Which is better HUBPAGES or SQUIDOO?
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Hubpages Vs Squidoo
I have accounts at both Squidoo and HubPages. In fact, I've had and have been using my Squidoo account(s) longer than I have my HubPages one. I think that both sites have their strengths and weaknesses, and they have similarities on the surface, but if you dig a little deeper you'll find they are, in fact, different beasts.
I'm going to go through some of the differences between the two sites, so you can see for yourself what may work better for you.
Video: How to Set Up A Squidoo Lens
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How Squidoo Works
Google Page Rank: 7
Squidoo is a Web 2.0 site set up by Seth Godin in 2005. The pages set up are known as Lenses. You are allowed to set up a lens on almost any subject and Squidoo allows Affiliate links on the site. This alone, has attracted a lot of Internet Marketers to the site, and allowed for rapid growth.
In early 2007, after gaining massive popularity, Google slapped Squidoo's page rank dramatically because of the massive amount of spam lenses. Squidoo's reaction was swift, and they deleted a lot of spam lenses, and then instigated a policy of a minimum amount of modules within a lens, and a waiting period before the lenses were indexed. They have since regained their old ranking.
Basic Lens set up:
Lenses are put together using a series of modules. You can decide what type of modules you wish to use, but the basic text module is the most popular.
The modules do not contain any web editing tools and any HTML you use you'll have to do yourself. If you're not good with HTML this could be a limiting factor. The Introductory module used to contain an HTML editor, but this was removed in January 2008 due to its buggy nature.
You can arrange these modules as you please, except for the introductory one.
Pictures are a bit more of a problem. If you wish to put larger pictures into your modules you'll need a photobucket or equivalent account, or use their flickr module. They do allow small pictures in the corner of each module, which you can upload, if that's all you need.
The lenses are very easy to construct, because they are done in a modular fashion. Squidoo, on the whole, is not rocket science to use.
Compensation: I'm not going to go into detail about the compensation plan, except to say that if you are making lenses with the expectation of large amounts of cash coming in your direction from Squidoo then you may need to rethink your plan. There are a small group of people making a large amount of cash, but they are in the minority. If you wish to be paid all payments are via Paypal, or you can choose to donate to charity. All payments are directly from Squidoo, not through a third party. Personally, the $7.00 I made in the last quarter went directly to Critter Connection.
Control Panel: This is one of the great features of Squidoo. Their control panel allows you to check where traffic is coming from, who your referrers are and what keywords were used to get to your site. This is a feature that HubPages doesn't have, or at least not to the extent that Squidoo does.
Publishing Time: As I indicated earlier, due to the Google Slap Squidoo decided to instigate a lag time between a page being published and indexed. It can be up to 24 hours before your page gets the green tick on your control dashboard. Until then you can see your page, but a search engine can't.
Verdict: Easy enough to use. It has a good page rank so if you SEO properly you should index well. The lack of an HTML editor works against them, but you are compensated with a great control dashboard.
Rating: 7.5/10
How to set up a hubpage (part 1)
How HubPages Works
Google Page Rank: 6
HubPages on the surface seems very similar to Squidoo, but there are differences between the two sites. For starters, HubPages has a HTML editor as part of the package, so for anyone HTML challenged it is much easier to use. The way Hubs are constructed is different as well, and more flexible.
Hubs are constructed through a series of capsules, all with specialised purposes. There are picture capsules, text capsules, comments capsules etc. Where they differ most greatly with Squidoo is that the capsules have more flexibility in their arrangement, and you can decide if your video capsule, for example, will be full page width or half. On Squidoo you don't have that option. This gives the Hubber (as they are called) a chance to individualise their page more. Be aware that sometimes these capsules can be buggy.
Pictures: As noted above there are modules specifically for pictures which makes it much easier for the average hubber to arrange pictures to get the page looking as they want it to look.
