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How to Make Your First (or Second) Squidoo Lens

1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic (by 124 people)   Your rating: 1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic

Ranked #5 in How-To

72 people favorited this page

Rated G. (Control what you see)

Squid Giant

Created by Margaret_Schaut (contact me)

If you get a great start, you're going to LOVE Squidoo, just as I do!

Start your own Squidoo page

Your fans are waiting!

Becoming a Top Notch Squidoo Lensmaster Quickly!

 

So you want to make a lens? Terrific!

These screenshots and step-by-step instructions will let you get your first lens up in no time.

I've added a few sections about common mistakes, special strategies and hints. Let me know if these things help you!

You found the "make a lens" button. 

On any lens, you'll see a button like the green one, shown here. It will say something like "Make your own page like this" or "Make a travel lens." It might not be green, like this one, but it will be pretty obvious.

When you click on that button, you're on your way to making your first lens.

Note: Above, I've shown what the whole browser window looks like (using Internet Explorer). For the rest of the screenshots, I'll only show the Squidoo part. You won't see the blue bar at the top.

It Might SEEM Hard, But It Isn't!

Step 1: Sign up 

(Only if you've never made a lens before.)

If you've never made a lens before, this will be the first page you see.

(Note: You'll probably have to scroll down to see all of this on your computer screen.)

It's very easy to sign up for Squidoo. In this picture, you can see how I've filled in the form.

TIPS

If you click the orange "continue" button, and the page doesn't change, look for a box near the top telling you what the problem is. It might say, for example, that the Username you've asked for is already taken. If so, choose another, and try again!

Be sure to check the boxes for the Lens of the Day newsletter, and the weekly Tips and Tricks, if you'd like to receive these by email!

Show Off Your Pet!

Squidoo Your Pet: I did mine! 

And Other Animal Pages Too!

Nobody knows your pet like you do, but maybe they should!

Step 2: Welcome! 

Now you're ready to get started.

When you see this screen, you're ready to get started.

Click "Create a lens" and get your juices flowing!

Tell a Story!

Title and Tag your lens 

This is where you decide what your lens will be called. First, what's the official URL (address) of your lens going to be? Maybe you're thinking of "www.squidoo.com/cats." Try it, but you may find that it's already taken. If so, you'll see a warning box at the top of the page, and you can type in a different url. You might try "i-love-cats" or "pet-cats" or something like that.

Here you can see how I began filing in this page.

Make a Point!

And scroll down a little... 

You've chosen a url and a title. Now scroll down for a few more options.

Before you click that orange "continue" button, be sure to indicate whether your lens is one someone would be happy viewing at work, or around their kids, or whether it's for adults only.

Try Something New!

More about you! 

Now you need to enter a bio, to be displayed on the right side of your lens. If you're feeling stuck, it can be very simple: "I'm a cat lover from the midwest." But you should write something, so people know that the lens was created by a real person! If people see the "Hello world" bio, they'll figure you abandoned the lens in the making.

Make a Page YOU Love!

Scroll down on that page a bit... 

Scroll down, and you'll find a few more options.


Here, you'll choose whether you'd like your lens to benefit your favorite charity, or whether you'd like to receive cash when your lens makes money. Take a minute to browse the available Squidoo charities.

Choose a "payout" amount -- the minimum amount that will make Squidoo send money to you or your charity. If your lens earns less than that amount, your money will be kept safe until the next month.

When you're all done with these choices, click the orange Continue button.

Debate an Issue!

A few more steps... This Changes Quickly with New Additions 

Now pick your template. (if it looks different, the process is still the same)

A "template" is a set of "modules" that you'll use to make your lens. If this is your first lens, that probably sounds scary. But don't worry! Just take the first option, and it will become clear as you go through it.

Support a Candidate!

Scroll down once again... 

Do you want to MAX your lens?

This is also something you don't need to worry about right away. If this is your first lens, you can just choose "Max" and leave it at that. Later, it will be easy to change that setting, if you want to."

Explain a Mystery

Here's your lens! 

