Squidoo basics

Squidoo Basics
How To Market And Promote Your
Sites Using Squidoo.com

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Table of Contents
Introduction.............................................................................................4
Web 2.0.......................................................................................................................... 4
Squidoo.com ............................................................................................6
Setting up a Lens Page................................................................................................ 8
What We Learned....................................................................................................... 10
The “How To” Squidoo...........................................................................11
Not Just Another Content Based Site ...................................................................... 11
What We Learned....................................................................................................... 12
Making Money From Squidoo ................................................................14
Squidoo Marketing...................................................................................................... 14
Create Your Lens ........................................................................................................ 16
Design Tips for Maximizing Visits............................................................................. 17
Tags and Traffic.......................................................................................................... 19
Content and Copy....................................................................................................... 20
What About Modules?................................................................................................ 21
Promoting Your Lens Pages...................................................................................... 22
Other Promotional Strategies.................................................................................... 23
How to Get Your Lenses Ranked in the Search Engines………………….25
How to Get Your Lenses Ranked in a Group on Squidoo…………………28
Lens Frequently Asked Questions..........................................................30
Conclusions ............................................................................................33

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Introduction
Squidoo… it is an unusual name for a new and unusual service. If you are
reading this guide, then by now you have at least a passing interest, and some
knowledge, of Web 2.0. If not, you will learn all you need to know about Web 2.0
and Squidoo in this short and easy-to-read guide.
Web 2.0
Before you learn about Squidoo, you need to understand what Web 2.0 is and
how it impacts applications like Squidoo. Web 2.0 is nothing more than a “coined”
term used by many to explain increasing popularity in user controlled sites.
These are websites that promote community building,
collaboration and knowledge sharing among users.
Unlike traditional websites, where information is passed from the webmaster to
the visitor, Web 2.0 sites are more user friendly, encouraging the public or
community members to provide the content or primary information for the site.
This type of site is established to help promote the creation of knowledge rich
communities on the Web.
Some common terms associated with Web 2.0 include, “wikis,” “podcasts,”
“social bookmarking,” and “RSS feeds,” to name a few. These sites offer greater
functional ability and control on the end-user end, through a platform that allows
users to log in and share, edit and control much of the information displayed on
the sites.
Many, including Tim O’Reilly, a featured reporter, note this new approach to the
Web allows for the use of the Web as a platform, one that supports participation
and the assembly of systems within sites.

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Features common to many of these sites include:
 Using the network as a platform, where users can access applications
through their Internet browser.
 Use of user-controlled data, where all end-users have the ability to
control, edit and delete data on the site.
 “Architecture of participation,” referring to the ability of users to add to
applications so there is greater participation among community members
involved with the site. This contrasts sharply with most traditional web
platforms, which utilize an “access-control” type infrastructure.
 Interactive, social-networking capabilities, allowing greater functionality
and a friendlier user interface.
This guidebook will focus primarily on Squidoo. This website, first launched in
2005, is a network platform that allows individual users to create single web
pages on topics they are passionate about, interested in or have much
knowledge about.
In the next section, we will spend some time learning more about Squidoo, and
how it is similar to and different from other Web 2.0 sites.

