tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29708857916203932002012-01-17T10:42:09.548-08:00A Mission to Create 100 LensesMC Rogersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13735238884673302488noreply@blogger.comBlogger621100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-41158304369695598392011-04-01T23:53:00.000-07:002011-04-01T23:57:02.570-07:00

Wahey! I made another milestone. Yesterday, I published my 75th lens on How to Clean Your Laptop. I'm committed to making the 100 this year so have another 25 to make.

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-89844022728429481132011-03-27T08:08:00.000-07:002011-03-27T08:12:48.871-07:00

I don't always have time for lensmaking because I spend the majority of my free hours on writing fiction. Today, I'm proud to have crafted a lens on a subject that's close to my heart - recommendations for books about writing. I've been meaning to create this lens for a long time and hope it helps other aspiring authors out there.

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-1328794511441626272011-03-02T13:02:00.000-08:002011-03-02T13:11:20.130-08:00

I'm amazed how long it's taking to reach 100 lenses, but I'm still committed to the goal. I'm now totally at 72 live lenses so if I can create 28 this year I'll be happy. I was particularly productive before Christmas and managed to make pages for the following subjects:Daphne du MaurierThe Best Vintage Beach SignsThe FlumpsThe MummersThere's no doubt that the last two months have been the most

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-20778668103695674862010-10-16T01:02:00.000-07:002010-10-16T01:08:02.824-07:00

This is a new feature that Squidoo brought out while I was working on other projects. At first, I was lukewarm about the frames, but now, after using these for a while, I can see the benefit. They do have the advantage of branding lenses, especially the Christmas ones. Most recently, I also tried out the Valentine's theme on my Great Gifts for Your Wife lens and this has really boosted the look

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-67424893544981185782010-10-03T05:44:00.000-07:002010-10-03T05:48:56.654-07:00

I now have 69 lenses bringing in just short of 4000 hits per week. I expect to be hitting 5000 per week this time next year. I've just gone through an exercise of deleting non-performing tags and replacing with high-hitting alternatives from the Traffic listing on the Stats button. I believe that this is already beginning to make a differenceSome of my traffic is consistently high, other

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-15689477402529459032010-09-27T13:22:00.001-07:002010-09-27T13:33:17.315-07:00

Some lensmasters make lenses purely for cash, but I find that I have to make lenses that support my personal hobbies in some way. I particularly love the ebay module when looking for collectables and this has helped me to find some real gems -most notably on the Vintage Dunhill Lighter and Alexander Girard lenses. The listings seem to work really well on these two.

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-10582984044428881422010-09-25T06:33:00.001-07:002010-09-25T06:43:03.786-07:00

I've returned to Squidoo with a vengeance after being largely away from the site for a couple of years. I'll admit that the monsters and trophies revived my interest in the site. I've been making a small amount of income (between $25-$50) per month without doing a great deal, but recently, I've made approximately another 10 lenses to see if I can both boost my level. I also would like to hit a

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-39228721141561996642008-12-11T12:52:00.000-08:002008-12-11T12:59:52.374-08:00

This payday came in at a round total of $17.00. Not a lot, but it doesn't surprise me as this reflects October's performance when I was delivering zero effort into Squidoo. Not bad for totally passive income, especially with the improved dollar/sterling exchange rate. The last week hasn't seen the creation of any new lenses, rather increased effort on some existing pages and what a difference

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-37986826732937353512008-12-03T23:54:00.000-08:002008-12-04T00:02:24.468-08:00

I'm sure that many lensmasters have made this discovery in the past, but I have found that it's original text that seems to do it for the search engines. If I look at all my traffic top-performers, they all have one thing in common - text modules. As I approach my 60th lens, I am keen to do a short experiment, by adding a couple of text boxes to my most sluggish lenses to see if this makes a

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-38214279600288181892008-11-29T00:34:00.000-08:002008-11-29T00:39:20.222-08:00

The best lenses to build are the ones that you have a genuine interest in, like my new Zach Condon lens. Coming back to Squidoo, I find it very difficult to create pages that focus on affiliates only, and to be honest they are never as successful as the ones that reflect my personal passions. Maybe this is because they are short on text, short on inspiration and new ideas. On the financial upside

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-24498983318385294482008-11-26T00:21:00.000-08:002008-11-26T00:26:00.889-08:00

