Somebody's Having a Birthday!

Today is our favorite chef's birthday. I won't tell you which milestone he has reached, but you'll figure it out when you visit his birthday pages, here and here.

Be sure and leave him a birthday greeting.

Happy, happy birthday Achim, and many more!

Squizazzle!

I'm having so much fun on Zazzle. I hope you'll check out all my designs, including Squidoo promotion designs, at The Green-Eyed Cat.

I Squidoo, Do You? by susan52z

Watch the (Purple) Stars Come Out On Squidoo

Have you noticed that "purple star" label on the left side of your lensmaster dashboard? It's been there for a very long time, always with a little mouse-over message explaining that purple stars aren't working yet, but they will be soon. Well, soon has arrived and the purple star program is now active, and was it ever worth the wait!

If you're not a Giant Squid and this program doesn't motivate you to make those 50 lenses and qualify for Giant, then I don't know what will. Only Giants are eligible for the purple star award and, indeed, only a few giant-made lenses will receive a purple star each week. When you see a purple star on a lens, you will know that it's a top-notch, high-quality lens, quality worth emulating. Purple star lenses will be showcased, announced on Squidoo weekly, so they won't be hard to find. If you're still trying to learn what makes a quality lens, seek these out and study them to learn what makes a really, really good lens.

Want to see the first group of recipients? They're included in this SquidU forum post, along with a link to the Purple Star lens with more details about the program. If you're serious about succeeding on Squidoo, this is material you will want to spend some time with. Enjoy!

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!

Lens Affiliate Ads Survey Results

For the last 10 days or so we had a poll posted here which asked the following question: What do you think of lensmasters placing multiple affiliate ads on their profile page and in the bio section of their lenses? The results are in.

We had only 21 votes and several comments. Thirty-eight percent of those who voted said only one or two ads at the most should appear while 28 percent said it was fine to include multiple ads. Twenty-three percent voted that more than one or two ads looks unprofessional while nine percent said they didn't like the look at all.

In the comments, one person had not really noticed ads on Squidoo lenses, one admitted to having placed too many ads in the past, and one said she preferred to keep her profile panel clean and so did not post ads there at all. Another lensmaster stated that he saw no need for ads, but that the product on the lens should sell itself. Good point.

The conclusion that I come to, then, is that most people don't mind an extra ad or two. It seems that one or two ads that are related to the topic of the lens are about the right amount while any more than that might appear unprofessional or even unsightly.

Thanks to those who participated in the poll. Let me know if the results cause you to reevaluate the way you use, or don't use, affiliate ads on your Squidoo lenses.

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.