I'm a SQUID !

Was chatting to an online friend recently and mentioned that I was enjoying the more creative writing I did during the Havant Literary Festival whose Wordpress site and blog I maintain.

She asked me whether I had considered writing for sites like Squidoo and HubPages. Now to tell the truth I HAD heard of them, but had pushed them to the back of my mind.

So, I set out to re-discover at least one of them and this post is about Squidoo as that is what I have been learning about this week. Now I am not going to pretend that this is going to put thousands in your bank account overnight. However there are some very definite ways that you might add to your online income by creating articles on these sites and there ARE folk out there who earn a very considerable income this way.

Squidoo articles are called 'lenses' and you can write lenses about pretty well anything. Before you read on, take a moment to open these links in a new window so you can see for yourself what a lens looks like and to see how the moneymaking modules are incorporated.

http://www.squidoo.com/livinginHavant
http://www.squidoo.com/whitechristmascake

Google is good at indexing lenses provided you title them well and tag them properly. There is plenty of good information ON Squidoo about writing for and making money from Squidoo. This is just a summary and I am not claiming it's complete either - but it will give you an idea whether it is for you.

Squidoo income streams

• Ad revenue sharing - there are Google ads on Squidoo pages and lensmasters (anyone who writes for Squidoo) shares in what they earn.
  
• Amazon links - You can choose to add items from Amazon in modules included in your lenses. For instance, I wrote a lens that detailed one of my favourite cake recipes and I incorporated some links to Amazon books about making and decorating cakes. If someone clicks through and BUYS from those links, I'll earn some of the shared commission. I am also a personal affiliate for Amazon.co.uk whereas the commissions are coming from the US site. You can create links from all your featured Amazon titles to the UK site too.
  
• Ebay links need a little more looking after because items are sold and auctions end. However, if you already run an ebay shop, write some good lenses about what you sell, your shop will get more exposure and you'll sell more. A good idea is to link to a relevant seller and the module and ebay will decide which items are listed and you don't have to worry about finished items at all.
  
• Zazzle and Cafepress - your own items on these sites can also get more exposure via your lenses, but other lensmasters don't get commission from them.
  
• Clickbank. If you are already a Clickbank affiliate or you write e-books and sell on Clickbank, you can increase your revenue by lens-ing about what you write or what you sell.

Blogging and writing lenses can march hand in hand - you are reading this, and hopefully you'll wriggle over and take a look at my Squidoo lenses to date. I referred to my foodie blog http://lovebritfood.today.com on one post and it was clear that some of my visitors were also interested enough to go take a look at the blog. Now the Today.com blog makes money for me already, so I'm happy!


I've really only skimmed the surface here, hopefully it will give you some good ideas! Since I started on Squidoo, I have two pages of one-line ideas for lenses and my hope of ever catching up with myself is a dot on the horizon!

Oh - and did I mention you can also get a referral fee if someone joins Squidoo on your link and creates a lens? And an extra bonus if they earn more than $15!


Here's the link

The message gets through!

Just a brief post from me.

It seems at last that my message about duplication is getting through. I have had a couple of comments here directly on my blog, but have had a whole lot more as DM's on Twitter, emails and messages via social networks, skype and so on.

This is going to hurt a lot. All those marketers out there that tell you that all you have to do is buy THEIR course, or e-book or whatever are pulling the wool over your eyes.

Learn to read between the lines and don't waste any more money. This is the way they trap you. You sign up for a 'free' or very cheap e-book. When you confirm your email and click through, you are put on a page with another tempting offer. Statistically a lot of people weaken at this point and buy the extra product. That's just ONE hook.

You might or might not read the e-book. Lots of people never read half of what they download. You crazily start promoting something else. What HAPPENED to the original product you signed with?

Keep focussed. Choose a product - a simple, great useful product like a domain and hosting from GDI. Join GDI with me and I'll teach you, at no additional cost why you needn't spend money on extra e-books and courses and what these guys are REALLY doing to get your money.

I'll show you that the tiny amount of money you spend when you first join GDI will rapidly turn into profit AND how you then build on that profit.

It's taken some time, but it IS working. Even if you NEVER made money online before, you can now.