75 responses so far ↓

• 1 Adamsmom // Nov 15, 2008 at 4:43 am

  Popeye Girl suggested using a URL with hyphens i.e. cure-my-slice rather than curemyslice. Yet you seem to suggest using curemyslice first - does it have any difference in the rankings?
  Also both of these were already taken but you still wanted this keyword - would you use curemyslicetoday i.e. an extra word at the end of the keyword you are targeting or would you put it before the keyword i.e. todaycuremyslice or does it matter? (sorry for questions but this is a fantastic site as although Jens book is the best book I ever bought sometimes you just need to ask extra questions! Thank you for providing this.

• 2 Jackie and Andrea // Nov 15, 2008 at 8:54 am

  Hey Adamsmom, Questions are what we’re here for. No question too small!

  It does not matter whether you put dashes in or not. You can use either one. I try to get the all together ones first, and then add dashes when I can’t get the url I want. The search engines will read both just the same.

  Yes, you would add a word or two to your url to get one that is available. It does not matter whether you put them at the front or the back.

• 3 squiggy // Nov 17, 2008 at 9:52 am

  OMGosh!

  I’ve been using that ‘magic’ thingy ’cause that’s what was turned on when I logged in. I just tried it your way and I could kiss you — it’s SO much easier!

  Ty ty

• 4 Edward Stewart // Dec 9, 2008 at 5:41 pm

  The “NEW” Squidoo page does not resemble your instructions, even slightly. There is no “Do your own thing” option. It seems they have gone to an all automated start-up. As a result, I am totally lost as to how to set up my keyword or tags. Check it out and see if you see the same thing or maybe I’m in the Twilight Zone. Thanks, Ed

• 5 Jackie and Andrea // Dec 10, 2008 at 8:59 am

  Hi Ed,

  Yes it does start up with the crazy automated thing.

  I mentioned that you will have to click the link in the right hand corner that says “back to the old builder”

  When you click that and agree to change builders it will take you exactly where we are.

  Jackie

• 6 Edward Stewart // Dec 10, 2008 at 5:22 pm

  Thanks Jackie,

  I guess the sky in my world is a different one than in your world. I do not see anything on any screen that says “back to the old builder” After I log in and select “Make a new lens” In the corner above STEP 3, it says “Help, I’m Stuck” If I click in it, I am taken to the Squidoo Feedback page.
  There is no “back to the old builder” anywhere on any page that I can find. Now what???
  Thx, Ed

• 7 Anonymous // Dec 10, 2008 at 5:58 pm

  HMMM.. .

  Ok, try this, don’t know if it’s going to work, but try it:

  http://www.squidoo.com/wizard/step1

  It must be something to do with the fact that I have made old lensbuilder lenses or something I don’t know. That should take you to the first step.

  I am still getting old lensbuilders on my acct, but have heard from others they are not as well.

  If they have really changed it I will go back through and do a new post to walk you guys through it. I sure hope they haven’t because it’s soooo much easier this way.

  Let me know if it works.

  Jackie

• 8 Edward Stewart // Dec 10, 2008 at 7:08 pm

  Thanks Jackie,

  It works like a charm. Once you use the old builder, you get the choice. Otherwise, if you are a new Squidoo Member, they won’t let you go there. Sounds like you may have to re-write this section for the newbies to follow. Squidoo wants us to use their “NEW Magicbuilder” It’s anybody’s guess how long they will allow the “Old Builder”. Maybe we should let them know we like it better. Thanks again for you solution.
  ……..Ed

• 9 Jackie and Andrea // Dec 10, 2008 at 7:22 pm

  Hey Ed,
  Thank Andrea for that one! She’s the one that found that little trick. Glad it worked.

  You are welcome to let them know over at Squidu that you prefer the old lensbuilder. The powers that be usually keep their eyes and ears pretty open to what’s going on.

  And yes if I need to I will add some new info into the post.

  Jackie

• 10 Edward Stewart // Dec 11, 2008 at 1:21 pm

  Hi Andrea,

  Thanks for the “fix” for the Magicbuilder, or perhaps I should say the “unfix”. The old way is soooo much easier to use. I hope Squidoo will re-institute the option to choose “The Old Builder”.
  Again. Thanks!
  Ed

• 11 Jackie and Andrea // Dec 11, 2008 at 2:00 pm

  OMGosh Ed I know what you mean about the old way being better - I was fighting with the ‘magic’ one until Jackie clued me in too - lol.

