Growing Your Copywriting Business Through Squidoo

Squidoo Lenses Can be Big Business

2010 is a year for changes for me.  I have big plans personally and professionally.  One of those is to add to the focus of my blog.  So now, in addition to articles and information that teach copywriting, I’ll also include help to grow your copywriting business.

One of the shifts I’ve made thus far is joining a mastermind group.  Through this association, I’ve met some great people, one of which has brought us today’s article.  Jackie Lee is a work-at-home mom and expert on Squidoo.  While I used to think Squidoo was just another article distribution site, Jackie has opened my eyes to all it can do.  I’m turning the blog over to her so she can guide us in the business-building benefits of Squidoo.

Take it away, Jackie!

Growing Your Copywriting Business Through Squidoo
By Jackie Lee (c) 2010, All Rights Reserved. Reprinted by Permission.

Squidoo is a free community and platform where you can place content you create for your own copywriting company or the companies of your clients. On Squidoo a site is actually called a lens because each of these single-page sites is meant to be focused on one topic, much like a camera lens focuses in on the subject of the photograph.

Key Features of Squidoo Content

Headlines: Each lens has a title. The title is written in a different color, usually orange. Just as when writing headlines for copy, you’ll want to create an enticing Squidoo title that pulls readers into your lens.

Subheads: Squidoo lenses are built using different “modules” (areas where you can put content). Each of these modules also has a title section. Using the Squidoo subhead titles as you would subheads in copy can be quite effective at getting visitors to read the content that follows.

Visual Interest: Images are critical on Squidoo. While many types of copy use bullet points to break up large blocks of text one of the best to create visual interest on Squidoo is with the use of images. Squidoo makes this easy with the ability to browse your hard drive and upload images right in the text editing area. Your use of images can make or break your lens. Images help move people’s eyes down the page, keep the visitor’s interest and get them to read the surrounding content. The more relevant the image, the more benefit you will get from it.

Call to Action: Every good piece of copy has a solid call to action. While it may be a little different on Squidoo, they’ve created some pretty nice possibilities. There is the “big arrow” module, which is exactly that: a link with two big arrows pointing at it. This gives a clear indicator of what readers should do next. There are also other modules that work well when used as a call to action.

How can I use Squidoo to build my copywriting business?

There are many ways Squidoo can help. Here are a few I personally use and love.

1. Get to know me lens. We all know people buy from those whom they know, like and trust. Build a Squidoo lens about your company, services and specialties. You can even do a lens about rates and link it to your client services lens. Why not simply use your own website for this? Easier search engine rankings, for one thing.

If you choose low competition keywords you will find it quite easy to rank in the search engines with a Squidoo lens. It can be much quicker than ranking a page on your website, especially if your site is relatively new. The authority of Squidoo backs up your lens and gives it a boost. Once your lens is listed in Google you have a whole new stream of traffic finding your business.

2. Build lenses for clients. Once you become proficient in building Squidoo lenses this is another service you can offer to clients. Custom lens creation can cost up to $150 each: a lucrative branch of your business.

3. Low-key sales page. When indirect selling is called for with your copywriting, Squidoo lenses fit the bill. Many products/services convert better through passive writing and Squidoo gives the perfect platform to do this.

4. Research. Squidoo is a fantastic place to do market research as well as test headlines and other elements of your copy. Building lenses is quick, easy and free. You can create multiple lenses on the same topic to see which performs better and then use the information you gained to develop copy for your clients. If you leave the lenses up you have multiple streams of traffic to the same offer, but you also have the option to take them down or even use them to build links to the home page, helping it perform better in the search engines. (Watch for duplicate content issues, if you choose to leave the lenses in place.)

As you can see there are numerous ways using Squidoo can benefit your business. Squidoo is a popular site and is well known in marketing circles. I encourage you to take a look at this medium to discover just how powerful it can be for you and your clients.

Jackie Lee is a work-at-home mom and a Giant Squid. She makes internet marketing strategies simple enough that everyone can take action. If you want to explore Squidoo further, get started with her free how-to Squidoo report.

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5 Responses to “Growing Your Copywriting Business Through Squidoo”

  1. Growing Your Copywriting Business Through Squidoo | Marketing … | Legitimate Business Opportunity - January 19th, 2010

    [...] The rest is here:  Growing Your Copywriting Business Through Squidoo | Marketing … [...]

  2. forlan - January 19th, 2010

    Squidoo does not work for me even I have been writing for two years. If I buy some lens from other lens, will I get benefit from it?

  3. Karon - January 19th, 2010

    Forlan, I’m not sure I understand your question. Can you rephrase what you’re asking please?

  4. Regina Baker - January 20th, 2010

    I have a couple of Squidoo lenses. One of them has a pretty okay ranking. My question is, I’ve heard that lens should be updated constantly (similar to wp blogs) into to keep a high ranking, is that your opinion as well? Thanks.

  5. Jackie Lee - January 20th, 2010

    Forlan ~ I’m not sure about your question but I wonder if the problem you’re having with your lenses not “working” might be that you aren’t building links to them? You have to build links to get ranked in the search engine.

    Regina ~ No that’s not true. I have lenses that are ranking #1 for the targeted keywords that I have not touched in over a year. Once you get a stable ranking you’re good to go. You’ll just need to keep an eye on it to make sure no one else is coming in and trying to overtake you for your targeted keywords. Oh ps. wp blogs don’t necessarily need to be updated either. ;)

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