There’s been a lot of people downloading the Squidoo Christmas Cash Blueprint today. Some of you have had questions ~ that you’ve asked, and I’m sure some of you have questions that you haven’t asked.
I’d love to be able to answer as many of your questions as I can. It would be best for me if I could answer them on this blog so everyone can benefit from the answer ~ because, believe me, if you have a question I’m sure there are plenty of others with the same question.
So… what’s your biggest question about Squidoo, building lenses, the Blueprint, or anything else related to making money with Squidoo?
Leave your questions in the comment section and I’ll go through and answer them, and if the answer’s too long for a comment I’ll go ahead and do a whole blog post for it. 
Remember, if you’re having trouble I’m always here to help, whether you need 30 minutes to ask a few questions or a month of phone calls and email questions.
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No sorry I can’t do that, just the way wordpress is set up.
Firefox has a lot of extras you can add to it that are very helpful for internet marketers.
A couple of questions:
Could you set up this page so it shows the most recent items first so we don’t have to scroll through all the old stuff every time?
Could you explain why you think it’s better to use Firefox than IE?
Thanks!
I use SEO for Firefox. It’s an extension you can download. It will show you the PR for each listing on the page (right under the listing). http://tools.seobook.com/firefox/seo-for-firefox.html
I, just started reading blueprint, What is the best way to find Page Rank. I tried a free tool and it kept telling me , that I was putting in to long of a webpage name. I was clicking on page site in tool bar and doing a copy and paste. This is first time I have tried researching for PR. Thank you, Tom V.
Yes there are!! Here’s my two favorites.
Basic Html
Advanced Html
Good afternoon fair Jackie!
Any suggested resource or Lens for getting html (I assume it’s html) for such things as: background colors, borders, block quotes, buttons for our Lenses?
(good golly, I didn’t realize I was such a “Newb’ with Squidoo!)
You are truly appreciated!
Frank
If that’s what people are searching for it should work. Just remember you need to work the kw into your content, titles, and modules titles. So if there’s a brand name or something that can go with it that makes it easier to actually read, that might be good. As long as you have the number there as well you should be fine, and you may pull some additional long tail traffic.
Hi Jackie,
Thanks for your speedy reply. I understand what you mean but what happens
as is the case with the product that I am looking at if potential customers are
only searching by the product # which comes after the product name name which is more generic in this case as there are many different types/styles to choose
from without me actually saying what it is…..
So can I create lens with just the product # as these numbers are very specific and the search volumes are much higher than they are for the product name. Hope this make sense.
Many thanks.
Sandra
@Sandra It doesn’t have to be the whole exact name that is used at Amazon. You can definitely use a partial name if that’s what people are searching on. The main thing is instead of targeting “digital camera” you’re targeting the “canon powershot SD1000″ see what I mean?
@Russell ~ are you using the browse feature in a text module to post the image in your lens? If so, you can download “irfanview” and resize it with that. Also if you’re still working on One Week Marketing via LearnItStepbyStep.com you should probably ask questions over there so everyone can benefit.
Hi Jackie
I’ve located the product I wish to promote in Amazon. I’ve tried to put the product illustration into my Squidoo lens, following the instructions in Lesson 20A. All it puts in in the product caption but not the pic. Squidoo says its too big. Can you tell me how to reduce it so it fits?
Thanks … RUSSELL
I have been looking in Amazon and chose a product. My only problem now is the product that I chose is being searched for in Google, but not the full product name.
My question is, should I just use the part of the keyword of the product name that
has the most searches or should I still go with the full product name knowing that
people are searching for this product under only part of the product name.
@Olivia sometimes the kw that Amazon shows are too descriptive. It’s fine to pare it down a little until you find something specific but something people are also looking for. Not sure what you mean about the second search. It doesn’t matter if you use hyphens or not, either one will work.
@Dianne Yes you can’t use the text/image ads due to iframes. However, if you click text only you can use that link in html in your text modules. Also if you just click on an image at Amazon and then choose “save image as” you will be able to grab it from your computer using the browse feature in your text module.
@Carole It sends your article right to the end of the line every time you change it and resubmit it. It’s best to wait until they contact you and you know exactly what they think is the problem so you can fix it. They will respond, usually within a day or 2 if you send them an email via the link in the email that was sent.
