The Case Of The Vanishing Lens

A couple of weeks ago, I was checking out some of my lenses and discovered to my horror that one of them was GONE!! Actually, it was not 100% gone. But rather than the 20+ modules that it was supposed to have, only the introductory module remained.

Now, this was not just any Squidoo lens. It was one of my first lenses, a lens about sexy lingerie that I wrote just after joining Squidoo. I had put quite a bit of time in creating the content for that lens and it was rather difficult to create it. I had to write it very carefully so as to keep it interesting, but not anything that would go against Squidoo policies.

So, imagine my surprise when this 3 year old, PR4 Squidoo lens was simply MIA. Just a stub of its once healthy self.

What did I do? I wrote a letter to the "Giant Squid Concierge". The privilage to be able to Giant Squid Concierge email address is one of the best reasons to be a Squid Giant! Why? I use it very rarely, but when I have I have gotten an IMMEDIATE response. Always with the same day, usually within a few hours.

I sent a polite letter explaining the situation and asked if they could help. My response was:

Wow, I'm not sure. I see that the lens still exists, but confirm that the rest of the modules are not showing at the moment either on the live published version of the lens or in the Workshop of the lens.

I'm passing this along to get checked out for you right away.

Hang in there -- we'll get it figured out!

.

About a week later, my Squidoo lens was still just a stub. So, I sent a polite reminder. I got this response:

I am looking into your case now. Thanks so much for your patience.

Regards,
Gil

Receiving that letter from Gil made my day. I felt pretty confident that "stubby" would be saved. and then

I've just restored your lens and corrected the bug that caused this. Thanks again for your patience. You're the best!

Gil

So, I asked if I had done something to cause it and if I he minded if I blog about the event. Gil responded:

It was a very rare code problem...nothing you did wrong. I corrected the problem so it will not happen again.

As a customer service representative in the age of the internet, I always start with the assumption that everything I say will be blogged. Thanks for being polite enough to ask :)

Gil

Whew! It was a nice feeling to have my old lens back. But it left me wondering if I am cursed. Why? Back in April, the same thing happened to me at World Village, my Village Vanished.

Not one but TWO of my masterpieces have vanished, only to be returned with the help of technical experts. Has anyone eles lost any of their work this way?

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More SEO and Marketing advice

I have been outgrowing my blog at squidtop for a while, but it took someone asking me to create an e-book to go and create my own blog about SEO and online marketing. The result is my Marketing Spiritual a blog about Online marketing with spiritual integrity.

The most popular posts there so far are:

• What I just did to get 5% more traffic to my squidoo lenses... 
• Search Engine Marketing Basics - 5 SEO Techniques 
• and the controversial: Tweaking the title tag for SEO 

The free online marketing e-book itself has also been downloaded a whole lot already. 

The e-book is basically the information from my SEO and Keyword research lenses, plus the most important content of my blogposts about SEO and online marketing, plus the basics about online publishing in general.

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Why I love squidoo

I know, this is just about the least original title for a squidoo blogpost. But while I'm at it, I might as well confess... I AM addicted.

I love that squidoo is a community place where new squids sometimes start out sharing their favorite lenses... like JOAN did.

I love that it's such a successful online place that it's considered normal to create a blog (like this one) for squidoo purposes only. Check out: Squidutils about how tags are important again... and The question of the weeks by growwear. This week: What would make you a better lensmaster? Great question, and all her questions are like that. The added bonus is links to your lenses, website or lensography (depending on Mimi's mood I think) for the best answer.

I also love the challenges - giant squid summer school, rocket moms and now the teams that are helping new squids (and old squids) reach their goals.

Then the culture of helping each other out is great. The squidoo answer deck is only a selection of all the great help lenses out there or course. Would this blog be complete without bragging a bit about my own efforts at helping the squidoo community?

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New Groups and Purple Stars

Have any of you Squidooers noticed all the new groups that are forming out there? Rocket Moms, Senior Squidooers, "giant" groups? And what do you think of these purple stars?

Personally I have joined several of these groups and I have been awarded a purple star on one of my lenses. (My Vegetable Garden--just in case you want to check it out!)

