Steps For Creating Squidoo Lens

[mfleisch]

Hi Warriors...

I'm looking for some help with Squidoo lenses. A client of mine just asked me to set up a Squidoo lens for him and, even though lenses are popular, I have to admit that I've never done this before. If you have experience in this area, can you lay out a few simple steps for creating a lens?

Thanks!

[PatriciaJ]

It's really easy. Just sign up and follow the wizard. Maybe if you do one for yourself first it will give you a bit of practice, it doesn't take long to make them if you have some content ready to use.

[dsmpublishing]

ive got a few squidoo ebooks on my desktop email me info@dsm-publishing.com or PM me and ill email them to you!

[negropay]

I think the experts have laid bare to you no need for futher tips

[penab]

In addition to the about ideas, you can also put pictures on it, so have a few ready to go. The wizard really does walk you right through it. I was intimidated a bit at first but just jump right in. Not hard at all!

[Jonathan Ferraro]

It really depends if you are using squidoo, just as a landing page or using it to create a lot of content on it (like a blog), and hoping to rank well in the search engines for it.

If its the latter, come up with a 1500 word article and break it down to like its 4 main points, and use those as text modules.

Use the main keyword you are trying to rank well for on the title of the lens, as well as the titles of each of the text modules.

In between each text module, throw in one of the "fun" modules like a top ten list, flickr photos, ebay listings, etc...

Play around with all the gadgets that squidoo has to offer, so the lens looks pretty. And you're all set.

Squidoo is very accessible and makes it really easy to put together a nice looking lens.

[MIB Mastermind]

I'm sure if you go to youtube you will be able to find a step by step video on creating a squidoo lens. I just done a quick search on youtube and found if you type in 'How to Set Up a Squidoo Lens' the first video that comes up says it guides you through creating your first squidoo lens so watch that and it should show you everything you need to know.

Hope this helps, Good luck.

To your success,
Bryan

[mikemcmillan]

Some basic tips: You need to have about three 300 word text modules before your lens will be "live". Less than that and you will get a message saying it is under construction. There are two things I consider: What Squidoo wants to give your lens a good Squidoo ranking (so it shows up at the top of the list when people search there for your keywords), and what Google wants for it to show up well in the Google rankings. They do not want the same things!

Your lens will get a higher ranking on Squidoo the more junk you throw in. In addition to your text modules Squidoo likes YouTube video modules, RSS feeds from blogs, link lists, Flicker photos (not sure if they still have that module), "duel" modules, etc. You will see those modules listed when you build your lens. The more of this stuff you have, the better your rankings will be IN SQUIDOO.

Huge, huge tip: Squidoo won't say this, but one of the largest factors in getting your lens a high ranking on Squidoo is the number of "star ratings" people give you at the top of your lens. If you can get 8-10 people to give you a 4-5 star rating, I can almost guarantee you will get to the very top of the search results for your keywords.

Caution: People "game" Squidoo here. I know they do and I have turned them in for this--I won't detail this but you can figure it out. I have seen lenses with dozens and dozens of 5-star ratings and they have absolutely horrible lenses, no subscribers, no friends, and no comments. You can figure that one out yourself. These scum-monkeys game the system and it pisses a lot of honest affiliates using Squidoo off big time. Dont' do that--you will get caught.

But do suggest to visitors that they rate your lens before clicking out. Just a few good ratings will shoot your lens ranking up a lot.

I can't verify this, but I believe that having comments posted to your lens helps your lens ranking on Squidoo too. Also, joining a lot of groups will get your lens exposure and thus visitors. Don't try to game this either--I know what you are thinking and you will get caught!

I shoot for a keyword density of about 3.2% and that seems to work well for Google. Vary the anchor text in any affiliate links you include. if you have a dozen links going out to the same affiliate product you promote, don't have each one use the product name of the anchor text. Use a little variation.

Possible Good Tip: I am experimenting with this so don't accept it as gospel, but on a few lenses I have intentionally created an outgoing link or two to high authority sites like MSNBC, NBC, Reuters, etc. I try to find an article on one of these sites related tangentally to the product I am promoting.

Some people would argue this technique, but Google likes to provide searchers with quality content and I believe that including a link or two to a high authority site like I mentioned makes Google believe you are providing visitors with pathways to more relevant content. This seems to work for me, but I do not have sufficient data to make it statistically valid yet. But you might try it and see what you think. Don't overdo it because too many outbound one-way links can drain PR away from you.

NOTE ON LINKS: Links you put in your text and in your profile are DOFOLLOW on Squidoo so they can get you some Google love, i.e. link juice. You have to use HTML for the links (the href thingie) for them to be active. If you just type a link in, it will simply show the way you type it and it won't be clickable.

Links in comments are NOFOLLOW to prevent mulch-sucking spammers from posting.

Oh, I came close to having a nervous breakdown when I started on Squidoo. I don't like to read directions, so I had this problem. If you try to upload images from your site to your lens make sure they are .jpg format. Squidoo won't take .png images and it took me actually reading the directions to learn that the hard way. Don't know about other formats, but .png's won't load.

Sorry, I'm a rambling, Boorish, poster tonight. It will be my undoing!

[mfleisch]

Thank you warrior! This is the best info I've received and it will help tremendously.

Best,
Michael