Here is the technological equivalent of the soapbox in Hyde Park. At no cost at all, not even the price of a soapbox, anyone with something to say can say it on Squidoo.

Founded in 2006 by author Seth Godin, Squidoo is a website which allows anyone to set up a single page, called a lens, on any one topic, from pets and products to politics and philosophy.

It is easy to use, being built on a series of modules, and users, otherwise known as lensmasters, may set up any number of lenses. Godin explained his choice of name for the site as follows: ‘Squids have large eyes, and each lens on Squidoo provides a view on the world.’

There is very little limit to what you can incorporate in your lens. Your subject matter can include text, images, video or audio, RSS feeds, links, recommendations and opt-in boxes, which allow you to capture the names and contact information of visitors to your page.

Although lensmasters are encouraged to share their expertise and to follow their own agendas, the focus of a lens is less on the content, which is usually quite short and to the point, and more on recommendations and links to other websites. Online tools provide easy linking to other sites providing a micro search engine focused exclusively on the lens topic.

Why Squidoo?

Squidoo is unique in that the stated aim of the site is to make money, not only for the founding company, but for charity and the lensmasters who provide its content. Once the company’s overhead costs have been covered, 5 percent of the revenue from the lenses goes to charity and 50 percent is shared by the lensmasters, based on the ranking of their lenses and the number of visitors to their pages.

This revenue comes from sources such as Google ads (ads related to your topic are automatically uploaded to your page), and sales generated through links to sites like Amazon and eBay.

Most lensmasters probably make around one or two dollars daily from each lens, depending on how popular their topics are and how many directories they have linked. This might sound negligible, but remember, lenses are easy and quick to set up, there is no limit to the number you can have, they cost you nothing and Squidoo hosts them for nothing. What do you have to lose?

Another good reason for using Squidoo, and probably the most common reason for most lensmasters, is the ability of the site to generate traffic to your own websites, blogs or online auctions and storefronts.

And by allowing you to create a series of lenses related to areas in which you operate, Squidoo provides the opportunity to set yourself up as an authority in your field, lending creditability to your products or services.

Let’s get started:

Creating your own lens is as simple as registering on Squidoo.com and following a basic template. The most difficult part of the whole procedure is deciding what topic to choose. The next step is to give your topic a snappy but descriptive title.

Despite some problems with spamming, Google indexes Squidoo sites very quickly; however, to have your lens ranked high in a Google search the title is very important. For example, by changing my title from Gardening to Gardening with earthworms, I dropped the number of search results from eighty two million to under sixty three thousand.

Arguably this is still too high, but by making my URL www.squidoo.com/gardening-with-earthworms, which is a better description of my topic, instead of www.squidoo.com/gardening, I eliminated eighty one million nine hundred and thirty seven thousand possible competitors. (Just an example, as far as I know this site does not exist, so if you’d like it, consider it a gift!)

Another way to entice prospective clients to your site is to make use of long tail phrases. These are simply three or four keywords contained in a phrase which is very specific to your product or service. ‘Gardening with earthworms’ would be an example. ‘Gardening with earthworms and organic waste’, if applicable, would be even better. Long tail phrases make it easier for would be customers, who are searching for your particular product, to find you.

Finally, with the possibility of creating unlimited numbers of lenses, the choice is obviously between quality and quantity. The more lenses you create the more potential income, but, on the other hand, low quality lenses with little interesting information are not likely to attract much traffic.

Probably the best solution would be to concentrate on making your first lens really top quality and then repeating the format with other related topics. Examining some of the top one hundred lenses already in Squidoo will give you an idea of what people are looking for.

And once you’ve published your lenses, keep updating them, change modules, add keywords, images or links, even if you think the original was perfect. By making even minor changes and then republishing, your lens will appear as updated.

Conclusion:

How often are we given the opportunity to have our say, at no cost, be instrumental in donating money to charity and generate an income at the same time? If you believe this is too good an offer to turn down then Squidoo is for you.