CREATE A SQUIDOO LENS FOR MORE TARGETED TRAFFIC

If you have not heard of Squidoo by now, you must have been living in a cave for quite some time.... Welcome back! Squidoo is a very powerful website, especially if you want to try out marketing. Google really likes Squidoo.

So how do you create a Squidoo lens for your business? A lens is made up of modules. There are many different kinds of modules: the guestbook, the introduction, the write/text, the link list, the text list, You Tube, Flickr, Amazon, Ebay, Itunes, poll, dogs, cameras, Orbitz, WHATEVER. So what you basically do is add the kind of modules you would want to use and build a lens. It is simple and efficient. What more can you ask for?

Before you go building your lens, here are some tips for you.
1. Do your keyword research before you build a lens. Target a certain keyword and build your lens around it.
2. Tell people who you are. For each and every lens, you should have a unique bio showing, one that is related to the specific lens you are building. Unless you have TOO many lenses to keep track.
3. Include a guestbook, a poll and maybe a plexo. A plexo will let people vote for their favorite and contribute to the list. Interaction will make people come back to your lens.
4. The main headline of your lens should contain the main keyword you are targeting. It should also capture their attention and create interest.
5. Your introduction should be interesting enough for people to read on. Create links in it for people to "jump" straight to the content they are interested in. You can do this by right clicking the links under "what's here" and copy link location. Credit goes to ShellHarris for this tip.
6. Play with your tags. Check out similar lenses and see what tags they are using and add those to your list. There is a maximum of 40 tags though, so choose wisely. Do a keyword research on each of those tags, see how many times it has been searched for and how many competing results are there.
7. Again, content is king. Offer something valuable, even if it is just a review of a product. Don't just copy and paste. The most valuable thing you can offer, to me, is your opinion on a certain matter. That is unique to you and no one else.
8. Ask for ratings and comments. Put this in your introduction, the part where most visitors will read.
9. Participate in the squidoo forum, squidu. People there are helpful. See also the forum strategy below.
10. Join relevant groups and maybe create one yourself!
11. Look around the squidoo community, rate and comment on other people's lenses. Let them know you are there and they will reciprocate. Don't expect too many of the high flyers to look around though, they are too busy managing 500 lenses!
12. While it is true you will get indexed relatively quick and you CAN depend just on Google traffic to your lens, I would highly suggest you continue to promote your lens through other means.
13. Create more lens! The more lens you have, the more exposure you will enjoy and the more traffic you will receive.
14. Feature your lenses in all your lens! Many people miss this! Get people who visit lens A to go on and visit lens B, C, D etc.

Please check out my lens at http://www.squidoo.com/makingbigmoneyonline

Best of luck to you,
Mike Filsom