A Guide to Groups for Lensmasters

Anatomy of a Group 

1. Main Page (aka Headquarters)
   This typically contains a description of the group, and a number of group modules to jazz it up, such as: Featured Lenses, Fresh Lenses, Group Discussion, etc.
   This is the best place to get your lens listed on.
2. Lens List (page 1)
   This is a list of all of the lenses that belong to the group, in clumps of 25, sorted by Lensrank. Only the top 25 lenses will appear on this first page.
3. Lens List (subsequent pages)
   If your lens doesn't appear on page one, then it'll be somewhere in the following pages...

Why Should I Join a Group? 

• 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 usually 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.
• The name of the group appears on your lens - assuming that the group name is relevant, it adds weight to the keywords you are targetting.
• 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.

Where can I find Groups to join? 

• Browse Groups
  Here you can find all of the groups, gathered together in to topics.
• Top Groups
  Here are three lists of top 100 groups: Movers and Shakers, Most Active and Hot Off The Press.
• Search Squidoo
  In the search box in the top corner, enter "keyword headquarters", replacing keyword with the term you are searching for. This will a list of all the groups, though the odd lens might sneak in too.
• Search Google New!
  This is a link to a customised search, that will only return results for groups, and other headquarters. Details below.
• Look at other Lenses
  If there is a lens on a similar topic to yours, then look at the groups it is a member of - some of them might be relevant to your lens too.

Which are the Best Groups to Join? 

• 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 have one or more "Fresh Lenses" modules, so that when your lens is accepted into the group it will automatically be featured on the main page, even if the group is not being actively mananged.
• 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 are un-moderated, as your lens will be accepted immediately. On the other hand, so will everyone elses, regardless of relevance.
• 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 with good descriptive names. The name of the group will appear on your lens when it is accepted, so you want it to be a good one, which is related to your content.

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.