Power Squidoo - Making Squidoo.com Better - Strategies & Tactics to Generate Traffic and Make Profit From Your Squidoo Site/Lens in 90 Days
Ranked #14,190 in Business, #175,274 overall
Money making web sites are one of the best opportunities around...however I hesitate to even use the word opportunity. Why? Because there is so much pie-in-the-sky, overhyped, bull-puckey out there.
As an investigative journalist and newpaper publisher, I approached the idea of Squidoo with a different set of eyes. I wanted to sift the fact from fiction. I walked in with these questions:
1) What is Squidoo?
2) Does Squidoo work? Can it work for ME?
3) What are the downsides to having a business site on Squidoo?
4) Are there specific steps that internet marketing newbies and seasoned pro's on the web can learn to help them increase their success level on Squidoo?
5) How do I get started? If I've already started, how do I increase traffic to my site...
6) and most important...
WHAT DO I DO TO MAKE AN EXISTING SQUIDOO LENS RANK HIGHER IN GOOGLE? IS THERE SUCH A THING AS THE "SQUIDOO SLAP?"
HOW DO I MAKE MONEY WITH MY SITE ON SQUIDOO.COM?
Lets start with our philosophy...it can be distilled down to the 5 P's
Regardless of your level of experience (or inexperience) you will find that success in your Squidoo site, as well as a regular web site is based upon a number of variables. I call the 5 basic or core skills is what we call the 5P's. They are
1) Prep It
2) Produce It
3) Propagate It
4) Profit It
5) Parlay IT
You see there are links to separate pages where we will go into more detail on what the 5P's are, their meanings, and how to successfully implement them.
Briefly, lets go over each step here
STEP 1) Prep It
If you've ever been in business, you'll recall hearing that "you gotta have a business plan!" Well fortunately, in this business, you will quickly decide that time spent on a business plan would be better spent on making the site or lens better.
Let's face it, internet marketing and Squidoo as well...well frankly it's NOT ROCKET SCIENCE! It's a fairly simple (although not easy) business. Now that doesn't mean you shouldn't create an formal and written outline. Unless you plan on massively expanding, you'll find you can live without a plan forever.
But we aren't talking about a business plan here...instead we are talking about how to research the topic your lens/site will be built around.
WHY PREP IT?
* Forces you to think through the critical areas and see where the real story or opportunity for lens creation will be
* Keeps you organized
* Gives you a way of measurement...you can see whether or not the topic is spot on or way off
* Serves as your recipe for success. If you know what goes into it, then if its not working right you have a better chance of fixing it.
1) Prep It
2) Produce It
3) Propagate It
4) Profit It
5) Parlay IT
You see there are links to separate pages where we will go into more detail on what the 5P's are, their meanings, and how to successfully implement them.
Briefly, lets go over each step here
STEP 1) Prep It
If you've ever been in business, you'll recall hearing that "you gotta have a business plan!" Well fortunately, in this business, you will quickly decide that time spent on a business plan would be better spent on making the site or lens better.
Let's face it, internet marketing and Squidoo as well...well frankly it's NOT ROCKET SCIENCE! It's a fairly simple (although not easy) business. Now that doesn't mean you shouldn't create an formal and written outline. Unless you plan on massively expanding, you'll find you can live without a plan forever.
But we aren't talking about a business plan here...instead we are talking about how to research the topic your lens/site will be built around.
WHY PREP IT?
* Forces you to think through the critical areas and see where the real story or opportunity for lens creation will be
* Keeps you organized
* Gives you a way of measurement...you can see whether or not the topic is spot on or way off
* Serves as your recipe for success. If you know what goes into it, then if its not working right you have a better chance of fixing it.
What Kind Of Topics Will You Find on Squidoo?
http://www.squidoo.com/coachhandbagss/
PowerSquidoo Articles
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byThe Two Half-Dozen Pillars Needed To Build An Authority or Ranking Site
In our sister program at InternetMarketingDeclassified.com. (coming Jan08) we teach about the 5P's we mentioned earlier. The reason we need those 5 P's is to make an authority site status /ranking site palatable for readers, the community and search engines. It starts with the content (or articles) on the site.
