Using Squidoo To Market Your Site
By Mike Collins | March 24, 2008
Squidoo is one of the most powerful and successful of Web 2.0 websites. It allows just about anyone to create a simple, one-page website on any topic they want. Squidoo calls it’s web pages “lenses” and you can promote your lense and monetize it like any other website.
Before we get too far, let’s look at some of the pros and cons of creating Squidoo lenses:
Pros
- Its free. You can create as many lenses as you want without paying a fee.
- Its easy. You don’t need web design or html coding skills.
- You can earn money by adding certain modules. Add an eBay module and if someone buys through your link you get a cut of the commission.
- You can sell a lense once it becomes popular and starts receiving steady traffic.
Cons
- You have little control over the layout. Your content may remain the same, but the rest of the page could change considerably. This could have a major impact on your conversion rate.
- Squidoo pages are loud and distracting. There are lots of elements that draw attention away from the content and links you are trying to build around.
- You don’t control the domain. Squidoo could change their business model and blow away your pages at any time. Or they could have server problems. Or someone could just accidentally delete all of your work. You have no control.
To me it just doesn’t make sense to rely on Squidoo for traffic and revenue. Relying too much on someone else is a recipe for disaster.
But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be using Squidoo at all. Squidoo is great for generating traffic and building your brand. Here’s the plan I recommend…
1. You must have your own website. You can register a domain for about $9 a year, and hosting is dirt cheap too. There’s no excuse to rely on free services like Squidoo, Blogger, or Wordpress.com.
2. Once you have your main website up and running you can start building a chain of Squidoo lenses. Target secondary keywords that go well with your main website’s theme. Lenses targeting long tail keywords usually rank well in Google.
3. Your introduction module is the place where you should link back to your main website. It’s the first part of your lense people will see and you want to grab them right away and drive them to your site.
4. To get visitors to click through to your site, offer them something. A free report, a free download, a neat tool, etc.
5. Your other modules are less important for visitors, but you can use them for SEO purposes and linking. Include a total of 3 or 4 text modules. You can either write the content yourself, use PLR articles, or republish content from ezinearticles.com (keeping author links intact).
6. Also include a list of something related to your niche. Be creative.
7. Definitely include a list of links and resources. Obviously your main website should be placed prominently, but also include links to your other lenses.
Repeat this process for each of your secondary keywords and you’ll quickly see a steady and growing flow of traffic back to your website.
Obviously this plan is pretty simple and I’ve left out a lot of details about how to build a lense that ranks well and building a lense that ranks well and generates traffic. It’s not really possible to explain it all in a blog post. Instead you should pick up a copy of Tiffany Dow’s Social Networking on Squidoo.
Tiffany explains the process from start to finish and in plain English. After reading her book you’ll have the foundation of knowledge you’ll need to build one successful lense after another.
Topics: Branding, Promotion, Traffic-Building | 3 Comments »
Work Sucks…AND Some Creative Excuses to Skip Work
By Mike Collins | March 21, 2008
Its one of the universal truths of life. Understood by people across the world and from all walks of life.
Work sucks.
You wake up early every morning, drag yourself into the shower, throw on some clothes, and trudge away to the office. You stew away in traffic while listening to corny radio personalities until you finally reach your destination…a 6 X 8 cubicle in hell.
The guy to your left is clipping his fingernails (at least you hope its his fingernails) and the girl to your right is droning on and on about absolutely nothing. You just want to fire a stapler at her head so she’ll shut up.
Sound familiar? Unfortunately this is how the majority of people feel about their jobs. Work does indeed suck.
It didn’t take long for me to realize that sitting in an office pushing paper for some mega-corporation wasn’t the way I wanted to live my life. Being chained to a desk all day, struggling to live from paycheck to paycheck, knowing that my job could be downsized or sent off-shore at any given moment…
Screw that.
One of the best days of my life (next to the birth of my 2 daughters) was the day I decided to walk my own path. I didn’t just up and quit my job of course. I still had bills to pay.
But I made a commitment to improving myself and learning how to make money at home so I could have the freedom to spend more time with my family and doing what I want, instead of what my boss told me to do.
Working from home has its challenges, especially if you have kids. But its really the only way I want to live.
In this blog, I’ll share with you the knowledge and tips you’ll need to make money at home. We’ll talk about building websites, blogging, article marketing, affiliate marketing, developing your own products, and anything else related to making money online. We’ll also touch on ways to make money offline.
And you’ll see why one of my favorite phrases is “passive income”.
In the meantime, start thinking about what you want to do with your life. What skills do you have? What interests you? And what do you enjoy doing and what are you good at? In fact grab a piece of paper right now and write down the answers to these questions.
There are many ways to make money online, and what works for me may not be the best for you. For example, I like to write. I’m big into article marketing and even sell packages of PLR articles on one of my websites.
But if the thought of writing makes you want to rip off your fingernails with a pair of rusty pliers, you may want to choose another path.
The answers to my questions will help guide you toward the money-making methods that best suit you. Take your time and put some thought into them.
If you want to take a day off from work to think about it, go ahead! Just don’t tell your boss I told you to. :)
Below I’ve listed a few creative excuses you can use to take the day off. These are all real excuses that people have actually used…my buddy works in the HR department of a small company and he’s heard them all.
Creative Excuses to Skip Work
- “I need off so I can try out for American Idol.”
- “I have no heat in my apartment.” (Wouldn’t you WANT to come to work where its warm?)
- “I have a lot going on and need to reflect on things and find myself.”
- “I hurt my wrist playing Guitar Hero.”
- “I’m getting a boob job.”
- “Man, I TOLD my wife the chicken looked undercooked!”
- “I’m in a 3-day Madden tournament.”
- “It looks like it might snow.”
- “Dude, its March Madness time!”
- “I need a month off while I serve a 30 day sentence.” (This guy actually called from prison!)
Topics: Make Money At Home, Work Sucks | 1 Comment »