Off Site Lens Promotion
One of the most often asked questions in the Squidu Forums is, "How do I get traffic to my lens?"
The most obvious way to generate traffic to your lens is to make sure that it is search engine friendly. But that is a topic that deserves its own lens.
This lens is here for me to share my favorite off site methods of generating traffic and links to your lens. They can be time consuming and will take some effort, but then again, most things that are worthwhile in life do not come easy either.
Contents at a Glance
Twitter For Traffic
Twitter is another great Web 2.0 site that is used for social networking and micro-blogging with short messages that allows users to send tweets(updates) which are displayed both on the user's profile page as well as other users who have signed up to receive them.
I have really started to get hooked on Twitter lately. In the past, I didn't like it and thought it was for people with too much time on their hands. Then one day all that changed when I found how fun it was to see what your friends are doing and more importantly, I realized how you can leverage it to your advantage.
The key to effectively using Twitter to promote your lens is to have friends. Here in Squidoo alone you can find hundreds of friends to add on Twitter.
The second thing to keep in mind is that you should not bug people with spam messages. Use Twitter to give updates on what you are doing in your day. Through in the occasional message about a particular lens that you are working on or that you just updated.
BDKZ really did an excellent job of properly explaining the magic behind Twitter and how to effectively use it to your advantage.
Very Important If you are wanting to take twitter to the next level, I highly recommend watching this video. I am following the principles that I learned from these guys for some of my twitter accounts with tremendous success.
Two Great Guides for Twitter
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50 Ways To Use Twitter
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Twitter is an amazingly powerful tool for promoting your Squidoo Lens, Blog, Business and more. So check out these cool ways to educate, inform, enlighten and amuse people. Just remember, you've only got 140 Characters so stay on your topic!
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How To Use Twitter
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I really have fallen in love with Twitter. It is such a powerful social marketing tool and it is still far from reaching its full potential. In this lens I am going to share some of the knowledge that I have learned from reading about twitter and I...
Leave Your Twitter ID Here
Feel free to leave your Twitter ID here. This way we can follow each other or add each others as friends. This is a great way to gain exposure to your Twitter updates. You can find me at http://twitter.com/JeffWend. If you have a website of your own that you want to brand separate from your personal Twitter account you may want to make two accounts, here is my second account, http://twitter.com/onlinechristian
I also want to caution against using auto updates for your Squidoo lenses on Twitter. Imagine how annoying it is for your readers when they have you and other lensmasters leaving the same generic message every time they make a simple update. Instead, make a personal message in your tweet and this will be more likely to get a click through.
renee22093 wrote...
I love this lens!!!! My twitter ID is http://www.twitter.com/Business_Works
Posted July 02, 2009
BarbRad wrote...
I have found Twitter to be useful and find that when I do post about an update, I normally do get some action on that lens. I try not to promote the same lens more than once or twice a week, and I normally add a personal message with the link.
My twitter URL is http://twitter.com/barbsbooks
Posted July 01, 2009
JeffRiveraAuthor
Useful thing
Posted June 29, 2009
Tagfoot
Tagfoot is a brand new social bookmarking website. But it is so much more than that. I have recently joined and I have to say that I am completely hooked.
You can use Tagfoot to bookmark your lenses. You can also add items that are on your lenses to your wishlist if they are something that you "wish" to have.
A great thing that Tagfoot lets you do is manage your bookmarks from anywhere, not just your home computer. It is also interactive. People can tag your bookmarks and this will provide better publicity for your lens.
Another bonus is that Tagfoot will share their 50% of their Adsense revenues with their members.
Tagfoot is still in its Beta testing period, but you can sign up today to join.
More info on how to use Tagfoot will be coming soon...
(Already a member or did you just join? Leave your profile URL here if you want others to add you as a friend. You can find me here, http://tagfoot.com/jeffwend)
renee22093 wrote...
