FAQ: General Lensmastery
How do I...? Can I...? Where...?
We often get interesting questions about creating lenses that may not have obvious answers. If you're stuck on the process for making lenses, check here from some great tips and answers to questions other lensmasters have asked.
If you were directed here by Tisha, our awesome bug sorter outer, and you still weren't able to find an answer, reply to Tisha's email, and she'll take a further look.
Make your lenses sing. Image used courtesy of Creative Commons and Ayton.
If you were directed here by Tisha, our awesome bug sorter outer, and you still weren't able to find an answer, reply to Tisha's email, and she'll take a further look.
Make your lenses sing. Image used courtesy of Creative Commons and Ayton.
Why is my lens marked as spam? (And why do I have to wait three days?)
The internet has become an attractive place for spammers, and Squidoo wants no part of it. Part of the way we inhibit spam is by looking for keywords on lenses that are related to spam. These keywords (nope, we don't publish a list, sorry) could be part of normal text on a non-spam lens, so if you're confused as to why you're getting a spam alert message, or have to wait three days for a review, this could be why.
If your lens isn't spam, or doesn't break one of the rules found at a link below, never fear. Your link will be reviewed, pass our filter, and go on its merry way. If you see something that raises a flag, feel free to fix it up.
(We're working on a way to make sure that do-gooders don't continually get caught in our filter, so thanks for your patience while we work on that.)
Here are more places to find info on our anti-spam efforts:
If your lens isn't spam, or doesn't break one of the rules found at a link below, never fear. Your link will be reviewed, pass our filter, and go on its merry way. If you see something that raises a flag, feel free to fix it up.
(We're working on a way to make sure that do-gooders don't continually get caught in our filter, so thanks for your patience while we work on that.)
Here are more places to find info on our anti-spam efforts:
- Terms of Service
- Our Terms of Service offer some clues about what we don't allow.
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Our FAQ includes some details about spam topics and no-nos.
- Squid Don't
- Here is a list of things we don't allow lenses on.
- Squid Gone
- Did you get a note that your lenses and/or account were being deleted? Read here to find out why.
Why can't I make more lenses?
For non-Giant Squids, there is currently a limit on the number of lenses you can make in one day. In a 24-hour period, you can make up to 10 new lenses. PLUS, you can only have up to 25 unfeatured lenses on your dashboard. So if you have a long list of lenses in WIP, try finishing and publishing them first.
Can I change my lens URL or username?
Nope, URLs and usernames are permanent.
Why are there ads on my lens?
Currently, advertising shows up on your lens based on tags (keywords) you use. You can try to change which AdSense ads show up by altering these keywords. For AdSense ads, if you find that an ad is R or X-rated and inappropriate for viewers, we can look into making sure it is filtered out. However we don't moderate competitors ads. Sorry.
You CAN opt out of ads by donating all the revenue from your lens to a charity. If you do that, no sidebar banner ads will show up on your lens. To do this, go to the edit page of your lens, set your commissions to go to the charity of your choice, and click "opt out" under the checkbox for "maxed."
If you're referring to links to another lens in the More Great Lenses section, you can lensroll other lenses of your choice to make the ones currently there go away.
You CAN opt out of ads by donating all the revenue from your lens to a charity. If you do that, no sidebar banner ads will show up on your lens. To do this, go to the edit page of your lens, set your commissions to go to the charity of your choice, and click "opt out" under the checkbox for "maxed."
If you're referring to links to another lens in the More Great Lenses section, you can lensroll other lenses of your choice to make the ones currently there go away.
Why doesn't Squidoo support my category?
Squidoo creates lists of general categories to help sort lenses out from ALL down to more specific lists. However, we know no category list will ever be complete, and someone out there will always create a lens they don't think fits into our categories.
Placing your lens into a category need not be an exact science, so if your lens is an informative lens on selling slow cookers, food or business would be appropriate. For more help, ask your peers at SquidU forum.
Placing your lens into a category need not be an exact science, so if your lens is an informative lens on selling slow cookers, food or business would be appropriate. For more help, ask your peers at SquidU forum.
Why can't I find my lens in Squidoo's search?
Squidoo puts lenses into its search engine based on their tags. If you have the keywords "sun," "moon," and "stars," as your tags, your lens will come up when you search for those keywords. But it won't come up for "bearclaw" unless it's a tag.
Also, lenses don't automatically come up in search once they've been published. Like other search engines, it takes a few days or weeks for them to get in the system. You should be able to search for them soon.
Also, lenses don't automatically come up in search once they've been published. Like other search engines, it takes a few days or weeks for them to get in the system. You should be able to search for them soon.
