Why are you a squidoo lensmaster?

I began making lenses as an organized and attractive way to collect related links. It was totally selfish. I just wanted a one-stop place for all my favorite online resources about a certain topic. Then I realized that others were benefiting from the lens I had created!

I also use lensmaking as a way to research something new and then organize what I learn.

What is your favorite lens?

Now, Katinka! You know that’s an impossible question to answer. But I’ll choose one for you!

I’m really proud of my Shakespeare for Children lens because it’s filled with so many freebies, some of which I made myself. With that lens you can have all you need to introduce children to Shakespeare.

What lens of yours is most under appreciated?

My Crazy English lens is really fun! It’s mainly just photos of Chinglish I’ve found all over China. [I love that lens. If it's under appreciated I'm really glad it gets some notice now]

What lens of yours is most popular?

As you know, popularity varies; lensrank rises and falls. But overall, my first lens is my most popular: Lapbooking . It has been among the top 100 for about a year, only recently dropping out. Currently, my Thanksgiving Lapbook lens is doing the best!

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

Loading lots of plain text in a lens without any photos or graphics is just plain boring. Online readers are very visual. You’ve got to dress it up with bold, italics, bulleted lists, colors, backgrounds, and photos. Online readers actually don’t read a lot. They scan. So you’ve got to make the content scan-able. The investment in learning a little HTML pays off richly.

What’s your most important squidoo promotion method?

I simply share links where I think people will be helped by them: mostly on my blog and in answers questions at forums. I don’t really see it as promotion. It’s simply helping others. Some of my lenses came about because I kept sharing my pictures and ideas over and over via forums or email groups. I finally just organized it all into one lens. Now I answer the question with a link. I get so many thank you comments and emails from other moms for my homeschooling lenses.

Which lensmaster(s) have helped you most?

Bonnie and her blog about becoming a giant squid encouraged me to aim for Giant-dom. I really appreciate that! Her enthusiasm about my lenses gave me the confidence to keep building lenses.
And there are some lensmasters who consistently answer tough questions at the SquidU Forum. I’ve learned a lot from them. Thefluffanutta and Glen immediately come to mind.

Hi Katinka! So kind of you to think of me - I’m totally honored! Thanks for this opportunity, I hope I’m not too late in my reply, I’ve been down with a bad cold for days on end, it’s finally beginning to lighten up a bit…

It’s interesting to me that your focus is on sending out thanks to some of the giants - You’ve helped me enormously!!!! I use your CSS Squidoo lens all the time!!! I have it bookmarked Plus I’ve always enjoyed your other lenses - Spiritual Teachers, Love Quotes, etc. You always create such beautiful lenses.

Wow, thanks

Now that we’ve covered the mutual back padding part, let’s move on to the actual interview.

Why are you a squidoo lensmaster?

I began as a lensmaster as a method of getting the word out about chronic fatigue syndrome and my interest in improving my health. Since creating that lens, in October of ‘07, my health has definitely improved about 50%.

What is your favorite lens?

My favorite lens is Letter To My Family and Friends. It’s a statement of my Christian beliefs. When I had done a search for similar letters on the net, I didn’t find very many and I hope that this lens will help other people that want to communicate and share their beliefs with their family and friends.

What lens of yours is most under appreciated?

I spent a great deal of time and research putting Tiki Party Planning Guide together. I wanted to offer a comprehensive party planner for anyone looking to create a wildly successful all-out island bash. It’s gotten some hits, but not near the traffic that I was hoping.

What lens of yours is most popular?

Since its inception, U.B. Funkeys - Creative and Collectible Characters Toys on Your P.C! has pretty much remained at the top of my list. UB Funkeys are little toy guys that also plug into your computer and allow for stand alone or online gameplay. I think this lens’ success was just a matter of being at the right place at the right time. I caught a tv commercial on these little toy guys right when the product was introduced and there weren’t many other websites out there.

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

There are countless hundreds of new lensmasters seeking after quick affiliate program earnings that have been promoted through various e-books. It’s not working because they’re following the same groove that the other thousands reading that same e-book have long ago exhausted. They’d be much better off learning the basics presented in the e-book, and then developing their own unique ideas.

What’s your most important squidoo promotion method?

