What I Learned From My Purple Star Lenses

Today I completed an exercise of going back through all of my purple star lenses, adding each of them to a new lens, a purple star lensography of sorts. After I was finished, I realized that I had learned something very important about myself and about crafting lenses.

What I learned isn't anything new. In fact, it's something that many of us offer as good advice to new lensmasters on a regular basis. That advice? Make lenses from your heart.

Another way of stating it is to write lenses on topics you're passionate about, things that mean something to you. The reason that is good advice is that the end result is meaningful and, almost always, of a higher quality than when you write about something to which you have no personal connection.

Of my 14 purple star lenses, almost all of them are what I would judge as very good to excellent lenses. There are a couple that, frankly, I'd place in the "good" category; I'm not so sure they quite measure up to "very good." And it turns out that the best of the best are on topics that I felt passionate about or had a strong personal connection to at the time they were written. The just "good" lenses, not so much.

Of course I know that I'm not able to judge my own lenses totally objectively, but after three-plus years on Squidoo I know an excellent lens when I see one, even if it is my own. I know how to recognize a "good" lens, too.

My point, which I'm not sure I'm stating very clearly, is that if quality matters to you, if you want to make a truly great lens, then put the money motive on the back burner and choose a subject that is really, truly close to your heart. If just "good" is good enough (and sometimes it is good enough), then settle for a subject that will meet some other goal or objective, such as increasing your earnings.

As for me, from now on I'm going to weigh more carefully my passions and my motives when I choose a topic for a lens and do my best to make each lens purple star-worthy by injecting into it a little piece of my heart.

September Squidoo Goals

Have you set monthly Squidoo goals yet for September?   If you're not in the habit of setting goals each month, September is the perfect time to start.  With school back in session and the holiday season approaching ever so quickly, motivation for making more lenses and increasing opportunities for income is at its peak.

If you need even more motivation, check out Kimberly's Morning Coffee post for today.  Add your September Squidoo goals to the forum and, at the end of the month if you're able to show that you met them, you could win a prize. 

Make your goals specific and measurable.  Posting them publicly will add the element of accountability that many of us need to help us work a little harder to accomplish what we might otherwise give up on when we hit the inevitable rough spot.

To demonstrate that I practice what I preach, here are my September Squidoo goals:

1. Three new lenses this month, which will make 200 total! Still need to decide on something significant for #200.
2. Update all of my seasonal lenses, which is much easier said than done. I will ashamedly admit that some are horribly out of date.
3. Approach a new charity I learned about this week to let them know about Squidoo and, if they're interested (and of course they will be) do what I can to help them get started.

So, who's next?  Don't forget to post your goals on the SquidU forum, then feel free to share them here as well. 

Now let's get busy!

What's Your Best Tip for a Newbie on Squidoo?

I'm very happy that two of my local friends are now lensmasters on Squidoo.  It's fun to know other "squids" in real life!

Today, both are coming to the house and we're going to be talking about building a business online with an emphasis on how to Squidoo.  (Gotta love "Squidoo" as a verb.)  There are some things that I want to make sure they know as they start out, but I want to know what other lensmasters think is important for a new lensmaster to know.

I'd love if you'd leave a comment here giving your one best piece of advice for a new lensmaster on Squidoo.  I'll make sure to pass your Squidoo tips along to my friends and I'll report back later to let you know how they're doing.

Thanks!

Joint Ventures on Squidoo

They say birds of a feather flock together, but what about Squidoo lensmasters? Since RocketMom's inception and success, many other groups have been created where lensmasters are sharing ideas, projects, and even lensmaking challenges. From Squidoo specialty groups to community blogging forums to weekly podcasts, small groups of like-minded lensmasters are popping up everywhere!

Have you collaborated with other lensmasters for a project on or off of Squidoo? Read on this lens about our small group of six and the "mini empire" we've been building, vote in our poll, then leave a comment (here or there) describing your successes (or failures) in joint ventures with others from Squidoo. I'd love to read your input!

What the Lens of the Day is Lacking

If you're a Squidoo lensmaster, you're probably familiar with the Lens of the Day (LOTD) award. Each weekday (or so) an outstanding lens is chosen to receive the LOTD honor. The lens is featured on the official Squidoo Lens of the Day blog as well as on the left sidebar of each lensmaster's dashboard.

So, what is the Lens of the Day program lacking? For one thing, nominations! Did you know that lenses chosen for the honor are nominated by lensmasters? In fact, it's okay to nominate your own lens although, in the spirit of Squidoo, supporting other lensmasters by nominating their great lenses is looked upon very favorably (and doing so makes you feel good, too). So why does Kimberly sometimes have a difficult time finding lenses deserving of the honor? Two reasons. First, she receives only a few nominations a day. And second, many of the nominated lenses are rejected for either important ommissions or commissions of a serious Squidoo no-no.

