Do You Squidoo?

From the first Seth Godin, the creator of Squidoo, has welcomed affiliate marketers and those interested in making a profit to Squidoo; and in the beginning, Google took exception to this.  However the extreme popularity of Squidoo prevailed and this unique social network now enjoys high rankings in the search engines - which provides a great opportunity and a level playing field for internet marketers.

Squidoo is totally free and a place where you’re allowed to discuss anything that your heart desires – making it a huge benefit to Affiliate marketers.

Rather than writing articles and uploading them to an article directory, or designing and going to the trouble and expense of a website, on Squidoo, you create lenses. The lenses are free to create, and I suppose are named such as a way of reminding you to focus in on your particular topic of choice. There are no limits to the number of lenses you can create or for that matter the number of ‘Lensmaster’ entities you can have. Your only limit is your own imagination.

1. First you need to give you lens a title. (I usually write a brief article – the main foundation for my lens and decide on a title before I start the creation process.) As with an article you might upload to promote a business, you would want to use a keyword or key-phrase rich title, written in a way to attract your target audience.
   
   Squidoo will ask if you want it to pre-populate your lens with modules (Modules are drop in content builders – you might have an RSS module or a YouTube video module – we’ll discuss these later), but it’s usually best to do your own thing.



2. Now you need to choose the URL for your lens. The URL begins with “http://www.squidoo.com/__________” and then you get to pick the rest of the URL. Because your lens is your own free website, just like a website you want the URL to be keyword rich. Choose this URL carefully. It’s the only part of your lens you can’t edit after the fact. You may have to go through several tries before you can find a phrase not already taken.
   
   Once accepted, this will be the URL of your lens. You can promote it just as you would a website you purchased the domain name for, but you don’t have to wait for Google to find you and index your site.
   
   You will also choose a category for your lens. As with Articles, Ads and Directories, it’s best to try to pick the category that most closely fits you lens. Then you’ll want to rate your lens (like movie ratings) G, R, or X for content. (If your lens should be rated R or X and you rate it G, you’ll be shut down without warning.)



3. Now it’s time to ‘tag’ your lens. As an affiliate, you’ll want to use your keyword phrases and the name of the product you’re promoting with the lens. You should use at least three tags, but not to worry, you can come back later and add additional tags. I think each lens can have something like 40 tags.
   
   Now you want to add modules. The more modules you have, the higher you’re going to rank in Squidoo – and they have modules for everything. Browse through the modules available and add to your hearts content.

At this point your lens is complete – but you’re not finished. Just as you would your own website or blog, you’ll want to keep your lens up to date, so adding content, several times a week, will help your lens climb in the ranking.

If you'd like additional information on Squidoo, check out Squidoo Queen written by Kelly Stone. Kelly will show you all the ins and outs on how to make money online using Squidoo and she'll do it without charging you an arm and a leg.

All the best,