5 Things You Should Know about Squidoo

When I first mention Squidoo to people, I often get a response along the lines of, “Squid-huh?” Squidoo is simple, but sometimes it’s a bit hard to explain. Here are five ways I might answer the question, “What is Squidoo?”

1. Squidoo is an opportunity for you to claim your role as “expert.” I know a little more than the average person about the FairTax, so that makes me an expert on the subject. I built my FairTax lens (Squidoo pages are called lenses) as a means of explaining the FairTax to anyone who might like to learn more about it, thus establishing myself as an expert on the topic.


2. Squidoo is a platform for permission marketing. Rather than jumping through advertising hoops to lure in potential customers, the customers seek you out and come to you. If you type into Google “find stuff to sell on ebay,” you might find my Squidoo link and click, thus giving me permission to market to you. The click takes you to my eBay product sourcing lens, where I then present you with a whole bunch of great information, just what you’ve been looking for, along with multiple opportunities to purchase a product. With your permission.


3. Squidoo is an extension of your business. It allows you to direct people to any site on the web, including the website for your online or even your offline, brick and mortar business, or to your blog or your affiliate website. While this bulldog breeder uses her website to advertise her puppies for sale, she uses this Squidoo lens to expand upon other topics about bulldogs and offer advice and recommend products. This provides a great resource for people who buy her puppies. It also provides a great service to anyone who loves bulldogs or has questions about their care.


4. Squidoo is a great place to make money. If you’ve been paying attention, you know that each of the points above includes a method of making money with Squidoo, but there’s more. Each Squidoo lens contains ads placed there by advertisers who pay for that privilege. You have no direct control over what ads appear (though they are generated by your tags and your lens content), but you do get a share in the advertising revenue that Squidoo earns when your visitors click through on those links. You make the lens, you get a share of that advertising revenue. Additionally, when a visitor to your lens purchases a product that you’ve added to your lens using the Squidoo affiliate modules (such as Amazon.com and CafePress), Squidoo shares that commission with you.


5. Squidoo is a great way to give to charity and, indeed, to publicize your own charity or nonprofit business if that is the topic of your lens. A tiny portion of the earnings of every Squidoo lens is distributed to multiple charities, and any percentage up to 100 percent of the affiliate earnings that your Squidoo lens generates may be earmarked as a donation to a charity of your choice, chosen by you from an ever-growing list provided by Squidoo.

So, those are five important things that you should know about Squidoo, but the very best way to find the answer to the question, “What is Squidoo?” is to dive right in, explore, make your own lens and discover Squidoo for yourself.