Make Money with Squidoo Lenses
How to Maximize Lensbuilding Time in Creating Profit Pulling Content
A how-to article introducing Squidoo Lenses as a way to make money from quality content that is interesting to readers, leveraging Web 2.0 design principles.
This article is intended to take the reader on a step-by-step walkthrough tour of the Squidoo publishing platform, and how to use it to publish quality content to make money. The general concept revolves around:
- Good quality information
- Attractive layout
- Attention to detail
- Allowing interaction with visitors
Before continuing, the reader should have a working knowledge of niche research, and the importance of tags and keywords.
About Squidoo
Squidoo is a web-based publishing platform. Like blogging, it allows the user to create a small piece of web property designed to deliver information in a click-and-type way, without needing strong HTML or web publishing skills. Unlike blogging, a Lens is not designed to be a delivery platform for a daily take on a subject, but rather a growing collection of resources.
The main difference between Squidoo Lenses and other publishing platforms is that it must be focused on a specific topic. The more focused, the better.
A First Lens
For those just starting out, it is a good idea to think of one area in which they have expertise. For example, hi-fi systems. Then, the topic should be narrowed down further, for example, from hi-fi systems to speakers. Then, the specialization can be taken one step further still : wireless speakers. If this feels comfortable, then it is narrow enough. It is always possible to go one step further - weatherproof wireless speakers, or even wireless patio speakers.
At this point, the Lens skeleton can be created. The name should reflect the topic, separated by hyphens. This is important, because Google and other search engines see 'weatherproofwirelessspeakers' as one meaningless word. On the other hand 'weather-proof-wireless-speakers' is seen as four meaningful words.
Having chosen the name of the lens, the next step is to pick tags that represent the content. The primary tag should reflect whatever text the user will use to introduce the Lens. Subsequently, it should be a three-word phrase that crops up naturally in the first paragraph of the Lens. It can be changed later on, so for now can be set to three words from the Lens name : 'weatherproof wireless speakers' in this case.
Then, tags can be added in the guise of three- and four-word key phrases relating to the topic. There is a limit of around 30 tags, and initially, only 10 or so should be filled to give room for growth down the line.
Once the setup is completed, it is time to start adding modules.
Modules
The key to being able to make money with Squidoo Lenses is isolating those modules that will generate sales, whilst also making sure that appropriate modules are added which deliver relevant, quality content. Some of the most popular are:
- Text/Write Modules : for content
- Blackbox : white text on a black background
- Quote : a quote box
- Amazon : sell Amazon products
- Ebay : highlight auctions
- Link Lists : lists of links (some with voting)
It is best to interlace visual modules (like the Blackbox or Quote modules) with content (Text/Write modules), and then add the revenue based modules where it seems appropriate. It is also a good idea to add interactive modules at the end - a Guestbook and Link List (with voting) are always good additions to a commercially oriented Lens.
Interlinking Lenses
It is a good idea to build a nest of interlinking Lenses. This will help bolster the reputation of the owner (Lensmaster or Lensmistress), and confirm their status as an expert. An additional bonus will be the highly rated backlinks that this will tend to generate when, eventually, the Lens is submitted to Google.
This should be enough for the reader to get up and running, and well on their way to making money with Squidoo Lenses.
