Home » Squidoo Community » More Squidoo Tips

My First Lens Ever: Share Your Squidoo Lensmaster Experiences

Ranked #3,876 in Squidoo Community, #291,688 overall | Donates to Young Inventors International

Both Seasoned Lensmasters and Newcomers Share Experiences, Squidoo Tips, Tricks, and Lessons Learned While Building First Lens Ever

"My First Lens Ever" is actually my third Squidoo lens.

The idea came about in the middle of the night while I was working on another Squidoo lens. I found myself wishing I knew someone I could ask a particular question of. Writing this, I don't recall the question, but the answer was My First Lens, a repository of experiences from those who had struggled and overcome.

Maybe it wasn't that deep ... but just about everybody says, "I wish I'd known that when I started working on my first lens!" They could have really benefited from the lessons already learned by others.

This is not an exhaustive site. It doesn't need to take the place of the excellent tutorials and how-to lens already in place. Instead, it's anecdotal, encouraging, giving a newcoming struggling in the middle of the night quick access to a little counseling.

My First Lens is also a way for old-comers to look back and laugh at yourselves, inform an unsuspecting public, strut your stuff ...

One of the things I can share is about my struggle with "tags" and how happy I was when that little "health check" feature in the dashboard finally quit telling me that my primary tag didn't seem to have anything to do with my lens! and gave me its blessing.

Come on ... lend your voice. Share your pet peeve about new lenses. And provide us with your own brand of insight. It won't take long and it will build up a repository about First Lenses that will be priceless. (Thanks!)

Like this lens? Please Add First Lens Ever to Your Favorites and Join my Fan Club. Thanks!

The First Lens I Ever Built Was ...

Take this poll and let it all hang out!

Loading poll. Please Wait...

Listed Under Tech and Geek, Not About Me

Final Category Was Computer/Gadgets

computer-squidThis was the focus of my first Squidoo lens:

This lens aggregates my interests, highlights selections from several of my web sites, and might impart some interesting information

As I noted after seeing a "lensography" for the first time, my first lens ever was more a lensography and probably should have been categorized under "About Me." As it was, after several category changes, I settled on Computers/Gadgets.

Categorizing Your Lens

It takes a little time to get it right.

Loading poll. Please Wait...

Vote On The Resources That Help Newcomers The Most

Yes, You Can Vote For Your Own

Vote on as many as you find useful (or useless). Vote 'em up. Vote 'em down. Add links you've come across (or go find some, bring 'em back, add 'em in!) Remember: some of these weren't around when YOU made your first lens :) So we'll adjust a bit here for those who come across this lens, laugh at and learn from our mistakes.

1

Vote Up
Vote Down

How to Upload Images on Squidoo

Need help getting graphics onto Squidoo? Look no f more...3 points

2

Vote Up
Vote Down

My Favourite CSS Tricks on Squidoo

The basic tools provided by Squidoo will do pretty more...2 points

3

Vote Up
Vote Down

Squidoo CSS - my favorite code to spice up a lens

I've gathered my favorite Squidoo-code for later r more...2 points

4

Vote Up
Vote Down

Squidoo Graphics For Your Lenses!

Here's some Squidoo Squid graphics to jazz up your more...2 points

5

Vote Up
Vote Down

Five Great Ways to Use Seven Great Squidoo Modules

Modules are the building blocks of Squidoo lenses. more...1 point

6

Vote Up
Vote Down

Greekgeek's Top Ten Squidoo Tips

Great-looking lens shows as well as tells a succes more...1 point

7

Vote Up
Vote Down

Micro USB Adapter

The Micro USB Adapter is one of the niftiest tools more...0 points

Which Is Better?

Which Is Better ....

Loading

An extra long lens that provides tons of great information?

magicgeniewishlist says:

It depends on the lens and what it is about. I have a few of each. I have informative lenses that I have broken down into sub catagories and one lens I thought would be better keeping as one with all the information on it because there was not enough information on each subject to break down. As long as all the content is relevant to the topic and does not veer into other topics as it goes, the long lens is great. One tip with long lenses is to have it easy to use and navigate around though.

Greekgeek says:

Now we have a third choice: the Page Break module let you have short, focused pages that are sub-pages of a lens. Each page gets traffic, so your traffic is boosted. Don't start out doing this, though; wait until you're comfortable with Squidoo before you tackle more complex projects. (See my Volcanoes Lens for an example of page breaks.)

A shorter lens with good information and lots of interactivity?

tembrooke says:

While I love the depth of content in long lenses, I find them a bit intimidating. I'm leaning now towards shorter lenses that fuller cover a narrower topic.

 

Become A Profitable Lensmaster

Yes You Do Squidoo!

Loading

Blog Posts About "First Squidoo Lens"

Sorry, there are no matching results available from Google

Final Creations: A Wordle Word Picture of Your First Lenses

Once There Are Enough Responses

Here's an idea ... Once there have been a fair amount of responses, I'll create a Wordle word picture of everybody's first lens names. If you haven't had the pleasure of using Wordle, you might want to give it a try for yourself. You can create images of blocks of text then use them on your lenses, your blog, or elsewhere. Below are some word pictures I've created for various reasons. All images are copyright Wordle under a Creative Commons license. Help yourself!

