My Experience With Squidoo - A Rapid Trip to Level 40!

Since this lens was published, I have continued to earn points on Squidoo. I have also earned more trophies. As a result, I have advanced up even higher. In December, 2010, I was appointed as a Squid Angel. This has kept me busy blessing many worthy lenses. I find and read great lenses. I then add a comment, complete any polls or quizzes, hit like, and bless it. I sometimes use the favorite button and I may join the lensmaster's fan club. I also save the name of the lens in a document that shows all of the lenses that I have blessed. I'll do something with the document later.

It's been quite a whirlwind experience. Now that I am at this level, there are 5000 points required to get to the next level. I'm confident that I will increase my level in time, but I'm concentrating on Squid Angel duties, earning Squidoo trophies and making my lenses better, in that order. Like I said, it's been fun. I have seen a few people now at level 80, one short of the maximum of 81. At that level, it takes 900,000 points to go to the next, and final, level. I'm still sure that they will bump the number of levels before long. Since there are now so many points required to level up, it has actually caused me to lose interest in the process somewhat. Unfortunately, many of the point earning activities like polls or comments, are now earning me substantially fewer points. It makes it even slower for me to get to the next level. These days, the best aspects of Squidoo come from the comments that I receive on lenses like this one and my others.

Here are my top Squidoo accomplishments:
43 Trophies - hardly anyone has more even though about 90+ are available
Squid Angel - appointed a permanent Neighborhood Squid Angel for Business Ethics with roving privileges
Past Squid Angel - appointed as a Squid Angel for the month of December, 2010
Giant Squid - have completed 50 quality lenses and been judged worthy of admission to the Giant Squid ranks
Giant Squid 100 - have completed 100 quality lenses and been judged worthy of promotion to Giant Squid 100
Purple Star - three of my lenses were judged as being in the top quality level on Squidoo
Tier 1 payout - one of my lenses was paid at tier 1
Tier 2 payout - many of my lenses have been paid at tier 2
Tier 3 payout - many of my lenses have been paid at tier 3
Lens sales - customers have purchased while viewing my lenses
This lens has been liked over 200 times. Thank-you everyone!

While at level 59, I was informed that I had won a Purple Star for my lens The Importance of Music for Children. This is quite a prestigious award as there are only about 1000 a year given. It comes with a Squidoo trophy in my profile. I am very pleased to have been nominated for the award and humbled that my lens was awarded the Purple Star.

Just by joining and writing a new lens, you get Squidoo points. Writing a few more lenses gives you more points. Adding certain lens features, like a second Amazon module, will earn you some bonus points sometimes. Others, like a Duel module, will give bonus points as well. Key to this is the fact that simply writing more lenses will earn points for the members. There are a lot of other ways to earn points too. Commenting on other lenses will give a small number of points for each comment. "Liking" a lens is worth 2 points. Answering a poll question will earn 4 points. Sometimes answering or commenting will unlock a new achievement, like 50 comments, and bonus points will be awarded. These encourage members to participate in the site reading, writing, commenting and generally contributing to the freshness of Squidoo. The site is active and will often pop up a quick message informing the member of newly gained points. Often unexpected, these notices are clever and very funny at times. Note, however, that some of the point earning activities will award fewer points as you level up. You may eventually get only 1 point for answering a poll question, for example.

Often Squidoo will tell you that you have been awarded extra points because a high level Squid has liked or commented on your lens. A regular Squid, (member), might comment on your lens which is good for 4 points. A high level Squid comment will be worth 10 points at least. There are very high level Squids that can award even more points to you when they participate on your lenses. The high level Squids are quite active on the web site so it is quite common to receive points from their actions. Other squid levels are "Giant Squids" and "Squid Angels". These members credit your lenses with even more points when they participate with comments or likes. As well, all actions by anyone on your lenses helps to boost the page rank. This is ultimately important for the monetary value of the lens. High level squids are about level 25 so I am a high level squid. When I comment on a lens, the lens author gets 10 points. I'm happy to do so since I comment on lenses I like. I'm glad the author gets a boost from my comment. Often they will later visit my lenses, so I may get reciprocal points in the future.
Update on Giant Squids
During my time at level 56, I was given a bonus of 100 points when I received a new "like" from a Giant Squid. That was the 200th action for my lenses by a Giant Squid. That is quite an honor, in my opinion. Squidoo tracks a lot of activities for your lenses. There is no trophy for many of them but there are a lot of bonus points awarded for different things.

As you achieve a new level, you are welcome to see a list of the top lensmasters at that level. This can be quite interesting. Each Squidoo member is unique and they each will have reached the same level as you through different paths. Some write a lot of lenses and advance, ("level up"), via points earned with those lenses. Others make a lot of comments on the lenses of others. Others gain points through activity on their lenses. At each level, you should check the lensmasters at your new level. Check out their lenses and participate on them. As you advance throught the levels, you'll find that the other lensmasters will become ever more important. If these lensmasters visit your lenses in turn, then you will gain additional points. Many of the lensmasters will become high level Squids so it can be very lucrative to interact with them when they are at your level. Squidoo doesn't let you look ahead to make contacts. That is, if you are at level 40, you can't get a list of the level 50 lensmasters. This helps to boost activities consistent with use at your particular level or below. As a service to the Squidoo community, I will often look at the list of lower levels, (like 5, 10, etc), and review some of the lenses written by people at those levels. The quality is usually excellent and I am often amused or educated by the lenses. I'll comment and like the lenses to give the new comers a boost.