My best guess is they are going to say it’s too promotional. I suggest for these articles you write about something related to the product ~ say you’re doing a lens on a specific cutting machine for scrapbooking. You would write an article about scrapbooking, then in your bio box you add something simple about making cutting your titles super easy using the “product name here” linked to your lens. If you talk about the specific product throughout the article they are going to see it as promotional ~ even if it’s not, just how they are.
@Frank you can get your keywords in your images a couple different ways. If you are saving them to your computer ~ always name and save them by the keyword. If you are uploading them to photobucket or your own hosting you will have to use html to make them show up in your lens and then you can use the alt text code in your html. I usually cheat when I do this kind of code because image code always messes me up. I go to photobucket and I grab the code from any random image. (this way I know the code is correct) I then replace the urls in their code with my own and change the alt text in the code provided to match my images.
hth everybody ~
Keep taking action!!
Hey again Jackie,
One of your recommendations in the Blueprint is to “use your keywords/product name as the alt text for all of your images.”
I swear I used to know how to do this, but now I’m at a loss (especially in how to get them into the Lens)
Any tips or direction?
Blessings, and Thanks,
Frank
Hi Jackie,
Problem with EZA – I am at Platinum level with EZA and have submitted articles for my Christmas products. I have one that keeps getting rejected, it is a description of a particular product. My email from them says to contact them for more information, but does not tell me what the problem is. I have emailed them 3 times with no response. Each time, I go in and make changes to my article, thinking maybe they are seeing it as duplicate content, which it is not, and then resubmit.
How do I handle this if they will not respond to me? I have looked for a phone number on their site so I can actually talk to someone, but can’t find it.
Any ideas????
Thanks
OK I found the answer to that – iframes! So I’m thinking one would have to find the image needed somewhere else, where it’s not framed, save to the computer, and upload from there. For eg., any image from allposters will upload – and you need to be an affiliate of allposters to use the images. Easy enough. Thanks.
Hi Jackie – (or anyone!) I wonder if anyone else has this problem – (I’ve made many squidoo lenses but not as an Amazon associate). Creating a new lens, I find that the “text and image” and “image only” link provided by Amazon on the product page, won’t paste into a text module. Nor will an image saved to my computer from amazon, upload into the image area for a text module. Any tips?
Hello! I have two q’s . . .
1. When it comes to choosing a squidoo url, what’s better for seo, etc., hyphens or no hyphens?
2. Your Google KW tool ex. with the Toshiba TV . . . I’ve had this happen each time with 6 products. When I put in something specific including model number, as you show in your ebook, I get no results or not enough data. But then, if I remove some detail, then the exact KWs I had searched for in the first place show up in related searches! So I’m wondering if the figures that appear in the second search count.
Thank you.
@Jean,
Dang, that sucks. Couple things you could do
1. use the Amazon modules Squidoo provides you.
2. Use the ebay modules offered via Squidoo (or if you have an Ebay account you can use direct links)
3. See if you can get a Walmart affiliate account and do the same thing.
Not sure how extensive the problem is with affiliates in your state, but those are the things I would try.
Jackie
Jackie,
Thanks for this timely information but I have a question about Amazon. Due to legislation that North Carolina passed on taxing digital goods, Amazon terminated all of their affiliates in the state. What do you suggest is the best course of action to pursue without being able to use Amazon?
Thanks.
Jean
Carole,
When you check the search volume, look at the other options that come up in the google adwords tool. There may be a kw that people ARE searching more for that product. Sometimes Amazon gets a little wordy with their product names, and people may be leaving a word or two out when they search.
You should be able to find kw with higher search volume than that. Maybe take a look at the post I did today, it might help you.
http://internetmarketingformommies.com/how-to-find-products-for-squidoo-christmas-cash/
I am now looking for additional products, and searching the KW’s. Most of the KW’s I am finding for the specific product (as you showed on the blueprint) have a search volume of around 100 per month. Amazon shows great reviews and the prices are in line and pr is fine, but is 100 per month enough search volume or should I find items with a higher search volume?
Nope, just click the words basic html and it will take you right there.
Jackie,
You left out the link for the lens to view image/text combo.
Thanks
@EC I would suggest you create your own visual call to action. This way instead of showing the actual PRICE of your item (which can turn people off immediately) you can show the SAVINGS amazon provides on your item. (people love to save) Here’s a step by step tutorial to make a visual call to action.