This is your lens "workshop" page. Now you can start entering stuff!" But first, look over the right-hand side. There are a lot of settings over there. Later, you might want to change some of them.

You can edit the tags that the lens can be found under, and the overall topic for the lens. Now scroll down and look at more stuff...

Expose a Danger!

Scrolling down... 

Scrolling down, you can see some additional settings.

Here you see some lens statistics (your lens rank will be *last* at this point). You can also change your bio and your payment options later, by using the edit buttons here.

TIP

You can add a picture to your lensmaster profile right now, by clicking the orange edit button under your name.

Share a Favorite!

Here are some favorites! 

An important task... 

Before you go any farther, you should scroll to the top of the screen, and find where it says "My Account."

When you mouse over, it will open some options, like you see above. Go down to "preferences" and click.

When you get to the preferences page, on the right side, you'll see "Allow contact: OFF". You should immediately change that to ON by clicking the orange "edit" button.

No one will ever see your email address, but Squidoo will be able to forward message to you, like love notes about how great your lens is, invitations to join groups, requests for interviews from newspaper reporters (it happened to me!), and more. Don't miss this step. It makes a big difference!

Now people can contact you! Yay!

P.S. Did you happen to notice that the lensrank is higher in this screenshot? That's because I took that screenshot later, when the lens was a day or two old. It goes up quickly!

Dress Up Your Page!

Now click your back button. 

Back to work!

So, let's get started really making a lens! On the first "module" at the top of the page, the introduction module, click the orange edit button.

Here, you'll type an introduction to your lens. Tell us what it's about, and why we might want to read it!

You can also add a lens photo here, from your computer. Click "browse" and choose a photo.

TIPS

Don't forget to click "upload"!

And make sure the photo is under 1 megabyte, or when you try to load it, nothing will happen.

Talk about Food! 

Be Yourself!

A final few tips. 

See those buttons at the top? Add module, Reorder Modules, Discard this Draft, Keep this Draft, and PUBLISH? When you're done editing, be sure to click "Keep this Draft" and then "Publish!" Without "Publish!" no one will ever see your wonderful work!

Advocate a Cause!

To-Do List

1. Get your money right!
2. Choose an avatar photo & upload
3. Fill out your bio- add websites, personal page links, anything important about you!
4. Begin your page with the intro module
5. Delete any modules you don't need
6. Tell your story!

Your Intro Module- Common Mistakes 

Your introduction module really NEEDS to have a photo. Why? Because without a photo, your lens will have an ugly orange placeholder wherever it is displayed.

Nothing says 'unfinished lens' like a placeholder!

Most group masters, who are trying to have a nice looking group, won't feature any lens that doesn't have a good photo.

Another problem with introduction modules is trying to get too much information in one spot. If all your information is only in the introduction and not in other modules, you may NEVER get out of wip (work in progress) status!

Long introductions are boring and hard to read. Make them interesting by simply introducing what you will be putting on your page. Break up your text into different, specific modules. You'll end up with a much more interesting page!

Discussing an Issue! 

Be Controversial!

Common Mistakes- Your Avatar 

For those of you who don't know what it is, the avatar is a small picture which will help serve to identify you. You can see mine up at the top left (or right) of the page. This adds instant visual recognition for people who visit one or more of your pages, and you can use the same one for the forums, lounges and other places where an avatar is needed.

Without an avatar, you will end up with the infamous 'orange guy'! To visitors this makes it appear as if you'd prefer to be anonymous, and if you're a business person, you don't want to look that way!

You may want anonymity, but you've given none away by using an avatar of some sort.

Group masters often use a 'featured lensmaster' module on their group page, but when they do, they usually avoid lensmasters that use the orange guy, since it just isn't interesting or beautiful on the page!

