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Handy Squidoo Tip: Caption a Lens Logo or Text Module Graphic!

Nov 3rd, 2011
by Greekgeek.
No comments yet

Screencap from my lens

Eureka! Why didn't I figure this out sooner? There is a fairly simple CSS way to force a caption (including an image caption with clickable link) to hang out directly under a Squidoo lens logo or an image uploaded into the text module!

Ta-da! Actual screencap of a lens!

Here. I have, of course, created a new Squidoo tutorial:

Squidoo Image Captions: Handy Tip

Of course, the easiest thing would be if Squidoo would add an optional caption slot for images.

But then, I suppose there's no way to guess what height / style the caption slot ought to be. It depends whether you're trying to make a photo credit or some kind of comment/description.

Resizing Images for Amazon Associates, Squidoo, Zazzle

Oct 15th, 2011
by Greekgeek.
3 comments

I experiment with different ways of using images, because they get clicked even when they're decorative. (And there's nothing like a visually intriguing thumbnail to get people clicking -- they want to see it full-sized).

When you grab a basic Amazon Associates "image" code, you get something like:

There's an easy -- well, fairly easy -- way to resize Amazon graphics, up to whatever size the original product image is that's stored on Amazon. (Any larger than the original, and it gets fuzzy.)

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Multiple Backlinks from One Zazzle Store

Aug 20th, 2011
by Greekgeek.
1 comment

NoFollow backlinks aren't that useful, but people and Google do follow them. (Yes, Google does follow NoFollow Links, and in fact counts them a tiny bit for Pagerank.)

Also, it's possible that search engines may take notice of how many different domains link to a page. We don't know, but it's no more foolish counting backlink diversity than counting backlinks with no idea which of those backlinks are actually weighted as relevant to a particular search.

In that context, I was intrigued to discover through SquidUtils' Backlink Checker that when you build a shop on Zazzle.com, it propagates on Zazzle.co.uk, Zazzle.de, Zazzle.fr and Zazzle.pt. (Where's that?) Now, links in Zazzle descriptions are nofollow, so the backlink on my Mythphile Shop is not passing much pagerank.

Google is probably sophisticated enough to realize those multiple domains are not totally independent: they're obviously part of an international network of sites. Also, it sees the duplicate content. (I think the duplicate content scare triggered by Panda has set off a bit of hysteria... a few mirror sites won't send your content off the Google SERPs, it's just they may not rank quite as well, or maybe only one will rank well in each country. Oops, tangent.) Nevertheless, those links have to count as least as much as forum signature links, which Google is also sophisticated enough to recognize as (a) self-promotion, not an unbiased recommendation and (b) a forum signature -- multiple posts with it shouldn't be weighted any more, or much more, than a single post.

All of this means that you might as well open a Zazzle shop, if you've got some visual assets related to your niche.

What kind of assets?

Have you taken your own digital photos related to your topic? Are they photographs of public landmarks, nature, or out-of-copyright (pre-1920 should be safe) products or images? (See this "Legal Pitfalls of Using Photographs" copyright FAQ for more info on what's allowed.) Commercially-licensed Creative Commons images are also permissible, with credit and a backlink.

Consider making postcards or small prints with them. (Don't be misleading and print ordinary-sized images on a poster when the original picture is 600x800 pixels; it'll look awful blown up to poster-size.) Write keyword-rich descriptions. And tie it in somehow to your topic, as I did with my Mythphile Shop. Plant the backlink. It's not much link juice, but it's a little. It's worth expanding your online assets and footprint while creating a possible venue for money-earning.

(This is where I plug my Zazzle tutorial.) Anyway, it's a thought.

 

Image Hosting on Your Own Domain

Mar 24th, 2011
by Greekgeek.
No comments yet

I've used ICDSoft as my web host for 8 years now, long before Web 2.0 burst onto the scene. I've hosted various personal websites on it and used it as file storage space for online communities where I was an admin or member.