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Squidoo.com
The best way to embrace a new technology is to explore it carefully. Your first
assignment then, is to visit Squidoo.com to find out more about what this site is
all about.
If you visit the home page of the site, you are greeted with the following:
By the sites own admission, Squidoo is, “The World’s Most Popular Site” for
people interested in building pages reflecting their passions, interests, books,
videos or any other material for that matter.
People can use the site to promote their organization, their charity, their favorite
book, a book they wrote, promote a cause or more. Sounds pretty neat, huh?
Users call their pages, “Lenses,” which are single page sites on a topic a user is
passionate about. Some of the reasons individuals may want to build a page as a
lens are:
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 To increase knowledge about a given subject. Users that are
passionate about a subject can set up a lens page and send targeted
traffic to content sites or information sites with information on that topic.
 To get to know other people interested in the same subject. One of
the primary reasons for the advent of Web 2.0 is users increasing interest
in forming online communities rather than sites controlled by single
webmasters.
 To increase one’s web presence, and to gain credibility as a master
of a certain subject or information. Each day it becomes increasingly
difficult to promote one’s website on the Web. More and more savvy
professionals are turning to new forums and platforms to boost traffic and
gain credibility in their subject matter.
 To help boost traffic to their home pages, as each web page a user
builds can point to the users other web pages or blogs. Most of the
web pages built on Squidoo.com are easily picked up by Google search
engines and other popular engines, so Squidoo.com provides an excellent
platform for building targeted traffic.
 Users can use their “lens” page to earn royalty, for their company or
for charity. Squidoo.com offers a built-in system allowing compensation
payment made directly to owners of lens pages or to charities designated
by owners.
 There is no cost to set up a page with Squidoo.com, one of the
reason’s this new technology is so popular. Anything that is “free” on the
Web is likely to earn significant interest quickly and steadily.

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Setting up a Lens Page
Setting up a page on Squidoo.com is easy. The site provides an automated
wizard that novice users can use to create a simple web page. For more
advanced users, the site allows you to create your own page using nothing more
than a simple framework or template. Most people are able to set up an
information page in about five to ten minutes.
You don’t have to create all the content for your page at once either.
Squidoo.com makes it easy for you to save your information or basic site, then
add more information as you learn more about your subject or have time to
expand your web page.
The entire goal of the site was to create a simple and easy-to-use platform for
everyday Internet users. Despite its ease of use, Squidoo.com provides some
brilliant technology that is powerful for many web-based applications.
More Reasons To Use Squidoo.com
Here are a few extra reasons you may find using
Squidoo.com beneficial:
1. If you have a Web site built, you can use your
Squidoo.com “Lens” page to attract more visitors
and increase your PageRank in Google. Many
people find increasing their PageRank one of the most
challenging aspects of the business. Squidoo.com helps
many people overcome this barrier. As Squidoo.com
becomes more popular, so too will your site.
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2. You can use Squidoo.com to highlight your
favorite blog posts, commenting on them and
providing more information about services or other
information you offer on your blog.
3. You can use your Squidoo.com page to help
promote or earn money for your favorite charity or
other nonprofit group.
4. Squidoo.com allows users to post details about
their upcoming podcasts and point links to
transcripts of podcasts the user has available online.
5. For those people that are avid “fans” of people,
places, or things, Squidoo.com provides an ideal
platform for sharing personal insights on the object
of your affections.
6. Authors can use Squidoo.com to promote their
books, providing links to all of their works on
Amazon.com.
7. Entrepreneurs can make a few extra bucks by
affiliate income when they invest in Squidoo.com.
8. It’s fun, it’s easy and it is a great way to get your
feet “wet” when trying a new technology on the Web.

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9. You can easily research other people’s passions
and interests to get an idea of what is “hot” on the
Web.
10. Squidoo.com allows users to share many
different ideas often on the same subject, so you
have the opportunity to get an unbiased view by
collecting, gathering and sorting the information
provided from other users.
As a Squidoo.com user, you have the ability to monitor and control all the content
that goes on your Web page. This is perhaps one of the biggest benefits of
Squidoo.com.
While many people have used personal blogs to promote their material, passions
and interests, they find using Squidoo.com beneficial because it is such a well-
known platform. Squidoo.com instantly draws more traffic to popular and
unpopular websites, so you have a better chance of getting your “voice” heard,
seen and visited on the Web.
What We Learned
Squidoo.com is an excellent platform for Web users interested in promoting their
passions and interests on the Web. Now that you know a little bit more about
what Squidoo.com is, it’s time to learn more about “how” the site works, and how
you go about creating dynamic lens pages.
Keep reading to learn how to optimize your Squidoo.com pages.

