What I Look For In A Lens! by a Squid Angel

In my view, the key to a great lens is the introduction. It should be short (2-3 paragraphs), it should include a nice image that clearly presents what the lens is about and the content should encourage the reader to continue their discovery of the rest of the lens.

The intro should include your prime keywords without seeming like you are spamming and it must be proofread. I write the way I speak so my grammar is occasionally incorrect but I read my content out loud and if it sounds good, I move on. Please take some extra time to make sure there are no misspelled words.

I would suggest keeping text links to a minimum in the introduction but if they make sense and highlight features, updates, news or product specials then by all means include them -- just don't go overboard.

Have some fun with this section because the Body is where you grab the reader. Try adding a Poll, Plexo, a top ten list or just a funny picture.

The key to an excellent lens is content and this content can take many shapes. It can be straight copy, similar to this paragraph, in a text/write module, it can be an RSS feed of your blog, it can be video clips from YouTube, images from Flikr or even links to related content on other sites and lenses.

Whatever content will strengthen the message or theme of your lens should be placed in the Body of the lens.

The Body should contain a minimum of three content modules. Squidoo considers lenses with fewer than three content modules to be unimproved and I would imagine that unimproved lenses will not be blessed by any Squid Angel.

If your lens is a business lens designed for selling products or services don't overwhelm the reader with links to products in the body, take some time to tell your story before you start the hard sell.

If the focus of your lens is selling product or services then I would suggest a section where you can highlight your best product or deals. Here is a great example of a product lens.

If you are a content lens but would like to sell product that relates to your topic I suggest you spread out the money making modules throughout your lens as I have done with this lens.


If you are strictly an affiliate lens with very little content, I will probably just pass over your lens. I believe that "content is king" and good content makes for the best Squidoo lenses. Even product focused lenses can contain great content that promotes and educates as well as sells.

Your lens doesn't need to be the Lens of the Day, for me to bless it with the Squid Angel Thumbs Up but it needs to be more than just an affiliate site or one page ad for a product or service.

I will give the Thumbs Down to sites that I consider to be spam and will ignore the many get rich quick, secret marketing tips, and MLM lenses.

Also, I have a soft spot in my heart for online sellers of real product (not just affiliate links) So take some time to freshen up your lens and use my guestbook to tell me about your lens.

Now, if you are an eBay Seller you can get a new special header for your lens. Just go to the eBayers on Squidoo Headquarters and use the Make Your Own button to get started.

Tell me where you Squidoo from? Just click on the map and add you info.