I don’t spend as much time promoting my lenses as I should. The most valuable tool that I’ve used is Zimbio.com where in addition to listing my lens in their article category placement, I’ve also written a unique article on their site, with unique content that also directs readers to my lens. This not only provides a weighty backlink to my lens, but frequently the article is well indexed by google in its own right.

[I'm on Zimbio as well. It's easy to use and easy to set up and can provide backlinks to your lenses and blogs real quickly. All you need to do is set up the RSS feeds to them. The only downside is, but it hardly counts as one, that you have to remember to log in every once in a while to make sure all your stuff gets indexed alright.]

Which lensmaster(s) have helped you most?

Fluffanutter and his tools & utilities have been a great help. Flowergardener is always warm and helpful. I was helped greatly by PotPieGirl’s e-book as a newbie. Semperfidelis and Kimberly Dawn Wells have always been marvels of kindness and knowledge too http://www.squidoo.com/squidoo-css is a lens that taught me almost everything I know about html coding!

Why are you a squidoo lensmaster?

Well to be honest, I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into. I had learned about Squidoo through reading some posts at the CafePress Forums. So I checked it out and signed up, not entirely sure what it was about. I created a page about Whippets because it was something I knew a lot about and I wanted to find a way to help market my website and my CafePress Shops. I left it alone for a few months and came back to it. I still didn’t understand the “concept” of Squidoo until I joined the SquidU Forums. I quickly became addicted to Squidoo when I got to know the other lensmasters and the community better.

And when I started getting my commission checks, I was hooked!

What is your favorite lens?

My favorite lens is my first lens, The Secret World of Whippets. It something I am very passionate about and I think unique. I made this lens without much influence by other lenses because I was still not familiar with the whole Squidoo concept so it is very much “original.” I try to model my other lenses after this one. It was my most successful lens until recently.

What lens of yours is most under appreciated?

I think my Secrets and Confessions lens is the most under appreciated lens. It’s not a masterpiece by any means, but I think the messages in that lens are very powerful. You don’t have share anything you don’t want to, but to read what others have shared anonymously can be very emotional and thought provoking. It brings in an RSS feed every Sunday of the PostSecret Project.

What lens of yours is most popular?

Right now my Forever 27 is the most popular lens since it was featured as Lens of the Day on October 1, 2008. It quickly shot into the Top 100 overall for 11 days. When I created this lens, I never would have thought it would receive such an honor let alone become this popular.

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

Only one thing? LOL Well I guess I would say, just throwing up a lens for the sake of trying to sell stuff to make a commission. You really need to research what it is you are trying to sell. If you add a bunch of modules where you allow the module to pick whatever it is you are trying to
sell, you get a lot of junk and things that may not be applicable to your lens or your subject. Try to narrow your subject or product to one thing.
What?
You can’t narrow it down?
Then make separate lenses. The more specific your lens the better. And just don’t toss a lot of product out there. Write about the item you are selling.
Why do you like this product?
Why do you think I would like it or need it?
Why do I want this instead of another similar product?
You have to make your lens interesting enough for the reader to want to see more and at least click the link to the product you are selling. But at the same time, try not to be so obvious about what you are selling. Selling a product is almost an afterthought, “oh by the way, if you think you want to purchase this product, here’s a convenient link for you.”

What’s your most important squidoo promotion method?

Networking. SquidU is one the first places I like to post about a new lens. And adding my lens to Squidoo friendly sites as outlined in my Do You Twitter, MySpace or Mixx lens.

You have to be careful not to spam places about your lenses and be respectful to those on the receiving end. I don’t shout out to the world about every single lens I make. Remember, when you promote your lens, you are also promoting the community.

Which lensmaster(s) have helped you most?

Wow that’s a tough question. I have learned so much from each and every lens I visit at squidoo. I see what works and what doesn’t. As a newbie, I think the most influential Lensmasters were Adez7, JaguarJulie, rms, Eelkat, bdkz, ChefKeem, Triathlontraining, thefluffanutta, mulberry, Flowergardener, SemperFidelis and Poddys. There are so many others who have been very influential and that I consider to be Squidoo buddies.

