Increase Zujava Traffic With Meta Descriptions

One advantage with Zujava over Squidoo and Hubpages is that you are able to write your own meta descriptions. Why is this important? Google and other search engines often use meta-descriptions in their search results. So, by being able to write the description that readers will see in the Google search results, you can write it so that your Zujava leaf will stand out from the rest of the pack.

I wrote a guide on how to increase Zujava traffic by writing meta-descriptions and comment titles. If you love Squidoo and are not already signed up for Zujava, click to create a free account on Zujava.

How To Sleep Better

Many, many people struggle with sleep. They lie awake at night and go to work exhausted. Or worse yet, the start on the path of taking sedatives to sleep. The danger of taking sedatives is not only are they addictive, they can make it difficult to feel energetic the next day.

But there are many little known techniques which can help to sleep better. Techniques such as autogenic training and progressive muscle relaxation help many people to conquer insomnia and get the sleep that they need. For more information read this article about how to sleep better.

Look How Easy It Can Be To Break Into A Hotel Guest Room

We travel and stay in hotels or motels all of the time. Most of the time we feel safe. Much of the time that we think we are safe, we are actually fooling ourselves. Have a look at this video showing how surprisingly EASY it is to break into a hotel with the card type lock. Of course the video also shows us a simple technique to stop it with a towel. But not all hotel rooms use the same type of locking system, and many are just as easy to break into:

I have created a lens with some suggestions about how to optimize hotel security. In addition, here are some suggestions about hotel / motel safety from a Kansas police website.

Lensrank Explained

Spirituality (Katinka) wrote an excellent lens explaining Lenrank. In her lens, she discusses the factors which are known to influence lenrank. I learned several things from this lens. For example:

* "Giant squids get the equivalent of 2 angels blessings on every lens they make"
(This is a good insentive to becoming a Giant Squid)

* "Anything a visitor does on your lens is counted towards lensrank. Whether it's writing in your guestbook, voting in a poll, voting in a plexo, adding a link to a plexo or joining a duel"
(A good reason to put polls, plexos and duel modules on your lens)

Why is lensrank important? For one thing, as explained in my post about "How to Earn a Few Extra Dollars on Squidoo" lenses with higher lensrank earn more money. Currently lenses with lensrank above 2'000 earn over $10/month and lenses with lensrank above 10'000 earn over $2/month. That adds up.

Also, if you get a very high ranked lens, that can bring traffic. At the moment, I have two lenses with lensrank above 200. They both get significant traffic due to this, mostly from being in the top 10 for their topics (health, shopping, food, etc)

Here is another tip. Spirituality notes that "Click Outs" are an important factor for lens rank. What is a "click out"? Anytime someone clicks on something and leaves your lens, you get a "click out". This might seem counter intuitive, because you want someone to stay on your lens, right? Well, not if you want higher lensrank. What can you do to increase your click outs?

* Create relevant and valuble links on your lens that people will want to click. This might be to a related resource, a wiki article or anything a reader might be interested in for more information.

* Exchange links with a blog or website that is relevant. This has several advantages: you may receive traffic from their website to your lens, you should receive a relevant link which will boost your Google PR, and you will receive a "click out" if a visitor clicks on it.

* If you place a Youtube or Flickr Module on your lens consider using a thumbnail view rather than "show a full sized version" (examples of both can be seen on this lens about laser hair removal). If visitors want to see the video or photo, they will click on it and it will open in a new window. This click will count as a "click out". Watching the video on your lens does NOT count as a click out, though I have no idea if is might count as "visitor activity" as does voting in a poll or writing in a guestbook.

Does anyone else have other suggestions for increasing click outs?

(Image by Eurosquid)

7 Things I Ask Myself Before Creating A Lens

Below are the 7 questions I asked myself before/while creating my lens, BEARS: The 8 Wonders of the World.

