Polishing My Plow on New Year's Eve

So, how are you spending your New Year's eve? I hope you'll take some time out to have a little fun, spend a bit of time reflecting, but spend most of your time looking ahead. What do you believe the new year holds? Do you have predictions? Goals? Resolutions? If you do, I hope you'll take a minute or two and share them on my New Year Predictions and Resolutions lens. Then bookmark the lens and come back in a month or two, or even next December 31st to see how you're doing or how you did.

A couple of years ago I found a saying that goes like this: A man cannot plow a field by turning it over in his mind. I printed that out and it's been taped to my computer monitor ever since. I haven't found any better advice, advice that truly speaks to me, since then and I will continue to dust off those wise words and read them every day, not just on January 1st. They really motivate me to act.

I predict wonderful things for the coming year. Of course life will always bring surprises, but one thing we can control is our outlook on and our approach to life. Be positive, be proactive, and see what can happen. That's how I intend to plow my field in the coming year. I hope you'll do the same.

Happy New Year!

Announcing the 2008 Giant Squid Awards

It's official. Today was announcement day. The 2008 Giant Squid best of the best lenses by category, along with the Giant Squid of the Year, have been announced.

Choosing which lenses to vote for was actually quite a challenge. Every lens nominated was a good one, and every one is a winner by virtue of being nominated. Congratulations to every lensmaster represented among the nominees!

Then there was Giant Squid of the Year. Talk about difficult. It's just very tough to narrow down the best of the best. The winner was lensmaster JaguarJulie, first runner-up was thefluffanutta, with ChefKeem following closely behind. Congratulations to these three, as well as the other deserving lensmasters who were nominated.

Thanks to all who voted for my Kindle lens which, I am happy to say, did capture the prize for Tech Lens of the Year. What an honor!

If you're looking for Squidoo lenses and lensmasters to study and learn from, the 2008 Giant Squids Award Ceremony lens is the perfect place to start. Be prepared to be inspired!

Keeping the Faith, I Made it to 100!

Just published my hundredth lens! It wasn't the one I thought would be number one hundred, but I felt it was a lens I needed to do and now I'm really glad I did.

Hopefully I'll have a couple more in the next couple of days, plus find time to edit some oldies but goodies.

So, drumroll please, I am proud to share my faith with you!

Ninety-Nine!

I just published my 99th lens! I'm shooting for the Giant Squids 100 Club and it looks like I'm almost there, but actually I have a lot of work to do. The criteria is 100 "quality" lenses and, although all of mine were quality at one time, I'm behind in updating several lenses and I must find time to refresh and renew probably half a dozen before the end of the month.

In the meantime, I haven't had a chance to promote numbers 97 or 98 at all. Number 100 is started, so hopefully I'll find time to put some really good finishing touches on it and start promoting it as well.

Think I'll make it? I hope so. Thanks for all the help and encouragement along the way!

Hurry! Squidoo is Giving Away Money!

Squidoo is at it again. This time they're giving $30,000 to charity and they want you to help.

To choose which charity you would like the money to go to, visit this lens and follow the directions. You need to have a Twitter account to designate a dollar donation to one of 21 charities that Squidoo has named as recipients of this round of donations. There are links to click on within the lens, links which will auto-tweet your vote. It takes just a second to click and register your vote for the charity of your choice.

Once the 30,000 votes are tweeted, each representing a dollar to a specific charity, the voting ends and the donations will be made. If you want to be sure a dollar goes to your favorite of the 21 charities, go vote now before the 30,000 votes are used up. Really, it won't take long, so don't put it off.

You can watch the progress of the voting on Twitter Search. If you don't have a Twitter account, it's simple enough to set one up (and why, oh why, haven't you done that already?) at twitter.com. If my explanation doesn't make sense, read Megan's explanation on the official Squidoo Holiday Twitterdrive for Charity lens.

Hurry!

I'm Thoroughly Confused. What is Squidoo?

My new online friend, April, asked me this: "I just went to your Squidoo page, but am thoroughly confused! Just what is it? Is it a place to blog, sell, or something else?" Here's my response.

April,

To answer your question about Squidoo, yes to all of those things! Squidoo is a place where "experts" make pages about topics, anything at all, and people then find those pages when they're looking for information about the topic or contents of the page. It's an example of Permission Marketing, where you don't go to people, but they seek you out. If they like what they see, they might buy something you're offering for sale.

You don't actually have to sell anything on Squidoo, but if you do, you earn commissions on those things, plus you as a lensmaster (the pages are called lenses, the authors lensmasters) receive a portion of the overall ad commissions that Squidoo earns.

To understand it, you just have to explore it. My lensmaster/profile page shows all of the lenses that I've created, which cover a wide array of topics. Squidoo is a great way to promote an online business or just to get the word out about something you're passionate about. I just updated my favorite lens, called Nurturing Imagination. That's a topic I am rather passionate about, plus it features my kids. :-) Also, I'm pretty proud of the lens I recently made about my puppy, Daisy. I updated that one again this morning. It's good to update/freshen your pages regularly, but it isn't like a blog where you're expected to post regularly.

There are over 750,000 Squidoo lenses and thousands and thousands of lensmasters, so you can imagine the variety you'll find on Squidoo. I love it! (Can you tell??)

Hope that helps to answer your question!

Make a Bigger First Impression With Squidoo

First impressions are important and this is especially true with Squidoo lenses. Recently, Squidoo increased the allowable size of the intro module images (read about it here). I love this change. Now the pictures really pop.

The change isn't retroactive to the pictures you're already using on your lenses, so you might want to go back through and re-load your puny pictures if you believe a bigger version would benefit your lens. I've done that on a few of my lenses already, including this one and this one. (Don't worry, it's rated G.)

