A Journey of 2500 Lenses

I happened to notice on my Squidoo lensmaster profile page this morning that I have rated 2500 lenses. Exactly.

That's a lot of lenses.

I'm positive, though, that I'm not even close to setting a record. In fact, I just checked and birthday girl JaguarJulie has rated 4307, which is just part of what makes her one of the most popular and well-loved people on Squidoo. (Happy Birthday, Julie!)

Don't rate lenses in order to be popular, though. That can be a nice side effect, but instead visit and rate lenses to give back to the Squidoo community. As you visit lenses, take note of what you like about them then file that information away as ideas to incorporate into your lenses in the future. Believe me, you'll get much more out of it than you put in.

Remember, a journey of 2500 lenses starts with a single star. Have you visited and rated a lens today? Take that first step now.

Watch the (Gold) Stars Come Out On Squidoo

I've discussed in the past the practice of asking on a Squidoo lens that people rate the lens. Sometimes people do that well; sometimes they appear to be begging for a rating and that turns me off. I've settled into the practice of hyperlinking the lens at the bottom with the little statement, "Return to the top to rate this lens." Clicking on that link brings my visitors back to the top of the lens, making it easy to find the stars with just a subtle reminder.

Now, lensmaster extraordinaire thefluffanutta has made this process even simpler by inventing a widget called "Love This Lens?" By adding this widget to your lens you can bring the stars to the bottom (or wherever you want them), saving your visitor a trip back to the top! In fact, not only does the widget include stars with which to rate the lens, it also features "email it," "favorite it," and "lensroll it" links. How convenient is that?!

Check out this very cool widget, available to one and all on its own lens called, quite naturally, Love This Lens Widget. Follow the directions and watch the stars come out!

Hats off and a grateful bow to thefluffanutta!