thank you lensmaster - squidoo reviews

It started when Captain Squid decided to pick my Spiritual Quotes lens to review. He couldn’t find much wrong with it though

I obviously appreciate the positive feedback, the link and the extra votes on that lens that resulted.

The week went on and Brenda, whom I’ve been sort of mentoring, got lens of the day with her Your Life Sentence ~~ Six-Word Memoirs or Quotations. This is not just great for her. She decided to pay it forward and link back to the lensography of every lensmaster who contributed to that lens. Which means that now I’ve got a link (only once removed) from the Lens of the Day blog - which is a great link to have. So thanks Brenda

One of my pet peeves about squidoo is that lenses that get great traffic but no votes don’t get a high lens ranking. It makes sense, and my squidoo help lenses get the benefit from that - but my Dutch spiritual lenses (which have been getting great traffic for some weird reason) weren’t getting the squidoo payout I whould have liked. But then JaguarJulie came along and voted for all of them Which reminds me just why she has the whopping 680 fans I saw on her profile page just now.

So that’s all for now folks - thanks again

Some people are just natural givers. That’s the kind of person who makes a lens about other lenses without thinking about getting anything in return. That’s the sort of lens I’m featuring today…

Alright, this is slightly off topic. But for those of you who use squidoo to gather lenses made by others in lensographies please add those lenses to the link plexo of my lens about becoming popular on squidoo.

In other words… if you’ve made a lens about your favorite lenses, or about the best lenses about some topic you’re into, or about the best lensographies - and if on those lenses 90% wasn’t done by you - please add your lens to that link plexo mentioned above.

If you have lenses that are highly popular - feel free to add them to the other link plexo on that lens. I will check whether it’s in your top 10 and has at least 10 people voting on it.

Mimi / growwear is a lensmaster who’s making a name for herself blogging She’s been voting, favoriting and commenting some of my own favorite lenses - featured one on her new blog and interviewed me there as well. I’m quite grateful.

Why are you a squidoo lensmaster?
To build something that is (hopefully) informative or fun for others.

What is your favorite lens?
Of mine, I like Teach Children Character the best.
Of all Squidoo lenses that I have come across, I like Michelangelo’s David the best; it is the one that made me want to be a part of Squidoo. I have not promoted it on my blog because my goal at Squidoo Lens Reviews is to bring attention to those lenses that are good but may not have as much exposure.

What lens of yours is most under appreciated?
The Secret of Life Question

What lens of yours is most popular?
Teach Children Character

What’s one thing you see lensmasters doing that doesn’t work - and why doesn’t it?
Creating lenses that do nothing but offer items for sale. It degrades Squidoo because people won’t come if that’s all there is. Offering content in an informative, entertaining, and engaging way should be first and foremost.

What’s your most important squidoo promotion method?
Building relationships.

Which lensmaster(s) have helped you most? You, Katinka, have been very supportive. I thank you. Also, Susan52. I admire and appreciate you two ladies!

Jacqueline Stone is more a group master than a lens master in my opinion. Her group (mentioned below) is unique in its combination of an enormous amount of spiritual inspiration and discussion on those topics.
I’m thanking her for favoriting, voting and commenting on many of my less popular lenses

1. Why am I a lensmaster?
Well, I joined Squidoo because I thought it was a way to get traffic to my web site, www.Journey2Happiness.com, but once I started learning how it works, I fell in love. It’s so much more flexible than a blog so I get to be more creative. Now, I spend more time on Squidoo than any of my other sites.

2. What is my favorite lens?
That’s easy. It’s the one I’ve put the most of my heart into, Conscious Change.

3. My most under-appreciated lens?
That would be my bio lens, Who is Jacqueline Stone? I realize that many people don’t want to read a boring autobiography, but I’ve tried to make it interesting, colorful, and a little amusing. Mostly, my experiences in life are laid out there to inspire others to overcome obstacles, heal emotional wounds, and reach for the best in them. [Quite the underappreciated lens - with 26 5 star ratings in its belt - spirituality]

4. My most popular lens?
Conscious Change has consistently received more visits and comments than any other.

5. What do I see lensmasters doing that doesn’t work?
The biggest mistake I see, usually from newcomers, is leaving comments on every lens they can that simply direct people to their own page. They don’t mention a word about what the lensmaster has created. That kind of comment doesn’t make anyone want to see what you’re about.
The other mistake I see, as a groupmaster, is submitting lenses to groups that are not related to their lens. It takes more time and effort to find appropriate groups, but submitting to unrelated ones just wastes everybody’s time.

