Citizen Squid Squidoo Angel - Spirituality

1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic by 80 people | Log in to rate

Ranked #307 in Squidoo Tips, #50,135 overall

I was a squidangel from April till Oktober 2009. Now (starting Nov. 17th 2009) I'm a Citizen Squid: I'm the SEO mentor. This means that I regained my blessing powers. Which is great: I love finding and rewarding hidden treasures.

This lens is about my policy as squidangel.

What's a squidoo angel? 

A squidangel is a lensmaster who has the power to 'bless' lenses: that is, to give them a lensrank boost.

Squidoo angels are one of the ways squidoo HQ has to make sure quality lenses get promoted (and payed better) and low quality lenses aren't seen too often.

We get a sneek preview at new lenses - so if you want your new lens blessed, make sure it's great right from the start.

 

That is: a squidangel blessing gives a TEMPORARY lensrank boost

My criteria 

I will bless lenses that are of 5 star quality - and have something extra included. In other words, your lens should:

  • There is some picture in the introduction module

  • Have unique content - not copy pasted from all over the internet

  • Be illustrated appropriately: depending on your content. I especially like it if pictures on your lens look like you made them yourself - they should have a unique style.

  • Be personal - lenses that show your character have a far higher chance of being blessed than lenses that just summarize your topic. Though if you summarize well, you might still be blessed.

  • Have enough content: I don't think I've ever seen a bless-worthy lens with less than 5 text/write modules

  • Is well organized

  • Is to the point: don't elaborate on issues that don't fit the lens title.

  • Don't have sales modules or affiliate links that sell stuff not related to the content of your lens

  • The contents of the lens are truthful and wholesome.


In other words: Quality over quantity

Does sucking up help? 

Well, sort of

If you want to get my attention, writing comments on my lenses is sure to do it.

However: your lenses will still only get blessed if they are worth it.

& I bless many lenses where I had never seen the lensmaster before.

Make your lenses better & more successful  

How important ARE squidangel blessings anyhow? 

Well - let's just say other things are more important

Like traffic.

Dinging lenses 

Squidangels have a dark side. It's not just our job to promote good content, we also have a duty to discourage spam.

Personally I have dinged lenses that were:

  • On spammy topics

  • Spreading information that I knew to be untrue

My generation of squidoo angels 

Here are lenses about being a squidangel by the current squidangels. If I forgot any, please add them in the guestbook.

 

 

 