ReCap History

More help for new lensmasters 

Here are some links to helpful pages about building lenses. Some of them have general advise, and some have awesome tricks and hacks for the most popular modules.
Ask a question!
The SquidU Lensmaster Lounge is a great place to ask questions, and meet other lensmasters.
SquidU
Lots of tips here at SquidU will help you make the most of your lenses.
Cafe Press Pantry - Cooking Up New Uses for the Module
Not familiar with Cafe Press? That's OK! Explains the module and its many uses here!
The Write Module for Anything!
The Write (and add a picture!) module can do more than you ever imagined!
eBay on Squidoo
If you want to add some great and possibly rare items to your lens, the eBay module can help.
Using the Amazon Module
Amazon offers more than just books. Use this module to enhance your lens and maybe make some money!
10 Simple Steps To Create Traffic for your Lens using a Personal Social Network
Personal Social Networking it's the key to success in 2008 and future years. This little guide will teach you how to use social networks to bring loads of traffic to your lens and create your own personal social network.

Show Some Love!

Show Some Love! 

Common Mistakes- Your Bio Page 

Your bio page is very important! It is from this that your lensmaster page is built, and if people are interested in you, this is how they will find out about you!

Don't overload your first lens with too much personal information, or information related to you unless you're planning to do a lensography (a page with a list of your lenses).

The very best place to put links to your website, your blog, your articles and anything else you want to link to is your bio page! You'll see that because of your squidoo pages (which all link to your lensmaster page) your Google Page Rank will rise very quickly!

You can go to the top of the page here and click on my name, and see my own bio page in action.

What you put on your bio page will be the default bio for every page you build.

2 Bios!

There is a 2nd bio- the small one on each page! You can change each page bio to be appropriate to the topic, instead of always showing your main bio there.

Use that place to share your reasoning, special experience, or motivation to write about your topic. It really improves the page!

Review a Movie

Common Mistakes: Lensmaster Name, Account Name 

Be SURE You've gotten this right!

One of the first inclinations, if you are promoting a product or a business, is to use that product or business as your account/lensmaster name. It certainly makes sense at first, but there are some very good reasons not to do this!

First, you will be building at least one page about your product or your business anyway. This will appear on your lensmaster page so that people can easily find you.

Second, you are not your business or your product! You will most likely discover that you want to create great pages about other things than your product or business, and somehow naming your entire account after a product creates a 'disconnect' in the mind of your visitors.

For example, you might want to sell 'KISS' memorabilia online. However, later you might want to write about Pat Boone, or baby names. The wrong lensmaster name might interfere with how people view your page. A more neutral name would enable you to make pages on many, many topics without a problem.

It has been done successfully, but not often! Consider very carefully whether you want to be known as your product or as your own 'special' self!

Make Some Friends! Its EASY! Join the Fan Clubs!

Common Mistakes: Delete the Modules You Don't Need! 

Often newbies don't realize that they can delete any modules that they don't use, and so they try to make all the modules that come in the 'basic package' useful.

If modules don't help your page and focus, just delete them.

Most new lensmasters aren't aware that sometimes empty modules get published along with the content modules- which reduces the quality of your work!

Investigate the Strange!

Common Mistakes: Module Titles 

make good use of your titles!

Often we see lensmasters who have overlooked or forgotten to change the default titles in their modules!

It is easy to do when you feel overwhelmed by building your first page, but don't worry- it is just as easily fixed as any other thing on a Squidoo page!

Your titles and subtitles are VERY USEFUL when being searched by Google or other search engines.

Therefore, your titles and subtitles will work best for your page if they are related to your most important keywords.

Double check all of your modules and be sure you've put good titles and subtitles!

There is a mystery about the main keyword, which you chose when you decided to build the page. It doesn't show up in your tags list! Be sure to add your primary keyword again in your keywords!

Keywords and Tags

We can have a MAXIMUM number of 40 keywords on a page, so make sure you have the MOST relevant keywords for your topic.

Also, remember to add your main keyword to your tag list again or it may not show up in searches!

Support a Charity

Common Mistakes: Don't Spam- Groups or Anyone! 

You want to promote your new page because you're proud of it and you should be! There are plenty of ways to show off your page, and it is so much fun to watch the traffic come in and to get comments!

One way to help get traffic is to leave comments on other lensmaster's pages.

Your lensmaster page is AUTOMATICALLY linked, along with all your squidoo pages, every single time you leave a comment!

