Squidoo- Top Five Mistakes You Must Avoid
by: Russell Still
Squidoo's premise is that "everyone is an expert at something." The unspoken part is that a lot of "experts" may be giving you bad information. Because Squidoo is so accessible, a lot of poor practices have become common. Learn to avoid them and you can leap ahead of other lensmasters with pages that really stand out from the crowd.
1 - Misinformation about Keyword Tags
You specify a few keyword tags when you first create your lens and you can add and change them at any time. Squidoo allows a maximum of 40 tags. It uses them in its internal searches; it is highly unlikely that Google pays any attention to them at all. These tags appear in your lens' meta "keywords" statement.
The general consensus these days is that Google totally ignores this part of a webpage. Thus, despite what you may hear, your use of tags in Squidoo probably carries no SEO value at all. Another explanation offered by one of the accepted experts is that Squidoo has "implemented nofollow codes on its tag pages." It's not clear what this is really referring to and I doubt seriously that these "tag pages" even exist. Since "nofollow" is an HTML attribute that refers to hyperlinks and tags are META statements (i.e. not hyperlinks) this appears to be complete nonsense.
2 - Ineffective Lens Headings
Module headings are very powerful commodities in your lens. Visitors generally skim the headings to decide whether or not they wish to read the lens in detail. Newspaper and magazine writers have understood their power for hundreds of years.
In Squidoo, headings are important not just for human readers, but also for the search engine spiders that scan your pages to determine relevance and importance.
Most of the pros are pretty good about squeezing their keywords into headings. The place they fall short is in the more subjective wording of the headings. Readers must be engaged. You don't get that for nothing - you have to work for it.
Headings must be carefully crafted to grab people by the eyeballs. Use power words that cause the readers to feel an emotional response. Imagine what your readers are like and build phrases that speak directly to them. Your lens visitors should be able to grasp the entire thrust of your lens by reading just the headings and they must follow one another in a logical fashion.
3 - Wasted Space in Profile Section
Your lens profile (Bio) area tops a column that takes up approximately 25% of your total available lens real estate. This is a huge amount of available space that is almost universally overlooked by lensmasters. It is CRUCIAL that you take advantage of the Bio section to keep your visitors on track. Don't just assume the obvious - that the Bio is a place where you talk about yourself. There's nothing that forces you to stick to that. Use it to further press the message of your lens.
By inserting HTML into your Bio, you not only can add important graphics and hyperlinks. You also have the ability to shove useless distractions down the page and out of sight. Huh? You hadn't noticed any distractions? Take a look at your lens.
The rightmost column starts with your bio, but under that is a search box, a list of tags, friends, and other bits of goop that don't pertain to the message you are trying to broadcast. You cannot get rid of them entirely, but by expanding your Bio you can force them further down the page where they do less damage.
4 - Display Ads Distract Readers
This one should be so obvious, yet it is missed by most lensmasters. These are the big display ads that may appear in the rightmost column of your lens. These are MONSTER distractions. If you're hoping to make a little referral money from clicks on them, you could choose to leave them there. But if you are more interested in selling a product or message of your own, get rid of them!
You can easily kill these offending distractions. In the Lensmaster Workshop (where you edit your lens), locate the tab on the right that says "Lens Settings". Click on that and check the box that says "Opt out of display ads". One caveat: you must donate 100% of your ad commissions to charity in order to turn the display/glam ads off. If you only have a few lenses, it isn't likely that you're going to earn any significant amount from ad/click commissions. People who typically make any reasonable amounts from them usually have a very large number of lenses. So, unless that describes you, "Donate to charity" and "Opt out of display ads".
5 - Bad Selection of Module Types
You have probably seen all the different kinds of fancy Plexo/Flickr/Duel/Polaroid modules available to you. Don't fall into the trap of trying to jazz up your lens with all these glitzy gimmick modules. They may be fun to play with, but they are also
MAJOR distractions. If your goal is to sell something, either an idea or a product, think twice before getting carried away with creativity. Ask yourself whether or not these special-purpose modules really enhance your message.
Learn more techniques to ensure that YOUR lenses stand out from the rest. The Squidoo Bible is a complete system that includes a 52-page manual, online videos, and extensive online resource pages. It is guaranteed to make your lenses more effective.
Visit http://www.SquidooBible.com/now to discover the secrets that can make you more money than you ever imagined.