If you RRRR want to put one of the amazon box looking ads in your lens you can go to squidutils.com and make one there that will work on Squidoo.
@Jolene I don’t usually look for stock, but here’s an idea ~ if there’s only a few left you can state that in your visual call to action, and put a little more pressure on people to buy before it sells out. If it becomes sold out you can also look to see if there are any at EBAY and point people who are looking for the item there instead.
@wai kei it’s all in the code you use for your image. If you add align=”left” it will wrap around for you. Here’s a great lens that will show you this and a lot of other basic html
I would like to learn how to insert a image and have text wrapping around the side of it, continuing at the bottom.
Jackie,
Is there a certain amount of inventory you are looking for when you decide on a product? I have found a few items however, there have only been a few in stock.
By they way, your guide is awesome. Thank you for sharing.
jochris
Oh, I didn’t know I couldn’t use image AND text.
So is the only way to have that type of link is to use Squidoo’s Amazon module instead of my own affiliate link?
Thanks again, Jackie. You (and your site) are awesome!
Did you make sure you clicked the text only button when creating the code? Iframes won’t work at squidoo and that is what the square image/text ads are.
I’ve had that happen a couple times, the code disappearing, but it usually works the second time. I’d say make sure you got the html, not iframe code, and then try it again. sorry I don’t have a better answer.
Thanks for the quick response!
I’m sorry if you’ve answered this elsewhere, but I can’t get a text&image Amazon link to work in my modules.
I created the link on my Amz affil page, and copied and pasted the html into a text module. I hit save, but only the text was there. When I clicked edit, the html was not in the module. I tried it three times and each time it just vanishes, as if it won’t accept it.
You get paid for anything someone buys whether it’s the specific item or not. If they come through your link you get paid. That’s what’s great about all the upselling they do on their site.
a 4% commission on a high end consumer electronic can still be a very good commission.
There are plenty of things besides consumer electronics as well.
Thank you for your e-book! It’s terrific!
My question is re: Amazon referral fees.
I couldn’t find the answer to this on their site.
Does Amz pay only if the *exact* item your affiliate link leads to is purchased, or do you get a commission on any other items?
Also, their fee schedule shows that consumer electronics are capped at 4% no matter how many you sell.
And the affiliate link is good for only 24 hours! They really don’t want to pay out commissions, it seems.
@MC actually ~ if you use Squidoo amazon modules you will be splitting your commission as well ~ it will basically end up being about what you would make on the lowest tier of Amzon payments ~ which is 4%.
Check today’s post for more info on building your blog.
@Faith Page rank is a number that google comes up with for each website. This number identifies the level of “authority” a site has as well as many other things. If you have the google toolbar you’ll see a little green box that fills up a little or a lot depending on the site ~ the green is the pr of the site. If you get the SEO for firefox extension you will get all the information on the first page of google instead of having to go to each site to see what the toolbar says on each site.
Where a site shows up on page 1 is their “ranking” but it’s not their page rank.
very confusing yes, but pr is not THAT important but using is in the way I do in the blueprint is an easy/down and dirty way to look at competition.
Thanks, Jackie, for your very helpful answer above.
One more thing I’m not clear about is page rank. The only page rank I’m aware of is whether or not a website shows up on page 1 of Google, or page 2, etc.
From what you’ve written I gather that obviously my understanding is just the tip of the iceberg.
If you can help me understand more about this, I would really appreciate it.
Thanks Jackie…I think from reading some of your other posts, the reason Squidoo might be better to use than Hubpages is because of how Hubpages splits up the revenue like 60/40. So you might miss out on a possible sale if you used their (hubpages’) Amazon capsules. On Squidoo they give you the Amazon sales commissions all the time. Does that sound right?
By the way I set up a Christmas blog and am looking forward to reading more of your ideas on how to get that going…Thanks again for all your help here!
Hi Faith,
Squidoo has changed their policy lately ~ they are trying to create a website that features many different things instead of getting tons and tons of lenses (some good and some terrible) about the same thing over and over again ~ including Acai Berry, weight loss, getting your ex back etc. You will have no problem with lenses as I have outlined them.
