Squidoo Guide: Linking Tips

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Ranked #68 in Squidoo Tips, #5,277 overall

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There are many ways that you can add links to your Lens, improving the experience of your readers. How you add those links often depends on what those links are for. This Lens explains the different types of links, and the techniques available to you.

The Link List 

The Link List module is the straight forward way of adding links to your Lens. Great if this is the look that you want, but if you want to do some thing a bit more sophisticated then look at the other techniques below.

Squidoo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Squidoo is a website launched in October 2005. It is a platform designed to make it easy for anyone, for free, to set up a single page on a topic he or she knows or cares a lot about.
Seth Godin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Seth Godin (born July 10, 1960) is an author of business books and speaker of the late 1990s to the present. His first book to achieve mainstream popularity was on the topic of permission marketing.

Creating links inside other modules 

It is often desirable to embed links within the body of the text on your lens. It keeps the links in context with the text, and is also good from an SEO point of view.

To add links inside other modules, you need to use some simple HTML code. Here is an example:
<A HREF="http://www.squidoo.com/linking-tips">Linking Tips</A>

Which will look like this: Linking Tips.

You can also add additional parameters like TITLE="Do You Squidoo?" (which appears as a tooltip) or TARGET="_blank" (which opens the link in a new window).

For more information, look at the lens on Basic HTML.

Official URL Format for Squidoo Lenses 

It is important that you are consistent with all of the links that you create to your lens. Here are the preferred formats that you should use:

  • Lenses: http://www.squidoo.com/lens-name
  • Groups: http://www.squidoo.com/groups/name
  • Headquarters: http://www.squidoo.com/name/hq

Will My Links be Tagged With Nofollow? 

As long as your lens is 'Featured', then any links you add will not be marked with the rel="nofollow" attribute. The lens below explains what 'Featured' means, and how it is applied to your lens.

Note: Links in some affiliate modules, such as Amazon and eBay, will be marked as nofollow, including any links you put in the description.

Special Squidoo Links 

There are a number of special links that you can use within Squidoo.

Other Lenses
To quickly link to another Lens, simply use the form "/lens-name" (i.e. without the "http://www.squidoo.com" bit). As your Lens is already on the Squidoo domain, you only need to put a local URL to another Lens.

Note: when creating links in the Introduction module, it is best to use the complete URL, prefixed with http://www.squidoo.com/.

The "Featured Lenses" module is also great for linking to other lenses...

Add To Favourites
If you look in the side-bar on the right hand side of your Lens, one of the things you may (or may not) see is "Add To Favourites". You might like to explicitly invite people to use this feature in the Introduction of your Lens (or elsewhere). Here the URL you need to use, substituting in the name of your own lens:

  • /member/add_favorite/Your-Lens-Name

Join My Fanclub
Invite people to join your fanclub with this URL, substituting in the name of your own lens. Fans will soon begin appearing on your Bio page:

  • /member/join_fan_club/Your-Lensmaster-Name

Lensroll
Encouraging other Lensmasters to add your Lens to their Lensroll is a great way to get more exposure. Like with "Add to Favourites" above, you can duplicate the "Lensroll" link elsewhere in your Lens (and even in emails). Here's what you need:

  • /lensmaster/lensroll/Your-Lens-Name

Contact Lensmaster
Make is easier for readers to get it touch with you, with a "Contact Me" link.

  • /utility/contact_lensmaster/Your-Lens-Name

Email Lens
Get your visitors to email your lens to their friends with the "Email Lens" feature.

  • /utility/email_page?Your-Lens-Name

The Lens Rating Module 

This 3rd-party module will allow visiting members to rate your lens, without having to scroll back up to the top. Place this module anywhere you like, for example just above or under the GuestBook module. Visitors can also favorite and lensroll the lens (if they are members), or simply share it via social bookmarking sites and email.

Featured Lenses 

If you want to link to other Lenses (your own or someone elses), then the "Featured Lens" module is ideal. Originally developed for Groups, this module neatly lists up to 5 lens each with it's thumbnail picture and description.

Linking to Modules 

The Introduction module now has an integrated 'Contents at a Glance' feature - to turn it on, edit your Introduction and click on the 'Table of Contents' tab.

Alternatively, you can add a 'Table of Contents' module - you will need to module search to find it, or look under 'T' in the 'A-Z'.

Once you have either of these on your lens, and published it, you'll be able to get links to any of your modules. Right-click on any link and select "Copy Shortcut". You can then paste it to where ever you need a link.

If you have Firefox and install the Lens Workshop Addon, linking to other modules is made much easier. Above each of the modules in the workshop includes a direct link that you can copy and use elsewhere

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About thefluffanutta 

Lensmaster thefluffanutta has been a member since September 4 2006, has rated 684 lenses, favorited 187, and has created 96 lenses from scratch. This member's top-ranked page is "My Top Wii Games". See all my lenses

My Bio

I write about what I know, and I build tools for Lensmasters at SquidUtils.com. Read more about me on my Lensography, and follow me on twitter.
Follow @thefluffanutta
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by thefluffanutta

I write about what I know, and I build tools for Lensmasters at SquidUtils.com. Read more about me on my Lensography, and follow me on twitter.
Follow @thefluffanutta
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