6. What is my most important promotion method?
Taking the time to visit other lenses, READ them, and leave positive comments produces far more positive response than any other type of promotion. Success comes on the heals of building relationships. When you show a sincere interest and appreciation for someone else, they are more likely to want to know what you offer.

7. Which lensmasters have helped me the most?
That’s the toughest question, because there are so many supportive, helpful people on Squidoo.
thefluffanutta - he answers all questions about utilities quickly and freely offers guidance. He has put a great deal of time and effort into providing great utilities and the information to use them effectively.
MrLewisSmile - he suggested I create a blog to follow the Intending Awakening Project, which I did, and it’s worked out beautifully. Thanks Lewis!
Spirituality - You, Katinka, because you submitted so many wonderful lenses to Empowerment & Enlightenment and really helped my group take off.
bkdz - she has a lens full of lensmaster tips and links to every kind of lens-making instruction you could ever need. I have referred to it often and so appreciate the work she put into it.
SemperFidelis - she was the first SquidAngel to bless my Conscious Change lens, which resulted in a big lensrank boost, and in me finding the lens on what Angels look for, i.e. how to improve my lenses.
WhiteOak2 - she featured my work on her Everything Spiritual group and honored me with her words. Since then, we have continued to support each other and have become dear friends.
Julia Rogers-Hamrick [Not a lensmaster, but then -who cares - spirituality] - Julia has supported me in all my work and helps promote my ebook. Through Squidoo, we have grown from mutual respect and support to true friends and companions on a spiritual journey.

That is the greatest prosperity I have experienced on Squidoo. The money isn’t much yet, but the people I have connected with have so enriched my life. For that, I am deeply grateful.

Some lensmasters are just always there. Whether making lenses I wish I’d made, commenting actively on squidtop or in the forums. That lensmaster is Poddys. So here’s a heart held thanks

Why are you a squidoo lensmaster?
I joined Squidoo in January, but I forget now whether someone sent me a link or if I stumbled across a lens. I almost didn’t sign up, because the signup process takes you straight into creating a lens, without having the opportunity to look around first, but I am really pleased that I did.

I hated writing when I was younger, mostly because I could never think of what to write. In English exams, I would spend half of the 3 hour exam trying to think of something to write about. But once I got going I was ok.

Now when I have the passion I can just write and write, and I really love expressing myself when the words flow, and I think this is the beauty of Squidoo. A lensmaster has so many tools not just for writing but for designing and making a lens look great. I love to get feedback on my writing, and really get a boost when someone tells me how much they enjoyed reading something that I wrote.

But Squidoo is not just about the lenses, it’s a sense of community and friendship as well. I don’t think that many of us would be so passionate and addicted to Squidoo if it wasn’t for the friendships that we are building, and for the great help that everyone gives to each other. I have rarely seen this work so well on other sites.

What is your favorite lens?

My most favorite lens is about Bournemouth. This is the seaside town where I grew up on the South Coast of England, and it’s one of the most popular resorts, with 7 miles fine golden sand, 2 piers, great parks and other places to walk, and many other attractions. I put a lot of effort into this lens, over 2 weeks, and also am in the process of creating a series of other lenses about the county of Dorset. It’s a very scenic and historic part of England, which isn’t visited that much my Americans, and I hope that my lenses will help to put this beautiful part of the world on the map.

What lens of yours is most under appreciated?

This is a tough one… I would like to say that all of my Song Lyrics lenses are, but I never expected them to get a great deal of traffic anyhow.

