An Introduction to the Basics of Squidoo
It’s more than likely that at some point, while you are surfing the net, you will come across a page of content from Squidoo. It’s understandable since Squidoo now has close to a million pages of content and ranks extremely well in the search engines.
What is Squidoo?
Squidoo is a website created in 2006 by Seth Godin – writer, speaker and entrepreneur – who wanted a platform that not only allowed people to “spread their ideas” but also to raise money for their favorite charities.
Squidoo is made up of individual pages of content, each called a lens. There are lenses on all sorts of subjects, from aardvarks to Zac Efron and everything in between.
Each of these lenses is written by an individual who is registered with Squidoo. Anyone can register and anyone can create a lens – in fact, Squidoo encourages you to create as many as you can – anyone who creates 50 or more lenses becomes part of the Giant Squids program.
The Advantages of Using Squidoo
- It’s a great alternative for people who don’t have their own website.
- Your lens can rank well in Google, particularly for long-tail keywords.
- It’s simple and easy to develop a page and you don’t need to know html or code to do it.
- You can link to your own products and use affiliate links.
- You can use it to send traffic to your own blog or website.
The Disadvantages of Using Squidoo
- If Squidoo doesn’t like what you are doing with your lens, they can and will ban you.
- You are limited to what you can do on the page.
How to Squidoo
Squidoo has made the process of creating a lens as simple as possible, but to help you get started, here are the basics:
- Choose a topic
- Register with Squidoo
- Create your lens
- Add your links
- Promote your lens
Once you have chosen your topic and registered with Squidoo, it’s time to start adding content to your lens. You do this by placing the content into modules.
What is a Module?
Squidoo refers to their modules as “the building blocks of lenses.” Each Squidoo lens is made up of a multitude of modules. You can pick and choose which modules you want to use and there are hundreds to choose from.
For instance, for a basic lens, you might add an Intro Module to include an introduction, a few text modules to add content, a Guest Book Module so that others can leave comments on your lens and an RSS module to add your blog’s feed.
Can You Make Money with Squidoo?
Most definitely! One of the main reasons Squidoo has become so popular is because you can make money using it. There are several ways to do this, including:
1. Amazon, Ebay, Cafepress
You can add an Amazon, eBay or Cafepress module to your lens which features products that you choose and recommend. When you make a sale from these modules you receive a commission. However, you will have to share that commission with Squidoo. Alternatively you can add your own affiliate links and receive the full commission.
2. Royalties
Squidoo makes money from the ads it displays on your site. You’ll see the ads at the very top of your lens as well as on the sidebar. At the end of every month, Squidoo apportions some of these earnings to charity and some to its Squidoo members.
You can choose to donate your royalties to charity, keep it for yourself or do a bit of a mix. The choice is entirely up to you.
3. Referrals
Another great way to make money is by referring other people to Squidoo. When they earn their first $15 on Squidoo, you will receive a $5 bonus!
4. Affiliate Links
Squidoo has been generous enough to allow users to add their own affiliate links to their lenses. This is the best way to make money with Squidoo as you receive the full commission, as opposed to having to share it. Just add affiliate links from Clickbank, Commission Junction, Google Affiliate Network, Amazon, Pepperjam or any of the other affiliate networks.
Squidoo is an excellent way for an absolute beginner to get into affiliate marketing on the internet or for just sharing information about your favorite hobbies or interests. It’s quick, its easy and most of all it’s fun!
I’m Keller Hawthorne, Founder of FresheVenture.com. Whether you’re new to the world of Internet Marketing or already have your own Internet Business, I’m here to help you make a living online! 
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