On Squidoo, I continue to find it extremely useful for image hosting. First, it's fast, and I'm not dependent on Squidoo's servers. Second, I have ICDsoft's own traffic stats data, which records longterm trends like keyword searches that brought people to those images. I've got eight years of keyword data to mull through when pondering what people search for -- I really need to spend more time digging through the records to help me brainstorm for lens topic ideas! Third, ICDSoft lets me block hotlinking.

Most importantly, having images hosted off-Squidoo lets me store the images for each lens in folders whose names reinforce SEO. For example, all my images for my volcano lens are stored in a folder named [blah blah]/volcanoes/[filename].jpg.  This means every single image reinforces the relevance of that lens for the keyword "volcanoes." You could use this technique on image hosting sites like Picasa and Photobucket as well, provided they let you name image folders, and those names are incorporated into the image URL.

On a side note... Where can you find information on which of your lens graphics is generating search traffic?

  1. Check Stats for that lens.
  2. Click the traffic tab.
  3. Scroll down to "Referrers" below the pie chart.
  4. Under "Referrers," click Google. For some reason Squidoo treats Google image search as a referrer, not a search engine.
  5. Look for referrals beginning with these words: /imgresimgurl. Shortly after that will be the URL of the image. That means someone did a Google Image search, saw your graphic in the results of the image search, clicked on that graphic and came to your lens.
  6. It's a little hard to decipher, but if you right click and copy that "referrer" URL into a spare document, then search for %3Fq%3D (which is a weird way of saying &q=, computerese for "query equals..."), everything after that is the actual search term someone typed in to find the graphic. %2B is computerese for a blank space. So for example, I see a referral with this gobbledygook:

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.istad.org/lenses/volcanoes/mount-pinatubo&imgrefurl=http://www.squidoo.com/volcanoes/97556311-Famous-Volcanoes&usg=___AnwaK1u9sgow3vyisU9v7n5ODg=&h=388&w=590&sz=62&hl=en&start=18&zoom=1&tbnid=4QfABOnxUcaYNM:&tbnh=140&tbnw=199&ei=_wOJTaymFonC0QG-qtSJDg&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmount%2Bpinatubo%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26gbv%3D2%26biw%3D1259%26bih%3D599%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C413&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=490&vpy=322&dur=3094&hovh=182&hovw=277&tx=153&ty=106&oei=TwGJTfrzFYm-0QGztcm8Dg&page=2&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:8,s:18&biw=1259&bih=599

That means that someone found my lens by doing an image search for mount pinatubo. I'm really not sure how, since other images turn up ahead of mine in Google image search, but they did, so there you are. :)

Normally you'll never need to dig that deeply into your stats, but just in case, that's how. Don't ask me what all that other gobbledygook is, though.

The Most Powerful Way to Get Clickouts

Mar 14th, 2011
by Greekgeek.
3 comments

I've had a lens that's been driving me nuts. My Aligning Images tutorial was getting 500, 600, now 700-800 visitors a week, but it was always tier 2. Why?

Simple. People read tutorials, and then they leave. No clickouts means no tier one for you. I had included links to a free HTML editor and various other resources, and still, the fish weren't biting.

I changed one graphic which I had created for my How to Get More Clicks, Sales tutorial. I didn't really expect it to make that much of a difference.

Kapow. Tier one, baby. You can offer people freebies, useful resources, and printables on a silver platter, but they may not click. You need good clip art to get the clicks. (My favorite two are OpenClipart and clker.com.)

That, or everyone is too curious when they see a random URL of a YouTube video not to check it out.

I'd think that's a joke, except that I've seen a similar "What's in the box? I have to poke it!" effect when I use the Amazon module in thumbnail mode. Normally, people are less likely to click on small images than large ones. But if it's a "what the heck IS that thing?!" type graphic, they click, because they want a closer look. Sometimes they buy it. More often they buy something else. Or, maybe, they don't buy, but at least you scored a clickout!

I've seen a similar phenomenon on bizarre images with humorous captions that are slightly too small to read. Demotivational posters on Zazzle are very effective for clicks.

