New Baby!

On 24 May, the newest member of our family arrived. He is healthy, happy, cute and VERY time consuming. With midnight diaper changes, cuddling, song singing and book reading, I am having difficultly finding time for Squidoo or blogging. I expect this to last for several months. So, while you may not see much of me on this blog for a while, I am confident that my fellow Giant Squid contributors will pick up the slack and continue to add valuable content to this blog. So, please forgive me if I am absent for some time. I will return when my little guy and I are able to sleep longer hours.

Some time ago, I created a lens about some of the baby products that we are buying for him and us. We have made some remarkable discoveries. Some of the products we thought would help alot (eg swaddlers) have turned into remarkable failures, while others (anti-stretchmark cream and post-partum girdle) have really been helpful.

I hope to update this lens as soon as possible, as I think it will be very helpful for other expectant parents.

Gene/Eurosquid

I GOT A PURPLE STAR!

I opened my email to a nice surprise yesterday. I got a congratulations email on my new Purple Star from The Squid Team for my Lens about Footed Pajamas for Adults. That was cool. But the amazing thing was that I had not even applied for that lens!

Last month, when Purple Stars were announced, I applied for a different, newer lens. But as I wrote in a post on this blog, it was not chosen. So, it was really surprising when a lens that I did not nominate was selected.

Thanks Bonnie, Patti and Robin!

Photo by hellokitty-skittles

New Module to Allow Visitors To Rate Your Lens

I learned about a cool new module developed by The Fluffanutta from Lewis Smile at Squidoo Cool. As you know, until now, if someone wants to rate your lens after reading it, they have to scroll to the top of the page. Of course, many of us (me, me, me) often forget or are too lazy to scroll up.

Now you can allow the visitor to give a rating from anywhere on the lens. All you have to do is be logged into Squidoo and click here.

Thanks Fluff

Free Online Photo Editors

Do you use a photo editor on your photos? Are you looking for a FREE photo editor?

We have Photoshop on my wife's computer, but I do not have it on mine. So, if I want to bling up, crop or clean up a photo and she is on her computer (which is most of the time), I turn to one of a growing number of free online photo editors.

The online photo editor I am now most comfortable with is the editor at Photobucket. I love what it can do to a photo, like adding speach bubble or a thought cloud, like the ones you see in comics, as shown in the photo in this post. Or you can also easily add a picture frame around your photo with a click of a button.

Now there are many, many other free photo editors available, including online Free Photoshop. Some of these photo editors specialize in working with photos on Flickr.

There are no more exuses for having dull and lifeless photos on your Squidoo lens.

Lensrank Explained

Spirituality (Katinka) wrote an excellent lens explaining Lenrank. In her lens, she discusses the factors which are known to influence lenrank. I learned several things from this lens. For example:

* "Giant squids get the equivalent of 2 angels blessings on every lens they make"
(This is a good insentive to becoming a Giant Squid)

* "Anything a visitor does on your lens is counted towards lensrank. Whether it's writing in your guestbook, voting in a poll, voting in a plexo, adding a link to a plexo or joining a duel"
(A good reason to put polls, plexos and duel modules on your lens)

Why is lensrank important? For one thing, as explained in my post about "How to Earn a Few Extra Dollars on Squidoo" lenses with higher lensrank earn more money. Currently lenses with lensrank above 2'000 earn over $10/month and lenses with lensrank above 10'000 earn over $2/month. That adds up.

Also, if you get a very high ranked lens, that can bring traffic. At the moment, I have two lenses with lensrank above 200. They both get significant traffic due to this, mostly from being in the top 10 for their topics (health, shopping, food, etc)

Here is another tip. Spirituality notes that "Click Outs" are an important factor for lens rank. What is a "click out"? Anytime someone clicks on something and leaves your lens, you get a "click out". This might seem counter intuitive, because you want someone to stay on your lens, right? Well, not if you want higher lensrank. What can you do to increase your click outs?

* Create relevant and valuble links on your lens that people will want to click. This might be to a related resource, a wiki article or anything a reader might be interested in for more information.

* Exchange links with a blog or website that is relevant. This has several advantages: you may receive traffic from their website to your lens, you should receive a relevant link which will boost your Google PR, and you will receive a "click out" if a visitor clicks on it.

* If you place a Youtube or Flickr Module on your lens consider using a thumbnail view rather than "show a full sized version" (examples of both can be seen on this lens about laser hair removal). If visitors want to see the video or photo, they will click on it and it will open in a new window. This click will count as a "click out". Watching the video on your lens does NOT count as a click out, though I have no idea if is might count as "visitor activity" as does voting in a poll or writing in a guestbook.

