Why Use Squidoo?
For a while, Squidoo was touted as the best promotional tool in the world. I think we all know that there is no such thing, but just because something doesn’t live up to the hype doesn’t make it worthless. In fact, there are a lot of great reasons to build a lens at Squidoo. (Why, yes, that is a referral link. I do appreciate any join ups.)
1. You actually can make money with Squidoo.
Believe it or not, I didn’t know that when I joined up with Squidoo. The first lens I built had me so befuddled, I gave up half way through and let it go. A few months later I decided to give it another shot and, lo and behold, my unfinished lens had earned me money! I believe it was something like $0.37, but it wasn’t nothing, and it encouraged me to push through and finish not only that lens, but a dozen more.
You can earn money through direct sales (your own product), affiliate sales (someone else’s product- in fact, Squidoo offers sales modules for many different companies that you can use), and clicks on ads. Squidoo sets up AdSense and other affiliate links on all lenses, and they share 50% of the profits on these with all lens masters. So even if your lens isn’t successful on its own, you’ll still get a cut.
2. Low payout threshold.
This is related to #1 (above), but you can set your own pay out threshold as low as $1. I have mine set to $10, but you can set it as high or low as you want to. You can even have the income donated for you. Just select one or more of the dozens of charities and causes Squidoo provides and put in the percentage you want donated. You can mix and match across the board, or on individual lenses. For example, on lenses that are automatically compiled by Squidoo (rather than hand built by me), I have 50% donated to the Grameen Foundation, and the other 50% sent to my account.
3. Draw traffic to your other sites.
For some reason, Squidoo lenses tend to rank high in search engines. If you build your lens well enough, a visitor may be interested enough in what you have to say to follow a link to whichever site you wish to promote. If you have a blog, even better as you can insert a RSS feed directly into your lens.
4. Raise your Page Rank with links.
As I said, lenses tend to rank well in search engines which gives them a good bit of authority. Insert one or two well chosen links into a popular lens, and you’ve instantly given yourself more authority on whichever site you chose to promote.
5. It’s completely free.
While you can pay someone to build a lens for you, or buy one pre-built, building a lens is easy and the options are continually growing. The only thing that you risk is your time.
6. There’s a referral program.
While Squidoo is totally free, they do offer a referral program. For every person you refer, you earn $5 after they earn their first $15. For some lens masters, this will never happen. For others, it could be in their first week.
Once you’ve finished your first lens, take a look at my post on ranking high on Squidoo.