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The “How To” Squidoo
Now that you are busting with excitement, it is time to learn “how” Squidoo.com
works. If you are a novice web user, you will find this section especially helpful.
Even experienced webmasters are finding Squidoo has a lot more to offer than
they initially realized.
Not Just Another Content Based Site
There are many Web 2.0 sites encouraging users to place their full content on
the site and share it with others. To understand how Squidoo.com works, you
first must understand it is different from most traditional sites.
Squidoo.com allows users to create lenses, web pages with the intent of pointing
users to information on the Web. What this means is users create portfolios that
contain information or links to tools, links, feedback or other information on the
Web. Users can earn money while doing so, all while sharing information about a
topic with others so people can spend less time searching for the information
they need on the Web.
Here are some examples of lens content available on Squidoo.com:
 Lists containing tips for increasing traffic to your site.
 Module tricks, or information about creating modules on the Web.
 Ebook lenses.
Consider Squidoo a shortcut to getting your website or other information
on the Web noticed quickly by search engine crawlers. It is also another tool
providing an excellent platform for increasing your credibility and professionalism
on the Web.
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Here is how simple it is to start a lens on Squidoo:
1. Register for an account. It’s free, anyone can do it.
2. Follow the step-by-step instructions for creating your lens page.
3. Add relevant content to your page to increase your visits and your page
ranking.
When building your lens, you DO want to provide visitors with relevant content
and information about the subject you are promoting. While Squidoo is an
excellent tool for self-promotion, if you just log in and create an “advertisement”
lens with no relevant content or information to share with visitors, your page is
not likely to attract many visits.
This contrasts a bit with what we stated earlier. We said Squidoo is not a
“content” oriented site. Understand that it is not a “just” a content-based site in
the sense that you will not create pages and pages of information about a topic
you are passionate about. What you will do is provide basic and interesting
information, and links to relevant and helpful content for users.
What We Learned
You can and should provide relevant and original material on your lens page,
content users will eagerly seek out. You can provide content in many ways. For
example, some users feed their blog posts into their lens page using an RSS
feed. This provides frequent and updated content to your lens page without much
effort.
You can also post articles to your lens on a rotating basis. Many times, savvy
users will post the introduction to articles on their lens page, then link to the full
article located somewhere else, like on their website or on their blog.

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Key to understanding Squidoo’s utility is the fact that Squidoo prides itself on
being an Internet community. It is a gathering place where visitors travel to so
they can build relationships using their lenses.

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Making Money From Squidoo
Critical to most users is their ability to make money using Squidoo.com. You can
do this many ways. Here are a few common ways users make money-using
Squidoo:
You can use Squidoo.com to gain backlinks to your website.
You can increase your search engine rankings and send more traffic
and hence gain more customers using Squidoo.
You can use Squidoo.com to build a list you can send promotions to.
You can promote your affiliate programs using Squidoo.com.
You can promote your own products and services using Squidoo.
You can use AdSense and other programs to make money through a
simple lens page at Squidoo.
So how do you DO this? It’s easy.
Squidoo Marketing
Key to making money and using Squidoo.com to promote your sites is simply
setting it up properly. 70,000+ users currently use Squidoo, and this number
grows every day.
The simple act of creating a powerful lens on Squidoo can increase your page
rank so that your site is ranked in the top 100 on Google and other major search
engines.
Squidoo is easy to use because you can use content and advertisements you
already have to create a simple and effective lens. Now remember, your lens is
nothing more than an informational webpage. Most lens pages provide expertise
on the subject they promote.
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You can use lens pages to promote, create top lists of your favorite items or sites
if you affiliate market and more. You can review other sites on your lens page
and drive traffic to them.
When you create pages on Squidoo you become an official “lensmaster” instead
of a “webmaster.” Many people view lensmasters as credible experts in their
field. While some other promotional sites ding people for trying to promote their
products or affiliate products on their pages, Squidoo does just the opposite; in
fact, it encourages users to promote quality products, including their own (or
those they affiliate market).
Of course, you cannot simply set up a lens on any topic and hope for the best
page rankings. As with anything you will need to do some research to make sure
you are using popular keywords and marketing in a niche category that is of
interest to people. There are many reasons people do not get sales; their product
may not be very popular for example, or their advertising may be poor. They may
not have enough traffic to promote enough sales.
So, before setting up a lens page to promote your products, make sure you have
a hot niche, one that people are interested in finding more information about, and
one people may have an interest in paying for. (Meaning, they will pay for content
provided in this niche area).
Some of the best niches to promote include:
 Internet marketing, including anything involving niche marketing, building
lists or selling information products on the Web.
 Electronics, including information on MP3 players or other popular music
and audio electronic products.
 Diet and fitness, as people are constantly searching for information about
losing weight and maintaining a healthy diet.

