The Tier One Challenge

Would you like to have another lens in tier one? Wouldn't we all?

There's a Tier One Challenge happening in SquidU - the thread started less than a week ago and already has more than 200 postings. Don't worry about reading every post in the thread (unless you'd like to know about all the cool things we're doing to promote our lenses). Feel free to jump in anywhere - the water is just fine!

This morning we had our first WINNER! Lynn, a homeschool mom whose screen name is eclecticeducation, reached tier one with a lensrank of #1,835 for her challenge lens: File Folder Math!

The rules are simple. Pick any of your lenses that has never been as high as tier two (10,000 lensrank). Then post it in the thread: The Tier One Challenge, stating the current lensrank and the highest-ever lensrank.

The goal is to do everything you can to make that lensrank rise higher than ever before - to get your lens into tier one!

Lynn did it! YOU can do it!

My lens, which I've been working hard to promote all week, is Top Ten Horse Movies - Perfect Christmas Gifts. I tacked on the Christmas gifts in hopes that I'd sell a few movies between now and December 25. After that I'm reducing the title back to "Horse Movies" or something like that. I've been posting in the thread about places I promoted the lens, articles I've been writing, and everything I did to change the lens (on-page SEO factors) since the challenge began on 10-10-10. The lensrank has risen dramatically - from 20,477 to 4,172 today. Getting up there!

So, come on by... even if you read this posting a year from now - you're still welcome to participate in the tier one challenge. Let's have some fun and make our lenses the best they can be!

CCGAL made a lens for our project - The Tier One Challenge... how cool is that?

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Lensrank Explained

Spirituality (Katinka) wrote an excellent lens explaining Lenrank. In her lens, she discusses the factors which are known to influence lenrank. I learned several things from this lens. For example:

* "Giant squids get the equivalent of 2 angels blessings on every lens they make"
(This is a good insentive to becoming a Giant Squid)

* "Anything a visitor does on your lens is counted towards lensrank. Whether it's writing in your guestbook, voting in a poll, voting in a plexo, adding a link to a plexo or joining a duel"
(A good reason to put polls, plexos and duel modules on your lens)

Why is lensrank important? For one thing, as explained in my post about "How to Earn a Few Extra Dollars on Squidoo" lenses with higher lensrank earn more money. Currently lenses with lensrank above 2'000 earn over $10/month and lenses with lensrank above 10'000 earn over $2/month. That adds up.

Also, if you get a very high ranked lens, that can bring traffic. At the moment, I have two lenses with lensrank above 200. They both get significant traffic due to this, mostly from being in the top 10 for their topics (health, shopping, food, etc)

Here is another tip. Spirituality notes that "Click Outs" are an important factor for lens rank. What is a "click out"? Anytime someone clicks on something and leaves your lens, you get a "click out". This might seem counter intuitive, because you want someone to stay on your lens, right? Well, not if you want higher lensrank. What can you do to increase your click outs?

* Create relevant and valuble links on your lens that people will want to click. This might be to a related resource, a wiki article or anything a reader might be interested in for more information.

* Exchange links with a blog or website that is relevant. This has several advantages: you may receive traffic from their website to your lens, you should receive a relevant link which will boost your Google PR, and you will receive a "click out" if a visitor clicks on it.

* If you place a Youtube or Flickr Module on your lens consider using a thumbnail view rather than "show a full sized version" (examples of both can be seen on this lens about laser hair removal). If visitors want to see the video or photo, they will click on it and it will open in a new window. This click will count as a "click out". Watching the video on your lens does NOT count as a click out, though I have no idea if is might count as "visitor activity" as does voting in a poll or writing in a guestbook.

Does anyone else have other suggestions for increasing click outs?

(Image by Eurosquid)

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The Pause That Refreshes

Have you been busy making lenses? Maybe you're trying to qualify for Giant Squid or the Giant Squid 100 Club. Having 50 or 100 or more lenses is an awesome accomplishment, but what about the ones you already have?

Do you have lenses that are old or out of date? I know that I do, and I know that in the rush to build more lenses some of my older lenses remain rather neglected. While some topics can ride along with little attention, some with more timely topics need frequent updates. Plus, lens freshness does affect lensrank, so it's important to keep your lenses fresh to give them a better chance of rising into the upper tiers, thus increasing your Squidoo payday every month. That, of course, is a good thing!

While some older lenses may need a good facelift, most will suffice with a little tweaking. What can you do to quickly update a stale lens? Here are a few ideas:

• Add or update products in your Amazon or CafePress modules.
• Change your older YouTube modules to the new video module. The result is a bigger, more attractive video.
• Depending on the topic, consider adding one of the newer modules, including the two new modules featuring the Giant Squid organizers' blogs, introduced this week.
• Update the opening module picture. If it's been awhile since you've uploaded it, your lens may still show a small version. If you like the picture, just reload the same one and watch the larger, more eye-catching result.

Those are just a few suggestions. You can find more in this lens. So, pause for an hour or so. Take a break from adding to your lens real estate and, instead, renew some of those aging lenses, then watch what happens when lensrank refreshes the next day. I think you'll like the improved results.

(Photo credit rjones0856)

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Getting to Giant 100 is a Wonderful Milestone

I am so excited to have reached the milestone of Giant Squid 100 Club. The picture you see here is the T-shirt I got when I reached Giant Squid.

Becoming a Giant Squid is a process and a journey. It is a terrific accomplishment and a lot of hard work. I do want to encourage everyone to go for it. It is definitely worth your time and effort.

What have I learned along the way?

Well, frankly quite a lot, and I am still learning. I came aboard Squidoo as a total novice. I did not know much about SEO, nor did I know much about promoting on the internet. I knew nothing about keywords, and absolutely nothing about Squidoo. So don't think that you need to know a lot to get started. I would recommend just getting started.

For a new person, here are some suggestions:

• Use the information on Squidoo to help you. There are great how-to lenses and terrific mentors everywhere.
• Don't be afraid to try something new!
• Do you see a lens or technique you like? Try it on your own lens.
• Take baby steps. Each lens will make you a better lensmaster.
• Remember you can always go back and edit.
• Don't get too hung up on LensRank. It changes daily.
• Choose topics you love and let us know why.
• Don't take critiques personally. Learn from them.
• Have fun with it.
• Keep your lens focuses on a very specific topic and you will find that you have the best kind of lens.

When I started, 100 lenses seemed very, very far away. But when you keep putting in the time writing one every few days or one every week or two weeks, they add up pretty fast. Before you know it, you will be a Giant Squid too.

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