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The Introduction Module in Squidoo

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Introduction, Contents and Discovery Tool

The introduction module in squidoo has an inbuilt table of content. Do use it!

And do upload a picture as an intro image - not having one will stop people from featuring your lens on theirs. And no - just using HTML to put a picture in there does NOT count.

Contents at a Glance

Introduction: Intro-text and picture
Table of Contents
Discovery tool
How to... move the 'Contents at a glance...
The end result: the new squidoo look as...

Use a picture and text

Make sure you put enough text here, because if you don't your readers will be led out of your lens before you know it with the new stuff discussed below.

Get a picture in the introduction module

It's a good idea to upload a picture, because that picture will show up all over squidoo and make your lens look more attractive.

What you do is click on 'upload photo'. This will appear when you have the introduction module in editing mode.

The picture can sometimes refuse to upload. If that's the case, try making it smaller (maximum 500px wide).

The widest pictures to show up in the introduction module are 250px wide anyhow. So you might as well make it that small.

Apparently the folk of squidoo want you to have a table of content very badly, so they put it in your introduction module. As soon as you have 5 modules or more, do turn it on.

First let me show you how the default screen looks with the table of content option turned off:

The same screen looks like this once you click on on:

Make sure you click on most of your modules here. But if you have several that have the same title, only have the first in the table of content.

Discovery tool

It's a bit hard to keep up, but the discovery tool is back. It moved from the center of the screen to the side bar. It's a scrolling list of 6 related lenses - three of which you can add yourself in the introduction module. The others are determined by the tags you used on your lens - so pick tags that you've used on related lenses, as well as tags being used by other people who have lenses related to yours.

Right now (October 2009) the links are in an i-frame. This means that while ordinary visitors can see them, the links do NOT count for search engines.

[Source for the screenshot and the information here: Squidutils]

How to... move the 'Contents at a glance' stuff down on the screen

It's an annoyance to many lensmasters that we now have just a bit of text before visitors to our lenses are enticed away from that lens.

The solution is pretty simple actually:
make sure you have a few paragraphs in your introduction module

The introduction module gets shown before the blue rectangle which has 'contents at a glance' and 'explore related pages'. So more text (and perhaps pictures) there, means they get moved down.

Alternatively - this is where squidoo may someday put a stop to this - you can:
use a very tall picture in the introduction module

I would not advise this beyond reason, because it just puts in more white on your page and while it DOES move the blue contents at a glance feature down - it also makes your lens look kind of empty if you overdo it.

Still, you can see it at work on this lens. My picture in my introduction module is taller than the text is, creating some white space and moving the light-blue in between stuff down.

Again: if this is misused often, squidoo could just decide to cut off pictures beyond a certain hight - still, for now it would work to move things down.

The end result: the new squidoo look as of August 2009

'content at a glance' is where your 'table of contents' ends up. In some cases the table of content module also ends up on this spot. I'm not sure what triggers that, but it's probably when you haven't added any text to the module.

How to make your introduction module interesting - add your tips

As the squidoo tips often emphasize: the introduction is what people see first. It is also what gets shown on other places throughout squidoo.

So use it well. Here are tips - and please add your own.

1

Vote Up

Vote Down

Give it a title

Every module should have a title - but on the intr more...11 points

2

Vote Up

Vote Down

Use a nice picture to 'describe' your lens

Get to your picture-editor and create something un more...10 points

3

Vote Up

Vote Down

Use enough text

Long is better than short.3 points

4

Vote Up

Vote Down

Briefly use all 5 W's

Who, What, When, Where, Why...so that readers can more...3 points

5

Vote Up

Vote Down

make descriptive titles

dont make too long titles. just make it short yet more...3 points

6

Vote Up

Vote Down

Use an Allposters Poster for the lens pic

It can be done! Copy the poster to your PC and the more...3 points

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FAQ on the Introduction module

Can you put HTML links in your introduction module?

Yes you can.

And if you don't know how - here's your code:

<a href="http://www.yourWEBSITE.org/">what you want on your link</a>

Any questions?

Unfortunately changes in my personal life, and in the way squidu is managed, have made me decide to stop answering questions on that forum. I'm also too busy to answer questions elsewhere.

I am available for consulting though, but that doesn't come cheap. For $99 you get a month of asking whatever questions you want and advice on your SEO strategy, link building, optimizing your blog etc. SEO consult online publishing.

If you aren't willing to pay up, you'll have to be content to stay updated on my Marketing Spiritual Blog where I am also willing to answer any questions related to the posts. It also contains a free ebook.

I'm active on twitter and facebook.

My other lenses

Design and idea by Katinka Hesselink - KH Net Webdesign

by squidoohelp

squidoohelp

I'm a webmaster and getting addicted to squidoo. In this lens I share my understanding of the new properties of the introductory module in squidoo.

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The Introduction Module in Squidoo

Introduction, Contents and Discovery Tool

Contents at a Glance

Contents at a Glance

Introduction: Intro-text and picture

Use a picture and text

Table of Contents

More about links

Discovery tool

How to... move the 'Contents at a glance' stuff down on the screen

The end result: the new squidoo look as of August 2009

How to make your introduction module interesting - add your tips

1

Give it a title

2

Use a nice picture to 'describe' your lens

3

Use enough text

4

Briefly use all 5 W's

5

make descriptive titles

6

Use an Allposters Poster for the lens pic

Please pick your widget size and display. Then click "Make the Widget" to get the code that's just right for you.

Voila! Just copy and paste this code into your own site. Have fun!

Oopsey! Please login to Squidoo in order to add this module to your lens.

FAQ on the Introduction module

Any questions?

More Squidoo Help Lenses - squidoo answer deck etc.

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Please pick your widget size and display. Then click "Make the Widget" to get the code that's just right for you.

Voila! Just copy and paste this code into your own site. Have fun!

Oopsey! Please login to Squidoo in order to add this module to your lens.

My other lenses

by squidoohelp

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