Does anyone else have other suggestions for increasing click outs?

(Image by Eurosquid)

YEA! New Giant 100 Club Member!

Just received the news this morning that I have been inducted in the Giant 100 club. That is very cool! I am honored! Thank you Squidoo!

Does anyone have suggestions about where to upload the badge?

Squidoo Trivia

Did you know that the average visitor to Squidoo is likely to be a white, not affluent, childless female?

How do I know that? Quantcast's Squidoo Review has that information and more. Other interesting Squidoo Facts:

* In March 2009, roughly 11 million people will visit Squidoo.
* Squidoo's traffic is growing nicely. Traffic has nearly doubled over the past year!

* 31% of the visits are from regulars (us Squids) and 69% from passers by.

* Nearly half of Squidoo's traffic is coming from outside of the USA.

The last piece of information is possibly the most interesting for me, as many of my lenses are sales lenses and I live outside of the USA. Squidoo's main sales partner is Amazon.com, which is NOT an international sales platform. Most of Amazon.com's sales are stupidly restricted to the USA. When will American retailers realize that the internet is global?

So, if you only have Amazon modules on your lenses, nearly half of the people who will visit your lens can not buy from you! I wonder what Seth Grodin (Squidoo Mastermind, in case you don't know) thinks about that?

How To Earn a Few Extra Dollars On Squidoo

Want a quick way to earn a little more money from Squidoo? Improve your lensrank. Lenses which rank above 2,000 will usually earn over $10 per month. Lenses with rank above 10,000 will usually earn +/- $2.

There are many factors which determine lensrank, including sales, clickouts, ratings, etc. Most of these are difficult to influence. But the factor that seems to have the most impact on lensrank is also the one that is easiest to control: Lens Freshness.

Lenses with high traffic and lenses which are recently updated have the best chances of having a higher lensrank. I have over 100 lenses and it is difficult to keep them all up to date. So, I focus on keeping my lenses with the best traffic up to date. The easiest way to do this is:

Go to your dashboard

Click on "My Lenses"

On the column “Visits” click the arrow until all of the lenses are listed starting from the lenses with the highest traffic to the lowest.

Now look at the category “Edited”. Your top ten lenses should all be updated within the past 2-3 months.

If they are not, take a few minutes to refresh. Add a new module, such as a poll or a debate; make sure that your Amazon lenses are featuring the products you want them to feature. See if there is a good Youtube video to add to your lens.

Once you have updated, go back in 1-2 days and you will most likely see that your lens has improved in lens rank.

Keeping your lenses with the highest traffic up to date is your best chances of getting some of your lens ranked in the top tiers and the easiest way to earn a few extra dollars every month.

Sources For Successful Squidoo Sales Sites

I enjoy making sales lenses. I sometimes even get passionate about them. It is fun to create a lens that people will enjoy and find value from. And of course it is fun to see sales develop. This lets me know that my lens was valuable for someone.

What kind of products do I like to build sales lenses around?

* Controversial products. I love it when I get a remark like "I did not even know something like that exisited" or " I can not believe that someone would actually use something like that". Where there is controversy, there is interest. People will discuss it and some may buy it.

* Widely used products. The more people that use a product, the more likely a visitor to your lens will buy it. But to be successful a lens has to have somethng unique to offer. For example an attractive price or an interesting use for the product.

* Trendy Products. There are some products that are very successful for those in the know, but are not known to the majority of the market. If you can build a lens which explains why it is successful, those who visit the lens may also get excited about it.

Where do I get my ideas for sales lenses? From a variety of sources:
Amazon Best Sellers gives me ideas about what people shop for. This is where I got my idea to build lenses about Ugg Shoes and some Ugg look alikes. I noticed in Amazon best sellers that Uggs and similar products are amongst Amazon's best selling shoes, eventhough I had been reading that so many people seemed to hate them. It was a perfect product idea!

I look at Oprah's Website to see what she has selected as her favorite things. Usually products that Oprah selects are successful and will sell. This is where I got the idea to create a lens about Clarisonic Skincare Brush.

I look at Buzzfeed to find interesting and controversial products. This is where I got the idea to create a lens about Multifunctional Slippers. The tech section will give you ideas for electronic products, style for fashion products, food for gourmet products, etc.

I wonder if others have found good sources for ideas for successful sales lenses?

Photo by Jen