Squidoo lenses can be used to recommend and point to more detailed content elsewhere on the web. Linking and recommending is something that is actively encouraged by Squidoo, which sees itself as a huge user-generated network or directory. It has the feel of a dynamic online community.



Lenses are easy to create and can be made in as little as ten minutes. No technical know-how is needed at all so anybody, even people with no prior knowledge of building websites, can make a lens within minutes of entering the site.

To make a lens you simply click the "Create A Lens" (or similar) button which directs you to the "Lens Wizard". You can build a basic site with the wizard in about five minutes.

It is actually a good idea to build a basic site first of all and then return to it at regular intervals to add fresh content to it. Squidoo rewards lenses that are frequently updated by giving them priority in the lens rankings. That results in more exposure on Squidoo and also in the search engines.

So, Squidoo gives you a quick and easy way of getting your message out on the Internet. You can also add youtube videos, eBay auctions, Amazon books, surveys, RSS feeds, links to blogs and articles and a whole lot more to your lens.

Squidoo is also a great tool for Internet marketers and offers several benefits to them, all free of charge. Here are just a few of the benefits of making lenses for Internet marketers.

1. You are allowed to promote your own website, blog, podcast or whatever. Squidoo is popular with the search engines, so you can easily improve your website ranking by making a series of lenses and pointing each one to a page on your website.

2. Search engines love Squidoo, so the more lenses you make and point to your webpages, the higher your website will rise in the rankings, especially if you keyword-optimize your lenses and webpages.

3. Squidoo has a very permissive attitude indeed towards online marketing, so you can link your lenses directly to your affiliate marketing programs.

4. As I mentioned, Squidoo allows you to post items from Ebay and Amazon on your lenses. Each time someone buys something via your links you will earn royalties.

5. You can also enable visitors to post comments and links on your lens and they can also give your lens a rating of between 1 and 5 stars. Likewise, you can post your comments on other people's lenses and will get links back to your lens. The wider you spread your net the more traffic you will generate as people come to you to check out your lens and post comments.

6. One more useful interactive feature is the option of setting up a poll to survey your visitors. Setting up a poll can be done in just a few simple steps; again, no technical knowledge is required and you can learn a lot about your niche market.

7. Squidoo shares its profits with its lensmasters so you can also make some money simply by making lenses, promoting them and keeping them updated with fresh content.

Finally, Squidoo is great fun to play around with and hang out on. As a free and easy and entertaining way to get some extra publicity for your business and make some extra money on the Internet, it is hard to beat.