Squidoo Lens Author

Squidoo has a wonderful new learning resource, called the Squidoo Answer Deck. If your new to Squidoo, or even if you consider yourself a Squidveteran, the answer deck is loaded with answers to your Sqidoo questions.

What is the Answer Deck? It’s a group of how-to lenses created by wonderful Squidoo lensmasters. These lenses answer everything from ideas to create awesome lenses, to how to get the Giant Squid out of your sink (well maybe not that one yet).

Squidoo’s lensmasters are the experts, and chances are if you have a question, someone else has had that question in the past, and now has the answer posted for all to read.

Check out the answer deck, spend a few hours, or days there. When you come up for air you should be able to create a quality Squidoo lens.

While you’re there check out my new groups mentoring lens, and let me know what you think:)

I got a sneak peek at the new Squidoo dashboard today, and it rocks. I had the opportunity to play around with my lenses in there (all 207 of them).

You will be able to add labels to your lenses, and group them according to the labels. That’s the part I’m most excited about. I have about 5 or 6 different labels that will divide my lenses nicely. No more scanning down a list of over 200 lenses to find the one I’m looking for, only to miss it somehow.

I’m also excited about being able to see which lenses need my attention. Right now I tend to pay attention to the lenses at the top of the lens rank pile, because they are the most visible when I open my dashboard. Now I’ll be able to see which lenses need an update.

To see what others have to say about the new Squidoo dashboard, check out the Lensmaster Dashboard lens.

Jaguar Julie has created the ultimate Squidoo guide. Squidoo for Dummies is an excellent resource for newbies, or even seasoned veterans to Squidoo who want to learn a new trick or two. Check it out for some great weekend reading:)

Lensmaster Loyalis has a Squidooish site where you can buy or sell Squidoo lenses, called Sell My Lens. I subscribe to the sites feed, since I wouldn’t want to miss anything remotely related to Squidoo.

The other night a Hey Monkeybrain lens came up for sale called Wordpress vs Blogger. Since the lens was dirt cheap, and the subject intrigued me I decided to purchase it. Oh yeah, I really liked the URL too.

So I bought it, gave it an overhaul, and I’d love to have your feedback. I was trying to think of all the pros and cons of using Wordpress, and Blogger. If anyone can think of any I missed let me know.

Would I buy another lens? I don’t know, I usually like to create them myself. This lens got caught in my brain.  I laid in bed the night I saw it thinking of the possibilities that particular lens had. I didn’t buy it until two days later. I decided if it was still on my mind I should either create my own on the subject, or just break down and buy it.

I hope all you Squidoo Mothers have a wonderful day! Dads too!

Here’s some flowers for you, enjoy!

Chef Keem has created a lens that links all of the best Squidoo how- to’s and tutorials all in one place, How To Squidoo With A Lotta Help From My Friends on Squidoo (say that 10 times fast, I dare ya). It’s an excellent resource for new Squidooers, and a great reference for seasoned lensmasters.

He also takes a look at the Squidoo brass, and shows you who some of the Giant Squids are. Just in case you want to check out some of their lenses for inspiration.

Go ahead and check it out, I know you want to. Give him some stars for all his hard work.

Or at least new to  the Sqidoo community. One of my favorite lensmasters, BDKZ has started a new blog to help mentor those of you who would like to become Giant Squids.

So You Want To Be A Giant Squid? will help new,  or newer lensmasters learn what it takes to achieve Giant Squid status at Squidoo. The questions will be answered by seasoned lensmasters who have been through the Giant Squid process themselves.

The blog will feature stories, news, interviews, FAQs, and question and answer sessions. The latest post is an interview with lensmaster Susan52, who is a wealth of Squidilicious information. It’s like picking the brain of a great Squid master.

If you’re new to Squidoo hop over and check things out. If you have questions related to Squidoo, or becoming a Giant Squid it’s a great place to ask.

I just finished reading Margaret Schaut’s ebook ‘Masterpiece Lenscrafting on Squidoo.’ It was like being able to pick the brain of one of my favorite lensmasters. 

Margaret takes a sincere look at how to create a quality lens at Squidoo. You can see the love and thought she puts into crating a great Squidoo lens.

I’ve read one or two other books written by so called "gurus" and they have told me nothing more than the basics of creating lenses. A skill which you can figure out on your own in the Squidoo dashboard, or SquidU.