Barb, you and me both!! I worked on tagfoot for days, just to try and understand how to do ANYTHING there. I even got a mentor to help me, but it just didn't make sense to me. I might give it another shot but I just don't have the patience or time to mess with something that takes so long to "get" [in reply to BarbRad]
Posted July 02, 2009
BarbRad wrote...
I have to admit I just don't get tagfoot yet. I signed up, but I am already on Delicious, and it seems so much easier to use. Now I don't even know my Tagfoot PW and keep getting notes in my email that Tagfoot support wants to share something with me. Then i can't log in and just haven't cared enough to pursue it. Maybe I'll try again. Maybe I left PW info at the other computer.
Barb
Posted July 01, 2009
Howdie wrote...
in reply to jskoda425 Are you ready to follow me on Twitter too? http://www.twitter.com/Hoowdie
Thanks, Jeff
Posted June 10, 2009
Tagfoot Video
Can your bookmarks do this?
The tagfoot beta is here! The tagfoot beta is here!
Runtime: 1:15
1983 views
2 Comments:
Bukisa
I recently discovered Bukisa in the Squidu forums. It looks to be a promising way to promote your lenses and to build some extra links.
Bukisa allows you to post articles that you can put keyword text links in the body. This is great for both bringing in traffic, but also SEO help. The text links are unique as most article directories only allow links in the resource box.
They also allow you to get in on profit sharing for the amount of content that you add. Stop by today and get started on building links and gaining some traffic.
YouTube Videos
Making a YouTube video is an underused method for traffic generation on Squidoo. This method does not take long and it can create a steady stream of traffic to your lens.
All that you need to do is use a camera, make a video, and then load it to YouTube. I use the Flip camera because it is inexpensive and terribly easy to use.
Once you load the video you have the option of adding a description. You cannot use html here so you will have to put a direct link to your lens in the description. I recommend putting the link within the first few words so that it is on the main page of the video and you will not have to hit the "more info" link to find it.
I have one other trick that I like to use with YouTube videos. If you do a search on a topic that matches your lenses theme, you can do an advanced search to find a video that has been recently added and has not had many referrals to it. If you play your cards right, you can load a newer video, have people watch the video on your lens, and the next thing that you know you will have a link from YouTube to your site under the Statistics & Data tab.
You can see for yourself how I put a link in this video by double clicking the video below. Notice the link in the upper right. Then, click the "Statistics & Data" tab to find the other place where you can earn a link.
Zion Lion, Kalamazoo Island Festival Part 4
Reggae band Zion Lion, http://www.zionlionreggaeband.com, performing At Kalamazoo Island Festival 6/21/08
Runtime: 3:33
620 views
2 Comments:
Flip Cameras On Ebay
This is the camera that I use for my YouTube videos. It is affordable, easy to use, durable, and has a built in USB port for easy hook up to your computer for downloads.
Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand by
Need Help Making Your YouTube Video Look Great?
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How to Make YouTube Videos Look Great
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The key for YouTube to display your video the best possible way, is to upload the best possible quality video that meets or exceeds their requirements. That is by encoding videos the right way. I'll show you a few ways on how to encode, c...
Submitting Articles
Writing articles is a terrific way to promote your lens. The most powerful article submission site is Ezinearticles. Ezinearticles gets tons of traffic and has a high Google page rank. Some of my articles have been viewed 10's of thousands of times and have lead to hundreds of clickthroughs to my lenses.
To use this great site all that you have to do is write an article that is a minimum of 300 words, 500 is preferred. Be sure to do your keyword research for year lens and to add those to the text of the article to help search engines find it. At the bottom of the article is a resource box where you can put a link to your lens. I recommend using your main keywords as part of the link using basic html.
To learn more about how Ezinearticles work, visit their TOS.
The Best Article Submission Tool
If you are serious about building links, boosting your page rank, and gaining traffic to your lens, I highly recommend you join ArticleMarketer. It automatically sends your article to hundreds to thousands of editors for their blogs or websites.
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Article Marketer Article Submission Tool
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Are you looking to kick start the marketing program for your website, blog or myspace profile? Well don't wait another minute and head over to Article Marketer. Using Article Marketer you can quickly and easily promote all of your sites using a...