So here’s my thank you lensmaster LENS

I stumbled on Squidoo accidentally - looking for something on web that led me to lens Are you a Stay at Home Mom (or Dad) Interested in Earning a Monthly Income? by Janet21. I read her lens to the bottom and thought: ‘All right, this seems like something I can do!’ And she makes it look appealing, profitable and fun! So I joined! Since she recommends making niche lenses, I started out with my article about negotiation that was published in Croatian newspapers (I only had to translate it to English) - and I broke it into 5 lenses containing different steps! After I joined, I found out that there are not many people from Croatia on Squidoo.
In matter of fact, many haven’t ever heard of it! So, now I do two things: I promote squidoo.com on my Croatian blog and promote Croatia on my Squidoo lenses!

What is your favorite lens?

I have two of them, both talking about Croatian culture: Taste of Croatia with traditional Croatian recipes but also some beautiful clips presenting my country, and Traditional Croatian Music with some great Croatian music.

What lens of yours is most under appreciated?
My HeyMonkeybrain! lens It’s All Parents Fault?!? which was intended to make people think about the way children are raised today.

What lens of yours is most popular?
How to Reuse Toilet-Paper Rolls has been on Top 100 list 44 days now! At one point it even reached #2! For someone who was on Squidoo for barely month and few days it was great encouragement to have Lens of the Day!

What motivated you to take on the Fresh Squid project?
When I joined Squidoo, I was lost! I didn’t have much experience with html, css, importing pictures, etc. Good thing is that I found SquidU pretty fast and wasn’t shy in asking help! And many people did reach out and help me! They couldn’t make lens for me, but they gave valuable suggestions! So, I thought that it would be fair to pass it forward!

But how? People who helped me, don’t really need my help - they know more than I do! Then it came to me! I can offer help to newbies! Second question was: How? So I came up with Fresh Squid group where ALL newcomers to Squidoo who submitted their lens get featured, and with Fresh Squid FAQ where rules of acceptance to group are described and recommended reading for newbies is listed. It has been a bit difficult to find potential group members and I’m ‘fishing them’ around SquidU and fan clubs.

After a while, I thought about how to promote them a bit further and prolong their promotion so I came up with Fresh Squid Contest and Fresh Squid News blog!

To tell you the truth, I didn’t think (when I started it) that it will take that much of my time but all of my efforts are rewarded when I see lensmasters like CCGAL, Portable_eBay, OldGrampa, JudyDunn and many, many others that understand that there is more to Squidoo than just profit! They became part of our lives in both Squidoo and SquidU!

What’s one thing you see lensmasters doing that doesn’t work - and why doesn’t it?
Try to do everything by themselves and not asking or accepting help!

What’s your most important squidoo promotion method?
Make lenses that are so good that others do promotion for you! ;D

Which lensmaster(s) have helped you most?
I thanked many of them when I became Giant Squid on my blog.

Why are you a squidoo lensmaster?

I don’t remember how I ended up on the Squidoo welcome page, but it was “love at first sight”. I started browsing lenses and SquidU tutorials, trying to learn the basics as fast as possible so I could start on my own lenses. I had found the perfect creative outlet for me. I’m not a professional writer (and English is my second language, after German), but I love to put stories together, in form of multi-media collages.

Squidoo is a great platform to promote my business - Agasweet flavored agave nectar - but it also provided me with ideas and inspiration to start a new business - web entrepreneur. I’m basically reinventing myself with the help of Squidoo, and I’m having a blast doing it.

The number one reason why I’m still a Squidoo lensmaster is the incredible community of generous and kind peers on our site - folks with brains and heart, willing to share themselves and helping others to succeed. Squidoo is the perfect realization of the concept of “giving AND receiving”. Seth Godin had a vision and I see it working better and better every day.

What is your favorite lens?

I wished you had asked about my 50 favorite lenses - but the one I greatly appreciate is lensmaster Squidster’s “WHO? Squid Angels!” [which is where I found the profiles of all these squidangels to interview]
This beautiful portrait lens features some of the best works and kindest members on Squidoo. My own favorite lens would be my lensography - I’m proud of my lenses!

What lens of yours is most under appreciated?

A few months ago, I made a lens on the divine flavor combination of tangerine and ginger. It has good info, recipes and great pictures in it, but it never generated much interest.

What lens of yours is most popular?

It makes me really happy to announce that my tribute lens to my parents has been my front runner for a long time. My folks get many appreciative comments - straight to heaven!

