Posts tagged victoria_neely
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? 
Find Your Squidoo Voice
Jun 25th
Your Squidoo voice (your writing style) can mean the difference between having a good lens or having a great lens that people want to come back to again, and again.
Squidoo writing should be conversational in tone and fun to read while still being authoratative. You are the expert, you love your subject, and you enjoy telling others about it.
When you start to preach about something, or just state facts in a more formal way, although your information and recommendations may be valid, readers can become bored and leave your lens to find something a bit more lighthearted and interesting to read. Giant lensmaster Victoria_Neely has created a wonderful lens on this subject that I think all lensmasters will benefit from reading.
Conversational Writing vs. Formal Writing explores the differences between these two very different styles of writing and supplies tips and explanations to help you know when and where each style is appropriate. I think that finding your own unique Squidoo voice is critical to the success of your lenses.
Victoria_Neely’s fun-to-read Conversational Writing vs. Formal Writing can help you discover exactly which type of writing you’ve been doing and perhaps lead you to find your own perfect Squidoo voice; a voice your reader’s will trust and come back to hear more of.
