How to Make Money on a Squidoo Lens

Once you've set up a Squidoo lens, wouldn’t it be great to make some cash for your efforts? These steps will get you started on how to set up that Squidoo lens to start bringing in some money.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Go to Squidoo and open up your lens.
2. Write your intro. At the top of your lens, there will be a header with the title of your lens. Beside that will be an “Edit” button. Click on that button and write a brief introduction to your lens. Explain the topic of your lens and be sure to include the keyword phrase you used for the title of your lens. This will help you rank better in the search engines for that particular search phrase.
3. Save your work and read through your introduction. Does it entice the reader to stay? Does it explain your chosen topic in an interesting way? You can lose your visitors if your writing is boring, so use some personality and make any appropriate edits to your introduction. Save any changes you make.
4. Add modules. Squidoo allows you to add blocks of content, interactive polls or money making features into your lens with a click of a button. At the top of your lens you will see a button titled “Add Modules.” Click this and you'll be taken to the modules list.
5. Choose wisely. Each module has a brief description of what they do. Read these and decide which will be appropriate for your Squidoo lens. The key behind Squidoo marketing is to have a balance between useful and informative content peppered with money-making modules. It's recommended to have a few text modules filled with interesting and helpful information and a few modules to sell recommended products.
6. Add your modules. Once you’ve decided which modules you want to add, click the “Add” link next to that module. Your choices will be automatically added to your lens when you save your changes.
7. Preview your new layout. The “preview layout” button will show you all the new modules you’ve added in the order in which you chose them. This may not be the best way to display your modules so click on each module and drag it up or down to change the order in which they will appear on your lens. Save your changes.
8. Add content. You're now back in the editing mode of your Squidoo lens. Fill your text modules with relevant and helpful information for your visitors. Tell them interesting facts about your topic or the products you wish to promote. Don’t make your writing a hard sell. Visitors respond better to honest information and recommendations, so don’t go over the top with the sales pitch.
9. Edit your money-making modules. For example, if your lens is on German Shepard dogs, you may choose an Amazon.com module and sell books on this particular breed of dog. Choose two or three products per module.
10. Add a title and description to your money-making module. It’s better to pick your products first and add the title and description second. This will ensure that the title and description suit the specific products you're promoting.
11. Save your choices and repeat this process with any other money making modules that you have chosen for your Squidoo lens.
12. Find outside affiliate products to promote. Affiliate links to these products can be added to your text modules with a simple line of HTML code. Learn simple HTML as well as Squidoo marketing tricks by reading "Social Networking on Squidoo" (see Resources below).
13. Edit your bio. This may seem like an unimportant step, but people visiting your Squidoo lens will want to know something about you before they trust your information or your product recommendations. Tell them a little about yourself as well as your knowledge of your lens’ topic. You can even include a picture of yourself so visitors can see who you are.
14. Add more tags. Under your bio is a list of your lens’ tags. These are the main keywords and three other relevant keywords that you chose when you were setting up your lens. Since Squidoo lenses have the ability to rank well for keyword phrases in search engines you will want to take advantage of this and enter more relevant phrases that relate to your lens topic. You can use your own from your keyword research or use the suggested ones listed from Squidoo.
15. Save and publish. Hit the "Save" button one last time to be sure all your fabulous changes are saved. You're ready now to publish your creation, so hit the "Publish" button. This will make your Squidoo lens live on the Internet. If you've chosen your keywords and title wisely, you should be able to find your lens in the search engine results anywhere from a few days to two weeks from creation.
16. Update your lens regularly. While you can set it and forget it, you'll have a better chance of ranking well in both Squidoo and with the search engines if you add some fresh content to your lens on a regular basis.

Tips & Warnings

• When choosing your modules look under the “money makers” to find modules that are the most profitable.
• Alternate your text and money-making modules for a more interesting lens. No one wants to see a lens with module after module of products you want them to buy. Spread out the products and insert good-quality content in between.
• Use your chosen keywords in your module titles and content. Search engines, especially Google, look for your keyword phrases in your titles and content. Be sure to sprinkle them throughout your lens.
• Never let a module pick your products for you. There's no guarantee the module will pick the best products for your topic so choose these yourself for more relevant matches.
• Don’t try and sell too many products. Sure, you want to make money; but don’t make your lens a shopping mall. Too many choices usually mean your visitor won’t make any choice at all. More likely, they’ll choose to leave your site. Instead, list a maximum of 3 to 4 products for small lenses and no more than 6 for bigger lenses. Less really can be more when selling.