The Squidoo publishing platform is
organised around the concept of a Lens. Each Lens is a focussed discussion of a
particular topic; which can be anything that the content creator wishes to
publish.
Squidoo does have a few restrictions on content,
and requirements (such as keeping Lenses fresh and up to date) which are all
designed to help its stature as a publishing platform, and web property.
To use Squidoo for traffic acquisition, the
Lens has to be attractive, relevant, and interesting, with a compelling call to
action to drive the traffic from the Lens to your primary sales site.
There are many reasons for using Squidoo as
a publishing platform designed to capture traffic:
- flexible yet robust structured publishing interface;
- high Google ranking;
- large user base.
The last one might need some further
elaboration - the large user base is
useful in the keyword research part of a traffic acquisition strategy, and can
also be used to take a shortcut in buying an established Lens with existing
traffic.
In other words, you can look to other lenses for keyword phrase inspiration, or you can search for a ready-made solution.
Squidoo Traffic Acquisition Strategies
In order to set up a Squidoo Lens (Lens
being a kind of structured blog) for traffic acquisition, the usual factors
need to be kept in mind:
- keyword density in content;
- keywords in Lens Title;
- correct tags describing the content.
The three principle strategies for setting
up a Lens geared towards direct traffic acquisition:
- build it yourself
- have someone else build it for you
- buy an existing Lens
Clearly, there's an issue of cost here. The
first strategy is essentially free, but will require time to build the Lens,
and time for traffic to build up. There's also no guarantee that the best Lens
titles have not already been taken, especially if you are trying to capture
traffic for a particularly popular keyword phrase.
Outsourcing the Content Creation Process
The second strategy will require paying
someone to build a Lens, and will also require some time for the traffic to
build up.
The building process should be shorter (as long as you choose someone
with Lens building expertise – i.e. from vWorker.com) but the time to build up
traffic may become a factor for those looking for a quick return on the initial
investment.
Above all, for these two strategies, you
must remember that although Squidoo has a high Google profile, the exact choice
of keywords and content will dictate the length of time it will take for a
decent amount of traffic to build up. And, only a proportion of that traffic
will click through to your main site.
Buying a Squidoo Lens for Traffic Acquisition
The third option is perhaps the most
interesting. Many people build Lenses (some build many, many of them) with the
specific aim to 'flip' them for money.
Lens flipping (Google “Squidoo Queen”for a masterclass) has become the principle business venture of many online
content creators, and if you're targeting a popular niche keyword, there's a
good chance that there is a Lens for sale that could be of use.
The price is dependent on several factors:
- amount of revenue generated;
- the CTR (click through ratio) on third party links;
- and volume of unique traffic.
While there are no hard and fast formulae,
expect to pay tens of dollars for a new Lens with very little traffic, and
thousands for an established Lens being sold as a going concern.
Choosing the right traffic acquisition
strategy using Squidoo Lenses to capture and direct traffic (traffic bait) is
an exercise in weighing cost against time. For those willing to pay a premium,
there is instant traffic available – what you do with it is another question.