The problem with talking about history etc is people shopping for a particular item don’t really care. If you start with information that they don’t care about they will assume there’s nothing they need to know in the whole lens and click out.
I am not saying history lenses aren’t good ~ in fact they are awesome, just not for making quick cash at Christmas time.
Also if someone is looking for something specific the more choices you give them the more “confused” they become and the more likely they are not to do anything.
1 product ~ great info on that product ~ let them feel they are making a good choice with the product ~ call to action to buy.
Here’s my blog post where I covered the recent squidoo changes
You might also check out the Squidoo FAQ for a little clearer picture of what’s allowed.
http://www.squidoo.com/pages/faq
Good luck and take action!
I’m very new to this. I’ve done a lot of reading at Squidoo, but have not created a lens yet.
I’ve learned that Squidoo has recently tightened up their policy regarding what they allow, and I’m concerned that a lens that focuses on just one product, especially with the detailed product name in the title and URL would get rejected. So, I’m wondering if this strategy in your blueprint would also work if you focus on a narrow category of products, specifying on two or three different ones in the text modules. If doing this, I would pick a category that would lend itself to text about its history, or some other interesting angle.
But what do I know, lol? Like I said, I’m totally new to all of this.
Thanks.
@Ken ~ that is such a pain!! I always suggest people start out their search at Amazon that way you KNOW there’s a product available.
@dean ~ the problem is probably that you are leaving spaces between the words in the name you used for the image. If you run the words all together it will probably solve that problem. I can’t tell you how long it’s gonna take to rank ~ it completely depends on the product keywords you choose ~ how well/much you do your linking, and Google’s crazy self. If you haven’t noticed anything going on at your lens after a couple weeks I’d probably add some more links out there.
I wouldn’t worry about “sales” lenses at all. As long as you add some decent content (features, ideas for using product, reviews etc) you will be fine. There’s absolutely NO rule about not doing promotional lenses ~ and Amazon is on the whitelist.
@Frank It’s completely up to you. Why not do OWM lenses using products like this? I know I’ve found a product that has 3 or 4 different keywords related to it that have decent search volume ~ just remember the longer you spend on each product the fewer product lenses you will have out there before Christmas. Really you want your lenses up by November so you have time to let Google do its thing before shopping kicks into full gear. So I would probably take Oct and pump out as many lenses as you can this way. Later if you see some taking off you can always go back and add some other related keywords and build it out into a full campaign.
Hey Jackie!
I, like others, was looking to put together a plan for Christmas shopping Lenses and voila! – you popped up!
My one question is: I do “normal” One Week Marketing on an ongoing basis. Would you recommend focusing all my attention on the “Christmas cash” lenses for now until Christmas? – Or would you suggest doing both?
I hope that makes sense.
Thanks so much for all you do!
Frank
Hi, I read the book yesterday and set up my first squidoo gift lens this a.m. I also set up a blogger blog to provide links to squidoo. The only snag was I went to Blog Catalog and was rejected because the blog is too new and needs more posts. Boo Hoo….
My squidoo problem is that when I save a photo to my computer and rename it with the KW’s I always end up with a long string of alphanumerals and then the KW. TIPS?
Anyway, the squidoo lens with 4 modules was ranked at 98,000 within 1 hour after I finished tinkering with it. I probably spent most of my time finding and making sure that my Amazon associate links were good.
How long would you ballpark guess before it is on the front page of the search?
Any worries about a blatant sales lens being axed before I can finish fleshing it out?
Good Stuff Jackie. I will contact you about a consult later this week.
Jackie,
Thanks for the excellent idea and a guide to go with it.
I have a few Blogger accounts and a few Squidoo Lenses and some Hubs and Webs and etc. and this sounded like a winner to me.
I would just like to offer a warning to save others time. Start with a product you know you can link to.
Dummy here went to YouTube first and quickly found a great product and what I thought were several videos on the product. Before finishing any research I jumped onto my Squidoo account hit Create A New Lens added a few sentences added the video hit Save as Draft and then went looking for pictures and reviews and where I could link to the product. And found none or anyone I could link to cuz it sure was not on Amazon. BTW – The Page Rank was 2.27 after averaging, ugh!!!
Hope this helps someone.
Hi Everyone and thanks for all the awesome questions. I’m going to answer some of the simple answer ones here, and I’ll do a couple blog posts to answer the others. Keep the questions coming!
