Today we put the spotlight on one of our newest 100 club members, Kiwisoutback.
Kiwisoutback was sent a list of questions to choose from and being such a helpful squid has answered every single one of them!  I also asked Kiwisoutback to share the story behind their favorite lens and one of their newest lenses.  With so many great tips and so much information to share I’ve made this interview a two parter.
1. What is your best Squidoo lens making tip?
Kiwisoutback:  Readers on the internet aren’t the same as readers of newspapers — they need lots of pictures to break things up and make it interesting. The more pictures the better! You really can’t have too many. Large blocks of text are just a droan to read through, so if you do have a lot of text, try using a bulleted list or break it up with photos. It’s easy to do by using the flickr and polaroid modules, or your own uploaded photos.
2. What is the very first thing you do AFTER you’ve published a new lens? What is the second thing you do? And why?

Kiwisoutback:  The first thing I do when I publish a lens is go back and proofread the entire lens. Sometimes I’ll go the “critique me” section on SquidU to make sure I didn’t miss anything, and to see what the general opinion of the lens is. After proofreading, I’ll think of what else can be added to the lens, or how it can be expanded upon in a follow up lens. If I already have related lenses, I’ll lensroll it right away to those and twitter the lens. For some lenses, I’ll go out and leave the lens in blog comments as the URL when commenting. Submitting to lensroll.com also gives things a good boost.Please share the story behind one of your NEWEST lenses?

3. List 5 things you faithfully do before publishing every new lens.

Kiwisoutback:  1. I always check the module titles before publishing. It’s one of those things that sets apart a good lens from a mediocre one.
2. I tweak the order of the modules so it flows smoothly.
3. When a lens is new especially, I like to use the discovery feature on the introduction module to bring in new readers.
4. Check to see if an interactive module like a duel or poll can be added to the lens to make it more exciting for your readers.
5. The Guestbook module is a must for me. Sometimes people skip right by (especially other lensmasters) if this module isn’t included.

4. What do you think makes a great lens really great? Is it the design style? The amount of pictures? The writing style? Or is it something else?

Kiwisoutback:  The greatest lenses usually come from personal experience and expertise. If the lens is built on a topic the lensmaster has no experience with, it’s kind of transparent. Pictures or interesting html/css are a must to make your lens look interesting. A great lens will hold my attention and make me read it from start to finish without being anxious to move along. This can be the writing style, it can be the amazing pictures, it can be an unusual topic, but they all have the same thing in common: the lensmaster is very knowledgable about that particular topic.

This is the story behind one of Kiwisoutback’s newest lenses.

 Giant Squid Mentor Kiwisoutback

“Over a year and 126 lenses after joining Squidoo, I’ve decided to offer up my mentoring service to potential Giant Squids. There’s some simple, easy things you can do to your lens to improve the look, flow and SEO of your lens, some of which you can find on this lens. Creating 50 lenses will give you some definite perks, but best of all, you’ll become a much better lensmaster. The tips included here are some of the most valuable basic structural tips that I’ve learned from the lenses I’ve created. Any potential Giant Squid that gets stuck can visit this lens, and if you’re still stuck, contact me and I’ll try and help the best I can (or point you in the right direction)!”
Stop back tomorrow for Part Two of this amazing interview!