Tell me what you think. You like the bigger pictures or are they too big? Are you going to update yours? Leave me a comment and a link; I'd love to take a look.

My 7 Habits of Successful Lensmaking

Glen recently put together an awesome post called The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Lensmasters. He enlisted the help of seven very successful lensmasters who each presented their own seven things that they do to help make each of their lenses successful. Great idea and you must read all 49. Then you can read my seven, here.

1. I have an idea! The best ones seem to just pop into my head.
2. Brainstorm. Write down everything I can think of about the topic. I usually type it, but brainstorming is better done with pen and paper.
3. Keyword search, which might actually change the direction of the lens but will likely give me the URL.
4. Google it. What’s there that I didn’t think of? Check images and video.
5. Amazon, eBay, and other affiliate products available? Look for both bestsellers and something unique. Look for eye appeal to spur emotion. (I’d choose a product with a pretty picture over something plain, wouldn’t you?)
6. Set up the sequence of modules and make the lens. This is where the creative juices actually flow. I’m a visual learner and seeing my ideas take shape actually spurs new and better ideas, so it isn’t surprising that my final product is often not quite the same as what I thought it would be when I first visualized it in my head.
7. Publish and take a look. Rearrange modules to make everything look nicely balanced.

Assignment: What are your 7 habits? Make your own list, print it out, tape it to your monitor or to the wall and refer to it often. Revise when necessary. Make great lenses!

Non-Geek Gets Best Tech Lens Nomination

What an honor! My Kindle lens has been nominated for the 2008 Giant Squid "Best Tech Lens" award. Very cool!

It's kind of ironic, though. I'm not exactly known for my technical prowess and I'm rarely mistaken for a geek. In fact, I'm rather technologically challenged. Actually, that's what has made my Kindle lens a pretty good lens; I designed it from a "Why would a non-techie type person like me want a Kindle wireless reader?" perspective. Happily, that approach has worked rather well.

The prize for the winner is basically bragging rights on Squidoo, which is a great reward. I'd be thrilled if you'd consider voting for my lens. The link to the voting module is on the Kindle lens, which I'd love for you to visit to make sure it's award-worthy, or you can go directly to the tech lens module on the 2008 Giant Squid Awards lens here. Be sure to take a look at all the lenses nominated in each of the different categories - all 21 - and vote for Giant Squid of the year while you're at it. (Good luck with narrowing that one down.) Voting deadline is December 21, but go ahead and vote now while it's fresh on your mind, and thank you very much for your support!

Raise Your Conversion Rate With These Squidoo Tips of the Day

A couple of quick tips today that will help convert lookers to shoppers and shoppers to buyers on your Squidoo lenses.

• In shopping modules (amazon, eBay, or with your own affiliate items such as allposters.com) use wording such as, "Click on the picture to read more about or to purchase the item." Some visitors to your lenses might not be accustomed to shopping online and need a call to action or even instructions to help them learn how to shop.


• When setting up an eBay module, if you know there will be plenty of your search items with bids, choose to show items with 1 or greater bids rather than defaulting to zero. Look under the "display options" tab and check the box to display the number of bids. Seeing that someone else is already bidding on the items creates an instant demand for the products that are shown, resulting in a sense of urgency for your lookers/shoppers/buyers to click through. Here's an example.
  

Have any additional tips to increase conversion rates on Squidoo? Please share them in a comment!

People Are Watching

I've discovered something rather interesting on Squidoo. People pay attention. They watch you. Having a fan club is fun and cool, even flattering, but it's actually a big responsibility. Add Giant Squid to your lensmaster status and people really start watching. Add SquidAngel to the mix and lensmasters start seeking you out. Sometimes it can be a little scary.

I used to think that I was a rather anonymous soul on the internet and, in fact, I pretty much was with a couple of nondescript websites that were easily overlooked. Then I started blogging and found a few people who began listening to what I had to say, but even that was on such a small scale it seemed that what I said or how I said it wasn't particularly important.

After Squidoo came along and one lens grew to two then 10 then, suddenly, I had 50 lenses and became a Giant Squid, by golly, people began to know who I was and what I said began to matter. Hiding behind my childhood-picture avatar was somewhat comforting, but as time has passed and I've built not only my brand on Squidoo but a reputation, the comfort level has really changed. Now I regularly get contacted with questions as well as getting asked for advice. I've even done a couple of interviews. Whoa, people actually care what I think!

That's pretty humbling, you know? I may be a Giant Squid and may, for awhile, have SquidAngel as part of my job description, but I'm really still just little ol' me. I take the responsibilities seriously and try to do my best and not let anyone down, though I might from time to time. I'm still that little girl in the picture, just a bit older. Okay, a lot older. When you do see me around, just remember that behind that orange halo lies a regular squid person who puts her pants on one tentacle at a time, just like you.

What All Squids Want - and I Got!

What do all Squidoo lensmasters hope for, strive for, wish for, live for? Do you know? If you're a lensmaster I'm guessing you do. The answer? Having your lens chosen as Lens of the Day.

Today was my day. I woke to lots and lots of Squidoo comment emails, which was my first clue. One said "Congratulations on LOTD" and then I knew for sure. Hooray! This is my first time receiving this great honor. What a way to start the week!

Making Fun of Sarah Palin - Has Political Humor Crossed the Line? is my honored lens. If you haven't seen it, I hope you'll take a few minutes to visit and read all the great comments answering the title question. Do you think political humor has gone too far this year? Add your comments to the duel. It's great fun!

Thanks, everyone, for creating such great content on the lens with your opinions and comments. Thanks, Megan, for choosing my lens. I'm so honored and still so excited!