Some male angels - yes, we have a few

Squidangels I've interviewed 

On my thank you lensmaster blog

Semperfidelis
I think we are involved because it's a family effort for one, and for two, we can give away to charity. So far, we've never received a penny from Squidoo. All our earnings have been contributed to the various charities.
Brenda, Squidu top contributor (wasn't an angel yet when I did the interview)
Treasures-By-Brenda is, as are all lensmasters I'm interviewing this week, a top contributor at squidu. She's unique in at least one other way: I've been mentoring her. Not many people can handle my direct style of feedback, I'm afraid. Perhaps it's that Canadian thing...
Jimmie
This is going to probably be one of the last squidangels I get to thank. Jimmie is also a giant squid and a homeschool mom.
Rockycha
Just when I thought all squidangels who were going to had answered my interview questions - rockycha came along and answered them anyhow :). For which I'm glad. I'm honored that she started out saying
Whippettalk - some sales tips!
Introducing Whippettalk - squidangel and the first lensmaster I've seen who has a purple star on her profile (though perhaps that's just a coincidence?).
Chef Keem - a German Squidangel
Chefkeem is one of the new squidangels. He has blessed a few of my lenses, for which I'm grateful of course. But as a squidangel he also blesses a load of other lenses, for which each of those lensmasters owes him their thanks.
Susan52
Introducing Susan52 - arguably the lensmaster with the cutest lensmaster avatar :) Seriously though: she's a giant, and a squidangel and I'm thanking her on behalf of all squidoo lensmasters for her blessings.
BDKZ
Today I'm thanking BDKZ who is a giant, a squidoo oldtimer, and Giant Squid Community Organizer. She also has one of the more popular squidoo blogs: So you want to be a Giant Squid?
Top squidu contributor AJ2008 (wasn't yet an official angel when I did the interview)
AJ is one of the lensmasters I feel closest too, so I was quite happy to have an excuse to thank her. (Yes, I know, needing an excuse to thank someone? But well - I try to be objective about this blog). Known on squidoo as aj2008 she is best known I think for her lens about bullying (see below). I've left her UK spelling intact :)
A_Willow - was only an unofficial squidangel when I interviewed her
A_willow hadn't yet been made a squidangel when I interviewed her... but now she has, and with good reason.
Jaguarjulie: now a former squidangel
Jaguarjulie must be one of the most popular lensmasters around. Her whopping 680 (aka 1444 by now) fans are testimony to that. The fact that she still finds time to rate and comment on lenses like my Dutch ones is amazing to me. With 380 lenses she's also one of the most prolific lensmasters around. Reading her interview is a bit disconcerting. Her most underappreciated lenses still have 28 and 25 votes respectively. Now wouldn't we all love to have that problem? In fact - if you were wondering if she has lenses that haven't been voted on%u2026 I couldn't find any. [And she had the courtesy to send the HTML code for this interview - which obviously means less work for me. I can't believe it]
Kim Giancaterino
Does Kim require an introduction? Long time squidangel - she has helped so many lensmasters it's amazing.
Kiwisoutback, squidangel and travel expert
While kiwisoutback's lensmasters handle suggests a New Zealand origin, he tells me one of his niches is road trips in the USA. Looking for answers to this conundrum, I checked out his lensography and found out he's married to one of our greenest lensmasters: TheGreenerMe.
Joan4 - squidangel, giant, rocketmom etc.
Joan4 is one of those lensmasters that just can't make you stop smiling. It's not for nothing that a lens has already been made in her honor :) She's a giant squid top 100 member, a rocket mom and one of the new squidangels.
Lakeerieartists - one of the new squidangels
Lakeerieartists is one of the new squidangels, a rocketmom, a giant squid and of course she blogs here on squidtop. I also have to thank her for referring regularly to my blog on her posts on squidlog.
Everything mouse - thanking a Disney lensmaster
EverythingMouse is not just an angel, but a giant squid top hundred member too (194 right now).
Susanna Duffy aka susannaduffy
How exciting! An interview! Heavens, I hardly know where to start - things have just happened so fast for me on Squidoo that I can hardly keep up. I'd scarcely recovered from the thrill of making the 100 Club when, out of the blue, I had a Lens of the Day followed soon after by another lens scoring a Purple Star award. In between the LOTD and the Purple Star I woke up one morning with Angel wings.
I keep pinching myself to make sure I really AM awake.
Janet21 - wahm, squidangel, blogger etc.
Janet21 is what most of us want to be: a self sufficient online entrepreneur. Surprisingly she's only made 92 lenses to date, which goes to show that online income really is about quality more than quantity. Added to that of course her other online ventures.
Vbright105, aka Veronica Bright for being a squidangel
Veronica shares my passion for spirituality and paranormal phenomena, but also makes lenses about politics, where she lives and so on. As a giant squid she was already a credit to squidoo, but now she's a squidangel too. Here's her interview.
Squidster - giant squid and squidangel
Took her a while, but this old time squidangel who finally agreed to be interviewed.

Some lenses I've blessed 

Green lenses 

Religion, spirituality & folklore 

Blessed lenses

More blessed lenses - featured on my blog 

Learn about going green
Lenses about ecology, nature and going green.
Squidoo, webdesign and software tips
More blessed lenses:
* 10 Best Things You Can Do on Your Business Website
* Facebook Warning: Activities That Could Get You Banned
* Drawing and Painting with GIMP
* GIMP Tutorial Series Guide
* Make your own Free Squidoo Intro
* Squid Theory
Great art lenses
Some great lenses today in the category of Art.
Some great nature lenses
I'm going to be featuring great lenses here this week - lenses I've blessed. I'm doing this by category. Today I'm listing several nature lenses. Most are by our natural girl...
Spiritual, physical and emotional health
Spiritual health, physical health and psychological health. These are some of the great lenses I've found on my squidoo travels - including some of my own... And yes, I did bless them all (except my own that is).
Religion and Spirituality lenses
Time for me to bless some great lenses with more than a squidangel blessing, but with a link as well. These are in my favorite niche: religion and spirituality. It's quite a collection - I guess there are many great lenses made about this topic.

When I go on a lens blessing spree... about being social... 

Generally I will bless any quality lens I come across. BUT - when I go on a lens blessing spree, I will seek out lensmaster profiles first, from someone's list of fans for instance. I will look at less lenses by lensmasters who don't rate other people's lenses.

I think a 10:1 ratio is fair: 10 lenses rated for every lens made. More is better, of course. So if you've got 3 lenses, you should make sure you rate at least 30. And if you make 50, rate at least 500. The easiest way to get to this is to actually take a look at lenses around squidoo and make a habit of rating them when you're looking.

You don't have to give 5 star ratings - if a lens is lousy, why not give it 2 stars? But DO rate it.

And if I look at more of your lenses, chances are I'll rate and bless more as well. So make sure you rate other people's lenses! Chances are an angel is watching and may reward you for it down the line...

Squidoo tips lenses you might have missed 

More by me 

Do you like being blessed?  