  SO much faster!

  Glad it worked for you,

  Andrea

• 12 Ingrid Palmer // Jan 23, 2009 at 2:15 pm

  Hi Jackie and Andrea:

  My head is so thick I want to scream.
  Ok here goes. Just a question that I cant seem to wrap my thick head around.

  I have a line 5 anti aging skin care products that I want to build squidoo lenses around.

  So I would build 1 lens per keyword per product? So I would end up with 5 lenses that I could link together. Each lens would have their own email?

  You see I want to know , if each product has several keywords would I build a lens for the different keywords for the same product thereby each product would have say 3 lens based on the keywords.

  I hope I am not too confusing.

  Thanks, you are always so helpful.

• 13 Jackie and Andrea // Jan 23, 2009 at 4:54 pm

  That was a little confusing ~ but I think I know what you’re getting

  Let’s see. Not sure what line 5 anti aging skin care products is(are)? Do you mean a line of??

  I think you do now rereading it again.

  If your products are very different you will want to find keywords for each product. Then create a lens for each keyword you found.

  Link the lenses together.

  Since it’s a LINE of products, I imagine they all kinda go together, so you can also lensroll your other lenses for other products to each other to interlink them in yet another way.

  So if you have 5 products you will end up with 25 lenses ~ 5 keywords for each product ~ 1 lens for each keyword.

  Using featured lens module to connect the product lenses, and lensroll (in the sidebar) to connect the whole line.

  Hope that is clear, if not, just ask more questions.

  Jackie

• 14 Judith Turner // Feb 21, 2009 at 6:21 pm

  OK just curious, why are we reserving 6 lenses when each campaign is 5 lenses?

• 15 Jackie and Andrea // Feb 21, 2009 at 7:15 pm

  It depends, some people will do different numbers of lenses. Just a typo really. If you have 5 keywords, reserve 5 urls, if you have 6 keywords reserve 6

  Jackie

• 16 Joyce J // Feb 21, 2009 at 9:56 pm

  Sorry for this question, if the answer is obvious.
  I have just done my 1st keyword and URL with squidoo and saved it as a draft. Now when I repeat this process over for the remaining keywords (I have 3 unused left now), do I in turn, make each keyword the “what the lens is about”, and using each keyword more than once as I go through the list of 6 keywords I have. I hope you understand what I am asking.
  Thank you.

• 17 Jackie and Andrea // Feb 21, 2009 at 10:22 pm

  No problem Joyce -

  The “what this lens is about” is going to show up on your lens as the main headline.

  You want your keyword phrase for that lens at the front of the headline and maybe a little more description.

  I would pop my phrase in there for now and edit later as needed. The only part that cannot be changed is the url name.

  Andrea

• 18 Joyce J // Feb 22, 2009 at 5:26 am

  Sorry Andrea. I’m still not with it. Now that I have done the first Keyword, which now has a URL. and added the extra 2 keywords from my list of 6 as per your instructions in this lesson. Do I use the same 6 keywords rotating them to each have a position within “what this lens is about”.

  Your Turkey example:-
  In this lesson “frying a turkey” is the best keyword, and is then repeated under the 3 more good ones.

  Next one down is “fry a turkey”. Does this now become the next “best keyword”, as well as repeating it in first position, and then “how to deep fry a turkey” in 2nd position, and perhaps “frying a turkey” as the 3rd position.

  In other words ( I think), do I use these 6 keywords multiple times when I do the URL etc for each of the 6 keywords for my campaign.

  Sorry if I’m not getting it.

  Joyce

• 19 Jackie and Andrea // Feb 22, 2009 at 6:48 am

  Yep you’ve got it!

  What you’ll end up with is a url (lens) dedicated to each keyword phrase of your campaign.

  Sounds exactly right to me

  Don’t worry too much about the three extra keywords in step 4 - you can always add them in from the main edit screen.

  Andrea

• 20 Joyce J // Feb 22, 2009 at 7:25 am

  Thanks and grin - that helps a lot. I guess I’ll learn about this edit screen later.

