Share Your Hobby and Make Money With Squidoo

What do you get when you cross your favorite hobby with a website called Squidoo?  If you do it carefully, you get a monthly income!  Let me explain.

Squidoo is a place online where regular people, called lensmasters, create web pages, called lenses, about a hobby, activity, gadget, person, or any other subject that they are passionate about, and make money for themselves and for charity.  A Squidoo lens isn’t a blog that has to be updated weekly or even daily to grow and thrive, it’s a stand-alone mini-website put together by an expert, someone who knows and loves its topic. 

Let’s say you have a hobby; let’s choose quilting.  You enjoy the fabric, the colors and patterns that go into a quilt.  You enjoy the method, the technique.  You’ve made a quilt or two or maybe a lot more and enjoy showing them off or even selling them.  You are a quilter.  Thus, you are an expert on quilting.

Now comes the Squidoo part.  First you open a Squidoo account, which is easy, fast, and free.  Then you choose the title of your first lens; let’s call it “I Love Quilts.”  Using the easy-to-understand workshop that Squidoo provides, you upload pictures of some of your own favorite quilts.  Add a section, called a module, that features your favorite quilting books at amazon.com, books that people can click on and buy directly from your lens.  Add a Flickr module and include pictures of quilts that other people have made.    Now add a poll module, perhaps asking the visitors to your lens how many quilts they have made, none, one, up to five, from five to 10, or more than 10.   Add a Zazzle module featuring mugs with quilt patterns on them, which are great gifts for quilters.  Add an eBay module featuring vintage quilts available at auction on eBay right now.  Add a guestbook where your visitors can leave you a message.  Hit “publish” and, simple as that, you’ve created your first Squidoo lens, which might look something like this.

Next step is to tell your friends about your new lens.  Email it, Twitter it, post it to your facebook or myspace page.  This is where the fun really starts.  As people visit your lens, some will leave messages, participate in the poll, and maybe even click through and buy one of those books you recommended, a mug, or even a vintage quilt from eBay.  When they do, you and Squidoo earn a small commission.  No inventory, no shipping, just a Squidoo lens.  Squidoo will donate a portion of their share of the commission to charity; you may do the same with settings on your lens.  Or, keep the money for yourself.  It’s up to you. 

Sound fun?  Trust me, it is fun.  It’s a great way to share your passion with the world via the web and a nice way to add a little spending money to your budget.  Ready to get started?  Simply go to Squidoo.com and follow the simple steps.  If you do, will you come back here and leave a comment with your lens link? I’d love to see it.  Already on Squidoo?  I’d love to read your comments, too.  Have fun with Squidoo.  I do! 

Squid to Squid

I met another Squidoo lensmaster, face to face!  

For an up close and personal report, visit "A Tale of Two Susans."

Big News On Squidoo. Make That GIANT News!

Today's Giant Squid Day on Squidoo.   The most recent class of Giant Squids has been announced.  Congratulations to all of you!  I don't think I'll ever forget the day I found out I was a Giant Squid.  When the badge appeared on one of my lenses, I did a double take, checked a few other lenses just to be sure, then ran into the kitchen where I had no witnesses and jumped up and down for a long time!  I know exactly how all of you new Giants feel.  Oh, so good! 

It's also Giant Squid 100 Club Day, and I'm jumping up and down yet again because now I can display that badge, too.  I qualified!  Hooray for me and for all the new 100's!  As the honors get better, the rewards (and responsibilities) get bigger.  With so many excellent lensmasters on Squidoo, I have to wonder what will come next. 

In the meantime, W00t! 

(Learn how you can become a Giant Squid.)

Squid for Kids

Just had to share this with my Squidoo friends. Presented to me as "Redneck Seafood Dinner" (it's okay, I'm from Arkansas) it could also be "Squid for Kids," don't you think?

Lens Titles and Stuff

I use the word "stuff" a lot.  Do you?

One of my earliest Squidoo lenses was called "Where to Find Stuff to Sell on eBay" for a long time and actually did pretty well, then I changed the title to "What to Sell on eBay and Where to Find It."  The lensrank dropped.  I changed the title back over the weekend and already visits have picked up substantially and lensrank has improved, plus when I look at the stats I see that the majority of the search terms include the word "stuff."  Interesting. 

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.  File that rule under "Squidoo Stuff to Remember."

Add This One Little Thing for More Star Ratings

Do you ever leave a comment on a Squidoo lens but then forget to go back to the top to rate it with the stars? I'm sure I've done it. Sometimes I just forget or get in a hurry or sidetracked.  Likely others have forgotten to rate my lenses, too.  

Frankly, when people practically beg for star ratings for their lenses, sometimes that seems a bit pushy (not always, some do it well) and I'm inclined to move on.  Since self-promotion is far from my strong suit anyway, I'm not inclined to ask.  However, recently I've started adding one little line,  four or five little words, in a text module just below the comment box at the bottom of my lenses.  I simply link those words to the lens itself, saying "Return to top of page" or "Back to the top."  That provides an easy way to get back to the stars and, perhaps, a small reminder to the reader to go back to the top and color in those pretty stars.  (See what I'm talking about at the bottom of this lens.)

I can't say whether or not it has improved my star feedback or not, but I figure it can't hurt and maybe, just maybe it will help.  What do you think?  Is it a good idea?  Is it better just to ask?  Is my approach too subliminal?  Are you going to try it?  Do leave a comment and let me know. 

A Challenge and a Cheerleader

Back in mid-October I received the following message via email:

"I'm going for the 100 club too (although I am behind you by a few lenses) and I'm going to be keeping my eye on you and your lenses! Susanna"

Thus began the challenge. Susanna was challenging herself, but little did she know how she would challenge me! Susanna had a plan, which included four lenses a week in order to make the 100 Club deadline of the 31st. Wow, four a week. That's a lot of lenses!

Guess what. She did it. And, after giving up on my goal with nine to go, then receiving a kick in the tentacles by (guess who) Susanna herself, so did I. I published my 102nd lens last night at a few minutes before midnight. Susanna is up to at least 110 (Squidoo hasn't updated totals in a couple of days). That's more than four lenses a week and, I might add, hers are good, quality lenses. No junk in her lensography, that I can guarantee! Here's her latest; just check it out to see what I mean.

Susanna Duffy, you're a shining star in the Squidoo sky, or is it sea? Either way, thank you for being my cheerleader. You're going to make a wonderful member of the Giant 100 Club!