The basics of Squidoo and how to promote your site with it

by GUEST AUTHOR on MAY 15, 2013

Guest Post May 14, 2013:  Squidoo was initially launched back in the year 2005. This particular website basically makes it possible for individual users to create their very own single web pages over topics that they are either interested in, or hold immense knowledge about. The site claims to be ‘The World’s Most Popular Site’ amongst individuals who wish to build pages that would reflect their interests, passions, videos, books etc.

Squidoo can actually be used by people in order to promote their organization, the books that they like, their charity, causes etc. The pages that are built for this particular purpose are known as ‘lenses’.

Why should people build lenses?

There are countless reasons why you as a user should consider building lenses. The very first reason is that it makes it possible for you to spread knowledge and information about a particular subject that you are interested in. It would additionally make it possible for you to acquire information about other people who also hold an interest in the very same subject or topic. This is basically meant to help users actually form online communities.

One of the most prominent advantages of building a lens is that it helps users increase their web presence. This way, it becomes extremely easy for them to gain credibility as being the master of a particular subject. The best part about creating a lens on Squidoo is that it would enhance the traffic that you receive on your website. This is because all of the lenses that you create can point to various blogs and websites that you own or wish to promote. One thing that you should know is that these lenses are indexed rather quickly by the search engine giant Google, which means that you would be able to acquire higher targeted traffic for your website.

The one element that truly makes Squidoo stand out is the fact that users do not have to pay even a single penny to the website to set up their lenses. To be honest, this is perhaps the most significant reason why it is so popular amongst the masses.  

Ok, so how do I set up a lens?

The good thing about Squidoo is that everything on it is really simple. This means that you are not going to have any trouble at all when trying to build a lens. In actual fact, users are provided with an automated wizard that is to be used for the creation of a lens. This wizard is particularly meant to help novice users, and advanced users can even create their lenses using templates and frameworks. The amount of time that it takes to create a lens is anywhere in between 5-10 minutes.

Another really  good aspect that is worth mentioning here is that it isn’t necessary at all for users to create the complete content of their lens at a single time. Instead, users have the ability to save the information that they have placed on their lenses, and then add information whenever they learn something new about the topic on which the lens was created.  

The basic purpose for which the site was created was to introduce a simple and easy to understand platform that was to be used by regular users of the internet. When you start using Squidoo, you acquire the potential to control and manage the content that is present on your page.

How do I get to make money with Squidoo?

One thing that a majority of people would be thinking about is whether they would be in a position to make money through Squidoo or not. Well, the answer to their query is YES, it is totally possible for users to make money using Squidoo. A few of the most commonly used means of making money on Squidoo are:

1. You can acquire backlinks to your website through the lens that you create on Squidoo
2. It allows you to increase your search engine rankings, thereby leading to a rise in the traffic that you receive on your website. This would obviously make it possible for you to gain more customers
3. It allows you to create lists that you can send out your promotions to
4. Through Squidoo, you can even promote the affiliate programs that you have signed up for
5. Through your lens, you would be able to promote your very own products and services
6. You can add Adsense onto your lens and start making a whole lot more money through it

What you need to bear in mind is the simple fact that promoting your websites and make money using Squidoo is completely dependent upon how you set up your lens. Believe it or not, but Squidoo has more than 70,000 users, and the numbers continue to grow on a regular basis! To be honest, just building a strong lend on Squidoo has the ability to enhance your page rank and make it possible for your website to get ranked in the top 100 sites on not just Google, but all major search engines.

The major reason why the utilization of Squidoo is considered as being so very easy is because it allows you to make use of the advertisements and content that you have already created in order to building a simply, yet highly efficient lens. Once you create a lens, you don’t get to be called a webmaster. Instead, you get to be known as a lensmaster. Believe it or not, but lensmasters are typically considered as experts in their field.

The problem with a majority of sites is that they ban users for trying to promote a website or a product. Squidoo, on the other hand, is just the opposite. It actually encourages users to promote high quality products, irrespective of whether the products are their own or are affiliate products. However, just building a lens is not going to do you any good. No, just like any other website that is created, it is necessary for you to carry out ample keyword research and make sure that you are targeting just the right ones. You also need to ascertain that you market in a niche category that happens to be really famous amongst the masses. Both of these elements are basically going to help you make sure that your lens and your website are both a massive hit.

Are there any popular niches that I should focus on?

There definitely are certain niches that are far more popular than any others. A few of them, which happen to be the most popular amongst the users of the internet are:

Electronics – This niche includes information on electronic products, particularly audio and music electronic items such as MP3 players etc.

Internet marketing – Lenses that are focused on this niche can contain information about niche marketing, link building, list building etc. You may even provide details about how products can be successfully sold on the internet.

Health, diet and fitness – People are continually on the lookout for information pertaining to health, diet and fitness. Through a lens focused on this niche, you can deliver details about healthy living and what it is that people need to do or eat in order to live a disease free and active life.

Baby and parenting – Believe it or not, but women and moms-to-be these days have become overly conscious these days. For this reason, they actually form one of the largest communities present on the World Wide Web these days.

Once you have figured out which niche you wish to focus on, it is highly recommended for you to work out the topic that you wish to cover on your lens. If you are having trouble deciding which topic you should use, it is best for you to take out a bit of time and carry out research over the top 100 lenses on Squidoo. This way, you would be able to acquire information about the hottest topics on Squidoo and then make sure that you only focus on your best and most productive websites and products. The next thing that you need to do is perform a bit of research over the keywords that you should write your content around. This is meant to help you make sure that your lens gains the kind of exposure that it truly deserves.

Once everything is worked out, you are now set to creating your first lens on Squidoo. If you need a recap on how you need to start working on Squidoo, here goes:

1. Get registered on the site
2. Create a lens using the automated wizard
3. Choose a keyword rich title for your lens
4. Choose the URL that you want your Squidoo.com page to point to
5. Create keyword rich tags for your lens
6. Focus on the elements that you wish to feature on your lens and publish it! It’s that easy!

So, what are you waiting for? Sign up on Squidoo and get down to creating your first lens right away!

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