The Complete Beginner's Guide to Lens Making

This guide is not 100% complete, it is a work in progress. Check back soon for updates and more info on creating a lens!

Are you trying to sell a product? Promote an event? Share some ideas? Whatever the case, a lens is your answer. Think of a lens as a miniature website - minus all of the costs (building a Squidoo lens is free!).

Already have a website? Use a Squidoo lens to promote it! Add a link to your website on your lens and generate more traffic and help increase your page rank (important for search engine rankings).

There are numerous other benefits of utilizing a Squidoo lens - rather than list them all, browse around the Squidoo site and see what you can find.

First thing's first... you need to create a new lens by clicking on a "Make Your Own Page" link. They're posted all over Squidoo, so you shouldn't have trouble finding one. Or you can just click this link here: Create a New Squidoo Lens!

Once that's set, you'll see a page that asks what your lens will be about. In the "My Lens is About" field, type in your subject (you can change this later). Ex: If you are making a lens about "Elvis", type in something like "All About Elvis." Once you're done, click "Go to Step 2."

Step 1 Image: Click the sample image to see a larger version.

Step 2 offers several options:

• I want to get the word out about All About Elvis
• I'm gonna sell All About Elvis stuff and earn $$, for me or for charity
• I want to make a list of my favorite things about All About Elvis
• I just want to do my own thing.

Each option offers different features, but in truth, you can re-add any of the features at a later time. I generally choose the first option "I want to get the word out about All About Elvis" and modify my lens later on as needed. So choose an option and click "Go to Step 3."


Step 2 Image: Click the sample image to see a larger version.

This next step is pretty important, so follow closely.

In Step 3, you will: change your lens title (optional, it will already have the text you typed in from Step 1), choose your lens URL, choose your lens category, and select a rating for your lens.

Choose your URL
The URL is where your lens will be located on Squidoo's site. It will look like: www.squidoo.com/your_site_here. Once you select a URL, you cannot change it. Use keywords that relate to your topic, for example: www.squidoo.com/elvis_biography.

Pick a Category
Choose an appropriate category for your lens. If yours is about "Dogs," pick the "Animals & Nature" category. For my example, "All About Elvis," I'll choose the "Music" category since he was a musician. If you want to draw traffic to your lens, be sure you choose an appropriate category, you are more likely to get visitors this way. You can change your category later on if you need to.

Rate Your Lens
Simply choose a rating for your lens. If it is appropriate for all ages, select "G Rated Material." If it is something that requires a slightly more mature audience (strong language, violence, etc...), it deserves an "R Rating." If your lens is for adults only (nudity, sexual themes), you must give it an "X Rating." This step is pretty much common sense.

Once you're all set, click "Go to Step 4."

Step 3 Image: Click the sample image to see a larger version.

In the final "setup" step, you will pick a few keywords that relate to your lens. This step is optional, but is highly recommended. Pick three keywords or phrases that relate to your topic. Make them as specific as possible. My three keywords for my "All About Elvis" page are: "elvis presley," "elvis," and "rockabilly" (rockabilly was his genre of music).

Once you are done, enter the security word (the security word is used to help computer spambots from creating bogus pages) and click "Done!" You are now ready to begin adding content!

Step 4 Image: Click the sample image to see a larger version.

You are now ready to begin adding content to your Squidoo Lens. Down the middle of the page are all of the content "modules". Each of these modules offer different types of content.