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 Baby or parenting, as many women and moms-to-be actively comprise
some of the largest communities on the Web.
If you want ideas about topics that are popular, simply take some time to view the
top 100 lenses on Squidoo to find out what people are looking for. After you do
this, and select which of your products or websites are most likely to do well, you
have to make sure you have great keywords to use on your lens page, keywords
that will draw people to your site and link them to your other websites and affiliate
sites.
Create Your Lens
Now, when you are confident you have a great niche market to promote, its time
you used Squidoo to create a money pulling lens page. Most people can set up a
good lens page in just 10 minutes or less. Setting up a lens is easy, we’ve
already covered many of the basic steps.
Here is a recap of the key steps required for building a great lens page:
1. First, register and sign up for your membership.
2. Next, use the site wizard to create a lens page.
3. When taken to this page, select the do your own thing option. This
option allows you to put in any information you want using a pre-
configured lens layout, making your job easy.
4. You will need to select a title for your page. Make sure your title is
keyword rich.
5. Select the URL you want your Squidoo.com page to point to; this URL
should also contain some of your keywords if possible.
6. Next, you can create keyword rich tags for your lens page that will help
visitors find your lens page faster. You can add additional tags later, for
now just put in your top three or four.

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7. You will then be taken to a page that asks you how you want to get paid.
This page sets up your account to pay you for any income you receive
from clicks through Adsense, eBay, Amazon or other commissions you
may make if you incorporate these commission based programs into your
lens page. Keep in mind you can also use any income coming in from
these programs to donate to Squidoo or a charity you select. You can also
split the money so you earn half the cash and donate the rest.
8. Reconfirm your content, your contact information and your email
and screen name. Then you are finished! Simply complete your
registration.
Now that you have the basics laid out for your webpage, it is time to design your
personal lens.
Design Tips for Maximizing Visits
The way you layout your lens page will ultimately influence how well your lens
pages rank and how many visitors you send to the sites you promote. When you
log into your lens page, you can edit your lens layout in any way you like.
Some important information to include in your lens include your biography.
People like to learn about the person selling information to them or providing
them with “expert” advice, so don’t skimp on your bio.
Many times, users simply put a backlink into the bio section that links back to
their Blog bio or other personal page, like an “about us” page on a website. Add a
picture if you can, because this simple tactic also creates greater legitimacy in
the minds of those viewing your lens page.
If you aren’t sure what to put, take some time to look at other people’s Squidoo
pages to get an idea of what information and the types of pictures they put in
their pages.

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Once you create your bio, you will have the choice of making your bio your
“default” bio. Unless you want all your lens pages to share the same bio, you
should not check this box. You may want a different bio especially if you plan to
promote blogs or affiliate pages marketing different types of products. You want
to highlight your skills and expertise in each unique area.
Tip
Want to be seen as an expert but lack the “credentials” to do
so? Most people build their credentials by learning as much as they
can on a subject and writing frequently and often on it.
One way you can promote your knowledge is by labeling yourself
as a “critic” or “fan.” As a critic, you can spend time reviewing
subjects and providing subjective opinion on them. You can link
your opinions to factual data, supporting your knowledge of a
subject.
You can also limit your liability by proclaiming your status as an
“devotee” rather than an expert.
When creating your bio, be sure to include a brief quip, “For more information,
click here to check out my pages,” which is an easy way to direct people to your
home site or affiliate pages.
One thing you do not want to do is Spam the site. To avoid an accusation of
Spam, most Squidoo.com experts recommend you limit the accounts you have
on a subject to 10, and offer more than one product for each account.

