| You may have heard of it, you may have even | | | | Not only does a Squidoo lens provide you with an |
| been on the website and had a look around, but | | | | additional way to promote an area of interest |
| you haven't yet created a Squidoo lens as you're | | | | online but it also provides you with an additional |
| still not too sure of what a Squidoo lens is and | | | | way to generate income. You can earn money |
| how it may be used to promote your business. If | | | | from your Squidoo lens quite simply and while the |
| this sounds like you then read on. | | | | income generated does not amount to much, |
| If like many others you have put off getting | | | | there are many people who are making a healthy |
| stuck in to Squidoo because you simply didn't | | | | income each month via their lenses. |
| have the time to get your head around it then | | | | Money can be earned through various affiliate |
| follow the below to find out what makes Squidoo | | | | schemes that can be linked to via your lens as |
| one of the world's top 500 most visited websites | | | | well as through Google AdSense. If you have an |
| and how it can be used to help promote your | | | | eBay store, an Amazon affiliate account or a |
| business online. | | | | CafePress account then you can add these as a |
| In basic terms, a Squidoo lens is like a mini | | | | module, as they are known, to your lens. Any |
| website. Squidoo is a user-generated website | | | | income then generated in this way is split 50-50 |
| community that allows users to log on to the site | | | | with Squidoo and you can also choose to donate |
| and create a free page about anything they like | | | | your earnings to a worthy cause, as a high |
| on any subject of interest as many times as | | | | percentage of lensmasters do. |
| they like. This page is called a lens as it is | | | | Alternatively, you can opt to have AdSense on |
| essentially a "lens" or focus into a particular | | | | your lens and the money generated in this way is |
| subject area and as of early February 2009 there | | | | pooled together from all lenses and is split |
| were almost a million Squidoo lenses online | | | | between lensmasters of the community and |
| covering a variety of topics. The lens can then be | | | | Squidoo. This is done to prevent click fraud from |
| found and promoted online, just as a regular | | | | lensmasters clicking on their own AdSense. |
| website would be. | | | | When it comes to promoting your business, |
| Anyone can create a Squidoo lens, and thus | | | | Squidoo can be used to generate increased |
| becoming a "lensmaster" and a simple lens can be | | | | business as a means of internet marketing and it |
| created in a matter of minutes. Squidoo allows | | | | provides you with an additional way to direct |
| anyone to promote an area of interest through a | | | | traffic to your website. Once your lens is indexed |
| web page without knowing any techy knowledge | | | | by Google it will begin to rank in the search |
| at all. It does help if you have a basic working | | | | engines based on your chosen keywords so |
| knowledge of HTML to be able to add a lle extra | | | | remember to make sure you choose them |
| something to the lens, but the beauty of Squidoo | | | | carefully. your lens can then achieve PageRank |
| is that it allows you to create perfectly functional | | | | and just like with a website, an updated lens with |
| lenses without knowing any HTML at all. To create | | | | regular fresh content will perform better in the |
| a functional lens there are a number of what | | | | search engines. |
| Squidoo calls modules that you can apply to your | | | | As a simple yet effective tool Squidoo has grown |
| lens to add links to YouTube videos, Flickr photo | | | | exponentially over the last couple of years and will |
| collections or even links to the weather report or | | | | continue to grow in the immediate future so start |
| to a chosen blog feed. | | | | making your own lenses today. |