Is It Too Late to Make a Halloween Lens?

No!  It's never too late to make a Halloween lens.  This visit graph proves it.

This is from one of my costume lenses.  The first October it didn't do a lot (just a little "melted witch" puddle on the graph) but the next two, look at those nice high "witch hat" peaks!  I'm looking forward to the next one, which is trending upwards now (end of September) and hopefully will peak nice and high by the end of October.

Lesson:  Think long-term with seasonal lenses.  And watch for witch hats on your visits graph.  Visits begat sales, the most fun part of the Halloween shopping season!

Creating Happy Endings

There's been a lot of debate over the past few months about making personal Squidoo lenses that include storytelling.  Some believe that their readers don't want to be bothered with anything "personal," so they balk at the whole idea, preferring to stick with just the facts, ma'am.

While every lens doesn't have to be about you, it's important that lenses include a story of some kind.  Our objective should be to engage our readers so that they will want to read all the way to the end. 

As usual, Seth Godin says it best about storytelling, in the next to last sentence in this piece (well, in the whole piece).

Do your lenses tell stories?  Are your readers engaged all the way through?  Sounds like creating happy endings is a goal every lensmaster should strive for.

Where to Find Answers to Your Squidoo Questions

I haven't been posting to this blog as often as I should, but that doesn't mean I'm not writing about how to Squidoo. 

Most of my writing these days is done for RocketSquids, the members-only "boot camp" on Squidoo that's designed for new lensmasters who want the inside track on how to make great lenses.  If you're new to Squidoo and want to get on the fast track to Giant Squid, then RocketSquids is the place to be.  You can read more and sign up at this link. 

I also contribute to the official Squidoo blog, SquidooHQ, with occasional tips posts and frequent interviews with up-and-coming new Squid talent.  If you haven't checked out HQ lately, you might be surprised at all the helpful resources that are offered there.  What's more, everything is free.  There's no reason for anyone ever to pay to learn how to succeed on Squidoo. Between RocketSquids and the Squidoo Learning Center, and of course the official forum, it's easy to find answers.

It didn't take long after I signed on to Squidoo over six years ago for the teacher in me to rise to the surface, offering help to other lensmasters through posts on this blog and more private messages than I can count.  I'm just thrilled to be able to help in an official capacity now. 

I love to answer Squidoo questions and offer help wherever it's needed.  So if you're stuck or just want a second opinion on a lens, feel free to let me know.  I'm still around.

New Lens Formats Option on Squidoo

I've recently learned to believe it, and now the new "Lens Formats" option on Squidoo cements my belief.  Simple really does work best.  At least these days.

It all started with Twitter and learning to say something meaningful in 140 characters.  A challenge for wordy ol' me, but I loved it.  Don't judge me by my old, dictionary-sized Squidoo lenses.  I'm already sold on this new format and it isn't even "live" yet!

Gives new meaning to KISS (Keep it Simple, Squids!).

Love it!

Google Likes Me Again!

I haven't talked about it anywhere but at home (my poor sweetie has been so patient with me), but I've been struggling for months to get Google to like a particular lens of mine.

Today, it does!

Traffic overall to my lenses is up after a long summer lull, but I'm the most thrilled with this one particular lens that was only getting referral traffic, mostly from inside Squidoo.  For months!  Okay, for more than a year.  This evening I was perusing stats overall and noticed that today's traffic on that lens was up, so I looked at specifics and was pleasantly surprised to see some Google hits.

Yay! Finally!

Hopefully the drought has been broken and things will continue to look up for that lens as well as the rest of them.  Yours, too!  Happy day!

Seasonal versus Evergreen Lenses

Really, there's no competition between seasonal and evergreen lenses.  Every lensmaster needs to have both.

My evergreen lenses are the meat and potatoes of my Squidoo business while the seasonal lenses add spikes of interest at various times around the calendar.  This is the week every year that my How to Make a Cow Costume lens peaks (thanks to a certain restaurant's annual Dress Like a Cow promotion).  The interesting thing is that the cow costume lens then continues to get traffic through the fall and all the way to Christmas  I'm thinking state fairs followed by Halloween of course and then nativity plays at churches.  For whatever other reasons people like to dress like cows, I am certainly grateful.

It's good to introduce an evergreen component to a seasonal lens.  Of course Christmas or Valentine gift lenses should be easily adaptable to birthday and other year-round gift-giving occasions.  And it should be easy for costume lenses to be adapted to a dress-up play for kids topic, or for a gypsy costume lens being made to appeal to belly dancers or fans of the Bohemian style, both of which are popular all year. 

Just as we enjoy an unseasonably warm day in February or a break from the heat in August, that touch of evergreen in a seasonal lens can send us surprise sales now and then.  But why not work a bit to make a seasonal lens perform all year long.  A good investment of time?  I think so.

Do you have any secrets to making seasonal lenses perform as evergreen?  I'd love to read your comments.

