Need to Be Edited

 

I thought I would write a post about the "need to be edited" button on our Squidoo dashboards. Why? Well, because it took me about a year to realize what it was, so I assume other people will miss it too.

There is so much advice for Squidoo lensmasters when they are new, and even not so new. It is often hard to take it all in, and even harder to remember it. Sometimes things slip through the cracks. If you are someone like me, who doesn't like to read the directions, but likes to just jump in and do things, it is easy to miss some of the finer nuances.

So in case you don't know, every one of us has a "Need to be edited" link on the left side of our dashboard. If you click this link, you will see a list of all your lenses that have not been edited for 60 days. This list updates daily, so after you have been on Squidoo for 60 days, you will start to have a growing list unless you update the lens. There is no rule to say that you have to update your lenses at any certain time, however, updating a lens and publishing it gives your lens a lensrank boost. And what do you know, when I go back and check my list, I find things on almost every lens that I missed the first time around, or the second, or third, etc. Not only that, but I can apply new things that I have learned in the last 60 days that will enhance my lens's performance, appearance, or information.

So check out your list of lenses that need to be edited. You might be surprised (like I was!)My most recently update lens is The Squidoo Zazzle Gallery.

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Using Success to Build Success

I am sure that most of you have heard the 80/20 rule.

Here is the Squidoo version:

Spend 80% of your time on the 20% of your lenses that are the most successful.

You can define success any way you want, but for the purposes of this post, and blog, I will define a successful lens, as one that draws consistent targeted traffic, and creates a steady income through lensrank, or purchases. You may have some lenses that perform steadily only during a certain time of year but they do year after year. Those would be ones that I would include in this definition.

In my lens repertoire, my most consistently successful lens is Eco-Chic Green Fashion. This lens has steadily grown over time in success, and I have continued to add to it, update it, and it is the first lens that I try new tools or ideas on.

But there is another way to take the success from one lens, and create more success. And that is by building lenses on similar topics, that you can springboard from the successful lens.

The queen of this method is Janet21. I will admit that I am not as good at this as she is. But if you look at her top lenses, she will send people to newer lenses, to her blogs, and vice versa, to get traffic moving where she wants it to go.

Here is an example from my successful lens: Eco-Chic Green Fashion. I just finished creating a new lens on a related topic called Eco-Chic Green Decor. This lens is brand new, published yesterday. My goal is to take the targeted traffic from my first lens, and interest them in the second lens, which is essentially "eco-chic green fashion for the home". I have used some of the same keywords that are drawing people to the first lens, and will be placing links to the second lens on the first lens in several ways.

This method is something that all of us can do with our most successful lenses. Almost like building the chapters of a novel. The first lens Eco-Chic Green Fashion is Chapter 1, built to draw the reader in. The second lens Eco-Chic Green Decor is Chapter 2. Starting to get to the meat of the story.

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Let's Talk About the Value of Original Content

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Who are the people that you remember the best? Who are your favorite authors, musicians, and artists? Aren't they the people who have created unique experiences in your lifetime?

This fellow to the left, for example, taught untold numbers of children how to read with his silly rhyming antics, and colorful and just a bit controversial mischief. Now most of us cannot ever become Dr. Seuss or The Cat in the Hat, yet each of us has something unique to contribute to our world and make it a more colorful, better, more diverse place to live. Dr. Seuss is the perfect example of how just one person with his art, words, and personality can change the world.

Each of us has that opportunity with our Squidoo lenses as well. And we can do that best by writing original content for each lens. People searching online are looking for personality and recommendations when they search for information. We can provide that for them. I have recently written a new lens: First Lens Mentor: Squidoo Tips--How to Write an Essay or Lens Excellently to get lensmasters to really think about what they are writing about when they start on Squidoo. I know that had I read this earlier in my Squidoo career, I would have approached some thing differently.

The more I learn about the internet, the more I learn that it is really just a faster version of "word of mouth." The internet is a social network and word gets around super fast. But it works just like the gossips in your neighborhood. People are constantly talking to each other in an informal manner.

If you want to stand out, you need to provide something of yourself that is of value, passionate, and shows your humanity. The more YOU you are, the more people will be interested in you.

Express Yourself with Squidoo

We often talk about how to search engine optimize our lenses for traffic, and how to monetize them to make more money, but sometimes we neglect to comment how very important it is to have a good solidly written lens to begin with.

I want to draw attention to a new lens by BevsPaper called Scarlet Widow. This lens is a heartwrenching and beautifully written story about the author's experience with marriage, life, religion, and God.

The truth of a great piece of writing is the way it draws the reader in and compels you to read it. This lens is written from the heart with passion, and as the reader you can tell that with every sentence. Whether or not you agree with BevsPaper, or even know anything about religion, you still feel for the crisis of faith that her situation has put her in, and the crossroads she finds herself in.

In this all too human story, we can share some of her pain and glory, if just for a moment, and share what it means to be human. With a story like this, BevsPaper can always slightly reword it for better keywords to get the best traffic, but once the reader lands on the page, they will want to read it through.

This kind of writing shows the passionate excellence that Squidoo lensmasters are capable of, and is refreshing in an all too often "I don't care" world.

And that is why you will hear over and over that the best lenses are written about something you know, and are passionate about.

You can follow the Howling Squid Review directly from Twitter.

Making Money with Squidoo

I thought I would talk about broadening your thinking about how you can make money with Squidoo. There are just so many, many ways that Squidoo can earn you money that the list is practically endless, but I wanted to touch on just a few of them:

Here are the obvious:

1. Earn money from lensrank. If your lens's average monthly rank is in Tier 1, 2, or 3, you will earn money directly from Squidoo for that month.
   


2. Earn money from money making modules on Squidoo. Anytime someone buys anything from a Cafe Press, Amazon, or Ebay module that Squidoo provides--Squidoo will pay you money within 30-60 days on your monthly payout.


The not quite as obvious:


3. Become an affiliate partner with any one or more of numerous companies, add their ads or links on your lenses and if someone buys items from your links, you will earn a commission from that affiliate program. They will pay you, not Squidoo. For more information on becoming an affiliate seller, see Exponentially Compound Your Squidoo Earnings With Affiliate Marketing.


The least obvious:


4. Direct traffic to your print on demand sites like Zazzle or Cafe Press. You have one of more stores on these sites, you create one or more lenses to promote your store, if a customer buys anything from your store, the print on demand site will pay you.


5. Create a store on Etsy, Ebay, or Ecrater. Direct traffic to these stores with lenses promoting your store, your product, or your specials. If someone buys items from you on any of these sites, they pay you directly, and you ship the product to them.


6. Create one or more regular websites selling your niche products online. Use Squidoo as one of your marketing tools. When customers come to you through your Squidoo marketing, you will earn income from your sales. Here is a link to one that happened just the other day from the SquidU forum--just think, a $2000 sale directly attributable to Squidoo.


The offline possibility:


7. Create lenses about your brick and mortar store, office, or business. Use Squidoo as one of your marketing tools. Who knows what sales will come your way from that possibility? Here are two examples of lenses built for that purpose: Lake Erie Artists Gallery at Shaker Square and Are You a Retail Business Looking for Free Reputable Marketing and Another Income Stream?

So what do you think of your opportunities for earning money with Squidoo now?

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