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Easy Ways to Spruce Up Squidoo Lenses

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Quick and easy ways to improve your lenses and boost lensrank.

I love to Squidoo and have done so for over five years. I log in almost every single day! It combines the best parts of creativity, community, and things that I like (like playing video games and listening to rock). I can't stay away and won't for as long as this site is up and running.

This lens was inevitable. Can anyone Squidoo for a half-decade and not want to share his or her tips with everyone? I think not, good sir (and/or madame)!

As the title suggests, the following offers simple tips for sprucing up lenses. They require no special expertise, no large expenditure of time, and best of all, no real thinking. More about that below.

Pick one thing.

Do it to your lenses.

Using These Tips

Pick one item from this page. Start at the top or bottom of your lens list. Do that one item until you get tired or bored.

You can certainly use these ideas to clean up one, specific lens. But that's not what I intended this guide to do.

When I log into Squidoo and feel lazy I select one item from the ideas below. I go to the bottom of my lens list and apply that one idea to my lowest ranking lenses. Then I do the same to my top ranking lenses. I boost the lensrank of my potential "red" lenses while possibly kicking my top lenses into the next tier.

Sometimes I get on a roll and go through all of my lenses with that one specific item from the list. That's a satisfying feeling.

So no matter how tired or burned out I feel I still give my lenses acknowledgment if not the TLC they deserve.

Add Tags

But get SquidUtils first!

One of the simplest ways to improve your lens is to add tags. But before you dive into that, get SquidUtils. This add-on will show you tags that lenses similar to yours have. It makes it a breeze to select relevant tags.

If you already put tags on your lens, do it again! New tag ideas are constantly being added by other lensmasters. And make up some of your own.

I start with my top ranking lenses and go through them looking at the tags. Some of these lenses are over five years old yet new tags are constantly offered up by SquidUtils.

More About Tags

Using SquidUtils to its fullest.

After going crazy with tags on all your lenses, you might think you're done with this task.

First, you have a limit of 40 tags per lens. But do you have the best 40 tags? If you're using SquidUtils you'll have a handy color-coding that will tell you how popular a tag is. Dark green is very popular, dark red means you're the only one using the tag.

Knowing whether or not a tag is popular doesn't mean whether or not it's a good tag. However, really look at the number of red, pink, and yellow tags (using SquidUtils) you have and see if some are simply minor variations of each other. Look at the suggested tags SquidUtils gives you and see if some are better.

Customize Bio

Why are you an expert in or interested in the subject?

You can put a unique bio on each of your lenses. I like to tell the readers a little about why I built the lens or why I have an expertise on the subject.

I've noticed some lenses out there with bios that seem to conflict with the lens they built. For example, affiliate sales pitches from a lensemaster on a lens that has nothing to do with affiliate sales. Does your bio match the lens?

Add Table of Contents Module

The introduction module has a table of contents built in. But I prefer using the Table of Contents module instead. It provides me with the flexibility of moving it around and also (if you got SquidUtils like I suggested) there's a link to the module that helps readers jump back to the Table of Contents via a "Page Top" link.

^Page Top

Update Amazon Modules

This is a simple one: find your Amazon (or other affiliate module) and switch it up. Unless of course you're getting money from it. Then just leave it alone.

Change from a vertical to horizontal format. Change the Amazon search words or pick more relevant and fresh products. Change the name from "Amazon Module" to something more exciting.

Delete Amazon Modules

No, I'm not kidding. Why clutter up your work with a bunch of sales pitches that don't get you a single sale? Maybe someday someone will click it? Highlight the best, most relevant modules. Delete the rest. You'll end up with a cleaner, more inviting page and might have a chance at getting a sale with one or two good modules.

Move Amazon Modules

Real simple: move your affiliate modules to a better place on the page (instead of leaving it at the bottom of the page) or move it to the side via Widgets.

I prefer a clean look (some would say "bland") on my pages and taking adverts out of the body of my work and moving them to the side helps keep things uncluttered. Amazon Spotlight is a great tool that I use on almost all of my lenses.

Change Module Titles

When you first build a lens you may have gone with module titles that felt good at the time. But time and experience may change your mind.

In Change Title mode I look at the titles of my lens modules and try to make them simpler or more relevant. For example, the original title for the module you're now reading was "Change the Titles of Modules."

Add Module Subtitles

Give readers a preview of the module.

I'm terrible at using subtitles even if they help readers get a glimpse about what they are about to read. Subtitles also add some relevancy and keyword enrichment (I'm guessing on that one) to modules.

I will confess that I don't know how to use subtitles in the best way. I just go with what I think is a preview of the content of the module.