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

Some lensmasters write somewhat demanding, if not outright rude comments in the forum - wanting critiques, stars, or even Angel blessings. I recommend to read the guidelines on top of the forum chapters, where seasoned lensmasters explain the do’s and don’ts of participation. It’s important to keep in mind that politeness and style will go a long way. “Hey Angels, I need some blessings!” is a turn-off. A nicely written request with a few words of explanation why you think your lens is bless-worthy will produce much better results.

What’s your most important squidoo promotion method?

Participation in our community. I try to focus on how I can contribute to lensmasters individually and to Squidoo as a whole. When we work for the betterment of the tribe, our personal rewards are unstoppable. Genuine interest in my peers creates good will coming back to me. It’s all about being sincere, remarkable, kind, generous, and considerate. As I’ve mentioned before - as you give, so you shall receive. It works.

Which lensmaster(s) have helped you most?

I owe so much to so many of my new friends. But o.k. - here’s my incomplete list:

Margaret Schaut
Kim Giancaterino
bdkz
Comfortdoc
JaguarJulie
SemperFidelis
PotPieGirl
Flowergardener
adez7

She starts out with:

Okey doke. Here are my replies, which I’ve been mulling over all day long. You ask very tough questions!

Why are you a squidoo lensmaster?
I just love Squidoo; it fits me well and here are three reasons.
One, I enjoy research and writing and Squidoo provides the opportunity to share the results of those things in creative ways with anyone who might be interested.
Two, I have a short attention span and enjoy flitting from one subject to another and Squidoo is the perfect venue for that.
Three, there’s money to be made here without having to handle inventory, mail packages, or deal with customers. I guess you could say it beats working for a living!

What is your favorite lens?
It’s very, very hard to narrow down, but I do have a favorite that addresses a pet peeve of mine. The lens is “The Care and Feeding of Apostrophes” by lensmaster Greekgeek. It’s a lens I wish I would have made, very well done using humor to make a point. I could have chosen a lens that had beautiful pictures or a compelling personal story as my favorite, but this is one that makes me smile and even riles me up a bit every time I go back to it.

What lens of yours is most under appreciated?
Probably my Nurturing Imagination lens. I really believe that nurturing a child’s imagination with creative play makes children better students and helps them learn problem solving skills, as well as teaches them how to learn, therefore making them more productive adults. I really should promote this lens more as I think it’s an important topic.

What lens of yours is most popular?
My Kindle lens is usually my highest-ranking lens. Some of my lenses on political topics have been and still are popular, but the big surprise was how many people have really enjoyed my recently-published Chicken Dance lens. That one was fun to make, went together quickly, and people seem to love it. Plus, it’s getting search engine traffic. You just never know!

What’s one thing you see lensmasters doing that doesn’t work - and why doesn’t it?
One thing I’ve noticed a lot recently is lenses that include a Flickr module with pictures that are not customized to the lens. Don’t let Flickr pick the photos; the lensmaster needs to take some time and search for perfect photos that enhance the topic and help make the point. Otherwise, that module just looks like junk and can ruin an otherwise good lens.

What’s your most important squidoo promotion method?
Ugh, you’ve hit on my weak point. SquidU works very well to get a lens off to a good start, a short little blurb on Twitter often brings traffic, but content that draws search engine traffic works the best for me. I am not good at self promotion and I really need to work on that.

Which lensmaster(s) have helped you most?
That is also very tough to narrow down because so many lensmasters are so very willing to help with specific questions when asked, but two who have encouraged me a lot since early on have been Robin (lensmaster rms) and Bonnie (lensmaster bdkz). Recently lensmaster ThomasC has been very helpful with some specific suggestions for me. I learn something from nearly every lens I look at, though, whether it’s something inspiring or innovative or even if it’s something NOT to do, so I have to say that I appreciate dozens and dozens of lensmasters on Squidoo.

I think we are involved because it’s a family effort for one, and for two, we can give away to charity. So far, we’ve never received a penny from Squidoo. All our earnings have been
contributed to the various charities. I attached last month’s payout.

What is your favorite lens?
Getting Traffic From Image Searches because it has helped so many people. Plus it’s our highest ever lensrank. For 3-4 days this week, it was #4, today it is #6

What lens of yours is most under appreciated?
The Acumen Fund. I put a ton of work into it, but it remains in the area of 15,000 in lensrank!

What lens of yours is most popular?
Mother Teresa. It gets about 100 - 150 hits a day!