Compensation: HubPages compensation is all arranged through third parties, so it does take longer to set up an account. You'll need a Commission Junction Account( for eBay), an Amazon Associates account and an Adsense account. You could range from instant approval to a couple of days depending on the party. The advantage this has over Squidoo is that with these accounts you can see almost instantly how much money you're making. That doesn't mean you'll necessarily be rolling in it, but at least you'll be able to track it easier.
Control Panel: The control panel on HubPages is very basic, and only really covers referrers. They encourage you to set up a Google Analytics account instead to track your pages. Analytics is not as straight forward as Squidoo's dashboard, but overall you will know where your traffic is coming from.
Publishing Time: Your page will be seen instantly on HubPages, but that does not mean it will necessarily be indexed straight away. The way HubPages discourages spammers is by their Hubscore and your overall hubscore. If your overall score (not the score on individual Hubs, but the one on your profile) drops below 75, then all the links in your hub will be marked as no-follow. If you are using HubPages as a means for SEO then you'll be negatively affected.
Verdict: I like the flexibility of the way Hubs are constructed over all, and the fact that you can instantly see how much you are earning. This more than compensates for the one point difference in Google Page Rank.
Rating: 8/10
How to get FREE Traffic from Squidoo, Hubpages and Tumblr
Which Is Better?
As you can see they both have their good and bad points. I think that both Squidoo and HubPages are easy enough to use, but where they really differ is flexibility of page construction and the way their compensation plan works.
I like Squidoo's control panel. It makes it very easy to see where you are getting clickouts and where your traffic is coming from. That is, perhaps, their best feature. Instant feedback is always a good thing.
Where Hubpages edges them out is because you have more control over how a Hub looks than you do over how a Squidoo Lens looks. Also the way compensation is payed is better, not so much for the amount of the payout, but because you can check your balances at any time. For this reason I've given HubPages a slightly higher score even though their Google Page Rank is presently one point lower than Squidoo's.
That said, I do think that it depends on how you want to use the sites. If you are an Affiliate Marketer who wishes to put a lot of links on the site without fear of it affecting whether or not a page is indexed, I'd be inclined to head over to Squidoo despite its limitations. If you want a page pleasing to the consumer, then HubPages is your best bet.
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I actually enjoy both squidoo and hub pages. Both have their strong and weak points. both sites have given me a fair amount of traffic to my blog, and my adsense click through rate suck on both profiles lol So I say I like both websites equally. Great article.
I use Hubpages, Squidoo, and Associated Content. I've been a member here for awhile but just made my first hub. I found it to be very easy to do. With Squidoo, I always seems to be messing with html and making decisions that probably don't matter too much. With AC, it's just keywording and writing a good article. I think Hubpages and AC work the best for me.
I think you'll enjoy Hubpages. Thanks for reading!
Thank you for your honest comparison of the two. I'm just learning about hubpages, so this will be a great help. :)
Nice comparison. When I don't feel like putting in too much effort to create a lens, I opt for a quickie Hub. But one thing is certain, Hub Pages beats Squidoo in Google search hands down. For some reason lenses get indexed very very late if at all. Two of my lenses still haven't been picked up even after 2 months! But HP should add more Amazon widgets and they really need to improve the comments sections. It's pretty barren really.
Thanks for the great informative article. I have been experimenting with both triond and hubpages and am very satisfied with them both, for different purposes. I may join squidoo later, but not for now.
Hi Aran,
Squidoo certainly is a different beast, but since I wrote this review there have been changes over there. It is worth looking at before completely writing it off. The hubpages platform, overall, just works better for me. Thanks for reading. :-)
Thanks for writing this review, I'm new to Hubpages and it's great to get a bit more details about how it all works. I was thinking about giving Squidoo a go but after reading this I think I'll leave it for now.
I've heard that around the traps. I'm still waiting for my first payout. I guess it's a matter of targeting better. I do much better with Amazon overall. :-)
Yep... HP is a good with adsense...
I think the great thing about having both sites on the web is that it gives people options. If you were to consistently link to a single blog here, it would negatively affect your hubscore, but by mixing the same thing up between sites that isn't such an issue. You can always add it to your user profile where everyone can see it, which is a good thing as well.
