Content Anchored Backlinks

We talk a lot about backlinks on Squidoo, and on the internet in general. And many times, in the interest of getting more traffic to our lenses, we go on a backlink rampage from social networking site to social bookmarking site to forums, without ever really considering the value of that particular backlink.

Well, I am here to tell you that most of those will not help raise your article's value, and at the same time, may anger forum, or network memberships. Many of them consider that kind of linking spamming and could get you knocked of the network or Squidoo or other sites banned altogether for that behavior.

What is a better use of your time is to create content anchored backlinks. Content anchored backlinks are content with a link to your lens included. However, the link is anchored by the blurb, article or few sentences that you write about it.

Some sites will not only allow you to write about your lens, but also will generate additional revenue for you. However, each site has rules, and most of them will not allow more than two links to one particular site in their article or signature.

Here are some sites that I recommend joining or at least looking into:

Hubpages
Xomba
Squidlog
InfoBarrel


You can follow the Howling Squid Review directly from Twitter.

Maximizing Your Adsense Earnings Through Backlinks

I am a strong believer in maximizing and compounding your online earnings as much as possible and getting as much earnings from the same articles as you can. It seems that lately several websites have popped up that will share Adsense earnings with you for bookmarking your pages with them, so I thought I would compile a list here to make sure that everyone knows of the websites, and is taking advantage of the income and backlinks available. Some of the listed websites give credit for referrals, some do not, but all of them give you income either through Adsense directly or through some alternate form of payment.

If you would like to join or check out any one of these websites, just follow the link I have provided below:

• Xomba
• Tagfoot
• Yousaytoo
• Shetoldme
• Addblogurl
• Hubpages
• Redgage

A note about Hubpages: Hubpages is not a social bookmarking site, but it is an excellent site to earn Adsense income from and write articles containing backlinks. They do have a two link limit per article, but since you only need one link for a backlink that is not a problem.

Do you use any other Adsense revenue sharing sites regularly that you can recommend? If so, add them to the comments here so that everyone can learn about them.

You can follow the Howling Squid Review directly from Twitter.

A Few Good Tools for Lensmasters

A brand new lens has just been written by Spirituality about traffic patterns on Squidoo lenses that is well worth every lensmaster's time to take a look. It is a great overview of some typical types of lenses and how their traffic has behaved over time with screen shots of traffic charts.

It really helps you understand how traffic works looking at the long view so that you as an author do not get so caught up with the day to day. The lens is called SEO traffic stats: ranking report for squidoo lenses. She makes a very good point about how backlinks work as well, talking about her links from a well established very busy site and how they have helped drive traffic to her site.

On another topic, I am happy to announce that Redgage has finally gotten their act together and the pages load at a normal rate of speed. I like the site but had no patience or time to deal with the slow load rate. Now Redgage is so much better, so if you have been holding back from using Redgage, sign up now. You can earn money and create backlinks to your pages.
You can follow the Howling Squid Review directly from Twitter.

Earning Money from Backlinks

This pendant can be purchased on the  Lake Erie Artists Gallery website.

I don't think that I need to tell you that it is important for your content to have backlinks leading to it to help drive traffic to your content. But choosing where to build those backlinks can also add to your earnings potential.

I have already mentioned Redgage in this blog before. Redgage pays you for page views on links, blog posts, and pictures, and you can also earn money in their daily, weekly, and monthly contests. Mulberry is the latest lensmaster to win the monthly award of $200.

If you have an Adsense account or want to start one, you can also create backlinks and earn Adsense money from two other sites.

SheToldMe will pay you Adsense revenue for your pages, and on anyone who you refer to SheToldMe.

AddBlogUrl will pay you Adsense revenue on your own pages.

Any of these three sites will send traffic to your content, and at the same time allow you to earn money on the same content, just by creating a backlink on their site. Why not create more revenue for your already existing content on Squidoo, your blog, or any other site?

You can follow the Howling Squid Review directly from Twitter.

Creating Backlinks

Running Towards Your Lens
Believe: Marathon Runners Art Print
Buy at AllPosters.com

Backlinks are important to the development of any website, blog, or webpage. So what exactly is a backlink?

From Dictionary.com:

Backlinks (or back-links (UK)) are incoming links to a website or web page. In the search engine optimization (SEO) world, the number of backlinks is one indication of the popularity or importance of that website or page (though other measures, such as PageRank, are likely to be more important). Outside of SEO, the backlinks of a webpage may be of significant personal, cultural or semantic interest: they indicate who is paying attention to that page.

In basic link terminology, a backlink is any link received by a web node (web page, directory, website, or top level domain) from another web node (Björneborn and Ingwersen, 2004). Backlinks are also known as incoming links, inbound links, inlinks, and inward links.

Being a visual artist, I visualize backlinks as pathways leading from one place to another. So each time you create a backlink, you are creating a pathway for traffic to flow towards your lens, blog, or website. Traffic is wat flows on the path. Picture all the people in the picture above running towards your lens.