What do I think of my groups (RocketMoms, WiWon Team, and others)? I love them. I have been getting lots of really helpful critiques from the members. I also get new, fresh ideas for lenses and ways to manage the ones I have. Needless to say, I am also getting noticed. Why is this good? Visitors, ratings, etc....

The purple star helped in the lens rank of my article for about a week. But, it has stayed near the top of own lenses in rank for a longer time.

I think that the influx of groups and the purple star is Squidoo's way of helping all of us "non-spamming" lensmasters. Squidoo is promoting ways to make better lenses. It is encouraging me to be a better lensmaster! It is a good thing. Yes, it is OK to want to make money on the internet. Yes, it is good to have tons of new lenses on Squidoo. The more lenses visited, the more money Squidoo makes and divvies up to all of us lensmasters on payday. The groups, all the awards and giantness, does help me get more cash from Squidoo.

I do not make a living from my membership on Squidoo, but I am feeling pretty good about what I do make -- FYI: my last paycheck was for less than $20. I consider it my "found" money. I am having fun on Squidoo and learning, too.

I can also say that I have made acquaintances with people from around the world. I love it!

I believe in Squidoo so I want to participate. I am not trying to become "the most popular" lensmaster. Actually, I do not think I have the talent that JaguarJulie, fluffanutta or ChefKeem and loads of others have. I probably don't have the energy, either. These lensmasters work at what they do. They also do it very well!

But, what I do have is a desire to get better every day.

I also like to get an occasional pat on the back.

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Squidangels introductions - about rewarding quality

Early April a new batch of squidangels arrived - I did a short post about that then. In this one I want to explain a bit more about this program. There are more of us, because squidoo is growing so fast. For us to be able to keep up with the new lenses out there, we are assigned specific categories to keep an eye on. Like I said last time, I keep an eye on Religion & Spirituality, Books, Duels!, Squidoo Tips, Green Living and DIY and education.

Squidangels are there to promote quality and - to a lesser extent - to get rid of spam. We are collectively meant to make sure quality DOES rise to the top. Of course blessings are only one way to get to the top. Another way is simply to get traffic, but sometimes traffic comes to lenses which aren't worthy, or lenses rise to the top because they game the system. In those cases squidangels will ding lenses, so they won't be giving the squidoo community a bad name.

This batch was invite only - that is, I was asked to be a squidangel, and which categories I would want to keep an eye on. I'd been wanting to be a squidangel for a while now, but was never in the forums at the right time to apply. Luckily, applying wasn't necessary this time.

On her lens about the angels, Squidster has assigned 4 possible ways squidangels opperate:

Secret Agent - You might never know if and when this Angel was there
Ambassador - Rewards consistent quality and spreads goodwill
Talent Scout - Always on the lookout for fresh talent
Mentor/Adviser - Likes to offer encouragement and advice

I'm closest to the talentscout, but I also have traits of the Ambassador and the mentor. That is: for those who can handle my mentoring style. I'm pretty direct and will not always remember to compliment what's good, while handing out negative feedback.

But in my function as a squidoo ambassador I've been rewarding those who consistently help others on squidoo on my Thank You Lensmaster blog. I started this blog last year. At first I thanked and interviewed people who had personally helped me. Then I went on to thank and interview those who I felt had helped the squidoo community best. This means that those who give on squidoo, will receive links in return. Often thanked lensmasters include: Thefluffanutta, Semperfidelis, Jaguarjulie, Janet21, Chefkeem, AJ2008, A_willow and BDKZ. While most of these are or have been squidangels, they were often mentioned BEFORE they were assigned the role. Squidoo HQ is rewarding those who give back to squido in this round of squidangels - and they picked well.

This is as it should be of course: giving back to those who contribute. It also means that it pays to give back to squidoo. One of the reasons for starting this blog was that I think links are more important than ratings or even blessings. So the blog links out to whatever lenses and lensmasters the interviewee mentions :) But of course, now that I'm a squidangel, they also get a few of their lenses blessed - if I hadn't already. Check the blog out for interviews with many of our squidangels as well :)

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