Squidoo lenses: local business promotion

One of the applications I have been exploring is the use of
Squidoo for local business promotion.

I have not offered this on a paid basis yet but have built
a few Squidoo lenses to illustrate the power of Squidoo
for local business promotion.

Here's one example:
http://www.squidoo.com/TheCupcakeCompany

This Squidoo lens is ranked 907 overall and 60
in the food category.

It was created on 21 June 2008 and has had
1,665 visitors since then.

In the last 30 days, 228 of the 347 visitors have come
from Google. In this time, there have been 56 clickouts
to The Cupcake Company's blog and 85 clickouts to the
Company's cupcake photos on Flickr.

The Squidoo lens appears on the first page of Google for
at least four keywords that I tested.

I think the application of Squidoo to the promotion of
local businesses is very under-developed. This is
certainly an area that has a lot of potential.

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Ron Passfield is a Top 100 Squidoo Lensmaster and
Giant Squid. He provides free resources
for Squidoo affiliate marketing on his Squidoo authority
site:

http://www.squidoo.com/squidoomarketingstrategies

To learn more about Squidoo Affiliate Marketing

check out:

http://www.squidooaffiliatemarketing.com

Subscribe to Ron's free Squidoo Marketing e-course:

http://www.smsecourse.squidoomarketingstrategies.com/

Ron is the author of the e-Book:

Squidoo Marketing Strategies

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Squidoo lenses: using SquidUtils Toolbar

The SquidUtils.com site is something you have to
see to believe.

This has a tremendous range of tools that you can use
to improve your Squidoo lenses and management of
your Squidoo groups.

This website based collection of tools, developed by
thefluffanutta, is quite extraordinary and includes
features such as a Squidoo chat room, RSS feeds for
your lenses, links to a Squidoo lens auction site,
pinging facility.... (and the list goes on).

A visit to the SquidUtils site is a must for
the committed Lensmaster:
http://squidutils.com/

BUT before you go, check out what
you can add to your own Browser Toolbar.

The SquidUtils Toolbar lets you:

• Keep up to date with the latest blog posts from Squidoo HQ
• Switch easily between multiple Lensmaster accounts
• Quick access to your dashboard, with notification of Lensrank updates
• Rate, favorite and comment on lenses without scrolling up and down
• Submit a lens to social bookmarking sites and lens directories
• Build a new lens with any of the co-brands
• Access affiliate RSS feeds for Amazon products
  
• Direct access to all the tools you love at SquidUtils.com

The SquidUtils Toolbar is available for Windows, Mac,
and Linux on Internet Explorer and Firefox.

CHECK out these free tools now and start using them
today:
SquidUtils Toolbar

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Ron Passfield is a Top 100 Squidoo Lensmaster and
Giant Squid. He provides free resources
for Squidoo affiliate marketing on his Squidoo authority
site:

http://www.squidoo.com/squidoomarketingstrategies

To learn more about Squidoo Affiliate Marketing

check out:

http://www.squidooaffiliatemarketing.com

Subscribe to Ron's free Squidoo Marketing e-course:

http://www.smsecourse.squidoomarketingstrategies.com/

Ron is the author of the e-Book:

Squidoo Marketing Strategies

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Squidoo lenses: using the SquidUtils function on your Squidoo lens

If you have downloaded the SquidUtils
workshop addon feature for Firefox, you will
make management of your lenses and groups
that much easier.

When you are in edit mode for your Squidoo lens,
you can see a heading, SquidUtils.com,
below the TAGS heading in the right hand column.

If you click on the arrow beside the SquidUtils.com
heading, you will see a drop-down menu with
the following options:

1. Ping - this enables you to ping the search engines
and blog directories, when you have a new lens or made
significant change to an existing lens. This is a great
tool because you can ping from within the edit
mode once you edit and publish.

2. Check backlinks - enables you to see how many
and what sites are linking back to your lens. This
backlinking is a major factor influencing lensrank and
Google PR.