Digg It For More Traffic
Digg.com is useful for lensmasters in a few different ways. Squidoo even makes it easy for us to Digg lenses by having the button on the right side of every lens.
One way that Digg is good for your lenses is for a link. This is perhaps the least important benefit that you can gain from this popular Web 2.0 site.
The second reason you should use Digg is traffic. After an initial Digg, you may receive a trickle of traffic. However, if you play your cards right, you will receive thousands of visitors to your lens if you can make it to the elusive first page on Digg.
The trick to getting to the first page and to gaining lots of traffic on Digg is by having lots of friends. If you can get your friends to Digg your lens, this will increase your chances of being promoted.
One thing to remember when using Digg is to digg more than just your lens. You should digg other sites that you find interesting or useful. This will keep you from being seen as a spammer.
Perhaps the most important reason to use Digg is for backlinks from other sites. A large number of Digg users are blog owners. These bloggers are known to blog about or link back to the popular stories found on Digg which can result in loads of links and traffic. If you make a really good lens, it can go viral and then you will have hit the motherload in traffic.
Please add me to your friends on Digg, http://digg.com/users/twohearted and I will reciprocate. You can also leave your name below so that other Squidoo users can add you to their friends list as well. It is important though for us to support each other and if a friend gives you a shot, take a look at their link and if you like it, Digg it.
needatitleokc wrote...
ok just joined digg.com to put up squidoo pages thanks. www.squidoo.com/anotaryinoklahoma and www.needatitleokc.net
Posted June 29, 2009
craig0812 wrote...
Great info in this lens.Here is my digg account. http://digg.com/users/craig0812
Posted June 06, 2009
mutter wrote...
Thanks for this info. Have added you...
http://digg.com/users/maternal
Posted June 02, 2009
roysumit wrote...
I am having my digg account but rarely use it. From now I will do.
http://digg.com/users/babblesumit
Posted May 30, 2009
Stumbleupon Review
Stumbleupon is a quick, easy, and effective way to promote and gain traffic to your lens. However, it is important that you follow these general guidelines to get the most out of your Stumbleupon experience.
To use SU, the first thing you should do is go to their website and register. Then you can download their toolbar.
In the toolbar, you will see a thumbs up, thumbs down button like the one displayed here. There is also a button to add keywords, and a comment.
When you Stumble your lens, you can either use the thumbs up button, or the SU button in the right hand column under bookmark and share. After hitting the button, leave a good one or two sentence comment and keywords.
I have had loads of traffic to my lenses from SU. The main pitfall that you should avoid is not stumbling the same site too many times. If all that you do is stumble your lenses, you will be blocked from stumbling that site in the future. The trick is to stumble lots of sites that you like and throw in your lenses from time to time too.
It is also good etiquette to stumble other lenses that you like and come across along the way. If you do this enough times odds are good that other lensmasters will soon be stumbling your lenses as well.
You can find me and add me as your friend on stumbleupon by finding my username Earthsolution and hit the add me as a friend button. When I get the message that you have added me, I will reciprocate.
Feel free to leave your username URL below so that we can add you to our friends list too.
FunGifts4All wrote...
I still send my lenses to stumpleupon. But, be careful if you're searching using this. The first day I used it, just looking around, viewed a web page that had a virus and it killed my computer. Couldn't get rid of it. Just be careful. I'm sure most are okay, but it was an expensive lesson.
Posted May 26, 2009
AslanBooks wrote...
I love Stumbleupon. It's the only one I focus on.
http://aslanbooks.stumbleupon.com
Posted May 16, 2009
nukemdomis wrote...
in reply to Peter_Fisher Peter is correct by saying, "Stumbleupon is a great source of traffic". My SU page is http://nukemdomis.stumbleupon.com/
Posted May 15, 2009
Zimbio
I love Zimbio. They describe themselves as "Thousands of online magazines at your fingertips". Zimbio is easy to use, has good PR, and helps to bring traffic to my lenses.
