Squidoo.com is one of the hottest sites of the Web 2.0 era. Squidoo is a quick, easy and FREE way to send traffic to your website or blog by creating web pages called 'Lenses'.
'Lenses' are mini sites, a combination 'website - blog' and Squidoo allows its users to build as many 'Lenses' as they can. Even if you have never built a website or blog, you can have a 'Lens' up and running in no time.
Not only is Squidoo FREE. Squidoo gives you the opportunity to make money from affiliate advertising and Google Adsense, all the while promoting your products and services and generating new free targeted niche traffic.
Of course, there are important decisions that should be made when setting up your 'Lens':
1. Be the expert on your subject. Nobody knows more about your business and products than you do. As the expert, your content needs to be factual, informative and above all relative to your business. Make the content useful to your reader. When it's fresh and interesting, it will compel your readers to return regularly, to visit your website, and read your primary blog.
2. Introduce yourself to other Squidoo users. Include the nature of your business, what you are offering and what sets you apart. Become part of the community. Whether through cross promotions with other users, design ideas or sharing tips, the Squidoo community is committed to helping you succeed.
3. Personalize the URL for your 'Lens' so it can be easily recognized by your target market. Like your domain name, the keywords in the title of your 'Lens' should convey your subject to entice potential readers to visit your Squidoo page. Choose keywords that are representative of articles you have written or are planning to write.
4. Squidoo is very lenient about advertising on your 'Lens'. Place a link to your website with a brief description of your products and the services you provide.
5. Pay attention to the keywords you use within your content. Strategically placing keywords throughout your 'Lens' will increase your search engine rankings, and in turn, increase the number of visitors to your lens (your page). Use a keyword tool such as 'Overture' to search for the most frequently searched keywords. Squidoo allows you to submit up to 20 tags per page and keywords can be 3-4 word phrases. Two things to keep in mind when using keywords; choosing keywords with the highest rankings are keywords used by the most competing pages. Place an appropriate number of keywords throughout your content, to make your content keyword-rich, but do not become a keyword spammer.
6. Squidoo lenses are made up of modules, and there are dozens to choose from. For example, the EBay module can be used to select products by keyword or seller. If you sell products on EBay it is an ideal way to generate free traffic to your auctions. Even if you are not an EBay seller you can use this module to promote products that compliment your own products and services. And in each case, you have the opportunity to earn money from the affiliate advertising.
7. Use the RSS module in your Lens to load the RSS feed from your primary blog. All you have to do is enter the URL of the RSS feed, add a description and your Squidoo 'Lens' will update automatically when you add something to your feed.
8. Make your 'Lens' highly visible online, submit your Squidoo page to blog directories and the major search engines (Google, Yahoo and MSN).
9. Create links from your Squidoo 'Lens' and your primary blog to any relevant articles you have posted. Create back-links from the articles to your Squidoo 'Lens' and your blog. If you have another related Squidoo 'Lens', enter the link of the blog post with a short commentary. You have now created an interaction between your articles, your primary blog and your Squidoo 'Lens'. This 3-way linking system will truly unleash the power of squidoo for YOU.
In conclusion, on its own Squidoo.com is a formidable marketing tool. But combining it with the other elements of your online business will undoubtedly increase the amount of traffic to your website or blog. While all of this can be accomplished with a single Squidoo 'Lens', and there is no limit to the number of 'Lenses' one can build, the potential is limited only by our own potential. Now go out and claim your free niche traffic from Squidoo.com!
Learn how to get free targeted niche traffic by using Squidoo.