• 21 Valerie Grass // Mar 21, 2009 at 12:10 am

  I have a really dumb question. I’ve already made my first lens. I can’t remember my campaign URL. I typed a bunch out I thought it could be and put each one into my address bar. None brought my page up. Any ideas? Thanks

• 22 Jackie and Andrea // Mar 21, 2009 at 8:16 am

  log in to your account. Go to your dashboard and you will see your lenses there. If you hover over the edit link it will show you the url ~ or you can click the view link and it will take you right there.

  Jackie

• 23 Randall Avant // Mar 29, 2009 at 1:37 am

  Woo Hoo! Six lenses ready to go, and still no idea what I’m doing

• 24 Jackie and Andrea // Mar 29, 2009 at 7:32 am

  Grin - good for you Randall!

  You’re learning lots - just keep following along and you’ll have OWM under your belt and be able to repeat it faster and faster

  Like anything - it takes learning once then practice, practice.

  You’re doing great!

  Andrea

• 25 Russell Hart // Apr 24, 2009 at 8:18 pm

  Hi Jackie & Andrea
  I’m having the same trouble as Ed. The Squidoo page I get up does not resemble your lesson image. I’ve tried http://www.squidoo.com/wizard/step1 over and over again but cannot get it up - although I thnk I saw it momentarily flash across the screen on one occasion (unless I’m seeing things!). Is there any other way I can get to “old builder”? HELP please.
  RUSSELL

• 26 Jackie and Andrea // Apr 24, 2009 at 8:29 pm

  They sure are making it more and more difficult aren’t they lol.

  Try this and see if it works:

  Go to google. type in the squidoo url you WANT for your lens.

  If it is not already taken you will see an image that says

  Hello this page was made by YOU. Click here to take it over.

  Once you click that, it will take you through to the old builder. And should look like what we have pictured here.

  It’s the long way around, but it should work.

  If the first url you want is already taken by someone else add a word to the beginning or end and try again.

  ex: http://www.squidoo.com/dogtraining
  becomes:

  http://www.squidoo.com/bestdogtraining or even
  http://www.squidoo.com/best-dog-training

  If all of the urls you want are already taken this probably means there is a lot of squidoo competition for this topic and you may find it harder to get your lenses on this topic indexed and ranking in google.

  Jackie

• 27 Jackie and Andrea // Apr 24, 2009 at 8:34 pm

  hey I just tried the wizard url and it worked for me lol.

  Jackie

• 28 Russell Hart // Apr 25, 2009 at 12:52 am

  Thanks Jackie …
  … for your extremely fast response. YES! It worked and I’ve now reserved my desired URLs.
  You and Andrea are worth your weight in gold.
  Regards
  RUSSELL

• 29 Russell Hart // Apr 25, 2009 at 1:22 am

  Jackie & Andrea
  Just looking ahead a bit - re masking Affiliate URLs. Is a shortened version of an Affiliate Link through TinyURL.com acceptable to those who won’t accept an Affiliate Link … such as EzineArticles?
  Regards
  RUSSELL

• 30 Jackie and Andrea // Apr 25, 2009 at 7:32 am

  Russell,

  I don’t think EZA will take a tiny url. I believe it has to be a top level domain name. We’ll be talking about forwarding shortly.

  Jackie

• 31 Carole Rowland // May 2, 2009 at 4:13 pm

  I have reserved my 6 KW.

  Myy niche could go in 2 different catagories.

  Will I set up the same 6 KW (just add another word to it) in the 2nd catagory?

  Is this something we will get into later?

  Thanks,
  Carole

• 32 Jackie and Andrea // May 2, 2009 at 4:52 pm

  Hi Carole -

  No just pick whatever category is most appropriate for each lens - we’re not using the category feature for OWM. That’s more of an internal Squidoo thing.

  Andrea

• 33 Anita Armstrong // May 19, 2009 at 5:15 pm

  Wow….I’m happy to see folks who are posting…in the same month I started in….as of today…it’s my first day…so, I don’t think I’m too far…behind…lol

• 34 Jackie and Andrea // May 19, 2009 at 6:02 pm

  Hey Anita,

  You’re never behind ~ you are right where you are and that’s perfect.

