How to Use Squidoo to Boost Your Associated Content Pageviews and Performance Bonus

Associated Content is quickly assisting hundreds, if not thousands, of aspiring writers become paid writers. For those who still haven't "taken the plunge", know that Associated Content pays quickly!

The positive reinforcement of a quick payout has helped many individuals tap their "inner wordsmith" in order to produce numerous articles weekly. Some even consider Associated Content their full time job!

Because of Associated Content's excellent performance bonus policy that's based on pageviews, the one time joy of being paid to write continues month after month as the performance bonus creates a delightful income stream.

That residual income stream's delight is so addictive that writers who once only cared to know how to produce as many "exclusive" articles as possible are now turning their thoughts the finer points of internet marketing with both its promise and pitfalls. Why? The pursuit of pageviews!

Sadly the field of "internet marketing" can quickly take away time from writing, so the best techniques used must be quick to implement, yield their own income stream, and require little additional "new" writing. And did I mention free? It should be free too!

Creating a lense or preferably lenses on Squidoo.com will help satisfy your craving for pageviews on Associated Content without infringing on any "exclusive rights" articles.

Squidoo.com - for those who don't know - is a Web 2.0 website designed to help web users sort through the spammy junk pages that clog the search engines. It seeks to accomplish that by only hosting "lenses" created by real people, by hand (instead of automated internet junk generators. As such Squidoo is a rising "authority" site where people go to learn about their favorite topics. As of today's writing, Squidoo is one of the most popular sites on the web with an Alexa.com traffic rating of 648. In plain English, that means there are few sites around that get more traffic unless they are powerhouses like Yahoo, MSN, and Google.

So why should you care?

Simple.

Let's say you write articles on crafts. By making a lense for all your articles on "Mother's Day Gifts", "Scrapbooking", "Quilting", or "Home Improvements" you create pages that are going to capitalize on Squidoo.com's massive popularity.

Here's a simple format for doing that:

1. Go here to create your first Squidoo.com lense.
2. Type in what the lense is going to be about like "Home Improvement Secrets From John Smith" (or whatever it's about). Don't put all your article links on one lense though. Make smaller groups to maximize your number of pages.
3. To create a lense without lots of junk, click "I just want to do my own thing" (the final option on step 2)
4. Now you choose page title, page name, pick your lense category and rate your page.
5. Type in your "tags" or keywords to help folks find your lense.

Note: You'll also be asked whether you wish to give the proceeds of your lense to charity or take the cash yourself. The best lenses may never earn more than one's best pages at AC. So if you wish to give the proceeds, you may want to highlight it on your lense to build goodwill. You can change this at any time. Just don't take the money and say it's given to charity!

Now here's where the fun begins!

First, work on your bio. It should be personal, relate to your lense content, and have a picture so you're a human not just a robowidget.

Then what I do is go to the "add modules" button at the bottom center of the page.

Click it and you'll see a list of all the possible modules.

I suggest that - to start - add a "Text/Write" module for your introductory paragraph or two, a "Link List" to link back to your AC articles on this topic, and an "RSS" module to put your Associated Content rss feed to keep your lense constantly updated.

Just by having a lense you'll enter Squidoo.com's pay pool and get a share of the adsense revenue your visitors generate. Once you get the hang of Squidoo you can add modules that sell items from leading money makers like Amazon.com, Café Press, Ebay, Art.com, etc. If what you've written about is available on Amazon for example, you can list it for sale after your articles and before your RSS feed (or between two "Link List" modules).

You can jazz up your lense with YouTube, Google Maps, and Flickr photos too. Again, just worry about these when you get your basic lense(s) built on a focused topic.

In your "Text/Write" module, write an introductory paragraph on the topic of your lense. This is the only "new" writing you'll need to do unless you end up writing more later.

In your "Link List" link to all your Associated Content articles that relate to the theme of this lense. Use the "Abstract" from your article in the description box for your link. See - just cut and paste! (The "abstract" is the blurb about your article that appears on your Associated Content Producer's Page when each article is listed.)

In the "Rss" box, add your Associated Content rss feed.

When you're done, it will look something like this.

As you grow your lense you can add other modules like "Guestbook", "Plexo's" and other tools that let your lense interact with readers.

The "meat" of your lense has already been created by now. Focus on building these basic lenses for each of your key topics and only then worry about the fancy stuff.

Doing this will
1. Allow you to tap into Squidoo's massive traffic and search engine popularity.
2. Earn money from the visitors who come to your Squidoo lenses through adsense and other revenue modules.
3. Earn more money by capturing readers for your Associated Content pages through the performance bonus!
4. And it's all FREE!

What a great way to boost your Associated Content pageviews and performance bonus!