This article is in need of some updating when I have some more time. Both sites have had some significant changes since I wrote it well over a year ago. Thanks for reading!
Hovalis, You did a great job of skillfully explaining the pro's and con's of both marketing platforms. They are both easy to use. As others commented, it comes down to how you are going to use them. If you have a blog and other bookmarking options I think it is wise to have both and leverage all that is available on the Internet. Good Job!
I know people that swear by Squidoo, but like you I find hubpages meets my needs better. Mind you, if I was doing a lot of affiliate marketing then Hubpages wouldn't be so good. I haven't been to Squidoo for quite a while. This article most probably needs a little updating by now!
Very well written. Thanks for this. But if you ask me - I'd say I prefer Hubpages. I don't know exactly why, but I just absolutely love them, :)
Hovalis,
Thank you soooooooooooo much for creating this Hub Page just for me! But how did you read my mind like that? lol. Kidding of course, but your words here did seem to be offered answers to many of my questions. Thank you! I started as a Squid early last year. I built almost 30 pages and got about 10 visits in 8 months. I never could figure it out. But I really enjoyed creating the pages. I thought I had found an anser of sorts for me. I am one of the thousands of adults in the USA who is "blessed" to be ADHD. (Yes, I'm working on a Hub as I write this) Most of us are extremely creative, have a high IQ but have a lot of trouble understanding new information like how to use software and things like that. That's why I originally started using Squidoo and now HP. I've nevr been able to understand how to build a website and get it up, so it makes me happy that I can build these Hub Pages and get the word out about things I'm interested in.
I always have much more to say but I guess I'll save it for later. Again, thank you for a great informative site.
PS: I also have a songwriting site called "Songwriting - Nashville Style" and My wife and I just put up a site for all the women with err... Big chests, lol. The title is "Climb That Mountain - A Tribute To Women With Big Breasts".Have a great one,
Joe Russ
When I came here I did a series on guitar lessons (Guitar Lessons That Don't Suck) and was so happy to see I got much more traffic in the first month than I did the whole time at Squiddyville. Right now I'm trying to get all set up to be able to make some $$$. I made a whole $.16 at the other site. Oh boy, now I can buy a new car lol.
This a very comprehensive analysis. Thanks for sharing. I for one would go with using both of them, rather than one, since both of them have a lot of benefits when used well.
Hi,This is a good hub, thank for sharing
Like some here, I use both. For ease of use, I have found Hubpages to be better. I am at a point now where I have made the decision mostly to back away from Squidoo. It just doesn't work as well *for my topics.* I have had much more traffic here than there.
Hmmm, there are good points to everything but there is one thing I most certainly will not agree with
"Where Hubpages edges them out is because you have more control over how a Hub looks than you do over how a Squidoo Lens looks."
I'm sorry but squidoo has definitely more control in how your lens looks than a hub because you can use html and css, which means you can have backgrounds and just prettier modules. If I had to choose if I wanted to read on hubpages or squidoo, squidoo would take the cake. However for a html newbie, hubpages is indeed easier since squidoo doesn't have a built-in text editor. However once you learn html basics, squidoo is definitely the most controllable look.
As far as simplicity, I do LOVE how quickly the capsules come and how easily you can move them, and I do love that there's a direct photo module you can put next to text, but I gotta also admit I HATE that there are so many people who overly put capsules next to each other, it makes it hard to use. The system is good but if many of the writers don't go out of their way to make it easier for readers, what's the point?
There are ups and downs to both of them but my pick is Squidoo because I love making borders and backgrounds and having total freedom, and also I prefer receiving paypal money instead of adsense deposits. However if all I want is to publish a short little piece Hubpages would be the one I'd use.
Marketingmaverick, thanks for the comment! There's nothing stopping you from writing the hub regardless. I bet you have a unique perspective on the subject, and there are several other hubbers who have also written comparisons on Squidoo and HubPages. :-)
PS MM here. I strongly recommend Bob the Teacher to everyone. He is a recognized leader and expert with Squidoo.