Edit

I'll read one of my lenses that has been up for years and find stupid errors. Sometimes it's as simple as adding an "o" to "too." Sometimes I completely misspelled a word or selected the wrong word from the spell check list.

I have to admit that I'm terrible at editing my lenses on a regular basis. Sitting down and making myself edit the top ten lenses I created takes a bit of discipline and several cups of coffee.

Embolden Keywords

I embolden key words in the intro module that will most describe the lens. I stick to nouns and their adjectives only, to keep things simple.

When you looked at the intro to this this, the keywords that were in bold were: Squidoo and simple tips. I think that boils down this lens quite well.

I have no idea if this helps with SEO (although this lens is a first-page result on Google for those keywords) but I think it gives the human reader a very quick way to gauge the lens.

To make text bold use: <b>Text</b>

Divide Text Modules

Really long text modules will be really skipped by readers. Many web surfers (okay, I mean me) will completely skip long blocks of text and long paragraphs.

I try to keep my paragraphs below five lines of text. I keep modules under five paragraphs. So each module will usually have under 25 lines of text. This is a personal preference and not some sort of rule.

If the number of paragraphs and lines of text run over my personal limit I create a new text module at a logical breaking point. The result is a more readable page.

Add Image Titles

When you first uploaded an image to a module you might have noticed that there are fields to input a link and title for that image. If you haven't used it, go back and do so.

You don't have to link the photo but putting in a title adds a nice mouse-over effect that rounds off the image. You can put a disclaimer, "Photo Courtesy of FreePicsAndStuff," or simply a title, "Bear Snuggling Kitten."

I read somewhere that titles also add to search engine love.

Add Images

I hate adding pictures. It's the whole copyright thing. When I publish a new lens there is a intro photo and likely only one or two more pictures. So I tend to add them over time.

My favorite thing to do is take non-copyrighted images and change them to fit the theme of the lens. Or simply make my own.

Lenses for Image Help and Ideas

More Easy Ideas

When I publish new lenses I try to include a comment module and a poll module. Consider doing this on all of your lenses. It increases interactivity and participation on your lens.

If you have a really long lens you can put a Table of Contents module at the very bottom. Call it a quick jump or page top or whatever you like. I call it an index. I think it helps readers jump around large lenses.

Here's an easy idea to spruce up your lenses: Change the theme.

Add the Bookmark module to your lenses. I like to place mine right after comment modules.

Easy Tips From Squidoo HQ

Do Just One Thing

I love Robin's Do Just One Thing tips at Squidoo HQ. They're simple and fit my style of sprucing up lenses: "Pick one thing. Do it to your lenses."

Do Just One Thing - Inspect Your Plexos: As a lensmaster, you're responsible for everything that appears on your lenses and that includes anything against Squidoo TOS that somebody else might have posted in your Plexo modules so it's a good idea to take a look at them from time to time to make sure that nothing slipped by that shouldn't be there.
Do Just One Thing - Revisit Your Sidebar Widgets: When was the last time you took a look at your Sidebar Widgets? Are they all fresh and up to date? Are you using all three available spaces on each of your lenses?
Do Just One Thing - Update Your Countdown Modules: Now might be a good time to take a peek at all of those special holiday lenses you crafted last year that are using a Countdown module to make sure they're all ticking like clockwork (or would that be counter clockwork?) and working to your best advantage.
Do Just One Thing: Give your Flickr Modules a Look-See: This weekend, or the next time you have a few spare moments, revisit your lenses that are using the Flickr Photo module to make sure they're still looking their absolute best.

What's Your Squidoo Style?

I consider myself a "casual" Squidhead. I don't put a lot of emphasis on making money. Although I log in almost every day I don't have a plan or agenda. What's your lensmaster style?

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Feedback

I love getting feedback on my pages. Call me on an error, expand an idea, or leave one of your own. I look forward to your message.

Comments are moderated. I'm on all the time so they are usually approved quickly.

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OliviaDaughter May 28, 2012 @ 10:06 am | delete

Thank You! Thank You ! I am in my early stages, and the information you shared is awesome. Some of it I didn't even know how to do, but know I do and I will practice using your tips on a daily basis. Again thanks !

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PaxLamprey May 28, 2012 @ 10:50 am | delete

My pleasure, Olivia. Your comment made it all worthwhile :)

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manlalakbay May 2, 2012 @ 10:48 pm | delete

I love the tips given here. Thanks for this! :)

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sheilamarie Apr 30, 2012 @ 7:29 pm | delete

Great advice! I choose one thing to look at often, though maybe not daily. It's a great way to make little improvements that actually affect your rank.
Boy, a person could spend all day on this and still not produce a new lens!