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The more products you offer, the more you look like an expert, and the less you
look like a self-promoting bully out to promote just one product or site.
Remember, most “experts” are also linked with multiple sites and products, so
you want to offer a good portfolio of information so people perceive you have a
wide knowledge base in several different areas.
Tip 2
One way to lose credibility fast is to promote too many things
through your Squidoo.com lens pages. Think about it. If you are
the “expert” or “devotee” of a certain product or service, then you
should promote one or a handful of products in that field. You are
likely to lose credibility if you claim you are an expert in many
different topics, like real estate, Internet marketing and book
promotions for example.
So limit your core areas to one or two subjects. This will help you
gain the credibility you need to excel on Squidoo.
Tags and Traffic
For every item you add to Squidoo.com you can create 20 tags for your lens. A
tag is for all intents, a meta tag. Tags are similar to site descriptions, so you want
to create tags that or “labels” for your lens that are filled with keyword rich terms
or phrases to promote your site and improve your page rank.
You should always use research to identify the best keywords to use as tags for
your lens. For example, use the keyword selector tool at Overture.com to identify
popular keywords or keyword phrases you can use as tags for your site.

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Content and Copy
Just like the content on your sales page is important for the success of your
Website, so too is the copy you write for your lens page. Your introduction and
the body of your lens page should include strong and compelling copy that will
encourage visitors to click through the links you have on your page.
The introduction or first paragraph of your page will be most important, because
this is the first part of your page that will attract the visitor’s attention. If you do
not have a dynamic headline and do not provide interesting and compelling
information, visitors will skip on to another page.
Here are some tips for creating great copy for your intro paragraphs and page:
 Keep your information short and concise.
 Provided targeted and helpful information.
 Explain clearly what benefits you plan to provide your visitors.
Some people find the easiest way to keep people interested in simply writing a
review of the site or products they promote as their introductory paragraph. If you
have a succinct and enticing description, you will attract more click-throughs.
If you can, also include an image of your product so people are more likely to
click-through and get more information about what it is you offer.
Focus on your credibility and the benefits your
product or service provides to others…
Remember, people do not want to see blatant sales copy, even though your copy
must be strong. They want to read between the lines, and confirm you are an
expert in the subject you talk about.
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What About Modules?
Squidoo.com also uses modules to promote lens pages. Modules are nothing
more than information boxes with content in them you add to your lens page.
Typically you include modules after your introduction.
There are many customized modules you can add, including those offered by
Amazon and eBay, promoting products listed on these pages. You can use one
of these customized modules to promote your book or other products on Amazon
or eBay for example.
Remember, your lens and your modules should be a subtle advertisement, not a
walking classified ad. You want to keep the copy on your page relevant and
valuable. Provide information your visitors may not find elsewhere, to entice them
to click through to your sites and products.
Most people recommend you use between three to five modules containing
relevant and hard-to-find information on your lens page. This will help improve
your ranking and entice people to click through the links you put on your lens
page.
Now, keep in mind you will not earn a lot of money from your modules alone. If
for example, you select Adsense, Amazon and eBay modules as your primary
source of income from Squidoo, you will probably make $100 extra dollars a
month or around there. Where you make your real money is by increasing traffic
to your WebPages and selling people on the products and services you offer or
affiliate market there.
You can also use pre-made “write” modules on Squidoo.com that will allow you
to link to your opt-in lists, a terrific way to help boost the amount of people you
have signing up for your lists.

