Brand Yourself!

If I learned anything from my days at Glacier Bay DVD (still the most recognizable brand on eBay), you need to have a lot of eyeballs see what you are offering, before you actually make any money.

The same idea works for exposure to your content or products. The more eyeballs that see your stuff, the more potential you have for making a living at this. That's why I frequently leave comments on blogs and in forums. As a blogger, I appreciate when readers leave comments on my posts and I regularly click back to their site to learn more about them.

I also use one public user ID (rksmythe) on all of my social network accounts for consistency and visibility. I also don't post anonymously on blogs and forums because after awhile people remember your name. Type in rksmythe or Randy Smythe in any search engine and you will see links to my content.

Believe me, if anybody is looking for me they can find me (on second thought, that might not be so good). A brief note of caution; don't use your public id as your private id for online banking and other personal accounts.

My readers come from all over the world but they don't all find me the same way. My Squidoo readers are not the same readers as my blog readers, though if I'm doing my job right there will be a lot of cross-over readership. You need to open up a spot on the web where your readers/customers congregate and then write interesting, fun, insightful content and they will follow you to your other content and products.

Think of every social networking site on the web as a window to your content/products, its simple to create a profile and once you've done that you can move on. Regularly update the sites that bring you visitors. Don't spend a ton of time on sites that don't drive traffic to your content or products.

Where Do You Squidoo?

A great new tool to show everyone where you Squidoo. I thought I would add it here. Special thanks goes out to JasonE for coming up with this great idea. Have Fun!

Using SquidWho to Help You Sell Memorabilia!

I think Memorabilia sellers would get a great benefit from using SquidWho to promote their items for sale. My Jessica Alba lens is getting over 500 unique visitors a week with many clickthru's to the eBay memorabilia I've linked to. Since I don't sell the product nor do I know anyone who does I've just linked to Jessica Alba items by using the eBay module and searching on her name. Imagine the power of really knowing your product and featuring special items on a SquidWho lens.

If you sell sports, celebrity, or other entertainment memorabilia, you might want to check out SquidWho. It might be an excellent tool for promoting your product and best of all its free.

If you don't think you have time or don't want to mess with Squidoo or Squidwho, then I would suggest you work with someone who does. An existing lensmaster can create the content and earn money from the effort as well as the referrals to your product and you get the increased promotion and hopefully sales. eBay and Squidoo -- A match made in ...

SquidWho -- That's You

Seth Godin recently announced it on his blog, so I thought I would do him a solid and also mention it here.

Squidoo just announced a new Internet tool called SquidWho a virtual "Who's Who" on the Internet that doesn't limit who can be included like Wikipedia does. Have you ever wanted to see your name in bits and bytes? Do you want to recognize a special person in your life, maybe a teacher, pastor, friend or family member? Now you can with SquidWho. Here's what Seth had to say:

Are you notable enough? I think so.

It occurs to me that the web is redefining what notable means, and so are we. Famous used to mean Gene Kelly and Mae West, or Sandy Weil and Bill Gates. But with the long tail, notable means: you're the #1 player on your tennis team; you're the top of your marketing department; you're a blogger lots of people read and talk about -- you're the best and most" notable" in your niche, however small. That's the kind of famous that SquidWho is about...

This being the web and not the real world, we decided to take matters into our own hands and launch SquidWho. The people-powered open who's who online. If you think someone is notable enough to warrant a bio, then they are. Your call, not ours, not some invisible editor's.

If you don't like the bio you see on someone, build a better one. It's free. Royalties go to charity. Best one wins. (Here's a good one).

The obvious ones (Bono, Mother Theresa and Jaco) are already taken, but that's okay. Build a better one. Not to mention the room for six billion more.

So, take a moment to check it out. It's fun and stress free but watch out it can be addicting. I've already created several:

• Monty Python - The funniest comedy group of all-time! Don't Argue With Me!
  
• Nolan Ryan - My favorite ballplayer growing up.
  
• Will Smith - My favorite actor, always makes good choices for roles (except Wild, Wild West)
  
• Jessica Alba -Okay, before you start calling me a "dirty old man" this was a test to see how a popular name would do on Squidoo (BTW over 250 unique visitors so far) and I certainly enjoy finding pictures to post.

I know you are all very busy in your everyday life but take a few moments to check it out and create a SquidWho lens about your favorite person or group. Even fictional characters are acceptable.

Okay, one mention about eBay (I've got to stop doing that). If you are a memorabilia seller, why not create SquidWho lens on several of your hottest selling people and drive them to your eBay listings. Check out my lenses to see what I did, each of them links to eBay memorabilia listings as well as Amazon listings.