Thanks to Spirituality

Spirituality, whose real name is Katinka, is one of the many generous lensmasters on Squidoo. I was so happy to receive a request from Katinka for an interview to be featured on her "Thank You Lensmaster - Squidoo Reviews" blog, which she publishes as a way of paying it forward, thanking the lensmasters who have helped us all out.

Today my interview was published; you can read it here. Katinka also supplied me with a badge to display, which you can see with this post as well as on my lensography. Isn't it pretty? I think it's pretty special, too.

It's lensmasters like Katinka who make Squidoo so successful. Without people who give back to the Squidoo community, what an ordinary place Squidoo would be. Thank you, lensmaster Spirituality, for helping make Squidoo so extraordinary.

Is Your Squidoo Lens Boring?

What makes a boring Squidoo lens? Usually the answer is text that goes on and on and on. While informational lenses are fine and sometimes large amounts of text are necessary, here are a few things that you can do to keep your readers' attention, to help them get through the wordiness.

• Split it up. A text module can contain 10,000 characters; you don't have to use them all! Consider subdividing your copy into multiple text modules with a title for each, which makes it a lot easier on the eye. If you do have a large section of text that absolutely must stay together, consider breaking it up with drop caps on paragraphs, bolding key words and phrases, and certainly by using pictures here and there.


• Create some variety. Squidoo has dozens of modules that can be used to spruce up a lens. Emphasize your most important point with a Black Box module (now available in multiple colors, by the way) or a The Most Important Thing module (a white box bordered in orange). Is there a book that complements your lens topic? Use an Amazon Spotlight module to feature that book. How about a Polaroid module to showcase a nice picture that demonstrates what you've discussed in those long text modules? There are many, many more modules available, so mix it up a bit! (Warning! Keep on topic. Don't add an Igo Green Tip of the Day widget unless that is closely related to your original subject.)


• Get your reader involved. People don't want to read about you, they want to read about themselves, about how your topic can benefit them. Give them an opportunity to participate. Consider using a poll module to let them vote yea or nay on something having to do with your topic. Writing about something controversial? Go a step further by using a duel module to elicit arguments on both sides; people love to give their opinions! By all means include a guestbook and be sure to place it near the end of the lens. Don't expect comments on the topic that appears down below; they haven't read it yet, so how can they comment on it?
  

Those are just a few tips to help you keep from boring your lens visitors, and with a little experience you'll think of others. It all comes back to the Golden Rule of making lenses: Put yourself in your readers' place. How would you like your lens if you stumbled upon it? Would you be bored? Then they certainly will be, too. Spruce it up and have fun with it! It'll be worth the effort.

SquidAngel, SquidAngel, Won't You Be Me

I love angels, believe in angels, and know that I have angels surrounding me and mine. Now, I am an angel, at least on Squidoo.

One of my most recent Squidoo honors is to have been chosen as a SquidAngel. In case you don't know, SquidAngels are lensmasters who visit lenses all throughout Squidoo (and that's a LOT of lenses!) giving great lenses little boosts we call blessings, and that's a good thing! Sometimes SquidAngels leave comments to let the lensmaster know their lens has been blessed, but sometimes we visit quietly and unannounced. So, if your lens suddenly takes an unexpected jump in lensrank, it may have received a visit - and a blessing - by a winged lensmaster.

As I carry out my SquidAngel duties, I will be exploring the far corners of Squidoo. Maybe I'll visit your lens. If you want to increase your chances of having an angel visit your lens, the Angels Forum is a good place to make a request. Before you ask, make sure your lens is up to snuff, worthy of a blessing. SquidAngels have very high standards!

See you on Squidoo. Look up!

Find Your Next Lens Topic in Your Stats

So you have a lens that's getting search engine traffic. Good for you!

Here's what to do next. Check your Squidoo stats for that lens. Look for a trend in search terms. Is there one, or a few related phrases that stand out? In other words, when people search for a topic and find your lens, what specifically are they looking for? If there's a term that rises to the top, use it to make another lens.

Case in point. My Who is Shirley Temple lens gets a good amount of search engine traffic. Recently, many of of the search terms have to do with Shirley Temple costumes. Voila! Here is the offshoot lens, which started getting Google hits the day after it was published and generated its first affiliate sale the following day.

Get it? Good. Go do it.

Boom & Bust on Squidoo

Boom! Something very cool happened last week. Seth Godin blogged about Amazon's Kindle and linked to MY Squidoo lens in his post! Hits on that lens have gone through the roof and lensrank has followed. Can't thank Seth enough!

Bust! Since Hillary Clinton suspended her campaign, hits on my Who is Hillary Clinton? lens have dropped into the basement and lensrank has fallen after 99 days in the top 100 on Squidoo. Well, maybe Barack will choose her as his running mate (though I doubt it) and traffic will pick back up again. It was fun while it lasted! Looks like Hillary memorabilia may be the way to go.

Nice there was a boom to offset the bust!

Experts On Squidoo

Something rather interesting happened today. I received a comment early this morning on one of my lenses and, as I usually do, I checked to see who left the comment. It was a new lensmaster; his name was Antonio. He had one lens, so I took a look at it. I liked the lens a lot and thought it was a very good first Squidoo lens. I did, though, have a couple of suggestions for small ways he might improve the lens. Busybody that I am sometimes, I used his contact form, complimented him on his lens and offered those couple of suggestions.

I was happy a short while later when I received a response from Antonio, thanking me for the “prompt response,” telling me that he had applied my suggestions already and asking me to take a look. I did take a look and saw that he had done an outstanding job of implementing my ideas. I was even more impressed with his lens this time and let him know that.

