MySpace for Businesses: MySiteProfile

Myspace does not like to be used for small business networking, and I've heard stories of how people have been booted from there because someone detected a hint of business tendency on their page.

MySiteProfile is probably the best alternative that I can recommend. They encourage small business owners, though their interests are primarily graphic designers and web designers, and if you have a small business you are welcome to develop your own profile page. So far it is still very small, last time I checked it was about 175 good members. In such a case, it is very easy to be seen in the group, develop some new friends, and create an easily found profile.

It is free to join, and there are no ways to earn money by recommending your friends, but the pages are very easy to set up (mine turned out beautifully in just a short while) and it will give you additional external links to drive traffic and improve your google rankings.

RED HOT: Awesome Websites & Blogs

Many of you have developed incredible websites and blogs, and made squidoo pages to promote them and drive traffic to them. This includes me, and even with Squidoo, these websites and blogs can still be hard to find.

So in conjunction with the Mall on Squidoo group, page and blog, I have developed a Squidoo lens: Squidoo Web Companion Sites; and group to gather together and highlight your websites, blogs and personal pages.

I invite you to add yours, to make it easy to find.

I have included all three, because not everyone has all of them. If you only have a personal page, please add it to the plexo. If you only have a blog, add it to the blog plexo. If you only have a website, add it to the plexo.

If you have any combination, please add them all to the correct plexo.

I will also be working to promote this page and these links, which, after all, is one of the big reasons we decided to Squidoo too!

Squidbooks!!!

One of our leading lensmasters, jackclee has just published a great new lens, with an incredible idea! He calls it Squidbooks, and it is about using Squidoo lenses to be the publishing format for your book!

Using a beginning lens, he recommends the url be the title, and each additional page have the same url with a number behind it, each Squidoo lens then becomes part of a book. The lenses link one to another at the bottom of the page, so as one finishes reading, one can 'turn the page' just by clicking on the link!

I recommend that you take a good and careful look at that lens. Many of you have interesting lenses with so much content, that they can be turned into profitable and monetized books without the need of a publisher!

Here is a wonderful idea for doubling up the effect of your work. Your content/commerce lenses can not only be storefronts, but actual books! You can be a published author in your own right, with the knowledge you are already sharing. Thanks, Jack, for an awesome idea!

New Mall Member Wins Lens of the Day!

I'd like to offer the congratulations of all of us at The Mall on Squidoo to Snaz, a new member and new lensmaster, for winning Lens of the Day on his beautiful commerce lens Lumix & Panasonic Cameras. This is Jerry Schnese' first lens!

Jerry, like DinoDino, have a special affiliate relationship with Amazon. DinoDino has been a star lensmaster and top performer and Jerry, like Dino, has exhibited an enormous amount of talent in the field of ecommerce.

My suggestion is to have all of you drop by these gentleman's lenses and see for yourself how nice they really are. Be sure to examine their techniques, how and what they write, and how it makes YOU feel by the end of the lens! While you are there, be sure to give these lenses the star ranking you would like if it were your lens, and always, whenever possible, leave your comments and compliments!

Especially leave your congratulations to Snaz for his Lens of the Day. I'm sure he'll appreciate it very much.

"By Invitation Only" Best Commerce Lenses

Although there have been a few fits and starts, the "By Invitation Only" group is now in full swing. Nearly all the votes are in, and once they are, the winners for January will be announced. Is it you?

Be sure to enter the February contest! If you haven't yet, or you don't know what to do, click on the plexo to the right and it will take you where you need to be- to enter your commerce lens, VOTE on all the ones there, and LEAVE YOUR COMMENT!

DinoDino, whom you know and love, and who is one of the finest commerce merchants in Squidoo, has very graciously become a member of the jury for "By Invitation Only."

There probably isn't anyone more knowledgeable about what it really takes to make a great commerce lens, a great Squidoo lens, and build customers and relationships. We are delighted to have such a great advocate for you, the Mall on Squidoo merchants, in that jury!

The Mall on Google

Something is going right for the Mall on Squidoo, as DinoDino, one of our best commerce lensmasters, has so graciously discovered! Our Mall group ranks quite high in Google for Squidoo related links!

Such a ranking when people look for Squidoo links is very encouraging, and hopefully is the first step in bringing new shopping traffic to our pages.

I suggest you add 'mall on squidoo' in your tag phrases, to be linked up more closely with the rankings of the Mall.

Mozilla Firefox & Squidoo Lenses- Easy Add Content

Some of the most useful tools that I use to add content to my squidoo lenses, whether they are content oriented or commerce, are the Mozilla Firefox extensions. As I am browsing the internet, for news or following great links, if I find something relevant to one of my lenses, I use that tool to place it in my lens.

You must have a link module for this to be useful to you, but if you don't you are given the option of creating a new one. Once you add your link, if you like it will publish your lens for you as soon as you've finished.

Be careful, though, because in this way I have published a number of lenses before their time!

Since great content and good links are all needed for good Google rankings, I suggest you try out the extension and see how you like it!

New Social Networking Site

There's a brand new social networking site, free to join, that is primarily for internet professionals and artists, but everyone is welcome to join the site.

They are working to create a network of people who are knowledgable about internet technologies AND for people who are learning them. Like other sites, there are places to put a gallery of pictures, your music, and dating info. There is plenty of room to put your blogs, websites and even your squidoo pages.

Here is the description by the founder:

MySiteProfile.com is a search engine friendly, online community and social network for bloggers, web designers, developers and various types of artists. It gives its members the opportunity to brand themselves through a personalized profile page in which they can promote their businesses or services, as well as their talents and interests, while gaining recognition amongst other like minds. Although MySiteProfile.com was intended to be used by web marketing professionals, we welcome all persons interested in the offerings of this site.

It was easy for me to make a very nice page, and since there are only 174 people, plus or minus and growing, it is a good time to begin your own profile page and get networking!

Peacocks Pressing Right Along!

In the Mall on Squidoo, we are just like a peacock with his tail down. Strutting along, pressing right along, and hopefully when we receive visitors our tail fans out and we show our best and most beautiful.

The star ranking algorithms as they are stand. According to Gil, it is inaccurate to say that they are 'broken' though there are many who have felt that way. So, since it appears that there will be no major changes that make the algorithm more predictable, it is time to go through each of the individual feathers in the Mall and shine them up!

I am reinstating the star ranking that I give to each lens that comes across my desk, just as I explained in my tutorials. We will count on all those factors being the primary ones in play as they have been since I started.

I will also be looking for additional things that will be important in your lensrank, but more importantly, we will be looking for GOOGLE rankings, which will be the place where your primary customers come from.

If we can spruce the place up, we won't need star rankings to be the lovely peacock at Squidoo!