Well so far my health updates haven't taken a huge amount of effect. However, my new Christmas Books lens has suddenly picked up and is getting a decent amount of traffic. I've been pondering on the messages coming out of Malcolm Gladwell's new book - Outliers - recently and have been really interested to see how the 10000 Hour Rule works. It's not surprising to me that so many successful

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-13604939391990531302008-11-16T03:14:00.000-08:002008-11-16T03:30:06.678-08:00

I'm loving the new health check tools that are now available for Squidoo users. There is the Squidoo Healthcheck Tool, that can be found on the dashboard and gives a quick snapshot of the strengths and weaknesses of a lens. Similarly, there is also the Beta version of Squidutils Health Check, which highlights potential problems. Luckily for rusty lensmasters such as myself, these both direct you

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-70959641619245708002008-11-14T09:56:00.001-08:002008-11-14T10:01:08.752-08:00

I've spent the last day or so creating a new lens. It's been great fun, but has also taken me a long time to get back in the swing of things, especially as there are so many new and exciting features to play with!My latest lens was requested by my husband and lists the Best Christmas Books. It has been surprisingly difficult to find a wide range of classics so some of them are a little unusual,

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-6265383363712947602008-11-12T14:06:00.000-08:002008-11-12T14:15:57.843-08:00

It's a cliche, but how time flies! What was meant to be a 3 month break has tripled due to work pressures/big move and I've come back to some surprises. First of all, is my new-found status as a Giant Squid! I was absolutely thrilled to be awarded with this honour, especially as I haven't been active in the community for a long time. To me, this is pretty special.Second pleasant discovery is

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-55171200461705503122008-01-08T13:03:00.001-08:002008-01-08T13:09:28.778-08:00

I have spent the last 3 weeks moving house so Squidoo has taken a back seat. However, I was pleased to note that I made affiliate sales on 16 of my lenses this month - totalling at approx $40.Moving forwards I am still uncertain about how much time I can invest in Squidoo, as it has become plainly obvious that my attentions need to be concentrated in other parts of my life. I do hope that I can

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-456199158596730982007-12-18T09:43:00.000-08:002007-12-18T09:51:04.633-08:00

Just a quick one this time, to mention that my last payout reached the heady heights of $54.44! This included a small amount of affiliate earnings, but alas - I've not had time to break it down this month.The affiliate payments are going really well this month with several lenses earning double figures, but my CJ is still a slow burner.December's lens building has been non-existent, but I am

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-86843501959244409602007-12-09T06:53:00.000-08:002007-12-09T07:04:04.824-08:00

Now that I have passed the 50 lens mark and have 3 lenses in the Top 1000, I am taking a short break from Squidoo to concentrate on developing our own online business. In some ways, the Google slap has been beneficial for me because it has drawn me back to the more important tasks that I should be doing. There is no doubt that Squidoo has enormous potential as a passive income stream, but it

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-76483858677365311702007-11-26T05:23:00.000-08:002007-11-26T05:36:18.084-08:00

A couple of my lenses have absolutely bombed in Google over the last 2 weeks. One in particular is very topical and reached a high of 350+ visits in a 7 week period. It then plummeted when it was completely de-indexed by Google.I presumed that this was a blip, but now a couple of my other lenses have followed suit. It is also becoming apparent that other lensmasters are encountering the same

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-3067223287426604602007-11-25T01:47:00.000-08:002007-11-25T01:56:56.745-08:00

I am always interested to see other lensmaster's Squidoo blogs. They are the best place to learn new ideas and measure performance after Squidu. Lensmaster Magicality has a particularly interesting blog documenting his progress in creating a lens portfolio which will generate $500 per month by the end of 2008. To check out his stats see Squidoo Challenge.

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-35532649902792561962007-11-17T04:04:00.000-08:002007-11-17T04:09:46.236-08:00

Today I my Golden Compass lens the No1 position in the Movies and TV category. I also reached a ranking of 58 overall which has made me indescribably happy!!!! The downside is that Google has completely dropped this particular lens 3 weeks before the release of the movie so now there is no indexing, no traffic, nada. I think my Top 100 ranking makes up for it though!

