List of Frequently Asked Questions 

So you can see if I answer yours :)

• Do you have a favourite laptop bag?
• Do you use a different laptop bag every day?
• Will you sell me one of your review bags for cheap?
• Do you know of any funky laptop bags with wheels?
• I'm a bag designer and want my bag reviewed on one of your sites. How do I make that happen?
• I just started my lens. Now what do I do?
• How do I make my lens as long as yours?
• Are there other resources you recommend for a new lensmaster?
• I love your lens. Will you help me with mine?
• Do you make any money?
• How much traffic do you receive?
• What is your secret to your lens?
• If I give your lens 5 stars, will you give my lens 5 stars?
• Thank you for stopping by!

Do you have a favourite laptop bag? 

Do you use a different laptop bag every day? 

Yes and no. If I am reviewing a bag, I give it a real-life stress test by using it on my daily outings, e.g. to the office, to a client visit, on a business trip. I try to use it for a week, but if the bag is driving me crazy or simply doesn't fit my work habits, I will only try it for 2 days.

That being said, if I don't have a bag to review in my review queue, I tend to operate in one of three laptop bag modes:

1. Casual Use: I have a Timbuk2 backpack that is probably my standard all-arounder. It is great for travel, working out of a coffeeshop, conferences, etc. It has a little design quirk and isn't 100% waterproof, so when I'm bumming around vancouver in the rain, I make sure my laptop is in a waterproof sleeve.


2. Client Meetings: I typically carry a nicer, more professional bag to client meetings. I am currently using the the Rawlings Messenger Bag. It is comfortable, relatively light for a leather bag, holds a fair bit, is a great conversation starter and doesn't get dirty (my original funky Steve bag from Case Closed is really showing the dirt and wear from travel).


3. Quick Meeting: Sometimes, I just want a sleeve if I'm going to a quick meeting or over to a friend's place. I am currently switching between a iSkin SOHO Laptop Sleeve and the Archetype from Tom Bihn. I've also used a sleeve from Pinder Bags before which I liked, but gave away.

I have to admit, I am quite spoiled for choice. I could get away with not having the sleeve - but I do like having a client-facing bag and then a bum-around bag.

Photo Credit: Mini by eliazar

Will you sell me one of your review bags for cheap? 

No. I tend to give away my review copies to friends, colleagues and family. I am considering holding a couple of contests on my laptop bag lens to give away review bags to readers, but I haven't worked that out yet.

Photo Credit: Untitled by :Damien

Do you know of any funky laptop bags with wheels? 

You know, a surprising number of people ask me that question. So I did a little research. It seems there are a few. Check it out!

Also, I have finally reviewed a wheeled laptop bag - the Stafford from Clark & Mayfield. I hope to have at least one more in the next month or so. If you are a designer/manufacturer and want your wheeled laptop bag reviewed, contact me!

Ladies Leather Detachable Laptop Case on Wheels with Removable Sleeve- Red

Amazon Price: (as of 08/07/2008)

McKlein Willowbrook Leather Detachable Wheeled Ladies' Laptop Briefcase

Amazon Price: (as of 08/07/2008)

Venezia Collection Veroncia Business Case on Wheels

Amazon Price: $485.00 (as of 08/07/2008)

THE TRANSIT TOTE

Amazon Price: (as of 08/07/2008)

I'm a bag designer and want my bag reviewed on one of your sites. How do I make that happen? 

I just started my lens. Now what do I do? 

Kimberly's lens is the best ever lens on what to do next! She is the smartest, most engaged lensmaster I know and generously shares everything she learns. Visit her lens!

Plus, Randy has written a great lens on what he looks for in a lens before he "blesses" it. Randy is one of the SquidAngels who makes sure that great lenses rise to the top.

Note: the image is from Kimberly's lens

How do I make my lens as long as yours? 

Or .. how do I put content on my lens?

I get a lot of people asking me how to add content to their lens. You add content to a Squidoo lens via a "Module". There are several dozen different types of modules.

To get started, check out this great Squid-cast from boredofeducation on How to Add Modules!

Plus, you should also check out Margaret's "How to make your first Squidoo lens" lens. Great stuff!!

Finally, check out N376's excellent lens on many different Squidoo modules. N376 highlights a number of the more popular modules and when you might want to use them in your lens.

Are there other resources you recommend for a new lensmaster? 

Lensography of thefluffanutta

thefluffanutta has been building lenses, cool Squidoo tools and other resources. He has a number of resources listed here that both the new and experienced lensmaster will find helpful!!

SquidooCool.com - The blog to be an expert lensmaster!

SquidCool.com is a blog written by talented lensmaster Mr. Lewis Smile. Great stuff here!

Squidoo Magic

Written by master lensmaster Susanne (aka surfsusan), she writes about driving traffic to lenses as well as spicing up the appearance of your lens with graphics and CSS.

The Squid Suite Headquarters

Euryale has started a great series called "The Squid Suite A self-guided tutorial about Squidoo". She's written a lot about the economics of Squidoo as well as what it is to be a good Squidizen. Check out her series as a start to becoming a top notch lensmaster.

Squidoo Tagging Tricks: (how to get more visitors and a better search engine ranking using only tags)

Mr. Smile has also written a tutorial on how to use (and not abuse) tagging. From the lens .... "Adding tags to your lens is a great way to get found by more people. Through Google, through Squidoo Search, and through lensmasters clicking on their own tags links.Basically, tagging is very very good. But only if you know what you're doing.So... get learning :)"

SquidUtils - Utilities and Tools for Squidoo Lensmasters

Created by thefluffanutta, SquidUtils.com has complementry utilities and tools for Squidoo Lensmasters. Tools include: the advanced dashboard, lensmaster feeds, plus Amazon links and feeds.