Many newbie lensmasters have decided to use the opportunity for leaving comments to also leave a link to their page. This CAN be done IF the lensmaster allows html in the comments section.

BUT- and this is VERY IMPORTANT- if you 'spam' the comments, you can get barred from EVER LEAVING COMMENTS AGAIN!

So, be careful about this. Visit lensmaster pages, and do leave comments. But make sure the comments are thoughtful, considerate, express an opinion, mention that you rated the page and

IF YOU LEAVE YOUR LINK, be sure that it is appropriate and relevant.

This is a case where the golden rule applies: only leave the kind of comments you'd like to see on your own comment module!

Make a Fan Page!

Making a Fan Page! 

FAQ: Page Layouts / Templates 

How to Select one

The basic Squidoo page has two possible layouts- one is a two- column format, the other is has the blue background, 2 column format.

Most lensmasters really prefer one or the other.

Once you've decided which is best for your page, you will need to go to the right sidebar when you are in the edit mode.

You will see a box that says max/min, tick the box if you want it maxed.

If you want the two column format, click min.
If you want the blue format, click max.

For now, this is the only way to select the page layout you want.

This does NOT apply to the cobrands of Monkeybrains, Squidvids, SquidWho, SquidBoo, SquidLit and so on. This is only for the regular Squidoo site.

Changing the formats every so often helps the whole Squidoo site be 'fresh' for the search engines and helps get your pages FOUND. It helps give you 'google juice.'

How To Add Modules Step by Step #1 

Module Picker

At the top of the page you'll see 4 buttons: Add Modules; Reorder Modules; Save Draft and Publish.

To add a module click: Add Modules

Add Modules

#2 The Module Picker will Open 

This is where you select WHICH module you want!

All of the modules that you can put on your Squidoo Page are here, in the module picker. If you don't find the one you want in the starter package, click on the other tabs. Some can only be found by going to the A-Z page, like the 'featured lens module'.

Module Picker

#3: Add Your Module 

You can add as many as you need

Click 'add' to add your module. You can add as many as you need, you can add different types of modules at this time. Underneath the screen that you can see, will be a list of the ones you are adding. Don't add too many at once! Just add the ones you have time to work on during this session!
Add Text/Write Module

#4: The Empty Module Goes to the Bottom of the Page 

You open that module by clicking the orange 'edit' button. You can also delete modules by clicking the round orange x.

Empty Module at Bottom of Page

Self-Promote

#5: Click Edit and Open Your Module 

The title is a DEFAULT title.

If you do NOT change the title text, when published it will say 'text/write module' and THAT will be the title!

Usually the default title has nothing to do with the topic of your page, even if you are making 'how to Squidoo' pages, so you really DO need to change that default title.

This is a great place to put your keywords in your title, which helps Google to know where to put your page in the search results.

The subtitle is also a good place to use your important keywords.

Open Text Module

#6: Add Your Text and Photos and Save 

There is a SIZE limit in the text area!

Notice that the box says 'the limit is 10,000 CHARACTERS.' This is not only the text you type in, but ALSO the html that you use to have links, or to put in photos, or clickable ads. The characters include spaces.

If you need a module that allows MORE than 10,000 characters, use the link list module!

Adding Text

Notice the up/down arrows by the edit function. You can use these to move your module up or down one spot at a time. If you have a short page with few modules, this is good enough. If you have LOTS of modules, this is a very time consuming way to move them.

#7 Click the Reorder Modules Button at the Top of the Page 

You will see a COLLAPSED version of your page

This is ANOTHER reason to re-title your modules! If you don't, you can't tell which module has what content in it!

The collapsed version of your page shows modules by TITLE only.

Module Sorter

#8 Using the Small Arrows on the Left, Move your Module 

Then, Click 'done' at the bottom of the page

This is, far and away, the fastest way to put your modules in the order you want them.

On the left are up/down arrows. Clicking those, you can grab the module and move it up or down to where you want it.

Moved Module

Notice that on the right side of the module titles is an orange box with an x. You can delete a module by clicking there.