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-73271166626726627442007-11-13T05:19:00.000-08:002007-11-13T05:28:04.697-08:00

I published my 50th lens today after creating 5 brand new ones at the weekend! A couple have picked up traffic immediately, notably the gift lenses created in the standard Squidoo format, but many of the SquidWho and both Ever lenses are still at zero, which is not as depressing as it sounds as these have probably taken the least amount of effort to create.I also had a go at several SquidVids

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-46647753748135446642007-11-07T11:04:00.001-08:002007-11-07T11:14:51.151-08:00

My earnings have doubled this month to $36.93 and are based on income from 30 lenses and one affiliate sale of $0.58. If I deduct my charity donations - my total earned to date is $48. In December, my income will be generated from 40 lenses (the active amount of lenses in October) and I am guessing that approx $15 affiliate earnings will be added to this total. So far, I am very pleased with my

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-7018336626377815522007-11-06T09:37:00.000-08:002007-11-06T09:47:56.185-08:00

I now have 8 lenses which have made $20 affiliate income between them (this is from sales of products on Amazon & eBay via my lenses). My aim is to have 25 active earners by the end of 2007 - generating $100+ in total. There are at least another 5 'dormant' shopping lenses waiting for traffic right now so I need to build another 5-10 and hope that the rest of the income is generated via existing

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-61702090414545591802007-11-04T08:57:00.001-08:002007-11-04T09:12:42.654-08:00

Last week, a new page template was launched by the Squidoo team. The Ever Project allows you to pick a superlative (best, worst, smartest, cutest) and add it to your chosen subject to create a lens that looks somewhat like an old-fashioned newspaper article.As I haven't played around with the other recent templates, I decided to give this a go and made two lenses - Roald Dahl: The Best Children's

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-50785428559285643252007-10-30T11:58:00.000-07:002007-10-30T12:04:20.776-07:00

I don't normally post twice on a day, but I had to record this news. Today I came 45th on the fresh squid list generated by Fluffanutta. This is generated on a daily basis to show which of the newbies are creating the most lenses within a certain timeframe. I believe that it also takes pagerank into account.Really pleased and very surprised!

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-21192754010294004862007-10-30T00:25:00.000-07:002007-10-30T00:30:28.139-07:00

Then check out this post from the prolific jeffryv on Squidu!After 2 years of Squidoo-ing, he is about to lease a new 2008 Kia Rondo, the lease payments and insurance will be paid for exclusively by Squidoo income from 862 lenses. I have heard of other lensmasters who now almost cover their rent and couples who generate between $750 to $2000 per month from their lenses. My personal aim is to

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-25322648549974074382007-10-28T08:16:00.000-07:002007-10-28T08:25:00.972-07:00

After the longest pagerank update wait ever, lensmasters are now finally seeing the result of their labour.For a quick resume, the first point of call for me was the advanced dashboard on Squidutils, but unfortunately my stats hasn't updated yet so I went through one by one. My highest lens garnered a PR5 rating which I was incredibly happy about. I also had a couple of PR4s and lots of PR3s. The

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-72158806051748789222007-10-22T14:17:00.001-07:002007-10-22T14:35:07.374-07:00

I'm a little late reporting recent Squidoo news. There have been several new template launches recently - Squidbids (a page for dedicated eBay sellers), Squidvids (a bespoke 'TV' channel) and just in time for Halloween Squidboo.Squidboo has some great lenses including Bad Halloween Candy and Television Witches Over the Years. It's vibrant, fun and adds a little variety into the Squidoo chain.

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-19162165078683452472007-10-20T08:42:00.000-07:002007-10-20T09:05:13.043-07:00

I mentioned several dormant lenses in an earlier post. I created them purely as sales lenses. They were fairly easy to build as they were low on text and high in affiliate products. I chose popular products on eBay, selected a good URL and sat back to enjoy the cash roll in.And watched, and watched...Nothing.Two months on and they had received under 10 visitors, virtually no clickouts and had a

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-22087131226999850272007-10-16T05:25:00.000-07:002007-10-18T13:06:33.596-07:00

Okay - promise that this is the last payout post for some time, but I've just been reading other lensmaster's blogs including Captain Squid and Squidoo Review and it seems that the payout that I received was pretty much in keeping with all participants - regardless of lens quantity.Overall, payouts seemed to be between $12 and $40 which was fine for me with my small bundle of pages, but puny for

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-70523081356300185752007-10-14T23:21:00.000-07:002007-10-14T23:28:10.064-07:00

3 months in and I am seeing much more activity on my affiliate sales. I made $8.44 on my Totoro lens today which takes my total this month to $13.28.I am not certain if this is due to increasing traffic. My traffic has remained steadily at 30 hits per 7 days for this lens since I created it, but recently it has gone up slightly to around 35.In general, I am seeing higher traffic on all my lenses

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-78428830782898247012007-10-10T14:09:00.000-07:002007-10-10T14:14:52.410-07:00