But of course, the most powerful way to get clickouts isn't a killer, you've-just-got-to-click graphic.

The key is that you have to link to the Extreme Shepherding video.

Squidoo, Zazzle, and Creative Commons

Nov 16th, 2010
by Greekgeek.
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Zazzle Referrals = Creative Commons that Earn Cash?

Last week I had a brain wave. Zazzle designs work a little like e Creative Commons: as a Zazzle Associate, you may feature them on your page or blog by providing credit and a link (in this case, a referral link) back!  You're promoting an artist's products (that's the whole point). But as a side benefit, you have access to a huge body of gorgeous graphics.

Which of course meant I had to make a lens about it:

Want Graphics? Use Zazzle Designs Like Creative Commons

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Squidoo Graphics and Image File Types

Aug 2nd, 2010
by Greekgeek.
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I was  discouraged when I found a Squidoo lensmaster taking designs from my Squidoo Graphics lens and selling them on Zazzle, ignoring the Creative Commons license I posted on that lens. I didn't feel like making new graphics, after that. However, I've recently been inspired again.

Recently, a newbie asked if there were Squidoo banners one could download. I started to send him to the official Squidoo banners downloads lens, but I saw that none of those graphics are really banners. So I made some and posted a new Squidoo Banners For You lens.

So what? Is this just a transparent link-drop? No, actually, I want to teach you a little about graphics, so you understand what I'm doing, and more importantly, so you understand what you are doing when you resize, save, or use a graphic.

Disclaimer: The Squidoo logo is a trademark of Squidoo LLC. This blog is not endorsed by/affiliated with Squidoo LLC.

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Squidoo Graphics: Colors, Themes, Black Box Tips

Jun 1st, 2010
by Greekgeek.
No comments yet

I've been thinking. Try as I might, I'm a journeyman when it comes to Squidoo SEO: I have the basic techniques down, I know what I'm doing, but I've got the online equivalent of an undergraduate college degree rather than a PhD. Whereas I've been doing computer graphics and layout since 1980, HTML since 1993, and CSS since--well, whenever it first came out.

So I should share more of my tips on graphics and webpage design. Here's a few!

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Images and Videos as Linkbait!

May 3rd, 2009
by Greekgeek.
No comments yet

I often use Flickr and YouTube for hosting my lens images and video and as a way to drive traffic.  I prefer hosting my best-looking photos on Flickr as opposed to Photobucket or even my own website, because I can add something in the description field like "This is an illustration for Ancient Greece Odyssey: My Tour of Delphi" which gets keywords into the link. Having tagged my photos carefully for things like Greece and Delphi and Greek Art, I get a lot of traffic from people searching for those iamges on Flickr.

These are the kind of visitors you want most: a targeted audience who will be more likely to click your links, or even your sales modules, because they’re interested in what your lens is about.

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Two More Quick Squidoo SEO Tips

Apr 19th, 2009
by Greekgeek.
No comments yet

Here's two easy steps I do as a quick "freshness boost" for a lens about to slip past the bottom of its tier. It's no substitute for adding new, updated, exciting content, but it's a quick fix.

  1. In traffic stats, I change the window to 30-day-traffic and add any keyword phrase to my Squidoo Tags that's been searched 4-5 times, if I haven't got it already. This won't help much with Google, which doesn't put much stock in Squidoo tags, but it may help with MSN and Yahoo (once Yahoo rediscovers Squidoo). Don't forget you need to PUBLISH a lens again after adding tags!
  2. I make note of my chosen keywords and the top 2-3 searches for my lens. I then add each as alt-tags to one image on my lens, in a module talking about that topic, or a graphic that illustrates it.  I may even delete an image, change its filename on my computer to a better keyword (use hyphens to separate words, e.g. picture-of-stork.jpg), upload it again and change the HTML to point to the new filename. Both these methods are using images to attract search engine traffic.

Voilá! Publish, and you've just updated your lens, which can give it a small ranking boost. Again, you can't always cheat like this -- sometimes you need to add new content! -- but we can't be rewriting all our lenses every day.

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