You might be surprised to learn what many lensmasters leave off of an otherwise excellent lens. No, it isn't a guesbook. That's not required, although it's certainly missed when it isn't on a lens. Want to guess again? Never mind, I'll tell you. It's a lensmaster picture (or avatar) and bio. Quite surprising, eh? It was to me. As explained in my Squidoo Somebody lens, it's easy to upload an avatar and write a default biography that will appear on all of your Squidoo lenses. Surprising how many lensmasters apparently don't bother. Going one step further by customizing the bio to complement the lens's topic may carry a bit of weight in the selection process, too.

To learn more about what constitutes a LOTD-worthy lens, read and heed Megan's lens, The Secret Life of Lens of the Day. Upload your avatar and bio, create lenses with useful, unique, and updated content, delete unusued lens modules, rename default module titles, write from the heart, and you may be the next proud lensmaster to receive a Lens of the Day honor. While you're at it, don't hesitate to nominate great lenses that meet LOTD criteria. Go ahead. Make someone's day.

Chatting With Squidoo

Did you know that Squidoo only has six full-time employees? Considering the size and scope of the Squidoo.com site, that's pretty amazing, don't you think? What's more, most of the six post on the SquidU forum on at least a semi-regular basis, so it's clear to anyone who's been around Squidoo for even a short time that the head squids really care about the lensmasters who keep the community growing and want to know what's on our minds.

One of the ways the Squidoo staff keeps us "in the loop" is by hosting occasional live online chats. In fact, two chats are scheduled for this week, on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, each with a different topic. If either of the topics interests you at all and you can fit it into your day, I'd encourage you to sign up to participate. Look for more information on Squidoo's official chat schedule lens. Not only will the chats be informative, participating gives you an opportunity to actively participate in a small forum and get to know other leaders on Squidoo. Besides, chats are fun!

By the way, one way I learned about this week's chats was by reading today's post on the Squidoo blog, another important vehicle Squidoo uses to keep in touch. If you haven't, I'd suggest you visit and subscribe to the Squidoo blog right now. Don't risk missing important news and announcements (such as the fact that there will be a bit of down time on the site tomorrow). Use the subscribe button at the top of the blog page.

Gratitude and squidhugs to Steve and Squidgraphics for the fabulous artwork.

Ads on Squidoo Lenses: Who Gets the Money?

A friend asked me this question today regarding her new lens, which is on a personal topic: "Does Squidoo make money when you do not monetize a lens? If so, I would rather set it to charity ..."

I thought someone else might have a similar question about ads on Squidoo lenses, so I decided to share my answer here:

"Short answer is yes, Squidoo makes money on the ads. You share in that income based on lensrank. But if you set the lens to 100% for a charity, any lensrank money you might earn from that lens will go to the charity. That sounds like what you would want to do.

"Longer answer, if you want to, you can opt out of certain ads on your lens. You'll find that option in the lens settings area on the lens workshop. You can opt out of everything but the google ads. Just opt out for that lens only, not for all your lenses. That will keep the number of ads on the lens to a minimum but will also reduce the money that might go to the charity you've chosen, so there's a trade-off."

Hope that helps!

Do You Read Beyond the Guestbook?

The guestbook module is a fundamental part of most Squidoo lenses. Offering your visitors a place to leave their thoughts and even ask questions is important and that particular module is the simplest way to allow readers an opportunity to do those things.

Most lensmasters place their guestbook towards the bottom of the page, which is a sensible approach since usually the question asked in the module is along the lines of, "What did you think of my lens?" While that isn't necessarily a clever title, it's pretty clear (at least to other lensmasters) and gets results.

But what comes after the guestbook? When you make a lens, do you follow the guestbook with more content? A sales module of some sort? Or maybe your bio with a link to your other lenses? For the most part I add an "About Me" module and then a link back to the top of the page after the guestbook on my lenses. Some lensmasters add a lot more.

It used to be that after submitting a comment, the lens page would "jump" to below the guestbook which served as a reminder (at least to me) to keep scrolling. But the guestbook works differently now and that "jump" doesn't happen anymore, so now it's up to me to remember to scroll on down to see what's there. I'm sorry to say that sometimes I simply forget and, instead, do a quick Ctrl+home to get back to the top of the page to leave a thumbs up or bookmark the page. (Never mind that you can do those things now at the bottom of the lens; old habits die hard and I've been a lensmaster for a long time in squid years.) So, sometimes I simply forget to look below the guestbook and I'm sure that sometimes I miss some good content.

I'm trying to change my habits, but I'm curious what other people do - so I thought I'd ask. After you sign a lens's guestbook, do you scroll on down to look for more content? Do you rate the lens at the bottom or do you go back to the top of the page? When you make a lens, what do you include below the guestbook? If you have a minute, I'd love if you'd leave your answer in a comment below because inquiring minds want to know - do you read below the guestbook?


P.S. If you have no idea what I'm talking about in this post, it's easy to find out by visiting Squidoo, checking out a few lenses - and signing a few guestbooks!

Summer Sunshine - We Have a Winner!

