Thank you squidster - giant squid and squidangel

Thanking Squidster an old time squidangel who finally agreed to be interviewed.

Why are you a squidoo lensmaster?

Originally I was attracted to the ease with which anyone can quickly assemble a web page. Okay, the idea of shared revenue was a strong motivator as well. I heard about it in one of the IM forums and thought I’ll give it a try. My very first payday with only a handful of lenses yielded over $11 which I thought was very promising. Unfortunately, the financial trend did not quite pan out as planned, but nowadays I can honestly say I’m primarily “in it” for the community, not the money (although it helps).

What is your favorite lens?

One of my all time favorites has got to be Margaret Schaut’s Michelangelo’s David, a great example of masterpiece lenscrafting. Of my own lenses, there are a few that I’m equally fond of. One is The Last Beatles Concert EVER. It was great fun to assemble and brought back some very emotional memories. My favorite shopping lens is about Plush Dogs. It has a narrow focus, is quite comprehensive and I’d like to think that it’s nice and fun to look at as well. And, although beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, the fanciest lens is definitely The Who’s Who of SquidAngels (Angels-R-Us). It took an insane amount of work (and keeps on giving…). Although Google apparently hates it and continues to deny its existence.

What lens of yours is most under appreciated?

Even though I’m aware that the topic has been done to death by the fly-by Internet Marketing crowd, I am a little sad about the performance of my Paid Surveys lens. It’s genuinely helpful and original, yet it gets outranked by the typical clickbank hawkers which give this niche it’s spammy smell.

What lens of yours is most popular?

In terms of traffic it’s the Pictures of Tattoos wins hands down. It gets about 5x the traffic of all my other lenses combined. But judging from my peer’s reviews, within the Squidoo community my “Angels” lens takes the cake.

What’s one thing you see lensmasters doing that doesn’t work - and why doesn’t it?
Soliciting visits to their own lenses in guestbook comments. We’ve all had those: “Nice lens, bla bla, now come and visit mine (and rate it 5 stars while you’re there).” It might just work if the comment is a thoughtful contribution to the discussion, and the link complements the topic at hand. But usually that’s not the case. Savvy lensmasters either delete the comment or at least disable the HTML. But even if they don’t care or don’t know any better, the links in comments are of no SEO benefit either. It’s just wasted energy.

What’s your most important squidoo promotion method?

Truth be told, I’m not really good at this promotion stuff. I submit my better lenses to some of the lens directories, and my lensmaster feed to some RSS directories. The best promotion I think comes from participating in the SquidU forums. I just find that I don’t have nearly enough time and patience to do this properly.

Which lensmaster(s) have helped you most?

The key here is “the most”, because so many lensmasters have helped me along the way with their comments, ratings and blessings. In the “early days”, lensmasters such as Glen (N379 N376) and thefluffanutta with their classic tutorials and tools were essential reading. Margaret Schaut, JaguarJulie and Colleen (Semperfidelis), Bonnie (bdkz), (Robin) RMS, Patti (GypsyPirate) and YOU (yes, spirituality-Katinka) were all great cheerleaders which inspired me to keep going when I was struggling with my lack of measurable success. But overall, my biggest motivator is no other than ChefKeem, who has become a dear friend and Joint Venture partner in the process. His relentless support and big heart are the glue which keeps me stuck to Squidoo and brought on a whole new dimension to squidooing. He taught me community dynamics. I cannot thank him enough.