What's a Squidoo?

Blue Sky Collaborative's blog has an excellent post about Squidoo Lenses and Nonprofits, and specifically, why nonprofits are not flocking to Squidoo the way founder Seth Godin thinks they should. What was that? ... Squidoo? ... Lenses?.

In brief, Squidoo is a free web site that allows users to build one-page mini-sites - called "lenses" - that focus on a particular topic that the "lens master" is an expert in. For nonprofits, the idea is that you would build a lens (or two, or three...) about your issue areas for the purposes of public education and self-promotion (and the possibility of earning a few cents in ad revenue). You could also get each of your supporters to build their own lens on the topic and link to you (and donate their ad revenue).

Now, just a few days ago, I was suggesting that you keep a blog. Am I telling you to do this too? Not necessarily. But I do think that both Squidoo and blogging are things that you should consider.

Direct mail is minimally effective. I can't think of anybody who likes to get phone solicitations. I believe is that the web is the best way to prospect for new supporters, and that to use it correctly requires that you keep up with the latest tools available. And that's why I take the time to blog about blogging and to tell you about things like Squidoo.

Here's an example of a personal biography lens (mine) to show you what a basic lens looks like. I've also made a lens on Fund Development Planning. I posted each of these based on things I had already written, and neither took more than 10-15 minutes to get set up.

For some excellent examples of how a nonprofit organization can use Squidoo to promote their cause, see the lenses put together by the Grameen Foundation: "Microfinance - Empowering the world's poorest people", "Poverty", and "The ONE Campaign".

By the way - The Blue Sky Collaborative and this site are each members of the Nonprofit Blog Exchange.