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  • Reply
    Heather426 Heather426 Dec 21, 2009 @ 12:20 am
    I have read many of your spiritual lenses and wished I could bless them and now that I am a Squid angel I am able to bless this one. Also several of your lenses are featured on my A Few of My Favorite Lenses which you blessed....so I blessed all of them too as soon as I made angel. I have a squid angle lens too.
  • Reply
    _Joan_ _Joan_ Nov 25, 2009 @ 11:47 am
    Thanks for the bountiful blessings! I will be working on that gospel lens thing. Also, if you haven't heard the song "Alice's Restaurant", I highly recommend it to you for its depiction of the counterculture in America in the 1960s.
  • Reply
    Susan52 Susan52 Nov 19, 2009 @ 8:52 am
    Katinka, thank you so much for your generous blessings on my lenses. You're a real angel! (Seriously!)
  • Reply
    kimmanleyort kimmanleyort Oct 21, 2009 @ 7:17 am
    You probably do not know this but you were one of my first mentors on Squidoo. Your lenses and your blog are so well written and thought-provoking and I feel you are a kindred spirit. You have visited and blessed several of my lenses, for which I am most grateful.
  • Reply
    spirituality spirituality Oct 20, 2009 @ 8:04 am | in reply to KathyMcGraw
    Glad you made it :)

    As for becoming an angel again, I'm not very good at applying at the right time. I'm very likely to simply miss the announcement that they're 'hiring' again. I only got in this time because I was asked (I think my whole batch was asked).

    Thanks for the lensroll :)
  • Reply
    KathyMcGraw KathyMcGraw Oct 19, 2009 @ 9:51 pm
    I came looking for your lenses, and found this one. I just lensrolled it to the Fresh Wonders Contest on Community as it fits perfectly! Also I wrote my thank you in the Angels Forum, and now want to say Thank you on here. Since I started a year ago you have been the one Angel that has come to my lenses. Yes, I have received Blessings from other Angels, but you seemed to find me at different times over the year, and a whole lot right when I was waiting to see if I would be a Giant or not. Your encouragement and everything else has meant a lot to me.

    I really think the Angels lost a good one of the flock when the new list came out. I sure hope you will reapply next time. You are a real treasure.
  • Reply
    MsSnow4a MsSnow4a Oct 17, 2009 @ 10:19 am
    Nice lens, I love being blessed, I also love being a new angel :) You have been blessed.
  • Reply
    Write Write Oct 13, 2009 @ 12:00 am
    I was surprised to be blessed! I've asked for a blessing at SquidU, but I've deleted the lens I basically went for; still, a big THANK YOU, Katinka!

    Also, a thought was flying through my head the whole day of how to properly thank a SquidAngel, so thanks for the badge.
  • Reply
    ajgodinho ajgodinho Sep 30, 2009 @ 11:02 am
    Hi Katinka, I've been here before, but I wanted to leave you a BIG THANK YOU for your blessings today on two of my lenses: Squid-School and World's Amazing Waterfalls. I was really honored to to receive these Angel Blessings from your 'cos I've known you (through your lenses) to be one who holds high standards. So thanks once again and blessings to you too! :)
  • Reply
    KarateKatGraphics KarateKatGraphics Sep 30, 2009 @ 8:31 am
    Thanks so much for the blessing on Philosophy of Life Quotes!
  • Reply
    lyjusinski lyjusinski Sep 30, 2009 @ 7:20 am
    Thank you for the blessing on my Save the Ta-tas lens!
  • Reply
    tandemonimom tandemonimom Sep 23, 2009 @ 6:18 pm
    I know I've been to this page before, but somehow I had missed ranking it. Glad to be back and give it a well-deserved 5 stars!
  • Reply
    WhiteOak50 WhiteOak50 Sep 20, 2009 @ 10:16 am
    Thank you for blessing my lens Spirituality!! It is funny because I was thinking about you the other day, because I have not seen you around much. But I realized I am the one that hasn't been around much, because I have been so busy with other projects. I hope you had a great time in August during your trip. Have a great day!!
  • Reply
    OhMe OhMe Sep 2, 2009 @ 10:24 am
    Thank you so much for blessing my lens, 90 Minutes In Heaven.
  • Reply
    Sep 2, 2009 @ 3:03 am
    Thank-you for the lens, I am so delighted to be reading about angels here. I started out wanted to be a Giant Squid, now I have even loftier goals. Please see my lens karmasstory ; I would love to know if it is worthy of your blessing. With great love, Darcie
  • Reply
    Stazjia Stazjia Aug 31, 2009 @ 9:43 am
    Thank you so much for the blessing.
  • Reply
    _Joan_ _Joan_ Aug 26, 2009 @ 3:20 pm
    Just saw the badge. It's so pretty! I'm adding it to my blessed lenses.
  • Reply
    peacefulpaths peacefulpaths Aug 25, 2009 @ 11:59 am
    First, thank you so very much for the Angel blessing of my Aura Lens.

    Secondly, thank you for all you do for Lensmasters and Squidoo in general. You are truly appreciated!

    Blessings,
    Frank
  • Reply
    _Joan_ _Joan_ Aug 23, 2009 @ 12:00 pm
    Many thanks for the blessing!
  • Reply
    hlkljgk hlkljgk Jul 26, 2009 @ 4:55 pm
    Thank you for the blessing!
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