6 Easy Ways To Improve Your Lens (Right Now)

Readers stopping by your page want to know why you made it, why you have a unique perspective (and you do!) on your topic, and what they can expect to find when they scroll down the page.

A few tips:

1. Make sure you fill out your bio, which will show on the upper right of every lens. Please do better than the "Hello world!" what we start you off with! Write a few lines about who you are. You can even link to your Twitter, Facebook, blogs, or whatever other online presence you have. Helps to be credible.

2. Upload a bio photo of you. If you don't have a profile photo uploaded, your page winds up looking pretty darn anonymous. And anonymous on the web = untrustworthy, at least as far as first impression goes. Your photo also becomes your avatar within the community.

For examples, check out our list of Sexiest Lensmasters on Squidoo. Sexy is something that is excitingly appealing. Here at Squidoo we apply that to looks, smarts, and creativity. Sounds kind of like our best lenses, doesn't it?

If you don't want to show the world that bikini-clad picture of you circa 1988, try some fun cartoon avatars. This Lego one is lots of fun, as is the Simpsonize Me widget.

3. When you're writing your introduction to your lens, make it personal. Let someone know who you are and why you're writing this page. What experience do you have with the topic?

4. Find a voice. Don't be boring. Be you.

Photograph by the talented lans-bejbe.

Add a little eye candy to your lens! And we don't mean custom coded glitter and borders. We mean, simply, an attractive, honest, engaging, gorgeous and best of all, BIG, introduction photo or image right at the top of your lens.

As you know, we now require Intro photos on all lenses. You can publish your lens without one, but your lens will be Work in Progress until you satisfy the requirement. It's a quality thing, and it's important. We also use that image to display your lens throughout Squidoo, in Squidsearch, on Facebook, etc. so you don't want to miss out.

READ THIS ---> Here's an amazing overview from Squidoo design Josh Brown with tips for uploading the best, biggest, bolded Intro images.

To help you brush up your lenses and find the best intro image for each lens, we've put together a list of our favorite intro photos on Squidoo. We've also written a list of 13 things you can do to improve your introduction photo.

Make sure every one of your lenses has an intro image, and a few pictures to illustrate (or just cleverly punctuate) the rest of your lens. Try uploading a photo to your "Text/Write" modules, add a Flickr module, or try out the Polaroid module for bigger pics.

Photo credit: The dog with tennis ball photo was taken by Megan's mom. She's an amateur photographer and sent Megan the photo. Sometimes you don't need to look very far for great content you can get permission to use! Oh, but the dog didn't sign a model release :)

Here's a little secret about what the web likes best. Unique, useful, updated content.

So do we. In fact, it's part of the Originality Pact you agreed to when you signed up for Squidoo.

The most successful Squidoo lenses, like the most successful blogs and the best stores, are all filled with unique stuff. Stuff worth talking about. Collections of recommended links. Opinions that are all YOURS. Lists of information that actually make a point. Debates worth engaging in. Hand-built organization that teaches. Copy that's worth reading.

If you stick remarkable stuff on your lens, stuff that's useful to readers who stop by, something that's exclusive to you, and you update it now and then, well, guess what? You've just created something that search engines gobble up with a spoon.

So, if you think your lens is already as good as it could possibly be, look again with UUU in mind. When was the last time you updated the page? Is there some unique, you-only content on there? Is it useful, and easy to access, for your readers and fans?

Squidoo offers a whole bunch of modules that help you interact with your readers, and vice versa.

You can use the poll module to... poll... them on specific data and ideas.

Try the superhot (and very spreadable) Duel module to encourage them to sound off on one side versus another side of your argument -- see who agrees with you.

Any of our "Plexo" voting modules make it easy for you to set up your own favorite top 10 lists (of books, blogs, websites, movies, whatever) and let people vote on the list, or add their own to it.

Finally, you can re-name the Guestbook module for your purposes. Turn it into a petition, or a Testimonials box, or just a Facebook-style Wall.

Hint: When you let your readers add to your lens, you wind up with some golden user-generated content -- so you don't have to do all the hard work yourself!

Unless you get on Oprah, or you're the Star Wars fanboy, instant success is pretty much a myth.

On Squidoo, success accumulates over time. With more lenses, more remarkable content, and more time comes more traffic, more readers, more royalties. And the great news is that it works, for lots of people.

So, go easy on yourself when you don't have 10,000 people reading your lens by tomorrow. Work through the dip, make little improvements bit by bit, share your lens elsewhere on the web, and soon enough you'll see it pay off.

This was a post on our SquidooHQ official blog and our community of lensmasters loved it. So click through to HQ, it's worth a read.

21 Common Lens Mistakes (that can be easily fixed).

Be kind. Be kind to yourself, and give yourself a break. Give others the break that you deserve.

If you find a lens that you like, drop the lensmaster a note and thank her for it! If you have a blog, blog about it. If you have a friend who would like it, email it.

The more you give, the more you get.