Friday, January 11, 2008

Building a Squidoo Lens?

Today we are going to look at building a squidoo lens around your long tail keyword. First of all you want to make sure you have an open account at squidoo. Once you have your account opened you want to put the url you would like to use in the search bar. So continuing with yesterday's example I would want the url www.squidoo.com/how-to-clean-cloth-diapers. When you put that in the search bar it will either bring up a lens someone else has already done on this topic, a note that someone has this url and are still building it or you will see a nice little hello sticker. This little sticker says this lens can be your if you just claim it now.

Just click on the place it says click and it will take you to the set up process to get started on your lens. Mary K has walked you all through this part already, but I want to add a couple points.

Make sure you use your long tail keyword as the title of your lens, also once you get inside the editing area make sure you use it as the title for your intro module.

If you are using this lens to refer someone to an affiliate product make sure you jump right to the chase in your intro module. Leave out the hi I'm Jackie Lee stuff ~ make sure to put it in your bio though. I say this because google will pick up the first paragraph of your intro module to put as a description. You want people seeing it in google search results to know this is EXACTLY what I'm looking for. So start off your intro module with the problem you are solving, and try to get your long tail keyword in the first two sentences exactly as you are trying to optimize for. This will show up in bold in your search engine listing, giving you bold keywords twice in your listing.

The next step is to give the meat of your lens. You will need at least 2 more modules, and then of course a guest book. It's always great for fresh content to have a guest book. I'd try to start with a couple of write/text modules. Start giving the reader information about the problem you are trying to solve in the first. Then in the second text module go ahead and show them how you are going to solve the problem.

There's some conflicting opinions on just how to do this. Some say to leave all the outgoing links out of your module until google has got them, but I don't know how true this is. I would probably stick to only one or two outgoing links in the beginning.

Remember, you need to update your lens every day or every other day for the first few weeks so you want to leave yourself room to grow.

Tomorrow I'm going to talk about how to find products for your niche. If you don't have any products, but know the solution to the problem go ahead and get started, don't worry about links you can put them in as you go. You can also rearrange, change text and whatnot ~ which will be counted as fresh content.

When you have at least 4 modules in your lens go ahead and hit the "publish" button. Once it has published go ahead and "view lens" to take a look at what everyone else is going to see.

As you can see the logistics of actually building a lens is not really my strong suit in explaining. So maybe I will have to start making videos again since the research part is really over. ;)

No matter how much information you have it never matters until you use it. Now Go Build Your Lens!!!! Talk to you tomorrow.

Jackie Lee :)

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Choosing Long Tail Keywords

This is where the rubber meets the road. Choosing long tail keywords. This is the point where some people get nervous or feel like they don't know what they're doing. That's understandable ~ I mean come on . . . long tail keyword?!

Yesterday the task was to come up with a list of questions, concerns, and problems that your niche experiences. Did you get to 100? If not, don't worry, as time goes on you will see more things you can write down on your list, just remember to do it so you won't forget them later.

I bring up this list because if you look at it closely it could look very much like a list of . . . (drum roll please) Long tail keywords!!!! Did you guess that? It can also look like a list of TITLES for articles and Squidoo lenses!

So really there was a method to my madness you see.

Look at your list, what is the one issue you found came up most for your niche. What is their biggest problem, question or concern they are looking for an answer to?

Let's say you are working in the Cloth diapering niche (a niche close to my heart :) ). What's the one question people might really want to have answered. It could be one of many but let's say "How to clean cloth diapers" when I googled it with quotes it came up with only 5 other competing websites and there were google ads on the page!! That's a really good long tail keyword. (in fact I think I will stick with this example for the rest of the experiment) :) Here's what I mean by that:

Advanced Search
Preferences
Results 1 - 5 of 5 for "how to clean cloth diapers". (0.18 seconds)

As you can see the results this long tail keyword only brought back 5 other websites optimized for that keyword. That rocks the house!

You see the questions people want answered are going to be YOUR long tail keywords. Now you see that list is an invaluable resource huh?

When you're done choosing your long tail keywords you want to take it to google, and put it in quotes and see how many other competing sites come up, just like in the example above. If it's less than 10,000 you are good to go. Squidoo can easily outrank other sites with less than 10,000 competing. If you see there are google ads on your keyword search results this is an excellent thing. It means people are paying money for your keyword, so there is money to be made there.

Ok ~ check it out today, throw a couple of your long tail keywords through google and see what comes up. Find one that has less than 10,000 competing websites.

Tomorrow we're going to start building a lens around our chosen long tail keyword!

Have fun and see ya tomorrow!!

Jackie Lee:)

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

NIche knack...


I really am getting the knack of this!

Okay...that may be a stretch but it sure is FUN when you let it be! ;-)

The trick about attracting people... is paying attention to what attracts YOU! ;-)

As I've been contemplating my next Squidoo lens one of the first things I had to decide was what I wanted to focus on. There is quite a bit of advice online about finding something that people are hot for right now... listen for what they want and then provide it for them.