If you have a blog or are a lensmaster, you will love how Zimbio works for you.
To use Zimbio on autopilot, simply visit SquidUtils and log in. Click on your lensmaster RSS feeds and copy down your squidutils lensmaster RSS feed.
Then go to Zimbio and you can paste your feed after following the Submit Your Blog button.
I know that Zimbio can use your RSS feed, but I still like to submit every new lens that I make to the "Submit Your Blog" button. This way I can often pick which wikizine I want it to be featured in.
Captain Squid is the person who turned me on to Zimbio and you can learn more about how to use the site at his Captain Squid Blog.
Start a Tumblr Blog
Great for backlinks
Tumblr is a free blog service that can come in real handy for Squidoo lensmasters. If you are unfamiliar with Tumblr, it is similar to Blogger or Wordpress, although many users prefer the term Tumblogs.
As a lensmaster, Tumblr is a great way to build backlinks to your lenses. You can do this in several ways.
The first way is to make blog posts on your topics and to use links to your lenses. Be sure to add images and do your best to make a compelling post to keep readers coming back.
The second way, and in my opinion, my favorite way, is to add an RSS feed to your Tumblog. Tumblr allows you to add up to 5 RSS feeds to your Tumblog.
If you are not sure how to get your RSS feed for your lenses, go to squidutils and enter your lensmaster ID. From there you are taken to a page where you can select Lensmaster RSS Feeds. Then you can select which feed you want, and plug it right into your Tumblr blog. Tumblr gives you several options on how you want your RSS feed to appear, I always choose "links with descriptions." This allows your links to appear with a brief description so that there is some content added.
Once you have submited your RSS feed, whenever you make a change to a lens, or create a new lens, a new post will appear on your Tumblog. You can check out my Tumblog at jeff-on-squidoo.tumblr.com.
Friendfeed
Friendfeed describes itself as way for "you to keep up to date on the web pages, photos, videos and music that your friends and family are sharing. It offers a unique way to discover and discuss information among friends."
An amazing thing that Friendfeed can do is to aggregate all social software sites together into one place and is increasingly being a place used to search for something or someone.
You can plug your Squidoo lenses into an RSS feed by using Squidutils RSS feed tool. If you like you can add me at http://friendfeed.com/jeffwend to your friends list at friendfeed. Feel free to add your own Friendfeed URL below.
For more information on how to use Friendfeed, check out this great lens by LindaJM.
Since you make good lens what do you think of mine? This is my first one I ever made so what do you think
Posted April 03, 2009
Peter_Fisher wrote...
I hadn't heard of FriendFeed before, so it's great to learn about something new.
Find me at http://friendfeed.com/peterfisher01
Posted March 25, 2009
Linkedin is a professional social networking site. It's like a Facebook for professionals. You can use it to connect with friends and business colleagues. It's also a great place to connect with over 10 million professionals.
You can leverage Linkedin to help to increase visibility and the branding of your name whether it be as a lensmaster or for your day job profession. It can also be used to help to bring in direct sales and to help to generate traffic and to boost your lenses SEO.
Like with all of the other websites that I have mentioned here, it is important that you keep it professional and do not spam others. It will both bring down your name and the name of your fellow lensmasters here at Squidoo.
You can use your network on Linkedin to increase the number of contacts you have, to keep a trusted circle of contacts, or both. If you want, you are potentially connected to millions of other contacts with Linkedin.
You can use Linkedin to share your lenses or websites, to share your expertise and establish yourself as an expert in your field, to bring readers to you lenses or blogs, or to potentially find new work in your area of expertise.
To help with your SEO and traffic, be sure to link to your lensmaster page, lenses, and websites in your employee profile. Be sure to take advantage of the answers pages as they are indexed by the search engines and will drive traffic with through their links.
Linkedin is great because it is free, it helps with word of mouth promotions, it has nearly unlimited potential, and you can use it to find the right people in your desired niche.