Squidoo's premise is that "everyone is an expert at something." The unspoken part is that a lot of "experts" may be giving you bad information. Because Squidoo is so accessible, a lot of poor practices have become common. Learn to avoid them and you can leap ahead of other lensmasters with pages that really stand out from the crowd.
1 - Misinformation about Keyword Tags
You specify a few keyword tags when you first create your lens and you can add and change them at any time. Squidoo allows a maximum of 40 tags. It uses them in its internal searches; it is highly unlikely that Google pays any attention to them at all. These tags appear in your lens' meta "keywords" statement.
The general consensus these days is that Google totally ignores this part of a webpage. Thus, despite what you may hear, your use of tags in Squidoo probably carries no SEO value at all. Another explanation offered by one of the accepted experts is that Squidoo has "implemented nofollow codes on its tag pages." It's not clear what this is really referring to and I doubt seriously that these "tag pages" even exist. Since "nofollow" is an HTML attribute that refers to hyperlinks and tags are META statements (i.e. not hyperlinks) this appears to be complete nonsense.
2 - Ineffective Lens Headings
Module headings are very powerful commodities in your lens. Visitors generally skim the headings to decide whether or not they wish to read the lens in detail. Newspaper and magazine writers have understood their power for hundreds of years.
In Squidoo, headings are important not just for human readers, but also for the search engine spiders that scan your pages to determine relevance and importance.
Most of the pros are pretty good about squeezing their keywords into headings. The place they fall short is in the more subjective wording of the headings. Readers must be engaged. You don't get that for nothing - you have to work for it.
Headings must be carefully crafted to grab people by the eyeballs. Use power words that cause the readers to feel an emotional response. Imagine what your readers are like and build phrases that speak directly to them. Your lens visitors should be able to grasp the entire thrust of your lens by reading just the headings and they must follow one another in a logical fashion.
3 - Wasted Space in Profile Section
Your lens profile (Bio) area tops a column that takes up approximately 25% of your total available lens real estate. This is a huge amount of available space that is almost universally overlooked by lensmasters. It is CRUCIAL that you take advantage of the Bio section to keep your visitors on track. Don't just assume the obvious - that the Bio is a place where you talk about yourself. There's nothing that forces you to stick to that. Use it to further press the message of your lens.
By inserting HTML into your Bio, you not only can add important graphics and hyperlinks. You also have the ability to shove useless distractions down the page and out of sight. Huh? You hadn't noticed any distractions? Take a look at your lens.
The rightmost column starts with your bio, but under that is a search box, a list of tags, friends, and other bits of goop that don't pertain to the message you are trying to broadcast. You cannot get rid of them entirely, but by expanding your Bio you can force them further down the page where they do less damage.
4 - Display Ads Distract Readers
This one should be so obvious, yet it is missed by most lensmasters. These are the big display ads that may appear in the rightmost column of your lens. These are MONSTER distractions. If you're hoping to make a little referral money from clicks on them, you could choose to leave them there. But if you are more interested in selling a product or message of your own, get rid of them!
You can easily kill these offending distractions. In the Lensmaster Workshop (where you edit your lens), locate the tab on the right that says "Lens Settings". Click on that and check the box that says "Opt out of display ads". One caveat: you must donate 100% of your ad commissions to charity in order to turn the display/glam ads off. If you only have a few lenses, it isn't likely that you're going to earn any significant amount from ad/click commissions. People who typically make any reasonable amounts from them usually have a very large number of lenses. So, unless that describes you, "Donate to charity" and "Opt out of display ads".
5 - Bad Selection of Module Types
You have probably seen all the different kinds of fancy Plexo/Flickr/Duel/Polaroid modules available to you. Don't fall into the trap of trying to jazz up your lens with all these glitzy gimmick modules. They may be fun to play with, but they are also
MAJOR distractions. If your goal is to sell something, either an idea or a product, think twice before getting carried away with creativity. Ask yourself whether or not these special-purpose modules really enhance your message.
Learn more techniques to ensure that YOUR lenses stand out from the rest. The Squidoo Bible is a complete system that includes a 52-page manual, online videos, and extensive online resource pages. It is guaranteed to make your lenses more effective.
Visit http://www.SquidooBible.com/now to discover the secrets that can make you more money than you ever imagined.
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