1. What am I hoping to accomplish?
Raise awareness of the world's 8 bear species and raise money for Wildlife SOS.

2. Am I focusing on a singular sub-topic or giving an overview?
A brief overview / introduction of the 8 species.

3. How can I organize it to make it easy to navigate?
With only 8 bear species, it seemed logical to put the bears in alphabetical order.

4. How can I make it interesting?
Most people don't know the 8 species so I included their aliases (Brown Bear / Grizzly), photos and conservation status. I also added a Flickr slideshow and videos.

5. What do I want to link to?
I had already created more in-depth lenses on each of the 8 bear species so I linked to each of them. I also linked to organizations saving bears.

6. What can I sell?
I added bear Wildlife SOS's CafePress and Amazon books and bear gifts.

7. How much royalty do I want to give to what charity?
100% of the royalties goes to Wildlife SOS so I make sure I added a Donation Module.

Adding a guest book, some featured lenses, and a link to the Save Our Bears (SOB) Group made this a 5 star lens (in my opinion) right from the get-go. I have, of course, continued to update and add new items often.

How To Earn a Few Extra Dollars On Squidoo

Want a quick way to earn a little more money from Squidoo? Improve your lensrank. Lenses which rank above 2,000 will usually earn over $10 per month. Lenses with rank above 10,000 will usually earn +/- $2.

There are many factors which determine lensrank, including sales, clickouts, ratings, etc. Most of these are difficult to influence. But the factor that seems to have the most impact on lensrank is also the one that is easiest to control: Lens Freshness.

Lenses with high traffic and lenses which are recently updated have the best chances of having a higher lensrank. I have over 100 lenses and it is difficult to keep them all up to date. So, I focus on keeping my lenses with the best traffic up to date. The easiest way to do this is:

Go to your dashboard

Click on "My Lenses"

On the column “Visits” click the arrow until all of the lenses are listed starting from the lenses with the highest traffic to the lowest.

Now look at the category “Edited”. Your top ten lenses should all be updated within the past 2-3 months.

If they are not, take a few minutes to refresh. Add a new module, such as a poll or a debate; make sure that your Amazon lenses are featuring the products you want them to feature. See if there is a good Youtube video to add to your lens.

Once you have updated, go back in 1-2 days and you will most likely see that your lens has improved in lens rank.

Keeping your lenses with the highest traffic up to date is your best chances of getting some of your lens ranked in the top tiers and the easiest way to earn a few extra dollars every month.

Sources For Successful Squidoo Sales Sites

I enjoy making sales lenses. I sometimes even get passionate about them. It is fun to create a lens that people will enjoy and find value from. And of course it is fun to see sales develop. This lets me know that my lens was valuable for someone.

What kind of products do I like to build sales lenses around?

* Controversial products. I love it when I get a remark like "I did not even know something like that exisited" or " I can not believe that someone would actually use something like that". Where there is controversy, there is interest. People will discuss it and some may buy it.

* Widely used products. The more people that use a product, the more likely a visitor to your lens will buy it. But to be successful a lens has to have somethng unique to offer. For example an attractive price or an interesting use for the product.

* Trendy Products. There are some products that are very successful for those in the know, but are not known to the majority of the market. If you can build a lens which explains why it is successful, those who visit the lens may also get excited about it.

Where do I get my ideas for sales lenses? From a variety of sources:
Amazon Best Sellers gives me ideas about what people shop for. This is where I got my idea to build lenses about Ugg Shoes and some Ugg look alikes. I noticed in Amazon best sellers that Uggs and similar products are amongst Amazon's best selling shoes, eventhough I had been reading that so many people seemed to hate them. It was a perfect product idea!

I look at Oprah's Website to see what she has selected as her favorite things. Usually products that Oprah selects are successful and will sell. This is where I got the idea to create a lens about Clarisonic Skincare Brush.

I look at Buzzfeed to find interesting and controversial products. This is where I got the idea to create a lens about Multifunctional Slippers. The tech section will give you ideas for electronic products, style for fashion products, food for gourmet products, etc.

I wonder if others have found good sources for ideas for successful sales lenses?

Photo by Jen