What is a Squidoo Lens and How Can I Make Money On One?
You can think of a Squidoo lens as being a one page website that you can call your own for free. These little websites can help you express your feelings, show off your hobbies, or make you some great money.
The first thing you need to do to get started with your lens is open up an account. You can do that at http://www.squidoo.com. This account is completely free, and you’ll love it because you can start new lenses and organize the ones you have already made. Squidoo has a lot of nice features that tell you how many people have visited your lens, how much money you have made off of them, and which ones could use a lot of work.
You’ll notice that many people talk about having multiple “lenses” rather than just one “lens.” The reason for that is simple! It’s so easy and fun to set these up that you’ll want to create them about many different topics you’re interested in. The sky is the limit when it comes to lens creation.
When you sign into your account you’ll find a “create a lens” button. This button will take you through a series of steps to get your lens set up. There are some options that get you started super fast by doing things for you, and there are others that give you more choices to get your lens looking just the way you want it.
These aren’t boring little Web Pages either. Squidoo lenses are made up of what are called modules. You choose the exact ones you want on your page and organize them just the way you like.
Some popular modules are:
q Text – you can write anything you want that is related to your lens
q Amazon – you can make money right from your lens by recommending information that is relevant
q Wikipedia – Sometimes you don’t want to have to write everything yourself. You can enter in a word that describes your topic and Squidoo will find a Wikipedia article that fits for you to put on your page
q RSS – Do you have a blog or know of one you like? You can enter in the blog’s RSS feed and it will pull content right from that blog to show your visitors
q Stickynote – Stickynotes are a lot of fun to use in real life, and they can really stand out on a website too. You can call attention to any quick fact you want by using a sticky note
q Duel – If your lens is part of a debate you can set up a duel model. This can get your visitors interested in interacting and debating with each other
q Guestbook – Having a guestbook on your lens is a lot of fun because your visitors can leave you message or have a discussion about your topic
There are literally dozens of different modules that you can use. These will all help you add content, get your guests involved, or help make you money.
There are a few different ways you can make money through your Squidoo lens. As you can see, there are a few modules that are already designed to fit with the topic of your lens and help you make money. You will need to sign up as an affiliate with the company related to the module, then put in your special username or code to make sure the sales get credited to you.
If you have another website and you’re using your lens to try and get more visitors to your site that’s a great idea! If you go a step further and write your own eBook or become an affiliate of a product you can even put your sales link right on your Squidoo lens.
The best way to get started with Squidoo is to go grab yourself an account to play around with. You’ll fall in love with its flexibility and features. These little sites also rank very well with the search engines so you’re sure to get some visitors and maybe even make some money if you put hard work into it.