thank you lensmaster – squidoo reviews

AJ is one of the lensmasters I feel closest too, so I was quite happy to have an excuse to thank her. (Yes, I know, needing an excuse to thank someone? But well – I try to be objective about this blog). Known on squidoo as aj2008 she is best known I think for her lens about bullying (see below). I’ve left her UK spelling intact

Before I forget: she is featured here because she was helping squids when I looked at the forum picking the most helpful and active squidu contributors. What’s more – she’s made a whopping 1008 posts there. I mean seriously. AJ has been been at squidoo since July 2008! Are there even words for such dedication?

Why are you a squidoo lensmaster?

I became very unwell in April 2008. It was a very scary time and I had to stop working. I had tests, including an MRI Scan on my brain, which was clear and I ended up being referred to the Neurological Hospital in London. Finally I got a diagnosis, and so of course I made a lens about it: Otosclerosis.

So why Squidoo? I needed a job where I could work from home. I have always wanted to write. I wanted to learn how to make money on the internet. I needed to learn about networking and how to promote myself. Since I joined Squidoo in July 2008, I have learned so much…..I won’t say any more as I am going to publish a lens about “My Squidoo Journey”.

What is your favorite lens?

Oh, so many! Where do I start? It’s like saying “What is your favourite book?” or “What is your favourite song?” or choose between Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom…..

Of the lenses written by other Lensmasters, I would have to say:

Janet21 ’s excellent lens: Are you a Stay at Home Mom (or Dad) Interested in Earning a Monthly Income? – it was the first lens I ever landed on and it was the lens that inspired me enough to think “OK, I’ll give Squidoo a go”. Reading that lens was life-changing for me – but you will have to wait a bit longer to find out why as it will all be on my next lens!

However, I would also have to say that MiMi’s excellent lens: The Best Squidoo Lens NOT To Do is one that I absolutely love. This lens is a “must read” for every new Lensmaster who joins Squidoo.

As far as my own favorite lens is concerned, it really is very hard to narrow it down and maybe I should update my lensography and add information as to why a few of my lenses qualify as “favourites”. Trying to pick out one lens would be
like trying to answer the question: “Which is your favourite child?” – I have four children…..

What lens of yours is most under appreciated?

There’s several, but I have to say Squid Etiquette. I believe, and lots of people have said the same in the Guestbook, that this lens is essential reading for all new Lensmasters. I have had messages left in the Guestbook and also e-mails from new Lensmasters who wished they had read this lens before they published their first lens or before they made their first few posts on the Squidu Forum.

This was never intended to be an “earning” lens as although I may always have a lot to say in the SquidU Forum (well, I AM a Gemini! [ Me too, but I'm not as active on squidu ]), I also observe and watch as people come blundering in at times and lose friends before they make them on Squidoo. This Lens is my attempt to stop that from happening. Of course not everyone will take my advice!

What lens of yours is most popular?

Although it is my number two ranking lens at the moment, Bullying At Primary School is the second lens I published and has been my most successful. It has never been Lens of the Day but has recently been in the Top 100. It was a very hard lens to write as it discusses what we went through when one of my beautiful girls was bullied at school. But it also has a happy ending.

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

I have to say that I find myself shouting at my PC screen, when I am looking at some of the posts on the SquidU Forum! I cannot believe how many Lensmasters come flying in and leave posts in so many
threads, without:

1. reading the Forum Guidelines
2. reading the “stickies” at the top of the threads

So many “newbies” post messages asking other SquidU Forum members to check out their lenses, give feedback, bless, visit, rate…. The first thing I do if I look at a new post in the Introduce Yourself Thread and Critique Me Thread is visit the new Lensmaster’s Bio and see how many lenses they have
favourited and star rated.

I get very frustrated at the number of new Lensmasters who post so many messages about “please visit” my lens, when they have hardly visited any lenses themselves! There is one Lensmaster in particular who has a very low “visit rate” and has not yet worked out the “give and take” ethos of Squidoo. He has thought up all these ingenious ways to promote the same lens in nearly every thread on the Forum and yet does not seem to have cottoned on to the fact that although he gets lots of views on each thread, no one actually answers!

What’s your most important Squidoo promotion method?

For some of my lenses I have found relevant forums to join and posting messages that I hope help people by answering questions. Then every so often I will either start a thread or leave a link to my Lenses in relevant threads. I have had a great number of visits to my lenses from “outside” Squidoo and at the end of the day, much as it is great to have visits from other Lensmasters and I treasure each one, it is visits from outside that will help maintain your lensrank long term.

What do you like best about the Squidu forum?

So many Lensmasters are willing to help so many people, despite the fact that if some of the people asking for help had done a search, they could have found out the answer to their problem, without having to post the question! It is definitely the best forum I have ever seen. Everyone is very polite (well most of the time) and even when someone either Spams or is just so full of themselves, the error of their ways is usually pointed out ever so gently.

Which lensmaster(s) have helped you most?

There’s so many! I have listed some of the Lensmasters who have helped me on a lens I published to do just that – Thanks for the help. However, I need to go back and add more. The first lensmasters to comment on my first two lenses were Everything Mouse and Debnet – they gave me the confidence to believe that perhaps I was doing things right and should definitely do more. There’s MiMi, who has featured three of my lenses on her Squidoo lens review. Then there is Carrie who has just featured http://www.squidoo.com/squid_etiquette on her Helping Squidoo Lenses Blog. There’s just so many good people on Squidoo – I really must go and update that lens of mine. And then of course there’s you Katinka. Your lens Squidoo CSS – my favorite code to spice up a lens is one of the very first Squidoo Tips lens that I saw and it helped me so much, as you have, when you have answered my own requests for help in the Forum.

So thank you everyone who I am in contact with on a regular basis – I love Squidoo and the Lensmasters I know are one of the main reasons why!