The Best Squidoo Intros Ever

11 secrets to a great introduction module

a few thing we love and a few things we don't

• 1Introduce what your lens is about. Literally. This first thing is the simplest of all. Telling your audience what you're going to talk about is critical to a great lens. Even if you say quite plainly and simply: "I decided to write this page about sewing buttons on jackets because I find myself doing it a lot, and... bla bla bla." Only making the bla bla bla part great is up to you. :)
• 2Pose a question. It immediately makes your reader think. Christene does this well in her Countdown to Christmas lens. What are some of your holiday traditions during the Christmas season? Do you count down the days with an Advent Calendar? This way you can answer these questions in the body of your lens.
• 3Get personal. Tell a story, make us laugh, evoke emotion. Connecting to your reader on a personal level leaves them wanting more. We know that your privacy matters to you, and that digital interactions can feel weird, but we're not asking you to divulge your darkest secrets. Just sound like a human when you write. Sound like you.
• 4Tell a story. People love stories. Using your intro to tell a story sets up the tone for the rest of the lens and engages your audience.
• 5Toot your own horn. You heard that right! Tell people why your Etsy hats are selling so well, and that you've sold 200 in the last month alone. Reveal that you have a Masters in Art History when you write a lens about painting. Explain what kind of experience you have with the topic you're writing about. (Important to remind yourself: Experience does not mean expertise. We don't think you have to be a bread baking expert, trained in a french bakery and waking up at 5am to start the dough, in order to write a really interesting and useful lens about the bread you love to bake).
• 6Keep it SIMPLE. Your intro is exactly that. An introduction to your lens. Keep it to 3-4 paragraphs maximum. Remember you've got an entire lens to work with. Spread it out a little.
• 7USE GREAT INTRO PHOTOS. Check out our 13 tips for the best intro photos.
• 8So what's the one thing we don't want to see? No intro at all. No intro photo at all. Or worse, a selfish intro that tries to take advantage of your reader in the first 20 characters. Your lens has something to say. It deserves a strong, passionate and creative intro.
• 9Use the Table of Contents module. It lives right in your Intro and it's really easy to use. The TOC module has been statistically proven to get people to read more of your lens. And the more they read, the more they click, and the more you benefit from that interaction and interest. Many of the best Intros we looked at took advantage of the TOC module, or the TOC setting that is included directly within the Intro module. Try it.
• 10Watch the CSS. Really. Just because we allow it in the intro doesn't mean you should go wild with it. Many lensmasters, alas, know enough to be dangerous -- to themselves! CSS is an art, and styling and coloring and emphasizing content is an art. We know you're artists, but make sure you don't over-design your intro (worse, in a way that conflicts with the lens theme) and scare your readers away. Tip: It's not CSS, but try adding smart bolds in places in your intro. Just don't overdo it.
• 11Bienvenido: Think about how you greet people in the real world. Are you warm? Are you friendly? Do you let people know why you are at their door, or ask why they walked in to your shop? Do you tell them a little about yourself? Of course you do. Your lens deserves the same wonderful, unique, relevant intro that you give in real life.