The more people who visit, the more traffic, the more clicks, the more revenue, etc. Of course, that works even better if the traffic is targeted, but that is another discussion altogether.

Bottom line is that by creating solid backlinks, we get more visitors.

Mentor jeffwend is the lens promotion mentor for Squidoo, and has just updated his lens on Promoting Your Lens Outside Of Squidoo. This lens is an excellent resource for creating solid backlinks that drive quality interested traffic to your lens, article, or hub. Although written for Squidoo, the advice will benefit any online webpage or site. I highly recommend that you bookmark the page and use it as a reference.

Another page to take a look at that relates to Promoting Your Lens Outside Of Squidoo, is my page on Exponentially Increase Your Squidoo Traffic and Reputation Through Other Article Writing Sites gives you more ways to increase your traffic through writing articles. There is some overlap between the articles, but they are mostly complementary.

It is not enough to just write an article and let it sit. Promotion is a key to getting notice to your sites.

You can follow the Howling Squid Review directly from Twitter.

Creating a Lensography--Backlinks and Promotion

We do not talk much about lensographies on Squidoo except that everyone should have one of their own lenses after we create enough of them, but I wanted to touch on other ways that you can create lensographies and why.

What is a lensography? A lensography is a lens that features a group of other lenses. They can be your own or other people's lenses.

What do we gain by creating a lensography?

Depending on the type of lensography we create, there are several benefits, and virtually no drawbacks.

Every featured lens is a backlink to another lens.
We can recommend lenses to other people.
We gain the goodwill of other lensmasters when we feature their lenses.
We add value to our lens by adding more information even if we did not write it.
We keep people on the Squidoo site longer which will give them more chances to click on a profitable link for a lensmaster or the site.

A lensography doesn't have to just be a list of lenses. And frankly, the best lensographies are not. They include the other lenses as part and parcel of the topic they are writing about.

Here are some examples:

The Squidoo Zazzle Gallery

Finding My Way--Lakeerieartists' Lensography

Healthy Vegetarian Living & Recipes

How I came to Love Teaching Math

My Best Fun Birthday Party Ideas and Articles

RocketMoms Travel First Class

These are just a few examples of lensographies.

If you have a great lensography, or you know of a great lensography, list it in the comments here, so other people can visit it for ideas.

You can follow the Howling Squid Review directly from Twitter.

Use Article Writing Sites to Create Backlinks With Context

Creating backlinks to your lens or site will drive traffic to it. It will also increase the "authority" of the site to Google and other search engines. Authority basically means that it becomes more important.

There are numerous other article writing sites online that allow you to write on any topic similar to Squidoo. However, each one has different rules on usage. These sites are also there to make money for themselves and sometime can include ways for you to make money too. Most of them will not like being used blatently to drive traffic to Squidoo, but you can do it in a more subtle manner.

Here are a few examples:

Hubpages--Hubpages is probably the most similar to Squidoo. You can write articles on any topic, and you can earn money through Amazon, Ebay, Adsense, and Kontera on your Hubs. Do not put more than one direct link to your Squidoo lens in your hub. But you can write about your topic, sell similar products, and put that one link in. Don't copy your lens, either. Write something different about your topic. Then you can put a "for more information, go here".

Bukisa--Bukisa is a new article writing site that you can write short 2 to 3 paragraph articles on. Still in beta but easy to use. You can earn some money through revenue sharing.

Associated Content--Associated Content is a well established site that is a great place to publish articles. Lots of ways to make money here.

Zimbio--Zimbio is a cool site with many features. It is not a revenue sharing site. You can put your lensmaster feed here, and write unique articles as well.

There are numerous other sites out there, but these are an excellent start. Pick one or two of them, increase your exposure, create quality backlinks, and earn some more money while you are at it.

Twttrstrm--The Newest Lens Template at Squidoo

Squidoo has recently unleashed a new phenomenon called Twttrstrm or Twitterstorm for those of us that need vowels. Twttrstrm combines the flexibility, and originality of Squidoo, with the viral marketing ability of Twitter.
Twttrstrm has become wildly popular among experienced lensmasters from the start. Many of us communicate on Twitter, and Twttrstrm is a fun way to send out a message. The thing I think we need to keep in mind is what our goals are with Squidoo. Twttrstrm can be fun, but can it be profitable. Whether your profits are for yourself or for a charity, efficiently maximizing your time spent online makes sense.
I think one of the tricks will be to remember that Twttrstrm lenses are still lenses and to create them with the care and knowledge that we do with any other lens, with the added Twitter viral effect. Continue to publicize your Twttrstrm lenses by bookmarking them, and creating valuable backlinks just the way you do with any other lens, so that Twitter isn't the only way that your lens will find people.
Here are some examples of Twttrstrm lenses that I have created:
2009 U.S. Economy Debate
Toothpaste: Squeeze It or Roll It From the Bottom?