Free Squidoo Secrets: My Beginner's Path to Giant Squid!

I redid my lenses, added a new bio, and added more links to each lens.

Then I searched online to find new websites to help me become a Giant Squid.

Some of the search phrases I used: I am a Giant Squid, and Make Lots of money using Squidoo.

I joined some groups to help me with ideas and motivation. One group is Rocket Moms, and another is Work at Home with Squidoo. I put all the sites I found here on Squidoo on my Favorites list by clicking on the star at their Squidoo locations. I bookmarked the websites and blogs on my computer.

Other things I did: I downloaded some free ebooks about becoming a Giant Squid. One is below along with the link, so you can download it too. Others are available via the links and sites on this lens.

Next, I went to the Lensmaster Lounge and signed in with my name and password I use for Squidoo. That area is here: The Squidoo Forum.

I also went to the Squidoo message boards and started reading them. I started with the FAQ section. Next I will learn how to make a signature here.

2-17: Today I listed all my lenses as blogs in Google Feedburner. That way I can ping to them there, and later on maybe add one or more to a blog or website. I also pinged every one of them using Pingoat, which has mysteriously reappeared online! This might bring more traffic to each lens. I hope so! I plan to try pinging to two other services, too. One is Ping-O-Matic, and the other is Autopinger. I like Ping-O-Matic better than Autopinger, which takes awhile because you have to un-check all the foreign language boxes on the bottom before you can ping each site.
*and as I do these links (12-10) I notice that Ping-O-Matic is not working.

2-20: The Lens of the Day (right below here) tells us some great blogs about Squidoo. I am joining them all today. I think this will really help me learn and connect with other Squidoo-ers!

2-21: I researched Squidoo Groups and made a lens about them, both Groups here on Squidoo and Groups online. There aren't as many as I thought there would be. If you want to check these out, they are in the My Lens List section here, which is the very next section.

I am continuing to add new links and information to my lenses as often as possible.

March 1-10: I made sure that I updated my blogs more often this month. I also tried to start a conversation about Squidoo pages on the Bloggeries site forum. Unfortunately, I did not bookmark my conversation starter New Topic and so now I can't find it. So that is great advice for you. When you make a new subject topic on a forum, always bookmark it so you can come back and check it out later.

I also added my Twitter addresses more often when I comment on other blogs. I also have been Twittering about my lenses more often.

March 11: I have been checking my Squidoo pages and hoping to make more. My goal was to have all my lenses done by the end of the year, but now I realize that I won't get there unless I divide them up and make sure I MAKE myself do more lenses. My lens count is at 14 right now.

March 12: I discovered the Squid Don't lens. This tells what NOT to write about. Mostly it tells people not to write spammy lenses. But some subjects are taboo, like dieting, many affiliate programs, ebooks, MLM (Multilevel marketing), network marketing systems, and more. This is definitely worth a read.

March 24: I made a lens about a local computer group, BGAMUG. I am a member. This time I tried a new module - the Twitter module. Now I plan to add that to all of my lenses. ALSO: I am adding titles to every module in this lense and my other lenses soon. I will see if this helps my #position here on search.

MY GOAL: My goal is to have 50 lenses by NOVEMBER 2010. Even better, I want to have 80 lenses by then, so I can make sure at least 50 of these are the best work I can do.

Math to get there: OK - it is March right now. I have 9 months. 80 minus 14 = 66. 66 divided by 9 = 7.3 = 8. I must do at least 8 lenses per month, which adds up to at least 2 per week for a 4-week month. So... I MUST do at least 2 NEW lenses per week.

Some lensmasters say to cluster your lenses into your niche subjects. Others say to vary them. So I will make one NICHE lens plus one VARIED lens each week. Then if a VARIED type lens does well, I can zero in on it to become another NICHE.

March 24: Today I realized I have not been making Squidoo lenses very fast. I keep going back to fix them too. So I will allow myself more time to become a Giant Squid, but still aim high.

April 20: I entered a lens into the Rocket Moms #7 contest. My new lens shot up to a great spot on my lens list! I tried something new: making headings for each new thing I talked about on my lens. It took longer, but it made my lens look a LOT better.

April 21: I got one of my lenses blessed today! I am thrilled!! The Squid Angel's name is Mickie G. She gives lots of tips and tells exactly what she is looking for when she looks around for a lens to bless.

There are some really great ideas there on her lens called Being a Squid Angel, such as always crediting your photos, and using an easy to find comment area. I have her lens right below this. Another hint from Mickie G: She also likes it when you use other lenses inside of yours to spotlight their work too.

April 24: I discovered a GREAT lens that made Lens of the Day. It's all about Squidoo Etiquette - what to do, what NOT to do, and how to really make a community on Squidoo.

