Me Likes What I Likes
The first is obviously, the intro. It's a good opportunity to grab the reader with the image and a short introduction. A general guideline of two to three short paragraphs is all that are needed (this may change with the type of lens you are building).
This module also allows you to link to similar lenses in the discovery tool tab.
New Flickr Photos
Click on image for full size and photographer info
A image is worth a thousand words but sometimes they are just nice to look at. I love to include images in my lenses but especially ones of twitter.
Tips:
* pick ones that relate to your topic.
* choose a number that fit evenly across your lens. If one ends up on the next row by itself, delete it. Otherwise it looks cheesy and creates needless white space
* pick your own images
* search for images using the creative commons search (you'll find it under explore).
* delete nonsense titles like the one below
* encourage to click on image for larger size (see subtitle)
image 089526544221
New Wikipedia
With the Wiki module I can add a little extra content about my topic and sometimes even a photo. Readers have the option of clicking on the Wiki link to learn more or continuing on to the next module.
Wikipedia has pretty much every topic under the sun from celebrities, to historical events to rock formations. It's a great content module that requires little effort.
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. The Sun has a diameter of about (about 109 Earths), and by itself accounts for about 99.86% of the Solar System's mass; the remainder consists of the planets (including Earth), asteroids, meteor...
New Blackbox
This is one of my absolute favorite modules for highlighting important dates and quotes. And now it comes in six other lovely colors. But I tend to stick with black.
New Text / Write module
This is probably the most vital module that can be used. This is the meat of the lens offering facts and opinions. The best part is that you don't have to write an essay to get your point across (and it's another opportunity to add photos).Ten Things I Like About Dogs
- They are loyal.
- They have four legs.
- They have wet kisses.
- They make good companions.
- You can name them after people.
- They make good guard dogs.
- They offers hours of entertainment.
- They listen, mostly.
- They always clean their plate.
- They know how to have a good time with water.
New Video Module
Here's a cute video of a cat playing in a tub... full of water.
New Poll Module
This is a fabulous module to ask questions and get the short answer. You can visitors rate or offer their opinion on just about anything. But make sure it is related to lens topic.
Amazon Spotlight
On Writing
Amazon Price: $7.99 (as of 11/11/2009)
This is one of my favorite writing books. Surprisingly, it was also my first Stephen King book. If I hadn't read it I probably wouldn't have gone on to read and enjoy other Stephen King novels. If you are thinking of novel writing as a career path I highly recommend reading this memoir.
Highlight Topic Images (landscape view works best).
New StickyNote
Sticky notes are an unobtrusive way to mention a short note in a manner people are already familiar with. I have post-it's every where. :)
New Amazon Voting (Plexo)
I love interactive modules. This voting module allows people to vote on my favorite products or products relating to the topic of discussion. One of my pet peeves is finding one of these modules in a lens with products that don't jive with the topic and no intro as to why.
I don't let Amazon pick because they often end up choosing the same products. Like a hardcover and a soft cover of the same book. It takes a few extra minutes but the help feature saves time.
When no image is showing at Amazon (like the Avon lipstick below) images can be turned off so a clean text appears.
Avon ULTRA COLOR RICH Lipstick Berry, Berry Nice
Shapes lips with the richest, creamiest color. Non more...0 points
Cover Your Gray - Lipstick for the Hair - Dark Brown
Touch up sticks let you go longer between hair col more...0 points
Lipstick Jungle by Candace Bushnell
Great story about high powered friends trying to s more...0 points
New RSS: Add Your Own Feed
The RSS feed is an excellent opportunity to provide a brief description of articles from a site I favor or from my blog. A no fuss way for providing back links.
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byNew Featured Lensmasters
This is actually the first time I have used this module but I have seen it on other lenses and have always thought it was cool. All I had to do was add the lensmasters profile name.Here are a few of my favorite lensmasters:
New Featured Lenses
Featured lenses is a good opportunity to feature other lenses you have that are a similar topic.Don't be afraid to feature other lensmaster lenses with similar topics. It helps round off your lens.
Here are five of my favorite Squidoo tips lenses:
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How to Squidoo -- A Step-by-Step Primer
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This step-by-step primer gives you plenty of how-to information on how to get started building your Squidoo lens. Get some useful tips about how to build that lens with plenty of helpful pictures of the various templates you can use. You'll see plent...
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Editing suggestions for your lenses - to give your lens a lensrank boost
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Lenses get payed out based on average lensrank of each lens over the whole month. Since lensrank is based, at least partly, on how often lenses get edited - this lens is here to give you some ideas about what to do when you go over your least edited...
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Simple HTML tricks to use with Squidoo
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Squidoo has a nice editor for your lenses, but things can be improved. This lens will show you some simple tricks to include more than possible with simply using the editor. These tricks should be used in modules like the link list, or the write modu...
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The Hitchhikers Guide to The Squidoo Lens Creation Universe!
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Hi Folks as a volunteer forum moderator of the Squidoo Forum, and Squidoo Angel, over time I have collected a vast knowledge base of lenses and articles pertaining to building great Squidoo lenses. I use this extensive collection of resources to hel...
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Bulleted and Ordered Lists
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You can easily make bulleted or numbered lists in the Text List module. Too easy! But if you want more control and more of a say on how the information is presented you'll need to learn to use three HTML tags. Lets say you want to display a list in...
Reader Feedback
This is a good way to finish off almost any lens. But I don't think every single lens needs one. If there is absolutely no other interaction on the lens then it definitely helps to involve the reader.
Guestbook peeve: Lensmasters who leave a lovely comment and then tell me to visit such and such a lens that has absolutely nothing to do with my guestbook topic. If it's a cooking lens I don't want to hear about your mortgage lens. Take it on faith that if you leave a comment on someone's lens that the lensmaster will click on your name, pick a lens title that interests them and return the the comment.
So what are you waiting for? Sign my guestbook. If you have a favorite module lens then be sure to link to it in the comments.
azpoppy wrote...
Thanks for the introduction to the modules; this is great advice for people new to Squidoo (like me). :-)
Posted August 21, 2009
Bici Parker wrote
Great tips, Moe. I like a lot of your favs, too. I like the video mode better than YouTube, and I also find the sticky note fun -- especially since I have them ALL over my house!
Posted August 12, 2009
KatPriebe wrote...
Good Advise for me...the newbie! And I am so amazed at the Cat in the water video. I am going to have to send this one to my daughter. Her cats are her babies and this will floor her!
Posted August 12, 2009
guitar-for-dummies wrote...
Not so crazy about the Sticky note thing as not much room to type. Other than that, great lens.
Posted July 17, 2009
Twitter? Then Follow Me...
- BigGirlBlue
- aka BigGirlBlue
- 717 followers
- 973 following
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- I'm so frustrated. Spent an hour looking for snickerdoodle recipe card and can't find it. The world is misaligned I tell you!
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- Battery is low, time to go up. Later tweets.
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- Blog Giveaway: THREE $100 gift certificates from Peggy Lutz. Just in time for the holiday wardrobe --> http://tinyurl.com/ykzt4n
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- The man is home. Sounds like he's getting into trouble upstairs.
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- Know any Maureens? They might appreciate the Maureen lens --> http://tinyurl.com/64bfth
by BigGirlBlue
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