Here is my breakdown for this month:OUR ROYALTIES (08/01/2007 to 08/31/2007)Your previous balance + previous Refer-A-Friend bonuses = $6.39Your new lens earnings this period = $17.68Total earnings = $24.07!So, here's how you're donating your $24.07...$0.06 has been donated in your name to Acumen Fund.$3.20 has been donated in your name to Ecotrust.$2.56 has been donated in your name to Squidoo

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-39126219604553492432007-10-09T23:40:00.000-07:002007-10-09T23:45:45.972-07:00

Lensmasters are growing impatient as a recent problem with the Squidoo servers has impacted on the usual monthly payout. Currently, it is expected within the next 12 hours, but there still seem to be problems with the system.I can't deny that I'm excited as I will have revenue from 20 lenses this month (the ones that I built in July and August). I also found a nice surprise when I logged in

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-35852840408372512872007-10-08T05:38:00.000-07:002007-10-09T23:40:39.786-07:00

I have been trying out a couple of methods to keep my lensrank buoyant recently - especially on my Golden Compass Movie lens which is currently at 161.Updating the lens everyday This is not as hard as it seems. The update can be adding a new tag or tweaking a word in the introduction module. Just a small improvement will register with Squidoo as it shows that you are actively maintaining your

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-2765932450423536332007-10-04T10:42:00.000-07:002007-10-04T10:54:37.083-07:00

I am pleased to announce that I now have 33 lenses!I've not been working as quickly as I would have liked, but overall I am happy with my creations. Today, I made another sale on my Arts and Crafts Interior Design lens which brought in a whopping $0.20!In fact, almost all my lenses are doing fairly well and I'm planning to do a Stats breakdown after the next payout (which should now be mere days

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-43042680491836412012007-10-01T13:52:00.000-07:002007-10-01T23:35:57.057-07:00

I've been using Zimbio to circulate tips and blog entries for a while now, but Loyalis has come up with a fantastic new way to use the Squidutils RSS lens feed to propagate lenses via Wikizines. Not only does this increase the chance of targeted traffic, it also results in highly-rated backlinks to your lenses.It's very simple, and the instructions can be found on the CaptainSquid website.

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-83448960981856125262007-09-27T11:38:00.000-07:002007-09-27T11:52:46.539-07:00

I'm trying not to get too excited about lensrank, but I couldn't help notice that my lens The Golden Compass Movie has reached #171.It's been climbing steadily over the last 2 months, but it had a lucky break from day one as it was listed as one of the alternative films/books to look out for on the Lens of the Day post. Then uber lensmaster Relache, kindly added it to her 100 Best Movie

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-83355746628806586042007-09-24T10:44:00.000-07:002007-09-24T11:23:10.156-07:00

Funnily enough, I only discovered that I could make money from Squidoo once I'd been on the site for a week or so. The main reason that I came here first of all was because it allowed me to promote our online gift site - no strings attached.Our business traffic-driving lens is still slow in some ways and can be developed a lot further, but in the last 2 months it has revealed the following

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-69828141904039727182007-09-22T00:40:00.000-07:002007-09-22T01:10:37.979-07:00

Good question. Not as many people know about Squidoo as they should.To me that is surprising. Who wouldn't want to get involved with a webhost that allows you to build your own webpages for free, helps you to promote them on the internet (sometimes spectacularly) and also pays you for your troubles?! As one of the converted, I've been preaching the virtues of Squidoo to puzzled faces for over two

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-87815229979122468262007-09-17T08:01:00.000-07:002007-09-17T08:59:30.882-07:00

The first 2 months on Squidoo has been pretty intense and I'm still very much a newbie, but I have picked up a few key tips which I would like to share with you here:1) Pick the right keywords. When registering your Squidoo lens url try to choose words that result in under 2000 results on Google. If you go for a really popular keyword, your page will get lost in the sheer volume of

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-61178571948151453802007-09-16T04:24:00.000-07:002007-09-16T04:33:03.091-07:00

Today I passed the quarterway mark on my lens-building mission. I now have 26 lenses under Meloramus - the newest being:Japanese FuguA Guide to the AlethiometerSo far, after 2 months on Squidoo, I have made a grand total of US$2.82 in pure affiliate income (US$1.98 going to charity). My biggest non-charity payout has been $0.59.My aim is to build at least another 10 lenses by the end of the month

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-63708233531017157552007-09-13T06:08:00.000-07:002007-09-13T06:28:52.015-07:00

On my travels I came across this fun blog that celebrates the weekend. There are articles on how to finance a holiday cottage and also lots of delicious recipes for great weekend food.What's more, if you review his blog, he’ll link to it and help increase your page rank!