I planned to do a LOT of lenses... but got caught up in other projects. BUT I did do one this month. It is called Paper Dolls, Miniatures, and Coloring pages. I like it, and plan to go to it to print out some of the projects when I move my printer into the kitchen.

Today (May 18th) I am vowing to get more into Squidoo again. This means I will want to visit the Squidoo Squid U Discussion Forum more than once this month. Here is that address: http://www.squidu.com/forum/.

I have been doing Twitter every day, and I think it does help with traffic to my sites. I started to "advertise" my Squidoo lenses here more this month.

6-14-2010: I took a break from Squidoo. Big mistake! I stopped doing lenses, and I saw the ones I already made go way down on the number chart.

So I decided to get back into it with a brand new lens, and a MINIMUM of one lens per week.

Next I will take a screen shot of the numbers I have today, and compare them every day to see if they change.

June 16, 2010: Skiesgreen blessed my lens! Yay! I have listed her in the Angels section here. I am thrilled to have her visit, because she is a Squidoo Angel.

6-24-10: I now have a list of things to do every day. One thing I am doing is checking in with Kimberly with Kimberly's Morning Coffee. All the links I am using now every day are listed right below this module.

Here is what I try to do every day: Check the Squidoo Links (below here), plus: post 5 postings on every social network: Nontrad blog contacts (make a comment on 5 blogs), check out the Squidoo posting area and try to post 5 comments, Look at the Ebay Lensmaster Lounge and post 5 comments there, post 5 comments at Bloggeries, go and read some entries at WarriorForum and decide whether or not to join, write on my Ebay Auctiva blog about my Ebay items, and make a statement on my Yahoo blog.

NOTE on this from 6-29: I decided to emphasize the word TRY above. Some days I will not be able to do 5 comments for each site. I will just try to do these things at least once or twice a week. If I have more time, I will do them more.

6-28-10: Today I discovered a great lens that will help me get traffic to all my lenses. It is called Promoting Lenses. I will put the link here, then will start a new Lens list right below here. Thanks,CreativeArtist, for the great hints here: http://www.squidoo.com/promoting-lenses

This month I decided to go for it. I am participating in the Rocket Moms Session 8 Workshop. The whole month of July the Rocket Moms will be making food lenses. Some will be chosen for the Rocket Moms Cookbook! Rocket Moms has other groups inside of it that you can join. You will see these groups when you go to all the Rocket Moms official sites.

I am also checking out the Get Crackin' challenges at the Get Cracking with Bonnie and Robin site. They require 15 lenses in July in order to qualify for a Purple Star on one of your top lenses (you get to pick). The Get Cracking site also helps with advice for lensmasters that is spiced with humor and fun.

7-7-10: Oh my gosh! I got sprinkled with Angel Dust today! That's right. This lens was just blessed by an Angel! The Angel is TheRaggedEdge.

I just went to the forum here: http://www.squidu.com/forum/ and then clicked on Angels Forum. There are at least three Angels there who want to bless lenses today. I will post this to my Squidcast so if you are signed up there you can also do this. I am so thrilled today!

7-8-10: I posted my next RocketMoms lens. It is http://www.squidoo.com/tandoori-chicken. I found out today also that if I copy all the text in a module (inside the little box) I can take this to Dreamweaver and html it. This means all my links CAN be clickable, and I can change things around to be more interesting later. I LIKE this a lot.

7-10-10: Oh no! Many people came to my Ellison Bay lens. I was happy about it, but then I went to check it. There were sections on it that I never filled out. PLUS there were hardly any pictures on it! So I redid it yesterday. Good thing! Now I will go back and check out ALL my old lenses. ::sigh:: But I am glad I found out.

7-11-10: I posted my new Twitter lens: free-pre-read-audio-books. This has a link to my blog on it, which links to the free downloads online. I want to put more books here after I listen to them.

I did some fun recipe lenses and added to my lens quantity. It was fun! One time I almost missed a deadline, but I quick finished the lens and turned it in. I liked this RocketMoms assignment, and might try it again sometime.

I also changed my title and introduction sentences too.

I updated ALL my lenses, and will see if that makes a difference. I read someplace that it is a good idea, even if you just change a word or too. Some people just add spaces after their title, but I don't think that is a good idea. For almost the same time invested, you can make something BETTER in your description OR add another link to make each lens more interesting. I am keeping my fingers crossed to see if I go up in the ratings.

8-17: I nominated my first lens for Lens of the Day. It is the lens called Buy Old Stamps here: http://www.squidoo.com/BuyOldStamps. I sent it to Kimberly at her address: lotd @squidoo.com. This is not my own lens, but somebody else's lens that I thought was good. I think I will do this at least once a week, to help lenses I like. I searched through for "stamps" and found this about two pages in.

