Best Squidoo Tips
Do You Really Want to be a Giant Squid?
Jan 10th
With the March Challenge set to begin tomorrow (January 11, 2010) at Squidu I thought it might be a good time to go over the differences between what it means to be a regular lensmaster and a Giant Squid lensmaster.
Lensmasters
All people who make pages at Squidoo are lensmasters and lensmasters come to Squidoo.com for many different reasons. Some lensmasters are looking to promote other sites, or to raise money for charity, or even just to earn money for themselves. Squidoo makes it easy for everyone to create free pages that can do all of those things so basically “anyone” can be a lensmaster.
Giant Squid Lensmasters
Giant Squid lensmasters do more than just create 50 well-written lenses. Giant Squid lensmasters use their imaginations to build truly personalized pages. They don’t follow formulas; they create them. They don’t copy, or purchase articles; they write them. Giant Squid lensmasters are inspirational. They become a part of the Squidoo community by giving of themselves either through their writing, their teaching, their helping, their sharing, their commenting and rating or their spirit.
We know that not everyone will be able to, or have the time, or even want to take the extra steps to become a Giant Squid lensmaster and honestly, that’s okay. Squidoo will still be here for anyone who wants to use it.
But if you really want the badge, the honor, and the rewards of being a Giant Squid lensmaster, you’re going to have to earn it. It’s as simple as that!
You can join us (starting tomorrow) at the So You Want to Be a Giant Squid section of the Squidu forum for more information, help, and encouragement for your own Giant Squid journey.
In the meantime, please share your thoughts about what it means to be a Giant Squid lensmaster in the comments section here.
Too Many Buttons and Badges
Oct 15th
The following comment is not going to make me very popular but I’m going to post it anyway.
Please hear me out before you start tossing those rotten tomatoes.
I know everyone is proud of all the buttons and badges that they’ve earned along their Squid journey but placing them ALL in your bio is not really a good idea and here’s why:
The general public doesn’t understand what all those bells and whistles are about and could very easily get distracted by them.
Instead of reading your great text, they might sit there wondering what the heck a Giant Squid Organizer, a Purple Star, or a Rocketmom is.
I understand that you worked hard to achieve all those honors and yes, you deserve to show them all off. I just think there’s a better way to do that.
Instead of confusing your potential reader with all of your trophies lined up in the side bar of your lenses, why not place your buttons and badges in a text box towards the end of your lens, including an explanation of what your badge means and why you got it.
You certainly don’t want your bio to be the only thing that catches your reader’s eye.
Tomato tossing may now begin! 
Should You Rate Every Lens You Read?
Oct 5th
The question about Squidoo Star Ratings comes up every so often and I thought now would be as good a time as any to address it here at the Showcase blog.
Squidoo star ratings are in place to help the cream rise to the top at Squidoo.com. When you rate a Squidoo lens, you are telling the entire community that this lens is worth your while. It contains good information that is presented well. It helps that lens get seen and it tells the lensmaster that they are doing a good job and getting noticed for it.
And yes, even the dreaded one star rating will help to increase a lens’ rank.
But who rates all of these lenses? If you check the stats on Giant Squid lensmaster’s bio pages, you’ll learn that the Giant Squid lensmasters are responsible for the greatest percentage of star ratings across the community.
Should You Rate Every Lens You Read?
My honest answer? No, you shouldn’t rate every single lens you read and here’s the reasons why. The lens might be brand new and still be in need of some tweaking or the lensmaster might still be learning how to use the Squidoo system and will fix the lens as their knowledge of lens creation and how to use the modules grows.
Another good reason NOT to rate a lens is if the lens is spammy or is in conflict with Squidoo’s Terms of Service. In such a case, it is best to use the “report abuse” button instead.
But when you find lenses that are outstanding, or good for the Squidoo community, or are full of great information, by all means rate that lens. And if you find a lens that has fantastic photos, wonderful on-topic links, or terrific youtube.com videos take a moment and give a star rating. Lenses that are creative and helpful and beautifully crafted are all also worthy of a sprinkling of stars.
Use those stars to say, “Great job!” and “Thank you for providing good information!” and “I enjoyed my stay.”or “I want the entire world to see this!”
Victoria_Neely’s lens Squidoo Star Ratings is a fun read about the subject.
So what do you think? Agree or disagree? And if you could, how many stars is this post worth?
Giant Squid Tips
Sep 26th
Calling All Lensmasters!
Follow Giant Squid Tips at Twitter.com.
https://twitter.com/GiantSquidTips
I’ll be dropping little suggestions, tips, and ideas, to help you keep your lenses fresh and up to date.
Kind of like the Fly Lady only more fun and no cleaning required!
A Learning Experience for Me
Sep 25th
Yes, unfortunately it’s true that the example pages made for Brands in Public are being taken down. And yes it’s true that the lensmasters who participated are being rewarded with a bonus for their time. But I’m not here to grieve the loss of a few hours of my time. I’m here to celebrate what I learned while making those wonderful example pages.
In a nutshell: People LOVE to participate. And yes Seth has been telling us this for years, “make something that people want to come back to” but it took Brands in Public to show me the best way to do that.