Really I think that my International Calling Cards lens is under appreciated. Although it is about calling cards, and just one of the many pages about these both on Squidoo and elsewhere, most of the lens is dedicated to my personal experiences in selecting calling cards for myself, to get the best service, features and price, and to highlight the pitfalls that people face when looking for a calling card. But I still haven’t been able to reach my target market in a big way, being lucky if the lens has 1 visitor a day. I haven’t given up on it though…

What lens of yours is most popular?

My most popular lens would have to be My Claim To Fame. It still hasn’t taken off like I had hoped across the internet as a whole, but it has had a lot of recognition on Squidoo and has proved very popular. Today it’s climbed back up a little further to #119 overall, still recovering from the lensrank shakeups on Black Sunday.

A few other people have also jumped on the bandwagon of creating lenses where the content is about other people, which is nice. Mine is for people to register anything that they consider to be a Claim To Fame, others are about great lenses, or great lensmasters, or the funniest lensmasters etc, and I think this is a great idea. I really enjoy learning more about everyone.

Wow sorry - I did say when I have the passion I can just write and write…

What’s one thing you see lensmasters doing that doesn’t work - and why doesn’t it?

I think that coming to Squidoo and looking to create just more backlinks to promote another site or blog doesn’t really work. I admit that this was my original thinking too, and probably many of us would agree.
However, when I realized the potential of Squidoo, and that the popularity of my lenses was more than my original site, I started devoting more of my time to creating lenses as entities of their own, and I am totally addicted.

Those lenses that are purely several paragraphs promoting another site, don’t usually get anywhere. I really get miffed when they do, especially when it’s a lens on a popular topic but has no content, or if they are nothing but spam.

What’s your most important squidoo promotion method?

My best traffic comes from Google, but only when Google decides to like me. When it does I get a lot of traffic, and when it drops a lens my
traffic drops by up to 90%.

I would have to say though, as regards the number of visitors, Stumbleupon give me the most traffic and has been the most consistent. I don’t think that I have totally mastered Stumbleupon, but I have found several ways to get a lot of traffic on there, and that has helped some lenses to get noticed. It depends on the niche, and finding people in that niche. A lot of the traffic isn’t quality traffic, but then some of it is.

Which lensmaster(s) have helped you most?

This is the toughest of all. I would rather not name anyone in particular, because I know I will forget someone. But definitely most of the angels, who have blessed a number of my lenses, the Giant Squid organizers who have encouraged me to “go for it”, and a host of other people who have helped me along, either through direct emails or on Squidu. There are many of you and you know who you are. Thank you all for the great help.

If I had to name one person, if would be Fluffanutta, who although he hasn’t helped me as much directly as some others, his Squidutils and Squidaholics sites have really made life a lot simpler, plus the scripts for Firefox, which are making lens editing so much easier. If you haven’t tried the scripts, I really recommend them. [Squidaholic was coded by TheFluffanutta, but hosted and owned by Squidoo HQ - Katinka]

Kephira is one of the few lensmasters close to my theosophical niche. Any philosophical or esoteric lens I make - I know he’ll be into it, make intelligent comments and generally understand the issues at stake. Since I always appreciate good feedback, and on discussion lenses anybody who actually joins in is a plus - this is to thank him.

Why are you a squidoo lensmaster?
I started out on squidoo because I had a couple of other websites which I wanted to promote, and I thought it would be a good way to build both direct traffic and google pagerank. Also, I was looking for any new ways to generate some additional income, so squidoo seemed to give me all the things I wanted.

What is your favorite lens?
I think my favourite lens is called Science and God: The Faithful Sceptic and its about finding common ground between science and spirituality. I’ve picked this one just because I enjoyed making it and thinking about the subject matter, and I think it is probably my most original and thought provoking lens.

What lens of yours is most under appreciated?
I think that would be Funniest Ambiguous Headlines. It’s not my lowest ranking lenses by any means, but it never seems to get much traffic. It’s got loads of stuff that I found really funny on it, and I thought that it would do better than it has.

