Money money mon-ey…MON-ay!

Hello lensmasters! This week it’s all about the money. As a group we are discovering new and improved ways to generate more royalties with our lenses. So I’ve put this newsletter together as a cheat sheet to help you up your bucks.

Whether you created your lens for the sole purpose of spreading an idea and sharing info, or as a fun way to make some cash, your lenses stand a good chance of earning some royalties. And the site makes makes sales dead simple. Once you’ve set up a moneymaking module on your lens, very little maintenance is required by you. Plus there are no inventory, shipping, or return hassles to worry about. Just collect your royalties each month, or send them off to charity. Finito!

How are we making more money in March?

1. Modules you never knew existed
2. How to make more money
3. Selling your own products and services
4. Fun stats of the week
5. Lensmaster Interview

As with any website, solid content on your lens is VASTLY important to the money making process. The appearance of your lens and an authentic tone clues shoppers in to whether or not they want to stick around. Keep this in mind for your introduction and module descriptions, and you’ll be well on your way to setting up your own Squidshop lenses!

~Kimberly Dawn Wells, Editor of the SquidU Review

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1. Modules you Never Knew Existed
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You’ve probably heard of the Plexo module, but did you know there’s a Vermont Teddy Bear module? How about an Overstock.com module? Camera World? eBags? Hello Direct? Squidoo recently added 45 new money making modules that will enhance your current lenses and give you ideas for new ones. Here’s just a handful of what you’ll find.

Backcountry.com
Camera World
CompUSA
eBags
Golfsmith
Guitar Trader
Laptops for Less
Office Depot
Overstock.com
Panasonic Direct
Paragon Sports
Payless Shoes
Petco
Shutterfly
Wine.com
And lots lots lots lots lots more.

All these modules can help you add moneymaking power to your lenses. Use them to spotlight individual products or create a mini-mall of related offers. Your visitors will enjoy the variety and by sending them to a niche shop, they might end up buying more than either of you bargained for!

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2. How to Make More Money
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Every lensmaster wants to know, “how can I make more money?” Google ads aside, a lensmaster makes money every time a reader clicks on an item for sale and purchases it (or winds up buying something else on that site, later in the clickstream). So: how can we get more visitors to buy the stuff we’re passionately recommending?!

1. Start relevant, stay relevant.
If your lens starts with the history of stuffed animals and trails into, “cheap boat motor parts on eBay,” you’ve just lost a fabulous opportunity to sell related accessories to your visitors. What would stuffed animal historians possibly want to buy? How about acrylic cases to keep their stuffed toys clean, or oak display shelves that fit their living room decor, or a journal to record their collection? By offering related products on your site you keep your content focused and your visitors interested. A lot of lensmasters fall into the trap of using unrelated offers to fill up space. You’re better off with a short, focused lens that readers will want to come back to. If you want to get greedy for more money, make more lenses! Don’t jam it all in to one.

2. Make a recommendation
People want to get their hands on the things their friends use and love, so why not make a recommendation? If you love a product (or book or music or DVD), incorporate a module to showcase that one specific item and review it. Why do you love it? What are the pros and cons of using it? How will your visitor benefit from purchasing it? Don’t just say, “It’s great!” That doesn’t mean anything to a shopper.

3. Make more lenses!
If you’re an expert on, say, wallpaper borders, brainstorm multiple lens ideas for using wallpaper borders.
- Borders for the bathroom, kitchen, kids rooms, etc.
- Borders for decorating furniture, closet doors, bookcases, etc.
- Borders for craft projects, scrapbooking, card making, etc.
- Borders by application style (glue or self-stick)

You get the idea. THEN…link them all together!

Likewise you could do a series of lenses on:
- pottery for beginners, children, kitchenware, and wall art
- board games for kids, college students, family reunions, and blind dates
- sunglasses for snow bunnies, state troopers, Paris Hilton lookalikes, and Matrix fans
- golf equipment by color, for lefties, with team logos, and for ladies

Don’t put all your squids in one basket, and don’t limit yourself to just one or two mega-lenses on a topic. More lenses will mean better chances of getting found in search engines and more niche markets to target.

Tip: Be sure each of your lenses is unique, and doesn’t have copied and pasted text. Search engines (and SquidStaffers) frown upon multiple sites with the exact same content. (Hello, spam, anyone?) Target your text for your niche offer to draw your readers in.

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3. Selling your Own Products and Services
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Making money with modules can be fun and easy. There are no shipping, inventory, or money concerns. You set up a lens and you’re ready to go. But what if you want to sell your own products and services on Squidoo? Promoting your own products works in much the same way.

1. Share a few freebies
Internet shoppers love their freebies! By sharing your articles, a coupon, or a short preview of your project, visitors will become more interested in what you have to offer. Consider what it would take to sell you on a certain product or service. Would you hire a copyeditor before seeing examples of his work? Would you purchase a video game before seeing a demo? Would you buy a fiction ebook before getting a taste of the plot and characters? Comfort your prospects by giving them a sample of what they can expect.

2. Post testimonials
Well written testimonials are a great way to install confidence in an unsure shopper. Effective testimonials start by stating a problem for the user, and end by describing how your product or service solved that problem. Photos and links to the happy customers’ websites will make the testimonials realistic, and if they’re from someone famous that’s even better!

3. Use lots of photos
If a shopper can’t touch, feel, and examine your product, photos are the next best thing. If you have the resources, consider making a video to show how your product works. The Flickr and YouTube modules are perfect for these purposes.

4. Create multiple lenses
The same rule applies for selling your own products. Create multiple lenses for each of your individual products (if appropriate) and for each of your niche markets. Not sure what your niche markets are? Make them up! Even if you really don’t have any Pippy Longstocking Fan Club members looking for your handmade patchwork skirts, it would make a fun lens that’s sure to get some attention!

5. Be REAL
Shoppers are getting smarter, and they’re shying away from sales letters and false fronts. If you want to be successful online you need to be approachable, down-to-earth, and genuine, just as in real life. Let shoppers get to know you as a real person with a short bio and some fun facts. Write to them as if you were talking to them in a casual conversation. This will make them feel comfortable contacting and working with you.

Don’t forget to promote your lenses outside of Squidoo! Post links on your blog, MySpace page, and other websites to maximize your traffic.

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4. Fun Stats of the Week
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* The eBay module is the top moneymaker on the site. The Amazon module is up next. These two are surefire bets.

* Congratulations to our top 3 most profitable lensmasters this month:
Lewis Smile! : http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/MrLewisSmile
Rachel Schwarz: http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/relache
GreenDRV: http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/Greendrv/

Go see what the masters are doing with product review and commerce lenses. Stealing inspiration is allowed
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5. Lensmaster Profile
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This week lensmaster JimH gets deep and shares his thoughts about how to make great lenses.
Read the interview here: http://squidu.com/Profiles/the-many-interests-of-jimh!

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 8th, 2007 at 10:40 am and is filed under SquidU Review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.