Squidoo Tips & Advice-One Squid to Another

I've been with Squidoo for awhile now. I started out pretty well, then took a break--like many Squidoo Lensmakers do. I really should say I just never gave it the attention I give to my other three blogs. I never fully left, I only updated about three lenses every two weeks yet my favorite lens stayed in the top tier and has hit the top 100 many times--- which brings me to my number one tip or my best advice for any Squidoo newbie.

Make a lens with a subject you are passionate about----something that you are totally into or something you love. Chances are, if you love it, there are many others out there that love it as well and are looking for information. It's the people who are looking for the information that you're making your lens for. If you enjoy cooking, then start there! Make a lens with your favorite Turkey recipe or your easiest one. If you're totally a reality show addict (as I am), then make a lens about your favorite reality show.

If you have had a recent health problem that you know all too much about.....share your experience with others on Squidoo. You'll be amazed at how many people out there are looking for answers or just looking for someone who is going through a similar experience.

Maybe you're an online shopaholic or simply love to shop? Then share your best online shopping tips! Or your favorite online shopping bargains. We all have advice within us that someone else wants to read.

If you have a favorite show (Mine happens to be The Young and the Restless)---start a lens on it! You will immediately have a gathering spot of people with the same interests, where you can get to know one another and have some fun in the meantime, while keeping up with the latest news on your show.

Maybe something that you've given your child has a special memory for you? For me, that would be a Cookie Monster hat that I gave my daughter. She's all grown up, on her own, but she loves Cookie Monster and she loves that hat. When she puts it on? I'm immediately thrown back to the old days of when she was young.......but so proud of what she's accomplished on her own. And that little Cookie Monster hat....was the catalyst for those memories. Now you know the reason for my Cookie Monster lens.

You don't have to share your story or the reason WHY you're making a lens. As long as you know it's something that you love, care about, are invested in (as a person, not financially) or even are simply addicted too (reality shows for me)..........

If you're into your subject for whatever reason.........the lens will do well on all levels.
Photo Details: Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow: Discovering Your Right Livelihood

I'm quiet, I'm reserved and I keep to myself, but that doesn't mean I don't get around the Squidoo neighborhood! Get out there and read some other Squidoo lens'---let the Squidoo lensmaster know you were there, either by 'liking the lens' or leaving a comment. The lensmaster bio page is a great place to leave a comment. Join their fanclub while you are there.

If you've been with Squidoo for awhile? Check out some of the newbie lens that are just starting out. Just go to Squid U Forums and read the forum; you'll quickly find many newbies looking for people to come by and visit their lens. (New? Introduce Yourself Forum)

Check out the Lens Spotlight Forum---I've just discovered that particular part of the message boards and there's so many nice, supportive people in there. I've discovered so many people there I didn't know was on Squidoo. Check it out.

Don't miss the Tricks of the Trade forum. Keep an eye on Flufanutta's posts and you'll learn a lot.
Tip: Go back to the beginning of the boards....scroll all the way back to the very start and work your way back through until now. Tons of great hidden tips back in those old threads!

Have a twitter account? Follow Squidoo lensmasters on twitter to stay in the loop. Most lens masters have their twitter accounts on the bio pages.

Squid Love Button by dndartstudio
View other Squid Buttons
Don't forget to retweet the lenses you like for others; hopefully they'll return the favor one day.

Add the bookmark widget module to your squidoo pages. It's the fastest way to get your new lens promoted. If you have a blog, you can even blog about it--with one click of the button.

Add it to popular social networking sites via a click. It's one of my handiest tools I use. (the bookmark widget) I submit to my own blog, digg, delicious, and a few others. I also submit to She Told Me. It's a site similar to Digg.

I don't title it; but just place it under one of the under modules; that way it flows better with the page.
Check out the example here: Y&R Spoilers
You'll see the bookmark widget under the video previews for this week.

The bookmark module is under the squidoo modules titled 'bookmark widget'.

Using twitter brings me tons of visitors to my lenses. The trick is to use the hashtag for the topic you are tweeting about. For example, if you have a Squidoo lens about Christmas deals? Be sure to end your tweet with the hashtags #christmas #deals. This makes it easy for people to find the deals when they search. (they don't have to be your followers to find your tweet in a search; it will come up with the hashtags)

Put your lens rss feeds in twitterfeed By doing this, everytime you send a squidcast through your lens (that's on twitterfeed)---it will post to twitter automatically, saving you the step of tweeting yourself. Over at twitterfeed, you can automatically put the hashtags in the feed.

