Squidoo SEO Advice

[themvf]

Hey everyone I have a question about a squidoo lens. My site will be live three months from now, but I wanted to hear your advice about squidoo.

Do you believe I should start the squidoo lens now and build up a base or wait until the site is live so I'm making sure I can convert every viewer from my lens to the site?

Thanks.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi themvf,

That's such a personal decision, I think you'll hear a variety of viewpoints.

I'm going to be building a new site but don't have time to get it going. So I'm going to start with either a Hub or a Blogger blog. Start generating some content and traffic and then ultimately point it at the new site for inbound links and to use as a feeder site for traffic when it's ready.

Here's my reasoning for this new site which isn't necessarily going to be a big money maker right away - it's more a passion.

No matter how you cut it (unless you do PPC) it takes time to build up traffic and the traffic if you work consistently build gradually over time. So if you are a newbie I would think starting your Lens now would give you some practice at marketing and by the time you build up traffic to a level that is decent your new site should be ready.

For me it's more about... there are topics every day I wish I could blog about and social networks or forums I want to join and post at but don't because I don’t' have a site to base my user name off of or to add to my sig. I'm thinking it will probably be Dec before I can work on the new site, but I can go ahead and start building traffic and generating content in the mean time.

But really in the 1st couple months the traffic may be pretty low so I don't think you'd lose much. You can still drive your Lens traffic to affiliate programs.

 

[themvf]

Thanks for the response. I have a question about your quote though:

For me it's more about... there are topics every day I wish I could blog about and social networks or forums I want to join and post at but don't because I don’t' have a site to base my user name off of or to add to my sig. I'm thinking it will probably be Dec before I can work on the new site, but I can go ahead and start building traffic and generating content in the mean time.

How are you building traffic if you are not posting links in your signature, commenting on blogs, and link building in social networks? There are not many more SERP and SEO friendly strategies than the above mentioned.

 

[Linda Buquet]

No what I'm saying is right now Im NOT posting anywhere because I don't have the site or blog or anything at all to link to yet. So if I set up a quick and easy blog now, I could start posting and have something to link to. Then once site is built, just swap out the link in forum sigs and social networks to the new site OR better yet use a link on the new url and redirect it.

Lets say the site name was greenwidgets.com. I could set up a blogger blog called green widgets, use greenwidgets as my user name when I post. Then I'd set up my link as an htaccess redirect on greenwidgets, so that greenwidgets/linkname would redirect to the blogger blog. Then when new site is up, instead of having to remember all the places I posted where I need to swap out the link from blogger to the new site - I'd just have to change the link in htaccess to point to the site and would have no links to change out. Does that make sense???

Just thinking outloud on my site in case any ideas for my new site help you with your new site.

 

[themvf]

Thanks Linda, I understand what you're saying and appreciate the feedback.

 

[Karl18]

I think squidoo its good.
But it drives more indian traffic. So If doing for India then jus go for it.

Great.

 

[libertygadget]

I haven't been in the loop with Squidoo very much recently, have they made all blurbs or comments nofollow? I was just over there today doing some looking around and noticed nofollow comment links. Is this new?

 

[dangregory]

I'm not sure if Squidoo is nofollow now but it is a great way to drive traffic.

I like to do a Squidoo lens in my niche before I bring out a new site, while I'm still working on the actual site. Give it about a week's lead time and post something on it every day to get it listed high in Google. Usually it will end up on the first page within two weeks at most as long as my keywords aren't overly competitive.

Then of course when I launch my new site Google will see me linking to it from the Squidoo lens, and since it already likes the Squidoo lens it will index my new site fast.

The way I look at SEO is - it's all about "Squatting" and taking up as much room in the organic listings as possible. Since a new site can take several weeks to get decent placements in Google (or a few months for more competitive phrases) having a Squidoo lens as part of your virtual real estate can work very nicely, helping you to have more listings on the front pages of Google while you're still developing your new site.

Over time your new site should overtake your Squidoo lens in Google but it will continue to bring you traffic if you keep it updated.

Dan

 

[GiGiG]

I was just on Squidoo

I haven't set up an account yet. Out of curiosity, can you explain to me how the charity comes into play?

I just read a post on using social media on the net is the way to go when it comes to marketing. I use mostly 'linking' sites. I find I don't have as much time to keep up a social 'networking' site.

I found the marketing aspect of using social media particularly true when I went to the websites of our presidential candidates. I basically took their list and added it to my own (sans 'networking' sites).

Can you give me other special implementations?

Also, I found when I used the 'networking' sites in the past, it was better in products and services that were face to face. I led a very successful campaign at my previous job promoting a lounge/restaurant. It was a great place for everyone to meet up. However, I find my current web-based product does better on the 'linking' sites. Does anyone else have any input on this?

 

[jackfranklin8]

Squidoo is a brand new game. To optimize your Squidoo lens, you cannot rely on the old SEO techniques. And yet, SEO is part of the Squidoo game. Squidoo is all about content and looks at quality over quantity. The lensmaster (that would be you) takes the best of what's online and using the tools, focuses the reader on the topic by offering the most comprehensive information possible.

 

[James Spinosa]

I would recommend starting a Squidoo for it now, but don't directly compete for things such as the name of your website. I have seen many people get out-ranked by their own Squidoo pages for the name of their domain. I've also out-ranked a few of my merchants before too