Certainly I see the sense in that and I have to admit I had some concern about whether there would be anything in high demand that I would personally feel passionate enough about that I could market it effectively. I know myself well enough that if something doesn't hold my interest over a sustained period of time I'm likely to resist working on it.

I let myself get momentarily distracted by some well-meaning advice to find a product sharing a good price point with a high demand so it would sell well and focus on that... and it took me a few days to admit that the whole idea, while having good business sense... simply didn't FEEL GOOD! This brought up a few issues for me that had to be resolved before I felt the energy to move forward.

The reason I share this is because some of you may be feeling the same way. And to those of you who might have similar struggles I'll save you a bit of time and let you know that if you take the time to explore your interests, then put your 'ear to the ground' to find others who share those interests you will find a product and market that fits the bill.

One of the fun things that has resulted from my search is that I discovered, through my listening and searching, that I already have a long list of keywords and I know many of the places where I will find the people likely to be interested in my product!

Now it makes sense for me to use the tools available to hone and refine my approach. I had it all backwards before. I thought I was getting confused by the detail... but instead, I hadn't really locked onto the bigger picture with enough clarity.

So today I simply want to remind you that it's important to balance the 'inner' game with the 'outer' game! Out of the clarity of who you ARE comes the inspiration to DO what will serve best!

Thanks... I appreciate you!

--Mary K

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((¸¸.·´ ..·´ -:¦:-
-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´* Light

EXPECT MIRACLES!

What's your niche starving for?

You hopefully ran your 3 or 4 choices through google analytics yesterday and now you have a good idea of which one is your "best" choice.

You know they are starving (traffic trends at google), now you just need to know what they are starving for. Knowing this information will be key to building a lens at Squidoo, as well as setting up any other pieces of a marketing campaign you may want to add, like PPC or a website, articles etc.

How do you find out what your niche is starving for? Eavesdrop!! Yes, eavesdrop. You wrote down the url to the busiest forum on your niche in step 2 right? Great, if you didn't just go through step two and find it again. Go over to the forum, sign up for an account, and listen.

What is your niche talking about? What are the questions they are asking? what kind of problems are they dealing with? What kinds of threads have the most replies? Read between the lines a little to really get at the meat of what they need.

Now this next step is going to seem revolutionary, but it is a vital step.

Get a piece of paper

Crazy huh? It's important to get a piece of paper because while you are in the forums discovering all the things your niche needs you are going to write them down on this piece of paper.

I want you to keep writing, and writing until you have a fabulous list of 100 things. Yes, I said 100. You also want to note any niche related lingo you may see, as you will want to use their language in some of your writings later. Believe me building your lenses and creating an entire campaign around this niche is going to be easy cheesey if you just do this one step!!! I promise.

That's your task for today. Get in there, get to know your niche and make a list. You can also start making some posts in the forum. You will know if you are getting to know your niche if your posts get some replies. If your posts are NOT getting replies, you need to take a look at yourself and see if you are wearing your Magical Marketer Hat. IF you are ~ take it off right now!!!! Your job is to blend in, belong, become! You want to become so familiar with your niche that you feel like you are part of it.

You Can Do It!!!! That's it for today!!

Jackie Lee :)


Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Squidoo Modules


WOW! I hope you took the time to check out the videos Jackie posted today... they are really helpful and eye-opening!

Today I'm going to familiarize you with some of the many 'modules' that are available over at Squidoo so you understand just what an easy 'plug and play' approach to website building is provided over there.

When you go to the 'module picker' from your lens by clicking on 'Add Module' when you're in editing mode, the first thing you will see is what is called the Starter Package:

  • Amazon
  • Duel
  • Flickr Photos
  • Google Blog Search
  • Guestbook
  • Link List
  • Poll Module
  • Text / Write module
  • Yelp
  • YouTube vids

Next to each of these module titles is the word ADD. When you hover over this word you will see a popup with a brief description of the module. Sometimes these descriptions are helpful in that they give you an idea of what you can do with the module... like the following info for Amazon:

Amazon

The trusty Amazon module you know and love. Feature your favorite stuff (books, CDs, DVDs, geekware...) and comment on it. (Beware, you could earn money!) If you want people to vote on your list, or submit their own items, or share your list... try the new Amazon Plexo module instead.


And sometimes they are simply tantalizing and don't really give you any more clarity about what it does so you find yourself clicking on it simply to explore. The great news is that you can easily delete any module if you decide it's not a particularly helpful tool for the kind of lens you're building.

Don't feel like you have to use every module offered in the Starter Package. Just follow your wisdom and inspiration!

