NEW!!! Business Website Design

Greetings friends and associates, we are pleased to announce our new website design service, SyncroWebDesign.com. After years of creating Squidoo Lenses and a variety of different websites in various niches, it's time to take our talent for building sites public and use it to help other people get their business site online. We are really looking forward to constructing great websites with our new small business website design service.

Website design requires a multitude of special skills and talent to both produce and maintain websites. From the company logo which is your first chance to make a good impression, to eCommerce solutions which convert visitors into customers, we are here to help.

Owning a small business site and mobile website is an excellent way to showcase products and services to potential customers. Highlight where you're located, how to contact  you, and why you’re a notch above than your competitors.

Mobile-friendly websites let  customers to find you when and where they are searching on a mobile device. When we set up your mobile-friendly website, we utilize a responsive site design can give you an advantage over your competition. The responsive design adapts to all devices and resolutions so your website looks fantastic on cell phones, tablets and browsers!

We know the importance of quick service in the business world. At SyncroWebDesign.com we act quickly to get your website up and running as soon as possible, without compromising a quality site.

We encourage you to compare our web design packages to any other web design company within our niche and you’ll agree the differences between our web design business other website design firms are apparent. You 

Related articles

• 3 Reasons Why You Must Have a Mobile Friendly Website
• Why Squidoo?
• Featured on Tumbler
• Gift Ideas Social Marketing Community

Gift Ideas Social Marketing Community

Social Networking

Gift Ideas Community

A bunch of us from Squidoo and other places in the gift ideas niche have teamed up together to form a social marketing community to share our best gift ideas. Basically group HQ is our social hub that connects our outposts on G+, FB, Tumblr, Pinterest etc.

Because it's getting more and more difficult for the little guy to run with the big dogs online, there's more of a need than ever to form a tight active team to compete. Nowadays it's difficult to impossible for a single webmaster working on his/her own to rise to the top like cream.

Great gift ideas too!

Are you invested in the gift ideas niche? The Gift Metropolis Community just might be for you, and it's Squidoo friendly too! Join other good webmasters in getting more socially active and come share not only your resources but re-sharing, commenting on the best gift guides at the community from other members too, no schwag or spam please. Riff Raff spammers will be banned.

Once approved gift community members may share ideas with our gift ideas community on Google's new social network G+. Sharing gifts with the group may positively effect your Authorship authority at Google.  We also have an active gift ideas group community at Facebook and once approved for membership you can post your favorite gift ideas with the group. We also recommend sharing your gift ideas on our Tumblr featuring gifts for everybody. And of course we have a very nice gift ideas group over at Pinterest too.

Gift Ideas Community

Still reading? You must be interested, so please come over and take a look at our main base of operations which we call Gift Metropolis HQ. We have a nice gift ideas forum, cool social groups, and of course a gift ideas directory. I think your going to like it. If you decide you like it, and you agree to not only share your stuff but to generously share the gift ideas of other members also then please apply for membership, it's free.


Gift Metropolis

Update on Zujava

As I reported earlier, I have been testing Zujava. I am a fan of Squidoo and have long been looking for a good alternative, and BINGO, I think I have found it.

Zujava will never replace Squidoo in my heart. But at the moment, it is a close second. I am not a fan of Hub Pages. In fact, I will go so far as to say, I do not like Hub Pages. I have made very little money with my Hubs and I really resent the fact that, if I am in active, my links become nofollow links. So, my work on Hub Pages have given me very little return.

Zujava is quite similar to Squidoo and as far as I can see, MUCH better than Hubpages. There is a very supportive community there, perhaps because it is still quite small.

I recently created my second "Leaf" on Zujava (a leaf is the Zujava equivalent of a Lens) about how to send a gift to Europe. It is now featured on the home page of Zujava. Not a bad start.

So, if you have not been to Zujava, I recommend to check it out and while you are there, Create a free account on Zujava. What have you got to lose? If you like Squidoo, you are going to like Zujava.

Footed Pajamas Lens Gets 500th Like!

Wow, my footed pajamas lens has reached a new milestone. 500 likes! Whoopie!

I have other successful lenses but none have managed to even come to close to the success that this lens has achieved. What is the secret to its success? I have no idea. But I enjoy it anyway.

A Spurt Of Squidoo Activity

I dont know why but sometimes I get in the mood to create Squidoo lenses and in a few days I make four or five of them. Maybe it is the fact that I am thinking about the holidays. Maybe it is the fact that I just like making Squidoo lenses.

My newest lens is about Gifts For Women. It includes gift ideas from pajama jeans to matching footed pajamas.