I have noticed a marked change in my lens ratings since I went in and changed each one. I will need to do this at least once a week too in order to keep this momentum going.

September 2: Today I got a great suggestion from Susan52. She said to "remember to check for default module names and replace them with something else." This is such a terrific suggestion. I will now do this ASAP to all of my lenses. See you back here next month! (just kidding...)

September 9: I really like all the Squidoo Monster upgrades here on the site. I have run into a glitch on my lenses though. When I try to add tags to them, I get an error message. I have reported it to Customer Service here. They are all very busy with the new site upgrade, and can't get bugs fixed very fast. I do check at least two times a week to see if it has been fixed yet, but so far it has not been fixed after about 3 weeks. ::sigh:: But I will stay positive about it, and hope it gets fixed soon.

FIXED - FIXED - See November 2010 on this lens for more info., but this problem is now SOLVED. I finally figured out the problem. A short explanation: do NOT put commas in your titles.

My advice to you: be VERY VERY careful with your tags section. Do NOT make any mistakes on them (like inserting a character that is not supposed to be in a tag). This section will NOT fix itself if you do. So new lenses are OK, but triple-check ALL your tags before hitting the OK button on them. And don't just list 1 or 2 tags, thinking you will be able to come back later and add more. You may not be able to do so very easily at all.

Sept. 13: Oh my gosh! Squidoo has LOTS of new stuff they just rolled out for all the lensmasters. Now you get points for things you do on the site. I am on Level 18, plus I have 4 awards. I have seen some people who have a lot more, but I am working towards going up in the ranks. I think this is a huge improvement for Squidoo, and I think it will motivate me a lot towards making Giant Squid.

Sept. 16: I got such a nice comment today from another lensmaster. It made me feel good that people are getting some positive use out of this lens. That makes me happy I did it.

Also: I re-joined Rocket Moms. Their assignments are harder this time, but so far I am keeping up. I did two lenses so far, and just have to fill out the Tic-Tac-Toe game to get credit for them.

Sept. 21st: Trouble in River City... I have two things I am working on. #1: my tags won't work on at least one of my lenses. I have reported it, but I hear from the SquidU postings that the tech department has lots on its plate. So... I will just have to wait until they get a Round Tuit. (That is the funny round thing you can order from a catalog).

Also, one of the lenses I used to decorate at least one of my lenses had art posted on it he said was public domain. But is wasn't. That means I need to fix my lenses and make sure his link is no longer on it, and I don't have the very cute squid art he posted on them anymore.

Drat! But at least these are do-able things. I will just have to bite that proverbial bullet and fix these things, but I don't like it. The big clue to this mistake was that when I went to his lens (and I haven't been there for awhile) there were big blank spaces where the artwork used to be. I consider this a big clue. I did email him but did not hear back. This is also a pretty big clue. ::sigh::

10-3-10: Big day. Today I went to the other side of Squid U, Squid U Review. I have been just going to the left side (Discussion Forum) all this time. Sometimes I critiqued other people's lenses for them, and sometimes I just read the daily announcements. But Squid U Review has all kinds of other useful stuff!

#1: I found some lenses written by Emma Larkins, who just made Giant Squid. This led directly to a Squidoo lens about becoming a Giant Squid AND what they look for! It is called Emma Larkins: Going for Giant Squid. There are many suggestions AND other lenses here, full of information. This is exactly what I need! (Can you tell I am excited?)

Along with "change default headings," which I had heard about and even been TOLD about... I heard that sometimes people are INVITED to become a Giant Squid even before they have 50 lenses. ALSO getting your own niche is talked about a lot. Hmmmmm.... food for thought there. I have been ASKED if I was going to do it, but not invited yet.

Anyway, there is other great advice here, a whole list of it. Here it is: Giant Squid Lenses by rms. Rms is a Giant Squid Community Organizer. What could be better? I know I will be back to explore more. This discovery today is really awesome! I will be quite awhile absorbing this information and using it! This is a great day in my journey towards Giant Squid-dom.

NEXT: I went to the Squidoo Discussion boards also today and ran into a great posting by The_Homeopath. People online were talking about how to tell if information is bogus or not. Some people said there is lots of FREE information online to help people who want to improve their lenses, make money, and/or do better on Squidoo.

Here is part of what The_Homeopath said:

"...There are a ton of good lenses here that will give you the information <about how to be successful on Squidoo (added)>for free, blogs you can read for free, and you can always post questions and someone will give you an opinion or the info you need.

Janet freely shares her success and tips here: http://www.squidoo.com/workathomewithsquidoo

I've got one documenting how I'm doing with Share a Sale: http://www.squidoo.com/share-a-sale

And Loyalis has helped SO many folks, his blog is a definite must-read:

http://www.captainsquid.com/

Fluffanutta has reviewed many of the programs too. <I added the link here...>

There are tons of free resources out there. I've seen many forums you can join too at no cost that are strictly for discussing making money online."