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Another way to use a “write” module is to provide an intro to an articles page you
may have on ezinearticles.com or another popular article-hosting directory. Once
someone clicks through to your article, they will find your resource box to your
webpage at the bottom of your article.
Promoting Your Lens Pages
Once you have your lens pages set up you’ll want to promote them using
external links as well. One of the easiest ways to achieve this is by using
Digg.com. This is a good site for promoting lens pages and ordinary web pages.
Key here is promoting quality content. Digg.com is a site that is very anti-Spam,
so if your lens page isn’t providing any useful content, or appears to be too self-
promoting, Digg is likely to delete your information and account.
As long as you provide meaningful content related to your subject matter, you
won’t have to worry about this. To list your lens pages on dig, all you have to do
is:
Log onto your lens page. It will have an address like this:
http://www.squidoo.com/yourpagenamehere
Next, you will see a button to the right side of your personal lens page that
offers you the choice of “digging” your page. Click the “digg” button.
Make sure your tags have keywords related to your topic. If your topic
is information marketing, you can have tags like, “information marketing
beginner guide” or other hot keyword phrases.
You will see a prompt where you can add a couple of sentences
summarizing the content of your lens. Make sure your sentences are

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concise and keyword rich. To avoid Digg from labeling your material as
Spam, make sure you do not submit too many lenses with the same
subject or keyword tags to Digg. Try just a couple to start. You can also
avoid trouble by adding your lenses to Digg on different days, so they do
not show up at once, increasing suspicion that you may be spamming the
site.
Make sure you promote many lenses using different strategies, so if
Digg does delete one or two, you still have other lenses you can promote
through your Digg account.
Other Promotional Strategies
Naturally, there are a dozen other ways you can get your lens pages listed well to
increase your traffic to them, and subsequently to your sites.
One way to do this is to have your lens pages pinged. Simply go to the
following web address:
http://www.pingoat.com/
This site will let you ping your lens site, and distribute your site to multiple ping
servers. This allows web crawlers to pick up your lens site much faster than they
would otherwise.
When you log into this site, just enter your site name and the URL of your site.
It’s that easy. You can then check off the boxes you want your site pinged to.
Some examples include many popular social networking sites, including sites like
technorati.com and my.yahoo.com.
By using Pingoat you can submit your lens site to multiple directories with the
click of a single button. Just as with Digg, you will not want to Ping all of your lens

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sites the same day. Make sure you space everything out so you aren’t flagged as
a spammer.
You can also ping your sites manually, by visiting various social networking sites
including del.icio.us.
What We Learned
There are many ways to use Squidoo.com to promote your sites, products and
services. You can establish yourself as an expert in your industry by following a
few simple steps.
Most people will find it takes between five and fifteen minutes to set up their first
lens page. Go ahead, follow the tips in this section and find out just how helpful a
lens page can be for you. Now that you know what to do, let’s take some time to
review some of the more commonly asked questions about Squidoo.com.