I have a few more lens ideas on my mind and I will probably make them in the next few days. Sometimes, I can not stop thinking about them until I have them made. Strange.

The Best Article Directory?

You have built a website and are looking for places to give it links. You search the internet for suggestions and what do you see? Virtually every list of article directories place Ezines at the top of the list. Common logic is to write an article and place it in Ezines. Why? Ezines gets alot of traffic and has high Google rankings (PR 6) Sounds like a good idea? I am not so sure.

I have placed several articles in Ezines and this is what I do not like about it:

* The Ezine rules and regulations are amazingly strict. 400 word minimum, under 2% of your words can be keywords, 1 week approval time, links to your website ONLY in the resource box at the end of your article. Break any of their rules and your article is rejected. WOW! You are sending Ezines free content and have to jump through very high hurdles just to get them to publish it. But rules are good right? It means that if your article is "selected" for publication that it will be some value to you, right? Not necessarily.

* I have placed some articles into Ezines that were not indexed by google. If they are not indexed by Google, that means that Google does not even know about it. The articles that are not indexded, and their links, are of no value to me.

* The ezine URL of the articles is not a standard URL ending in a suffix like .html, rather it is long and messy. I am not certain if this plays a role in the indexing process, but it is hard to link to. I have had some sites, for example SheToldMe.com where I often link to help articles get indexed, refuse to accept it. At shetoldme, I get the error message "Story's URL: The URL is not functioning!". No wonder, the URL is a mess.


* Almost every article that I have placed has been reproduced on other website. The copied articles almost NEVER include my links to my website. In fact many of the "stolen" copies of my articles include links to other websites. Why do I say stolen? If they have not included the link to my website, this is against the terms of use of Ezines. Problem is that Ezines does nothing to inforce the terms of use. They leave this battle to you the author to fight.

* The copied articles often rank higher in the search engines than my original article in Ezines. How do I know that? Just do a search on the tile of the article. See how many copies come up and see where the Ezines copy ranks.

* So, if google is seeing, for example, 5 versions of your article and the only version of your article with your links in it are at the bottom. How valuable is that article for your website? It will probably not send you any traffic. If Google is ranking other articles, it is possible that the links of those articles have higher value.

* Yes, I see the arguement, "Ezines has Google PR 6, so if I get an article published there, I am passing lots of value to my website. I am not convinced that Google PR is the be all and end all of value of a link. If the link is not indexed, I believe it has no value. If other copies of the article are published which do not have your links in it, I believe that it decreases the value of your article. You will probably get no traffic and since it will be seen as duplicate content, you may get little value from the links.

What do I prefer instead of Ezines? An article published on Squidoo has MUCH higher value in my opinion than an article on Ezines. Why is Squidoo a better place to publish than Ezines?

* Squidoo has little or no review process.
* Squidoo publishes immediately
* YOU have control about where to place your links as well as the number of links
* Your article will give you traffic, links AND money.
* Squidoo articles have short, clean URLs
* My Squidoo articles generally achieve PR 2-4

So, if you are only going to place one article, I think it is clear that you should place it in Squidoo rather than in Ezines. But what if you are going to place many articles? I still think that Ezines is not best place for a unique article. The time you spend meeting all of their requirements has little value when your article is going to end up all over the internet with links to websites other than your own. I would rather suggest to place your article in other article directories where you can place your links in the body of the article rather than in the resource box at the bottom which the copyright right thief will simply leave out. A recent article I submitted to Amazines Why Do So Many People Wear Adult Footie Pajamas? was approved in 1 day. I was able to include as many links as I like and in this article, I have four links. There is no requirement for the links to be placed at the bottom in the resource box, I am able to place my links in the body of the article. This seems better to me.

I Reached Squidoo Level 50

I just achieved level 50 today in my Squidoo profile! Quite an achievement. But I noticed two negative things:

* First, while every other major level comes with a new item, from a SquidAd to a Lens Boost, so far there is no new item deposited in my dashboard. :(

* Second, while up until now, I could achieve the next level with 1'000 points, I see that I need 4'000 points to achieve level 51. OUCH!

Anyway, this leveling thing is kind of fun, doncha think?

5th Anniversary Of Squidoo: What Squidoo Means To Me

I just read Seth Godin's post announcing that 12 October was Squidoo's fifth anniversary. That is quite a remarkable milestone for any website. I have been with Squidoo for over 3 of those 5 years. Not since the start, but nearly so. And they have been remarkable years. I feel like I have gotten so much out of it. Squidoo is my favorite website (other than my own, of course). Why?

