grace: how to squidoo

Showing posts with label how to squidoo. Show all posts

Showing posts with label how to squidoo. Show all posts

How To Make Your Squidoo Lens SEXY!

You know those boxes that you see in Squidoo lenses that make the lense really stand out?

There is often a border around the text and the text has some cool fount styles or colors? Seems like it would be alot of work to make it look so cool, right? Wrong! I found a FREE online tool that does it for you. I used it to create this post, simply by typing my text into a box and selecting from various style options.

The best part is that you can see how it will look right on the website. You can change your styles and see the result before you get the final code. This is a cool tool that I will be using to create all of my lenses in the future. Check out this CSS code generator for text.

I Reached Squidoo Level 50

I just achieved level 50 today in my Squidoo profile! Quite an achievement. But I noticed two negative things:

* First, while every other major level comes with a new item, from a SquidAd to a Lens Boost, so far there is no new item deposited in my dashboard. :(

* Second, while up until now, I could achieve the next level with 1'000 points, I see that I need 4'000 points to achieve level 51. OUCH!

Anyway, this leveling thing is kind of fun, doncha think?

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?

Take 10 Minutes To Earn Extra Money From Squidoo

Do you know how to earn some extra money on Squidoo? Freshen up and republish your top lenses.

Follow these steps:

* Log into Squidoo
* Click on "My Lenses"
* In the second column "Rank" look at the lenses that range in lens rank from 0-30,000
* Click "Edit" look quickly to see if any updates are necessary.
* Click "Publish"

These few steps will bump your lens rank for these lenses significantly and will probably move a few of them into the higher payment catagories earning you more money at the end of the month.

Squidoo Versus Hubpages : Which Is Better?

Before I compare Squidoo to Hubpages I should start by saying that I have alot more experience with Squidoo than with Hubpages. I only have a couple of hubpages, both about footed pajamas, while I have over 100 Squidoo lenses.

While I prefer Squidoo to Hubpages I think that both are important for a valuable SEO strategy. So, I will break this comparison into sections:

What Do I Like About Both Hubpages and Squidoo:
* SEO Value: I can give free, one way inbound links to my websites. Squidoo is better in this regard in that Squidoo links are always dofollow, while Hubpages links will become nofollow if your hubscore and your hubmaster score drop below a certain level. As we know, links are key for search engine placement.

* Free Traffic: Both Squidoo and Hubpages do well in the search engines. My feeling is that Squidoo may do a bit better, but I see them both appearing in Google for my keywords. Therefore, both drive traffic to my websites.

* I earn money. Neither Hubpages nor Squidoo makes me rich, but both generate some money. So, while I am giving myself links and traffic, I also earn a few bucks every month.

What Do I Prefer About Squidoo:
* I think you earn more money from Squidoo. Maybe it is subjective because I have more lenses and more experience, but it seems to me that the money making potential from Squidoo is higher.

* I think that a Squidoo lens looks better than a Hubpage. Again, subjective stuff. You may prefer the look and feel of a Hubpage. But for me this is a plus for Squidoo.

* I like that my Squidoo links are ALWAYS dofollow. I don't like the fact that I must do stuff in Hubpages in order to keep my hubs dofollow. With Hubpages, if your hubscore or your hubmaster score fall below a certain value, your links become nofollow. Bummer. You have to get active in the Hubpages community in order to get your scores up.

What Do I Prefer About HubPages:
* I think that it is easier to get good URLs with Hubpages. With Squidoo, many of the best URLs are reserved by Squatters.

What Do I Not Like About Both
* I wish that both would ease up on the coding restrictions. For example, I use Popshops on my websites, but can not use Popshops on Squidoo nor Hubpages, since they do not allow the coding. Similarly I can not use Amazon widgets in either, again due to coding restrictions. Oh, well. You can not have everything.

Conclusion
As a bottom line, I think both Squidoo and Hubpages are valuable for SEO purposes. Free inbound links, free traffic, money making opportunities, no costs. What is not to like? Why would you NOT use both? I prefer Squidoo, but maybe I am just a creature of habit more used to Squidoo than to Hubpages. I would like to find MORE sites like Squidoo and Hubpages which offer the perfect combination of free links, traffic and money making potential. I am experimenting with sites like Triond, Info Barrel, etc. If you know others I should try let me know.

If you have experience with both Squidoo and Hubpages let us know how you would compare the two.

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?

