How to Generate a Spike in Your Squidoo Lens Traffic

Kimberly wrote at SquidooHQ today about Lens Ideas for July.  Good suggestions there to get you thinking outside the box a bit, but more importantly to get you thinking about niche topics/holidays that not everyone is writing about. 

There WILL be people searching for those topics when the day comes.  Know how I know?  Did you ever look at logos that Google displays on their main page?  Frequently they will display special logos drawn to commemorate a holiday or event.  A recent favorite was on June 9th, Les Paul's 96th birthday.  Take a look at the Les Paul logo - and strum the strings!

Now, take a look at this graph that shows the Google search trend for Les Paul:

See that huge spike?  That was June 9, 2011, the day Google displayed their special logo and millions of curious people googled "Les Paul" to find out more about him.

While I won't promise you a Les Paul spike in Squidoo traffic, I will promise you that people will be searching to learn about unique holidays and topics they hear about as they happen.  No reason in the world it shouldn't be your lens that they find when they do their search!

So, what niche holiday or topic are you going to write about in the coming month?  Have you had a lens spike in the past?  Tell us about it in a comment below.

Happy Flag Day, USA!

June 14th is Flag Day in the U.S.  Are you flying the American flag today?

Ever wonder why the American Flag is red, white, and blue?  Ah, I've got a lens for that!

How about you.  Do you make patriotic lenses?  If you do and you've always wanted a patriotic lens theme, be sure to vote for the 25th Squidoo lens theme!

After you do, feel free to post a link to your favorite patriotic lens right here in a comment.

How Do We Look On a Smart Phone?

I do try to keep up with science and technology, but I don't have a smart phone - yet.  For that reason, I can't check to see how this blog looks displayed in its mobile version.

There is a mobile version available now (I love you, Blogger) and I just updated the blog's settings so that if you view this blog on your phone, you'll see that version. 

Anyone want to check it out for me?  Go to www.isquidoodoyou.com on your phone and see what you see.  Then let me know how it looks, would you?  Thanks!

(One more reason that someday I will be able to justify having a smart phone!)

Summer Sale on Kindle Books

I should be writing and updating my lenses, but instead I'm reading.  Reading and buying books, in fact.  Kindle books, of course.

There's a Sunshine Sale going on right now in the Kindle store with over 600 titles selling for 99 cents, $1.99, or $2.99.  I just bought three.  Or was it four?  These are terrific titles, too, not unknown books by unknown authors.

You do know that you don't have to own a Kindle to read Kindle books, yes?  If you didn't know that and don't own a Kindle yet, read this.

I really do need to get back to work, writing, but I'll be visiting the Kindle store again before the Sunshine Sale ends on June 15th, and chances are good that I'll be spending more money there.  Sales on Kindle books are few and far between, so I'm going to take advantage of these low prices. 

How about you?  Do you like book bargains?  Do you read Kindle books?  Tell me what you've been reading recently.

New SquidU Leadership Council Elected

The new SquidU Leadership Council has been elected, and a fine lineup of nine lensmasters they are!  I have to admire their courage for volunteering for an as yet undefined job that obviously isn't going to be easy. 

I really like to be positive about things, but this time I'm going to make an exception and mention the very uncalled-for comments by several lensmasters in what should be a pure "congratulations and thank you" thread.  Don't these complainers have any idea how they sound?  If I were starting a "three strikes and you're out" SquidU scorecard, there would be several on it with one strike already.  For the sake of the council and the future of SquidU, I hope those who complained will leave the forum and take their bad attitudes with them.  (End of negative comment.)

My best wishes to the nine council members, thank you in advance for serving, and many thanks to those community members who voted. 

Another Reason to Choose a Great Intro Module Photo

Have you noticed that now you can choose SIX related lenses to feature in the right side margin of each of your lenses?  List them in the "Related Lenses" tab of the intro module in the lens workshop.  After your lens is published, check that right sidebar for the "Explore related pages" section and you'll see all six lenses displayed there, along with their intro module photos.  Very eye-catching and very cool!

If you don't specify six lenses, Squidoo will use your tags to choose the lenses that will display in that space.  If someone else who has a lens with a similar topic doesn't specify six lenses, it's possible that one of your lenses might show on that person's related pages section. 

So . . . Make sure your intro module picture is a good one.  You never know where it might show up!