Groups are collections of Lens, usually focused on a particular theme or interest. Groups are run by Groupmasters, to maintain and promote them.
The are a large number of Groups on Squidoo now, so deciding which ones to join can be a difficult task, and some Groups are more appropriate that others. This guide will give you some pointers...
Why Should I Join a Group?
There are a number of benefits to belonging to a Group, and if done well it can signigicantly improve the success of a Lens.
- Additional links to your lens are always good, and it can help improve your position in the search engine results.
- Submitting a lens to a moderated group will often result in the groupmaster visiting your lens to see if it's appropriate for that group. Some may leave a rating or a guestbook comment, and may even feature it on the group page.
- Groups that are focused on a particular topic usually only accept Lenses on that topic. This means that the Group will have links to Lenses that are related to each other, again good for search engines.
Search for Groups
This will only show Groups and Headquarters,
without all the usual clutter of lenses or tags.
How Do I Join a Group?
First, find a group that would be good for your lens to be featured on.
Look for a Guestbook module at the bottom of it, you can leave a message for the Groupmaster asking to be considered for that group.
At some point, the Groupmaster will come and check out your lens, and add it to their group if they think it's relevant.
Look for a Guestbook module at the bottom of it, you can leave a message for the Groupmaster asking to be considered for that group.
At some point, the Groupmaster will come and check out your lens, and add it to their group if they think it's relevant.
Which are the Best Groups to Join?
When looking for groups to submit your lenses to, first check if they have any of the following attributes. Concentrate your efforts on those groups that will be best for your lens.
- Groups that are actively managed, and have been updated recently. These groups are more likely to respond to lens submissions (if moderated), and if your lens is especially good the Groupmaster may feature it on the main page of that group.
- Groups that are moderated, as it can attract a visit from the Groupmaster.
However there is no guarentee that your lens will be accepted within a reasonable timeframe. - Groups that have one or more "Featured Lenses" module. If the Groupmaster thinks your Lens is good enough, they may just feature it on the group's main page.
- Groups that contain lenses similar to your own. Relevant links is the key to good traffic from search engines, so this is important.
Generic groups that accept any lens will give you notrelevant links. - Groups with just a few lenses (say less than 100 or so). This improves your chance of your lens being featured by the Groupmaster, and getting into the first page of the group's lens list.
If you submit your lens to a very large group, it'll get lost amongst the others.
Groups to Avoid!
- Groups that only feature their own lenses - yours will be unlikely to get featured, and may not even be accepted.
- Groups that accept any lens. Because these groups will not be related to your content, the benefit of the links you get will be neglible.
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Reader Feedback
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- divacratus divacratus Nov 5, 2009 @ 3:30 pm
- Great lens! Learning something new everyday. Thanks for sharing!
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- hallow hallow Oct 30, 2009 @ 7:18 am
- Finding good groups sometimes can be time consuming. Thanks for sharing this information. I find this lens to be very resourceful. By the way how did you include the google custom search box in your lens. 5** for you.
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- zuoyuling1958 zuoyuling1958 Oct 26, 2009 @ 4:01 am
- thanks for this great lens.
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- Pukeko Pukeko Oct 17, 2009 @ 3:31 pm
- I am so glad you posted this in SquidU. This was really helpful. I don't know how I missed it before. Thanks.
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- makingamark makingamark Sep 10, 2009 @ 7:00 pm
- On all my groups ALL lenses are FEATURED LENSES - if you satisfy the criteria for being included. That means everyone accepted is out in the open and seen all the time.
I really do NOT see the point if a group is intended to inform of keeping lenses off the main page. What's needed are more highly focused niche groups which perform a genuine service of collecting together groups of relevant lenses.
What's NOT needed are groups with huge numbers of lenses that never see the light of day!
I disagree with you about groups of only your own lenses. I created mine for me so I could find my own lenses easily! Trailing up and down the dashboard trying to find one lens out of 100 is soul-destroying! Mine are grouped into small niche topics. However for every one which is mine only I also have another one on more or less the same topic which is more inclusive of other lenses.
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About the Author
Lensmaster thefluffanutta has been a member since September 4 2006, has rated 686 lenses, favorited 187, and has created 96 lenses from scratch. This member's top-ranked page is "My Top Wii Games". See all my lenses
My Bio
I write about what I know, and I build tools for Lensmasters at SquidUtils.com. Read more about me on my Lensography, and follow me on twitter.
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