Why do my visitor counts keep decreasing?
Does the visitor stats in your Dashboard seem to be going backwards? Worried about losing Page Views? Don't be concerned, it's a "7 day rolling window."
It is showing how many visitors you've had in the last week. So the totals may go up or down based on the total sum of the seven days.
So what traffic you got 7 days ago, will drop off when tomorrows traffic is added, as the numbers will likely vary. If for whatever reason you had a tremendous traffic spike, then the drop will be just as spectacular.
It's nothing to fret over, it's just a quick look at your traffic for the past week. To see what you got today, yesterday, the last 30 days and for the life of the lens you can go into the Advanced Stats for each lens (by clicking on the Stats for the corresponding lens).
by N376
It is showing how many visitors you've had in the last week. So the totals may go up or down based on the total sum of the seven days.
So what traffic you got 7 days ago, will drop off when tomorrows traffic is added, as the numbers will likely vary. If for whatever reason you had a tremendous traffic spike, then the drop will be just as spectacular.
It's nothing to fret over, it's just a quick look at your traffic for the past week. To see what you got today, yesterday, the last 30 days and for the life of the lens you can go into the Advanced Stats for each lens (by clicking on the Stats for the corresponding lens).
by N376
When I create a lens URL it keeps telling me I'm entering special code
Squidoo urls are in the format squidoo.com/mylens and you should be entering the mylens part. No www., no .com, etc.
Think letters, numbers, dashes, and underscores only.
For example:
my_great_lens
top10ideas
1-million-dollars
Think letters, numbers, dashes, and underscores only.
For example:
my_great_lens
top10ideas
1-million-dollars
Answers about Fan Clubs
Did you know you can become a fan of lenses or lensmasters and get updates about them? Here's a bit more about how Fan Clubs work.
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Where can I view my fans?
On your lensmaster page at http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/YOURUSERNAME -
How do I become a fan?
When you're logged in, look for the "Favorite it!" link on a lens and the "Join this fan club" link on a lensmaster profile page. -
Can I ban or delete unwanted fans.
Sorry, not at this point.
I'm not indexed with Google. What's up with that?
Contrary to popular belief, Squidoo doesn't have a secret partnership with or any knowledge about how Google runs their search engine business. We wish! We're out there, the same as anyone who puts up a website, constantly trying to do the best by Google and give them what they're looking for. Of course, we can only offer you the tools to do it. Each lensmaster has to use them effectively in order for them to work. And even then, it's always up to Google, Yahoo!, AltaVista, or whoever, to decide what rules they want to play by.
Our best suggestion is to do what we would do. Create great lenses. Update them frequently. Be passionate, original, and genuine. Think outside the box (search engines). Do something that will make people want to come to your lens and read it and buy something whether or not they find it in a search engine. And good things will come to you.
Our best suggestion is to do what we would do. Create great lenses. Update them frequently. Be passionate, original, and genuine. Think outside the box (search engines). Do something that will make people want to come to your lens and read it and buy something whether or not they find it in a search engine. And good things will come to you.
Help with Tags
Tags are keywords and phrases that are relevant to the topic of your lens, and can help readers find your lens. Here are our most helpful lenses on defining and using tags.
My guestbook comments are missing
If you received an email stating you had new guestbook comments, and can't find them, forward the entire email to squidhelp @ squidoo.com. We'll look into it!
Still need help?
If your question isn't due to a glitch on your lens, you can ask for help at our peer-driven forum.SquidU Forum
If you still can't find the answer, or your lens is glitchy, file a bug report.
What is your best tip for a new lensmaster?
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PastorCher
Jan 23, 2012 @ 5:53 am | delete
- Visit other peoples lenses and the forum. You will learn faster by doing so.
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vikksimmons
Nov 25, 2011 @ 11:24 am | delete
- Write informative lenses that share a bit of knowledge and include some of yourself in each and every lens. And I second the purple star lenses.
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mercin
Nov 14, 2011 @ 9:33 pm | delete
- I'm glad to know you don't have a secret relationship with Google, although many of us wish you did!
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tokyonights7
Sep 28, 2011 @ 8:38 am | delete
- Nice idea for a lens :)
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darciefrench
Sep 24, 2011 @ 2:53 pm | delete
- Thanks for posting these sought after Squidoo FAQS - much appreciated.
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SquidooKimberly
SquidooKimberly
I'm Kimberly, your Community Organizer on Squidoo. These official lenses will help you be more successful on your favorite internet service - Squidoo!... more »
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