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!

Polishing My Plow on New Year's Eve

So, how are you spending your New Year's eve? I hope you'll take some time out to have a little fun, spend a bit of time reflecting, but spend most of your time looking ahead. What do you believe the new year holds? Do you have predictions? Goals? Resolutions? If you do, I hope you'll take a minute or two and share them on my New Year Predictions and Resolutions lens. Then bookmark the lens and come back in a month or two, or even next December 31st to see how you're doing or how you did.

A couple of years ago I found a saying that goes like this: A man cannot plow a field by turning it over in his mind. I printed that out and it's been taped to my computer monitor ever since. I haven't found any better advice, advice that truly speaks to me, since then and I will continue to dust off those wise words and read them every day, not just on January 1st. They really motivate me to act.

I predict wonderful things for the coming year. Of course life will always bring surprises, but one thing we can control is our outlook on and our approach to life. Be positive, be proactive, and see what can happen. That's how I intend to plow my field in the coming year. I hope you'll do the same.

Happy New Year!

Announcing the 2008 Giant Squid Awards

It's official. Today was announcement day. The 2008 Giant Squid best of the best lenses by category, along with the Giant Squid of the Year, have been announced.

Choosing which lenses to vote for was actually quite a challenge. Every lens nominated was a good one, and every one is a winner by virtue of being nominated. Congratulations to every lensmaster represented among the nominees!

Then there was Giant Squid of the Year. Talk about difficult. It's just very tough to narrow down the best of the best. The winner was lensmaster JaguarJulie, first runner-up was thefluffanutta, with ChefKeem following closely behind. Congratulations to these three, as well as the other deserving lensmasters who were nominated.

Thanks to all who voted for my Kindle lens which, I am happy to say, did capture the prize for Tech Lens of the Year. What an honor!

If you're looking for Squidoo lenses and lensmasters to study and learn from, the 2008 Giant Squids Award Ceremony lens is the perfect place to start. Be prepared to be inspired!

Keeping the Faith, I Made it to 100!

Just published my hundredth lens! It wasn't the one I thought would be number one hundred, but I felt it was a lens I needed to do and now I'm really glad I did.

Hopefully I'll have a couple more in the next couple of days, plus find time to edit some oldies but goodies.

So, drumroll please, I am proud to share my faith with you!

Ninety-Nine!

I just published my 99th lens! I'm shooting for the Giant Squids 100 Club and it looks like I'm almost there, but actually I have a lot of work to do. The criteria is 100 "quality" lenses and, although all of mine were quality at one time, I'm behind in updating several lenses and I must find time to refresh and renew probably half a dozen before the end of the month.

In the meantime, I haven't had a chance to promote numbers 97 or 98 at all. Number 100 is started, so hopefully I'll find time to put some really good finishing touches on it and start promoting it as well.

Think I'll make it? I hope so. Thanks for all the help and encouragement along the way!

Hurry! Squidoo is Giving Away Money!

Squidoo is at it again. This time they're giving $30,000 to charity and they want you to help.

To choose which charity you would like the money to go to, visit this lens and follow the directions. You need to have a Twitter account to designate a dollar donation to one of 21 charities that Squidoo has named as recipients of this round of donations. There are links to click on within the lens, links which will auto-tweet your vote. It takes just a second to click and register your vote for the charity of your choice.

Once the 30,000 votes are tweeted, each representing a dollar to a specific charity, the voting ends and the donations will be made. If you want to be sure a dollar goes to your favorite of the 21 charities, go vote now before the 30,000 votes are used up. Really, it won't take long, so don't put it off.

You can watch the progress of the voting on Twitter Search. If you don't have a Twitter account, it's simple enough to set one up (and why, oh why, haven't you done that already?) at twitter.com. If my explanation doesn't make sense, read Megan's explanation on the official Squidoo Holiday Twitterdrive for Charity lens.

Hurry!

I'm Thoroughly Confused. What is Squidoo?

My new online friend, April, asked me this: "I just went to your Squidoo page, but am thoroughly confused! Just what is it? Is it a place to blog, sell, or something else?" Here's my response.

April,

To answer your question about Squidoo, yes to all of those things! Squidoo is a place where "experts" make pages about topics, anything at all, and people then find those pages when they're looking for information about the topic or contents of the page. It's an example of Permission Marketing, where you don't go to people, but they seek you out. If they like what they see, they might buy something you're offering for sale.

You don't actually have to sell anything on Squidoo, but if you do, you earn commissions on those things, plus you as a lensmaster (the pages are called lenses, the authors lensmasters) receive a portion of the overall ad commissions that Squidoo earns.

To understand it, you just have to explore it. My lensmaster/profile page shows all of the lenses that I've created, which cover a wide array of topics. Squidoo is a great way to promote an online business or just to get the word out about something you're passionate about. I just updated my favorite lens, called Nurturing Imagination. That's a topic I am rather passionate about, plus it features my kids. :-) Also, I'm pretty proud of the lens I recently made about my puppy, Daisy. I updated that one again this morning. It's good to update/freshen your pages regularly, but it isn't like a blog where you're expected to post regularly.

There are over 750,000 Squidoo lenses and thousands and thousands of lensmasters, so you can imagine the variety you'll find on Squidoo. I love it! (Can you tell??)

Hope that helps to answer your question!

Make a Bigger First Impression With Squidoo

First impressions are important and this is especially true with Squidoo lenses. Recently, Squidoo increased the allowable size of the intro module images (read about it here). I love this change. Now the pictures really pop.

The change isn't retroactive to the pictures you're already using on your lenses, so you might want to go back through and re-load your puny pictures if you believe a bigger version would benefit your lens. I've done that on a few of my lenses already, including this one and this one. (Don't worry, it's rated G.)

Tell me what you think. You like the bigger pictures or are they too big? Are you going to update yours? Leave me a comment and a link; I'd love to take a look.

My 7 Habits of Successful Lensmaking

Glen recently put together an awesome post called The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Lensmasters. He enlisted the help of seven very successful lensmasters who each presented their own seven things that they do to help make each of their lenses successful. Great idea and you must read all 49. Then you can read my seven, here.

1. I have an idea! The best ones seem to just pop into my head.
2. Brainstorm. Write down everything I can think of about the topic. I usually type it, but brainstorming is better done with pen and paper.
3. Keyword search, which might actually change the direction of the lens but will likely give me the URL.
4. Google it. What’s there that I didn’t think of? Check images and video.
5. Amazon, eBay, and other affiliate products available? Look for both bestsellers and something unique. Look for eye appeal to spur emotion. (I’d choose a product with a pretty picture over something plain, wouldn’t you?)
6. Set up the sequence of modules and make the lens. This is where the creative juices actually flow. I’m a visual learner and seeing my ideas take shape actually spurs new and better ideas, so it isn’t surprising that my final product is often not quite the same as what I thought it would be when I first visualized it in my head.
7. Publish and take a look. Rearrange modules to make everything look nicely balanced.

Assignment: What are your 7 habits? Make your own list, print it out, tape it to your monitor or to the wall and refer to it often. Revise when necessary. Make great lenses!