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Increasing Traffic to your Squidoo Lenses

How to get more eyes on your lenses

By Kimberly Dawn Wells, Internet Entrepreneur, Kimberly Dawn Wells
Who wouldn't love to have more readers, buyers, and sneezers on their lenses? (The viral marketing sneezers, not viral illness ones...) Online promotion is an art. The rules are always changing. In order to keep up and come out on top, you need to be willing to put yourself out there, step outside your comfort zone, play by the rules, hang in there for the long run, and commit to lifelong learning.

If you're ready to give it your all, follow these tips for increasing traffic to your Squidoo lenses.

 

Polish your lens

Before you send your lens out to the world, make sure it looks great. Lenses are almost always works in progress, but just because you're not 100% finished doesn't mean you don't need to freshen up your lens before blurbing about it online. There are some basic techniques you can use to jazz up your lens before distributing the link. These are things that EVERY lensmaster should be doing! As unfair as it is, web surfers make snap judgments about you and the quality of your promotions based on how your lens looks. These opinions can be fiercely negative. Just 20 minutes will help you bypass most of them.
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Submit your lens to search engines

One of the most popular questions I answer through our bug reporting system has to do with Google and other search engines. Contrary to popular belief, Squidoo doesn't have a secret partnership with or any knowledge about how Google runs their search engine business. We wish! We're out there, the same as anyone who puts up a website, constantly trying to do the best by Google and give them what they're looking for. While we offer a lot of great tools they love, the best thing you can do is be proactive in your own lens promotion.
Try: Many search engines have an "add url" page for their site.  This can help you get a jump start on getting listed.

Read about your topics, talk about your lenses

Online, like is always looking for like. Fashion bloggers are always looking for new fashion stuff to blog about. Business writers are always looking for new article topics. Recipe fanatics are always looking for great new pasta dishes. Whatever your niche, keep an eye out for opportunities to talk about it. When you find blogs and articles that allow comments, leave a short note and link to your lens.
Try: 

  • Sign up for Google Alerts for the top keywords that suit your lens.  This will notify you of blogs, articles, and websites that were recently published and indexed. By keeping up with these daily, you'll maintain a consistent marketing message.
  • Look for other lenses that fit your topic.  Find them through similar groups, the forum, and Squidoo search.

Blog about your lenses

Blogging is a hot way to get the word out about your lenses, and there are so many options for doing it. Many lensmasters incorporate their lens links into their personal blogs, and some have blogs just about using Squidoo. (Bonus, when you blog about your lens, post a Tweet too!)
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Write about your lenses

Article marketing is the process of getting visitors through articles you write about your niche topics and then distribute across the web. An article is just that - information in article form that teaches the reader about your topic. It's more than just a lead-up to a link. Write articles that are keyword rich and comprehensive.
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Keep an updating schedule

Schedule time to update your lenses and add new info. Seek out new news, links, conversations, articles, images, videos, and opinions to add to your lens. New content gives readers and search engines a reason to return.
Try: 

  • Use stuff you find on Google Alerts
  • Get related links and news from Squidaholic
  • Keep an eye on industry websites and blogs
  • Make it easy for readers to send you news
  • Block off time in your calendar for updates and commit to it.

Try bookmarking and news sites

Every lensmaster has their own opinion about whether or not social bookmarks and news sites are effective ways to promote your lens. Every lensmaster has different niche topics to promote, so test these sites for two or three months to see which two or three are most effective for you. There MANY link lists and bookmarking sites, and more popping up eacn month, so this is just a very short list to get you started.
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Try social networking sites

If you're already on Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, etc., adding links to your profile can be an effective way to promote your lenses. (I've found that if you're not active on these sites, you're better off putting your effort elsewhere.)
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Build a Squidoo fan club

Registered Squidoo users can become your fan or add just specific lenses to their favorites list. When they log in and view their My Favorites tab, they can get updates that you send out via SquidCasts. SquidCasts are short blurbs about your lens that can be used to announce additions and changes, pose questions, or encourage feedback. To post one, click Cast next to your lens of choice on your dashboard.
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