MM
Rats. I was going to do a Hub on this very topic but you beat me. Oh well, my conclusions would be the same. thanks for the great hub.
MM
Hi Vic,
It really depends on the person, much the same as Squidoo. I've heard that there are a few really good earners over there, and it's much the same here. It depends a lot on the demand for your topic, and how well you promote the hub. I'm earning about the same here as I am over there. I've been a bit inactive of late, which hasn't helped matters. The trick, as they say, is getting consistent traffic, which can be the hard part. There's more than one thread on this very issue over at the forums.
This thread is the latest one on the topic, which should give you an idea.
Hi Hovalis
I've just been checking out Hubpages and so far it seems a lot more user-friendly than Squidoo which I have always found slow and clunky and there also seems to be sense of community here. The money from Squidoo has also been verrry low (similar to your experiecne) even though my lens on designer bags got into the top 100 for Shopping for a while. But how does Hubpages fare when it comes to making money ? Is it better than Squidoo ? Or is it more of a time-consuming hobby that people do to meet other hubbers ?
Thanks Newcapo, I'm glad you liked it! The community here on Hubpages is great, and a good reason to stay and join in the fun. Those that choose not to join in lose out IMO. I think you'll enjoy your time here, so welcome aboard! :-)
Great comparison.....I just started with hubpages and I already think it's great. Have mulled around opening a squidoo account and making a lense, but hubpages sounded better. I like the sense of community here, I'm new, but I can see it in the comments, there is a sense of community here....
anyway....
your hub makes an excellent comparison. Thanks.
There's definately more of a sense of community here, I think. I really need to concentrate more on the referral system, because that's something I haven't really done up to now.
This was an answer to a request. It was a good idea for a hubpage. :-)
I tried Squidoo briefly but I felt like I was basically just out there alone. On HubPages I feel a sense of community. I get traffic & comments from other hubbers - And not to mention it is a bonus that we can refer other hubbers' pages and share in the ad revenue just for being the referer of that hubpage.
P.S. You read my mind on this hubpage! In the back of my mind I always wondered how HubPages & Squidoo compared to each other overall.
I think hubpages is very simple to use. I setup up an account on squidoo and even a lens but it is really time consuming. You can build a hub really quickly.Other than that I have seen not a single person in my lens in a week where as on hubpages once you publish a hub you see traffic coming in hours.
I like the ease at which you can make a hub, too. I dont like having to html it elsewhere like you have to do with a lens, and for that reason alone its easier to use.
Hi great hub Hovalis I use both and I actually prefer hubs I just think they look better and are a little easier to make.
Hi Bob, They do have an RSS feed but it is by author. I've only been playing around with Hubpages for the last couple of months, even though my username has been here longer.
A lot of it comes down to personal preference. Even though Squidoo have a huge variety of plexos and other neat stuff I don't really use that many of them. I've occasionally included a poll and things like that, but not as often.
I'm not too sure about the RSS feed for inside the Hub itself. I think you can do it, actually, because I've seen it RSS feeds on other hubs, but I haven't used them myself. All the different components you can integrate into a hub are in the top RH corner when you open it in edit mode.
Overall I think that Hubpages is only just better. It's a fine hair.
Hi Hovalis,
Thanks for the great overview.
I am new to Hubpages, but know Squidoo quite well.
One of the major pieces of Squidoo that I like that doesn't seem to be present in Hubpages is interactivity with the audience/readers. Other than the comments area at the bottom, what can users do in a collaborative atmosphere?
With Squidoo, you can have polls, guestbooks, plexos, and all that.
Also, Squidoo includes RSS feeds and other auto-updating features. Does Hubpages do anything in this area?
I agree it would be nice to have some design flexibility with Squidoo's layout, and an HTML editor would be nice (But you can get one of those from Nvu). But overall, I have not seen enough from Hubpages to tell me it's better than Squidoo overall.
Looking forward to how this plays out...
Bob Jenkins
Ania L Level 4 Commenter 8 months ago
Thanks for the info! I was just wandering recently how the Squidoo works and if it's worth to have a look at it and there you go - I found your hub :)