There are many Web 2.0 sites encouraging users to place their full content on the site and share it with others. To understand how Squidoo.com works, you first must understand it is different from most traditional sites.

Squidoo.com allows users to create lenses, web pages with the intent of pointing users to information on the Web.

What this means is users create portfolios that contain information or links to tools, links, feedback or other information on the Web.

Users can earn money while doing so, all while sharing information about a topic with others so people can spend less time searching for the information they need on the Web.

Here are some examples of lens content available on Squidoo.com:

- Lists containing tips for increasing traffic to your site.
- Module tricks, or information about creating modules on the Web.
- Ebook lenses.

Consider Squidoo a shortcut to getting your website or other information on the Web noticed quickly by search engine crawlers. It is also another tool providing an excellent platform for increasing your credibility and professionalism on the Web.

Here is how simple it is to start a lens on Squidoo:

1. Register for an account. It's free, anyone can do it.
2. Follow the step-by-step instructions for creating your lens page.
3. Add relevant content to your page to increase your visits and your page ranking.

When building your lens, you DO want to provide visitors with relevant content and information about the subject you are promoting.

While Squidoo is an excellent tool for self-promotion, if you just log in and create an "advertisement" lens with no relevant content or information to share with visitors, your page is not likely to attract many visits.

This contrasts a bit with what we stated earlier. We said Squidoo is not a "content" oriented site.

Understand that it is not a "just" a content-based site in the sense that you will not create pages and pages of information about a topic you are passionate about.

What you will do is provide basic and interesting information, and links to relevant and helpful content for users.

What We've Learned

You can and should provide relevant and original material on your lens page, content users will eagerly seek out. You can provide content in many ways. For example, some users feed their blog posts into their lens page using an RSS feed.

This provides frequent and updated content to your lens page without much effort.

You can also post articles to your lens on a rotating basis. Many times, savvy users will post the introduction to articles on their lens page, then link to the full article located somewhere else, like on their website or on their blog.

Key to understanding Squidoo's utility is the fact that Squidoo prides itself on being an Internet community.

It is a gathering place where visitors travel to so they can build relationships using their lenses.