Getting your lens found in google

Two of my most popular squidoo help lenses are devoted to how to get your lens found in google. The first I made was about that subject specifically, but in order to be really successful one has to start with something else: keyword research.

If you want to make a lens that is successful economically and gets found by google, you need to think about keywords BEFORE you make your lens. This is called 'keyword research'.

I did a blogpost about keyword research on my squidtop blog: analyzing a weight loss lens.

If you've set that up right the next step is promotion. You want your lens found in google, so some people submit their lens to google, yahoo etc. This is a waste of time.

The basis for Search Engine Optimization is getting links (good links) to your lenses. There are all kinds of ways to do that. Within squidoo it makes sense to submit to groups in your niche. But that is also potentially a trap. So I thought I'd give some advice about what to look out for when submitting your lens to a squidoo group. I also did a post analyzing link building for that same weight loss lens I talked about earlier.

One more thing: when it comes to search engine optimization I still see a lot of advice relating to tags. Tag pages however DO NOT COUNT towards your lenses backlink profile. What tags ARE good for was explored here.

How To Un-Junk Your Squidoo Lens

People who go to your site have certain expectations. It is up to you to reshape those expectations or reinforce them. Use the Introduction Module of your Squidoo lens to target your market and to set your reader's expectations. Tell them what they will find on your page.

Then follow through – give them what you told them you would. If your lens is on how to bathe a cat, don't include facts about the latest kitchen gadget or wrench.

A Squidoo lens which sells something – and most do – does not necessarily have to appear as a junk site. In fact, I go to certain lenses, especially shopping lenses, because I'm looking for a product and I want to have a variety to choose from. This usually equates to lots of Amazon or CarePress modules.

However, I also want and expect some content - product reviews, care tips, what style goes with what, materials comparisons, etc. There are lots of ways to add value to these lenses and keep them from being junky – facts that make it a valuable resource for deciding which product, if any, to buy.

How to your sites stack up?

For an example of a lens selling products but offering more, click Bear Paw Boots

I GOT A PURPLE STAR!

I opened my email to a nice surprise yesterday. I got a congratulations email on my new Purple Star from The Squid Team for my Lens about Footed Pajamas for Adults. That was cool. But the amazing thing was that I had not even applied for that lens!

Last month, when Purple Stars were announced, I applied for a different, newer lens. But as I wrote in a post on this blog, it was not chosen. So, it was really surprising when a lens that I did not nominate was selected.

Thanks Bonnie, Patti and Robin!

Photo by hellokitty-skittles

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 :)

New Module to Allow Visitors To Rate Your Lens

I learned about a cool new module developed by The Fluffanutta from Lewis Smile at Squidoo Cool. As you know, until now, if someone wants to rate your lens after reading it, they have to scroll to the top of the page. Of course, many of us (me, me, me) often forget or are too lazy to scroll up.

Now you can allow the visitor to give a rating from anywhere on the lens. All you have to do is be logged into Squidoo and click here.

Thanks Fluff

Free Online Photo Editors

Do you use a photo editor on your photos? Are you looking for a FREE photo editor?

We have Photoshop on my wife's computer, but I do not have it on mine. So, if I want to bling up, crop or clean up a photo and she is on her computer (which is most of the time), I turn to one of a growing number of free online photo editors.

The online photo editor I am now most comfortable with is the editor at Photobucket. I love what it can do to a photo, like adding speach bubble or a thought cloud, like the ones you see in comics, as shown in the photo in this post. Or you can also easily add a picture frame around your photo with a click of a button.

Now there are many, many other free photo editors available, including online Free Photoshop. Some of these photo editors specialize in working with photos on Flickr.

There are no more exuses for having dull and lifeless photos on your Squidoo lens.

Are You Working On Those Summer Lenses?

Are you madly working on your summer and fall lenses yet? Now is the perfect time to get started working on those summer fun lenses, and fall lens ideas. Both will be here before you know it.

I’ve been working on a summer dessert lens, and another one for a summer garden party.

If you get a good start now you will be ready to greet those seasonal shoppers with content filled lenses. People are already doing their 4th of July, and Halloween shopping, I have some sales and lens traffic to prove it.

If you just spend 15 minutes a day working on lenses for the next season you will have a whole collection of seasonal lenses before you know it.

I put together a whole list of summer Squidoo lens ideas over at Lens Author for you to check out. I also posted a few tips to help you capture your own images for your online projects.

Happy Creating! Linette (aka Barkely)

Image (c) L Gerlach

Social Networking: When Does it Become Too Much?