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-21878213337614308012007-09-11T13:11:00.000-07:002007-09-11T13:31:57.968-07:00

One of the icons on the lens sidebar shows the symbol for Digg. Digg is a website where you can post unique news and let people vote it as interesting or bury it (or let it lie). I assumed that it meant that lensmasters were supposed to vote their own news onto Digg, but this is not so. You can post your own lenses, but this button is actually intended for people viewing your lens. If you look at

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-16844426744075511152007-09-08T10:33:00.001-07:002007-09-08T10:48:03.981-07:00

The Squidoo homepage has had major surgery this weekend.What was before a patchwork of different elements has now been condensed down into a minimal design. There are six boxes containing sample lens running across the screen at eyeline showcasing different Squidoo subjects followed by a seventh box which drops as you view. It is blank containing the words 'Build Your Own'.This is Web 2.0 design

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-26748362988985298162007-09-07T14:28:00.000-07:002007-09-08T15:03:40.386-07:00

Well - today proves that you can earn money whilst enjoying yourself!I had mentally set myself a goal of reaching a payout of US$5 for my first 10 lenses, but I actually achieved US$7.38! Not bad for a newbie without any lenses in the top 100. I think that this also included affiliate sales, but I can't be sure.Now my aim is to improve my existing lens traffic and build new lenses. I have been

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-23538217566610793032007-09-02T06:29:00.000-07:002007-09-02T06:40:02.977-07:00

To celebrate the creation of my 20th lens, I created a Melography. This is a collection of virtually all the lenses that I have made so far. It's highly satisfying to see the results of my hardwork in one place and probably reveals quite a bit about me in the process!On average, I calculated that it takes approximately 3 hours to build a decent lens (although some have taken a few days) which

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-9258832505296808712007-09-02T01:57:00.000-07:002007-09-02T02:06:03.768-07:00

Squidu is the forum devoted to Squidoo and it's an essential tool for learning tricks of the trade and finding out about the general buzz. Some lensmasters make constant visits to the site, but others such as myself dip in and out occasionally.This is the place where you can request reviews from other lensmasters. I try to use this sparingly though - maybe requesting critiques once or twice a

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-76196833650916935762007-09-01T11:06:00.000-07:002007-09-02T01:57:17.871-07:00

One thing that I've noticed very quickly on Squidoo is how much people seem to enjoy clicking on the flickr module. I try to insert one into almost every lens now for several reasons:Visual Impact - the images look fantastic and can offer some much needed colour to your lens. Always select the option to personally choose the images from flickr - that way you can select the best. You don't have to

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-39533202112650649302007-08-31T05:33:00.001-07:002007-08-31T05:37:33.954-07:00

Ahead of next week's payout (due 6th September), I've had a sale on The Golden Compass Merchandise Lens totalling US$0.18! This is my second affiliate sale in 6 weeks which gives me a lot of hope for the next six months.

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-90193486908430115692007-08-28T14:05:00.000-07:002007-08-28T23:34:29.229-07:00

A new Squidoo layout has just been launched - SquidWho - which is specifically for people-centric lenses. It's a lot cleaner than the original layout and also includes a 'magicbuilder' facility which automatically draws in information from the web - making it a lot faster to build a lens.The feature was accidentally discovered last week and until now was thought to be pre-Beta. However, a

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-70157621828562704462007-08-28T11:03:00.000-07:002007-08-28T11:15:54.239-07:00

As I create more lenses, the more I realise that they need constant maintenance. The consensus is that Lensrank is created through a combination of hits, stars, clickouts and updates (no one knows the exact formula) so everything needs a regular stir to keep it moving.My routine at the moment is to go through each of my lenses on a Monday and check for any new ratings so that I can reciprocate. I

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-86473567984215762792007-08-25T02:57:00.001-07:002007-08-28T11:16:48.651-07:00

I had a lot of fun making my Borough Market lens this week. This is one my my favourite London haunts and well-deserving of it's own page. The only frustration on this lens was the lack of working links. It seems as if all the major London attractions are vamping up their websites. Also, I could have done with the UK Google Map feature. I know that Squidoo HQ is working on this, but I'm not sure