To view my Linkedin profile, visit My Linkedin Profile. Feel free to leave your Linkedin profile URL if you would like other lensmasters to network with you.
Spitfire70 wrote...
I recently started on Linkedin and have found it to be very helpful and useful. Great lens here. Gave it 5* and a fav! :)
Posted June 04, 2009
drs2biz wrote...
Linkedin is a new addition for me so I haven't learnt much about it. This is drs2biz Linkedin Profile!
Posted May 15, 2009
mastseller wrote...
I will have to start using LinkedIn more often.
http://www.linkedin.com/in/slavenbv
Posted May 11, 2009
Forum Sigs To Promote Your Lens
There are forums on nearly every topic imaginable from very broad to narrow scopes. If you can find an active forum on the theme of your lens than you may have found a gateway to more traffic.
A good place to get started is by visiting Big-Boards.com. This is a site that list thousands of forums categorized by topic and popularity. Search a forum or two that relate to the niche of your lens and register with them.
Under your profile, you get the option of adding an avatar and a signature. I highly recommend adding an avatar to put a name with the face. In your sig, put in a keyword or phrase of your lens and add the link using the html or BBCode.
Once you have finished these two steps, you are ready to start posting. The trick to posting is to actually participate in the forum. No spammy posts of any kind will be allowed by the forum's admins. Just watch what happens with spam in the Squidu forum if you don't believe me. Set a goal of making or participating in a post or two every day or every other day. With some time, you will find that other users of the forums are going to start following the link in your sig to your lens.
I have recently stumbled across an excellent article that is a must read if you are looking to pursue promoting your lens on forums. You can find it here at How to Use Forums To Drive Hundreds of Thousand of Readers to Your Blog.
Facebook is perhaps the most popular Web 2.0 website for social interactions. I originally joined to promote my websites and before I knew it I had friends from high school and college tracking me down. It has been great reconnecting with so many old friends.
I still do use it for my lens promotion. I do it through groups. The first way that I do it is by searching for groups on my lenses topic. For example, under another account I made a lens for the American Idol contestant, Jason Castro. I joined groups that are Jason Castro fan groups or AI groups and posted a link to my lens with a quality comment about how a new video was just added or something that added to the group. This brought in hundreds of viewers to my lens. Remember though, DO NOT SPAM FACEBOOK! I have seen other Squidoo users do this and they were chastised. Doing this will both make you, and the rest of us here at Squidoo look bad. The goal is to add to the group, not take away.
The second way I pick up traffic to my lenses is by creating my own group. For example I created a group on PH Balance with links to my lens on Alkaline Diet. This is another way to help to bring in targeted traffic to your lens.
I have created a group on Facebook called Squidoo Love where you can join and post links to promote your lenses. Stop by today to join and get started today.
Craigslist To Help With Sales On Your Lens
If you use Squidoo for affiliate marketing or to generate traffic to your own online store, you might want to give Craigslist a try.
Dan Gluckman gives some good advice on how to properly use Craigslist for affiliate marketing. I have experimented with his advice and have actually had some success with conversions through Craigslist traffic.
To summarize his points:
1. Don't Spam. The users of Craigslist can recognize it and avoid it like the plague.
2. Be honest with your pitch. Place it in the right category and don't mislead your potential customers.
Mixx.com
**** Attention, Mixx is not currently accepting links from Squidoo anymore, I will be checking back to see if this changes soon. You may still submit links to your Web sites or blog though.
What is Mixx.com? They answer that question as, "At Mixx, all of the content is user-generated, which means that we don't have an editor who decides what you should find interesting. We figure that you can find that same-old same-old pretty much anywhere else. So instead, we make it easy for you to submit stories, photos, videos-whatever you find interesting, informative, different or fun. You can also see-and vote on-the stuff that other Mixxers submit."
You can use Mixx.com to promote your lenses simply by submitting their URL and they do most of the work for you. The description is automatically pulled from your intro. You just have to add the tags and then pick up to 8 of the offered categories.
