Using Squidoo to Boost Rankings For Local Business

It's been speculated for quite some time - the local business community and online community meet.  It is now not only possible, but very profitable for almost any type of local business to get a positive ROI, in almost any community.

Marketing a local business online and utilizing the Internet isn’t much different than marketing in the offline world, except you’re using a very different medium.  Networking, word of mouth, advertising are among a few of the fundamentals in local internet marketing.

The one method that brings more qualified traffic to a website is a search engine.  Search engines deliver a variety of different traffic.  Some of the traffic is paid, some is found in a typical organic search, other traffic comes from the image search or news search and more and more is coming from the local business results.

Organic traffic, the biggest results in a search engine, cannot be purchased.  Improving rankings is done using effective search engines optimization, or SEO.  Quality SEO, utilizing white hat methods, is merely improving transparency and exposure on the Internet.  This is done by offering citations (references) of your website on the Internet and links to your website from another website. 

Squidoo is a great source to help improve rankings

Here is another tip.  You can improve your company’s online exposure and inbound links by creating a Squidoo lens for your business.  A Squidoo lens is merely a webpage about a specific topic.  You do not need any technical knowledge to create a Squidoo lens.  Creating a Squidoo lens for your local business is easy.

Notice there is no mention about creating a lens about your business, but one for your business.  This is because if you create a lens about your business, you’re offering little value to your readers.  Your goal isn’t to sell your business, but expose it.  If you offer value to readers, then you’ll gain more readers.  The more readers in theory, the higher ranked that lens is.  Since that lens will have links to your website, the higher ranked your website will become.  Complicated, perhaps, just know that this is a highly effective method to acquire authoritative links to your website.  The execution is the easy part.

Let's look at an example.  Perhaps you own a same day delivery service.  Same day delivery services are provided by companies that will move anything from anywhere to anywhere within a city, or country within hours.  Creating a Squidoo lens about Local Express Delivery or How to Choose a Courier Service are good topics.  This explains to the buyer of services value about the services the company provides. They help the buyer choose - they provide links to other resources - they provide education.  All things helpful to the website visitor who is looking for knowledge.

The best part, if you dissect each of those lenses, you’ll discover what the lens master is doing.  Occasionally, you’ll find theme related anchor text sprinkled throughout the lens pointing to their site.  These are great examples of how a locally based service firm is exposing themselves on the Internet.   

Some Tips About Your Squidoo Lens

1. Choose a topic with a related keyword to your company.
2. Choose a lens URL with your keyword in it.
3. Choose a topic title with your keyword in it.
4. Write relevant content that adds value to a reader, not selling.  Naturally write sprinkling your keyword in here and there.
5. Add other modules to your lens.  Google blog module is good if you chose blog news with your keyword, giving you outbound theme links, strengthening your lens theme authority.
6. Update your lens regularly.
7. Get links pointing to your lens from theme related sites.  At the very least, get one link so the search engines have an easier time finding your lens.  If you don’t, you rely on Squidoo to deliver the content to the search engine.  You can do article marketing, bookmarking, forum and comment posts for some quick links.
8. Add some web 2.0 links, tweet your lens, add it in your Facebook profile.  The search engines are now offering real time status search and helps the search engines find your lens.
9. Make multiple lenses!
10. Rate other's lenses and ask for your lens to be rated.  If you gained any value from any lens, ever, it's your karmic duty to give it a rating!

Go Ahead and Make a Few Lenses! 

Remember, the process of SEO and Internet Marketing is like paddling upstream.  As soon as you stop, you go back quickly.  It’s a long process and results should not be expected immediately.  This is a strong strategy that is intended to be one tool in your toolbox that is used to build your online presence.