Where to Find Topical Lens Ideas

Susan52: NOT in Vogue

I just received the latest edition of one of my favorite magazines for Kindle. Happy day!

Scrolling down the table of contents page of the new magazine, I see at least a dozen ideas that would be perfect for a dozen new lenses. From decorating to personal style to family, food, and gardening, almost anyone could take this TOC, pick a hot topic and run with it, putting a personal point of view on a subject that resonates with them, making it their very own.

I'm not exactly into current trends. In fact, in most areas of life I lean heavily to the side of cultural illiteracy. So staying one step ahead of my audience can be difficult. But ahead of trends is a great place to be when you're trying to hit that perfect blend of unique, useful, up-to-date content for a successful, new Squidoo lens. That's why I love magazines. If I'm interested in the niche going in, I just might come up with a really good, trendy lens idea going out.

Where do you find topical trends to write about? Or is that a concern in your niche? Got any tips to share on the topic?

Vogue Magazine Cover May 1917, Public Domain

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.