  Jackie

• 35 John Woods // May 26, 2009 at 8:24 am

  Hi ladies, I’m one of your newest members. Where were you years ago when I first got lost in this crazy industry? This is the best step by step(the only real one) I’ve ever come across.
  Anyway, my question: I set up my first url last Friday and then had to stop before going on to the others. How do I get back to where I set up the 1st url to continue what I started? When I log in to my acct. there is no link that shows me where to go. Thanks, John

• 36 Jackie and Andrea // May 26, 2009 at 8:50 am

  Hiya John and welcome!

  Appreciate the kudos

  When you login to Squidoo - you should see a link at the top left that says ‘dashboard’ - when you save your lenses (in whatever state they’re in) that’s where they get stored.

  Let us know if you need a picture, okay?

  Andrea

• 37 Jackie and Andrea // May 26, 2009 at 8:51 am

  dang - I mean top right - LOL

  Sorry about that :-p

  Andrea

• 38 John Woods // May 26, 2009 at 10:31 am

  Thanks, found the problem. I wasn’t logging in to the correct acct. John

• 39 Jackie and Andrea // May 26, 2009 at 10:48 am

  SO easy to do! And great reminder for the next person

  You’re doing great - keep on plugging,
  Andrea

• 40 Breakthroughguy // Jul 1, 2009 at 12:46 am

  Done. already reserved my campaign URLs.

  Is there any particular reason for me to enter my best keyword again in the ‘3 more good ones’ field?

  Thanks

  Greg

• 41 Jackie and Andrea // Jul 1, 2009 at 8:57 am

  yes ~ it has to do with the way it is coded. If you don’t put it in again for some reason it doesn’t show up on the tags pages in Squidoo.

  Jackie

• 42 mary ann pierce // Aug 28, 2009 at 7:04 am

  Hey guys where do you go to in squidoo lens edition to Paste in CODE FOR HYBER LINK?
  THANKS
  MARY ANN

• 43 Jackie and Andrea // Aug 28, 2009 at 8:05 am

  You have to open the module you want your link in in EDIT mode.

  Once you are in edit mode in the module you need to paste the code for your link wherever you want it to show up in your text.

  Jackie

• 44 Carole Rowland // Sep 23, 2009 at 3:52 pm

  Hi Jackie
  Boy I screwed up on one of my lens url.

  I omitted one of the numbers in the model of my product.

  Is there anything that can be done to correct this?

  C

• 45 Jackie and Andrea // Sep 23, 2009 at 3:58 pm

  Hi Carole -

  You’ll have to grab a new url and transfer the content/ create new.

  Sorry!

  Andrea

• 46 Sue Bledsoe // Sep 26, 2009 at 12:09 am

  Hi Jackie and Adnrea,
  When you get this it will probaly be morning. I never have done Squidoo before or made lenses. I was wondering when I make my test lens what do I do? I would guess I would talk about my product. But I don’t think I can be too obvious becuase I would think Squidoo wouldn’t like that. Since this going to be test lens I don’t want to write a book. Is there some kind of blueprint to follow?

  thanks
  sue

• 47 Jackie and Andrea // Sep 26, 2009 at 6:47 am

  Hi Sue -

  None of your lenses need to be ‘books’ - starting in lesson 18 or so, we thoroughly cover the “what goes in a lens and how”

  Test lenses have to be created the same way.

  Keep on going - you’re doing great!

  Andrea

• 48 Jackie and Andrea // Sep 26, 2009 at 6:48 am

  Ahh and you might also find this page handy:

  http://www.learnitstepbystep.com/toc

  You can reach it anytime through the “Lessons” link on the top menu.

  Andrea

• 49 George Varghese // Nov 8, 2009 at 4:32 am

  Hi ladies
  I have got my six lenses all saved as drafts. It feels nice to have come this far.Thanks a lot ladies.

• 50 Jackie and Andrea // Nov 8, 2009 at 5:03 am

  Good Job George!

  Keep taking those daily steps, they add up

  Andrea

• 51 Pat Lukaskiewicz // Dec 20, 2009 at 1:31 pm

  I’m asking this question out of curiosity. Can I promote more than one website selling basically the same product? Both are clickbank products.

