Being an online religion (i.e. Web based, 100%), Squidooism worship involves an elaborate and complex sequence of rituals.

Most are best performed daily - but like any large religious groups, you have fanatic followers who go over and beyond the call of religion... and casual adherents who do much less.

A 'Good Squidooist' does all of these things every morning (or afternoon, or night):

- Visits all the lenses under her patronage
- Checks out her stats to see how popular each one is
- Drops by SquidU, the gathering place of worshippers
- Says a silent prayer of thanks to 'The High Priest of Squidooism'

Sidenote: An interesting lens for new Squidooists who scorn the power of prayer is this one showing you "How to Pray"

While the name 'Squidooism' may conjure up grotesque or gruesome imagery of sacrificial altars and garishly painted witchdoctors doing a rain dance around bonfires, real Squidooism is tamely devoid of such excitement.

An extremely devoted Squidooist will however religiously follow some sacred rites and rituals including:

- adding fresh content to his lens regularly
- visiting a few other lenses and rating them
- post a nice 'thought for the day' on their guestbooks
- check out the 'Lens of the Day' blog for the latest 'find'
- share a short sermon on the SquidU boards
- 'sneeze' outside Squidoo about the power of Squidoo

When I first explored Squidooism, it was with curiosity to see what kind of deities these people revered. It was almost an anti-climax when time and time again I was told there are no deities. No, not even one little idol they pray to.

But then, I asked about High Priests, and hit pay dirt. One name kept popping up - the "Mighty Squid Godin"

Rumor mingled with folklore masked the facts, but from what I could unearth, it appears as if 'MSG' is the founder of Squidooism and its core philosopher and 'prophet'.

He holds his sermons from the blog every day, and hundreds of Squidooists follow his words of wisdom.

Go on and click this link and see today's wisdom - and while you're there, look into his eyes... and feel the Force.

Squidooists are a strange breed. Diverse in geographic location, interests, skills, expertise and passions, they are united in their passionate belief in Squidooism.

But because they share other similarities, splinter groups have formed within this broad network - and coalesced into cults and klans.

Each has its own unique ethos - under the umbrella of Squidooism. Gossip mills spin with the story of voodoo rites and black magic in some sects - I found no evidence, but then I don't own an iPhone (yet!) and still believe it is the loveliest phone ever made!

I however did find evidence of 'fringe elements' of 'radicalists' who are trying desperately to keep Squidooism hidden from the masses, so they can enjoy their limited version of this benevolent religion - leaving the rest of the world to destruction and damnation!

Like any popular movement in the real or virtual world, Squidooism has its fair share of non-believers, rebels and fruitcakes who couldn't care less about it.

And they proudly proclaim their disdain for Squidooism to the world.

As if Squidooists cared!

They don't. They are secure in their Orange Universe, guarded by their proximity to their High Priest, M.S.G., and are under the protection of the Emperor of the Internet - GOOGLE.

Yes, Google loves Squidoo, Squidooism and Squidooists

So take that - and play it on your pianola... hmmph!

Squidoo Karma is just like any other karma in the real world.

Respect it, and it will embrace you and shower you with love.

Abuse it, and it'll bite you in the butt.

You'll reap what you sow.

Get your just deserts.

User assumes full liability.

Batteries not included.

Other restrictions may apply.

Oops!

In a nutshell, Squidoo karma racks up points against your account - and when you hit a threshold (that only the High Priest knows and decides), you hit the jackpot, and experience Squidoo Nirvana.

Squidooists aren't quite decided on what attaining Squidoo Nirvana really means.

Some say it's getting a lens featured on 'Lens of the Day'.

Others argue that until you attain 'Top 100' status, you've not died and gone to heaven.

I tried posting the question to the High Priest of Squidooism and got a deeply profound answer...

S I L E N C E

To non-Squidooists, everything about Squidoo is mystical, magical and 'crazy'.

All that changes the moment they take a leap of Faith and build their first lens. 7 out of 10 convert to Squidooism right then and there. The rest become Squidooists a week later.

A lot of the mystique vanishes, but there's still much left.

Ardent Squidooists debate in private 'Share the Faith' meetings about things like:

- How does Squidoo perform miracles and get lenses to rank top 10 on Google?

- How does Squidooism captivate 'first time' visitors effortlessly?

- Why do Squidooists quickly become evangelists - for Squidooism?

- Who is the 'God'in of Squidooism?

- How soon will Squidooism become a 'mainstream' religion?

And finally,

What's it about Squidooism that's got us all captivated by it?

Hopefully, the mystique will never leave Squidooism - and enrapture and baffle future generations of Squidooists who arrive to worship at the shrine of 'Lensdom'.

Squidoo Marketing - Understanding Squidoo's Ethos

When you search on Google for something, you don't bother to think about what drives the founders to build such a powerful search engine.

The trouble is, too many people don't bother to think about it before 'optimizing' a website to rank well on Google.

And that's a mistake.

I wrote an article titled "How To Make A GIANT Pay You".
http://www.warriorforum.com/forum/topic %u2026 _ID=106776

It was all about how you can leverage huge networks of users built by giants like Google, MySpace and eBay to attract visitors to your website and profit from them.

The key is a very basic, very simple, very obvious philosophy:

Give THEM What They Want

And that's why the smartest, most successful 'Squidooists' will start off by studying what's behind Squidooism.

The 'Mighty Squid Godin' revealed part of it in a short interview that's on the Squidoo website. He said the reason he thought of Squidooism is because searchers were getting FRUSTRATED.

When you go to Google or Yahoo! or any of the other directories and look for something, chances are you are going to click around many times before you find the information you want.

And there were gaps. Gaps that could only be filled by 'human intelligence'. Intelligent people who cared about other users, and wanted to share with them the fruits of their experience and expertise, to build a LENS.

A 'lens' is used to look through - and see things from a unique perspective... that of the person who created the lens. Squidooims refers to these folks 'Lensmasters' - and gives them the creative tools to build lenses on just about anything they like.

And Then, Squidooims Gets Out Of Your Way!

Let's you worship in the style and manner best suited to your beliefs, philosophy and time availability.

And just in case you thought what I've just said is an 'introduction' or 'warming up' to Squidooism, STOP.

Go back and re-read it. Yes, I'm serious.

If you want to embrace Squidooism and earn 'good' Squidoo karma, imbibe and internalize this philosophy. If you ignore this part, everything else you do as a Squidooist will be much less effective.

The 'simple' concept above is your biggest 'Squidooism Secret'

And for more practical teachings on Squidoo, visit go to "Social Mininet Secrets" and buy the ADVANCED Squidoo Secrets guidebook today.