If you do then Squidoo may be something for you to try. Squidoo is a huge website that lets you publish your own web-pages, called lenses. You can write about almost anything, whether it be a specific interest, a problem you have had and the solution you found or even promote your own online business. Why Do I Squidoo?
I was recently diagnosed with Otosclerosis, which is a disease of the middle ear. It’s one of those frustrating “invisible” conditions but can be very debilitating. Not only does it cause hearing loss but it can play havoc with your balance and co-ordination. For a very active mother of four, it has meant some serious life adjustments, while I await physiotherapy, which I hope will help my brain re-adjust.
I have been told that for the moment I have to “take it easy” - yeh, right! Ah, but there is one silver lining to the cloud that descended on me, when I started to find out more about the condition. I now don’t have to feel guilty about sitting down, instead of doing the housework! And sitting down can include sitting at the PC and writing - hooray!
How do you earn commission?
I have always wanted to write but at the same time I need to try to boost the family income, as due to my condition I cannot work - Squidoo may just do that for me. You can earn commission in various ways, including through Google Adsense and other online merchants such as Ebay and Amazon. You can pick products that are relevant to the topics of your lenses and if anyone clicks through to the merchant site and buys, then you receive commission. However, the great thing is that you are actually helping people, particularly if your lens is providing a solution to a problem. All my “help” lenses feature books and websites where people can get more information or support.
There’s other great things about Squidoo as well: it donates 5% of its advertising revenue to charity, there’s a forum and you can share thoughts and experiences with other lensmasters by blogging on Squidtop. All of this has helped to create a community where everyone tries to help everyone else.
How do you learn to Squidoo?
There’s lots of lenses about “how to”, where lensmasters give tips and creating a lens is made simple with ready made modules that you add your information to. You can then adapt them into your own style (by changing fonts, colours, adding borders etc) more or less how you want, particularly if you know HTML. If you don’t know how to write HTML, then no need to worry, there’s lenses about that as well.
Lenses can be brief or go into things in a lot more detail - which is generally what I do, but you will get a better idea if you go and have a look for yourself. Check out my Lensographyand have a look around Squidoo.
How do you sign up?
Joining Squidoo is similar to joining Qassia and you can get paid through referrals. Just click on the “Make a page” button on any lens - it would be nice if it was one of mine! You will go through a very simple sign up process and make a start on your very first page. Don’t worry you don’t have to publish your first lens immediately and you will have plenty of time to work on it. Once you have earned $15 in commission, both you and the person who referred you get an additional $5 each. You get paid via Paypal.
10 Lensmaking tips
Write about what you know about! You can supplement your knowledge by doing some research on the net
Write about what you care about
Think about a subject that you are really passionate about and that you have a lot of experience with. Then think of various topics within that subject. For example, my two main “niches” on Squidoo are Children and Parenting and trying to make a natural and green environment in my home
Get into the Squidoo way of doing things. Don’t just focus on promoting your own lenses, be generous about promoting other people’s. Visit their lenses, leave a comment (genuine compliments are good) and you will be surprised about how quickly other lensmasters will visit your lenses
Join the Forums at the Lensmaster’s Lounge. Introduce yourself and add relevant comments to the discussions. You can even ask people to critique your lenses if you are up for some constructive criticism
Read as many “How to” lenses as you can and don’t forget to thank the Lensmaster for the help they have given you in their Lens Guestbook
DO NOT SPAM! It is OK to redirect your readers to other websites, including your own, but your lens should not be full of marketing material. If you are not sure if your lens is “spammy”, then mentally strip out all the links. Look at what is left. Are you giving enough information or help within the lens that does not depend on the links?
When leaving a comment in a Guestbook, don’t add links to your own lenses unless they are genuinely relevant. For example you may have just read a lens about an environmental issue. Saying how much you enjoyed reading the lens and then leaving a link to a lens on “How to get rich using Clickbank” is probably NOT the best way to go about it!
Read as many lenses as you can about how to get traffic to your lenses. A lot of lensmasters share their experiences and you can find out what works for them
Don’t be shy! Give it a go! Otherwise you will never know what you are capable of!
Please get in touch if you do decide to Squidoo!
Send me a message if you sign up and I will look out for your lenses. You can contact me through any of my lenses.
A selection of my lenses:
AJ's Lensography - a bit about me and the lenses I have written
Bullying at Primary School- how to handle the school if your child is being bullied and it does not stop
Auditory Processing Disorder - one in ten children have APD, yet most are undiagnosed. This lens is a must read lens for any parent who is worried that their child is not doing well at school, but no one can tell them what is wrong
Janey Lee Grace - Janey is a UK “eco expert” and a BBC Radio 2 presenter. She has a host of information on how to try to make your home a more green and natural environment
Soapnuts - a spin off from the Janey Lee Grace lens. Soapnuts are a cheap and natural alternative to all those toxic products we use to do the cleaning and the laundry
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Contributor's Note
As with any commission based scheme, neither Squidoo nor this lensmaster can guarantee overnight riches!
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