Once you've moved your modules, scroll to the bottom of the page and on the right you'll see a 'done' button. Click that, and your page will come up in the edit mode. If you are satisfied with the location of your module, go to the top of your page, click 'save draft'. When the dialogue box fades, click 'publish'. When that dialogue box fades, click 'view this page' and go see the public version!

Strategies: The Giant Squid 

Our Squid itself is a CLUE!

When I made my first page, I discovered that I kept adding to it and adding to it, because I had SO MUCH INFORMATION to put there.

The truth was that I was trying to get about 20 lenses into only one.

So the strategy that I needed to follow was actually based on the squid itself- make ONE MAIN page of the general topic, and new pages for each specific part of the information!

It was like the Squid itself- one main 'eye' and lots of tentacles, each one very specific and focused on the topic.

In my case, I wrote about the Amish community, and from there I built Amish Tables, Amish Recipes, Amish community, and so on, until I ended up with about 75 different pages, all about something specific pertaining to the Amish.

Make Money!

How Does the Squidoo Money Work?  

Adsense, payouts...

I get LOTS of questions about how the Squidoo money works.

Squidoo has Google Ads/ adsense and Glam Ads that bring income to Squidoo. We share in those revenues. The money the lensmasters share goes into a pool.

Amazon, Cafe Press and other income generation modules are NOT put into the pool.
  • 1/2 of revenues are paid to the lensmasters
  • Payouts are distributed according to LENSRANK.
  • Top Lensmaster payout tier is Lensrank #1 to #1999. Currently that payout is over $8 per month
  • Second Lensmaster payout tier is Lensrank #2000 to #10,000 which currently is paying over $1
  • Third lensmaster payout tier is lensrank #10,001 to the bottom, which is currently getting about $.05 or less.
  • Fourth Lensmaster payout tier is wip (work in progress) lenses which get $.0
  • Payment occurs the second month AFTER the earning. Therefore, what you earn in January will be paid out in March.
  • Amazon module sales are split between you and Squidoo. These revenues are NOT put into the pool. Amazon give Squidoo 10% commission rate, which is split with you, therefore you receive a 5% commission rate from Amazon by going through Squidoo. You would need a LOT of affiliate sales through Amazon to get 5% commission, usually Amazon payout to affiliates is 4%. You may do better by having your own affiliate account, but if your traffic and sales aren't high, you will most likely earn more if you partner with Squidoo.
  • Ebay and other income producing modules work the same way as the Amazon module. Some places pay extra money as a 'finder's fee' for new purchasers coming from your page. If this happens from your Squidoo page, you split the finder's fee with Squidoo.
  • Need more money that that? Sign up for affiliate programs! Sell other products from your page! However, for those programs, you do not share with Squidoo, and your payout comes directly from those affiliates according to your agreement with them.

Squidoo Strategy: Make a Test Lens! 

Experiment with all the modules!

Since you can have several lenses, it is a great idea to make a 'test lens' where you can try out modules you may be interested in, without the pressure of the page looking good.

Believe it or not, my own test lens actually made sales, and was (at one point) on the top 100 list!

Once I really got the hang of Squidooing, I turned my 'test lens' into something else.

But I can tell you, that having a safe spot to test out the uses and possibilities of all the modules was a very helpful thing to have!

Here's What Happened to My Test Lens! 

Humor is GREAT!

Share Your Faith

Squidoo Strategy: Make a Personal Page! 

link EVERYTHING in one spot!

If you have blogs, websites and personal pages like myspace or facebook, and you'd like to increase their reach, think about making a personal page.

We also call these 'lensographies' which is a page listing all of your interests, all of your squidoo pages, all of your blogs, everything!

When you get enough, you may want to start an entire group devoted just to your own pages.

This is MY Lensography 

Make one of your own!

A lensography is a great way to help organize your lenses according to the way you think, or according to topic, or any other way you can imagine. Its a great place to show off your favorite things, your best photos, your pets, your pages, your web...

Ratings System

Remember to rate your lens APPROPRIATELY! Only G rated lenses are available on the Squidoo site search. Most groups only accept G, or R rated lenses, though there are some that accept X rated lenses.

