Just Doing a Little Squidoo Lens Building

Like other internet marketers, I have used Squidoo lens building in the past as just one more means to get links back to my websites and blogs.  Bum marketing?  Ok – sure, if that’s what you want to call it…

Anyway, I have done nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, to promote my lenses or drive traffic to them.  And as much as I respect Seth Godin, the mastermind behind Squidoo, I just didn’t think of it as a viable source of income.  I guess the $0.36 sitting in my account there is further proof!

However, I have been reading a little here and there that there’s money to be made with those Squidoo lenses.  And since I’m interested in ways to earn money without spending money, well, I thought, what could it hurt!  So last night, I put up my first genuine Squidoo lens.  It still need a little tweaking, and as with just about anything online, it could use even more content, but here it is…

My Ed Emberley Squidoo Lens 

This is the first of many, many lenses that I am going to create focusing on the things, for lack of a better word, that keep my kids (and their friends) creatively busy. 

I’m going to do some minor promotion of these lenses.  Last night I tweeted that it was finished.  I’m posting it here in my blog right now.  I’m also joining some Squidoo groups to further promote it, and when I feel like taking a break from writing, I’ll post comments on related blogs (and lenses too), making sure I drop a link back to it.

I’m going to create 50 or so more related lenses – and when I’m done with my Squidoo lens building, I’m going to create the granddaddy lens that links to all of these.  And that is the lens I’m going to promote, promote, and then promote some more! 

So, if you care to, you can follow along to find out how I do.  I plan to hold nothing back.  I’ll disclose my earnings.  I’ll share my tactics. 

I have spent some time reading the advice of others more experienced in the Squidoo arena.  Based on what I have read, as well as my goals with this particular project, there are just a couple of rules that I’m going to follow…

Rule #1: Each lens will focus on just ONE specific keyword. 

Although I have access to the full version of Wordtracker, I’m just going to use the free Wordtracker tool for this project.  After all, this little experiment is about earning money without spending money.

I emphasize ONE keyword.  And it’s going to be a very focused keyword, that way I have at least a small chance of getting noticed by the search engines.  For this lens, I drilled it down to Ed Emberley.  If I had picked something more general, for example, how to draw, there may be more demand, but there’s also more competition.

Rule #2: All the lenses I create must be related. 

I have two boys, and their friends are always at our house.  ~Hey, I didn’t name this blog “Block Party Mom” for nothing.~  Anyway, I know a thing or two about keeping the kiddos entertained.  And that will be the focus for each and every lens I write for this project.

Rule #3: I will build a few links to each lens.

I’m not going to go hogwild promoting each one.  As I said before, I’m saving that for the end.  However, I will spend a little bit of time trying to get backlinks.  If you need me to be more specific, how does half an hour sound?

Rule #4: I am only going to use the Squidoo tools and modules.

Although I have gotten my feet wet in the affiliate marketing playground, I’m not going to use any of my personal affiliate links (although you are allowed to do this – and I’m guessing it’s probably more profitable).  I am only going to use the Squidoo lens building tools and modules.  I want to see if someone with very little internet marketing experience can successfully make money this way.  So, for my own information, I am keeping this project as simple as possible.  

Rule #5: Content, content, content!

Useful, unique and updated content.  If you haven’t read Seth Godin’s Money for Nothing (and Your Clicks for Free) e-book, I highly recommend that you do that now.  He discusses this better than I ever could.

I will be writing more on this subject as this experiment moves forward, but that’s a start, at least.