Put Your Characters In the Spotlight With Squidoo
I’m a huge fan of Squidoo.com, not only as one who creates lens, but because of the lens themselves. They’re fun to create and read.
SquidooWho isn’t a new feature. For a published fiction writer though, it can be gold. What are lens, you ask? Lens are like static website, a mini site if you will. You choose a topic of interest. It can be anything–a movie you like, a sport, a hobby, even a person. You write about it. You can add modules like Flickr and YouTube to add media. You can even add moneymaking modules like Amazon or eBay.
The SquidooWho is a feature that allows you to create a lens about a person. You name your person, claim the lens, and a pre-populated lens is created for you. Of course, you can modify that to whatever you’d like. I said a person, but I didn’t specify living, dead–or a character from your book, maybe?
Say you have a character that grew up in the Chicago area. He’s a big Bears fan. He likes dry martinis, but only with vodka. He loves the blues and has a secret obsession for bodice ripper novels. There you go. Give your character a face and a voice.
In this case, you could add modules for Amazon, featuring some of his favorite artists. Or you could feature those novels he likes. How about some info on the Bears? Maybe a list of his favorite vodkas. The possibilities are endless. Of course, there is the big prominent sticky note with a link to buy your book too. Now, doesn’t that sound like a great way to get to know you character and market? How Web 2.0 is that?
Marketing Yourself With Squidoo
You may have noticed my links, but if you haven’t visited Squidoo, you’re missing a great opportunity to market yourself. With Squidoo, you create pages that are called lens. A lens is a static page, your canvas as it were, to create a page about a topic of your choice. It can be your love, like writing. It can be a focus of your life, perhaps health. It can be a hobby, a place you love, anything. Then the fun starts.
Squidoo works in a controlled type of set up like Blogger. You are given choices of modules to add to your lens. Some are basic like text areas and lists. Other modules are money-making like Amazon and NetFlix. There’s even modules for eBay and ArtByUs to feature your auctions. You pick and arrange the modules as you please. More than one of a type can appear on your page. You are allowed to use some basic HTML to customize the look and feel of your lens.
What are the benefits to you? Visibility. The site gets a great deal of traffic. The format is very attractive too. A visitor wants to browse lens. Lens are fun to create. You can have more than one. Some people have lots of lens–over 100. Then there’s the money. When you add that Amazon module, you can add your associate ID, if you have one. You do make money on other revenue-focused modules. So does Squidoo, but it’s their site.
I’ve had my lens for awhile now. Other than Zazzle, it has been my best paying non-art outlet. Nice too that my earnings can be sent to my PayPal account. Here are some examples of my lens.
Doing the Door–Door County, Wisconsin
Being Heard
I learned this from self-publishing my own book, 101 Things To Do on the Wisconsin Great River Road. If you want it to sell, you have to be willing to market yourself. For an introvert like me, that can be a challenge. However to stay on top of the latest business and technology, there’s the Internet. I’ve come across a few sites that I have found worthwhile.
. If you want it to sell, you have to be willing to market yourself. For an introvert like me, that can be a challenge. However to stay on top of the latest business and technology, there’s the Internet. I’ve come across a few sites that I have found worthwhile.If you have a blog, then you have to use Blog Explosion. With Blog Explosion, you earn credits by surfing other people’s blogs. These credits accumulate to impressions for a banner ad, advertising your own blog. I’ve learned a great deal from surfing, though I do admit that I don’t read these other blogs always and will often just have another tab opened to surf while I’m doing something else. Like blogging.
Another site with a unique approach is Squidoo.com. Squidoo uses what are called lens that you create on a topic of choice. It’s like a blog, but static. You can place ads for merchandise, links to favorite sites, and more. If viewers click on or hopefully, buy off a link on your page, you earn money. It’s a neat, clean format. Worth checking out.
Another option I’ve stumbled upon is Ezine Articles. On this site, you are the expert. You can submit articles on topics you have an expertise with, the idea being that you being viewed as an expert will generate traffic to your website. A great concept.
Of course, there are plenty of other ways to make yourself heard, but these are a few that I’ve had some success with.
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