What lens of yours is most popular?
My most visited lens by far is my Kung Fu Animal Styles lens.

What’s one thing you see lensmasters doing that doesn’t work - and why doesn’t it?
That’s a tough question as what works for one person may not be right for another, but generally I think making lots of lenses on a topic without having much in the way of new and unique content for each one is a bad idea.

What’s your most important squidoo promotion method?
Running your own groups can be a good way to help build pagerank and get into the search results, but you really need to do it in conjunction without building at least a few links from pages outside squidoo, otherwise it’s hard to reach critical mass.

Which lensmaster(s) have helped you most?
In terms of building or promoting lenses I couldn’t say, but in terms of making some interesting lenses that I found inspiring, and also for supporting and adding some great lenses to one of the smaller groups that I have set up, I would have to say Spirituality

Always great to be appreciated

Some lensmasters get thanks for being personal, for voting on lenses, for giving feedback etc. Today’s lensmaster has been a service to the community by making tools that help make us ALL better lensmasters Presenting SquidUtils. It’s my honour to interview thefluffanutta…. (He hasn’t got 339 fans for nothing, obviously).

Q: Why are you a Squidoo Lensmaster?

A: I just love building lenses, and participating in the community, but mostly building tools that help Lensmasters make better lenses. The money is a nice bonus. :o)

Q: What is your favorite lens?

A: My favourite lens is probably CSS Tricks, which shows some of the tricks I use to make my lenses look a little bit better.

Q: What lens of yours is most under appreciated?

A: I feel that my lenses generally get the appreciation they deserve, though some of my Squidoo related ones could do with getting more exposure as I want more Lensmasters to get the benefit from them. For example, Guide to squidoo groups has some important tips on which groups to join, and which ones to avoid.

Q: What lens of yours is most popular?

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog was Lens of the Day in July, and reached a peak of 340 visits in one day. I loved building it just in time for the release of the video, which was a huge event on the web that week.

Q: What’s one thing you see lensmasters doing that doesn’t work - and why doesn’t it?

A: I see many lenses, often the first that Lensmasters do, which lack focus. They are called “lenses” for good reason, and to be successful you have to concentrate on the topic your writing about. Adding random modules or affiliate products does nothing to help, and often puts off the reader.

Q: What’s your most important squidoo promotion method?

A: Social networking. By this I mean joining communities that will be receptive of your lenses and making friends with people that will eagerly visit and vote for your lenses. Being yet another anonymous person on Digg will get you nowhere.

Q: Which lensmaster(s) have helped you most?

A: Glen (N376) was a great example to me, both in building lenses and also in participating in the forum helping others. He also gave me encouragement and input when I started building up http://squidutils.com.

I hope that’s enough for you,
Cheers,
thefluffanutta

That certainly was enough. Thanks again

I want to personally thank clouda9 for being a companion on the road to becoming a giant squid, and for favoriting, linking and posting on many of my lenses.

So here’s the interview:

Spirituality: Why are you a squidoo lensmaster?

Clouda9: Because I can [tongue in cheek]. No really I just happened upon Squidoo back in May 2007 and have barely looked back since! You could actually say I am ‘Squidicted’!

What is your favorite lens?

Learning to live in the present moment, not fretting about what is past or worrying about what tomorrow will bring…at this very special moment in my life I am enjoying Apply For A Railroad Job . Throughout it’s presence on Squidoo (a collaboration with my husband; he is the advisor, I am the designer) we have received several personal e-mails thanking us for the information and or asking for some direction. Today, because of a Giant Squid newsletter I added a Railroad Job Q&A with a guestbook module. Wowsa, was I thrilled with that one!

What lens of yours is most under appreciated?
Today (at 72,148) it is my Ever lens The Funkiest Handblown Glass Ever . When I started the lens it was because I found the cutest handblown salt and pepper shakers at ModernArtisians, since then I’ve added more products and even found some great YouTubes and links if a person is interested in finding out more. Take a look and let me know what you honestly think.