Squidoo combines a community relationship with a way of developing skills and earning money. In the past three years that I have been with Squidoo, I have developed a great deal and at the same time, I have seen Squidoo develop a great deal as well. We have both come a long way. I have learned mostly from two ways. First, I learn from the remarkable community at Squidoo. I love that Squidoo is, by and large, a very positive place to be and most people are very willing to lend a hand. Second, I learn just by making lenses and seeing what works and what doesn't. Squidoo is a wonderful place to experiment, learn and have fun.

But of course, that is not all. Squidoo is something like a hobby with benefits. I mean, how many hobbies teach you so much and pay you for learning at the same time? Every month, without fail Squidoo makes a nice deposit in my Paypal account. I am not getting rich off of Squidoo, but that deposit has been growing steadily, partly due to my activity, partly due to the activity of the Squidoo team. Since I have been with Squidoo, I have seen the amount of money paid for a Tier 1 lens steadily grow. I would guess that in the past three years, my top lenses earn 3 times as much as they did when I started with Squidoo. That is not bad at all.

I also appreciate that since I have become a Giant Squid, I get so many benefits from Squidoo. Probably the most important of which, the one I REALLY appreciate is the "Squidoo Concierge Approach". By this I mean, that as a Squid Giant, if I have any problems at all, I get personal attention by a member of the "inner circle". In the past three years I have communicated with Bonnie, Gil, Megan and Seth. I appreciate that these busy people have taken the time to lend a hand when I have needed it. That says alot. Thanks guys.

Are there things to improve? You bet. I do hope that Squidoo will come up with other ways to sell products besides Amazon and Ebay. For example, I would love to see Squidoo partner with an affilate organization like ShareASale and allow any of their products to be sold from a lense. I would also love to see more thematic lenses (the only one I really use is the Highlighter). Maybe there could be themes with some cool HTML modules standard such as colored text modules or Amazon modules with embedded wigits. Perhaps Squidoo will one day find a way to improve Amazon modules so that if a product is sold out or withdrawn a similar product is put in its place to reduce the possibility of having deadlinks. I appreciate that Squidoo is constantly taking risks and trying to improve. Over the 3 years I have seen Squidoo develop a great deal. Mostly for the better.

I plan to be with Squidoo for as long as they will have me and for as long as Squidoo remains Squidoo. Being realistic, I can imagine that one day some big company will come along and make Seth and Megan and offer that they can not refuse. A much better scenario would be if Seth and Megan took Squidoo public and gave Giant Squids the option of owning shares. Wouldn't it be cool to celebrate the 10th year annniversary as owners of Squidoo?

Happy Annniversary Squidoo!

Squidoo Versus Hubpages : Which Is Better?

Before I compare Squidoo to Hubpages I should start by saying that I have alot more experience with Squidoo than with Hubpages. I only have a couple of hubpages, both about footed pajamas, while I have over 100 Squidoo lenses.

While I prefer Squidoo to Hubpages I think that both are important for a valuable SEO strategy. So, I will break this comparison into sections:

What Do I Like About Both Hubpages and Squidoo:
* SEO Value: I can give free, one way inbound links to my websites. Squidoo is better in this regard in that Squidoo links are always dofollow, while Hubpages links will become nofollow if your hubscore and your hubmaster score drop below a certain level. As we know, links are key for search engine placement.

* Free Traffic: Both Squidoo and Hubpages do well in the search engines. My feeling is that Squidoo may do a bit better, but I see them both appearing in Google for my keywords. Therefore, both drive traffic to my websites.

* I earn money. Neither Hubpages nor Squidoo makes me rich, but both generate some money. So, while I am giving myself links and traffic, I also earn a few bucks every month.

What Do I Prefer About Squidoo:
* I think you earn more money from Squidoo. Maybe it is subjective because I have more lenses and more experience, but it seems to me that the money making potential from Squidoo is higher.

* I think that a Squidoo lens looks better than a Hubpage. Again, subjective stuff. You may prefer the look and feel of a Hubpage. But for me this is a plus for Squidoo.

* I like that my Squidoo links are ALWAYS dofollow. I don't like the fact that I must do stuff in Hubpages in order to keep my hubs dofollow. With Hubpages, if your hubscore or your hubmaster score fall below a certain value, your links become nofollow. Bummer. You have to get active in the Hubpages community in order to get your scores up.

What Do I Prefer About HubPages:
* I think that it is easier to get good URLs with Hubpages. With Squidoo, many of the best URLs are reserved by Squatters.

