Fresh Wonders Nature Contest

One of the most important ingredients in a top notch Nature lens is good images. The old adage, "A picture tells a thousand words", certainly applies here. A lens with a photo of your cute puppy, kitten or hamster is much more appealing to the reader than to just read a description of it.

Which would you rather see?

This?

Or This?

My Cocker Spaniel is gold and doesn't like to wake up from his nap wearing a Santa hat.

Whether you are writing about caring for your new house plant or describing a species of turtle, you must check your facts. The Internet is a good way to do this quickly, but you can also check books out of the library and do the research the old fashioned way. Either way, be sure that you put the information in your own words. Never, never copy another persons work. This is called plagiarism and it is illegal to do so. Search engines also do not rate copied work highly.

Try to liven up the dull facts with interesting tidbits. Break long paragraphs up into smaller, more easy to read ones. Insert pictures within or between paragraphs to illustrate what you are writing about.

Banned Books Print by Jaenne

Blueish Black Racer by naturegirl7

Developing a niche is the way to excel on Squidoo. You develop an unique identity. You can have several niches. Some of mine are the Snakes of Louisiana, native plants and Louisiana food and fun.

When developing a niche, first write a broad lens which tells general information about the animal or plant. You can even list and briefly describe individual ones that you plan to write other lenses about. Then as you complete the individual lenses, add a featured lens module to the main lens and to the other individual lenses (and vice-versa). This creates backlinks and serves as a directory for your niche.

Award image created by a_willow

The contest runs from Monday, November 2, 2009 to Sunday, November 8, 2009.

The Voting for the best Animal and Nature Lens will occur from Monday, November 9th until Sunday, November 15th.

Members of the Fresh Wonders Ning Community can participate in the Animal & Nature Lens Contest.

Just put the url (link) of your lens in the Guestbook by Midnight on November 8th. I will add them to the Voting Plexo on Monday, Nov. 9th. The Plexo will be locked until the voting starts on November 9th. An announcement will be posted when the lenses have been added to the plexo and it is time to vote.

Fresh Wonders is a group of Wonder Squids and Fresh Squids and is all about helping and supporting each other. If you are interested in joining, please get in touch with our group leader, a_willow (Michelle Willow).