What lens of yours is most popular?
Pleasantly, it is Menopause: You Need Some Laughter . And I say that because it really is about me. I love to make people laugh and personally I’d rather laugh my way through menopause then go stark ravin’ crazy…some days I just have to connect to the lens to read through it, plus all the wonderful comments, then I’m all better.

What’s one thing you see lensmasters doing that doesn’t work - and why doesn’t it?
The only little negly that I have is when someone leaves a message with an irrelavant link to their lens. It doesn’t work because I delete it! Besides this irritation, my experience here has been a real highlight…very positive!

What’s your most important squidoo promotion method?
I have been diving more into learning about the backside of a lens (tags, backlinks, creating a blog, etc)…grrr! no wonder I have to get my daily dose of laughter Seriously though, what I have been doing recently is finding blog posts that I like which have something to do with one of my lenses and leaving a message of thanks for what ever it is they are writing about. Yesterday I happened upon a blog when I was updating my Turkey Sandwich: The Tastiest Treat Ever that had me cracking up and reading bit by bit to my husband. Wanna laugh, not offended by cussing or wry humor, this is a go to blog (see the link on my lens)…let him know clouda9 sent ya…wink wink.

Which lensmaster(s) have helped you most?
I have three gals that always come to mind; my champions when I first started, posted replies to me on the forum, supporters by leaving messages on my lenses, giving me the scoop on code for Amazon, sending positive e-mails back and forth…although we don’t do that as much as we have gotten busier here and with life ;( Drumroll please Rockycha, ChloeCavanaugh, and Flowergardener . Special Kudos to the Giant Squid organizers…rms , bdkz , and GypsyPirate!!!

The Homeopath shot out of nothing into squidoo and became a giant squid in what I consider record time (though I didn’t check whether there were any who were faster). She makes great lenses and quite a few that are dedicated to what other lensmasters do. Enough for a big thank you in itself. But aside from that she’s voted on quite a few of my lenses, favorited them and so on, which makes me personally thankful as well.

Here’s the interview:

Spirituality Why are you a squidoo lensmaster?

I guess I just have an addictive personality! When something clicks with me, it just clicks. I started with Squidoo to try to boost my online client base, but after seeing that I could use Squidoo as an outlet for expressing myself, to raise money for some great causes, to involve my children, and to educate people - I was in LOVE.

What is your favorite lens?

“MY” favorite is this one: Dark and Noble Ravens I’ve always had a thing for ravens, I had so much fun building that lens, and I’m really proud of how it looks.

Favorite on all of Squidoo? My Favorite Lenses Seriously, I can’t pick just one! I really dig Naiza’s stuff, though. I like any lens that is a good read, that teaches me something, and that has nice photos I guess. I like lenses that engage me and are somehow “different” and are topically unique.

What lens of yours is most under appreciated?

Oh gosh, it has to be my incense lens. I’ve worked so hard on that one and I continue to fuss over it. It’s like my baby! Not very popular, though but I’m starting to not really care. I like it and that’s all that matters!

What lens of yours is most popular?

It varies. Right now it’s Wow Wow Wubbzy because it’s a hot topic at the moment and the new toys are coming out.

I think my ravens lens stays consistently popular, though.

What’s one thing you see lensmasters doing that doesn’t work - and why doesn’t it?

I don’t really have an answer to that. Different approaches work for different people.

What’s your most important squidoo promotion method?

It depends on the lens. For my ultra-narrow niche lenses, I promote directly to the people who would benefit from it - through reading and commenting on topical blogs, participating in forums, and getting in directories. For the broader topics, things like social bookmarking work better.

Which lensmaster(s) have helped you most?

All of them! Seriously. Top 10 would have to be - JaguarJulie, Poddys, Spirituality, TriathlonTraining, GypsyPirate, Amandaquerque, Enslavedbyfairies, Rya, Punkerkas, and Lucyvet.

As I feel lensmasters should really not just make lenses, but help each other out as well - I’m starting this blog to thank lensmasters. At first it will just be lensmasters I’ve personally been helped by. Later on we’ll have lensmasters other people have been helped by as well.