Now here’s the interesting part. I sat back down at the computer later this morning to work, noticed that spam messages were accumulating in my spam mailbox and went to delete them. I always check first in case there are messages there that shouldn’t have gotten filtered as spam and, as usual, I found one. It was a message from Antonio from earlier this morning. Turns out that before I contacted him this morning, he had actually contacted me, saying he was looking at my lenses and would be happy to accept suggestions and comments from me about his. He had asked for a critique even before I had offered one, and I hadn’t even known it!

Now, my point. Here is part of what I wrote to Antonio after I found his original request. “Good for you for asking for the critique! You obviously have what it takes to succeed; asking for advice from an expert (thanks for considering me to be a Squidoo expert, by the way!) may be the very best way to become an expert! Funny that those who think to ask are generally the ones who are so far along the right road in the first place.”

There are two truths here. One: In order to become an expert, find an expert and ask for help or advice, then follow that advice. Two: If you are the type of person who will seek out an expert and make the contact, chances are you already have what it takes to become an expert and, in fact, to become successful in life in general. Good for you!

I’m excited for Antonio, about his future on Squidoo and in every aspect of his life. I enjoyed meeting him today and always enjoy when I meet exceptional people. And I don’t know a better place for meeting exceptional people, both experts and future experts, than on Squidoo.

Turn a Blog Post into a Squidoo Lens

They don't call Seth Godin a genius because he isn't. I've never read anyone else who can take a simple concept and turn it into a light bulb moment for his readers the way Seth does, and then turn around in a day or two and do it again with a different concept, and do that same thing again and again. For me, reading anything Seth Godin writes almost always elicits a simple "Wow," or "I wish I had thought of that," or even an "I never would have thought of that!" I especially like it when the result is an "I can do that!" That's what happened today.

I ran across this lens of Seth's on Squidoo. While the topic is a simple, though important one, what I got out of it was this: Seth took a blog post and turned it into a Squidoo lens. He probably does that all the time (he certainly could), but this one happened to catch my eye, especially because of the module entitled "Inspired by the Blog Post." (insert smiley here)

So, are you a blogger? (I hope you are.) Do you need more Squidoo lenses? (Of course you do!) Here's my challenge to you. Find an awesome blog post, one you're really proud of, and turn it into a Squidoo lens. Add related material from Amazon.com or elsewhere to give the lens some extra meat, then link the blog and the lens together. Squidcast the lens, tweet about it (you are on Twitter, right?), and see what happens. Then come back here and leave your lens link in a comment. Tell me if this was an "I can do that!" moment for you.

P.S. Don't say I don't practice what I preach. Here's the lens I just made about this blog post!

Synergism, Squidoo Style

Another thought about using Squidoo to promote your eBay business.

If you blog about eBay, be sure to put the blog link on your eBay "me" page*. If you have a Squidoo lens, put that link on your blog! If you have a Squidoo lens and a blog, use the RSS feed module on Squidoo to automatically feed your blog content to your Squidoo lens.

It's simply synergistic!

P.S. Are you on Twitter? Add that to the mix and your business may become absolutely explosive!

*UPDATE: EBay policy now forbids off-eBay links even on your "me" page, so go take those off! All the more reason to blog, tweet, and otherwise talk up your eBay business around the web. To learn how to best use social networking sites to promote your businesses, check out these tips.

Today's Squidoo Lesson: Making a Lens About Your eBay Business

If you're going to make a Squidoo lens about your eBay business, you have several options.

First is the older eBay Squid template which looks like this. If you like the look of that template, go to the top right where it says "Make Your Own" and when you make your lens there, it will have that template. An OK choice; my third choice, though. My first and second choices follow.

Next is the SquidBids template, which is newer than the one above. SquidBids headquarters is here. Scroll down and choose a lens from among those listed to see what that template looks like. Create the lens from this page and it will have you fill in some information and build a simple lens for you. GOOD choice, maybe best depending on what you want your lens to look like. SquidBids HQ is a very good place to look at a lot of other eBay sellers' lenses to see what those people included in theirs. Some are good, some are better. It's really a matter of personal preference and what appeals most to you.

Third choice is the regular Squidoo template, a sample of which is here. This particular lens belongs to someone I met on Squidoo yesterday, a terrific lensmaster who has a really nice eBay store and a really good lens about her eBay business. She used HTML to add extra pictures, so the lens looks extra nice, I think. GOOD choice, but it doesn't specifically identify the lens as being an eBay lens, so it's up to you if you want it to be obvious from the start that the lens is about your online auctions. Again, a matter of your preference.

End of today's lesson. Now go enjoy Mother's Day!

Learn How to Squidoo from the Best

Did I happen to mention that I'm now a Giant Squid? Oh, yeah, I did. Sorry. I'm still trying to get used to the new title, still relishing the feeling. Honestly, you won't know until you experience it.

Would you like to experience it? Becoming a Giant takes fifty great lenses, which is a lot of work. It took me a year to get there, making lenses and gleaning expertise from other lenses and lensmasters along the way. Making a lens is really easy, very simple, and can be done in five or 10 minutes. Making great lenses, though, is the trick and figuring out how to do that can take a lot of trial and error as well as a lot of time. Would you like to shorten that learning curve? Want to know how to make a really great lens? I know the secret to that and I'm going to share it with you right now. Not surprisingly, the secret is on Squidoo, contained in one really great lens.

50 Awesome Squidoo How-To Lenses From A-Z was compiled by Giant Squid and awesome lensmaster bdkz. If you study each of these fifty lenses and apply what you've learned, there is no doubt that you will create some fantastic lenses of your own. Whether you've been Squidoo-ing for awhile or if you're brand new, if you have a goal of greatness this is where you need to start.

