How to Use Squidoo to Promote Your Online Retail Business

Do you like knowing something about someone you're considering doing business with? Of course you do. With Squidoo, you can easily make a lens about your business, yourself, your products, your expertise, even your cat if that information might help your customer get to know you!

Secondly, it's easy to link your lenses to your selling venues as well as to each other. Squidoo offers a link list module, a featured lenses module, lensrolling (see the right column of the page), Twitter modules (is your business on Twitter?), feed from your blog (you do have a blog, right?) and other social networking modules and links. Additionally, there's an eBay module where you can feature your own (or somebody else's) current auctions and you can use feed from some sales venues to display your items for sale.

Consider making Squidoo lenses about:

• Your eBay/Bonanzle/Amazon store
  
• Your specialty (for instance, glass)
  
• Your sub-specialty (for instance, pink depression glass)
  
• Your blog. (Use rss feed to keep content fresh automatically!)
  
• Your best "how to" tips
  
• Anything you're passionate about
  
• Yourself! (Develop that lens into a lensography featuring all of your lenses as well as other personal information about yourself, your pets, your favorite movies, teams, etc.)

Perhaps my best piece of advice to a new lensmaster would be to explore Squidoo, find lenses you like in order to discover what makes a lens a great lens. Then, strive for greatness with your own lenses; don't ever settle for mediocre. Would you do business with someone who appears mediocre? Think like a customer! Give that customer a reason to shop with you.

If you're new to Squidoo, that should be enough information to get you started and keep you busy for awhile. You'll find tips below, which will be updated regularly, so remember to check back as this lens grows with the purpose of helping your business grow!

Listen to The River, The Ranch & The Bay Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern for more timely tips.

Tip of the Week for August 5, 2009: If you are an eBay affiliate and have EPN links on Squidoo, remove them now! Due to changes in the eBay Partner Network's policies, affiliates may no longer feed EPN links to Squidoo lenses. EBay may close your affiliate account and Squidoo may lock your lens if these remain, so don't put this off! However, all is not lost. EBay continues to approve use of the Squidoo eBay module, so substitute that to continue to show eBay listings on your lenses. This SquidBlog post gives more information, and I have added an eBay module to this lens, below, to demonstrate how that looks on a lens.

Tip of the Week for July 15, 2009: Put Your Blog on Squidoo and Put Squidoo on Your Blog Using rss feed modules, you can feed fresh content to your Squidoo lenses from your blog or other sources online, and you can feed your Squidoo lens list to your blog.

• To put your blog on Squidoo, add an RSS feed module to the blog. Use your blog's RSS feed code to include the most recent posts, which will be updated automatically as you update your blog. Of course you're not limited to feed from your blog. Include feeds from other blogs, news feeds, and even affiliate RSS feeds to keep the products on your lenses up-to-date.
  
• To put Squidoo on your blog, go to SquidUtils.com and log in with your Squidoo lensmaster name. Look under "Lensmaster Tools" and select "Lensmaster RSS Feeds." There you'll find code for various configurations of lists of your lenses. Add an RSS gadget to the margin of your blog and insert the SquidUtils code to display the list of your lenses.
  
• While you're on SquidUtils, check out the other utilities that are available, including the SquidUtils toolbar, a tool that I use and highly recommend. If you like what you see, consider donating to the SquidUtils site as all of these great utilities are provided free of charge.

Tip of the Week for July 8, 2009: If you don't have the time or desire to make your own lens, here are two alternatives.

• One, hire someone to make a lens for you. Make sure you choose someone with a good track record and a good reputation. My recommendation? Contact ThomasC at SquidBuilders.com. He's made over 200 lenses for clients and he definitely knows what he's doing. Tell him Susan52 sent you!
  
• Two, buy advertising space on a lens. Search Squidoo for lenses on a topic relevant to your business. Check to see that the lensmaster is reputable (multiple lenses, long-term Squidoo lensmaster with excellent lenses) then use the Contact link on that lensmaster's profile page and make him or her an offer. A price of $15 to $25 for three months on a good lens is a good place to start your offer.

Tip of the Week for June 17, 2009: Keep up-to-date with what's new on Squidoo. Best way to find out about new things? Subscribe to the SquidBlog.

Here are three big things in the news just in the past week on Squidoo.

• New policies were announced recently which could impact your lenses. These mostly involve rules about spam and junk, but check this lens for all the details and to see if the policy revision will affect your lenses in any way.
  
