How To Succeed With Squidoo

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How To Succeed With Squidoo

As those who know me already will know I love Squidoo!  It offers great opportunities for everyone and as Seth Godin's eBook says "Everyone's an Expert" at something!

The aim of How To Succeed With Squidoo is to help you demonstrate your expertise by helping you to Build a Squidoo Lens and then to go on to build ever more lenses! 

Over the coming days, weeks and months I will be adding content here. As I discover more and more about how to successfully create Squidoo Lenses with high visitor numbers and sales I will be sharing it with you for free! 

I have already created a number of successful lenses including one which has been Squidoo Lens of the Day and has been nominated for Squidoo Lens of the Year!

The Reasons To Use Squidoo 

The most obvious question to start with and perhaps a way of explaining a little about why I like it so much!

Let's just recap on what Squidoo actually is! It's a community of people who are building web pages, which they call lenses, in a diverse range of subjects. In fact the range of topics is incredibly diverse! The other great thing about Squidoo lens building is that it is easy! You have a series of modules that you can pull together and develop. It's almost like one of those "drag and drop" type website builders and you have the opportunity to tweak them as you become more adept with using their system.

To quote the people at Squidoo when asked why you should use them:

It's free.
It's amazingly easy to set up.
People with lenses get more traffic to their blogs and other sites.
People with lenses earn money.

In fact I use that last one to donate some money to Charity so you even get to feel good using them!

From a Marketer's perspective Squidoo is ideal! It gives you a great opportunity to create a series of lenses around what are termed the "long tail" phrases within the niches in which you operate. You can drive visitors to your other sites in the niches in which you operate and to your blogs and of course to your affiliate links! For those of you who like me use Firefox they have also added a rather nifty Firefox extension!

The Poll About YOU and Squidoo! 

Let's get to know a little about you and what you have done with Squidoo so far!

Loading poll. Please Wait...

The Advantages of Using Squidoo 

So what's the advantage in building Squidoo Lenses?

Well as I mentioned a little while ago there are benefits in terms of being part of a growing community, driving traffic to your other sites and making sales.

In addition there is an opportunity to create content in a niche that you want to explore but have not yet had the chance to. Sohave a look at a lens created for The Squidoo Challenge around Hair Loss Remedies and Treatment.

There have been some affiliate sales from it and I might therefore decide that it is an area that I want to pursue. Or I might think, well I will just keep it ticking over and see how things go. In fact that is probably what I will do in this instance. However, with some others that I am exploring at the moment I will certainly be developing them much further because I am interested in them and they are profitable.

The First Step With Squidoo - Building Your First Squidoo Lens 

So you need to start by creating an account at Squidoo and setting your personal preferences. I think it weighs in your favour if you set your income earning to be split with the charities - no hard evidence but just a gut feel about that one.

Then you will want to take the big leap and start creating your first lens. Don't worry if you get it wrong at first - you can always delete it! What I would suggest is that you find yourself a niche and then look at something like Good Keywords and find some of the lower rated keyword phrases to build your lens around.

Okay you have created your lens, chosen your category and you have added the first set of keywords as they request, you are half way there!

Then a page appears saying "Edit Your Lens." Don't panic! I have this vision of Sergeant Jones from Dad's Army at the moment - which may mean nothing to non-UKer's!

However, really do not panic! Have a play, try adding some modules and even get really adventurous and try deleting some. You can always add them back. In fact I would strongly recommend that you do add and delete some and fill them with content and see how they look.

Until you push the big button labelled "Publish" no-one will see your creation.

Squidoo Queen: The nuts and bolts of marketing on Squidoo 

A really useful guide to marketing on Squidoo. It leaves out the basic stuff like setting up (covered by Squid Help) but gets into the marketing in great details with some really neat tips and tricks throughout the guide. Find out more about Marketing On Squidoo

The Definitive Guide To Succeeding With Squidoo by Tiffany Dow 

Easily Capture Laser-Targeted, Highly Profitable Leads for Your Niche By Following This Simple, Step-by-Step System Using Squidoo - A Grown-Up (Simplified) Version of MySpace!

Read more at How To Succeed With Squidoo

Day One Of Your New Squidoo Lens 

On Day One of Your Squidoo Lens you should

Add an Introduction. Conveniently they have a module called Introduction already there for you. Put a few words about the Lens and what you will be covering. Make sure you use your primary keywords (the name of your lens) in the Introduction and "bold" them. Add an appropriate picture so that your lens is already starting to look different than others and draws the reader in.

