Squidlog.net

My good friend, AJ, has given me the inspiration for this post with her post I am finally adding Amazon UK widgets to my Squidoo lenses. In AJ’s post, you can read her reasoning behind why she is adding the UK links to her lenses.

The longer I am a Squidoo lensmaster, the more I learn. (No it does not stop when you make Giant Squid.) And making the most earning potential out of each and every lens is one of the things I am still learning how to do.

When I joined Squidoo, I had a blog on blogger, and knew just about nothing else about html, social bookmarking, affiliate marketing, etc. I was a total newbie. I think that Squidoo draws many total newbies like myself, who are bound and determined to find ways to market their company or earn money for a charity, or just earn a little extra money on the side while they raise their children at home. And these are all very worthy reasons to join Squidoo.

But it takes being a Squidoo lensmaster, to learn how to be a really great lensmaster, and I for one, am still learning.

But here are some ways that I have learned to maximize your lens for profit that will not cost you a dime.

1. Add your own Amazon, Amazon UK, and Amazon Canada links to lenses if you are an English speaker.  If you speak another language, add the Amazon links for that country.
2. Add your affiliate links into a link plexo, then get the widget for the link plexo and put it on your blog or website.
3. Create resource pages full of links to products or information that you get an affiliate commission on that are related to your topic.  An example is: Popular Making Money Online References that I can link to from any site I wish.
4. Continue to look for resources that you can add to your lens, to continue to give it new life, and revenue streams.
5. Blog about your topic and link to your lens, over and over and over.
6. Make sure to have at least one ebay, and amazon link on every single lens.    That one link can start a shopping frenzy.
7. As you learn new techniques, apply them to your lenses.  Make each lens more of a profit center as you grow into a better lensmaster.
8. Add a personal note to every lens.  The personal ones are the most interesting and do the best.

What ideas have you implemented to increase your earnings.

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Best Friends

It is about time for me to comment on one of Seth Godin’s posts again, and I thought that I would talk about building trust.

It is very important in business to build trust with your customer base. Why is that? That is because people are much more likely to buy from someone they trust than someone they don’t trust. Think of it this way–if someone you like and respect tells you to buy something, aren’t you much more likely to buy it than if a total stranger told you to buy it?

Most people will pay more for services or products from someone that they trust than someone that they don’t. I know that I will. And when I find a person I like, it takes a lot to get me to switch away from them.

Seth says, “If you want to dig a big hole, you need to stay in one place.” I don’t know about you, but I want to dig a big hole, plant myself in it, and grow roots, so that I can continue to grow and blossom. That is what I want to do with my brick and mortar store, and with my business ventures online.

Trust is something that that takes time and knowing a person over time to grow. You cannot just meet someone and expect them to trust you right away. Of course, if you are introduced by someone else they trust, they will already be primed to trust you.

This is where the community on Squidoo comes in. As you build trust and friends, you build a following on Squidoo, and through them off Squidoo. People find you through people they know and you continue to build bigger and stronger. When you do it that way, you can sustain criticism, changes, and the inevitable ebbs and flows of time.

Most marketers will tell you that it takes someone an average of seeing something 20 times before they will act on what they have seen. Seth says, “Call on one person ten times and you might make the sale. Call on ten people once each and you will likely get ten rejections.”

What do you say?

To read Seth’s entire post, click here.

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I just finished reading a terrific post by Seth Godin on his blog, and there was a particular point that I wanted to talk about.

Now I do recommend that you read the entire post, as Seth makes several interesting points in the post, but I am only going to discuss one of them. Here is what Seth says:

“Stick with it. There’s a Dip and it’s huge. Lots of people start doing things like this, and most of them give up fairly quickly. It might take three or five years before the industry starts to rely on you.”

This idea that Seth is bringing up is something that applies to just about every worthwhile endeavor that you or I will ever take up. If it is worthwhile, then it takes time to build it up. I have been on Squidoo for one year, and I know that I am just at the beginning of a very lucrative and worthwhile journey. People need to earn my trust, and it takes time to build a following or a customer base. Sometimes things happen, like a down economy, that get in the way of our worthwhile goals. But if the goal is worthy, and possible, then you should stick with it, and if you do, you will reach your goal.

Think of the things that you have already accomplished in the past. Of those things, how many would you have succeeded at if you didn’t stick to it? I can think of a few, just off the bat–my marriage, raising my children, finishing college. Some days were really pretty disheartening, but I stuck with them and look where I am now.

This applies to Squidoo. It is a worthwhile goal to earn income from Squidoo. I am earning some, and continue to earn more as time goes on. Sometimes there is a Dip, but the increases are always bigger afterwards.

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With the incredible success of the RocketMoms project, which is now in its second round, Squidoo is offering a “Master’s Degree” Program to Giant Squids.

From Robin’s post in the Giant Squid Community Showcase, “Don’t miss this golden opportunity to take part in a Giants Only forum where you’ll be able to brainstorm with the best. ”

Megan Casey has written a lens about the program which explains it further.

From the lens:
“Over the next 8 weeks, we will teach you to truly rock Squidoo. We will dig into our bag of tricks and pull out all the insights and ideas and tips and stories and dares we can muster. We will give you encouragement and structure and a fun way to make lenses together-and more important-learn from each other.

It’s part lensmaking challenge, part networking with fellow Giants, part daily lesson plans to goose you along.

Run by your Giant Squid Organizers, sponsored by Megan Casey, and contributed to by members of SquidHQ including Seth Godin, Kimberly Dawn Wells and more!

But hurry… school’s about to start. We’re kicking things off (on your secret Giant Squid Tips blog) on Friday June 12th with Orientation and a Meet & Greet.

It’s free, of course. You’ve earned it by becoming a Giant.”

I am thrilled with this new project! I have long thought that Squidoo needed to do something for the Giant Squids that achieve 50 or 100 lenses, and then are not sure what to do next. Also, just because you write excellent lenses, does not mean that you have reached your goals by doing so. Thirdly, there are numerous unofficial ebooks out there that tell people how to succeed on Squidoo but none of them are written by the powers that be on Squidoo that really know the ins and outs of the statistics for the entire site.

From HQ’s perspective, they can teach us trends, systematic successes, what they see from a site perspective and where they are planning to take the site in the future, so that we can anticipate how to spend our time.

Additionally, anyone who has participated in the RocketMoms project can tell you, the small group format is really a dynamic, successful, and powerful forum to create, learn, and grow.

If you haven’t already signed up, I highly encourage you to do so. This is a terrific perk for Giant Squids, and is just one more reason to become one.

Here is the link to the lens:
Get your Giant Squid Masters Degree this summer!

Who is going to join me?!
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We have had so many examples of what Squidoo can do for all of us in the last few weeks. I encourage all of you to think more broadly when it comes to how you can market and earn money from Squidoo.

The latest example is of Johann The Dog (who knew that a dog could write?). Recently, Johann reported some incredible news to RMS which she, in turn, wrote about in the Giant Squid Community Showcase. Johann had written a lens called Raise a Green Dog! in September of 2007. An excellent lens, it raises the issue and helps answer the question about how to raise a green dog.

Since that time, the lens has turned into a blog, and now a full fledged website Raise a Green Dog! The site offers tips, and products for green dog living. So when you are thinking of how you can earn money with Squidoo, you also need to think of how Squidoo can help you lead to other things.

How to Raise a Green Dog

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