You might feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of fifty lenses. Don't be. Just set aside some time every day and choose a couple to devour. Most of the fifty lenses reference other lenses, so in the process of your studies you're going to see a whole lot of Squidoo. That is a good thing! There is no better way to learn how to be a master than by studying the masters.

You don't have to wait until you're finished studying each of bdkz's fifty recommended lenses to make new ones of your own or improve your existing ones, applying what you've learned, but just remember that there is always something new to learn and always a way to improve anything that you do. Just think where you will be, how much you will have improved in a month, three months, or even a year from now. Invest some time, keep your eye on the prize, and you'll be experiencing that Giant Squid feeling before you know it.

P.S. Remember that you reap what you sow. If you like bdkz's lens, don't forget to let her know by leaving her a comment and some stars, and do the same on the other lenses as well.

Squidoo News of Giant Proportions

Whew! I didn't expect it but when I heard that the new class of Giant Squids had been announced, I took a peek at one of my lenses just in case and, whadaya know, there was a Giants badge on my profile! I did it! I qualified as a Giant Squid on Squidoo!

It's been 24 hours now and the news is still sinking in, but I'm convinced at last that I didn't dream it. I am simply unable to describe how excited - and how humbled - I am about this honor.

You won't know how that actually feels until you're there, so if you're still working towards Giant Squid status, keep it up. The reward will be worth the effort, I promise. To find out how to qualify, read Megan's lens here. Find out who's included in this latest group on SusanVillasLewis's Class of 2008 lens. Congratulations to the new Giant Squids!

Squidoo and Politics - A Good Mix

I've really enjoyed making politics and politician lenses on Squidoo. There's the Who is Hillary Clinton? lens, which bounces in and out of the top 100 on Squidoo and has stayed in the top five or so of its category for some time now. Then there are the other SquidWho candidate lenses, the ones about Fred Thompson and Mike Huckabee, which have gone the way of those two candidates (down, down, down in rank).

Hopefully the Democratic and Republican National Convention lenses will pick up a bit more as the conventions get closer, and The First Gentleman lens should gain popularity if Hillary really does win the nomination. The George Bush Bloopers lens is still fun for a rainy day.

This week I decided to branch out and try a couple of SquidLit lenses and one book I chose to feature is called Anything for a Vote which, of course, ties nicely into the political theme. I really like the SquidLit format and anticipate many more lenses there.

Yes, politics and Squidoo make a very nice mix, at least this election year. Guess I might need to have to find another theme come November, but I'm going to enjoy this one while it lasts.

Got a minute? Visit the Lensmaster Lounge

The Lensmaster Lounge is the name of the user's forum on Squidoo. Have you visited lately? If not, you're missing out on so much of what Squidoo has to offer.

Besides getting answers to your urgent questions about Squidoo and finding someone to critique or "bless" your lens, you also have the opportunity to meet Squidoo lensmasters, newbies and oldies as well, and visit their lenses. Know what? There are some awesome lenses out there and many of them (maybe most of them) belong to lensmasters you've never run across before.

With over a cool half-million lenses now, you know there have to be a whole bunch of lensmasters. It's easy enough to meet them without even participating in the forum; simply browse the posts on the forum and click on the various lensmaster id's to see their profile pages, then start checking out their lenses.

Better yet, offer a critique for someone who requests it or answer a question if you can help someone who has one. Be honest when you critique, but be kind and offer productive suggestions. Leave a good impression about yourself because someone else who is new will probably decide to meet you, too - or not, depending on the attitude that you project in your forum posts. It's really easy to make friends on the forum, but it's also easy to leave a bad taste in someone's mouth if you don't choose your words wisely.

When you post, subscribe to the thread so you'll receive notification of responses and can follow up when necessary. This morning I posted a comment and there was a response from a lensmaster I had never met. I clicked through to see her lenses and, wow, what great lenses she has! (Check out CherylK's lenses here.)

So, next time you need a break from creating your own awesome lenses on Squidoo, take a few minutes and drop in at the lounge, now being served by the best lensmasters Squidoo has to offer.

(What? You haven't signed up with Squidoo yet? Don't waste another minute. Get started here.)

3 Reasons to Update Your Squidoo Lenses Now

More changes with the templates at Squidoo.com this past week. Have you noticed? To properly take advantage of those changes, you need to update your lenses with these three things in mind.

1. First, there's a new, optional, built-in table of contents at the top of every lens. When you update your intro module now, you'll notice that it has been renamed the Introduction, Contents, & Discover Tool. Those three components are accessible by tabs that you'll see in the edit mode. The Introduction tab is for the text that appears in that module; no changes here. The second tab is for a built-in table of contents. Squidoo has that set to opt out, but if you opt in you'll activate an expandable section on your lens that appears immediately below the contents of your intro module. The first half dozen or so of your modules show up, along with a "more . ." link which will expand the module in order to show the titles of all the modules on your lens. Have some modules that you don't want to include here? Just un-check the box next to those module names. This new table of contents appears on a very attractive blue background. The advantage? If you have more than five modules on your lens, it's shorter than a regular table of contents module, so it takes up less room. It also gives your visitor the option of navigating your lens via the module links or they can skip the table of contents altogether and just browse on through. If you like how this module looks, you might choose to opt in and use it instead of the separate table of contents module. It's up to you.