3. Table Generator - enables you to convert your
data into a table - great tool.

4. Amazon Links & RSS Feed - you can generate links
for individual Amazon products as an affiliate or an RSS
feed of multiple products. This feed can include items
from a particular category (node), or items from List.
The feed will also include images and formatting,
unless you decide to turn it off. This is very handy
if you are seriously promoting Amazon.com products.

This SquidUtils.com workshop feature has been
developed by Giant Squid, thefluffanutta , and is one
of the many Squidoo tools that have been created to
make life easier for Squidoo lensmasters.

If you want to know more about SquidUtils, check out
my next post.

**********************************************
Ron Passfield is a Top 100 Squidoo Lensmaster and
Giant Squid. He provides free resources
for Squidoo affiliate marketing on his Squidoo authority
site:

http://www.squidoo.com/squidoomarketingstrategies

To learn more about Squidoo Affiliate Marketing

check out:

http://www.squidooaffiliatemarketing.com

Subscribe to Ron's free Squidoo Marketing e-course:

http://www.smsecourse.squidoomarketingstrategies.com/

Ron is the author of the e-Book:

Squidoo Marketing Strategies

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Squidoo lenses: how to select modules

It is even easier now to create great Squidoo lenses
with the new module showcase to help you select
your Squidoo modules.

You can access the showcase by editing lenses as you
normally would and clicking the "Add Modules" button
on the top right hand side.

The new showcase will appear and you can make
your choice of module.

You can check out the most popular, see modules by
category (sell stuff, write stuff, web stuff, social stuff)
and even create your own list of favorites.

Megan Casey explains the new Module Picker here:
http://www.squidoo.com/new-module-showcase

As with all things Squidoo, there is always assistance
and guidance on hand to help you. Ener-G,
aka Gia Combs-Ramirez, has created a special
lens to act as mentor in your choice of modules. Gia
shows you how to use the different types of modules
in her module mentor lens:
http://www.squidoo.com/modulementor


**********************************************
Ron Passfield is a Top 100 Squidoo Lensmaster and
Giant Squid. He provides free resources
for Squidoo affiliate marketing on his Squidoo authority
site:

http://www.squidoo.com/squidoomarketingstrategies

To learn more about Squidoo Affiliate Marketing

check out:

http://www.squidooaffiliatemarketing.com

Subscribe to Ron's free Squidoo Marketing e-course:

http://www.smsecourse.squidoomarketingstrategies.com/

Ron is the author of the e-Book:

Squidoo Marketing Strategies

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In Search of Excellence

Thanks to my recent efforts installing the
Twitter Traffic Machine, I discovered two new
Squidoo resource people who are both, in their own
ways, focusing on excellence.

1. Personal Excellence Tips

Mukunda22, aka Kate Loving Shenk, and nurse of 25 years,
has produced a Squidoo lens on 66 Personal Excellence Tips.
This is a challenging lens offering a lifetime of learning.
If you found just one pertinent tip here and implemented
it, your life would be richer and so would that of the people
you impact.

I found Kate's own tip (No.41) particularly relevant:

Gift of attention. Practicing the gift of
attention offers the perfect mirror for our
self-centered tendencies. As we engage in
deep listening, the need to fix or offer
opinion is recognized in stark contrast
to the mindful presence arising from the
practice. Thus, these moments of ego are
allowed to pass without resistance.

This is one of the core themes of the management training
I do within the Health Sector across Queensland. I will
be able to use this quote (attributed) when I conduct
workshops in Rockhampton next week. It's something
I also need to put into practise myself.

2. Squidoo Lens Reviews

Squidoo Lensmaster, GrowWear, aka MiMi GrowWear,
has developed a blog to review Squidoo lenses that
exhibit excellence. Her purpose is "to give shout-outs,
nods and promotion to remarkable Squidoo lenses".

Mimi has also developed a Squidoo lens that discusses
her Blog.

On the blog you will find great resources for Squidoo
Lensmasters - interviews with Giant Squids and links
to Squidoo blogs.

The latest lens she reviews is one about a current global
issue - Swine Flu facts.

These are both great resources if you are in search of
excellence!

