Squidoo 4 You

By Bob Jenkins, Internet Marketing Teacher
(Reprinted with permission of the Author)

Secret #1 To Success With Squidoo: Make Your Lens Useful

Without help from a recognized expert, mastering any Web 2.0 platform can take time and a lot of trial and error. The same is true for Squidoo, a social marketing/blogging service created in 2005 by marketing genius Seth Godin.

To help you skip ahead along your learning curve, let me share the #1 secret to success with Squidoo.

Make Your Lens Useful
If I were writing a college thesis on Squidoo, I would say, "Squidoo was created within the premise that collaboration in a free market exchange of ideas will generate great content." In other words: the cream will rise to the top. However, in order for your ideas on Squidoo to gain that larger audience you are seeking, you have to make your lens useful.

To do this, you must determine what it is your customers will appreciate you sharing with them. What is it that you know that they should want to know? Once you answer this question, give your audience the good stuff - don't hold back.

Next, you must convey your information in a friendly, readable way. Create your lens (your unique page on Squidoo) with short blocks of information. This is accomplished with multiple Text/Write modules. Use the titles of each module as your subheadings to break up longer articles of information.

According to Godin, your job as a lensmaster is to filter the overwhelming amount of information online into one easy to find resource (hence the term "lens"). So another piece of making your lens useful is to direct visitors to the best information that already exists online.

Use Pre-Built Modules To Make Your Lens Useful
To accomplish this, you can use several pre-built modules. The best of these are the Link List, RSS, and YouTube modules. The Link module makes it easy for you to link to the other websites and provide a short description for each site (for long term results, use the Link Plexo instead so your readers can add to this list).

The RSS module gives you the power to bring other people's blog articles into your lens. The module is made in such away that the first 25 words or so are automatically imported to your lens every day.

The YouTube module makes it easy for you to put the best videos on your topic into your lens. Not only does this provide your readers with more relevant information, it also makes your lens more fun to read. And don't worry - you don't have to be the creator of the videos to include them in your lens (but it does help!).

Create How To Lessons With Your Lenses
Another way to make your lens useful is to present your information as "how-to" lessons within your topic. This helps you and your audience in a number of ways. First, it directs you to write content in a logical way. You may be stumped with what to write about when you start working on a lens. But if you approach your lens as a set of how-to steps, your ideas will come faster. And with the Reorder modules tool, it's easy to rearrange the steps if you get them out of order initially.

Having a step-by-step guide for your lens also gives your readers the action steps they need to become better in your area of expertise. As they accomplish their own goals of knowledge/skills, they know you were partially responsible. So they will "favorite" your lens, book mark it with Digg, Del.icio.us, or Stumble Upon, rate your lens 4 or 5 stars, perhaps even join your fan club.

In other words, the more useful your lens is, the more your readers will show their appreciation for what you are giving them. That may seem like an obvious statement. And it is. But it's important to highlight it because with social marketing, also known as new media marketing, your reputation carries much more weight in your success.

Finally, the more useful your lens, the more likely you can get attention by people in high positions.

You could win a coveted Lens of the Day award by Squidoo. Or perhaps get picked up in a media publication. One of my own lenses was highlighted in the New York Times in early 2006, and the long term effects of that are still being felt in 2008.

So if you want to gain the fame and/or fortune you desire from your favorite pieces of knowledge, be sure to create lenses on Squidoo that are useful - indeed, make them the best single source of information on your topic available anywhere on the internet.

Bob Jenkins is an internet marketing teacher, who specializes in Web 2.0 marketing strategies for business. He is the creator of Squidoo Secrets, a comprehensive audio and video training system to teach you Squidoo fast. Continue your Squidoo education at SquidooSecrets.com

Feel free to use this entire article (without changes) on your own blog or email newsletter, replacing my link to Squidoo Secrets with your affiliate link. If you don't have your affiliate link - get it now at SquidooSecrets.com

Meatball Sundae:
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Permission Marketing :
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Small is the New Big

All Marketers are Liars

Okay, I haven't kept up lately as much as I should have because Squidoo's spinning out in all directions. I was ghostwriting a Squidoo course for my soon-to-be competitor (funny, isn't it?) and I had to include a lesson on Squidoo co-brands and the list wouldn't end! A simple 5-page lesson grew into a monster 10-page lesson.

Here are the current co-brands you may want to check out:

SquidWho - Great for branding your name or staking claim to a guru's name so you can be an affiliate.

SquidVids - Perfect for you viral video marketers.

MonkeyBrain - Hey we did a contest on this one! Host debates (create a viral buzz) using this co-brand.

SquidBoo - a co-brand dear to my heart. My little Infant Baby Snail lens has earned me a lot of money all through the year, go figure - who's buying costumes all through the year?

The Ever Project - Another co-brand we had a contest about! Ever is where you pick a superlative, tack on a keyword and you're off! Like Best.Marketer.Ever.com

InkCity - Only good if you're zeroing in on that hot tattoo niche.

SquidLit - Great for promoting books. Here's a good strategy - host a poor review of a competitor who has a tangible book to promote your eBook - but only if their book really IS poor, mind you. OR, give a regular review, but also promote your own eBook (or someone else's as an affiliate) alongside theirs.

SquidKnol - I heard through the Grapevine that this is a spoof for Google Knol, but who knows. Could have great potential if they ever decided to go through with it - it would be a place to build your expertise.

SquidBids - for all you eBay marketers

SquidFlix - for movies

SquidZippers - for realtors, insurance agents, and anyone who wants to "be the mayor of their zip code online."

PhotoPhights - Host Flickr Fights, but make sure your images are tagged so you attract your prospects to your lens!

People Who Matter - Not sure how this is different from SquidWho, except for the fact it doesn't look as good.

CafePress on Squidoo - Again, not sure why they have their own co-brand. Just make a lens with CafePress on it and you're good to go!

" target="_blank">eBayers on Squidoo - Another one - why have this when you have SquidBids?

Anyway, pick and choose among what you need. Some I love and some I think are irrelevant.

(Here's my an excerpt from the Free Ebook):

Three U's and the Haystack
Click here for your free copy!

"After you build a page on Squidoo (or a blog, or anywhere else on the web, for that matter) there's an almost irrestible urge to panic. Panic, because you've put in all this work and then you feel sort of powerless. "No one is looking at my page!"

It's human nature. We want to be noticed, we want our effort to pay off and we hate to fail. So, the question: How do I get more traffic? It's not just you. EVERYONE wants to know the answer to this question. They want to know how to get more traffic to their blog, their corporate website, their Squidoo lens. More.

There are plenty of tactics about how to get more traffic to your pages online. Dozens of blog posts and great advice, easy to find. WARNING: None of these tactics work without the three U's that are covered in this book."