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How Do I Keep My Lens Fresh?

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Nothing's Better than Fresh Squid!

You've made a lens. That's great! Think you have a finished product on your hand? Well, you probably don't. Around here, we like nice, well prepared fresh squid!

It's very important to keep your Squidoo lenses updated in order to keep both your lensrank and your search engine rank rising, but just how does a lensmaster accomplish that and keep on building lenses?

Based on a previous blog post, below are six quick ways to update a Squidoo lens. Try to do one or more of these updates on a few of your lenses daily, if you have time, or at least weekly. Keep your lenses fresh to keep that lensrank rising and to keep the search spiders happy.

Not enough information? Still have questions? Ask away in our Q&A module below!

1. Product descriptions and testimonials.

Your readers want personal recommendations!

Add descriptions to your Amazon module items. A personal testimonial or review is most meaningful, but make sure you include at least a short product description rather than just the item name.

Already have descriptions and reviews? Maybe it's time to rotate some old items out and some new ones in.

2. Get your visitors involved

People like to give opinions!

Second suggestion, add a new poll module. If you already have a poll that continues to be relavent and active it's fine to leave it, but often an additional poll can really enhance your lens. Political lenses, especially, come to mind. What's your candidate been up to lately? Poll your visitors and see if they agree or disagree with his or her latest campaign tactic. Add a debate module to get even more discussion going.


(Photo from John Morton via creative commons)

POLL: Do you use polls on your lenses?

Get involved!

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3. Check the calendar.

Revise accordingly.

Do you have a module that pertains to a holiday? The 4th of July is over. Replace your patriotic module with a Christmas or New Year's module.

Stay one step ahead of the calendar. Keep reminders on your own calendar to jog your memory about lenses that will need updating.

4. Check the weather!

Dress your squid for the correct season.

Point number three, above, pertains to seasons as well. Change the pictures on your Zazzle products or Cafepress module from short-sleeve t-shirts to sweatshirts in the wintertime, and vice versa.

How about this fresh, boilded squid! 

5. Do some gardening.

Pruning leads to new growth!

Prune the dead links. Periodically check to be sure all links on your lenses are active. Oftentimes YouTube videos or Flickr pics are no longer available. Replace those with fresh, active links. Check Amazon or Cafepress modules to be sure those items are available as well.

6. Tags and Keywords.

People are looking for your lens. Can they find it?

Review and update your tags/keywords. You're allowed 40 tags per lens. Make sure the ones you choose are the best ones. You don't have to use all 40 and, in fact, sometimes less is more.

Squidoo provides us with awesome statistics. Be sure to check your stats regularly to see how people are finding your lenses. Use the best search terms as tags or, better yet, make sure you incorporate those search terms in your module titles and lens content. Use the words and phrases in a way that sounds natural, and don't overdo it by using the same keywords over and over and over again.

More Ways to Freshen Your Squidoo Lenses

Enter the Valley of the Giants.




For more ideas, check out The Pause That Refreshes on the Valley of the Giants blog.

While you're at it, browse the blog for other great ideas, tips, and information about how to Squidoo, brought to you by a group of current Giant Squids, sharing their lensmaking secrets with you.

For More Squidoo Tips and How-To's Follow the Blog

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How do you update your Squidoo lenses?

Do you serve fresh squid?

Do you have a quick tip, an easy way that you use to freshen your Squidoo lenses? Add it to the list!

1

Vote Up

Add New Links

Whenever I come across an article or something tha more...10 points

2

Vote Up

Add a Polaroid module!

Readers love great pictures, too. Add a new one to more...7 points

3

Vote Up

Add an RSS feed.

When you have a lens that is similar in topic to a more...6 points

4

Vote Up

Add New Search Tags!

Google has a great keyword tool I can use to load more...6 points

5

Vote Up

Re-read, re-write

Even the greatest authors have wanted to go back a more...4 points

6

Vote Up

Update the old YouTube modules with the new Video module.

The newer module is bigger and looks fantastic on more...3 points

7

Vote Up

Featured Lense module

When a lensroll isn't enough...you can put a fello more...2 points

8

Vote Up

Update and Change Selling Modules

I make sure that my Etsy modules are updated, and more...2 points

9

Vote Up

Google Blog Module.

A good tip for freshness, use the google blog modu more...2 points

10

Vote Up

Add Your Twitter Feed

I now add my Twitter Follow to the bottom of every more...1 point

11

Vote Up

Add borders and icons

I create borders and icons to dress up my lenses s more...1 point

12

Vote Up

Link List Module

I make use of the Link List module to freshen up m more...1 point

13

Vote Up

Add a Capital to the Intro

This is my new update blitz.If it looks okay I put more...1 point

14

Vote Up

Add a Featured Link module for some of the new len more...0 points

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Time for a little Q&A

There you have it, six quick suggestions to keep your lens squid-dewy fresh!

What did you think of those suggestions? Did they make sense? Do you need to know more?

Post your questions below, and I'll do my best to answer them for you here. Or leave a comment to let us know how these suggestions worked for you!

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P.S. Still stuck?

Drop by our SquidU.com forum. Ask for help, don't be stingy, be sure to smile, and we're betting someone will come to the rescue.
Photo attribution:
Fresh Squid, Kai Hendry via Flickr
Fresh Boiled Squid, ssour via Flickr


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by

Susan52

Susan52 is a Giant Squid who loves to help new lensmasters succeed so that they can become Giants, too.

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