@Will I leave the text ads on. They don’t really bother me and it increases my income via squidoo.
@MC You can do this with hubpages as well. I use Squidoo because I started using Squidoo well before hubpages was even a website and I’m a creature of habit lol. I now use hubpages to get additional links to my lenses, but you can do it either way.
If a squidoo lens is ranking #1 for your keyword I would find a different kw. Tought to beat a lens with a lens ~ they are obviously working for that ranking.
@Debbie Google “google adwords keyword tool” and it will be the first one (you don’t need to use the quotes though). I use an extension called seo for firefox to get the PR of the sites. There are a couple others that do similar things, but this one works for me.
@Tina You will find Amazon ranks for a lot of these products ~ what I’ve found is if the overall average PR of the first page is 3 or less you can usually take the #1 spot with very focused link building.
I will be doing a blog post about creating the blogger blog and what goes on it, and about filtering products at Amazon over the next couple days.
Keep the questions coming, and take action!!
Jackie
Hi Jackie! I love your guide – I was stumbling trying to get a plan for Christmas lenses and this explains it all!
My question….I’ve found a few products that I would like to make lenses with. However, when I do the Google search without quotes, the 1st site to come up is Amazon with a page rank of 4. Everything else on the first page has a PR of 3 or less. Do I pass on these products because of Amazon or will my Squidoo lens be able to outrank it?
Thanks so much,
Tina
Hi Jackie. Many thanks for top info! Re traffic building and Blogger: how can I link one piece of content/article to another on same Blogger site?.
Colin
Excellent e-book I will recommend this method to my readers!
Debbie, I may be able to help with your questions. To find the global searches you can use the Google Adwords Keyword tool here:
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
As for finding out the Page Ranks, if you use Firefox you will want to get this add-on tool, SEO for Firefox:
http://tools.seobook.com/firefox/seo-for-firefox.html
Once you have that on your Firefox, you’ll see all sorts of stats underneath each listing you get in Google, including PR…
Hope that helps some, Jackie may have some more tools that work too!
I’m very excited about your Christmas Cash Blueprint but I’m extremely new to this. My first 2 questions are:
What site did you use to get the “global monthly search volume” shown in your ebook?
Where do you find page rank? I put my product in a google search but can’t find pr.
Sorry for the (probably dumb) questions!
Debbie
Hi Jackie – Great e-book on Christmas cash with squidoo..I downloaded it via PotPieGirl and found it very well written and easy to get started with.
I have a few questions:
- You mentioned creating a Christmas blog, which sounds like a great idea…I’m just curious what sorts of things you put on it? (maybe you’ll give us a separate blog post on that)
- Is there a reason you’d choose Squidoo over Hubpages for making Christmas Cash pages? I know some people prefer one or the other, figured you may have a particular reason…(I saw someone asked on another post about what to do if someone’s Squidoo page has the same keywords and the lens ranks page 1 in Google…Hubpages might be another option, if you don’t see any similar Hubs on page 1 of Google)
Thanks again & keep up the great work!
Hey – thanks for the great guide. It went along wonderfully with the One Week Marketing guide (feel free to put your own affiliate link in there if you want – Jennifer is awesome!).
It was perfect timing, as I was just getting ready to start up my OWM again. I did have a few questions though.
In terms of the content on the squidoo lenses – what type of content do you find the most valuable in the sales process? Is it better to do price comparisons (highlighting how Amazon is better), summarizing reviews, or getting some meaningful content from some other place?
Also – specific to Squidoo – do you prefer to turn off ‘in text ads’ to try and cut down on the ways for them to leave the lense, or do you leave it on to try and get additional revenue?
Just curious. Thanks so much for the help.
-Will
@Shaun Thanks!!
@Terry I’m going to do a whole post on filtering products ~ yes there are a couple fun ways you can do it. Here’s the code for adding alt text to images. (click the link to see the code)
http://screencast.com/t/zgfQGYeNci
How do I do alt text for images?
Is it possible to filter amazon products by price?
I only see one way to pull the products up like electronics has thousands of products.
I am an associate and using the associate site.
I enjoyed squidoochristmascash and look forward to our phone coaching.
Thanks
Terry Neal
hi nice to see some people giving out some information that has REAL value i have read your book and its great…thanks