The standard literature on search engine optimization says that you can get good SEO for your site and get possible traffic if you write some articles and publish them on the internet. I discovered that a site called Squidoo was one of two mentioned as a good place to post articles. I joined Squidoo a month ago and have really enjoyed it. I would join again and might even join if I didn’t think I had something to gain from SEO.

Squidoo claims to have millions of pages of content written by their guests. They call these pages lenses. The lens, webpage, gets its name from the idea that your article gives people a perspective to explore a new topic that they might want to learn more about. Lenses can be anything but they are restricted by some normal rules and codes about decency and safe web content. Beyond that, Squidoo asks you to put your lens in a G or R rating category. There are plenty of lenses written by people who have a great deal of knowledge about various hobbies and even business interests. Music, cooking, home working and SEO are some of the topics that can be found on Squidoo.

The Squidoo platform is divided into several modules depending on what you want to do with your article. There are modules that give you a text block, excerpted quote, table of contents, photo gallery, Flicker integration, video integration via YouTube and 8 other video sites. There are also modules that allow you to feature Amazon.com products that will give you a percentage for any sales. There are other ads that you can choose to allow in your lens. So you can write your lens just for fun or you can become an Amazon affiliate and earn money. All of this is easy because there are no registrations or forms to fill out with Amazon. You don’t have to paste code or anything like that. Simply plug in one of 3 Amazon modules, choose your products, and you’re ready to race.

Looking at a social site is not as personal as Facebook. You can go and comment on other people’s lenses, like them, and then add them to your list of lenses. There’s no intense need to add or approve friends like there is on Facebook, nor is there the constant rush of silly games, hearts, or Farmville requests. It is possible to make friends on Squidoo but it is in a more subtle way.

I have really enjoyed posting articles on Squidoo. The competition is fierce for a high page rank. Many people claim to have used Squidoo to get backlinks to their company websites. With the large number of lenses on Squidoo, it will take a bit of effort to achieve a high rank for your new lens. There are techniques to get a highly ranked page and good copywriting is one of the most important. It will take a number of views and likes (votes) for your lens to go up. All of this adds to the fun. I have enjoyed using Squidoo and would give it a high rating from my point of view.