2. Second reason to update your lenses now is the Discover Tool, on the third tab in that first module of your lens. That one is set to opt in, so if you haven't visited your lenses lately, you'll be in for a surprise when you see it there. Bad news is that it gives your visitors the opportunity to pass up your lens and go directly to a lens of Squidoo's choice (based on your tags) that's listed there. Good news is that you can add up to three lenses of your own to include there, so if you have related lenses you might want to list them and continue to opt in to this feature. More good news is that you can opt out if you prefer, but that choice comes with some bad news. If you opt out of the Discovery Tool on any particular lens, that lens will not be included as a choice on anyone else's lens, so while you'll avoid outgoing links you'll be eliminating an opportunity for incoming traffic from someone else's lens. What to do? You'll have to weigh this option carefully. If you have multiple related lenses, certainly opt in to this option and include three of those related lenses so they'll show up as links in the "Explore related pages" section that shows up, again on a pretty blue background, just below your introduction module and Squidoo's table of contents module (if you have chosen to opt in to that). If you have a lens that sells a product and you don't want to chance that someone will link on out to another lens that sells that same product, then by all means opt out. Watch your traffic and see what happens and make changes as those statistics warrant.

3. A third reason to update now is the change in the placement of your lensmaster picture and bio on the lens. Instead of appearing in the top right of the lens, it now appears front and center below the lens title and just above the introduction module. It is much more prominent and hard to overlook. So if you haven't updated your lensmaster biography, you'd certainly better do it now. I found, too, that this change gave me great incentive to write short, individual biographies for many of my lenses rather than using my default bio on every lens. If your default bio is very specific to a particular category or target reader, then consider rewriting a different bio for a lens that doesn't fall into that particular category. Or, instead, rewrite your default bio to be more generic.

Change can be hard to take, but in the long run it's a good thing for anything online. It is in the best interest of The Powers That Be at Squidoo for every lensmaster to succeed, and the site is managed accordingly. Stay on top of these changes as Squidoo continues to refine and improve the site. Time spent in updating your lenses is never time wasted, so use the incentives of these changes to go update a lens or two right away, then work your way through the rest. Watch your stats and adjust your changes and personal strategy accordingly and, most importantly, continue to have fun while you Squidoo!

Ready for Bonus Lesson Number Seven?

Have you completed lessons one through six on my How to Become a Squidoo Somebody in 6 Easy Lessons lens? You have? Congratulations! You're now Somebody on Squidoo, and you're ready for lesson number seven.

I didn't write lesson seven. It's actually a lens written by lensmaster and Giant Squid bdkz, called 50 Ways to Use Squidcasting. It's one of my very favorite lenses for two reasons. One, it's very cleverly written. Each of the 50 examples comes with a link and the links mostly go to other lenses. (Great idea!)

The second reason I love the lens is that not all of the 50 links go to bdkz's lenses. In many cases, the links go to other people's lenses. Why would a lensmaster do that? Well, because that's in keeping with the true spirit of Squidoo and the rule that's part of my lesson number four, the one that goes like this:

Any time you post a comment anywhere on Squidoo have a "what can I offer" attitude rather than a "what can I get out of this" attitude.

So, if you've completed lessons one through six and you're now a Squidoo Somebody, go ahead and read and study the lens that I'm adopting as bonus lesson number seven, 50 Ways to Use Squidcasting, and while you're learning all about the hows, whys, and wherefores of 'casting a lens, pay attention to the "give a little, get a lot" spirit of Squidoo in action.

It just doesn't get any better than that.

P.S. You can 'cast a lens from your dashboard or directly from the lens itself; you'll find the link in your toolbox at the top right of each lens.

I Make Money on Squidoo (You can, too.)

I received a nice Paypal deposit this week (over 50 dollars) from Squidoo for my monthly earnings. That’s not a lot of money compared to some lensmasters’ income, but it’s a lot more compared to many others’, and actually a bit more than I expected this month.

Over and above the earnings directly from Squidoo, I also received some pretty decent income this month from affiliate sales as a result of my own affiliate links on my lenses.

You won't get rich overnight on Squidoo, but if you stick with it, make lots of quality lenses with good content, and network with and learn from other lensmasters by becoming part of the community there, you will make money on Squidoo. Don’t give up! If I can do it, you can, too.

The Secret to Success on Squidoo Is . . .

. . the same as the secret to success anywhere else in life, to give without regard to what you might get back.

I've never heard the principle described better than Michael Martine describes it in his blog post, The Secret to Success on Twitter is the Same as Blogging. (Thanks to Sonia Simone for her tweet about Michael's blog post.)

You don't have to be on Twitter to apply this principle to Squidoo. Just get involved in the SquidU forum, leave sincere comments on lots of lenses, join fan clubs, squidcast when you update a lens, respond to other lensmasters' squidcasts, and make squid-friends along the way. Oh, and make a whole lot of really good lenses.

If you want to follow me on Twitter, you'll find me here. You know where to find me on Squidoo.

Okay, I'm a groupie. So, sue me.

Seth Godin just left a comment on my lens! Woah! That is so cool!

Do you know Seth? He's the head squid, founder of Squidoo. He's a very hands-on kind of guy and makes lots of lenses of his own when he isn't busy writing bestselling books, and I know he visits lenses and leaves comments because I see them from time to time. But this comment was on MY lens. And it was a very, very nice comment.

Woah! That is so cool! (Oh, I said that already.) Seth, you just made my day. Thank you!

Feeling like a Nobody on Squidoo?

Announcing a new lens that will help you become a Squidoo Somebody in Six Easy Lessons!

Check it out! (Let me know what you think.)


P.S. Learn Squidoo quickly with this free audio.

I Heart TOC!

It's true. I am smitten. Squidoo has gone and done it again. They've created another new module and I am totally in love!

Who would have thought a table of contents module could mean so much? Well, if you've ever made a TOC for a lens, you know that it takes a long time to copy all those module links from a lens then format and paste them into a text module to create a TOC of your own. That, my sea creature-loving friend, is now a task from the past.

