Squidcasting - how to squidcast on squidoo

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Squidcast your lens - a how to

Squidcasting is THE way to let people within squidoo know your new lens exists.

You can use it in all kinds of ways - but how do you do it without annoying people?

Squidcasting - what is it? 

A squidcast is a message sent to all the fans you have on squidoo.

It gets sent to their 'your favorites' page.

A squidcast is usually an update on a lens or a message: hey, I made a new lens!

Sometimes squidcasts are used to give people squidoo tips or some other message that's squidoo related.

Limitations of squidcasting

Squidcasting does not work if

  1. You have no fans (or nobody has favored a lens of yours) - go and make some friends on squidu or something.

  2. Your lens is just out. Either wait out the 24 hours, or squidcast from another lens.

How to squidcast... 

[Unfortunately this does not work with new lenses.

In that case you should
1) go to your lensography, or a related lens in your dashboard.

2) Hover over the title. Click where it says 'cast'.]

3) Make sure you link to the lens you are trying to promote in the squidcast. If you don't know HTML - at least meantion the URL of that lens.
There are several ways you can squidcast. The easiest to explain is to
1) publish a lens.

When you've done that, a green box shows up on the screen with a link
2) 'squidcast this lens'.

Click on that link and you're in the edit screen.

3) Be sure to click 'preview' before sending it off. I've had to annoy people with squidcasts that just weren't done yet - or where links didn't work.

4) Read and reread and check links.

5) Click send

Any squidcasting questions? 

So - is this clear? Need any more help?

[any general comments will be deleted in this section. This is for Questions only.]

Lensmaster

sandyspider wrote...

I never really understood squidcasting. I kept feeling like I was sending it out for nothing. Thanks for explaining it. I added this as a feature to my new Squidoo tips lens. Squidoo Widgets, PayPal and Tools

ReplyPosted May 17, 2009

Lensmaster

nightwriter46 wrote...

I usually squidcast when I make major changes like a new post/text module but if I posted daily as it is recommended to keep lens fresh people would grow tired so I think I'll switch to once a week per lens and stagger the casts as much as possible.

Diana

ReplyPosted January 17, 2009

Lensmaster

Mickie_G wrote...

Thanks again for another helpful lens! You are an angel! Am lensrolling it!

ReplyPosted January 17, 2009

Lensmaster

spirituality wrote...

in reply to jdevilbiss I know. Isn't that annoying? It is built that way so people don't squidcast about lenses that aren't ready for visitors yet.

If it's your first lens your only option is to wait for the 24 hours to pass. On the other hand, you probably don't have that many fans yet anyhow, so squidcasting is not likely to be much use as a promotion method anyhow.

ReplyPosted October 28, 2008

Lensmaster

SproutsProudPop wrote...

New squidder here. I made my first lens and published it. Tried to squidcast and couldn't because it's not "Featured". YIKES!

ReplyPosted October 27, 2008

Lensmaster

spirituality wrote...

I often get my first votes and comments on a lens right after a squidcast, so people do check them. But the type of title you give your squidcast makes an enormous difference, as well as the topic of the lens.

ReplyPosted July 22, 2008

Lensmaster

spirituality wrote...

linking in the squidcast
Brenda: you're right: if you're squidcasting from lens A about lens A - you don't need to put in a link (though a link to a specific module may still be a good idea).

But if you're squidcasting about lens B from lens A - a group or a lens that you can't yet squidcast from - then make sure there's a link.

ReplyPosted July 21, 2008

Lensmaster

spirituality wrote...

How often is too often?

I struggle with that myself. On a lensography - squidcasting about two new lenses in one day that you can't squidcast from yet is fine... But on any other lens I'd say once a week should be the maximum - and if nothing happens, don't squidcast.

I tend to break that rule though.. The main thing is what you already said: don't squidcast unless there is a very good reason.

ReplyPosted July 21, 2008

Lensmaster

spirituality wrote...

sample squidcast

title: "The latest about Jim Carree!"

body: Jim Carree just got married - see the pictures and read about the complications on my lens.

-

The general idea is that the title should be as catchy descriptive as you can manage. The body of the text should just tell your readers enough to know whether or not they want to check out your lens.
500 characters max.

ReplyPosted July 21, 2008

Lensmaster

Joan4 wrote...

Will you please add a sample squidcast? Just a general format? Thank you.

ReplyPosted July 19, 2008

 
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An example squidcast - with analysis of what goes wrong 

This was sent through squidcast recently. I'll keep it anonymous so as not to embarrass the author:

new keyword lens today!
Hi!

Thanks for signing up as a "fan" of my lenses. I have a pretty new lens and it got a "Lens of the Week" honor from one of my groups. I hope you like it too! Say hi if you drop by & I will do the same if you Squidoo!!

Let's start with the positive:

1) There is a keyword in the title to the post. This is good. I have some idea what the squidcast is about.
2) She thanks her readers. Always a good idea.

The negative - and the main reason I'm mentioning this one:

1) 'I have a pretty new lens' - which lens is pretty new?
She should have linked to that new lens, or squidcast from it - and made it clear she was talking about the lens she was squidcasting from. The result is confusing.

2) Note that I did not have to change a single word in the description of the squidcast to make it anonymous. There is nothing specific about the squidcast - it could be about any lens she owns - especially since we the readers don't know which lens got featured in one of her groups.

How NOT to annoy people with squidcasts 

  • give your post an appropriate title
    If your squidcast is about a new lens - please don't say 'new lens'.
    Instead say something about the topic of that lens

  • Don't post too frequently. Squidcasting about the same lens three times on one day is probably too much.

  • Don't post about every lens: think about your audience.
    For instance: I made a lens about Buddhism today - very interesting for some of my audience, but unfortunately the lens is in Dutch - which most of them can't read. So I did NOT squidcast about it.

Mistakes made in squidcasts 

The most annoying mistake I see in squidcasts is when the author has not made it clear which lens they are talking about. This happens especially when people squidcast about lens A, from lens B.

If you do that - please add a link to your squidcast so people can click through to the lens you are talking about.

Here's the code:

<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/katinka-hesselink">your lens</a>

Extra tip: use HTML and CSS in your squidcast 

If you've mastered all of the above, you can make your squidcast stand out amongst the crowd with just a little HTML or CSS. For instance you can use the following code:

<b style="color: #004D87">

to make your text a dark blue that really draws attention without being too flashy

Copy paste the code in your squidcast text box: before the text you want to have stand out.

FAQ - any more questions about squidcasts? 

Lensmaster

Sadheeskumar wrote...

I have no questions as of now. Just now got few answers from your lens. I never knew that I can add HTML tags in squidcast. I admit that I never give a link to my lens which I was squidcasting, I hope I will not make mistakes again. Thanks. 5 Stars to this lens.

ReplyPosted June 22, 2009

Lensmaster

Mortira wrote...

Very excellent and throrough tips! Thanks for laying it all out - especially how NOT to annoy your fanclub!

ReplyPosted January 26, 2009

Lensmaster

aj2008 wrote...

I cant believe I have only just found this lens! Great advice Katinka.

ReplyPosted January 18, 2009

Lensmaster

MagicBeanDip wrote...

Thanks again, good advise for a newbie. 5*

ReplyPosted January 17, 2009

Lensmaster

sittonbull wrote...

Great information that I did not previously know on squidcasts! Thank you for squaring that away and I look forward to "casting upon the waters" of squidom. 5*, fav and fan

ReplyPosted January 17, 2009

 
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