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How to Get your Lenses Ranked in the Search
Engines
So we’ve been told and told some more about the miracles of a Squidoo lens.
Now comes the little glitch. Your Squidoo lens is not the only one out there. It’s
the marketing tool these days so you can’t expect others to sit still, right? They’re
all there, creating lens after lens after lens, trying to drive more traffic to their
website. However, there are several ways to make your lens rise above the
clutter. Heard that line before? OK, let me tell you more so that you believe me.
The secret code to high ranking lenses…
…does not exist. Secret codes make for good stories but this is business. If you
want your lens to rank high, you have to think and work smart. It’s not very
difficult but requires you to be agile. Let’s begin with a few simple tips.
Choose the right keywords
If you have a lens on music, come up with as many keywords as you can. Make
a list of all the words that a visitor may use to find information pertaining to music.
Once you think you have enough, start eliminating the unnecessary ones. If you
get stuck in the process, look for a popular keyword research tools and dig out
popular keywords. Remember, going for the most popular keywords is not
always the solution.
Different but not obscure
So, popular keywords don’t always work. When you go for a very common
keyword, say ‘music’, your lens will be relegated right to the bottom of a pile, with
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only a few hundred thousand entries lying above you. A better option would be to
go for something more specific like ‘Chicago Underground’.
The-title-is-the-key
Whatever your keyword, it should be in your lens title. Next, add it to your URL.
The search engines will love you for that. Before you rush, think about it. Once
you’ve named your URL, you won’t be able to edit it.
Don’t just sit there
Creating a lens is just one part. Once you’re done with that, move around and
join a few groups. When I say join, I don’t mean “barge in”. Much as you hate it,
you won’t be welcome everywhere you go. Every group has its own rules and
regulations and before joining, read through them. If you walk into a teens group
with a Clark Gable lens, you may be shooed away.
Do also make your rounds of SquidU. Participate in the various forum
discussions and interact with people. Having your lens in your signature line
could leave a trail for the visitors.
Lensroll
Bloggers may be aware of a blogroll. A lensroll is similar. You can use it to link
your lenses with each other. This means more links and a better chance of
ranking high. Do not forget to click on the ‘del.icio.us’ and ‘digg this’ links on your
page. This will also contribute to better traffic and search engine rankings.
Spot them coming

27
Squidoo offers you a tool to find out where your visitors come from. Use it to your
advantage. If most of your customers follow a particular keyword or method, you
can use that to optimize your lens and discard the ones which are ineffective.

28
How to Get Your Lenses Ranked in a Group on
Squidoo
That was about wooing the search engines. Now let me tell you how to make
your presence felt in the various Squidoo groups.
Make sense
I know that sounds lame but it’s important. Make your lens informative and
interesting. The most difficult part is to ensure that a user’s first visit does not end
up being the last. The brighter side is that if your lens impresses the visitor, you
earn yourself a spokesperson. Your visitor may refer your lens to another visitor
and so on. Make your content easy-to-read, highlight important content and
make your page lively.
Spread the word
That’s easy. You’re on Squidoo, you have a lens and now all you need to do is
start talking about it. Email your friends and let them know about your lens,
promote it on the forum, other lenses and blogs. By promoting, I mean leaving
your lens link in your signature or leaving a polite invite with your comment.
Get out of Squidoo
Starting a blog or a webpage outside of Squidoo could be a great way to boost
traffic to your lens. If you fancy yourself as a blogger, try and link it up with your
lens and encourage your blog visitors to check out your lens as well. You don’t
always have to be the one who blogs about your lens. Get your friends to blog
about it, get reciprocal links and use your lensroll to get as many links for your
lens as possible.
Find new ideas.
yet....CLICK HHERE

29
Get into the group
Squidoo isn’t exactly an upscale social hangout, but being spotted at the right
place helps. Join as many groups as you can and leave an impression. Here is a
little tip – join as many top 100 groups as possible. Look at the others when
you’re done with the top 100.
About angels and masters
Lastly, you can always do with a little divine intervention. If you can’t have it,
choose for the second-best alternative. Enter Squid Angels. Invite SquidAngels
to drop by your lens and take a look. A word of caution though - invite them only
when you are completely confident of your content. While a SquidAngel’s
blessings can work wonders for your ratings, if you fail to impress them, you may
fall from grace in their eyes.
Another way is to approach other lensmasters. Not everyone will be kind to you
but what’s the harm in trying? Approach them with good content and request
them to exchange lens rankings. They need you just as much as you need them
so hope for the best.