• 52 Jackie and Andrea // Dec 20, 2009 at 2:50 pm

  Hi Pat -

  You’ll confuse your visitor less if you offer only one link out. You can also better tell what’s working and what isn’t if you stick to a single promotion per lens.

  But yes, you can offer more than one if the situation calls for it.

  Andrea

• 53 Calvin Hotchkiss // Jan 6, 2010 at 10:17 pm

  Hi Andrea & Jackie

  So, I have been absent for a bit - My question is maybe silly but here goes: Is my Lens URL the same as my Bio URL? If not what are the rules?

  Regards. Cal H

• 54 Jackie and Andrea // Jan 6, 2010 at 10:40 pm

  not sure exactly what you mean by “bio url”. Could you tell me more about what you mean?

  Jackie

• 55 Jackie and Andrea // Jan 7, 2010 at 4:12 am

  Hi Cal -

  First off - ’silly’ questions are good! They’re the ones we can knock out of the way and help you to move forward

  Do you mean your lensmaster url vs the lens urls?

  Andrea

• 56 Jackie and Andrea // Jan 7, 2010 at 7:59 am

  Yes, your lensmaster (bio) url is set when you create your squidoo account. Your lens url is set each time you go to create a new lens. You get to pick it each time. (and would be wise to choose something with your targeted keywords in it)

  Jackie

• 57 Arthur Dalton // Feb 5, 2010 at 2:19 pm

  Hi girls,
  Can you tell me why my dashboard under the Daily Digest tab shows that I have only 2 lenses built and under the my lenses tab it shows the 6 that I built?
  Also I have a number 168,994 to the left of the gray dash under rank. What does that stand for?

  Also at the top of the page are your pictures each holding a baby, which one is Andrea and which is Jackie

  Love your program, its a big help, your doing a great job, even an old man like me can follow it.

  Art

• 58 Sharyn Mathieson // Feb 7, 2010 at 7:38 pm

  Hi Girls’,

  I am having trouble reserving my lens URL’s. I first went to squidoo and did it that way but it takes to a page that says step 1 “What’s your lens about.” Next I did what you said and went over to Google but it’s coming up with webpages but nothing about “take this page over.” What do I doooo?????

  Thanks for all your help

  Sharyn

• 59 Jackie and Andrea // Feb 7, 2010 at 8:32 pm

  Just go through the steps. There’s only 3. Then just click save as draft. What’s your lens about is going to be the title ~ and it will ask you for the url you want etc. Fill those in with the appropriate information.

  Jackie

• 60 Sharyn Mathieson // Feb 7, 2010 at 9:06 pm

  Thanks for getting back so quickly Jackie. I just want to make sure I’ve got it right. The title of my lens and the url are my keywords. Is this right or wrong?

  Thanks
  Sharyn

• 61 Jackie and Andrea // Feb 7, 2010 at 9:24 pm

  Yes, title and url are your keywords.

  Jackie

• 62 Arthur Dalton // Feb 9, 2010 at 2:56 pm

  Hi Jackie & Andrea
  I asked a question #57 above on Feb 5th and you skipped right over it.
  Am I doing something wrong so your not getting my comments or what is happening. this is the secont time it has happened.

  Art

• 63 Jackie and Andrea // Feb 9, 2010 at 3:07 pm

  Hey Art
  Sorry we missed your question.

  I don’t know what the deal is with the daily digest. I never look at it ~ I have my main page set to my lenses and just work from there.

  The number is your “lensrank” it’s the number squidoo assigns you as the rank among lenses on Squidoo ~ it’s pretty irrelevant for our purposes as we are working on ranking in the search engines, and not so much squidoo.

  I’m on the left ~ Andrea is on the right.

  If we miss you just say something. Things get crazy and sometimes things get missed.

  Jackie

• 64 Arthur Dalton // Feb 9, 2010 at 3:10 pm

  Hi girls

  I understand, things can get hectic.

  Art

• 65 Larry Pitman // Feb 16, 2010 at 3:07 pm

  Hi Jackie. First day here, although Andrea has been suffering through my stupid questions for a month or so in another coaching arena.