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-78067253519162126512007-08-23T05:16:00.000-07:002007-08-28T11:17:18.558-07:00

There's a useful leaderboard on Squidoo which shows the Top 100 lenses. Until yesterday this also included the 100 most profitable.The MP list was helpful in obvious ways. It revealed how the top money-making lenses were constructed and what products were selling best. However, it seems that some people abused this resource by tactically voting down the lensmasters involved. Certain individuals

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-16607155534306839852007-08-22T11:46:00.000-07:002007-08-28T11:17:50.814-07:00

One thing I really love about Squidoo is the myriad ways in which people express themselves using only a few simple tools. Here are a few of my favourites:Bigfoot SightingsThis is pure class because it's about an intriguing mystery and written by someone who lives near to the Bigfoot epicentre. I really like the poll too - it adds a touch of human interest to the lens.The Power of KindnessI am

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-42250921401734507192007-08-20T11:29:00.000-07:002007-08-20T13:11:32.742-07:00

I have 5 hubs on HubPages at the moment. I started these about the same time as Squidoo and for a while, I definitely preferred HubPages. This site works in very much the same way as Squidoo, plus the hubs are easier to build and net you more cash (60% of royalties as opposed to 50% at Squidoo). I would even go so far as to say that many of the hubs have a better content/links/affiliate ratio (in

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-15129751167669782722007-08-18T09:31:00.000-07:002007-08-28T11:18:29.875-07:00

Today I've had a rest from launching new lenses. Instead I've been linking my existing ones to see if I can make them more successful. One of the areas that I've been working on in particular is bookmarking in order to create backlinks. As a general rule, I add all my lenses to del.icio.us and the better ones to Stumbleupon. If I think that there is a good story, I will also add to digg, but I'm

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-33531118857840903412007-08-15T09:58:00.000-07:002007-08-28T11:19:05.017-07:00

My 14th lens went live today. Alexander GirardIt was a total labour of love and it took a couple of days to assemble. Infact, I was so proud of it, that I posted it on the SquidU forum for comments and I managed to bag 4* from 3 people so that's a good start.Sadly, I don't expect this lens to do particularly well. My URL is very obvious and perhaps not long-tailish enough to rank high in Google.

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-17535017251479540572007-08-14T03:28:00.000-07:002007-08-28T11:20:16.918-07:00

In the spirit of all things Squidoo, I bought Seth's book on marketing to try and get a glimpse of the Godin brain at work. Who on earth would devise something as outrageous as an information service based on Squids and lenses...? This book explained a lot.It argues that the traditional age of mass market advertising has come to a close. People are savvy to marketing in this way and they already

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-62412132288737535012007-08-13T07:10:00.000-07:002007-08-28T11:20:47.480-07:00

I've been whittling away at Squidoo for 32 beautiful days now and am the proud owner of 13 operational lenses. My most successful lens has been 10 Places to See in the UK Before You Die which has fluctuated between a lensrank in the 300s and 700s. It's had a total number of 512 visitors and is on the first page of Google for it's keywords.Next in line, come Hayao Miyazaki - Master Animator and

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-69785257445782131202007-08-13T06:57:00.001-07:002007-08-28T11:21:26.750-07:00

I think I was blessed today. I suspect that I received a boost from a SquidAngel... These sound very bizarre, but they are can indeed be heavenly for any lensmaster that happens to benefit from their contact.Sometimes, they will increase your lens rank without you realizing. I think that happened to one of my lenses today. I was languishing in the 2000s and then suddenly I was catapulted in the

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-4560564296523314852007-08-13T06:55:00.000-07:002007-08-28T11:19:43.141-07:00

I didn't see any payouts on Squidoo for a few weeks. I started posting lenses 12.07.07 and the payday is always on the 6th of each month. To be truthful, I didn't know whether I would receive anything so I was over the moon to see US$1.98 by my Hayao Miyazaki lens! This is a recent creation for me (only 10 visits so far) and I donated all proceeds to Ecotrust, a charity that is trying to develop

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2970885791620393200.post-67063106150204840912007-08-13T06:41:00.000-07:002007-08-13T06:46:03.915-07:00

I'm starting my blog here, but in truth I began to dabble a few weeks ago. It all started when I chanced upon Squidoo whilst trying to create some new links for our internet business. I remember vaguely hearing something about lenses and squids a few months ago, but it all sounded too difficult so I switched off.However, when I actually saw it on screen - it looked fairly straightforward to use

Meloramusnoreply@blogger.com0