What Do I Not Like About Both
* I wish that both would ease up on the coding restrictions. For example, I use Popshops on my websites, but can not use Popshops on Squidoo nor Hubpages, since they do not allow the coding. Similarly I can not use Amazon widgets in either, again due to coding restrictions. Oh, well. You can not have everything.

Conclusion
As a bottom line, I think both Squidoo and Hubpages are valuable for SEO purposes. Free inbound links, free traffic, money making opportunities, no costs. What is not to like? Why would you NOT use both? I prefer Squidoo, but maybe I am just a creature of habit more used to Squidoo than to Hubpages. I would like to find MORE sites like Squidoo and Hubpages which offer the perfect combination of free links, traffic and money making potential. I am experimenting with sites like Triond, Info Barrel, etc. If you know others I should try let me know.

If you have experience with both Squidoo and Hubpages let us know how you would compare the two.

An Alternative To Squidoo?

As I recently posted, I am looing for an alternative to Squidoo. It is a difficult task, because frankly, Squidoo is tough to beat. I do not want to replace Squidoo, I want to find a site that I can use along with Squidoo to:

* Drive Traffic To My Website
* Give Links to my Website
* Bring Income

Squidoo is the best thing I have found for all of those things, but I am still looking for a good alternative. Today, I discovered WorldVillage and I wrote an article about how to select adult footed pajamas.

So far, I like what I see. It was easy to sign up for, it was easy to post my article and my article was live immediately, without a review process. So far so good. I will be watching to see if World Village will generate any traffic for my footed pajamas website or any significant income. I will be post what I discover soon.

Why I love squidoo

I know, this is just about the least original title for a squidoo blogpost. But while I'm at it, I might as well confess... I AM addicted.

I love that squidoo is a community place where new squids sometimes start out sharing their favorite lenses... like JOAN did.

I love that it's such a successful online place that it's considered normal to create a blog (like this one) for squidoo purposes only. Check out: Squidutils about how tags are important again... and The question of the weeks by growwear. This week: What would make you a better lensmaster? Great question, and all her questions are like that. The added bonus is links to your lenses, website or lensography (depending on Mimi's mood I think) for the best answer.

I also love the challenges - giant squid summer school, rocket moms and now the teams that are helping new squids (and old squids) reach their goals.

Then the culture of helping each other out is great. The squidoo answer deck is only a selection of all the great help lenses out there or course. Would this blog be complete without bragging a bit about my own efforts at helping the squidoo community?

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

Squidangels introductions - about rewarding quality

Early April a new batch of squidangels arrived - I did a short post about that then. In this one I want to explain a bit more about this program. There are more of us, because squidoo is growing so fast. For us to be able to keep up with the new lenses out there, we are assigned specific categories to keep an eye on. Like I said last time, I keep an eye on Religion & Spirituality, Books, Duels!, Squidoo Tips, Green Living and DIY and education.

Squidangels are there to promote quality and - to a lesser extent - to get rid of spam. We are collectively meant to make sure quality DOES rise to the top. Of course blessings are only one way to get to the top. Another way is simply to get traffic, but sometimes traffic comes to lenses which aren't worthy, or lenses rise to the top because they game the system. In those cases squidangels will ding lenses, so they won't be giving the squidoo community a bad name.

This batch was invite only - that is, I was asked to be a squidangel, and which categories I would want to keep an eye on. I'd been wanting to be a squidangel for a while now, but was never in the forums at the right time to apply. Luckily, applying wasn't necessary this time.

On her lens about the angels, Squidster has assigned 4 possible ways squidangels opperate:

Secret Agent - You might never know if and when this Angel was there
Ambassador - Rewards consistent quality and spreads goodwill
Talent Scout - Always on the lookout for fresh talent
Mentor/Adviser - Likes to offer encouragement and advice

I'm closest to the talentscout, but I also have traits of the Ambassador and the mentor. That is: for those who can handle my mentoring style. I'm pretty direct and will not always remember to compliment what's good, while handing out negative feedback.

But in my function as a squidoo ambassador I've been rewarding those who consistently help others on squidoo on my Thank You Lensmaster blog. I started this blog last year. At first I thanked and interviewed people who had personally helped me. Then I went on to thank and interview those who I felt had helped the squidoo community best. This means that those who give on squidoo, will receive links in return. Often thanked lensmasters include: Thefluffanutta, Semperfidelis, Jaguarjulie, Janet21, Chefkeem, AJ2008, A_willow and BDKZ. While most of these are or have been squidangels, they were often mentioned BEFORE they were assigned the role. Squidoo HQ is rewarding those who give back to squido in this round of squidangels - and they picked well.