  I’ve got several test lenses built that get virtually no traffic. I think the content is good, but the keywords/urls are weak. I did these flying on my own, using only SEOBook, and search volume never crossed my mind. They don’t meet the keyword guidelines you detailed earlier.

  Somewhere up above you speak about “grabbing a new url and transfering the content/ creating new.”

  I’d like to re-do my test lenses using some solid keywords, keeping the content, and modifying the links as necessary to reflect the new keywords. Is there a Squidoo process for that?

  Thanks very much,

  Larry

• 66 Jackie and Andrea // Feb 16, 2010 at 3:16 pm

  You can’t change the url on your lenses ~ you can start over with new keywords/new urls and transfer the content from your old lenses if you want. Personally I would just start a new ~ new keywords, new lens urls, new content ~ if it’s all on the same/similar topic you can link them together ~ which is all part of OWM.

  Jackie

• 67 Larry Pitman // Feb 16, 2010 at 3:36 pm

  OK…just start new. Thank you. The old/original lens could be deleted for organization’s sake, right?

  When you discuss grabbing url’s, you mention adding a word at the beginning or end if the desired url is already taken.

  Using your example with “frying a turkey” as the desired keyword. If not available, say you go with “frying a turkey dinner.”

  Then, your url is “frying a turkey dinner” but do you still use “frying a turkey ” as your keyword phrase in your module titles and anchor text links?

• 68 Jackie and Andrea // Feb 16, 2010 at 4:35 pm

  Never delete online real estate. It can always be used for something. Like I said above you can also continue to use it and just link it to the rest of your campaign.

  I would not do what you suggest above because frying a turkey dinner is nothing like frying a turkey ~ you need to use keywords that are consistent with what you’re selling to make it work. Here’s one of my posts on this topic that might make it a little clearer.

  http://internetmarketingformommies.com/where-do-your-keywords-fit-in-the-buying-cycle/

  If you can’t find the url you want on squidoo you might want to dig in a little further and look for less competitive keywords.

  Jackie

• 69 Larry Pitman // Feb 16, 2010 at 5:41 pm

  Understood about deleting online real estate.

  That’s a great buying cycle link. A terrific example.

  Regarding urls/keywords, I chose a bad example above….let me try again. I want “ping pong instruction” for my keyword and url, but it’s unavailable. I choose “best ping pong instruction” instead, so that’s my lens url.

  Can I still use “ping pong instruction” as my keyword phrase in my module titles and anchor text links because it’s more conversational and easier to use in sentences, or am I restricted to using “best ping pong instruction”?

  Thanks very much

• 70 Jackie and Andrea // Feb 16, 2010 at 5:49 pm

  as long as you pick something included in the url you’ll be fine.

  Jackie

• 71 Larry Pitman // Feb 16, 2010 at 6:04 pm

  Got it….Thanks very much

• 72 Adrienne Lecky // Nov 5, 2010 at 4:32 pm

  Hi Jackie, I have reserved 5 URLs for one campaigne. so I am using one of them to do a test on the product, which I have published. If I want to do another test - How do I then get another set of 5 because squidoo say that 5 is your maximum amount at my level. Do I have to set up a new profile? thanks

• 73 Jackie and Andrea // Nov 5, 2010 at 4:37 pm

  if you’ve researched the 5 urls you’re not doing a “test” you’re doing an actual campaign. A test is one lens for an idea that just kind of pops up.

  If you’ve got ideas and the urls just finish the campaign and follow the lessons.

  When you go “OH that might be a good idea, but I”m working on so much other stuff, hmmm maybe I should throw up a test lens and see what happens” ~ that’s a test lens.

  jackie

• 74 Adrienne Lecky // Nov 5, 2010 at 7:29 pm

  Sorry Jackie I still dont get it. I thought by what you said before if I do a test lens there were other things i had to do other than just put up the test lens, so I got the impresssion that I would have to go through the whole process with that one lens to see if it gets traffic. The other question is if it is a test lens then should I not worry about reserving the URLs? I hope this isnt too confusion for you. thanks Adie

• 75 Jackie and Andrea // Nov 5, 2010 at 7:55 pm

  Hiya Adie -

  Andrea here

  Yep - just do the one lens and don’t mess with reserving other urls for test lenses. Just move through the whole OWM process with the single url.

  Andrea