Seems I've stumbled into a lot of conversations lately that begin the same way.

"I can't keep up with all I have to do. The frustration paralyzes me."

Last week I blogged about it in a post titled "Stuck in a Rut?" It wasn't long before AJ picked up on it at her Always Juggling blog too, in a post that addresses social networking, and how hard it is to keep up with what we perceive as commitments.

Well, this week I'm determined to sort through my commitments. I'm slicing and dicing them to see what's critical and what has become nothing more than a fun way to waste time. So far, I've concluded that I can live without most social networking tools except LinkedIn and Twitter. For now, at least, I plan to pull back from the others.

I haven't taken the Facebook leap yet and I'm glad I didn't. It sounds like something that I would end up liking way too much. I might forget that I have real work to accomplish.

It's interesting how basic it is to take a step back and just breathe. Who knows, I might even find time for gardening this week. Sort of reminds me of a tv commercial I love, where a twenty-something guy is describing an awesome sight--this gold and pink explosion of color across the sky--as if he'd never seen such a thing before. The older guy with him throws him this little smirk and says, "Yeah. It's called morning."

Backing off of social networking feels a little like seeing my first sunrise. I plan to enjoy it.

Giant Squids Take Note: Purple Stars Are Here

Purple stars are the latest incentive for Giant Squids only. Pretty cool if you ask me. Initially there were going to be six per week. Now I understand that there will be 21 per week.

Why are they cool? Bragging rights mostly, but also "The lens gets a generous one-time editorial turboboost in LensRank." Sounds good to me.

I applied for my Laser Hair Removal Lens (I like that lens!). But it didn't get selected :( poor me, sniff, sniff.

Oh well, I will keep trying. The winners of the first purple star awards were announced on the Giant Squid Showcase. Congrats to all of the winners!!

Did anyone else submit?

Photo by hellokitty-skittles.

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)

7 Things I Ask Myself Before Creating A Lens

Below are the 7 questions I asked myself before/while creating my lens, BEARS: The 8 Wonders of the World.

1. What am I hoping to accomplish?
Raise awareness of the world's 8 bear species and raise money for Wildlife SOS.

2. Am I focusing on a singular sub-topic or giving an overview?
A brief overview / introduction of the 8 species.

3. How can I organize it to make it easy to navigate?
With only 8 bear species, it seemed logical to put the bears in alphabetical order.

4. How can I make it interesting?
Most people don't know the 8 species so I included their aliases (Brown Bear / Grizzly), photos and conservation status. I also added a Flickr slideshow and videos.

5. What do I want to link to?
I had already created more in-depth lenses on each of the 8 bear species so I linked to each of them. I also linked to organizations saving bears.

6. What can I sell?
I added bear Wildlife SOS's CafePress and Amazon books and bear gifts.

7. How much royalty do I want to give to what charity?
100% of the royalties goes to Wildlife SOS so I make sure I added a Donation Module.

Adding a guest book, some featured lenses, and a link to the Save Our Bears (SOB) Group made this a 5 star lens (in my opinion) right from the get-go. I have, of course, continued to update and add new items often.

Mixing Humor With Sales

Want to ramp up your sales lens? Mix humor with your sales.

Why? Sales lenses are typically SO boring. Most of them just do not work.

But if you add a bit of humor, you will get postive rankings and this will help your lens to obtain high lens rank.

Recently I created a lens about hair removal. Sounds like a dull topic right? I searched through flickr and found a few funny photos which were available under creative commons license. I searched through Youtube and found a few cool videos. Voila! My new lens was born.

Photo By Pure1967

A Secret Search Term to Get More Squidoo Traffic

Shhh! Don’t tell, but I’m going to share a secret with you, one that could result in more traffic to your lenses.

Do you have a lens that features a person, a celebrity, someone that people want to know more about? If so, make sure you include two things on that lens: one, the person’s birthday (date of birth) and, two, the person’s age (so they don’t have to do the math). Fans want to know those things and when they search “how old is so-and-so” or “when is so-and-so’s birthday,” make sure your lens about so-and-so provides the answers for them.

A countdown module (like this one) is a great way to show a person’s birthdate; just remember to update it every year!

That’s the secret. Shhh!

(picture courtesy Gustty via Creative Commons)

YEA! New Giant 100 Club Member!

Just received the news this morning that I have been inducted in the Giant 100 club. That is very cool! I am honored! Thank you Squidoo!

Does anyone have suggestions about where to upload the badge?

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