This is as it should be of course: giving back to those who contribute. It also means that it pays to give back to squidoo. One of the reasons for starting this blog was that I think links are more important than ratings or even blessings. So the blog links out to whatever lenses and lensmasters the interviewee mentions :) But of course, now that I'm a squidangel, they also get a few of their lenses blessed - if I hadn't already. Check the blog out for interviews with many of our squidangels as well :)

Squidoo and a pinched nerve

At the end of March, I got bronchitis, and since I'm one of the thousands without health insurance, I had to get over it on my own, which took quite awhile. It took weeks for the coughing to subside, and so to add insult to injury, I developed a pinched nerve from all the violent coughing. Now, this is the first time I've ever had one of these, and they are excruciating! I found that I could not sit at the computer and type, so I dropped off Squidoo for awhile. Driving was horrid, and by the time I got home from work, I was wracked with pain. It's much better now. Honestly, there really isn't a purpose to this post except to whine, moan, gripe, and wallow in self-pity. Forgive me for posting about my pathetic ungratefulness for being temporarily under the weather, considering I am otherwise quite healthy. Now, I have so much catching up to do.... (Yes, that's me complaining again ; )

Alternatives to Amazon?

I wish that Squidoo would find alternative retail partners to Amazon. While Amazon is the leading online "Shopping Mall", it is just not good enough. Problem is that there is not yet alot of competition. What are the problems with Amazon? Several:

* Commissions are very low. If someone buys from your Amazon module, you will earn a measly 2.5%. Don't believe it? Try it. Clear your cookies to make sure you do not already have an Amazon cookie in your computer. (click tools>internet options>delete temporary files, history,cookies) Then buy something from one of your Squidoo lenses that has little or no traffic and no risk of selling anything. In a few days you should see your purchase register and the tiny commission that you have earned.

* Amazon is not international. Almost half of the visitors to Squidoo are from outside of the USA. But if someone from Canada, The UK, Germany, France, etc visits your lens and clicks an Amazon module, they will be asked if they prefer to buy from their local Amazon (such as Canadian Amazon, English Amazon, German Amazon, French Amazon etc). If they do, you will earn no commission. If they stay on Amazon.com, they can not buy very much, because Amazon will ship very few products, other than books outside of the USA. So, selling to roughly half of your visitors is impossible.

* The Amazon search modules are extremely difficult to work with. If you choose your own Amazon products to display, you will frequenty find that after a month, the product is out of stock or has been changed and your module is empty. If you let Amazon choose which products to display, substitute products are frequently displayed. For example, put in Ugg Boots and you will get not only Uggs and but also brands such as Bearpaw and Emu boots.

* There is no way to search for discounted items. Wouldn't it be nice to offer your visitors products on sale from Amazon? There are such search functions from the Amazon site, but not on a Squidoo module.

Sure you can have affiliate links to hundreds of other retailers and earn higher commissions, but the beauty of working with Amazon is the department store effect. If a visitor to your lens clicks on your Amazon link and does not buy that product, there is a good chance they will continue shopping and buy something else and you will earn a commission. Most online retailers do not offer the wide spectrum of products that Amazon does.

Unfortunately, without competition, Amazon is unlikely to improve. Hopefully, since Squidoo is such an important partner to Amazon, perhaps the Squidoo Team can work with Amazon to implement some much needed changes or better yet, find alternative retail partners.

The good news is that, you as a shopper do have alternatives to Amazon. In my next post, I will give alternatives to shopping from Amazon.com

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?

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!

Cafe Press and Squidoo

I am by no means an expert at Cafe Press but I jumped in last year and I have learned a few things along the way. So much of what we learn about developing lenses on Squidoo also applies to Cafe Press.

Narrow the focus. I have designs in lots of categories but I found one niche that is a consistent good seller for me.

Isn’t that what we learn on Squidoo, to find your niche? Now that I have found my niche on Cafe Press I am expanding it and covering it every way I can think of. I have lots of new ideas for this. I just need more hours in the day!

Another Squidoo principle is to keep it fresh. Add new things and make edits and updates. The same applies to Cafe Press. Add new designs and if there are products that you've not yet included then add them.

When writing descriptions of your items on Cafe Press you need to use good keywords. Does that sound familiar? You need good tags on your images too.

What I like best is how you can integrate your Cafe Press store with Squidoo. I have several lenses where I can advertise and sell my Cafe Press items.

To recap:

Narrow the focus
Find your niche
Cover the niche
Keep it fresh
Use good keywords and tags

Good success principles for Cafe Press and Squidoo!

A nod to my mentor who has been a tremendous help in both of these endeavors.

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.