Many thanks to those who nominated my "Summer Reading Fun: Great Books for Boys" lens for a Squidoo Summer Sunshine charity award, which the lens received this week! The charity "First Book" will be receiving an extra-special donation and I'm so pleased I had a small part in that.

It's not too late for you to make and enter a lens in the contest. Maybe you and your charity will win a cash award this summer, too. Jump on down to this post for more information.

P.S. Remember reading Encylopedia Brown books when you were a kid? It's one of our favorite series books for boys.

Big Change at ISDY

I've been wanting to give this blog a facelift for some time. Today I found new templates on blogger and, voilá, you're looking at the result. (The picture shows the old look.)

I think I like the new look.

Hope you do, too.

How to Refer a Lensmaster and Earn a Bonus on Squidoo

My Squidoo dashboard was updated this week with a "You've earned a $5.00 bonus for referring a friend" message. That was nice!

Each of your Squidoo lenses comes equipped with a "Create Your Own Lens" link at the top of the page as well as a big, orange "Create a Lens" link in the right column. Both of those links are referral links that will associate a new lensmaster's account with your account. When the new lensmaster's total Squidoo payout reaches $15, you'll receive a note on your dashboard that you've earned a $5 referral bonus. That money will be added to your next Squidoo payout. And all you did was make a lens!

Another way to refer new lensmasters is by using the "Refer a friend (and earn a bonus!)" link in the left margin of your dashboard. Squidoo will email referral links to your friends or you can add the code provided there to any or all of your lenses. I sometimes place that code near the bottom of a lens since Squidoo provides the links at the top.

To find out if anyone has joined Squidoo through your referral link or one of your lenses, look under the "My stats" tab on your lensmaster dashboard. Scroll down a bit to "Lensmaster Referrals" and click on the arrow to expand that section. Lensmasters that you or your lenses have referred are listed by date, most recent at the top, so you can see not only how many have signed up but who they are as well.

In fact, it isn't a bad idea to check that list from time to time to see how the new lensmasters are doing. You'll find that some haven't made a lens yet, and many never will. But when you find someone who's making an effort, it couldn't hurt to visit their lenses and encourage them along the way. Note that only you are eligible for the $5 bonus. Formerly, the new lensmaster received a bonus as well, but that has been discontinued.

I likely won't get rich from Squidoo referral bonuses, but you won't hear me complaining about those periodic extra $5 payments, either!

Have you received referral bonuses from Squidoo? Tell us about it in a comment.

Squidoo MeetUp Day

The first Worldwide Squidoo Meetup Day is Thursday, June 10, 2010. It's not too late to sign up!

If there isn't a meetup scheduled near you or you can't make it to an in-person event, how about attending a virtual meetup! The Squidoo chat room will be open for an online meetup Thursday evening, U.S. time. Check the Squidoo's Chat Schedule lens for details.

If you do make it to an official, or even unofficial meetup with other Squidoo lensmasters, take pictures! Make a lens! Post the link here in the comments so everyone can see!

But if not, let's make the online meetup the biggest ever. See you there!

First Squidoo Summer Sunshine Charity Winner Announced

Congratulations to Camp Quality of New Jersey and lensmaster hlkljgk for being the first charity and lensmaster to win in Squidoo's Summer Sunshine contest!

If you'd like to enter and maybe even win $99 for your charity and $99 for yourself, make a new lens with all earnings set to your favorite Squidoo charity. Read the rules and see the list of winning lenses here.

Prizes will be awarded each weekday for the rest of June, July, and August, so there's still plenty of time to enter. My advice? Go for it!

Then share your qualifying lenses here in a comment so we can take a look.

Hope you win!

Purple Star Quest

I'm exhausted.

You already know that I've been serving as Purple Star Queen this week. That means I had to find 20 great lenses worthy of the Squidoo purple star award.

It was easy to find good lenses. It was hard to narrow them down to 20 great lenses!

But I did it.

And I wrote about it on this new lens, a fairy tale in real life.

This queen is worn out from having so much fun. She's happy to retire her crown. She'll cherish the memories and all the amazingly wonderful comments she's received.

If you find a lens that is purple star-worthy (here are the rules), be sure and nominate it. It'll make the full-time queen's job much easier.

Who's the Latest Purple Star Queen?

A few days ago, I blogged about the Purple Star contest going on over Memorial Day weekend at Squidoo. I was excited because during the contest non-Giant Squids were eligible to receive purple stars for their lenses. We have so many talented almost-Giants and this would be a great opportunity for them.

I also mentioned that one purple star recipient's name would be drawn from a hat and that person would become Purple Star Queen (or King) for the week. Royal duties would include choosing the week's 20 purple star lenses.

Well, guess whose name was drawn.

It was mine! Can you believe it? I just found out and I can't stop smiling!

For the next week I will wear an imaginary crown (unless there's another perk I don't know about - I'll be watching for a package) and search for 20 of the best lenses in the Squidoo kingdom. Ooh, what fun! Oh, what work! In fact, how will I choose?

It won't be easy narrowing the best down to 20, but I'll manage. I can't wait to get started.

Let the royal festivities begin!