Cast Iron Cookware Sets

I published Cast Iron Cookware Sets.  This lens highlights different cast iron cookware sets.  This is the first of 4 or 5 lenses in this niche.  I decided to start creating multiple lenses in the same niche.  I believe I can target more low competition keyword in the niche with multiple lenses.

The first lens in the "mother" lens.  I will create "sub" lens that talks able individual products more in depth.  At this point, I need to find 4 or 5 products that people are actually searching for.  When all the lenses are created, I will interlink them allowing visitors to get more information on a cast iron cooking product.

FIRST SALE!  The Zumba Exhilarate lens has earned it's first sale.  I sold the Zumba Exhilarate set.  My commission for this product was $2.01. 

Update #1

I added the first sub lens to the Cast Iron Cookware Set lenses  Check out the Lodge Logic Cookwares sets lens.

Marcy Home Gym Equipment

This Marcy Home Gym lens was easy for me to make.  Given my background in weight training, I can look at a picture of the equipment and tell the reader how it can benefit them.  However, I did need to look up the specs of the equipment.

Although it was easy to make, it took a few days to complete due to procrastination.  This past week, I was second guessing whether its possible to make good income from Squidoo lenses.  This usually the point in a project where I start looking at the next shiny object.  During the week, started seeing some increase in Google traffic which is a positive sign.  For now, I will give my lenses time to rank and continue to make new ones.

Bodybugg vs Fitbit Review

The Fitbit vs Bodybugg review lens compares the various models of the two fitness trackers.  They are similar in that they both track calories burned and number steps taken during the day.  They also have web web based tools that allow you gauge your progress.  It allows the user to enter the food consumed so they can see if they are in caloric deficit.

This is the first lens that required research so it took a little longer to complete.  The other lenses I've made require little research because I have knowledge in those areas.  This was fun to make because I learned about a product I'd consider purchasing.

Some of my lenses are starting to rank in Google.  The Zumba and Pull Up lens have hit the first page.  I'm seeing a trickle of traffic thus far.

In addition to article directories, I'm turning my articles into pdfs and submitting them to document sharing sites like Scribd, Docstoc, and Slideshare.  To traffic from them but a least I can get a backlink. 

Get A Bigger Bench

Increase Bench Press Max is a lens that shows trainees how to add poundages to their bench press.  This "tutorial" comes from powerlifting perspective.  These are real tips that competitive powerlifters use to hoist big weights.

As a powerlifter, this lens was fun to make.   It was an easy lens because I was just relaying information that I've used myself for the past 15 years.  There was no research to be done because it was all in my head. 

Overall my Squidoo project is going well.  I'm participating in the community and I am receiving traffic and Squidlikes.  I like the Squid community because everyone wants to see each other do well.  If someone likes my lens, I try my best to return the favor.

Steelers Clothing for Ladies

Steelers Apparel for Women is a lens that displays various fashions women can wear to support their beloved Pittsburgh Steelers.  Fashions range from jerseys, sweatpants, sweat jackets, and t-shirts.  Women can look sexy and support their team at the same time.

This was my first "sales" lens.  I've been seeing a lot of sales lens and decided to give them a try.  This lens was fun to make because I'm a big Steelers fan.  This was different from the style on lenses I have been making thus far because my "unique" content was derived from the Amazon description.  Overall I am pleased with how it turned out.

I made one mistake which could make and break my lens performance.  I choose a keyword that doesn't get a lot of searches.  When I research keyword, I choose "exact" match.  During the research for this keyword, I forgot to choose "exact" so the default "broad" match was being searched.  There are 1600 searches for exact and 170 searches for broad.  Big difference.  The competition is low so we'll see if I can get organic search engine traffic.

Omron Fat Analyzer

The Omron Body Fat Analyzer lens explains the benefits of getting your body fat tested rather than using the bathroom scale to gauge your weight loss progress.  The goal of any weight loss program is to lose fat, some water, and minimal muscle mass.  The only way to truly gauge if you are losing fat is to get your body fat tested.  This test reveals you fat-free mass and fat mass.  The more muscle you have, the faster your metabolism

As soon as I hit publish for this lens, I realized I was bordering on a forbidden topic in Squidoo.  Squidoo forbids various topics and weight loss is one of them.  This lens talks about weight loss but it doesn't give any weight loss advice which I believe Squidoo specifically frowns upon.

In the 24 hours that the lens was in WIP status, I was hoping all this work wasn't done for nothing.  This lens currently sits in Featured status but it's not ranked high right out of the gate.  We'll have to monitor traffic and rankings over the next few days.

