How To Un-Junk Your Squidoo Lens

People who go to your site have certain expectations. It is up to you to reshape those expectations or reinforce them. Use the Introduction Module of your Squidoo lens to target your market and to set your reader's expectations. Tell them what they will find on your page.

Then follow through – give them what you told them you would. If your lens is on how to bathe a cat, don't include facts about the latest kitchen gadget or wrench.

A Squidoo lens which sells something – and most do – does not necessarily have to appear as a junk site. In fact, I go to certain lenses, especially shopping lenses, because I'm looking for a product and I want to have a variety to choose from. This usually equates to lots of Amazon or CarePress modules.

However, I also want and expect some content - product reviews, care tips, what style goes with what, materials comparisons, etc. There are lots of ways to add value to these lenses and keep them from being junky – facts that make it a valuable resource for deciding which product, if any, to buy.

How to your sites stack up?

For an example of a lens selling products but offering more, click Bear Paw Boots

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.

How To Celebrate Your Squidoo Anniversary

I was contacted by Lensmaster, MyChildCreatesowner reminding me that I had a Squidoo birthday coming up. He has created a lens, Your Squidoo Birthday, Lets Celebrate. What a great idea.

Today, March 12, is my 2nd anniversary as a Squidoo Lensmaster. I'm proud of many of my lenses but my top lens, Are You Polar Bear Aware? was my 1st and still my favorite. It has won top awards for the last 2 years, ranked #1 overall and has been consistently in the top 100 for going on 2 years.

Some of my other lenses could use a little TLC. So, I'm going to use this birthday as a reminder to re-evaluate my lenses and step up my quality. I'll be looking at each and every lens and asking myself:

1. What are the real keepers?
2. Should any be revamped, modified, streamlined? (I'll also make sure that my Lensographies -- I have 2 -- reflect all of my efforts on Squidoo and off Squidoo.)
3. Should any be sold, traded or given away?

I'll also check to see if the lens is bear or cat related; if so, link it to Polar Bear News or Cat Care, Breeds and Resources Blog.

I want to really focus my efforts this coming year making every lens so good that when people visit one, they say, "Whoa. I love this. What other lenses does she have?"

To me, the goal for a great lens is to get people to come back, tell others about it, donate to my charity or purchase something that supports my charity or my family (could be both).

How are you celebrating your Squidoo Anniversary?