**********************************************
Ron Passfield is a Top 100 Squidoo Lensmaster and
Giant Squid. He provides free resources
for Squidoo affiliate marketing on his Squidoo authority
site:

http://www.squidoo.com/squidoomarketingstrategies

To learn more about Squidoo Affiliate Marketing

check out:

http://www.squidooaffiliatemarketing.com

Subscribe to Ron's free Squidoo Marketing e-course:

http://www.smsecourse.squidoomarketingstrategies.com/

Ron is the author of the e-Book:

Squidoo Marketing Strategies

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Twitter Traffic Machine Review

I've set up my Twitter Traffic Machine with
great results.

Installation was easy with both video and
PDF guidance provided.

The viral traffic system uses free web-based
software to create a steady flow of new,
targeted Twitter followers.

In the last three days I have gained an
additional 300 followers.

I could have grown my Twitter following a lot
more with the Twitter Traffic Machine
but I wanted to limit my followers to selected
people (using specific tags). I could have used
broader terms to get more followers but the
advantage of this system is that you can make
your recruiting very targeted. This way you only
get followers who are interested in the areas that
you want to write and share about.

Now my Twitter follower numbers increase with
each hour of the day.

This gives me a much larger target audience to
share with. It has enabled me to leverage my
blogging and article writing.

I can tap more easily into relevant Twitter conversations
because I have a wider range of contributors to the
themes that I am interested in.

The Twitter Traffic Machine has also enriched my
experience of Twitter. For example, I came across
these two sites and joined the relevant groups:

1. Squidoo Twibes
2. Squidoo Marketing

See what Twitter Traffic Machine can do for you,
CLICK HERE.

**********************************************
Ron Passfield is a Top 100 Squidoo Lensmaster and
Giant Squid. He provides free resources
for Squidoo affiliate marketing on his Squidoo authority
site:

http://www.squidoo.com/squidoomarketingstrategies

To learn more about Squidoo Affiliate Marketing

check out:

http://www.squidooaffiliatemarketing.com

Subscribe to Ron's free Squidoo Marketing e-course:

http://www.smsecourse.squidoomarketingstrategies.com/

Ron is the author of the e-Book:

Squidoo Marketing Strategies

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Visbilty: free resources to boost your profile

Visibility Consultant, Nancy Marmolejo, provides
a free action report to help you expand your visibility
and increase your Internet profile:

Why Social Networking: 4 Remarkable
Strategies to Grow Your Business, Expand
Your Referral Network, and
Increase Your Visibility.

Nancy is a Visibility Consultant who offers a
wide range of services to support you to
develop your profile and brand yourself.

Her free resources include podcasts that
are valuable insights into strategies for
developing visibility.

One has to be impressed with her choice of niche
given the timeliness of "visibility" within the
context of the explosion in social networking.

Nancy's choice of podcasts as a major marketing strategy
lines up with the busyness of her target audience
and serves as an appropriate medium for her
message.

Nancy offers a solid affiliate program for her product
offerings which include coaching and teleclasses.

Some lessons here for product developers and affiliate
marketers:

1. choose a focus that builds on an emergent trend (so
you grow with it)
2. choose a medium that matches the message
3. be mindful of your audience and how they access
information.

For more information about Nancy's approach,
visit:
Viva Visibility

Related Posts:

• How to become a Giant Squid
• Twitter Traffic Machine: Build your profile and followers
• Squidoo lens: Who are YOU?
• Top 7 reasons why you should build an authority site

**********************************************
Ron Passfield is a Top 100 Squidoo Lensmaster and
Giant Squid. He provides free resources
for Squidoo affiliate marketing on his Squidoo authority
site:

http://www.squidoo.com/squidoomarketingstrategies

To learn more about Squidoo Affiliate Marketing

check out:

http://www.squidooaffiliatemarketing.com

Subscribe to Ron's free Squidoo Marketing e-course:

http://www.smsecourse.squidoomarketingstrategies.com/

Ron is the author of the e-Book:

Squidoo Marketing Strategies

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