Lensmasters Make Me Smile

I really love lensmasters on Squidoo. I love them for a lot of reasons, but today I love them for the very kind comments they leave on my lenses.

Maybe I'm just insecure, but it certainly does make me feel good when people say they enjoy my work. I'm talking about really sincere comments, and I've had a lot of those lately.

Thank you, each of you, for making me smile. I hope my comments on your lenses make you smile, too.

(picture courtesy BL1961 through creative commons)

Please Participate in Our Poll

What do you think of lensmasters placing multiple affiliate ads on their profile page and in the bio section of their lenses?

This seems to be a growing trend on Squidoo lately and, while I can see that an ad or two might be fruitful, I've seen some presentations that look downright unprofessional and have to think that they might actually be counterproductive.

In my opinion.

I want to know what you think, so I've placed a poll on the left margin of this blog. Would you please take a moment and answer the question? If you have more to add, feel free to leave a comment below.

I appreciate your input.

New Photo Feature on Squidoo!

Well, I happened to be in the right place at the right time today and discovered a brand new module on Squidoo!

It's a photo gallery. Very, very cool! You can see it in action in this module on one of my lenses.

To add a photo gallery module to your lens, go to the module picker and look under "P" for "photo gallery."

TIP: Make sure that the pictures you use are similar in size, particularly in height. The thumbnails show in a neat row, but as the pictures rotate through, they show in their original size. If the sizes vary a lot, the modules below the gallery will "bounce" up and down as the pictures above rotate through. Bouncing modules aren't fun and may cause your visitors to click away before they finish reading your lens, definitely not cool.

From now on I'll be taking more and more pictures to go with my lenses, how about you? Let's hear it for Gil and the rest of the Squidoo staff. W00t!

How Serious Are You About Squidoo?

If you're serious about Squidoo, Giant Squid should be a goal. Fifty lenses might sound like a lot, but the reward is well worth the work.

Deadline for Giant Squid applications is at the end of each quarter, so if you're getting close to having 50 good, quality lenses, set March 31st as your goal. If you're just getting warmed up and need more time, the end of June is an achievable target.

If you seriously want to learn ways to reach the goal of 50 good lenses then you should plan to attend the online workshop being held this Thursday afternoon by the Giant Squid organizers. It's an RSVP event, so hurry and check it out, here. Bonnie, Robin, and Patti know what they're talking about and an hour or so spent with them will be well worth your time.

If you can't make it to the workshop, at least make sure that you visit the So You Want to Be a Giant Squid blog on a regular basis for valuable information to help you reach the awesome milestone of becoming a Giant Squid.

Three Things You Must Do

Once again, I was honored to be asked to write a guest post about making money on Squidoo, this time for Rhonda White's MommyRevenue blog. Rhonda has been a mentor to many for several years now and was one of the first people I connected with when I started blogging and building my online businesses. In fact, Rhonda is the first person who introduced me to Squidoo, so I owe her a whole lot!

If you're looking for ideas and information about starting an online business, if you need content for your own website or blogs, of if you're looking for some great marketing tips, MommyRevenue is an excellent resource. Check it out soon and, while you're there, check out my guest post, Three Things You Must Do to Make More Money on Squidoo.

Redecorating

Hello! It's still me, Susan52 on Squidoo.

I've spent the afternoon redecorating the blog. I was definitely ready for a new look. The "before" is in the picture, there ---->

So, what do you think? Like the new look better? Is the orange on blue too much for the eyes? (Edited: Never mind about that, I've changed the header background to white.) Have any suggestions on ways to improve? Decorating is definitely not my strong suit, so any input is appreciated.

Now, back to our regular program.

New Orange Tab Resources for Squids

Have you noticed the orange tab at the left margin of your lenses? It's new.

If you're a lensmaster, logged in to Squidoo, the tab says "Shortcuts." If you're not logged in, the tab says "About Squidoo."

Log in and click that tab. On the window that appears, check out each of the links. Chances are you'll find a resource that you didn't know about or haven't used. One is a direct link to SquidU, the place to be for Squidoo lensmasters of all levels of experience. If you haven't joined the forum there, why not? Think you don't have enough time? Nobody has enough time, but join anyway and visit occasionally. Introduce yourself then contribute as you can. Ask questions if you have them and give answers to other people's questions if you know them. You'll be glad you did.

Another resource on the tab is "Discover tons of great lensmaster-run blogs and tools." One of the things that makes Squidoo the greatest is contributions by our lensmasters and you'll find many of the best links to those off-Squidoo sites there. In fact, you might have arrived here from there.

There's more, six options in all, and there are different links on the "What's Squidoo?" tab, but I'll let you discover those for yourself. Go! Try it!

Squidmusings with Moomette's Gram

I was happy and honored when Cindi of Moomettesgram's Musings asked me to write a guest post about Squidoo.

Cindi is a prolific presence online, blogging on topics of interest to work-at-home moms of all ages, including those of us who also fall into the category of baby boomer. Easy to see why Cindi and I get along so well.

My guest post addresses the WAHM community, explaining to that ever-growing group why Squidoo is a great business choice for them. I hope you'll take a minute, visit Moomettesgram's Musings and check it out!

