5 Steps to Squidoo Success
Squidoo is one of the new breed of Web 2.0 sites that present a great opportunity for Internet Marketers to promote in an effective manner. Many of the search engines seem to like Squidoo so it can often be easier to get ranked through intelligent use of keywords. The critical part of using Squidoo is to use it correctly. We're going to consider 5 steps that will help to make your Squidoo lenses a success.
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Make Good Use of Tags
When Squidoo was first launched, it was important to add a huge list of tags to your lenses to help with search engine ranking. Today, these tags are only used for internal reference across Squidoo, but tags are still important in another way.
A "tag" is simply a Web 2.0 word for what we traditionally call a "keyword". With this in mind, there are a few areas where good use of keywords is important:
- Make sure your primary keyword is part of your lens URL - remember that you can't change this later!
- Make sure your keywords are used intelligently throughout your lens. Bear in mind though, that the most important aspect is that your sites have to be readable by humans for them to be promoted within Squidoo!
- Use your keywords in all of your module titles, but keep them readable
Doing this will have a profound impact in how the search engines rank your lenses.
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Use Hyperlinks Well
Most people are aware that they can create hyperlinks within text modules or link modules. Did you know though, that you can also create them in description and in polls? Imagine creating a poll that asks "Which of these products is your favorite for SEO?" then have each possible response link to an affiliate product within Clickbank? Sure, not everyone who responds to your poll will click-though, but some will and you might just close some sales!
Join Squidoo Groups
Squidoo Groups seem to rank well within the major search engines. Also, contrary to the tags on your lenses themselves, links from within groups are indeed indexed so having your lenses listed in multiple groups can help you with SEO.
In addition, by participating in these groups, you'll generate traffic from within Squidoo to your lenses and potentially from further afield (via sites like Digg and StumbleUpon).
Promote Your Lens
Building a Squidoo lens is only the start of the story. Contrary to the movie mantra "if you build it, they will come", if you build a lens and don't promote it, don't be surprised when you don't get any traffic! You need to find ways to get the word out, such as by blogging about it, using other social media sites to promote it or even through article marketing. Whichever method you choose, traffic is your responsibility.
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Update Your Lens
Just like Google likes fresh content, so does Squidoo. If you can aim to tweak your lenses every three to four weeks, you'll find that the fresh content will encourage more traffic and hence boost the popularity of your lens.
If you follow these 5 steps whenever you create a Squidoo lens, you should find that your lenses become more profitable and ultimately, key parts of your online marketing strategy.
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