You're here, so you probably already know a little about Squidoo, but you may not realize what Squidoo can do for you. I've seen Squidoo described as a "mini-blog on steroids." It gives you the opportunity to provide information on whatever topic you want, include links to more information, and you also have the ability to sell products and make a little money along the way.

The best part is, Google loves Squidoo. That makes it easier for your lens to get a pretty decent ranking if you are willing to put in the effort to market your lens. The trickier part is to get your visitors to stick around long enough to take advantage of all you have to offer. Keeping your visitors on your lens is a combination of good design and great content.

Most internet surfers are looking for quick, easy to find information. They want great substance, but it should be presented in a way that is broken up by graphics and white space, and is easier on the eyes. Squidoo allows you to do jsut that by organizing everything in "modules." Every different section is a seperate module. Using this lens as an example, I have an Introduction module, follwed by a Poll, text, An Amazon module, a YouTube mdule, more text, etc.

Each module gives you an opportunity to provide something of value to your readers. That is the key. I make no secret of the fact that I got into this business to make money, but nobody is going to come to my lens for the sole purpose of opening up their wallet for me. I wish it was as easy as that, but it's not. You need to give them something of value to keep them reading, and hopefully, clicking the links to any products you are selling.

If you are including long, in-depth articles, it had better be very well planned and written, or else your readers will click away. The better option is to break that long piece down into several shorter pieces that are interspersed with your other modules. That way you are still providing great content, but still giving your readers eyes an occasional break.

(photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/westcoastlogic/71218788/)

The purpose of having great content for your lens is obvious, right? You use content to make your pitch for a sale, right?

Wrong!

People are not coming to your lens because they want to read your sales letter. People are coming because they want to be informed or entertained (preferably both). That is what great content does.

My recommendation is to include several short articles that are between 250 and 500 words. It needs to be long enough to give solid information, but not so long that your readers start to fall asleep half way through. It can be any combination of overview type articles and "how-to" articles. Give good, solid information that your readers can use.

What that will do for you is build a confidence in your readers. If they trust what you are sharing with them, they may decide to check out some of the links you've included to learn more about your topic. They will look at the Amazon books, or read the affiliate sales letters. That is where any actual selling takes place.

The purpose of your content is to attract readers, and build their trust in you and your knowledge.

(photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8204247@N08/550052678/)

One of the great things about Squidoo is that it is very customizable. Your lens can be your own somewhat unique creation. That is accomplished through the use of Squidoo modules.

When you log into Squidoo you will see a link at the top of the page that allows you to "Make a lens!" Clicking that takes you to a page where you can enter what your lens is about.

A word of advice: Always include keywords in titles, descriptions, and URL's.

Once you have told Squidoo what your lens will be about you will be taken to a page that gives you the option of letting Squidoo decide what layout to use or doing it yourself. Although you can always change your content later, I think it is better to choose the "I just want to do my own thing" option. This gives you the chance to pick and choose which of the many modules you want to include in your lens.

Step Three is where you will choose the title and URL for your lens. Always include your keywords in the title and the URL; Google loves you when you do that. You may have to try different keyword combinations to find a URL that hasn't already been taken, just make sure your keywords are in it. They don't have to be in a particular order, they just have to be there. "Squidoo lens" and "lens Squidoo" will accomplish the same thing as far as Google is concerned.

As for the rating, unless you are including adult content, choose a G-rating for your lens.

Once you have completed that, click the "Go to Step 4" button. You have the option to include up to 6 keyword phrases for your lens. Use them all. The more ways you give people to find you, the more profitable your lens will be.

In the next section I'll go into more details about the differnt modules, as well as some suggestions about which ones you should consider for your lens.

I told you in the last section that regardless of how you initially set up your lens, you will be able to change it. Squidoo makes that process very easy. You can change the content, rearrange the order your modules appear, or add and delete modules. It's all up to you.

The modules I recommend for getting started are:
- Text/Write Module (add several of these. That is where you will be putting your written content).
- A Guestbook ( a great way for your guests to interact with you).
- Quick Poll (another way for guests to interact. Everyone wants to share their opinion).
- YouTube - (if you can find an appropriate video to add, it helps to liven up the lens).
- Amazon (a great tool to help monetize your site and bring in some extra profits)
- RSS: Add your Own Feed (using daily updates it keeps fresh content coming to your lens, which Google loves)

Once you have chosen which modules you want to include, you can click on the "Reorder Modules" button at the bottom of the Preview page, and put the different modules in what ever order you want. I like to separate my text modules with other content so my readers aren't staring at a solid wall of text. I like to give their eyes (and their brains) an occasional break.

The great thing about Squidoo is that it allows you to create links within the different modules using the tag. If you're not sure how to do that there are a ton of sites that give you very easy to follow instructions. You can also check out SquidU for some helpful hints.

Once you have all of your content in place, and everything is the way you want it to be, click on the "Publish!" button, and your lens goes live.

From there, it's a matter of marketing your site so people will find it.