Content Rules

If you write on Squidoo then you're surely aware of the recent conversations revolved around making our lenses personal with just the right ratio of affiliate links to unique content.  Keyword content factors in as well - no one wants to be punished for keyword stuffing, especially when it's unintentional. 

Here's a conversation about Zazzle content on our lenses and how to make our Zazzle-centric lenses acceptable to both Squidoo and to the search engine powers-that-be.  These Zazzle lens tips can be applied to the rest of our sales-oriented lenses and product reviews as well.  And it's not just Squidoo and the search engines, it's our readers that we should be concerned about.  If we don't offer unique, useful, interesting content to them, then we're not doing our job very well. 

No matter how you stand on the great Squidoo debate these days, it's hard to deny that the old maxim of "content is king" still drives e-commerce and, really, online publishing in general.  I think that's the bottom line in all this.  What do you think?

Look Familiar?

Got my shirt.  Look familiar?

Check the right sidebar.  See it?

You can get one, too. Right here.

Free Shipping on Custom Ornaments Today

Have you seen the new custom ornaments at Zazzle?  I love 'em!

Good news, but you have to act fast.  Through November 11, 2010, at midnight Pacific time, order an ornament from Zazzle and get free shipping!  Use the code ORNAMENTSHIP at checkout.

I made this simple ornament which is customizable with your lensmaster name and the name of the recipient on the back.  Or, of course, you can design your own.  Click here to get started.

Hurry!

Squidoo Plus All Things Zazzle Equals a Great Podcast

This past Monday I had the pleasure, along with fellow lensmaster stargazer00 (Dianne), to be a guest on the Giant Squid Open Mike podcast at Blog Talk Radio to discuss "All Things Zazzle." Co-host Joan Adams had read my blog post about How to Make Money With Zazzle Links on Your Lenses and invited the two of us to discuss that topic.

What a blast and what a positive response we've had to the show! Zazzle has been very popular on Squidoo for some time, but it seems that this interview has resulted in more activity from active "SquiZazzlers" and, I am happy to say, has encouraged more Squidoo-ers to open their own Zazzle stores. Giant Squid Open Mike co-host Kate Loving Shenk is among those new Zazzlers and I think I can safely say that she is hooked. (Here's her new Zazzle gallery lens.)

If you'd like to learn more about Zazzle and how to use it on Squidoo, listen to the replay of the podcast from August 31, 2009. I hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed presenting it. (You can see Dandy's eyes in my Zazzle gallery, here.)

Listen to Giant Squid Openmike on Blog Talk Radio