I just added a table of contents to my Recipes for Real People lens - and I did it in about a minute using the new table of contents module that the stupendous Squidoo staff set up and introduced this week to make lensmasters' lives a whole lot easier. You'll find the module with the widgets, or look under "T" on the "search" tab of the module picker. Add it to your lens layout, move it to the top, give it a nice name (not "New Table of Contents") and you'll be good to go. Invisible, orange-tentacled, one-eyed elves generate the links for you.

You won't need a TOC on every lens, but when you do add one make sure your modules have compelling titles in order to entice your visitors to click on through and jump right down to exactly what they're looking for.

I'm telling you, Squidoo just keeps getting better and better. (Be still my heart.)

UPDATE: The TOC module is now available in the basic package of module links, on the first page of the module picker. Easy as pie!

Have You Visited Your Squidlings Lately?

I'm talking about your little Squidoo offspring, your lenses. Have you seen them lately? Better hurry and take a look. They've changed!

If your lenses are "maxed" (and most of yours probably are) then you're going to see them in a new format starting yesterday. The squid staff has changed the maxed layout with a completely new, up-to-date, pretty cool template. Two columns instead of three. Lots less orange and lots more black. And, I think, a more professional look.

There's far more to this story (including the fact that there are actually five new layouts, depending on who's looking at your lens) and you really need to read Megan's announcement on the SquidU forum to get the background and details. Then, read all the lensmasters' questions that follow, some of which are probably questions you have, and the answers.

What do you think? Like the new look? Hate it? Leave a comment and let's talk about it.

Squidooing by the Calendar

Easter comes early this year (March 23rd) and people are starting to realize it - and they're starting to look online to find out how to make Easter bonnets. Ask me how I know.

Glad you asked! A week ago I made this new lens about Easter bonnets. That was Saturday. The lens started getting search engine hits on Tuesday, mostly from Google. It seems people want to know how to make Easter bonnets, they want to know the words to the "In Your Easter Bonnet" song, and they want to see pictures of Easter bonnets. I'm happy to oblige.

The lens has had 106 visits, lensrank has increased every day, and it's in the top 100 of its category. Clickouts, unfortunately, are mostly on the Flickr pictures (no money to be made there), but there have been other clickouts and, hopefully, as more people begin to realize that Easter is coming up fast, the lens will generate some sales. Too bad I don't have an ebook about how to make an Easter bonnet. That would have been a sure-fire thing.

Why am I telling you this? Just to remind you to think ahead to holidays, events, and special occasions then make Squidoo lenses and include the information people are going to be looking for. It's okay if the topic is something seasonal; save the lens and update it for next year, using what you've learned this year to improve the lens.

So, pull out the calendar, put on your thinking cap, and make a lens!

Controversy on Squidoo

Feeling confrontational? Like a good debate? Think paper’s better than plastic? Just want to pick a fight? Then head on over to Squidoo’s latest love child, Hey, MonkeyBrain!

It’ll take less than five minutes for you to set up a lens with the MonkeyBrain template, which includes a bold red and black layout with a built-in duel module where you and your contributors can debate opinions on any issue you’re passionate about. Post a blurb on the module and you’ll be given the opportunity to alert others via e-mail about the debate. What a great way to spread the word and get people talking.

So, what say you? Amazon Kindle or Sony Reader? Smoking or no smoking? Boxers or briefs?

How to Jazz Up Your Squidoo Lens

In yesterday's post I mentioned noticing techniques other lensmasters use that you might want to use in your own lenses, things such as creative uses of photos or different colors and fonts. To do these things, it takes some basic knowledge of HTML and how to use that code within the restrictions of Squidoo's modules.

While there are numerous excellent lenses on Squidoo that discuss HTML and explain how to use it, I found a new lens today that I think is outstanding. This lens covers just about everything you can probably think of that you might want to do to customize modules on your own lenses. And if it isn't on there yet, check again in a few days because lensmaster Music-Resource probably will have added it.

So, when you're ready to add some jazz, check out this How To Lens on Squidoo.

Squidoo Lens of the Year - Here's Why You Should Vote

It's time to vote for the best Squidoo lens of 2007. Squidoo's angel squad nominated a total of 11 lenses which represent the best lenses of Squidoo. As a member of Squidoo's community, you have the honor of helping choose the winner.

So, why should you take the time to look at eleven lenses and cast your vote? Here are my top three reasons.

1. Personality. No two of the eleven nominee lenses looks the same. Their topics and styles are as individual as their lensmasters, which is a good thing. Study these lenses and learn how you can insert your own personality into your own lenses by "doing your own thing" and choosing topics that you love.
2. Meat. You've heard it said before and you're going to hear it again: Content is king. The way to get visitors to your lenses is to provide good, original, meaty content. These lenses have it. Some are longer than others, but each is filled to its own brim with great information. Study these top lenses to learn what good content looks like.
3. Technique. As you judge the content and quality of each lens, keep an eye out for a technique that the lensmaster used that you might not be familiar with. Look at how photos are used. Notice that some of these lenses are in the two-column un-maxed format, which might be effective for some of your lenses. Notice how some use color or special fonts. While you never want to outright copy another lens, you can always borrow a technique for one of your own.

So, those are just three ways you can learn from these top-rated lensmasters, and you'll find more ways to learn on the Lens of the Year lens itself, so don't overlook the suggestions you'll find there.

Voting is open until the end of the month. And the nominees are . . . here.

Wish I Would Have Said That

Everyone asks it: What's the difference between a Squidoo lens and a blog?

AMK asked it on this SquidU forum post and Loyalis answered it ever so eloquently:

"A lens is a signpost, a blog is a journey, and a website is a destination."

