What do you get when you cross a squid with some sort of action? You get Squid+Do or rather… Squidoo! (Get it? C’mon that was a knee-slapper!)

Seriously though, while Squidoo has nothing to do with “squids” per se (save for the fact that its icon is a squid with a gigantic eyeball…) it does have plenty to do with action in the marketing field.

In case you haven’t been keeping up with the latest trend in Web 2.0 and all the hype surrounding Del.icio.us, Digg, StumbleUpon, and Squidoo, here’s a quick low down on what Squidoo is and why you should implement it into your marketing campaign.

Squidoo is like an organized (this is important) resource site meets social networking. On the “resource site” end, it is a collection of information on all sorts of topic (posted by people of all walks of life) in what is called “lens”.

Each lens by no means represents all facets about that particular topic – it is merely a way of saying “this is what I think you need to know about this topic.” Think of it as “word of mouth”; akin to when you ask a friend of yours his/her opinion on something. Then the lens provides a way for you to act on that information.

The goal of the lens is ultimately to achieve more with less – to give the reader more relevant info in shorter amount of time. The idea, in Seth Godin’s words, is “A lens provides meaning and the links necessary to take action on that meaning. Provide the meaning, and the surfer will go ahead and take the action.”

On the “social networking” end, it is composed of a community of “experts” who are anybody that posts anything (as Seth Godin, the founder of Squidoo, likes to say, “everyone’s an expert on something”). That community is encouraged to view Squidoo as a resource site, visit each other’s lens, leave comments, ratings, feedback etc.

Now here’s the innovative part – within each lens, Squidoo has made it ridiculously simple for you to add “modules”. Each module adds a certain function to your lens such as linking to YouTube videos, adding a Guestbook, hosting a poll, etc. (For a list of the available modules, check out: Tiffany Dow’s Social Networking on Squidoo eBook.)

Among these modules are also affiliate modules. These modules are portals to sites that earn you commissions such as eBay, Amazon, Clickbank, etc. And you as the author share the profit from these affiliate sales with Squidoo.

So in essence you get…

1. A free webpage spouting off your personal opinions
2. Free affiliate links to make sales that also cost you nothing
3. To tap into a pre-existing network of people and buyers
4. To do it as many times as you want
5. To do all of this and it costs you nothing

Squidoo has its own ranking algorithm – the higher your ranking, the more exposure your lens gets to the community which equates to more money for you. This, plus the community’s rating system, ensures quality content lens gets rewarded while those of low quality get ignored.

I’ve been playing around with Squidoo for the past several weeks and my very first Squidoo lens has been doing well in and continues to rise in the rankings. Have a look to get an idea of what an appropriate lens should look like.

In essence I’ve applied the principles taught in Attraction Marketing Formula to my Squidoo lens to achieve the success it is currently seeing (I am also experimenting with some Squidoo strategies which I will share with you later).

In the upcoming posts, I will discuss

• The “Death” of Squidoo?
• The Dual Purposes of Your Squidoo Lens.
• How to Properly Put Together a Squidoo Lens.
• How to Leverage Squidoo to Drive Traffic to Your Webpage

So stay Tuned!

To Affinity and Beyond,

P.S. Fernando and I are in the process of preparing a special interview with Squidoo expert, Tiffany Dow in a few weeks. And to thank you for your support, we are going to make it available for FREE to all Attraction Marketing Formula subscribers. So be sure to subscribe here!

P.P.S. To get a head start on Squidoo and ride this Web 2.0 revolution, check out Tiffany Dow’s Squidoo eBook; I highly recommend it.