How to Set Up a Squidoo Lens

Have you heard of Squidoo? If not, you’re missing one of the biggest opportunities to make money from home. Squidoo is a cross between a website and a blog, bringing the best of both into a free place on the Internet for you to showcase everything from your favorite hobby to your home business. Follow these steps to learn more.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Go to the Squidoo log-in page (see Resources below).

2. Tell Squidoo if you’re new. You'll be asked if this is your first lens or whether you have an existing account. Since you're probably new to Squidoo, click the circle to the left of the “Not yet—this is my first lens!” option. Then hit the orange "Get Started" button.

3. Choose a topic for your lens. This will be the title of your lens. It should tell people something about the lens’ content, so choose wisely. For the best results, choose a phrase that people are searching for on the Internet--one that has little competition from other Web pages. See the Resource box for an article on choosing a niche. This will be especially helpful if you plan on making money with your Squidoo lens.

4. Choose what type of lens layout you want. For the most flexibility and control over your content we recommend choosing the “I just want to do my own thing” option. Build your Squidoo lens from scratch.

5. Pick your URL. This will be your Squidoo lens' Web address. You should try to have the same phrase in your URL that you chose in your lens’ title, or some variation of it.

6. Choose a category for your lens. All Squidoo lenses are grouped by categories. Be sure to choose the category that your lens’ topic best fits into so it can be classified amongst the other lenses correctly and searched for on the Squidoo website easier.

7. Give your lens a rating. Choose from a G rating (suitable for children and adults), an R rating (for more mature content) and an X rating (for adults only).

8. Choose 3 or more relevant keyword phrases. Enter 3 more phrases that relate to your lens’ topic. Just as you did with the title of your lens, try and choose keyword phrases that are searched for but have low competition. This will help you rank higher in the search engine results on Google or Yahoo.

9. Keep the money or donate it. You'll then be asked whether you wish to keep any profits made from your lens for yourself or donate it to your favorite charity. You can even split the profits and keep some for yourself while giving a percentage to charity. It's a win-win for everyone.

10. Enter your personal information. You'll now be asked to enter your email address. Choose a screen name that will show on your lens. Choose a password.

11. Agree to the term of service. As with all websites, there are always terms of service that need to be read and agreed to. Read these and signify if you agree and enter the security code shown at the bottom of the page. Congratulations! You've just created your first Squidoo lens.

12. You'll now want to begin editing your brand new lens and adding content and possible money making modules.

Tips & Warnings

• Google loves Squidoo. If you choose a topic or keyword phrase with low competition you stand a very good chance of your lens showing up on the first page of Google’s search results for that phrase in a very short period of time.
• Squidoo lenses are perfect for advertising an existing business. Whether you have a website you want to promote or you want to get the word out about your direct sales company, a Squidoo lens can help boost your business due to their ability to rank well in the search engines.
• If you plan on making money with your Squidoo lens, don’t start creating one until you’ve done some research on your target market and keyword phrases to use. Choosing the wrong keywords can mean your lens will get buried in millions of other Web pages on Google, never to be found.

Who Can Help:

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[tocuriousgeorge]

on 1/4/2009 Awesome info! I am going to try this one Too!Thanks for Sharing!