Showing posts with label Marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marketing. Show all posts

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!
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Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Building Lenses ~ Building Business

Jackie Lee is so right!!! I LOVE the lens creation process. The only *wish* I have when it comes to Squidoo.com is that we could choose different templates so we could rid ourselves of that 'squid-orange' if we wanted to. (can you tell I want too?!? :-)) I have to admit it was brilliant branding... I rarely see orange anymore without thinking of squidoo! ;-)

Now don't get me wrong... I certainly appreciate that it was brilliantly set up to shake-hands well with the search engines and I'm keenly aware of the value of placing good 'keywords' in your title and URL. But for me that's just the icing on the cake compared to the satisfaction of building an attractive lens that's interesting, interactive and filled with valuable content in such a way that others can easily digest it!

When it comes to monetizing with Squidoo... there are a few schools of thought and, like humans who are thinking these thoughts, they vary greatly! Seth Godin, the creator of Squidoo and a Marketing genius himself, urges people to explore their passions with a lens... to dive in and dig deep sharing everything you know about a subject that captivates you. Sounds a bit like, "If you build it they will come." For me... THAT'S attractive!

Others will suggest you find something people are clamoring about and provide information and resources (for free and for sale). There's certainly nothing wrong with that... it makes sense.

I say the best thing would be elements of BOTH! Keep your ear to the ground about things people are clamoring for and select those things where YOU are one of the clamoring people! ;-)

So let's do a brief walk-through of the basics of starting a lens...

When you first click 'start a lens' from virtually any page over at Squidoo you will be shown the following:

Step 1: So, what's your lens about?

People are making lenses on everything from "How to Roast Your Own Coffee Beans" to "Why You Should Hire Me" to "Top 10 Books That Changed My Life." And LOTS more. What's your topic?


Here there will be a little box for you to fill in your topic. Thing of a word or a brief sentence that someone may use over at Google if they were looking for information about your topic...

After you finish you go to:

Step 2: What do you want to do with your lens?

A few real examples: There's Damon, a teacher who makes learning lenses with his students. And Jane Goodall, supporting her nonprofit organization. And Kimberly, an author promoting her books. And Raj, who wants traffic back to his blog. These are just 4 ways people use Squidoo. How will you?

(easiest option)

(money maker!)

(most popular)

I ALWAYS select "I just want to do my own thing" though any of these choices are fine. Some will simply come preloaded with specific modules that you may find yourself deleting. By selecting the fourth option you have to go in and select your own module but that gives you an opportunity to only work with the modules that serve your purpose.

Now we find ourselves going to Step 3:

Step 3: Title and URL

Tip #1: Clever lens titles can make great first impressions. Have fun!
Tip #2: When picking your Squidoo URL, just fill in the blank where it says www.squidoo.com/_______. (So, if your lens is about daschunds, try adding the word dashchund to the box. If your lens is about making paper airplanes, add paperairplanes to the box. Sorry, no spaces or weird characters).



(This can't be changed, so choose wisely).
www.squidoo.com/


Please rate your lens:

If you're not sure, read up on our Ratings policy.

My lens contains:

Here you want to give some thought to both your TITLE and your choice for the URL. They do not have to be identical and it would be very wise to use your main keyword in both. In other words, use words people are likely to search on when they want more information about your subject!

Today, for instance, I started a new lens that will be focusing on effective ways to use greeting cards in building your business. I don't really know if or how many people might be actually searching for ways to build their business specifically with greeting cards but I DO know that people ARE searching for ways to BUILD THEIR BUSINESS and because I happen to have a greeting card business I also know that people search on the words 'greeting cards' so...

I wanted to be sure to incorporate the long-tail keywords (they are 'long-tail' because they are more than a single word...and/or they refine a single word... for instance, 'cards' could be business cards or baseball cards or any kind of card but I'm looking to attract people searching for Greeting Cards) 'business building' and 'greeting cards' in both my title and my URL. I prefer a URL that's short and memorable but I'm willing to take liberties with my title so I used

Powerful Business Building with Greeting Cards

as my TITLE. The URL that is embedded above reads, www.squidoo.com/cards-build-business

So before you find yourself on Step 3 give some thought to your title and URL and remember, it may already be chosen so you may want to have a slightly different alternate handy.

Another choice you'll notice required with this step is selecting the 'Category' where you'd like your lens to appear. Many subjects can make sense in more than one category. Just go with the one that makes most sense to you. Follow your intuition and select the category you would be most likely to go to if searching on your topic.

This leads you to the fourth and final step:

Step 4: Help people find your lens

Keywords (or "tags") are really important in helping people find your lens. Think about the search words someone might put into Google when he's looking for info on your topic. Those would be your lens tags.



(Optional)



You're going to be choosing keywords. Don't sweat over this as you will be able to add more keywords later. You'll notice that the system has already assumed you selected the best keyword for your title (and of course you did already know that because Jackie and I have both told you so! LOL) so it preloaded that one for you. Just select three more that make sense, type in that goofy word you see in the box which proves you are, indeed, a real live, if goofy, person, and then click DONE! You'll be ready to start building your lens!!!

Whew! And we'll save more on that for another day!
Happy squidoooooing!!!! ;-)

--Mary K

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

EXPECT MIRACLES!
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