Add Some Content. This is done through the Text/Write Module. Content is vital if your lens is to be taken seriously and rated by visitors. It's something that an increasing number of marketers seem to be forgetting that actually we do need to have content which real people can read when we are trying to get their attention! You can use some basic html in the Text/Write Module so you can have links in there if you wish. You can also "bold" your keyword phrase which again helps.

Add some Interactivity. Web 2.0 sites are about interacting with your visitor and giving them the opportunity to make comments or take a poll. So we have the Guestbook and the Poll Module which you can add. Here's a good place to talk about adding Affiliate Products. The Links Plexo Module allows you to add your links and give the visitor the opportunity to vote on them. This is the module through which I would ordinarily add some affiliate links.

Now take a break!

Small Steps Give BIG Results 

It's so easy to get overwhelmed with all the things you "have to" or "need to" do when creating a squidoo lens.

Here's the BIG secret to Squidoo Success... do something!

If you just do something fairly regularly you'll build out your lens with what feels like no work.

Add a feed, find a relevant video, write a couple of paragraphs... something, anything!

One small step for you, a giant leap for your lens :)

Getting Traffic To Your New Squidoo Lens Helps You Succeed 

First you need to write some content! Make sure it is good content, not just garbage. Remember to keep on topic as it is soooo easy to drift off to other subjects. If your Squidoo Lens is about blue widgets, then blue widgets are all you should write about.

Ok, so you have some good content, next you need some visitors. Here are some ideas for you...

  • Visit other relevant lenses and see if they have an "Add Your Lens" module active & add your lens.

  • Create more lenses and link them together using the lensroll in the sidebar. Maintain a theme between the lenses so they are relevant.

  • If you have a blog or website, link to your lens(es). Remember to keep the link text on topic!

  • Write articles on the topic of your lens and submit them to article directories. There are free and paid submission services.

  • Social Bookmark your lens at del.icio.us, blink, yahoo and more


Add a secret sauce: Save yourself time and sign up with Onlywire it take a little time to setup all the accounts, but once you're done you can let over 15 social bookmark sites know of your updates with a couple of clicks.

Add a tasty shake: Since Squidoo is sorta technically a blog, you can "ping" other sites to let them know there are updates. Use Ping O Matic to ping the top aggregators.

Go to the top of this entry and start again.

Affiliate Marketing on Squidoo 

I have found that Squidoo provides me with the perfect template for generating affiliate income by guiding the visitor to the decision to buy!

The basic model I use is as follows:

Introduction - as mentioned previously you should have your main keywords plus a couple of others dotted throughout and ensure that they are all bolded. It's good to add a picture to the introduction as Squidoo (and visitors) like pictures. It also makes your lens stand out from others.

Poll Module - here you need to pose a question which would elicit an answer that would suggest that your visitor is looking to solve a problem. "Can you just say that again please Paul?" I hear you say! Well let me give you an example. Let's say that the products you are targeting are about improving the curb appeal (kerb for those in the UK) of your home. The Poll Module should contain a question along the lines of:

Why are you looking to improve the curb appeal of your home?

Then you provide them with a series of answers which highlight problems addressed by the products you are promoting. So these might be:

I am looking to sell and want to create good impression for potential buyers!
I am embarrassed by how nice the neighbors homes look compared to ours!
My kids won't bring any of their friends to visit because the front of the house looks awful!
The local authority have told me to clear up or else!

Do you get the idea? We are getting the visitor to think about what their own situation is and the particular problem they have.

Now we go on to add two or three modules of text. I tend to add a module of text for each of the answers I have provided in the Poll Module. In those modules we provide some answers but also remind them of the problem that they might have.

So now they are thinking that they really do need to address the problem they have. It's at this stage that Squidoo provide the very helpful Links Plexo Module where we can add our Affiliate Products. Make sure that for each of the two (and no more than three) product you provide in the Links Plexo you write a description of how the particular product answers one of the answers you provided in the Poll Module.

So there you have it a very simple and effective approach to Affiliate Marketing courtesy of our friends at Squidoo!

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Publishing Your Squidoo Lens 

Now when I said take a break you did remember to Publish your Lens? When you first start to create your lens you will be saving it as "Keep This Draft" but when the big moment comes that you are ready for the world to see it! That's the moment at which you press the "Publish" button.

From then on try to remember to Publish each time you make a change. This helps Squidoo to understand that your lens is an active one. Don't do all your changes and then publish. In addition publishing after each change or addition will also ensure that you don't lose anything, you can see what your Squidoo lens looks like straight after the changes and your visitors get to see your additions or changes!

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