It is VERY UNPOPULAR here to be known as a lensmaster that rates X pages as G!

Share Your Travel Experience

More Help with Squidooing! 

My Lensmastering Blog (New) 

Tips, techniques and helps to build your lenses!

Loading Fetching RSS feed... please stand by

FAQ: Publishing, WIP and Lensrank 

They are all related...

Your lens is published as soon as you click the publish button. That doesn't take care of all publishing issues, though!

A new lens cannot be added to groups until it leaves WorkInProgress (wip) status. This is a MINIMUM of 3 modules NOT INCLUDING the introduction and guestbook. This can change very quickly so I suggest a minimum of 5 content modules, not 3.

You can't join groups until your page has left wip status. Even if you have the proper number of modules, this won't happen until Squidoo re-ranks all the lenses. It could happen 5 minutes after you publish, or up to 48 hours!

Lensrank is immediately improved once a lens has re-ranked through the system, and the fresher, the better! However, you will not gain in lensrank unless things happen like visitors, emails, favoriting, comments, and so on.

Therefore, the more interactive modules that visitors are actually using, the better your lensrank is likely to be!

Explore the Universe!

Co-Branding Squidoo: Monkey Brains! Put Up Your Dukes! 

Here are my FIRST three MonkeyBrains Squidoo Lenses!

To give lensmasters more chances to deal with popular topics, Squidoo has developed co-brands like SquidVids, SquidWho and MonkeyBrains. They are really the same as the regular Squidoo pages, but with different purposes!

Try them out- they're FUN!

FAQ: What's a Plexo? 

Never heard of it!

Plexo is a widget that is BIG on Squidoo. We have a few kinds of them.

We have text plexos, which is basically lines of text that people can vote on- up or down, or just up.

We have link plexos that are basically lines of links, also for voting.

We have Amazon plexos which are products that visitors can vote on.

We have flickr plexos that visitors can vote on.

We also have youtube plexos.

People can add to the plexos if you so choose.

I have a given a few examples in the plexo below so you can see it in action!

This is a Flickr Plexo 

Vote on Your Favorite Mug!

Sorry. Just too many good ones! Vote on your favorites in this plexo!

Agnes Xmas 2001
Agnes Xmas 2001

#1

2 points
Guau!!
Guau!!

#2

1 point
Post It Dog
Post It Dog

#3

1 point
DSC02694.JPG
DSC02694.JPG

#4

1 point
DSC02649.JPG
DSC02649.JPG

#5

1 point
Closeup
Closeup

#6

1 point
kish bw
kish bw

#7

1 point
il suo nome č... AGNESE!
il suo nome č... AGNESE!

#8

1 point
Puckered!!
Puckered!!

#9

1 point
i only have eyes for you
i only have eyes for you

#10

0 points
Too bright for her?
Too bright for her?

#11

0 points
coach
coach

#12

0 points
Thinking...
Thinking...

#13

0 points
Beauté fatale
Beauté fatale

#14

0 points
ace
ace

#15

0 points
eating snow 08
eating snow 08

#16

0 points
Duke watching baby
Duke watching baby

#17

0 points
Happy Boy
Happy Boy

#18

0 points
Duke big tongue
Duke big tongue

#19

0 points
Sleepy Tongue
Sleepy Tongue

#20

0 points
leaft-leaning tongue
leaft-leaning tongue

#21

0 points
Pink Bulldog Pup
Pink Bulldog Pup

#22

0 points
Ripley
Ripley

#23

0 points
major kingston
major kingston

#24

0 points
Bulldog Mafia
Bulldog Mafia

#25

0 points
Duke close up color
Duke close up color

#26

0 points
bulldog blues
bulldog blues

#27

0 points
Cortnay the dog
Cortnay the dog

#28

0 points
DSC02693.JPG
DSC02693.JPG

#29

0 points
oooouuuu
oooouuuu

#30

0 points
DSC_0046.JPG
DSC_0046.JPG

#31

0 points
Snap
Snap

#32

0 points<