Not only is it very important to produce great content, it's equally as vital to start planning to make a great community. It goes like this:
1) you need great content (preferably original) first, because...
2) that attracts readers of the Internet community to participate in your site by...
3) making comments on your blog/site,
4) do trackbacks,
5) interact in forums,
6) offer ratings,
7) do polls,
8) add to wikis,
9) and do reviews.
This is what we call user generated content. All of this activity will make your site more sticky and attractive. Anything user generated will make your site look better to search engines like Google. Due to the often updated and fresh user generated content on your site, this will results in better spidering, indexing, and rankings. And your brand recognition and popularity will go through the roof as more people join your community.
How Does A Squidoo Lens Fit This Model?
Well lets compare what Squidoo offers to its users and readers when you place it up against the two half-dozen pillars needed to build an authority site/ ranking site.
a) Original content - Many Squidoo lens' offer unique content written by its users. According to Wikipedia.com, "Squidoo is a network of user-generated lenses --single pages that highlights one person's point of view, recommendations, or expertise. Lenses can be about anything, such as ideas, people or places, hobbies and sports, pets or products, philosophy, and politics. Lenses aren't primarily intended to hold content; more emphasis is placed on recommending and then pointing to content on the web. Annotation and organization and personalization delivers context and meaning."
b) Extensive traffic - Our use of the word extensive not only means large amounts, but FOCUSED and TARGETTED traffic. It's not surprising to quickly realize 100 unique visitors within 4 months of starting our program. And an ongoing application (or what we call the Daily Method Of Operation) of the Tasks and Targets that we teach in the InternetMarketingDeclassified.com program, could just as easily materialize in 2X, 3X, even 4X's the traffic on an ongoing basis.
Not only is it very important to produce great content, it's equally as vital to start planning to make a great community. It goes like this:
1) you need great content (preferably original) first, because...
2) that attracts readers of the Internet community to participate in your site by...
3) making comments on your blog/site,
4) do trackbacks,
5) interact in forums,
6) offer ratings,
7) do polls,
8) add to wikis,
9) and do reviews.
This is what we call user generated content. All of this activity will make your site more sticky and attractive. Anything user generated will make your site look better to search engines like Google. Due to the often updated and fresh user generated content on your site, this will results in better spidering, indexing, and rankings. And your brand recognition and popularity will go through the roof as more people join your community.
How Does A Squidoo Lens Fit This Model?
Well lets compare what Squidoo offers to its users and readers when you place it up against the two half-dozen pillars needed to build an authority site/ ranking site.
a) Original content - Many Squidoo lens' offer unique content written by its users. According to Wikipedia.com, "Squidoo is a network of user-generated lenses --single pages that highlights one person's point of view, recommendations, or expertise. Lenses can be about anything, such as ideas, people or places, hobbies and sports, pets or products, philosophy, and politics. Lenses aren't primarily intended to hold content; more emphasis is placed on recommending and then pointing to content on the web. Annotation and organization and personalization delivers context and meaning."
b) Extensive traffic - Our use of the word extensive not only means large amounts, but FOCUSED and TARGETTED traffic. It's not surprising to quickly realize 100 unique visitors within 4 months of starting our program. And an ongoing application (or what we call the Daily Method Of Operation) of the Tasks and Targets that we teach in the InternetMarketingDeclassified.com program, could just as easily materialize in 2X, 3X, even 4X's the traffic on an ongoing basis.
Why $3 a Gallon Gas Makes Squidoo Good Business Sense For ANYONE Wanting Their Own Home-Based Business
Working from home is quickly becoming more of a reality with gas prices jumping over $3 a gallon and on their way to $3 a gallon by the summer of '08. Besides gas prices, there are many personal reasons and professional reasons many will start a web based small business run right out of their home...and why using Squidoo as your site makes good business sense.
Don't confuse this type of home-based business with the MLM type business where you try to corral your frinds and relatives into buying overprices and over-hyped products just so you can make a small commission. Rather this type of home-based business can be started using a free website with practically no web experience. What counts is sharing with others what you know and are experienced at and then using free site service like Squidoo.com to promote that site (or as they call it lens) with others with the goal of monitizing it (making money of it.)
