7 Things I Ask Myself Before Creating A Lens

Below are the 7 questions I asked myself before/while creating my lens, BEARS: The 8 Wonders of the World.

1. What am I hoping to accomplish?
Raise awareness of the world's 8 bear species and raise money for Wildlife SOS.

2. Am I focusing on a singular sub-topic or giving an overview?
A brief overview / introduction of the 8 species.

3. How can I organize it to make it easy to navigate?
With only 8 bear species, it seemed logical to put the bears in alphabetical order.

4. How can I make it interesting?
Most people don't know the 8 species so I included their aliases (Brown Bear / Grizzly), photos and conservation status. I also added a Flickr slideshow and videos.

5. What do I want to link to?
I had already created more in-depth lenses on each of the 8 bear species so I linked to each of them. I also linked to organizations saving bears.

6. What can I sell?
I added bear Wildlife SOS's CafePress and Amazon books and bear gifts.

7. How much royalty do I want to give to what charity?
100% of the royalties goes to Wildlife SOS so I make sure I added a Donation Module.

Adding a guest book, some featured lenses, and a link to the Save Our Bears (SOB) Group made this a 5 star lens (in my opinion) right from the get-go. I have, of course, continued to update and add new items often.

Do you build lenses in series?

Hello Valley of the Giants readers! Thanks for coming by the blog today to read what we have to say! My name is ThomasC, I wanted to talk to you today about making a whole series of lenses based on one general topic. Every since I found Squidoo, I have built series of lenses. I have covered Martial Arts Masters, Recipes, Rock Bands from past and present, Song Lyrics and Music Videos, Hot rods and Muscle Cars, and my latest Playmates of the Year and Playboy Models!

Building lenses in series has lots of benefits. I always use "Featured Lens" modules to link back and forth to my other lenses in the series, plus I use anchor text links in my text. If someone is interested in the Playmate of the Year for 2006, they may also be interested in the Playmate of the Year for 2005!
Plus, there is always wiki modules, flickr modules, google blog modules, youtube videos, and tons more of the modules that can used on all your lenses in the series, making the lenses pretty quick to build!

A lensmaster once showed me this lens about Snakes of Louisiana, and she asked me what she could do to make it better. I suggested she make more lenses about the specific types of snakes in Louisiana. Thats exactly what she did!
Kingsnakes of Louisiana
Cottonmouth Moccasin Snake

So go ahead, make that lens a series! Several lenses is better than just one!
I have a blog going with some more Squidoo tips if you want to read!

My Two Year Anniversary With Squidoo!

Today marks my second anniversary in the magical land of Squidoo. Thankfully, I followed a link in a newsletter and signed up for a Squidoo account. I started building lenses, hung out at SquidU and never looked back.

Squidoo has become a place where I talk about my varied interests, silly stuff, and products I recommend. I promote my online magazine and talk about all the things I am passionate about. I have met all kinds of lovely people, who have advised me on all kinds of topics. It's a place where I can laugh and learn.

Now I have reached the 100+ lens mark, I plan to make my lenses even more profitable. With study, research and practical application, I plan to make my small but steady Squidoo income grow. I have book projects that are prospering because of Squidoo, and my writing skills have improved 100 fold. I get such a kick out of Googling my name and seeing all my Squidoo lenses pop up!

I know that my experience with Squidoo will continue to be a wonderful experience. Hope you can join me!

Squidoo: Get Paid For Your Passion!

I've been with Squidoo for nearly 2 years, was among the first Giant Squid in 2007 and have just been granted membership in the Giant Squid 100 Club. If I could, I would make lenses all day long. Yes, it's THAT much fun. So what's the attraction? Plenty, when you think about it.

1. I have a platform that allows me to talk about ALL of my interests, passions and curiousities. I am not limited in how far I wish to explore, I can make my lenses as detailed as I want. I can share about charities I love, topics I care about, or just be spontaneous. My #1 lens, How To Say "I Love You" In Different Languages, was built in about 30 minutes, amid much laughter from my kids. It receives hundreds of visits each week, from people all over the world.

2. I actually make a bit of cash from writing, sharing and researching. If you're not using all the Squidoo affiliate modules to full advantage, I suggest you take some time to learn from lensmasters like Loyalis,LewisSmile, N376 and others in SquidU. They all have teaching sites, and love to help budding lensmasters achieve all they can, and best of all, they have ACTUAL experince making the kind of profits they discuss.

3. If you have topics you are REALLY passionate about, and want to spread the word, there is no greater place than Squidoo! You can meet and mix with people from all over the world, from diverse business and social backgrounds, age groups and perspectives. What greater resource is there? Take the time to get to know your fellow lensmasters. My Squidoo family has become an invaluable part of my online life and work.

Finally, I want to thank ChefKeem for inviting me to join you in The Valley of the Giants. It was an offer I could not refuse!

Giant Squid Hugs To All!

Bette Miles-Holleman

aka BadMsM

Getting to Giant 100 is a Wonderful Milestone

I am so excited to have reached the milestone of Giant Squid 100 Club. The picture you see here is the T-shirt I got when I reached Giant Squid.

Becoming a Giant Squid is a process and a journey. It is a terrific accomplishment and a lot of hard work. I do want to encourage everyone to go for it. It is definitely worth your time and effort.

What have I learned along the way?

Well, frankly quite a lot, and I am still learning. I came aboard Squidoo as a total novice. I did not know much about SEO, nor did I know much about promoting on the internet. I knew nothing about keywords, and absolutely nothing about Squidoo. So don't think that you need to know a lot to get started. I would recommend just getting started.

For a new person, here are some suggestions:

• Use the information on Squidoo to help you. There are great how-to lenses and terrific mentors everywhere.
• Don't be afraid to try something new!
• Do you see a lens or technique you like? Try it on your own lens.
• Take baby steps. Each lens will make you a better lensmaster.
• Remember you can always go back and edit.
• Don't get too hung up on LensRank. It changes daily.
• Choose topics you love and let us know why.
• Don't take critiques personally. Learn from them.
• Have fun with it.
• Keep your lens focuses on a very specific topic and you will find that you have the best kind of lens.

When I started, 100 lenses seemed very, very far away. But when you keep putting in the time writing one every few days or one every week or two weeks, they add up pretty fast. Before you know it, you will be a Giant Squid too.

Giant Blog with Giant Benefits for Giant Squids

Gigantic idea, ESQ - thanks so much for inviting me as a contributor! Your first posts already provide some good tips for us. Thanks for sharing your expertise!

So, I'm Chef Keem and I do Squidoo. A lot. Too much, says my wife. Sorry, honey - but I love Squidoo and I'm confident that in a couple of years you'll agree with me. (While we're traveling in Europe and our online biz is running on its own.)

For today's post, I want to make an announcement:

A new batch of Squid Angels has arrived. This time, they won't retire the previous team, but rather be added as support for the huge amount of service work for new lenses and lensmasters. Squidoo's been growing by leaps and bounds. Yeah! If you'd like to find out more about "Squid Angels" please visit my lens:

"Squid Angel Blessings by Chef Keem"

If you ever wonder about the "bless-worthiness" of your page, check out this "sticky" in the Angels forum.

Squid Angels are a friendly bunch - they love to "bless" quality lenses and give them a little lensrank boost. On the other hand, Angels have the power to "ding" a lens, and send it to the bottom of the pit. Believe me - without all the "clean-up" work behind the scenes, Squidoo would be filled with spammy junk, causing a negative impact on the earning power of quality lenses.

Go, hug an Angel today!