This Lensmaster Shares the Love

My Squidoo friend Arthur, aka Pantherart, is another lensmaster who prefers using his blog to showcase other lensmasters rather than himself. Seems there's a lot of that going around on Squidoo.

Arthur asked me for an interview and I was happy to comply. Here's the result.

Why not share your love with another Squidoo lensmaster, or a few. Leave a comment. Rate a lens. Send a note of encouragement to a lensmaster whose work you particularly enjoy. You might make someone's heart beat a little happier.

Network Your Squidoo Lenses

Quick tip: Network your lenses.

Make several lenses (at least three) on the same or related topics. Don't duplicate; make each one unique but related to the main subject. Each lens must be a quality, stand-alone lens.

Lensroll the lenses to each other. Link them using the "Explore related pages" section of the intro module. Use text links and/or the featured lenses module to tie the lenses together. Use similar keywords on all the lenses.

You may have read this tip before, but have you tried it? If you haven't, don't put it off any longer. It really works.

From the Heart of Squidoo

Don't know if you knew it, but Squidoo loves you. As a gift to its lensmasters (and anyone else who's interested) the team at Squidoo HQ has put together an ebook and is offering it to you for free. It's a book of lensmaking tips contributed by the pros, lensmasters who've been there and done that and want to share the love.

Download Squidoo's Valentine's Day ebook here.

Happy Valentine's Day, with love from the entire SquidStaff and from me, too.

Share Your Hobby and Make Money With Squidoo

What do you get when you cross your favorite hobby with a website called Squidoo?  If you do it carefully, you get a monthly income!  Let me explain.

Squidoo is a place online where regular people, called lensmasters, create web pages, called lenses, about a hobby, activity, gadget, person, or any other subject that they are passionate about, and make money for themselves and for charity.  A Squidoo lens isn’t a blog that has to be updated weekly or even daily to grow and thrive, it’s a stand-alone mini-website put together by an expert, someone who knows and loves its topic. 

Let’s say you have a hobby; let’s choose quilting.  You enjoy the fabric, the colors and patterns that go into a quilt.  You enjoy the method, the technique.  You’ve made a quilt or two or maybe a lot more and enjoy showing them off or even selling them.  You are a quilter.  Thus, you are an expert on quilting.

Now comes the Squidoo part.  First you open a Squidoo account, which is easy, fast, and free.  Then you choose the title of your first lens; let’s call it “I Love Quilts.”  Using the easy-to-understand workshop that Squidoo provides, you upload pictures of some of your own favorite quilts.  Add a section, called a module, that features your favorite quilting books at amazon.com, books that people can click on and buy directly from your lens.  Add a Flickr module and include pictures of quilts that other people have made.    Now add a poll module, perhaps asking the visitors to your lens how many quilts they have made, none, one, up to five, from five to 10, or more than 10.   Add a Zazzle module featuring mugs with quilt patterns on them, which are great gifts for quilters.  Add an eBay module featuring vintage quilts available at auction on eBay right now.  Add a guestbook where your visitors can leave you a message.  Hit “publish” and, simple as that, you’ve created your first Squidoo lens, which might look something like this.

Next step is to tell your friends about your new lens.  Email it, Twitter it, post it to your facebook or myspace page.  This is where the fun really starts.  As people visit your lens, some will leave messages, participate in the poll, and maybe even click through and buy one of those books you recommended, a mug, or even a vintage quilt from eBay.  When they do, you and Squidoo earn a small commission.  No inventory, no shipping, just a Squidoo lens.  Squidoo will donate a portion of their share of the commission to charity; you may do the same with settings on your lens.  Or, keep the money for yourself.  It’s up to you. 

Sound fun?  Trust me, it is fun.  It’s a great way to share your passion with the world via the web and a nice way to add a little spending money to your budget.  Ready to get started?  Simply go to Squidoo.com and follow the simple steps.  If you do, will you come back here and leave a comment with your lens link? I’d love to see it.  Already on Squidoo?  I’d love to read your comments, too.  Have fun with Squidoo.  I do! 

Squid to Squid

I met another Squidoo lensmaster, face to face!  

For an up close and personal report, visit "A Tale of Two Susans."

Big News On Squidoo. Make That GIANT News!

Today's Giant Squid Day on Squidoo.   The most recent class of Giant Squids has been announced.  Congratulations to all of you!  I don't think I'll ever forget the day I found out I was a Giant Squid.  When the badge appeared on one of my lenses, I did a double take, checked a few other lenses just to be sure, then ran into the kitchen where I had no witnesses and jumped up and down for a long time!  I know exactly how all of you new Giants feel.  Oh, so good! 

It's also Giant Squid 100 Club Day, and I'm jumping up and down yet again because now I can display that badge, too.  I qualified!  Hooray for me and for all the new 100's!  As the honors get better, the rewards (and responsibilities) get bigger.  With so many excellent lensmasters on Squidoo, I have to wonder what will come next. 

In the meantime, W00t! 

(Learn how you can become a Giant Squid.)

Squid for Kids

Just had to share this with my Squidoo friends. Presented to me as "Redneck Seafood Dinner" (it's okay, I'm from Arkansas) it could also be "Squid for Kids," don't you think?