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As I am not a member of Tenfinity, the group of lensmasters that has brought us the Squidoo Step by Step guide, I decided that I can feel free to brag about it.

Squidoo Step by Step is the absolutely best and crystal clear Squidoo guidebook that I have seen since I started on Squidoo in June of 2008, almost 2 years ago.  I read through the book just yesterday, (no one says that I am the first to get to anything), and realized that I already know just about everything in the guide.  What that says to me is that I have learned quite a bit in my not quite 2 years on Squidoo.

However, much of what I have learned was learned through trial and error, learning and unlearning, and wasting a lot of time boiling instructions from several sources down to the bare bones.  Had I had this Squidoo Step by Step guidebook in my hands at the beginning, I would have reached where I am today much faster.  Squidoo Step by Step is an excellent resource for all lensmasters to understand the basics and the intermediary lessons that Squidoo has to teach us.

If you want to see if you are moving in the right direction, especially if Squidoo is your initiation to the internet web 2.0 or web 3.0, I highly suggest that you download a copy.  What is the price, you ask?  $29.95? $5.95?  Nope, the Squidoo Step by Step guide is completely free.  How about that!

Now the group that brought us the Squidoo Step by Step guide has also started a wonderful Ning called Professional Squids.  The idea behind Professional Squids is to help people understand the Squidoo Step by Step guide, and go beyond the guide.  And the group is, yep you guessed it, totally professional in nature.  And guess how much this Ning costs to join and continue the excellent learning that started in Squidoo Step by Step?!  Free again.  Two amazing free resources that will vastly improve your efficiency and proficiency on Squidoo.  What are you waiting for?

Join Professional Squids by clicking here!

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For many of us, including myself, winter is a tough time of year.  The incessant frigid cold weather is taxing on our bodies as well as on our psyches, making it even harder to just get out of bed.  Then we have to go and put on several layers of clothes, and a coat over that just to leave the house.

January, too, can be a depressing letdown after the huge buildup to the Christmas holiday season, especially if you earn money from sales during the holidays.  All of the energy that you expended leading up to the holidays, takes its toll in January.

And you are not the only one.  Many people take a few weeks to recover from the holidays, often making January a sluggish sales month.

However, if you are goal oriented and smart, January and February are a huge opportunity to build up your resources, lenses, blogs, and other online money earning accounts while you are inside next to the fireplace. (Make sure to stay far enough away to keep your laptop cool.)  If you spend the first few weeks of the year strategizing your year, and writing your articles, lenses, and blog posts 4 to 5 months before they need to produce, you will allow your work to percolate, and gain authority and backlinks in time for real money to be made.

Visualize yourself on the beach this summer, while your summer travel lenses are making you money while you are sunbathing.  Summer travel lenses that you wrote in February, I might add.  This is just an example of course, as you can come up with numerous topics to write about for every season of the year.

My point is really two points.  One–take advantage of the slow time to rev up your income earning potential by writing, backlinking, and writing some more.  Two–write your articles way ahead of the time they are apropos to allow them to mature so that the right people read them when they are ready to buy.  In other words, plan ahead.

I started as a Squidoo lensmaster in June of 2008, and it is only in the last six months or so that I realized the value of time in the online money making equation.  The longer you stick with it, the more you write, and the more good sites you write on (including your own blogs), the more you get noticed, followed, fanned, the more income you will make.  Each item you create adds to your repertoire or resume, just like any other type of work that you do.  Even more so, if you link the items together in a network.

So let your space heater run next to your feet, and the cold wind blow, while you create income for yourself that will pay off in the next few months.

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Marketing any type of product is really about getting the correct Target Audience to view your product or service.  I’ve written previously about getting to know exactly who your Target Audience is.  By knowing who your Target Audience is, you will be able to speak directly to those people in words and language they will understand – you will also be able to address their specific problems and offer solutions, increasing the opportunity of making a sale.

There really is little point in marketing to everyone.

All successful marketers know that someone will buy your product or service when it ’solves a problem’ for them and how can you address everyone’s problem in one go?

Each lens you create for a product, should address a specific target audience.  The keywords (or tags) that you choose and the language you use in your writing will be for that audience.

The same concept applies for your traffic generation – getting the right traffic to your lens.  As only a certain percentage of your visitors will buy from your lens, even when they are your target audience, it is important to keep a regular flow of traffic to your lens.

Article Submissions

One very effective way is to write articles and submit them to article directories and blogs in your niche.  Not only will this aid in increasing the rankings of your lenses in the Search Engines, it will also credential you as an expert within the Niche and encourage visitors to your site.

There are a number of ’standard’ article directories to submit to, which are listed in the One Week Marketing Plan but there are also a number of Niche sites that you can submit to.  For example if you are promoting a Self Help product, www.SelfGrowth.com is an excellent site to consider.   Spend a little bit of time looking for sites that you may be able to contribute articles to – you may need to approach the site owner directly and ask if they will.  If you know someone who owns a blog in your niche, why not ask them if they would like some guest posts – many bloggers appreciate extra good quality content for their site.

If you run your own blog in that niche, post a version of your article to your own blog as well.

I’ve also found it useful to use a submission service like Unique Article Wizard.  I can submit an article to UAW, select the category that I’m targeting and have my article distributed and displayed on several other sites.

Article Marketing may seem like a lot of work, but when implemented correctly and used regularly you will find targeted traffic hitting your lens.

For more information, I’ve shared  6 Article Marketing Tips on my blog.

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As many of you know, I have been dabbling with Hubpages in the last 6 months, and in that time period, I have learned some valuable lessons that I am going to apply to my Squidoo lenses going forward, and looking back on my older lenses as I refresh and revise them.

