Google loves Squidoo and it's f-ree!



It is still one of the easiest ways to get to the top of the rankings for a long tail keyword, quickly and with the minimum of effort. However, it is a good idea to do a little more than just put a page up, so here are my top 10 Squidoo Marketing Tips:

1. Always create your Squidoo page with the keyword as your title.

2. Make sure your content is keyword focused. It is a good idea to keep adding fresh content on a regular basis. (But as always, be cognizant of your return on the time invested. It is no good spending hours dominating the search engines for a phase like

'left handed basket weaving'. Sure you'll be number 1, but who will care?)

3. The higher your ranking in your Squidoo category the higher you will rank in Google. (That same principle is being used by Google more and more, for example, videos have to become popular FIRST before being ranked in Google).

4. When you submit articles to the directories, make sure one of the hyperlinks in your resource box your SQuidoo URL, hyper linked with your targeted keyword.

5. We'll be talking a lot about Social Bookmarking in the weeks to come, but don't forget to social bookmark your Squidoo lens too! bumpzee is a great place to start.

6. Think of your Squidoo lens as another one of your web-sites. So, for example, if you are using any other marketing technique, such as classified ads or forum posting, then don't forget to include your Squidoo lens as one of the targets.

7. Study squidoo FAQs. You are going to find out just how to tweak the engine under the bonnet. For example, you can all about their automated algorithm Lens Rank they use to rank the lenses. They look at community ratings, lensmaster reputation, click through rates, frequency of updates, inbound and outbound links, rev-enue generated, and lots of other factors and give the lens a number.

8. Hop over to the home page of squidoo. Study Squidoo marketing strategy to your heart's content. Check out the forum.

9. While you're there, make a comment (or six) and add your link to your signature.

10. You might have gathered by now that Squidooing is a whole science by itself. There are people who make a living, just by Squidooing.

Finally, you often find the best marketing tips on how to promote a site on the site itself (after all, they have a vested interest).

Here's the advice Squidoo give themselves:

Email it. To your friends, your mom, your boss. Don't be shy about bragging, you deserve a little limelight!

Blog it. Post your lens to your blog. Send a note to someone you admire who runs a blog on your topic, and ask them to check out your lens. Sincere flattery gets you everywhere.

Link it. Link to the lens on your Facebook page, LinkedIn profile, Flickr profile, eBay auctions, email signature. Create your own little traffic network and get discovered in more places. Wouldn't you like to get found more online?

Group it! Find a Group that's busy talking about your topic and request to join. Get friendly, get relevant, get feedback, get found. Compete. Stop by the Lens of the Day Group for inspiration from winning lenses. And if your lens is up to snuff, enter it in the contest.