Back to the updating issue.  I cut my post about Squidoo a little (ok, a lot) short, and I want to revisit the last point I made in that post.  It was about content.  Did you read Seth Godin’s e-book?  Remember the three u’s?  Unique, useful and updated.   Let’s talk about that a little more… 

How can you be UNIQUE?  Well, start by being yourself, for one.  Doesn’t sound that hard, does it?  Problem is, as internet marketers, we let our heads get full of numbers.  Numbers about how many people are searching for a particular item.  Numbers of how many potential competitors we’ll have to beat down to get a good ranking on Google.  Number of backlinks we will need to win the search engine wars.  Numbers we will have on our commission checks when we succeed in beating down our competitors.

These numbers get in the way, and we make bad decisions.  We promote items we know nothing about.  We cluelessly blog about something we have never touched, or tried, or seen.  We have to look somewhere other than ourselves for ideas and inspiration.  No wonder we’re not unique!

Yes, I’m guilty of it too.  And guess what, it’s hard to change old habits.  As I’m writing this, one part of me is thinking I should take my own words to heart.  Another part of me is, well, thinking I’m full of crap – that the things that make me who I am are just too “average”, and guess that - I don’t like the numbers for “average”.

Next point - USEFUL.  What have you added to your site/s or blog/s in the past week that was “useful”?  Think about it. 

If what we write, or say, or do, or create, is useful, then guess what – first-time visitors will become regular visitors, and regular visitors will become referrers, and soon it won’t matter if we rank on the first or fiftieth page of Google for our keywords, because we will have steady traffic either way.  However, one thing usually leads to another, and Google and their “I’ll-go-rithms” will reward us for being useful.

Of course, just as it is a struggle to be unique, it’s just as much of a struggle to be useful.  Put the two together, and you have yourself a challenge.

On to the final point – UPDATED.  This should be the easiest of the three u’s.  If you have only one blog or one site, it probably is no problem.  But honestly, who only has just one site!  If the water feels warm and you’re in the mood to swim, you’re going to jump in.  It’s only natural… 

It doesn’t help when you constantly hear from all directions that you must “diversify!”.  That you can’t just stick with one thing, because what happens if the demand dries up, or the site is deindexed, or the affiliate program you promote keels over dead.  So we diversify.  We spread ourselves too thin.  And yes, we forget to update.

There are some obvious problems with this blog already.  Take the name “Block Party Mom”.  Nothing about that name says “internet marketing”.  I selected it on a whim, probably because the neighbor kids are staging a sit-in and refuse to leave. 

Funny little story (somewhat related) –  someone actually already found me using the search engines!  Guess what they were looking for – “how to promote a block party”.  Ha!  I can just imagine them sitting at their computer reading my earlier rant, scratching their head, and wondering just where ‘ole Google tossed them.  Hey, you, scratching your head there, just print some flyers using your computer and give ‘em to your neighbors.  Some people are just…(nope, not going to say it, must be n-i-c-e).

You know, I could really screw with people here.  I could put up some internet marketing recipes, and talk about the games internet marketers play, and how much I love my social networking neighbors.  Yeah baby, I’m the block party mom!

OK, I have said way too much already (without really saying anything at all)…

Anyway, to get to my point, I had low expectations for this blog, but I find it’s my favorite project of all, if you could call it that.  Sure, the name sucks!  And using wordpress.com when you’re used to using the big boy version is – well,  like learning how to ride a bike, and then putting the training wheels back on!

Oh well, I’m still here.  I’m still typing.  And I will be back.

For some reason, I like it here…

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. 

Check out the navigation bar on the right.  Notice I have alreaded included links to my websites.  I know, it’s self-serving.  But that’s just it – to succeed online, to get the organic traffic everyone wants, you have to shamelessly self-promote yourself everywhere you go online.  It’s all about the link juice.  Can’t get the Google love without the link juice. (pssst…in case you’re looking for them, Ie removed the links to my websites shortly after I posted this rant)

And to be quite honest, I hate it!  I hate everything about SEO.  

To me, social networking is the biggest headache.  Digg this.  Tweet that.  Stumble there.  Add friends.  What the heck!  But decide to skip that section of your SEO checklist – well, you’ll be losing out!

Forums – post, and then post some more, and make good use of that sig line.  Blogs – comment, comment, comment, and did I mention, comment.  And of course, don’t forget to drop a link.  More shameless self-promotion. 

Write articles.  Exchange articles.  Submit articles.  And still find time to create unique articles for your own site, somehow!

Submit to search engines.  Submit to directories. 

Link Exchanges.  Some say good.  Some say bad.  I just let the gurus argue amongst themselves.  If it brings targeted traffic to my site, well, then I say “good”.  

Then there’s Squidoo, Hubpages, Qassia, Zimbio.  Gotta kick out that content. 

Don’t forget about MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, Flickr.  Hey, who needs sleep!

So, that’s why I’m here.  Shameless self-promotion, plain and simple.  But hey, don’t judge me - I didn’t make the rules!

Hmmm, I wonder what this person was thinking when they started this blog?  Has it stayed on course this entire time?

I usually find that most stray from that first post.  Many say the same thing.  I’m going to post recipes, and I’m going to talk about my kids, and yadda, yadda, yadda…

But something happens, something changes along the way.  And the blog takes on a life of its own.  At least if it’s any good, it does.

That’s why I think I’ll pass on giving you my reasons for this blog.  Of course, maybe the name will give it away.  After all, “Block Party Mom’s Internet Marketing Tales” is a little obvious. 

However, if you’re still scratching your head and wondering just what the heck I’m doing here, don’t hurt yourself.  For those head-scratchers out there, I’m going to post recipes, and I’m going to talk about my kids, and yadda, yadda, yadda…

Of course, if you really want to find out, check back and see.

ENJOY!