This group was awarded the Great Group Award

1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic by 121 people | Log in to rate

Ranked #127 in Squidoo Tips, #15,178 overall

The old excellent groups on squidoo

This lens was started because I just got tired of all the groups out there that just aren't great. So this is dedicated to groups that ARE great.

These groups are ALL great - but within the collection I would advise anybody to join especially the smaller groups.


HOWEVER, because this style of group are all being turned into lensographies, I'm no longer adding groups to this page. Groups that disappear will of course be deleted. This is, in effect, now a lens dedicated to an inheritance of the past of squidoo. Yes, squidoo is old enough for a museum: this is a museum for the old style squidoo groups. The lens itself is a bit of an ancient artifact as well. I'm leaving it up (aside from this intro) just as I left it when there was still some hope that groups would be reformatted into something else.

Groups are now, officially, dead. What's left are some great collections of lenses. Squidoo HQ is setting up new groups but they will be a different species, so if a great group lensography of THOSE needs to be made - it's not going to be on here.

Big groups - when are they great? 

I'm picky about groups with more than a hundred lenses

Now that squidoo HQ is taking a serious look at groups, I find I'm getting more picky about which groups are allowed in here.

Groups with over a 100 lenses should either feature ALL lenses (which I don't think is reasonable, but some do) OR have a link plexo for all lenses that aren't featured OR promote lenses in the group on some group blog or something - and not just the high ranking ones. Preferably on some quality criterion (and lensrank isn't one).

The main fact is:

Group masters are privileged and usually don't realize it. While groups generally don't rank very well in google, they do have all those lenses linking to them. Which means that whatever squidoo groups link TO, is far more likely to rank in google than before.

Bigger groups are therefor even more powerful. In the case of big groups I'm being very careful to only give the award to those groups which use this power to serve ALL lensmasters in the group, though with preference to quality. A bit of self promotion is alright of course as maintaining a group is work.

One more thing:

Big groups start out small. If you are going to submit your lens to a group with over a hundred lenses in it, make sure it qualifies on the above grounds - even if it IS featured here. After all, I can't go policing groups to see whether they still qualify for this award. I hope they do. When I see them becoming purely self promotional for any group owner, the feature here can be withdrawn, but that's the exception. In most cases I leave it up here. In other words: this award is no guarantee of lasting quality.

Fresh squids - your chance to get promoted 

This is a unique group. New lensmasters get to show their stuff.

Each month the newest members of this group get promoted on the groupmaster blog, get your first votes and fans etc. Well worth it.

Nature and the environment 

Fauna: animals and birds 

(I didn't find any groups devoted to birds that pass my criteria, so if you have one, please look at your group page and check it against my standards. I'd love to have a bird group listed here. I love birds).

Pets 

Travel and Local 

Europe 

Asia: travel and education 

Australia 

Health: physical, mental & spiritual 

 

Making your life better

Food 

More food 

Regional food 

Religion and Spirituality 

Three of these are my own - yes, I gave myself an award... Go check them out to see if the groups deserved it :)

Buddhism groups 

Specific types of lenses: Squidwho & Ever Project & Squidboo etc. 

More specific squidoo type lenses 

So you think you ought to be on here?

If your group isn't here, just check the criteria - change your group page where necessary and give me the heads up. What I really want is more excellent groups on squidoo.

Special subjects 

Women and pirates and scary stuff...

Unique topics 

Do you get annoyed at low quality groups like I do? 

Do low quality groups annoy you?

Loading Fetching blurbs now... please stand by

Yes, I want my lens in a quality group.

kitty222 says:

Somewhat, but only because the low-quality ones drag down groups as a whole. Also, I'm more likely to join a group that is frequently updated and well maintained.

Ecolicious says:

honestly i haven't taken much look at groups. I find they aren't very interactive so I forget to look. I own one group myself and have joined a few others.

davyjones says:

Yeah, quality is always better. Hopefully more groups will narrow down their criteria of who can or can't be accepted.

Flynn_the_Cat says:

Very much. The only benefits I've found from groups are finding other good, related lenses to investigate/link to from my lenses. And most groups don't even provide that

TheRingBearer_Canadian-wedding says:

The reason I join groups is to find good quality lens to put my work with. Quality groups are worth the time to find, look through, and suggest.

No, all I care about is that extra backlink from being accepted

says:

doesn't really bother me too much, lol but then again not a lot does bother me, it's nice when they do keep up, but then again i also don't know enough about groups and their effectiveness yet to have it bother me as well

 
view all 49 comments

Society and Culture 

Books and Literature groups 

Creativity groups: art, arts & crafts 

 

Squidoo Tips and Tricks 

Holiday Groups 

It's Christmas time... 

Sports and Games 

Kids, Homeschooling and Education 

Home and Family 

Technology, Computers and Software 

Unclassifiably Fun 

This group doesn't fit into any specific category, yet has a very specific theme. That - or just plain devoted to humor :)

Lensographies 

Shopping 

Beauty groups 

SEO and Affiliate Marketing 

My Criteria 

  1. An excellent group is devoted to a theme.

  2. An excellent group page is well organized, preferably by subject.

  3. An excellent group editor is selective: unqualified lenses just don't get in - not even when they were made by the editor.

  4. If all lenses by members aren't featured, there is a link plexo in which members can get their lens listed.
    They were good enough to get in, why not give them a chance to be on the page?

  5. If there are a lot of links, the plexo's are organized by subject, not just by who got in first.

  6. The group page features lenses.

  7. The group page features more than just lenses by the group owner.

  8. Any group that gets members involved or otherwise stands out is also likely to get accepted, even if not all the above standards are met.

  9. Please edit: if you say you are only going to link to lenses, don't accept other links - or change the description on the plexo. I like consistency.

  10. Group owner can be reached! (This one's important. A great group by a non-reachable lensowner is not going to get in here).

  11. Groups that don't look maintained aren't going to get in either.

More about my criteria: module titles 

I look at lensgroups with the same eyes that I use to look at lenses.

Module titles are a peeve of mine. To get in this group your module heading should be descriptive of the lenses in that group. Not just 'more featured lenses' or even 'more featured keyword lenses'.

Use the title to tell your visitors what the lenses in that module have in common. They should have something in common. That's what I mean by organisation.

My own squidoo groups 

So, aren't these great groups? 

If you think a group you love, or one of your own, deserves to be here: please tell me. Don't expect me to just find it magically.

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