Pull Up Bar Lens

Today, I completed Joist Pull Up Bar.  This lens was interesting.  While doing research on Amazon, I saw Joist Pull Up Bar.  I was thinking "Joist" was the name of the company.  I didn't realize joist is a supporting beam in floors and ceilings, lol.  I guess we learn something every day.

This is a lens I can be proud of.  I was able to provide real world advice on a topic I'm familiar with.  There was a time I couldn't do many pullups but now I can knock out 15 in a single set.  I was able to teach people how I actually did it.

After publishing, I went to the Squidoo forums to ask for a critique.  No feed back on the tread but I do have a positive comment on the lense.  I submitted to Lensroll and Squidom.  Tomorrow, I will write an article to submit to Ezines and GoAricles for additional backlinks.

Resurrect Old Lens

I build a few muscle building lenses in 2009.  Since I've stopped making lenses, they went into Work-In_Progress (WIP) status.  A WIP is a lens that Squidoo will no longer promote unless you spruce it up a little.  You can access the lens through a direct link but they won't appear in Squidoo's search engine.

I wasn't sure how much updating I needed to do to get them back into Featured status so I decided to update one of them to see what happens.  To update, I:

• Add pictures to each of the text modules
• Added a You Tube video
• Added Amazon modules
• Added a poll

Within  24 hours, Fast Muscles Gain - Exercises is back into Featured status.  I will do the same for the other lenses during the week.

Zumba Exhilarate Lens

My first lens in this project is Zumba Exhilarate Reviews.  If you don't know, Zumba is a group workout usually taught by certified Zumba instructors.  It's similar to an aerobics class but it uses dance steps and music derived from hip-hop, salsa, merengue, martial arts, and much more.  The appeal of this type of exercise is that there is a variety of dances steps and music to keep you from getting bored.

In these posts, I won't reveal keyword but you could easily guess by visiting the lens, lol.  I'm searching for keywords with at least 500 searches per month and low competition.  I may eventually start going after more competitive terms with higher search volume but I want to conquer low competition terms first.  I use Micro Niche Finder for keyword research.

There have been some changes since I last made a lens.  Now, lensmasters need to provide credit to all images.  No more just grabbing an image from Google.  If you don't own the photo, you need to have permission to use them for commercial use.  I don't own any photos, so I need to find public domain or photos with Attribution rights which means I can use the photo in my work as long as I credit the author.  This seems like a pain at first but I found Flickr which has photos you can you can uses in your works.

In addition to building lenses, I'm trying to get involved in the Squidoo Community by commenting on other lenses and participating in the forum.  I'm not really a "forum guy" but I'm going to make a good effort to get involved.  I think it can help my traffic and maintain Featured Lens status.

In addition to participating in the Squidoo community, I'm writing an additional article to submit to a couple article directories for backlinks.  I bookmark my lens and submit them to RSS aggregators.  I also submit my lens to Lensroll and Squidom.  A link from this blog also helps.  Hopefully this is all need to get my lens ranked due to low competition and Squidoo's authority with Google.

Watch Me Create a Squidoo Empire

I started internet marketing in 2009.  I was introduced to IM by the Wealthy Affiliate Website.  I joined that membership site for about 4 months.  That is where I learned the basics of IM.  It was there where I decided to use article marketing to drive traffic to my affiliate links.  I started with Travis Sago’s Bum Marketing and PotPieGirl’s One Week Marketing.  Following One Week Marketing is where I started making Squidoo Lenses.   I made about 5 lenses.  About 5 lenses into my IM career, I got caught up in the Shiny Object Syndrome.  I chased the next shiny thing after another, never devoting enough time to see if my current method worked.

I eventually started making niche sites.  I was able to get sites ranked to the front page of Google and earn Clickbank, CPA, and Adsense revenue.  I had earnings but I’m not quitting my day job anytime soon.  My problem with having small niche sites is that I didn’t keep them updated.  I’d make one site and move to the next.  I soon got disinterested in IM so I stopped doing anything IM related for about 6 months.  During these 6 months, is when these furry Penguins and Panda’s started destroying ranking.  Since I wasn’t adding new content or back linking, my sites didn’t withstand the hit.

Now I’m kinda starting over again.  I decided to start building Squidoo Lenses.  I chose this route because I want to write about various topics without having to build and entire website.  I also chose Squidoo because Google seems to like Squidoo lately.  It takes less time to rank web pages on an authority platform than to rank a brand new site.  Squidoo should be able to withstand Google’s algo change, although no one really knows for sure.  I know most marketers say I shouldn’t build a business on a property I don’t own and that I should build my own virtual real estate.  At this point, I really don’t care.  My goal here is to have a taste of success then eventually start building QUALITY sites.

This blog will chronicle my lens building efforts.  I’m not sure how much detail I will provide but I will take you through my plan to build income producing lenses.