Wish I would have said that.

Hey, Who Grabbed My Plexo?

Squidoo limits the number of Amazon items per module to just five. Sometimes that just isn't enough. There is a way around it, though. If you want to show more than five Amazon products in a row at a time, consider using the Amazon Plexo module. (We'll get to the grabbing part in a minute.)

What's a Plexo module? It's a Squidoo invention that allows visitors to your lens to choose a favorite from a list that you created and vote it up (or down, if you allow it), thus adding a nice interactive function to your lenses. Plexos come in several Squidoo flavors including the Amazon Plexo, link list Plexos, text list Plexos, Flickr photo and YouTube Plexos, and even a guestbook Plexo where readers can "vote up" their favorite comments on your lenses.

Plexos are designed such that other Squidoo lensmasters can even "grab" your Plexo (it's okay, it doesn't hurt) and plop it into their own lenses or sites. At the bottom of this lens you'll find a Plexo created by lensmaster giddygabby, one that worked well for my lens but that I didn't have to re-create. Notice that giddgabby's name is there as the author, so traffic to my lens drives traffic to hers.

So, back to the Amazon Plexo. There's no limit (as far as I know) to the number of items you can include in a Plexo. So, if there are more than five Amazon items that you really, really want to include in a lens, then choose the Amazon Plexo and list away. Personally, I wouldn't get too carried away and make the list so long that your readers lose interest, but in many instances having the larger number just works better and even looks better on a lens than having multiple plain Amazon modules in a row. For example, on my Shirley Temple lens it really made sense to list all of her movie DVD's in a row and even allow others to add to it, vote up their favorite, or even grab the list for their own use, so that's what I did and I think it looks great. (Go take a look. I'll be right here.) So, what do you think?

If all this Plexo stuff still doesn't make sense, here's Squidoo's official explanation of Plexo for your learning pleasure. Do you use Plexo modules? Leave us a comment and tell us where, why, and how.

I Have Fans! W00t!

Squidoo's latest update is all about having fun and interacting with other Squidoo lensmasters. Part of that fun is that every lensmaster now has a fan club. Fan clubs are to lensmasters what favorites are to lenses. You could always "favorite" a lens, and now you can "favorite" a lensmaster by joining his or her fan club. When I looked at my lensmaster page today, by golly I had an entourage of fans! See it? Cool! I have fans! [blush]

So, what can I do for these fans? I can send a Squidcast when I update a lens and my fans, as well as anyone who chose my lens as a favorite, will receive my Squidcast message, which will show up on their Favorites page. (You can access your Favorites page from the tab on your dashboard.) Are there other reasons to send a Squidcast? Well, one of my fans [blush] has thought of at least 50. Check out her lens for ideas.

Want to join my fan club? Sign up on my lensmaster page. Leave me a comment here with your lensmaster name and I'll join yours.

Not a lensmaster? There's no reason to wait any longer. Join Squidoo and start having fun - and making money - now!

Do You Want to Go to Jail?

I didn't think so. You could, though, if you lie to the IRS. "But I didn't know I had to pay income taxes on my Squidoo income!" Sorry, jailbird. Ignorance of the 50,000-page tax code is no excuse.

Okay, we’ve established that you prefer a wardrobe of something other than black and white stripes every day, so what should you do to be sure you don’t violate tax law? How do you know if your online business is a business and not just a hobby? How do you find out what online income you are required to report to the IRS? What tax forms do you use? Are there any legal “loopholes” you can use to keep from paying out all your hard-earned profits to the IRS? Aacckkkk! Too many questions! You want answers, right?

I’ve found the answers for you in this brand new, hot-off-the e-press book called eBiz Tax Tips: How to Minimize Your Taxes and Maximize Your Profits. In this book and its accompanying audio and visual presentations you will learn:

• How to turn personal expenses into deductible business expenses
• How to save hundreds to thousands in taxes each year by choosing the right business structure for your business
• The key strategies to keep the IRS from reclassifying your business as a hobby
• How to take full advantage of the home office deduction
• How to maximize the business deductions you are entitled to
• How to pay your kids $5,350 tax-free, every year
  And much more...

While the eBiz Tax Tips package was put together primarily with eBay sellers in mind, the vast majority of everything in the package applies to your Squidoo or other online income as well. In fact, there is an excellent chance that you will save far more than the price of the package in the amount of taxes you pay this year alone.

The eBiz Tax Tips package: $97 (and tax deductible). Staying out of jail: Priceless.

Go. Read all about this excellent product now.

How to Find the Best Keywords for Your Squidoo Lens

You know how important the primary tag (keyword) is for your Squidoo lens, but how about the other 40 tags that Squidoo allows? How do you decide which are the best tags to use there? While it might be better to build a lens around keywords, if you didn't do that to start with, what's the best way to find the best keywords for your existing lens?

I found a nifty tool provided by Google called the Google Adwords Keyword Tool. While you can enter keywords or phrases in the tool and Google will provide you with a nice list of related keyword synonyms and their search frequency, you can also provide the tool with the address of your website (or Squidoo lens) and Google will analyze it and give you a list of the most relevant keywords based on its content. I tried the URL approach with several of my lenses this morning and found a few words that I had underestimated as being important. You can be sure that I've fine-tuned my tag lists and I'm looking forward to seeing if they improve my lens traffic from the search engines.

While you certainly don't want to exclude long-tail search phrases, the Google Keyword Tool is great for finding important single words and short phrases. It's very quick and easy to use and, what's more, it's free so there's no reason not to give it a try. If you do, leave a comment and let me know what you think about it. I'd appreciate the feedback.

P.S. Enjoy our Squidoo tips? Why not subscribe?