‘Masterpiece Lenscrafting’ went way beyond the basics. Margaret teaches you the thought process behind creating a great content lens. A lens that will stand at the top of the Squidoo pile over time.

Margaret should know her lens "David" has been at or near the number one spot on Squidoo, almost since it was created.

I think the book was definitely worth the $10 price tag. It’s a much better investment for your money than the automatic Lens creator stuff that’s going around right now. So if you want to spend your money wisely, invest in quality.

I love doing link posts on the weekends to link to the other things I find interesting during the week. Here at Thoughts of A Squidoo Lens Author I hope to share links that are Squidoo related (obviously), but I would also like to share links that are not always obviously related to Squidoo lens mastering.

Here are this weeks links. I hope you find the info as useful and interesting as I did.

Seth’s Blog is always interesting to me. This week he challenges everyone to write like a blogger.  Is there any other way to write? I have a hard time these days helping my son write papers for his homework because I think of everything in short blurbs.

I think he shares some great advice here for your Squidoo lens. Break your text modules into short blurbs with photos, Amazon modules, videos, or links in between. You will hold your readers interest longer than a long block of text (like this blurb is turning into).

Linking to others without ulterior motives is also a great thing to do on your Squidoo lens. You shouldn’t always think about how the link will benefit you. You should focus on how the link will benefit your reader. Your reader will appreciate it and be more likely to share your information with others.

If you don’t check out the Squidblog, you really should. This week Megan wrote about catchers and throwers. I think she shared some excellent advice. I love it when people leave meaningful comments on my lenses and blogs. When they just leave a short message with a link back to their website it usually just gets deleted. Maybe I’m super sensitive to this because there is such a problem with comment spam in the blogging world, but I don’t think so.

If you want a lensmaster to come visit your lenses and leave you positive feedback, and comments you should do the same for them. I’m a big believer in karma.

A couple of my favorite bloggers (Jennifer and Deb) just started a blog, Network Blogging Tips.  Each of them shared a list of where they find their blog post ideas. Here’s Jennifer’s list, and here’s Deb’s list. I think both lists are great for finding ideas for blogging, and for your next Squidoo lens. 

Where do I find ideas? I usually find my inspiration while I’m outside in the garden, or walking. I always carry a notebook with me wherever I go (sad I know). I’m constantly reading books and magazines. I have over 200 blogs in my RSS reader, I skim through and read the titles that catch my eye.

Captain Squid finds new Squidoo lens ideas by using Stumbleupon. I love Stumbling, the only problem is once I start, I can’t stop.

My favorite way to get inspired? I love children (and children related topics), and I’m always truly interested in what my son is thinking. I substitute teach, and listen to what the kids are saying, they always know what’s going on in the world. Sometimes ideas come to me based on these conversations, so talk to your children they know what’s cool:)

Happy weekend reading!

Image Courtesy of: stock.xchng

If content is queen, then photos are queen. I’m sure you’ve heard a picture is worth a thousand words. I think images can make or break a lens. I have some lenses that get more hits from their images (from Google or Yahoo! images) than they do for key words or content.

My Easter Bunny lens received over 2000 hits the week before Easter and over 90% of the traffic was from Google images. I created this lens for fun, so it doesn’t have much content. I wanted to create something for kids to check out and have fun with.

Give your photos meaningful names, use keyword descriptions and names for your photos. If you insert the photo into the lens yourself with html code, don’t forget to add alternate text. Use the alternate text to describe your photo for the search engines. It’s one more place to add keywords relevant to your lens topic.

I love to take my own photos whenever possible. Since one of my favorite topics is gardening, and I have a huge garden, it’s not difficult.

There are many times when I just don’t have the image I’m looking for to add to my Squidoo lenses or blogs. Here are some of my favorite image resources.

We’ll start with a few of my favorite free image sites. Check each site’s terms and conditions. Some require a mention, others require a link back, others don’t require anything.

Stock.exchng

Free Range

morgueFile

Wikimedia Commons

Picture Sandbox

Free Foto

Every Stock Photo

Open Photo

PD Photo

Image After

Share a Pic

Tiny Pic

Flickr (Do an advanced search and look for Creative Commons photos only)

Public Domain Pictures

Sometimes you’re looking for just the right image, and you don’t mind paying a little to get just what you want. Here are my favorite low cost royalty free image sites. Again, take a look at the terms and conditions before you post any photos.

Dreamstime

istockphoto

stockxpert

What are your favorite places to find stock photos for your lenses?