Why are Squidoo Pages Called "Lenses?" 

Aren't they just Websites?

Technically, any "lens" you see is just a website on the Squidoo network. The reason they're called lenses is because they're supposed to focus on niche topics.

You don't really want lenses that attempt to cover broad subjects. Instead of building an encyclopedic lens about travel, for instance, you might build a lens that's about traveling to Cancun on a budget. Or maybe you'd build a lens that focuses exclusively on the best hotels in Barbados.

Who Makes Squidoo Lenses? 

Everyone's a Lensmaster

Everyone is making Squidoo lenses! Well, OK, not everyone. What I mean to say is that people of all ages and backgrounds are making Squidoo lenses.

Squidoo isn't a place that caters to teenagers or college students. Squidoo makes it easy for teachers, business professionals, stay-at-home mothers, entrepreneurs, grandparents, authors, retail workers, and bloggers--in other words, anyone--to have their say.

It doesn't matter what your background or experience is. You don't have to know HTML, CSS, or any other coding stuff to make a Squidoo lens. If you have Internet access, you can start right away.

If you can type and click a mouse button, you can make a lens.

Why Would You Want to Make a Squidoo Lens? 

Squidoo is Fun!

Many people build lenses to share their hobbies and passions with the world. Maybe you love making paper airplanes and decide to build a lens that helps others learn how to do it too.

Or, you might be spreading the word about your blog or website. You could make multiple lenses full of related content that link to your site. If your lenses are informative and entertaining, they could drive a lot of traffic to your site.

A lot of people make Squidoo lenses because they're interested in making money. Many of them do it for personal profit, others do it for their favorite charities.

Some people build lenses as a tribute to something. They might have one dedicated to a celebrity, a favorite literary character, or even a special person in their lives.

Other folks build lenses because it's just plain fun!

Why I Use Squidoo 

• It's free. It doesn't cost a cent to sign up and use Squidoo.
• It's easy. Squidoo has a user-friendly interface.
• It's fast. I don't have to build an entire website or blog just to get the word out about something I'm passionate about.
• It's fun. At least it is if you build lenses about subjects you love.

How to Build a Squidoo Lens 

A Squidoo Tutorial Video on YouTube

Can You Really Make Money with Squidoo? 

All about Squidoo Earnings

Yup. There are lots of ways to make money with your lenses. You can promote products on Amazon, eBay, or other online stores and earn commissions from the sales. You also earn money whenever someone clicks on an ad displayed on your lens.

However, just tossing up a few Squidoo lenses isn't going to make you a lot of money. It's true that some people are making a few hundred dollars a month with their lenses, but they worked hard at it. Unless you take the time to build plenty of high quality lenses that are really useful (or at least entertaining), you'll be lucky to scrape together some pocket change each month.

But it's possible to make lucrative lenses.

If you want to make money with Squidoo, the best thing to do is to study other successful lenses, make a lot of high quality lenses, and promote them.

Squidoo Terminology 

• Fan club: Every Squidoo member can have a fan club. When someone joins your fan club, they are giving you a show of support. You'll also have a quick way to reach them whenever you update one of your lenses. (Refer to squidcasting.)
• Giant Squid: Someone who has 50 or more quality lenses. You'll recognize them when you see the Giant Squid badge in the bio box.
• Group: A list of lenses about a particular topic. If you visited a popular Squidoo group about video games, you could find a batch of different lenses about different console games.
• Lens: A page or article within the Squidoo network.
• Lensmaster: A person who has built one or more Squidoo lenses.
• Lensography: A lens that lists lenses. Lensmasters often make lensographies to create an organized list of all their lenses, or to showcase their very best lenses. Prolific lensmasters sometimes have multiple lensographies.
• Lensrank: How high a lens ranks according to Squidoo. A lens in the top 100 is probably going to get more attention than a Squidoo lens ranked as 250,000. The lensrank is determined based on popularity, ratings, how often the lens is updated, and other factors.
• Modules: A module is a component of content in each lens. Each box of content you see on a lens is a module. This list you're reading right now is part of a module.
• Squidcast: Whenever you add something new to your lens, you can announce the fact to your fan club by sending out a "squidcast." This is just a basic messaging system within Squidoo for lenses.
• Undeveloped/unimproved lens: This is a lens that's not as good as Squidoo thinks it could be. This is usually because the lens has very little content. Undeveloped lenses have a low lensrank, don't show up in Squidoo search results, and cannot be added to Squidoo groups.
• WIP (Work In Progress): A WIP lens is basically an undeveloped lens. Usually a lens becomes WIP if it falls below a certain lensrank.

Lensmaster Tips 

Spruce Up Your Squidoo Lens: What Every Lens Needs

Do you want to make your Squidoo lens the best that it can be? Do you want people to give it five star ratings? Do you want your lens to at least get noticed? Here are some tips to help you spruce up your lens and make it look as good as possible! ...

Squidoo Star Ratings

Do people like your Squidoo lenses? Do they love your lenses? Or do they think your lenses suck? Star ratings are a way for people to give you anonymous feedback. Unfortunately, some people misuse and abuse the rating system. The purpose of this len...

Common Newbie Squidoo Mistakes

Making a Squidoo lens is easy. Making a good Squidoo lens, well, that's another story. A lot of Squidoo newbies ask veterans to critique their lenses, and most of these lenses are not nearly as good as they could be. (There are exceptions!) Hopefull...

Squidoo Bonus: An Extra $5 Free 

Are you tempted to give Squidoo a whirl? If you sign up through my affiliate link and start building lenses, we'll both get an extra $5 when you earn your first $15!

Regardless of how you get started with Squidoo, you get an affiliate link too. If you invite your friends to join Squidoo and they earn $15, you both get an extra $5 free.

Get started with Squidoo today!

Your Turn 

Do you feel like you know more about Squidoo now? Know of anything else that should be covered? Leave your comments here.

mohhabat2008 try to making Posted October 06, 2008

AwakeningBusinessSolutions I have built my first page and when I go to publish it says I need more modules and they recommend I don't publish it until I add more of something. It asks to my RSS Feed and don't know what do put there. I tried to put in the url for my feed but it said- not found- The other choices are u tube, Flicr and GUestbook. I am really confused. MIne looks like everyone else's but it says not to publish it without adding more. Posted September 25, 2008

damanxman ok i think i can get started now Posted September 14, 2008

HuskerAdisa I have been trying to find a break down of the various modules and the exact purpose for them and how to best utilize them. This would be a great area to focus upo. Posted September 12, 2008

Quinby Excellent overview. You are appreciated. Posted September 01, 2008

 

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About the Clipart 

The cartoons you see on this lens were created by Jeff Bucchino, "The Wizard of Draws." If you'd like to see more of his work, be sure to visit his website: Free Cartoon Clipart by the Wizard of Draws!