This week the Giant Squid Community Showcase puts the spotlight on Top 100 Club member JohannTheDog.  JohannTheDog discusses how she goes about growing her fantastic “dog lover’s” niche topic and takes us on a tour of one of her newest and one of her most favorite lenses.

Question:  When starting a new lens, how much research do you do? Do you follow a plan of action? Or do you just wing it?  In other words, what steps do you normally take when starting a new lens?

When starting a new lens, I always take into account the need of the lens within my niche – dog lovers, of course :) .

I Squidoo to provide information and resources for dogs and dog lovers. So I may discover a need through interacting with readers of my blog, or through social networks like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and others.

And if I have an idea for a lens I will sometimes poll my potential readers through social networks for their thoughts, ideas, and suggestions. So a lot of my research comes out of those interactions, and then I begin to formulate my ideas for the lens in my mind before I begin writing.

Please tell us about one of your newest lenses.

 

With all the concerns about the safety of pet food, toys and other dog products over the past few years – ‘green’ products for dogs holds a great interest for me, and for many dog lovers.

We’ve been a ‘green’ family all of our lives, but many dog lovers are just beginning to know about the importance of safe, environmentally friendly and sustainable products for dogs, and are seeking information on how, why and where to purchase products, and how to live in an environmentally and safe way.

So this holiday season, I added a “Green Dog Christmas” lens to my ‘lensography,’ to help others learn how to be more green for the holidays.

Which of your lenses is your favorite and why?

I think one of my absolute favorite lenses is my Scoop on Doo lens, even though my first lens – Dog Agility – holds a very special place in my heart. 

I like the ‘Doo’ lens because, not only does it hold an important message – how a dog’s doo is an important gauge in the health of your dog – but it was so much fun to put together and there is a lot of humor in the lens!

I got the idea for the lens when Johann got a bout of gastroenteritis. We watched his poo for weeks for indications – I found a lot of humor in that, so decided to put together a lens to ‘salute a dog’s poo.’ Everyone who sees it gets a big kick out of it.