30
Lens Frequently Asked Questions
Since the primary focus of Squidoo.com is creating lens pages to promote your
products and services, lets learn more about creating exceptional web pages. In
this section you will review some of the more common questions consumers
have about lens pages.
Q. How many lens pages do I need to effectively promote my sites?
A. Most savvy Squidoo.com users recommend trying to build 25-50 lenses. You
can do this in just a couple of weeks. Having enough lenses is important for
increasing your traffic. Remember, you will not make much money using
Squidoo.com alone as your primary source of income. Each lens page may
generate up to $100 in revenue through Adsense and related advertisements.
What you want to do is increase the traffic clicking through to your links to your
affiliate and product sites. This is where you will make money, provided the copy
on your site is good and the product is worthwhile and of value to visitors.
Q. I created a lens page that ranked well but then disappeared from Google.
What happened?
A. Many times lens pages fall out of rank with Google. This may be because you
had backlinks in your lens pages to places like Digg only, and Digg deleted your
lens for some reason. Other times, you may find someone with competitive
products took over your rankings. To fix this, you can log back into Digg and
create your lens again using different tags and information. You can also
promote your lens site to OnlyWire.com, a site like Digg providing multiple
backlinks to your product pages.
Also make sure you have backlinks to other services including Craigslist, which
will help maintain your page ranks.
Find new ideas.
yet...CLICK HERE

31
Take some time to provide fresh content or material especially in the introduction
paragraph of your lens page. This will help improve your rankings. You can also
try adding an RSS feed to your lens, which will automatically provide fresh
content to your lens page on a time frame you designate. Last but not least, do
not forget to take time to ping your lens page with multiple sites.
You can also review your keywords consistently and update them as needed to
make sure your lens pages and web pages are SEO. This is one of the simpler
ways to ensure your sites stay at the top of Google’s page ranks.
Q. How can I use Craigslist to promote my lens page?
A. Craigslist is a wonderful tool for promoting lens pages and web pages. Simply
visit Craigslist.com and post your lens page ad in the small biz ads section under
products or services. Just make sure you create an ad that isn’t too over-the-top.
As with any directory, if your ad sounds to self-promoting, you may be tagged as
a spammer. Any links you provide in Craigslist should direct people to your
Squidoo.com lens page, where they can find more information and links to your
products and services. You will have to repeat this process many times, as
Craigslist advertises for only a week at a time.
Q. How can I promote my lens pages using online communities?
A. There are many online groups, like Yahoo groups, that allow you to post links
in your signature when you respond to forum posts. Join as many groups as you
can that share information about content relevant to your lens page. If you know
a group wants information about products or services you provide, make a point
to join the group. Rather than direct them to your main site, link to your
Squidoo.com page. This will give visitors the opportunity to learn more about you
and view you as the “expert” in your field, so they are more likely to click through

32
and buy from you. Just make sure you take some time to become an active
member of the communities you join before you start advertising, or people are
less likely to see you as a trustworthy member of the group.
The simplest way to do this is as always, by providing helpful information and
answering others questions and posts as often as you can.

33
Conclusions
Squidoo.com is an excellent resource for any web entrepreneur or marketer
interested in promoting their products and services. Remember, it only takes a
few minutes to set up your lens page on Squidoo. Most people find they do best
when they have between 25-50 lens pages.
Here is a quick recap of ways you can make your lens pages stand out from the
crowd.
Make sure you provide relevant, factual and helpful material.
Do not simply self-promote; provide visitors with useful information. Link
to quality articles that contain a resource link to your main web pages.
Be sure you use keywords in your lens title and when creating tags for
your site, so visitors can more easily find your lens pages.
Add fresh content as often as you can, by changing your intro
paragraphs or through RSS feeds.
Promote your lens sites on Digg, Technorati, by Pinging your site and by
proving your trustworthiness to your prospects by presenting the
image you are an expert in your field.
Remember, your copy should be short, informative and helpful. It should tell your
visitors what benefits you have for them, and why they should click through your
links. If you follow these simple steps, you can join the ranks of the thousands of
savvy entrepreneurs using Squidoo.com and other Web 2.0 sites to market their
products and services.
Find new ideas.
Use HyperSuggest to find content or products you haven’t thought about yet.CLICK
HERE

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