Every day individuals are leaving their 9 to 5 office jobs to embark on work at home using a web-based business. With all of the benefits that are realized with a home-based business, it is no wonder that individuals are intrigued and interested in these types of real world, low entry cost opportunities. You'll find that the positive attributes of working at home make this type of home-based business is quite popular. Whatever type of business yours might consist of, there are many great reasons to start a business from home-and better yet of it's web-based.
The home based web-oriented business is booming for many reasons, but one of the most often cited reasons to start a business from home is so that one or both parents can stay at home with the children while earning an income at the same time. Some individuals would rather stay far away from day care facilities for obvious reasons. You can still raise your own kids, and save money since there is no cost for their own childcare.
An additional factor which you should keep in mind why you should start a home business web-oriented business is that it's obvious that you'll have some extra costs when working at an office outside of the house. Since you are already paying utility bills anyway, having a business at home will reduce the overhead costs even more.
The convenience factor is also readily visible in the home business idea. You will surely appreciate the fact that you have no commute which others have to deal with at the beginning and end of the workday. When you start a business from home and have a home office, you will most likely not have to worry about commuting and dealing with all of the headaches and hassles that go along with such a thing like high gas prices, traffic along with the wear and tear on the automobile. The convenience of working from home is an idea whose appeal increases with every cent that gas goes up everyday. This is incredibly good news since some experts are expecting fuel prices in the USA to reach over $4 per gallon by the summer of 2008.
If you choose to start a web-based business from home, you will also find that it is a time efficient alternative to the usual work environment. Not only will you save plenty of time on the work commute, but you'll also find that you can eat lunch at home which saves more time by not having to go out to find a meal during the day. Imagine being able to control time better to fit your agenda. In other words, doing what you want when you want to.
For anyone who has had to wear suits to work every day in the past when they worked for a company or corporation, they will most certainly appreciate the desire for a casual environment which they can experience by working from home. Depending on the business you undertake from home, you might just be able to go to work in jeans and a t-shirt. This is especially true if the venture is one which deals mainly with a technological aspect such as sreating a web-based business and then marketing and driving traffic to that site.
One last great reason to start a web-based business from home is that it enables you, the business owner, to work around the family schedule, if you so desire. For example, should you, as the business owner, need to finish up some paperwork after dinner, all you will need to do is to walk over to their home office and take care of the issue. The 24-hour availability of the business from home provides convenience for the business owner.
In conclusion, If one is looking to start a work at home-based web-oriented business, it is important to consider all of the beneficial factors relating to working from home. By reviewing the factors listed above, you'll quickly come to appreciate the option of working from home even more.
Many people who choose to work from home quickly find that with a traditional job, that by the time they buy new work clothes, pay for gas/fuel costs, buy their daily lunch, and most importantly disrupt the family unit, they may only clear a couple hundred dollars a month....a few MEASLY hundred dollars. For many, it's not worth the money because of what it costs them in the long run. That's a strong enough reason to build their business from home.
To find out more information how you can start a web-based business using Squidoo.com, go to our website at www.PowerSquidoo.com and see our Squidoo lens at www.squidoo.com/powersquidoo/
Don't confuse this type of home-based business with the MLM type business where you try to corral your frinds and relatives into buying overprices and over-hyped products just so you can make a small commission. Rather this type of home-based business can be started using a free website with practically no web experience. What counts is sharing with others what you know and are experienced at and then using free site service like Squidoo.com to promote that site (or as they call it lens) with others with the goal of monitizing it (making money of it.)
Every day individuals are leaving their 9 to 5 office jobs to embark on work at home using a web-based business. With all of the benefits that are realized with a home-based business, it is no wonder that individuals are intrigued and interested in these types of real world, low entry cost opportunities. You'll find that the positive attributes of working at home make this type of home-based business is quite popular. Whatever type of business yours might consist of, there are many great reasons to start a business from home-and better yet of it's web-based.
The home based web-oriented business is booming for many reasons, but one of the most often cited reasons to start a business from home is so that one or both parents can stay at home with the children while earning an income at the same time. Some individuals would rather stay far away from day care facilities for obvious reasons. You can still raise your own kids, and save money since there is no cost for their own childcare.
