on the system. His position is that Google holds you responsible for the sites to which you link. If it is true that Google has devalued Squidoo, then by linking to the site you may hurt your site's ranking.
I pay attention to what Ken says, because he is right much more than he is wrong. This time, while respecting his caveat, I'm going to continue linking to Squidoo and some of the lenses there.
I still think it is worth your effort to create Squidoo lenses and offer information about what you know and love.
Just be aware that other people, some of whom I admire greatly, disagree.
I'm always open to advice and suggestions.
Act on your dream!
JD
7:03:54 AM 
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