A Squid Angel Shares His Thoughts

Randy is a Squid Angel. The angels function as guardians of Squidoo - finding the best content and "blessing" it as well as rooting out the spam. In this lens, Randy shares what he looks for before he blesses a lens - some great advice!

Basic HTML for Squidoo Lenses

Want to dress up your lens with some HTML? Glen goes over the basics of which modules will take additional HTML tweaking as well as how to add additional images and make your lens your own.

Squidoo Tips from a Giant Squid

bdkz is a master lensmaker! She has over 300 lenses and is both an angel and a giant Squid! She has a number of great tips about how to make a truly great lens.

I love your lens. Will you help me with mine? 

Thank you! I would love to help, but I would spend all day doing that and that would make my clients very unhappy. Fortunately, there are a number of smart, friendly, helpful and funny people in SquidU. Have you been there? If not, go now!

And make sure you check out the "Critique Me" section in the forum. You can post your lens there and people will post feedback specifically for your lens. It's a great community!

There is also a great article in SquidU entitled How to Get and Give Help. Check it out!

Do you make any money? 

Yes. Between all my lenses (I have 7), I make between $30 to $250 a month, depending on the month (those just after the holidays tend to net me a bit more; during the summer it has settled to about $150 a month). I donate a portion of my proceeds to "Room to Read".

Another question is often "Which modules make you the most money?". I'm not 100% sure because of the way the stats are done. But, you can read the Squidoo FAQ (#12) to get some more info.

Finally, make sure you visit Eurayle's Lens on Squid Theory! She has some fantastic insights on making money using Squidoo, how to tell which modules are making you money, and just being all around super-smart about the economics of Squidoo. Seriously - go there. Now!

Photo Credit: Nrbelex

How much traffic do you receive? 

Again, it depends on the week. I receive between 6000 and 9000 visits in any given 7-day period.

Update: after the holidays, this has settled in usually around 8500 or so. I'll be interested to see how the new layout impacts both search engine traffic and cross-linked traffic.

Update 2 (May 08): my traffic has fallen certainly since the holidays and the beginning of the year. I'm back to just over 6,000 a week which I do find a little surprising. My rank in Google remains solid, so not sure if this is seasonal fluctuation or a trend.

Update 3 (Aug 08): I'm hanging pretty steady at about 6800 a week unless there happens to be a direct link from a high profile site.

Photo Credit: Hamed Saber

What is your secret to your lens? 

There are three :)

1. Focus on content. People really want a unique point of view, from people like them about topics they care about. So, find something you're passionate about and have some expertise in and write about that. I don't do a lot of crazy SEO. I don't try to game the system. I just write good content that people like. I mix up content that doesn't make me any money (i.e. the text modules) with some Money Makers (amazon, ebags, etc). But it all comes down to writing something interesting. Seth actually published an e-book on this recently (I like to think I provided a bit of inspiration). Definitely with a read!


2. Personally, I don't think you can *focus* on making money (though I do think you can make money). There are a number of "money maker" lenses and I know that people just create a lot of links in those modules and wonder why their lenses don't do well. I believe that readers see through that and reward good content with the click through.


3. Link out .. Even if the links don't "make money". Some people won't link unless it's an affiliate link. I think this is a disservice to your readers. Your readers don't care about lensmasters making money - they just want to find what they are looking for.

I've expanded on a couple of these in SquidU:

Does the Title of Your Lens Matter?

How did you choose what to write about?

Also important to note, it took between 4 to 6 months from when I first started writing the lens to achieving good search engine, traffic and income results. You must be patient!

Photo Credit: A Touch of Glass

If I give your lens 5 stars, will you give my lens 5 stars? 

Or .. if I favorite your lens, will you favorite mine?

No.

Why not?

1. It contravenes the terms of service of Squidoo. Read http://www.squidu.com/Lensmastery/starratings for more info on the problem of star-rating swaps.

2. I think it does both my readers and yours a disservice. People read Squidoo looking for good info. If we're rating as "high quality" things that are mediocre, why should readers continue to come here.

3. It hurts the entire Squidoo community. Squidoo *is* a community of experts - people who are sharing a little something of themselves. By unnaturally inflating poor quality lenses, it devalues the entire community which is bad for all of us.

If your lens is high quality, it will get rated highly. Also, stop stressing out about star ratings. :) I've been doing this for 2 years now. My lens only has a 4-star rating and it has been in the #1 slot for a while. So 5 stars isn't the ultimate goal. Fostering a community of readers who value the expertise you share, to me, is the ultimate goal.

Photo Credit: visualpanic

Thank you for stopping by! 

I hope this answered some of your basic questions - these are the ones people ask me the most frequently. If there is one you have that you don't see here, please leave a comment. I have these set on "ask me first" because I'd like to be notified - so don't be concerned if your question doesn't show up right away!

susanelainegalloway Thanks for the "insights" sometimes we can´t see "the Forest For The Trees". Nice tips point taken. Have a great Holiday everyone take carexxxx Posted July 05, 2008

ShannonC Great info, your lenses are all top quality :) Posted June 14, 2008

jstonedotorg Great Lens. Maybe my next lens can get that kind of traffic, but I'm not going to hold my breath. ;-) Posted June 04, 2008

Margaret_Schaut Kate, there is no question that you are the #1 lensmaster on Squidoo, and an inspiration to everyone. I have no doubt you'll be popping me out of the top spot in no time flat once again! In fact, #2 has long been considered the #1 spot, only because you've camped out at the top for so long. We love you Kate, and thanks for pointing me to my FABULOUS laptop bag! Posted March 27, 2008

archetekt Thanks for this great info! I like your traffic stats, I was so happy when my smoothie recipe lens had over 300 in a week. This is inspiration to do better. Posted March 22, 2008

 

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