Writing Tips at GarySpeer.com

On most days, I get two or three people or more who register when they visit this blog. Each time someone registers, I get an email notifying me of the registration, their selected usernames and their email addresses.

I discovered recently that I have MORE THAN 360 PEOPLE who have registered here. I just checked my settings on this site again and confirmed that no one is required to register or log in to comment on a blog post — although I do have things set up so that a comment won’t be posted unless I first approve it. Meaning, as long as you aren’t doing anything out of line with your comments, you are perfectly free (and WELCOME) to comment on what you read here.

So my question is this: Are you expecting something like a newsletter, regular content updates, or whatever when you choose to register your email information here? If so, I have been failing your expectations. I felt compelled, therefore, to bring the matter up and ask.

This is not a private membership website of some sort. You aren’t required to have membership cards or special access passwords or anything of that sort. I welcome your comments on the posts here. I would even consider allowing a “guest post” if you wish to discuss the idea through my “Contact Us” form on the page by that name.

I want to be very careful not to violate anyone’s privacy or do anything that might be interpreted as “sp*m” (substitute “a” for “*” as you read that), so I’ve never gathered subscriber/user email addresses to do a mailing of any sort. Which brings me to my final point of this posting:

In connection with the new Squidoo lens business I’m launching, I will be putting up a form here that you can use to sign up for a mailing list. Among other things, I’ll use that mailing list to inform people of new Squidoo lenses for sale as I have them available. Watch for that mailing list form within the next week or two and feel free to sign up there even if you already registered here. I will not assume you want your email address on that list just because you registered as a user here. You will be required to fill out the form and CONFIRM your email address and your subscription to that mailing list when I get it started.

Almost too late for this year’s holiday season, I finally finished a Squidoo lens titled “Give a green gift for the holidays.” It’s holiday oriented, but the information and links in the lens are good for any gift giving occasion.

This is NOT one of the lenses I’m creating to launch that Squidoo lens selling business I spoke of yesterday. I’m spending the rest of the week getting some lenses ready for that and, as I said yesterday, I’ll create a page here and let everyone know about the big debut when it’s ready.

Meanwhile, I invite you to take a look at “Give a green gift for the holidays” and leave any comments, give it a rating, whatever you feel compelled to do. (And, okay, IF someone out there wants to buy the lens for, say, $75 — which is $25 off the price of one of my lenses after I launch the business — you can send me email through the “Contact Us” page on this site and we could probably work something out.)

All right. I’m ready to make a sort of “preliminary” public announcement here: I’m writing my fingers down to little stubs this week and hope by next week to offer some Squidoo lenses for sale.

I’ve mentioned in recent weeks that I’m turning toward Squidoo.com as a writing market, marketing tool, etc. You can see the four (soon to be five) lenses I’ve currently written by taking a look around my lensmaster biography page. You’ll also find out a bit more about my qualifications and experience as a writer. (If you want more info about that, check the “About Me” page here.)

I’m still formulating the details, but I plan on selling pre-made lenses for around $100 each, and I will change any affiliate links to Amazon, CafePress, Commission Junction, etc., from mine to those of the buyer. I will be taking payment via my PayPal account. I will list available lenses with links to view them and a paragraph or two discussing them on a page at this blog.

What I want to make clear is this: I will NOT guarantee any traffic, sales, or other results to those who buy the lenses. If you haven’t figured it out yet, you need to remember this Number One truth about all marketing and other money-making business on the Internet: No one can guarantee that you will make money with anything you or they do online. I suppose there are exceptions to that “rule,” but if you’ve been online long, you know it’s true. You might buy a lens from me, or others who are writing and selling or “flipping” lenses, and draw tons of traffic to your sight. You might buy a lens and find it’s exactly what you’ve been looking for to “jump start” your online writing career.

Or you might not.

But for any of you interested in “taking a chance” or just looking at what I’m doing at Squidoo.com, I invite you to check out my current lensmaster information and hang out here for more specifics about all this by the beginning of next week.

(If the interest is there, I might even offer to write a Squidoo lens on the topic and keywords of your choice for slightly more money. But we’ll see how the pre-written lens business goes first.)

Might be fun.