• New themes were implemented last Friday on Squidoo. Like color? Try the Gone Camping theme (green), Highlighter (yellow), or Purple People Eater (purple) themes on for size, just three of the new choices. Want to try another theme on your lens? Edit your lens, look on the upper right for the "themes" choices, choose one, and apply. Try them all and choose your favorite.
  
• The New "Caption Contest" module is a fun way to add interest and interaction to your lenses. Check out these 80+ examples of lenses utilizing the Caption Contest module then make a new lens of your own or add the module to an existing lens.

Tip of the Week for June 3, 2009: Do you have a physical business presence (consignment sales, brick and mortar store, etc.) in your community? Use SquidZippers to help local people find you online.

SquidZippers is one of Squidoo's co-brands, providing a slightly different template which serves a specific purpose. The purpose of SquidZippers is to make it easy for people in your zip code to find you. Click on the following links for lenses that explain how to use SquidZippers and what that format can do for you.

• Learn how to promote your business for free with Squidoo SquidZipper lenses.
  
• Here's an excellent example of someone promoting her business services using the SquidZipper format.
  
• Learn how to personalize a SquidZipper lens.
  
• Start here to make your own SquidZipper lens.

Tip of the Week for May 27, 2009: Interact with your readers. Use modules on your lenses that draw your readers into your topic.

• The Poll module allows the reader to vote, choosing one of a number of simple choices, as you did above on this lens. (You didnt? Get back up there and vote!)
  
• The Prediction module allows your reader to make a comment on a particular topic. For instance, you could ask, "What do you predict eBay is going to be like in five years?"
  
• The Duel module gives you the opportunity to present two different points of view and allow your readers to choose and comment on one side of the debate.
  
• TwttrStorm provides a block where your readers can actually post a Twitter comment on any topic you choose that appears both on Twitter and then on your lens.

Tip of the Week for May 20, 2009: Use anchor tags to turn a link into a more appealing, search engine-friendly hyperlink.

• Instead of asking people to visit your website, store, or lens at http://www.squidoo.com/promote-business-on-squidoo, code the link so it will appear this way: How to Use Squidoo to Promote Your Online Retail Business.
  
• Not only did you make the link clickable, it looks more professional and your reader doesn't have to copy and paste the link to get to your lens. (Would you take the time to copy and paste a link? I didn't think so.)
  
• Make sure the anchor text (the clickable text) is relevant. In other words, don't say Click here to visit my lens when you can put the title, or even the topic, as the anchor text.
  
• Here's how to code it: <a href="http://www.squidoo.com/yourlens">Your Lens's Name </a> will appear as this: Your Lens's Name
  
• Use the same method in signature links on forums, etc. Make it as easy as possible for readers to use your links.
  

Tip of the Week for May 6, 2009: Turn a blog post into a Squidoo lens!

• Choose a great blog post from your business blog.
  
• Don't copy it, but rewrite it slightly and add modules to it to make a lens.
  
• Be sure to link to the blog post from the lens. In fact, it's fine to edit the blog post to add a link back to the new lens as well.
  
• Read Turn a Blog Post Into a Squidoo Lens for more information and a demonstration.
  
• What? You don't have a blog for your business? Go to blogger.com and make a blog for free. It's easy, and another important asset for your business.
  
• BONUS TIP: If you were listening to the show tonight, you heard us discuss the importance of claiming your name at Squidoo (as well as other places on the web). It's important to your brand to maintain the same name across the web. Claim your name on Squidoo by setting up an account now - before somebody else beats you to it!
  

Tip of the Week for April 29, 2009: Update your Squidoo profile page!

• Go to your profile page by clicking on the avatar on your dashboard (upper left).
  
• Click on the "Edit this page" link on the upper right.
  
• Upload a default photo. Use a picture of yourself or perhaps your store logo.
  
• Write a brief but interesting default bio.
  
• Squidoo allows you to provide links to external sites such as your blog, your Twitter page, your Facebook page, your eBay store, among others. Fill in the blanks with the links you want to show on your profile page. Remember, this is an opportunity to provide high-quality incoming links to your store pages, always important in search engine optimization.
  
• Make sure to save your changes!
  

Then offer it for sale on your lens!

The River, the Ranch, and the Bay by susan52z
Design trucker hats online at zazzle.com

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