thank you lensmaster – squidoo reviews

Janet21 is what most of us want to be: a self sufficient online entrepreneur. Surprisingly she’s only made 92 lenses to date, which goes to show that online income really is about quality more than quantity. Added to that of course her other online ventures.

Why are you a squidoo lensmaster?
In 2006, I made the decision to try to earn an income online. I am a stay at home mom and had no desire to work outside the home even once my youngest started Kindergarten in 2010. I discovered Squidoo in 2007 and as the saying goes, the rest is history. Since then I have expanded my online presence to other sites including my blogs and Hubpages, but Squidoo will always hold a special place in my heart. Squidoo is what started it all. It was the first site that proved to me that I can do this and I will forever be grateful for the opportunities it has given me. I will continue to be a lensmaster as long as they will have me.

What is your favorite lens?
That is a tough question, but I would say that my Fondant Cake Decorating lens is my favorite. I really like the way it turned out. I have also come across many cake decorating and baking blogs that have linked to it as their Fondant resource. I did a lot of research for that lens and it makes me feel good that other cake decorators like it and find the information valuable.

What lens of yours is most under appreciated?
My Emerson Street lens is one that I thought would do much better than it has. I had a lot of fun creating this lens, but for some reason it never really took off in terms of lensrank or traffic. However, on the little traffic it does receive, I have made one or two large 3rd party affiliate sales, so it has not been a total loss.

What lens of yours is most popular? [I had to ask, but we all knew the answer, didn't we?]
Most definitely my Work at Home with Squidoo lens. It shot up into the Top 100 ten days after it was created and has been there ever since. Currently, it has been in the Top 100 for 369 days, been favorited 1646 times, rated 1629 times and has 1530 guestbook comments. I am happy that this lens has inspired many new lensmasters and I hope it will continue to do so.

What’s one thing you see lensmasters doing that doesn’t work – and why doesn’t it?
This is just my personal opinion, but I feel that many lensmasters take the CSS/HTML coding on their lenses too far. It is nice to spruce up your lenses with fancy borders, colors, etc., however, everything in moderation. Some lenses are so overdone that they no longer even resemble a Squidoo lens and I feel this breaks up the consistency of the Squidoo site as a whole. Plus, some lenses are very difficult to read with all of the coding.

What’s your most important squidoo promotion method?
I don’t do much social networking type of promotion on my lenses except I will ocassionally Digg a lens. I submit my lenses to Squidoo groups, lensroll them to related lenses that will sometimes lensroll back, and submit to them to the following directories: Lensroll, Squoogle, Isle of Squid and Squidom. I do a lot of cross-promotion. Since most of my online writing tends to fall within a few niches, cross-promotion becomes a very powerful tool. I also promote my lenses on flickr. If I have photos that relate to one of my lenses, I upload the photos to flickr and include a link back to my lens. I receive a good deal of traffic by doing this.

[I think she's being modest. Let's recap what she does successfully: several on topic self hosted blogs about her most successful themes. They're interlinked with on topic lenses and hubpages. Then, being a squidangel, she gives back to squidoo - which is social networking old style. Compared to that lensroll, squidom etc. are really just an afterthought, even though she makes it sound like it isn't. See my SEO lens for the links to those squidoo specific directories btw.]

Which lensmaster(s) have helped you most?
Since there have been so many lensmasters that have helped me in my Squidoo journey, this is a very difficult question. However, if I had to chose just one, it would be Glen.