Complete Guide In Starting As A Lens Master At Squidoo

For those who are not sure what is Squidoo all about, allow me to explain briefly here. Squidoo is a writing site (very alike HubPages in some ways) and is in fact having one of the most members compared to others. Throughout my writing experience, I noticed that many of my friends who joined Squidoo actually bailed out faster than what I can imagine. Well, here comes the million dollar question: Can you earn money at Squidoo? Oh hell yes! In this hub, I will explain to you why you should start at Squidoo and how you can start earning money at there.

Before I continue, you got to register yourself here before you can start earning money at Squidoo. I always consider starting at Squidoo is tough. I am not joking nor planning to make you worried. Just trying to tell you the truth.

Squidoo works in many ways and at times, it is much better than the rest of the writing sites (even HubPages). It is fun and there are always Quests for you to perform. Of course, complete these quests and you will get accolades or badges. I love writing at Squidoo because it is highly customizable. I will go into detail on this matter later in this hub.

In short, basic things you should know about Squidoo is that writers are called as Lens Masters and articles there are called Lenses. I am not sure about you but I certainly feel the name is pretty cool for writers!

For those writing at HubPages, Squidoo could be not-such-a-good place to start earning money. Honestly, Squidoo works in very different ways compared to many sites. Unlike HubPages, you could easily earn money immediately after publishing. At Squidoo, a few criteria would take place even before you can earn money. As you see, all articles are given ranks which will actually determine how good it is. Of course, if you are able to make the cut for ranking 50,000 and below, you are going to make money big time!

Squidoo pays its lens masters with what I call affiliation method. You are not paid directly with those affiliation sales and there is even no Google Adsense. However, for every sale done on your lens, you will get a piece of the pie.

Some of us might consider it unfair. For me, I see that as an opportunity. As you see, only top lenses are being ranked well and will start to generate income. Of course, this is 'point of business' for Squidoo which I truly accept it. Why I say this is an opportunity is because simply by knowing that our writing is below par, we will not make money at all regardless which site we are writing for.

Therefore , take the chance and start focusing on high quality writing!

Do you believe that Squidoo will drive insane traffic to your other articles or websites? For me, Squidoo is great especially when they do not have a limitation on how many links you can share in a lens. if you want to build traffic linking, start practising sharing links that are valuable and related. It makes no sense if you are linking an article that is not related at all. Building traffic at Squidoo is risky as you must know that over linking will lead to drop of ranking and this will definitely have a big effect on your earnings.

What I usually practise when it comes to backlinking is playing around with the modules (in HubPages are called capsules). I usually go with:

• Text + picture
• Big picture
• Amazon / eBay modules
• Link modules
• Text + picture
• Amazon / eBay modules / Link modules
• Big picture
• Text + poll
• Quiz
• Link modules
• Comment

As you see above, I will separate the links sharing into several locations. Avoid cramming all the links in one as some readers might consider that self promoting. It is ideal to share about 2-3 links per module for the best result. Have a look at this lens I wrote for more information:

Squidoo example lens: Writer's guide to success

If you want to write and earn money at Squidoo, then you should definitely have these in mind. The Squidoo community loves photos and debate modules! Always remember that pictures means a thousand words.

Many readers (including me) hate wall-of-text articles. This is what makes picture modules plays a vital part in your article. At times, we are more focused on the picture than the words. Always throw in pictures when you have the chance. Always remember that good articles has a good balance of text and pictures.

How about debate module? In Squidoo, you are able to share your opinion and even discuss it. At HubPages, discussions are primary made in the comment capsule but it is totally different at Squidoo. Lens masters are able to initiate healthy discussion on the lens itself and thus, will have a higher chance to drive traffic and sales. Of course, these will improve your earnings all together.

Squidoo is one of the best sites to earn money online for a writer but it would need a little hard work to get it working. If you are planning to earn money immediate 'out-of-the-box', then Squidoo might not be the right place for you. Always try an error and see which methods work best for you.

I have always believe that Squidoo has great potential in it and you can even earn a lot of money at there. Take time to learn about it and plan your every move systematically. Always remember that Squidoo doesn't only generate income for you but also strong backlinks to your articles.