(Thanks, The_Homeopath!)

Also: I redid my Profile - - adding some links to Facebook and Twitter on the first part. I wonder if this will bring visitors? AND ack! I need to fix the links everywhere so it is easier to navigate and matches too. PLUS some borders and art would not hurt either.

10-27: Today was the day I discovered Squidoo Girl. Wow! She has already made Giant Squid and she has a blog too. I will definitely want a blog now. It's wonderful how fast she has gone up the Squidoo ladder.

I started my Squidoo Liz - Lizziebeth on Squidoo blog! I am learning about WordPress at the same time. Since I'm learning Squidoo, I may as well share. Plus, later on I will be adding backlinks to my lenses there. I will be working on this blog and improving it all the time.

It is exciting to be getting closer my first goal of 50 lenses. I want to thank Lensmaster Tenbrooke for reminding me about my tags problem. I recently discovered the solution to not being able to add tags on some of my lenses. It was because the TITLE had a comma in it. When I changed that, I was able to add my tags. Thanks, Tembrooke.

Making comments on other people's lenses whenever they comment on mine is helping me get points to level up. I am now at Level 53.

I intend to fix all my lenses that do not have working tags by using Dreamweaver to edit each module. Also, I want to update all my lenses at least once a month. Did you know (I just found out) that when you update, any changes you have made to your profile go live then. I wondered about that!

I did not sign up for the latest Rocketmoms Challenge, because I knew I would be MUCHO busy this month.

BUT I did update all my lenses twice. AND I am thinking of participating in the latest trade event, which is creating a gift lens for somebody and then having them gift you one too. The link for the gift lens is here: http://www.squidoo.com/build/gift.

I made a lens about all of my Squidoo Angels that have blessed my lenses last week too.

I have yet to change all the links on this lens to clickable links. I am doing some at a time.

This is the year I hope to become a Giant Squid.

Jan 1: I went to the RocketMoms site to check and see if the new session, #12, was posted yet. It isn't. But I will check back there.

And if you are interested, you can see if you can join a session for free. Email bonnie@squidoo dot com if you are interested in becoming a RocketMom. Rocketmoms also has a Facebook page, and a blog.

I am averaging one lens a week, and am climbing up to 50 lenses soon.

2-8-2011: Today I made another lens, and decided to do it for a Quest. Like everyone probably, I now have Quests on my Squidoo Dashboard. Why not get the extra 200 points for doing a Quest? I like that option.

I am also re-doing my websites this month. That means that people coming to them from Squidoo will have an easier time navigating them. I also plan to start taking a self-directed class in Dreamweaver to make my pages better.

I still am trying to go to read all the messages in SquidU at least every other day, to make sure I catch all the news and any chances to enter contests or put my lenses on any lists.

Today I read a great discussion board posting. A member talked about what he should do in order to make his lenses more popular. Some expert Lensmasters gave great advice after that. Here is that thread: Question about lenses and Squidoo.

I can't believe it either... I have only ONE more lens to go until I can have 50 lenses. Squidoo was not a victim of the latest Google adjustments to websites and group websites. That's because Squidoo has more quality sites than other group sites. Yay!

I am excited. I should have my last lens done this and next month.

NEW - you have probably also noticed the new 100% vs. not scoring for lenses. I am at 49 lenses now, but not all are at 100% with 20 SquidLikes. Ack! I went through ALL my lenses and made sure that there was a "Lens Love" module in them so I can get SquidLikes. I may still try to apply for Giant Squid in a month or so, but I will make some "extra" lenses too.

The discussion boards say you can still apply for Giant Squid whether or not all your lenses are at 100%. I suggested there that there be less SquidLikes in order to qualify, like maybe 3-5-10? We shall see if the powers that be change that.

Another idea I had was to move the SquidLike ("Lens Love") module UP on my lenses. That way people see them easier. I may add another one at the bottom of all my lenses next, later.

April 6th: My very latest lens was competed today. It is lens #50. SO... I applied for Giant Squid today. I will find out next week what happens. At first, I wasn't going to apply (yet) until all my lenses were up to 100%. But several other lensmasters advised me to go ahead and apply. So I did! Wish me luck.

April 9th: YAY AND TRIPLE YAY! I just got an official email - - I am now a GIANT SQUID! I am so thrilled. I had my 50 good lenses... and turned them in... but I knew it was NOT automatic. Now I am on Cloud 9. I have a whole new learning curve now and will be reading a LOT of How to Be a Giant Squid lenses and articles. Wish me luck!

You are most appreciated.

NOW you can go to my next Squidoo Lensmaster Lens. I call it Squidoo Secrets II. See you there!