One of the most popular questions we get, especially during a big online shopping (and giving) season like this one: “How do I get more traffic and make more money?”
The good news is it takes some work. Why is that good news? Because that means the lazies, the spammers, the shortcutters won’t win. And you, the creatives, the writers, the good guys, you will.
But the better news is that while it takes some work, there’s also a really reliable formula, so to speak, that has worked time and time and time again for our top lensmasters.
This is it. It’s a short formula, but a long blog post. If you’re interested in getting more readers, making a bigger impact, or raising more money for you or for charity, it’s worth a read.
1. Anticipate and invest.
During October, Halloween lenses were hot. Everyone knew the date: October 31st.
If you were out to get creative and make money, you could have looked at hot trends on Amazon, eBay, Google Zeitgeist, trending topics on Twitter, and picked 20 targeted Halloween topics that you were interested in and made lenses about them. LadyGaga Costume for Under $20. How to dress like Edward Cullen for Halloween. Cheapest Vampire Fangs on Sale. How to make your own fake blood at home. Preparing your dog to wear his Halloween costume. Top 10 places to trick or treat in Dover, Mass. Like that.
Not all of them would have ‘worked’ in terms of massive traffic or lots of royalties — but if 2 out of the 20 got over 20,000 visits, or sold 20 items that month, or got into the Top 1000 on Squidoo, would that have been worth your while? Probably so. Not a bad return on your investment. Plus, it keeps paying back, every month, forever.
Another example: Any calendar could have told you when Daylight Savings begins. Did you know this lens got over 50,000 visits in under a week, right before November? Because she was ready at the right time with a helpful signpost page, and she took a chance on building it. And look! She’s ready for the next big spike too.
How about the holidays? Yes, lead with your interests and your passions, always. But why not do a little calendar and topic research too? Make sure you’re there with the best Fantastic Mister Fox movie lens possible, the best Stay At Home New Years Ideas For Newlyweds ideas, an interactive Fantasy Football Funny Team Names lens, the best March Madness Dictionary For Non-Jocks Quiz lens, and on and on and on.
If you invest in a topic that you’re interested in, and that you have a compelling hunch (or even evidence) that a bunch of OTHER people are interested in too, chances are good that lens will pay you back for your time, in spades.
2. Focus. Spotlight. Highlight.
A lot of people ask me “How can I make a lens that appeals to as MANY people as possible.”
My answer: Don’t.
You’ll notice my fictitious lens examples above are very specific. This is what we mean when we talk about ‘niche lenses.’ A lens about Christmas Decorations can be really really hard to differentiate in search, and more often than not gets lumped in with a broad and saturated market that usually won’t deliver any visitors.
But if you make a lens called “How to decorate your tree with 1950’s candy” — that’s a wonderfully specific lens that I can guarantee will earn you visitors — at least, from the people out there looking for nostalgic tree theme ideas. And that’s who you want to get: people who are already interested in what you have to offer, and ready to take action when they read what you have to say and recommend.
3. Less is more.
Sure, we talk a lot about making masterpiece lenses, lenses full of unique, useful, updated content, lenses that are stuffed full of goodness. But the truth is, overstuffed lenses hurt, not help.
Think about what a hurry you’re in when you’re online. If someone sends you an email, you want to know right away what you need to do. If you read a blog post, you stop reading after the third paragraph (unless it’s really really good, like this blog post ;). If you Google something, you hunt and peck until something is so clearly matched to your expectations that you actually stay and act.
If your lens has more than 20 modules on it, consider taking a hard look at removing the bloat. If your lens is trying to cover too many topics at once, break them up. If a lens doesn’t say, succinctly and sweetly up top, what someone is going to get or learn from landing here, why should they stay?
Write tight, focus, and help point your readers exactly where you hope they’ll go.
4. Share with friends. 3 minutes a day.
This is the last tip for now. And the most reliably (and regretfully) overlooked. With so many creative writers and educators and thinkers on our site, a lot of you delight in the idea stage, in the researching and the building and the creative flow that happens when you put together a really good lens. Which is great.
Maybe you show your new lens to a dozen friends, maybe you tweet it, maybe if you’re lucky you know people who will blog it for you. But then many of us stop. We wait for search traffic to come in, and then wonder why it does’t.
Spending 3 minutes a day on your top, most relevant, most timely lenses will change your traffic woes. Update your lens and make sure your followers know. Moderate your Guestbook and answer the people who post. Add a new Duel or Poll or Quiz and get people interacting. Change up the items you spotlight at the top. Feature other people’s related lenses and let them know you’re doing it. Send your lens to someone on Twitter who talks about the same topic. Email it to a group of 5 friends and ask them for feedback.
There you have it. Your formula for the next two months. Try it out and report back. We’ll be looking for your success stories!
For those of you with 30 more seconds on your hands, here are the 3 steps (and a bonus!) for making your own success with SquidQuiz.
