Actually, it is quite significant.

Here's why: making any amount of money on the web from a free site is quite rare.

At least this has been my experience. Others will no doubt disagree and argue otherwise, but I have found very few free sites worth pursuing. Google's Blogspot using Adsense is the only other exception that readily comes to mind.

Not that I haven't tried looking for these free sites in the past. When I first started exploring the web around 10 years ago I tried out a lot of foolish 'make-money' sites like getting paid to read emails, paid-to-surf... etc.

Everybody Loves A Freebie!

They tell me people actually make money at these kinds of programs but I could never get them to work for me. Probably lack of patience on my part or not enough will-power to keep working these sites. Most are a waste of time because you're simply building someone else's and VRE. They own this domain and content - not you.

I never really started earning any significant online income until I created my own domain and web site. You must create your own virtual real estate. Your own content. Your own domains. Your own sites. It is the correct way to proceed unless...

Unless... you just don't have the funds or resources to create and build your own sites. The next best thing is using a Web 2.0 program like Squidoo.

What Is Squidoo?

Squidoo is a free easy-to-use service or site that lets anyone post or write a lens (web page) on any subject that they have expertise in.

Squidoo lets you create your own lenses and pick highly valuable keyword phrases in your Squidoo URL. They are still some very worthwhile URLS to be claimed and more being born as new products come online.

Experienced marketers will know to place popular (well searched for) keywords or keyword phrases in their Squidoo URL and then have these keywords in the title of your lens and sprinkled throughout the page. Don't overdo it, but optimize your lens for your chosen keywords. Savvy marketers also know using a long tail keyword phrase often results in more targeted traffic which converts better.

How Is Squidoo Different?

Squidoo is a quality site. It offers highly focused content which often rises to the top of the search engine rankings very quickly. The Squidoo site has a PR7 (Page Rank) in Google. According to Alexa, Squidoo is ranked in the top 1000 sites on the whole web.

Why Is Squidoo Effective?

The main reason Squidoo is effective stems from its vibrant online community constantly creating diverse quality content and links. In the process, this community has made Squidoo a search engine haven. As with Wikipedia, Squidoo can be seen as the ultimate authority site. Besides, it is fun and easy to use because you have all your valuable content and links on one convenient page. It is also community rated so all the cream rises to the top!

How You Can Earn By Using Squidoo?

Every page on Squidoo carries Google AdSense ads which generate funds for the site and you. Also you can display affiliate links from Amazon, eBay and CafePress... Squidoo is more like a co-op where you share in the revenues generated from your lenses. There is also a charity element where you can donate your earnings to a whole host of charity groups.

Keep in mind, Squidoo is completely scalable. As with any marketing venture, once you know how to create that first one dollar profit, all you have to do is scale it up. If you make one dollar with one page, create a hundred pages and you will make...

Why You Should Use Squidoo?

From a purely SEO angle, Squidoo is worth your time, even if you're a professional marketer making 2 or 300 dollars a day from your sites. Squidoo lets you quickly tap into the whole Web 2.0 social media tagging system. It will help you improve your rankings for your other sites if you closely tie-in your links and content.

This is not keyword spamming. You must create unique quality content on Squidoo in order to generate the interest in your lenses. In a community monitored site like Squidoo, quality content does rise to the top. Done properly, Squidoo will easily let you tap into the whole Web 2.0 everyone is talking about.

In addition, Squidoo is an excellent hands-on training field for anyone wishing to learn more about Internet Marketing. It is the perfect place to study affiliate marketing and you can discover how SEO really works without even spending a dime.

More importantly, Squidoo is just plain easy and a whole lot of fun. Besides, if you give it a try, chances are almost 100% certain that you will make more than 78 cents!

Copyright (c) 2007 Titus Hoskins