A lot of us Squidoo users use Mixx and we like to help each other out by viewing each others lenses and voting the lenses up if we like them. This helps to give the lens more exposure and hopefully more traffic.
You can add other lensmasters to follow here and be sure to leave your username so that we can follow you too. You can follow me at http://www.mixx.com/users/jeffwend.
roysumit wrote...
Hi friends,
Best wishes to you all.
My mixx link:
http://www.mixx.com/users/roysumit
Posted May 30, 2009
bcarter wrote...
Love this lens, faved and 5 starred. I'll be back for more ideas.
Posted May 29, 2009
Giamatti wrote...
heh, just have a new twitter account: http://twitter.com/Seocialise
Posted February 14, 2009
Time for a little Q&A
Post your questions on this Squidoo topic below, and I'll do my best to answer them for you here.
thewishpearl wrote...
Enjoyed your lens. I have a question about advertising on Craigslist. Are you allowed to place a link to your online store in a Craigslist ad?
Posted July 01, 2009
mulberry wrote...
I may be back with a question but right now all I have to say is good job on the lens and WOW, it's had a lot of visitors!
Posted June 29, 2009
ajgodinho wrote...
Very well done and some excellent information on an vital topic for lensmasters! 5*s, favourite, fan club and lenroll...I guess the whole nine yards ; )
Posted June 28, 2009
crosscreations wrote...
WOW! Great info.
It seems that one of the biggest roadblocks to success online is information overload. SO easy to get overwhelmed with all of the options in cyberspace. Agree?
Given that, I've been active on Facebook and Twitter for awhile now, still learning best ways to use them. Meanwhile I hesitate to register at more of these sites for fear of...overload. Trying to stay focused and streamline my efforts, and that is tough. I have 10 lenses here, a couple of blogs and 2 hubs. Any comment or suggestions on that?
Posted June 28, 2009
JLCollins wrote...
Fantastic, useful, wonderful lens. I really appreciate the work you have done here. Thanks!
Posted June 26, 2009
Mountainside-Crochet wrote...
Useful advice on how to promote Squidoo lenses -- now all I need to do is write more than one :-). Thanks for these helpful hints. I'm collecting advice as i learn to Squidoo! 5*
Posted June 12, 2009
Suzie-Shine wrote...
Having just started on Squidoo yesterday this is just what I needed to know. I've favorited it so I can refer back. A super duper lens.
Suzie
Posted June 07, 2009
California_Dreamin wrote...
This is an excellent lens. Thanks for all the great info. Since joining Squidoo, I've learned a lot about html and how to make lenses in general, but the most difficult thing for me has been getting my head around how to promote my lenses. This lens is a big help to me, thanks. Of course 5 stars and a favorite.
Posted May 31, 2009
roysumit wrote...
Excellent lens; simply awesome. You have covered almost everything one could have asked for.
Thanks for sharing and five stars.
Posted May 30, 2009
grace_antoinette wrote...
Your lens is a must to follow and to build a better lens! Thanks!
Posted May 29, 2009
rydigga wrote...
This is a very informative lens. I picked up some new SEO techniques and a few new sites. Thanks for sharing.
Posted May 21, 2009
Tipi wrote...
Always a helpful resource with a welth of great information. ~ Susie
Posted May 16, 2009
dyharris wrote...
Thanks for the info.
follow me on www.twitter.com/dyharris
Check out my blog at www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/dyharris
Posted May 07, 2009
60mt wrote...
Is this is a good place to promote your products to? http://www.bz9.com/elert/
Posted April 29, 2009
Sunshine-us wrote...
Wow- what an effort! Thanks for the many hours you've spent to assemble this lens!
Posted April 23, 2009
karen550 wrote...
I think you covered all the basics. Thanks so much for the ideas.
Posted April 18, 2009
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P.S. Still stuck?
Drop by our SquidU.com forum. Ask for help, don't be stingy, be sure to smile, and we're betting someone will come to the rescue. by jeffwend
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