In addition to finding modules sorted under various tabs you can also search for modules alphabetically. For instance... when you click the Search (A-Z) tab and then select the letter 'W' you will see the following list:

As you can see, it's not always easy to tell what function is served simply by reading their names. I mean, would you guess that the 'Wonkette' module description says, "Politics for people with dirty minds"... whatever that means! LOL

As our blog is about marketing online, I presume you are interested in monetizing your lens. Some modules lend themselves more easily toward that than others and it's valuable to be creative and think outside the box. I have received the most comments about various lenses about fun widgets that were found on my lens that didn't directly earn me any money but gave my lens some word-of-mouth that increased the likelihood that someone interested in purchasing would land on my lens!

And since we're talking about money here I'll share with you how Squidoo divvy's up the dough.

Ah, money.

One of the great features of Squidoo is the ability to make money for yourself or charity by selling items through one of our monetized modules. How does this work?

  1. You add a money making module to your lens. Some examples include Amazon, eBay, and CafePress.
  2. Someone buys an item
  3. When the transaction clears though the website where the purchase was made, you get a commission
  4. You decide if you want cash (which is paid out monthly through PayPal) or for the commission to go to charity. You also decide your minimum payout in your Dashboard preferences.
  5. Commissions for month one are paid in month three. So anything you make in January will be paid in March.
The total commission made from each sale is split up. Five percent off the top goes to our charity. Yay! The remainder is split 50-50. Squidoo gets 50% to run the site, and you get 50% to play with.

Several advanced users also become affiliates for websites and products not yet offered through one of our money making modules. This allows them to offer additional products that match their niche topics.

Hope you're inspired to go explore and take advantage of this brilliant no-cost playground for attracting people to you!

I appreciate you,

--Mary K

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((¸¸.·´ ..·´ -:¦:-
-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´* Light

EXPECT MIRACLES!

Analyzing your niche with google analytics

I was going to talk about this yesterday but then I got all sidetracked with using the TV. :)

The next step in your research ~ you should have your 10 niche ideas narrowed down to 3 or 4 ~ is to run them through google trends to take a look at the possible search volume for your niche idea.

I could try to explain exactly how and why you shoul use google trends, but I decided to let you hear it from a master. Travis Sago (THE Bum Marketer) has done two videos on using Google Trends to analyze your niche.

Here they are!





I hope that clears things up. I know when I put my 3 niche ideas through google trends I was seriously surprised by the results. The niche I thought was going to come out on top was not the best niche. It gave me some clear ideas of the direction I needed to go.

It also showed me why many of my previous campaigns had not done as well as I thought they would. Just because a niche seems good, does not necessarily mean it is. Why not just take a couple minutes and run some research?

Until tomorrow!

Jackie Lee :)

Monday, January 7, 2008

Comparing Products at Squidoo

Comparing Products at Squidoo is a great idea for building a lens. Mary K mentioned last week to look to TV for niche ideas. The more I thought about it the more I realized this is REALLY a great idea, and I would add you have to do a little reading between the lines.

Here's what I mean. Super Nanny, Nanny 911 ~ and who knows what other shows are on cable, which I don't have. If you read between the lines you might start to see people want to know more about "how to handle your kids" or "how to discipline your kids" people might want to know more about "difficulties parenting" you know, that might be a really good niche ~ and it might be worth running some research on. If you found it could be profitable niche you could build a lens comparing different parenting books, or the different parenting shows (I'm sure they're out on dvd).

Think about comparing products at Squidoo that you see on TV. You see a million different weight loss drugs, exercise videos, workout equipment on the TV. What about the million different types of cell phones? My guess is that all of them have an affiliate program or there's a store that stocks them that does. Why not do some research on each of them and then write reviews of each. (of course providing your affiliate link in each section) So no matter which one the reader feels is right for them ~ YOU WIN. Another benefit of the comparison lens is people don't feel like they are being sold. You are simply providing quality information and therefore the lenses tend to have a much higher conversion rate.

You can easily put together a lens comparing products at Squidoo. Simply put each product in a separate "text" module. You can add banner ads at the top or bottom and post a text link within the review or at the bottom that takes them to the merchant page where you have an affiliate relationship.

You can also add one review a day to make the process a little more "natural" for google's sake and it will be a great update, which you know you need to do every day or every other day for the first week or so.

When thinking of keywords for this type of lens make sure you are going for the long tailed keywords, and make sure to include compare or review (or something similar that fits) as part of your keyword.

When doing these comparison or review type lenses go to google and check your long tailed keyword (keyword made up of more than a couple words) with quotes around it to see how many other websites are fighting for position. You also want to look for google ads on the side. If you see google ads it means there is money to be made. Those people are paying for clicks on that keyword.

If you can find a keyword with less than 10,000 listings and some google ads you are in business.

Here's another google tip: Try using allintitle when you search your keywords. You are going to use your keyword as your url and title over at squidoo, so see how many sites come up when using allintitle. This will show you ONLY the listings that have your exact keyword in the title. It would look like this in the search box at Google ~ allintitle:"your long tailed keyword here" You may find you have even less competition than you thought!!!

Get out there and get some ideas!

Jackie Lee :)