What’s one thing you see lensmasters doing that doesn’t work - and why
doesn’t it?
Trading stars. That one is stupid as they are really not benefiting from the star swap, but from the visitor needed to give the star swap!

What’s your most important squidoo promotion method?
Hanging out in the SquidU forums. It’s the learning and connecting that brings about promotion.

Which lensmaster(s) have helped you most?
N376

Why are you a squidoo lensmaster?
I love Squidoo. Besides giving me a wonderful work at home opportunity I also have a outlet for my creative side. I love the challenge of creating a great lens!

What is your favorite lens?
My favorite lens is Unique Toilet Seats For Your Home http://www.squidoo.com/ToiletSeats because it was such a surprise success.

What lens of yours is most under appreciated?
Wow, I have a lot! Atari…Why I’ll Never Give Up My 2600 is a favorite lens of mine that could use some more love. [This brings back memories - one of our earliest family computers was an Atari]

What lens of yours is most popular?
2008 Presidential Voting Poll has been on the Top 100 for 50 days now. Political lenses are so hot right now!

What’s one thing you see lensmasters doing that doesn’t work - and why doesn’t it?
Trying too hard to get into the Top 100. A great lens takes time, patience and love. Don’t try to force it or you’ll fail. Just create the best lens you can and the success will follow.

What’s your most important squidoo promotion method?
I love using Lensroll, SquidCasting, Twitter, Digg, Gather and Blogs to promote my lenses.

Which lensmaster(s) have helped you most?
There are so many…rms, GypsyPirate, JaguarJulie, KimGiancaterino, Margaret_Schaut, Relache, N376, thefluffanutta…way to many to list!

Well, I first started to have free lenses to promote my business, but after I got started and realized what a great place it is, plus how creative I have become since I started I have just gotten sucked in. I see something someone else writes and it gives me an idea, I drive down the Beltline thinking about one lens and it leads to an idea about another one.

While watching the opening ceremonies for the Olympics, I remembered that 15 years ago I wanted to write a magazine article about rythmic gymnastics, but had no way to research it and no place to publish it. So, while watching the opening, I wrote the article and published it on Squidoo. Since then it has been read by as many people who read many magazine articles, and it will live forever. unlike magazines. All without leaving my couch and totally for free, you just can’t beat that!

What is your favorite lens?

Oh, wow, you weren’t supposed to ask impossible questions. I love all of them and have several favorites. I have one on my parents, my first lens, that made ‘lens of the day’ and got to a ranking of #11 over all and #1 in business. It means a lot to me for many reasons, I love my hero lenses, and of course women’s sports. I just can’t answer that question. Oh, wait and all the health lenses.

What lens of yours is most under appreciated?

Well, lenses go through cycles, one will seem underappeciated for a while, even while I promote it, but then all of a sudden for no seeming reason, it gets attention.

I think the one I am most disappointed about is Would You? Could You? Should You Forgive This Young Man?. It asks for serious discussion about a serious issue. Its gotten traffic and even 3 5*’s, but I haven’t gotten the discussion I was hoping for. [Katinka: the question is just too hard. Sometimes the questions are more important than the answers. It's a great lens]

What lens of yours is most popular?

Well, the one on my parents is the most, it got tons of traffic since LOTD, Secret Life of Bees is doing very well, Fruit Flies, Macular Degeneration was, but it is going down. That bothers me because it could save people from going blind!

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

Well, just being boring. Throwing out a few modules, with not much on it and then making a department store. They aren’t even as interesting as a J. Peterman catalogues and those were supposed to be catalogues.

What’s your most important squidoo promotion method?

Most? I don’t know which one works the best. I participate in Squid U critique a lot, squidcasting, but I really have to figure out which ones work. I really can’t say yet. Well, now that I think about it, I think the best is going to others’ lenses and making comments on them. Sometimes I will leave a link for a lens of mine, if it is relevant, but usually I don’t. I know that when people leave comments for me I always go to a couple of their lenses to say something. That helps a lot, I think.

Which lensmaster(s) have helped you most?

Oh, wow, that is like the Academy Award speech, there are so many, but I am afraid I will leave someone out! Julie comes to mind [See also my interview with JaguarJulie] and OhMe, who is almost as new as I am, which shows that you can help people even if you are fairly new! RMS, Chef Keem, I am afraid to continue, because, the further I go, the worse it is if I leave someone out!