I know maybe some of you don't 'do twitter' and I don't either except for using it as a network to get people to my blogs or lenses. But, the world is twitter happy and that's why using twitter is a huge help in getting traffic. They come not from just twitter, but from all the twitter apps (via phone, hootsuite, tweetdeck and so many more) It's worth the time to tweet your lens, blog or any page you want more traffic on.

Another reason to use Twitter? Real time google search---if you notice, Google does a real time search that includes the latest tweets on the subject you are searching. I'll try to get a screen cap and get it in here to show you what I mean a little later.

Need targeted twitter followers? Check out the tweet tools through tweet adder. It helps.



Follow me on twitter below: I follow alot of Squidoo people.

Work, Love Dance, Live by girlgifts
More For her Posters---To make money on Squidoo, you have to figure out what works best for you. For me, there's no one set formula I have for making lenses. If I'm working on a tv show, then I focus on that show, while putting other selling modules around it; again, making the flow work.

If I'm working on specific item for selling, (cookie monster gifts)--then I focus specifically on the keywords cookie monster gifts and make sure when someone show up there, they have a variety of gifts to choose from.

Then, there's fan pages, or pages about people---they are completely different. I focus on their name and anything that people might be interested in about them.

Basically, I go with what feels right for that page. Ask yourself, would I visit this page for longer than a minute? It's just that simple. If you would, then you are on the right track. So try out a few different methods and see what works best for you and what people respond to the most.

How do you know what to put on a page? Put yourself in the person's place that is looking up your keywords for the lens you are making. Then put exactly on that page what you would want to find there. That's the only 'formula' that I go by....

I have read several Squidoo help books but this Squidoo book is the one I recommend as it had some great tips. (Other squidoo books listed here are for those very new to online marketing and seo). I will say that I did know most of what was in the book because I've been working on the internet for awhile now, but it is a great guide for someone who is just staring out working on the net, specifically with Squidoo. Very helpful information for beginners or moderate level net and affiliate workers. Had a few tips that I hadn't thought of as well. Definitely a good read.

Underground Squidoo Profit Tactics

Note: I am no longer using this one. It does not show up in Google Searches any more. (RSS feeds that is) Other modules that will not be indexed by Google are the Amazon multiple products module (Use the Amazon Spotlight instead), Wikipedia, Ebay, and some Twitter searches. ---Some of my twitter search modules do show up though I''m not sure why yet. Working on figuring it out) If you use any of these just be sure to put them in between the modules that are being indexed by Google.

Go to Google News, search the topic you are writing about ---see what shows up. If there's good content, scroll to the bottom of the page and click the rss button.

Take that rss feed link, put it in the RSS module here on Squidoo---this will add more keywords to your page and is a great add-on for any lens.

My favorite place to put it is in the sidebar. (As seen on this lens)

Why use it? Brings more readers as it's updated often (you set the update time: tip: Set the time for either 30 minutes or one hour)

I did an experiment this past year with Squidoo. I hadn't given it much time or focus at all until last December. I decided after reading a few success stories from other lensmasters on Squidoo and doing a couple of quests to give it a good effort for awhile and see if it made a difference. Before I did this, I might hit $30 if I was lucky, but mostly it ranged around $10-20. I somehow did hit $83 once, but not for my efforts. I checked in back then just randomly.

So....for one year, I gave it some time. How much time? Anywhere from 2-4 hours a day, 5 or 6 days a week. Here are the results with just one more month to report.

January 2011-- 265.97
February 2011 --202.10
March 2011--274.20
April 2011--323.29
May 2011--529.33
June 2011--578.23
July 2011--712.34
August 2011--757.90
September 2011--837.20
October 2011--1,011.23
November 2011--1,290.12

This doesn't include my own affiliate earnings through Amazon and Commission Junction. Just the squidoo payouts. I'm also a blogger, you can read more of my story ---Making Money with Blogging and Squidoo. I have to say adding Squidoo to my blogging routine has made an incredible difference--in traffic and earnings.

Quick Tip: Make your lens as interactive as possible. (example: Add a poll even if you have a guest book already......watch your stats; you will see a difference ranking from my experience only.) Make sure the poll is getting action though! The more people participating the better. Quick tip is to send the poll via the 'share this poll' button---to facebook and twitter. People love interacting and participating in the polls.