Wordle: Squidoo Lens: Vernessa Taylor, Computer Geek Wordle: SquidooLens-Vernessa-Taylor-Computer-Geek2

Tell Us All About Your First Lens Ever

  • KarenTBTEN Mar 17, 2011 @ 12:36 am | delete
    My first lens was called Understanding Williams Syndrome. There were some things I did't know then, but mostly it turned out well. One thing I did from the beginning is make 'em long.
  • tembrooke Dec 13, 2010 @ 7:07 pm | delete
    My first one was about Wildacres Retreat, a learning center I love to visit. Unfortunately I realized later that it's hard for a lens on an unusual topic to really be popular. But I didn't let the experience scare me away from Squidoo.
  • vallain Dec 7, 2010 @ 8:28 pm | delete
    The first one I made was to promote my mother's self-published book. A few months later I really jumped in and haven't stopped since.
  • jgelien Dec 5, 2010 @ 3:43 pm | delete
    My first lens was about network marketing. I must have done an okay job because I still get positive feedback on it. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
  • Greekgeek May 13, 2010 @ 12:01 am | delete
    Sorry I didn't see your note on my blog sooner, and thanks for the invitation!

    For my first lens, I wrote on something I love, using my own photos, and used the web to enhance my original content.

    So much of the web is reusing or commenting on or summarizing other people's webpages. But when you do that, you're competing with other webpages that may already rank well in search engines.

    Whereas, if you use your OWN photos, your OWN ideas, your OWN stuff, you've just added something new to the web! This really does get recognized.

    Of course, it has to be something good. In this case, I had ready-made material: a travel diary I had kept on a trip to Greece, and my photos from that trip. I knew while on the trip that I would probably be turning it into a website of some sort, so I was careful to keep notes to draw from later.

    The other thing is to carry your digital camera with you. People search the web for pictures, so that's a good way to attract visits. Name your images something specific like "bald-eagle-catching-fish.jpg" not "bird.jpg".

    Since I already had my travel diary, all I had to do is excerpt it for my lens, add pictures, and then add links to other pages on the web relevant to my topic. It helped that I know about Greece, so I could say more about it.

    Result? Lens of the Day within 2 weeks of starting on Squidoo. It's been all downhill since then. ;)

    You can do it! Write on what you know and love! Put YOUR stamp on it. There are things you know better than anyone else -- don't be afraid to share your passion and expertise.
  • _Joan_ Mar 16, 2010 @ 2:43 am | delete
    My first lens was in response to Seth Godin's assertion that everyone is an expert on something. I wrote about what I know -- choir directing.
  • Ramkitten Mar 15, 2010 @ 9:59 pm | delete
    The topic of my first lens ever was something I'm very passionate about, so the writing came easily. And that lens has actually been my top-rated lens for most of my year and three months on Squidoo, often in the top 100, even though it's never made a sale and isn't the lens of mine that gets the most traffic. I think it's because people spend a significant amount of time there and there are a lot of clickouts. So I think being passionate about a topic really goes a long way.
  • vallain Mar 11, 2010 @ 2:22 pm | delete
    It was a lens promoting my mom's self-published book (at age 85). I was so pleased with it, that I went on to create 130 more lenses on various topics.
  • Desilegend Mar 6, 2010 @ 11:11 am | delete
    Thanks for dropping by and kind words. Looking forward to see more of you lenses. You have trustable appearance (of lenses you created). Someday might come for help to your pages...
  • vernessataylor Mar 6, 2010 @ 10:48 pm | delete
    Hi Desilegend, nice to have you comment here. Your help would be very welcome! I will also make time to visit; I enjoyed your Self Portrait very much ... your baby is gorgeous!
  • Load More
Show All

SquidMasters Are Bloggers, Too

Some of my favorite resources for blogging along, when I'm not squidding along!
Loading

Licenses for Artwork, Graphics, Music, Videos

Thanks for your graciousness!

Licenses for Artwork, Graphics, Music, Videos (Thanks for your graciousness!)

Randall Monroe on Creative Commons

(from the Creative Commons website)

Images by comic and author, Randall Monroe / XKCD, are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License. This means you're free to copy and share these comics (but not to sell them).

Some Artwork and Graphics Used From Steve Thompson's Squid Art Too, namely "Disco Squid" in the Introduction. SquidArt Too by Steve Thompson /tagsforkids is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

Some squid clipart used courtesy of Lensmaster GreekGeek over at Squidoo Graphics, namely "Computer Squid." Squidoo Graphics artwork is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

Musical Squids and Musical Squidoodles (Squidii, Squidy, Squidget or Squid Mascot inspired or modified graphic) created for Virtual Concert Week on Squidoo. © 2008 LensDoc / Kirsti A. Dyer licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

Images of Wordles are licensed a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License. No endorsement implied by the use of Wordles in this lens.

All other images are actual screenshots taken from my personal computer systems. See something you like? Use it freely. A link back to this Squidoo lens would be appreciated but not mandatory. Soon you can find them on my Flickr or PhotoBucket but until then . . . Right-Click + Save!

Need info on how and when to give credit for images and other works? There's a Squidoo Lens for that! Using Creative Commons Images from Flickr focuses on Flickr but the info applies in other circumstances, too.

~ # ~ ~ # ~ ~ # ~~ # ~~ # ~ ~ # ~ ~ # ~~ # ~~ # ~ ~ # ~ ~ # ~~ # ~

by

vernessataylor

Hi there and welcome to my lens. About me? I love music in a variety of genres. Trying my hand at creating video tutorials on hot topics (and not doing... more »

Feeling creative? Create a Lens!

Explore related pages

Related Tags