Squidblog

Here at Squidoo, Summer is a time for fun projects, new experiments, and working extra hard while everyone else is off frolicking at the beach.

If it feels like we’ve put a lot of new stuff in front of you in the last few weeks, it’s probably because we have! From a new max layout and more modules, to a suite of look&feel themes for your lenses; from purple stars and Giant Squid Summer School, to a new direction for spam and junk policies. And we’re not done yet. Not by a long shot.

This note is to give interested lensmasters a heads-up on what we’re doing next. Starting Sunday at midnight EST, we’re embarking on a 2 week experimentation with ads. Before the words are even out of my mouth (off my fingers?) I know many of you are groaning at the idea. Oh no, not ads!

I know, believe me. But here’s what we’re aiming for, and what I hope you’ll keep in mind when you see them.

We believe in investing in our community. We believe in giving you tools and platforms and connections for making terrific lenses that you enjoy and benefit from. If you’re here for the money, we want to help you make as much money as we can from your good work. For you or charity.

Now consider the circumstances. 2009 is not a terrific economy for advertising. Ads aren’t worth what they used to be. When that happens, the overall ad pool that lensmasters benefit from goes down. And unless you made it up with your directly attributable module sales (many of you do!), your royalties last month might have felt a little light in the pockets.

So here’s what we’re doing.

Over the next 2 weeks, we’re going to run some advertising tests to see if we can reach previous levels. To start, we’re going to try a new display ad unit at the top of lenses. It will run from Sunday at midnight EST for one week. We’ll watch numbers, and if they’re considerable, we’ll work on a way to design that spot even better. If the numbers aren’t worth it, for us or for you, we’ll take the ad down. And try something else the following week.

What this means is that 2 weeks from now we should be smarter about what (if any) new ad layout works better on lenses, while being very sensitive to maintaining the integrity of your content and continuing to create a good experience for you and your readers.

As always, if you’re not here for the money, consider changing your royalties 100% to charity. Then you can opt out of display ads on your lenses in one click.

Thanks for your patience.