For those of you that do not have a Hubpages account, Hubpages is an article writing site, however, it is much more streamlined and pared down compared to Squidoo. Because Hubpages is more basic, however, the author is required to really hone their craft to do well.

Writing on Hubpages, reminded me that I had been sidetracked by all the bells and whistles on Squidoo, and had sometimes let that get in the way of writing a strong keyword rich, traffic stopping article that would look good to Google and other search engines.

So since I find myself in this position, I thought these lessons might apply to some of you as well, and I will share them with you.

1. An article gets better Google traffic if it is at least 800 words.
2. Pictures are great but they do not take the place of text.
3. Most readers come to your article in search of information. If there is too much other stuff in the way, they will not stay.
4. Items you sell on your article need to be directly related to the topic of the article for successful selling.
5. If you are selling an item, and that is your purpose, then take every opportunity to sell that item. Don’t beat around the bush.
6. There is nothing wrong with trying to make money. We all need to eat.

For those of us on Squidoo that have gotten excited about all the great new modules and features, but have forgotten to write enough text to attract readers and Google (and I include myself in this group), go back to your lenses and make sure that you have at least 800 words of keyword rich text to go with everything else.

Lenses that are all pictures are beautiful but they won’t attract Google, and they won’t attract a lot of readers. Also pictures need to have their alternative text filled in to get any attention on Google.

And there is no reason to feel ashamed that you want to earn money with your lenses. I am not against charities. As a matter of fact, I think giving to worthwhile charities is great. But in order for us to help others, we also need to make enough money to help ourselves. Wanting to earn a living wage online is not a bad thing, and it can be done. And I mean a living wage, one that we can actually live on.

Sometimes I think that some people in the Squidoo community do not realize that many of us are trying to earn a living online, to pay for basic needs like food. In my case, I am working to support a local gallery. And that is a worthwhile goal.

What I am suggesting is that we all go back to the basics in 2010. Don’t worry so much about the color of your text, and the look of your lens. Spend your time working on making a keyword rich, focused lens that will catch the eye of Google, and bring you the right kind of traffic, people who want to read what you are writing about, and buy what you are selling.

The rest is fluff, and will not earn you money. Even if you are doing it for your favorite charity.

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If you have joined Squidoo to promote and sell products, one skill that you are going to need is the ability to write an effective sales document.  As an affiliate marketer, every lens you write should be designed to attract a customer that is willing to buy your product or service and / or to gain their email address so you can follow up and market to them later.You are, in fact, writing a Sales Letter on your lens even if it is over several modules.  The content of that Sales Letter is incredibly important and should exhibit a level of friendliness, whilst still being direct and to the point.

Many business people struggle with writing an effective sales letter and realize that if the sales copy doesn’t speak to their target audience, in a way that the target audience will appreciate and understand – they are wasting their time. Not only should your sales letter speak to your lens visitor in a way that they can relate to, it must also address the reader’s main interest – generally a problem they are experiencing that requires a direct solution, or specific training or another need that requires filling.

You can use these six tips for keeping your potential customers, your readers, very interested and convert readers into buyers:

#1…Understand What Your Potential Clients Are Looking For

It is imperative that you know why your visitors will buy your products or services. Your visitors really aren’t interest in your product or service – you would be wrong – your visitors are are only interested in what your product or service will do for them. When writing your sales letter, you need to stress the benefits your potential clients will get if they buy your product.

There is an emotional component to all sales and it is that emotional component that prompts buying. The emotional component is the bit that contains the “WIIFM” or “What’s In It For Me?” Provide the answer to that question with the benefits of your product or service and you will make sales.

#2…Your Headline Counts

The first thing your visitors see when they land on your lens is the headline. The headline must grab the reader and makes them want to read more.

Your lens headline is the most important part of your entire sales letter. It’s worthwhile spending time on the headline when creating your lens.

#3…Be Direct And Focus On The Benefits

Your sales copy, or lens content, shouldn’t ramble – it should be direct and specifically focused on the benefits of owning your product or taking your service. There is no Golden Rule about the length of sales letters, it should be as long as it needs to be. Some lenses will be one page and some will be several pages long.  As long as you stress your benefits and make your copy as long as it needs to be to make your points (WIIFM).

#4…Keep Sentences And Paragraphs, Short And Sweet

Readers tend to skim through endless paragraphs of text and the look of your page is important to your conversion and as such, you should keep your sentences and paragraphs short.

Large blocks of text get skipped by scanning eyes. Use bullet points and subheads to direct and focus your reader’s attention and put a space or two between paragraphs to make your page easy to read.

Formatted text boxes will attract attention for special information or calls to action.

#5…Add A ‘PS’ After The Signature (maybe…)

Many successful Internet marketers believe that including a PS or two at the end of your sales letter, after your signature at the end, will increase your conversion rates dramatically. This may, or may not be true – it would depend on your target audience. Test your lens with a PS (a module right at the end) and without – see what results are achieved.

#6…Add Several Calls To Actions

Often, when writing a sales page, we can forget to add several calls to action. A Call To Action literally tells your reader what to do – graciously and politely. The Call To Action is generally a request to actually buy the product or service. If you review any sales page, or lens, that coverts well, you will usually find two or three opportunities to purchase the product on the sales page, complete with a statement of urgency and the ‘buy now’ link.

Once you have led the reader through your benefits and listed the bonuses available after they buy the product, you have to tell them what to do next.

These six tips are a great but your best training tools can be found on the sales pages and lenses of any of the very successful businesses. Review lots of sales pages and lenses, note things like colors, placement of the “Buy Now” button / links and the general layout of the page. Find pages that appeal to your target audience and duplicate what already works.

 

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