One Best Tip

Someone asked me today for one tip for building a successful lens.

I gave him this one:  Own your topic.

Then I gave him a bonus tip:  Proofread! Then do it again.

Success may be subjective, but objective misspellings and silly errors stand out and can make us look very unprofessional. Owning our topic allows room for forgiveness for some of those silly errors that all of us make from time to time. 

Squidoo Conference Call

A number of lensmasters (20 or so) were invited to participate in a conference call today to ask questions about current events on Squidoo.  Bonnie and Seth hosted and the group had the treat of putting voices with names of more than a dozen lensmasters over the 40-minute call as questions were asked and answered.

Here's a recording of the call so you can listen in.

The questions were great and the answers were candid and complete.  One quote that I took away from the 40-minute session was from Seth as he discussed the value of adding a personal story to a lens: "Value is created when someone is persuaded."  (You'll find that at 35:15 on the recording.)

Thanks to everyone who participated and especially to Seth and Bonnie for taking time out of their day to host the call.  If you weren't there but wish you would have been, 40 minutes spent listening to the recording will be time well spent.

Now Is the Time To Build (Lenses)

I really liked this post that Bonnie wrote for SquidooHQ a couple of days ago.  She makes an important point about the fact that things change.  They do!

And if there's anything in this world we can count on for change, it's all things internet-related.

I've been hanging onto old Squidoo lenses, or maybe I should say lenses with old topics.  I "archive" them, explaining that this page was created during the 2008 election process (for instance) and is here for historical reference.  That, I've come to decide, is so bogus!  There's nothing on most of these old lenses that anyone wants to read or wouldn't find elsewhere if they did want some historical information.  There are other lenses, too, that I just don't care about anymore.  (There, I said it.)  They're baggage, dragging me down when I notice them there on my dashboard whispering, pleading, "Let me go!"

It's time to delete some of those oldies-that-were-formerly-goodies, cut the cord, say "sayonara" and move on.

Yes, it's a bit like "empty nest syndrome" - my lens-kids leaving home makes me sad - but the good news is that I can keep making new lens-babies on current topics that people actually care about.  And "people," in this case, includes me.  No more maintenance, no regrets.  Those babies are going bye-bye!

New, updated, useful, original content.  That's the part of the internet equation that stays the same.  Time to build it!

Image property Susan52

Putting Myself On The Line

Is this a perfect Squidoo lens?

What do you think?  Visit the link and chime in.

I can take it.

About Me (You, too.)

Now that the "About Me" and "My Lenses" modules have been retired, here's another way to help your readers learn more about you.

In the custom bio box on the top right of the lens, add a "call to action" at the end of the custom bio you write for each lens.  Simply ask readers to "Click on my picture to learn more about me and see what else I've been writing about."

That's how I'm going to start updating my custom bio boxes.

I like this idea.  Should have thought about it before!

Completing the Circle

I read lots of "newbie" lenses on Squidoo.  A few are really great, some are awful (they just are, what can I say) and others are written by newbies who need a little instruction but show so much promise.  Those are the ones that I really get excited about.

I love writing short comments of encouragement to new lensmasters. When I do, I think back to people who encouraged me in the early days and how much that meant to me.  I want these new newbies to smile when they read my note and turn to their friend or significant other and say, "Hey, someone at Squidoo thinks I'm special!"  If the smile stays on their face for more than a few seconds, then I've done my job. 

Later on, when I encounter some of these same new folks on RocketSquids, it's my turn to smile. I always hope that my note had something to do with fueling their desire to learn more about how to improve and make their lenses better and better.

Two smiles, theirs and mine.  Circle complete. 

SquidPeer Pressure

When I was a young squid with little experience and even less confidence, many of my best lensmaking habits were developed from watching what successful lensmasters did and then adapting their methods on my lenses.  It's a great way to learn, one I recommend often.

Occasionally, though, there would be practices that I didn't feel particularly comfortable with.  More often than not, though, I jumped on those bandwagons anyway.  After all, those people had been around longer and had more lenses and more success than I had at the time, so they must be right, right?  Not necessarily.

Peer pressure is a very powerful motivator for doing the wrong thing, even in a writing community like Squidoo.  The trap, however, lies in doing something simply because everyone seems to be doing it. 

Here's what I learned: Instincts rarely lie.  If it doesn't feel right, don't do it. Just don't.

I'd Still Rather Do Squidoo

I was just looking back at the early posts on my blog and found this one.

Robin, you're still one of my faves!

And I'd still rather "do Squidoo" than do almost anything else, too.

Going on Six

In a couple of weeks I'll celebrate my sixth anniversary here on Squidoo.  Every year I look back and say wow, what a difference a year makes!

I was just looking at one of my old lenses and noticed that it was linked to this post where I was excited about having made over $50 that month from Squidoo.  Wow, what a difference five years make!

Back then I could only dream that a very part-time venture would become a very fun full-time way to earn a living. 

Wow, can't wait 'til next year!