Here’s what I Learned
In addition to writing my original content I need to:
1. Add lots of places for the public to have their say. Add polls for them to answer. Add guest books with thought provoking questions where people can share their stories. Give the public a podium to shout from by adding a duel module or two where they can debate each other.
2. One or two Amazon.com spotlight modules is all you need if you choose really GREAT products to promote.
3. Find a couple of fantastic blogs on your subject and follow them with an rss feed module so people can see what others are saying about the topic.
4. Let the public SEE the Twitter responses being Tweeted in real time with a few Twitter Follow modules.
5. Add lots of great links on my subject to help people find even more information.
And YES, I already do some of these things on most of my lenses but what I learned in my short time making BIP pages is that I need to add ALL of these wonderful features to ALL of my lenses!
I’m off now to start making my lenses even better! Won’t you join me?
Do You Find Marketing Hard?
Sep 25th
I was reading a blog post today by our own “not-a-giant-but would-be-if-she-had-enough-lenses” Sonia_Simone that will be very helpful for lensmasters who are uncomfortable marketing and find selling things on their lenses hard.
Here’s an excerpt:
“Because I was so grossed out by the marketing advice I was finding, I realized I was going to have to totally reframe this thing for myself or I’d never actually do it.
(I’m extremely bad at doing anything I don’t want to do. That’s both a good and a bad thing, but anyway, it’s how I’m wired.)
So I read every book and blog I could find. Then I went back and re-read the ones I thought were any good.
I bought courses with money I didn’t have. I went to hear talks from experts, and then I read some more.
And I tried stuff.”
You can read the rest of this Remarkable Communication post, find out what Sonia Simone learned and sign up for the rest of the (no cost) lessons at the following:
Highly Recommended!
Who is Roxanne?
Aug 17th
: Or how to improve your song lenses
I invite any of you who have lyric or song lenses that aren’t really getting much traffic or attention to take a look at Who is Roxanne? by Giant Squid lensmaster Kate-Phizackerley.
Kate-Phizackerley did a tremendous job of showcasing one of her favorite songs in a way that is both informative and interesting to read.
A while back, many of us were creating song and lyric lenses by our favorite artists. Why not improve these song lenses by adding a bit of personal charm. Tell us why you chose to make a lens about the song or why you love that particular version of the song over any other. Share some background information about the song. Look for and share some obscure versions of the song by using a YouTube.com module. Start an argument or a discussion about the song with a Duel module. Is the song a remake; let us know when it was first recorded. Tell us about the first time you heard the song or why it makes you cry.
Give your lyric lenses a more personal spin and turn you ordinary song lens into something extraordinary.
http://www.squidoo.com/sting-roxanne
Who are you Writing Your Lenses For?
Jun 16th
A discussion at the Giant Squid Summer Camp prompted me to address this this.
The Giants were discussing different uses for the Guestbook Module and it was mentioned that lensmasters are accustomed to seeing the Guestbook Module placed at the end of a lens and that most Squidoo lensmasters would actually STOP reading a lens as soon as they arrive at a Guestbook Module.
That might be true, and it is definitely something that you need to keep in mind when you are writing lenses specifically for the Squidoo.com community but if you are planning to have your lenses read by the vast online population of people who have never created a lens, you need to realize that they “do not” have any preconceived notions about what a lens should look like, or where a Guestbook Module should appear. They are visiting your lens because of the unique, interesting, satisfying, and in this social-media-crazed-society, maybe even the interactive quality of your content.
As a Squidoo lensmaster, I always like to find a Guestbook module at the end of a lens but that doesn’t mean you can’t use one in the middle, like Bellingham WA, Restaurant Critic or even as the very first module, on your lens, like on Amish Recipes.
You just need to decide who you’re really writing your lens for, and then design it accordingly.
How Can You Give Back to the Squidoo Community
Jun 4th
At today’s Giant Squid chat a great question was posed by Giant Squid lensmaster LindaJM that I wanted to share with all of you.
LindaJM asked: “How can we give back to the Squidoo.com community?”
Squidoo’s Editor in Chief, MeganCasey answered: “Take 2 minutes everyday to find a lens that you like and then post about it somewhere.”
That’s it! It’s that easy!
Not sure how to promote someone else’s work?
Brag about it, Tweet it, Digg it, feature it on your Facebook page, blog it, email it, talk about it at a forum you visit, or simply IM the url address to your friends. Show it to your mom or your brother, or your mom’s brother!
If you love Squidoo and want to give back to the Squidoo.com community, do it by donating 2 minutes of your time promoting someone elses lens each and every day!
And hey, you never know, one day they might just do it back for you!
New Twttrlist
May 24th
Have you tried the new Twttrlist lens template yet?
It’s really simple but can look a little confusing at first.
Let me give you a quick tour……
Start by going to Twttrlist Headquarters
Choose your topic then click GO. (You can specify who you want your tweets to come from.)
Choose your favorite Tweets from the results that pop up by clicking the ones you like, then click DONE ADDING.
Choose a category and a keyword.
Choose your lens url and then… you’re ready to MODIFY your new Twttrlist lens to make it your own! (add your favorite modules)
Here’s a couple of great new Twttrlist lenses to check out.
Best of Pittsburgh Steelers on Twitter
And here’s one I made.
Now it’s your turn! Twttrlist