An additional factor which you should keep in mind why you should start a home business web-oriented business is that it's obvious that you'll have some extra costs when working at an office outside of the house. Since you are already paying utility bills anyway, having a business at home will reduce the overhead costs even more.
The convenience factor is also readily visible in the home business idea. You will surely appreciate the fact that you have no commute which others have to deal with at the beginning and end of the workday. When you start a business from home and have a home office, you will most likely not have to worry about commuting and dealing with all of the headaches and hassles that go along with such a thing like high gas prices, traffic along with the wear and tear on the automobile. The convenience of working from home is an idea whose appeal increases with every cent that gas goes up everyday. This is incredibly good news since some experts are expecting fuel prices in the USA to reach over $4 per gallon by the summer of 2008.
If you choose to start a web-based business from home, you will also find that it is a time efficient alternative to the usual work environment. Not only will you save plenty of time on the work commute, but you'll also find that you can eat lunch at home which saves more time by not having to go out to find a meal during the day. Imagine being able to control time better to fit your agenda. In other words, doing what you want when you want to.
For anyone who has had to wear suits to work every day in the past when they worked for a company or corporation, they will most certainly appreciate the desire for a casual environment which they can experience by working from home. Depending on the business you undertake from home, you might just be able to go to work in jeans and a t-shirt. This is especially true if the venture is one which deals mainly with a technological aspect such as sreating a web-based business and then marketing and driving traffic to that site.
One last great reason to start a web-based business from home is that it enables you, the business owner, to work around the family schedule, if you so desire. For example, should you, as the business owner, need to finish up some paperwork after dinner, all you will need to do is to walk over to their home office and take care of the issue. The 24-hour availability of the business from home provides convenience for the business owner.
In conclusion, If one is looking to start a work at home-based web-oriented business, it is important to consider all of the beneficial factors relating to working from home. By reviewing the factors listed above, you'll quickly come to appreciate the option of working from home even more.
Many people who choose to work from home quickly find that with a traditional job, that by the time they buy new work clothes, pay for gas/fuel costs, buy their daily lunch, and most importantly disrupt the family unit, they may only clear a couple hundred dollars a month....a few MEASLY hundred dollars. For many, it's not worth the money because of what it costs them in the long run. That's a strong enough reason to build their business from home.
To find out more information how you can start a web-based business using Squidoo.com, go to our website at www.PowerSquidoo.com and see our Squidoo lens at www.squidoo.com/powersquidoo/
75 Places To Submit Your Squidoo Site
Ever wonder how to get the word out to promote your new Squidoo lens? We've compiled our list of 75 blog-directories that'd love to hear from you. The list is courtesy of BigMouthMarketer.com. Also find more info at http://powersquidoo.com/75-places-to-submit-your-squidoo-site/2007/10/31/
Give Me Your Feedback
I'd like to know what you think of our site. Help us make it better.
Lensmaster
jemie caster wrote
thanks for sharing wonderful knowledge
www.squidoo.com/shredderwarehouse
Posted July 16, 2008
fotos4web wrote...
Very useful Squidoo Hints and a great list of places to submit lenses to - Thanks
Keith
www.squidoo.com/laliquejewelry
Posted May 12, 2008
RachelSmith wrote...
Thanks for the great tips, i will get started at squidbids todays!
Posted May 03, 2008
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Contact Info and Today's Date
Todays date is 11/23/07 - Happy Thankgiving America! And Merry Black Friday..the busiest shopping day of the year in America.
My name is Wayne Clayton. I am the Publisher and Chief Visionary of the Michiana Shopper Network (a network of 100+ regional sites). I also own a teaching and training company called InternetMarketingDeclassified.com, as well as PowerSquidoo.com.
Internet Marketing Declassified.com
PowerSquidoo.com
2043 South Bend Ave. #304
South Bend, IN 46637
PH: 574-277-4040
My name is Wayne Clayton. I am the Publisher and Chief Visionary of the Michiana Shopper Network (a network of 100+ regional sites). I also own a teaching and training company called InternetMarketingDeclassified.com, as well as PowerSquidoo.com.
Internet Marketing Declassified.com
PowerSquidoo.com
2043 South Bend Ave. #304
South Bend, IN 46637
PH: 574-277-4040
