Thanking 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

[edit]Kiwisouthback has since explained on his lensography that he chose the kiwi years ago as a handle on ebay, just because it was a unique animal. No regional associations whatsoever. Of course it probably made a difference that he and his wife are both environmentally conscious though…[/edit]

Why are you a squidoo lensmaster?

I began using Squidoo to promote my eBay store and CafePress store, but I grew to love the process of making lenses. Since then, I’ve enjoyed writing about the things I love — specifically, travel.

What is your favorite lens?

My favorite lens on Squidoo is “Are You Polar Bear Aware?” by Frankster. I’ve come back to this lens quite a few times and have found new information every time I’ve visited. It’s just filled with information.

My favorite lens of my own is my “How to Plan a U.S. Road Trip” lens. It’s built on my own personal experiences of road tripping across the USA, so I gave my own recommendations on what to pack, when to go, what to bring, and how to plan out the entire trip from scratch.

What lens of yours is most under appreciated?

I have a series of at least a dozen eBay tutorial lenses that have largely gone unnoticed by Google, starting with “Learn How to Make Money with eBay“. I’ve sold thousands of items on eBay, so I know a lot of the ins and outs of selling, and even buying. They’re very helpful, but Google doesn’t like them!

What lens of yours is most popular?

Right now, my “Planning a U.S. Road Trip: The Southern Route” is my most popular in terms of lensrank. It explores the southern road trip route across the country, taking I-10 from Florida to California, and all of the sites in between.
[That lens brings back memories for me. We lived in Austin Texas for a year when I was twelve, and did a road trip to LA before we went back to The Netherlands. We saw the Grand Canyon and Sedona and other places mentioned on that lens. Bring plenty of water though...]
What’s one thing you see lensmasters doing that doesn’t work - and why doesn’t it?

Completely random lenses. While this is okay once in a while, I wouldn’t say overall it’s going to establish the lensmaster as an expert in any sort of niche. You really need to find a few niches and make more and more lenses on that topic, covering every interesting aspect. If you can’t think of more lenses to create on that topic, just ask yourself “who, what, where, when and why” for that topic. Apply each question to your lens topic:

• Who? Who was involved?
• What? What happened (what’s the story)?
• When? When did it take place?
• Where? Where did it take place?
• Why? Why did it happen?
• How? How did it happen?

This will spawn many lens ideas in your niche.

What’s your most important squidoo promotion method?

After publishing a lens, besides using Twitter, bookmarking and Squidcasting, I link to my lenses from related lenses. This usually helps Google pick up on the lens quickly. If I can’t lensroll the lens (lenses published the same day you won’t be able to lensroll yet), I add it to a featured lenses module.

Which lensmaster(s) have helped you most?

There have been a lot of lensmasters that have lended inspiration and given help!

For HTML and CSS, I first learned from Glen’s Basic HTML Lens, and TheFluffanutta’s CSS Tricks lens, as well as Spirituality’s (thank you!) Squidoo CSS lens and GreekGeek’s CSS Codes lens.

For inspiration and support in the forums and throughout Squidoo, lensmasters like ChefKeem, A_Willow, Poddys, JaguarJulie, BDKZ, RMS, SemperFidelis, Flowergardener, Lakeerieartists and Loyalis have all answered questions and given invaluable advice when I’ve needed it!