Home > News > We’ve Got the Power!

If March comes in like a lion, boy do we have the lion’s share of exciting things to look forward to this month!   Why not use this opportunity to put some power into your lenses?

1. Ta-da! It’s SquidOffers
2. Maximizing your lenses
3. The power of feedback
4. Fun tip of the week
5. Lensmaster Interview

They say, “knowledge is power.”  I say, “knowledge is power when shared and applied.”  When you use Squidoo to share that knowledge, everyone benefits.  So get out there and be powerful!

~Kimberly Dawn Wells, Editor of the SquidU Review

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1. Ta-da!  It’s SquidOffers
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You’ve probably noticed some pretty wild changes to the righthand sidebar of your lenses. This is the hot new Plexo-powered SquidOffers system!

Squidoo calls it “the new user-generated, community-voted, turbocharged, gotta-have-it ‘advertising’ system.  It’s like Plexo or Reddit or Digg, except every single listing is a cool offer from someone who wants to promote something. So, the best offers rise to the top and get the most traffic.” When marketers compete, everyone wins. (Including lensmasters!)

Check out, say, this video games page for more information and a great Q&A about SquidOffers. Start browsing and voting from there and see what you think! http://www.squidoo.com/browse/offers/videogames

But first, some quick answers for curious minds.

* “I’m a lensmaster. What’s in it for me?” SquidOffers are a good way to connect the millions and millions of people stopping by Squidoo every month to fun offers and authentic marketers.  The good stuff gets voted up and the lousy ones get buried.  Just as with our existing AdSense pool and PayRank system, lensmasters get half of the earnings from SquidOffers, after the SquidStaff pays their monthly overhead to keep the site running. So, chances are if you have a lot of good lenses (which boosts your PayRank–your share of the pie), the inclusion of SquidOffers will help your monthly royalties go up.

* “Can I click the links on my own lenses?”  Yes!  By clicking on the ads featured on your own lenses, you are not causing any monetary exchange (such as in AdSense which is a pay-per-click system).  Feel free to vote on any SquidOffers you see. Your vote counts.

* “What do I need to do?”  Nothing!  Maxed lenses will automatically see these changes.

* “What if I’m just not sure?”  If you need a little more time to get used to SquidOffers, you can “unmax” your lens (see below) for now, to make them disappear.  But, you won’t get a tentacle in the money pot.

For more details and to join the exciting discussion visit: http://squidu.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=2458

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2. Maximizing your Lenses
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Last Fall, Squidoo unleashed their minimizing and maximizing system for lenses, to give lensmasters control over some of the new features we’ve been playing with.  But what exactly does this mean?

Our awesome Squidstaff is always playing with new things.  They’re watching the lenses, keeping a big squid eye on what works and doesn’t work, and quietly testing new techniques and tools.  Some lensmasters love this and want in on the action, and some lensmasters just want their lenses to be left alone.  The min/max system gives you the power to choose what you think is best for your lens.

If you choose “max” for your lens, they’ll take what Squidoo has learned about the system and make it available for your lens.  It’s an automatic and free way to take advantage of more traffic, new lens layouts, and extra royalties.  And they promise not to play with your content – Squid’s honor.

If you would rather keep your lens just the way it is, you can “un-max” your lens at any time.  It will automatically revert back to the “min” state, and you don’t have to do anything else.  Then again, for those of us who like to change our minds a lot, you can flip back and forth whenever you want.

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3. The Power of Feedback
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There are several ways you can create better lenses, and one of the most helpful tools for collecting information on this is feedback.  On Squidoo, you can solicit feedback in a number of ways.

* Polls – you can use the poll module to survey your visitors.  They are easy to use and anonymous, so there’s no risk to your visitors to click and express themselves.  The downside is visitors can’t tell you a whole lot in their own words.

* Guestbook – the guestbook module allows your readers to leave a message.  There are several admin options that come with the module, including the ability to limit messages to those from logged-in Squidoo members only.  You can also choose to approve messages before they appear, and a few other display options.  Guestbooks are great for kudos, and for keeping an active conversation going with very little effort!

* Contact Me – the “allow contact” option must be set in your preferences section, and you can find a great tutorial here: http://www.squidoo.com/squidoo-preferences.   When you have this turned on, people won’t actually see your email address when shooting you a note.  They will fill out a form (which must be confirmed with a security word to deter dirty spammers) which is forwarded to the email address associated with your Squidoo account.  If you currently don’t allow other lensmasters to contact you, you could be missing out on a lot of great stuff, including group invitations and ideas for your lenses!

Part of the power of feedback comes from the fact that more heads are better than one.  A fellow lensmaster may be able to clue you in to a moneymaking option, spelling mistake, or great new YouTube clip that you hadn’t noticed.  By choosing the contact and feedback methods that are best from you, you can take advantage of the experience and resources of others.

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4. Fun Tips and Partners of the Week
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* Amazon got its start as a popular online warehouse for buying books on the cheap, but it has since evolved into a marketplace for dozens of categories of products, where you can shop for any one of several thousand different things.  Keep this in mind when you’re using Amazon as a money maker for your lenses.  Find out what our savvy lensmasters are saying about Amazon, here: http://www.squidu.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=45

* March Nonprofit Madness!  It’s a big week for nonprofits at Squidoo. Newest partners include the American Refugee Committee and the Polly Klaas Foundation (who are running a clever challenge to help missing kids). Find out more about the programs here:  http://www.squidoo.com/blog/?p=125

* Are you a National Geographic fan? Do you geek out over maps and nature shows, rainsticks and African drums? Squidoo’s friends at National Geographic World Music have just the thing for you: http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/worldmusic/view/page.basic/home.

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5. Lensmaster Profile
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This week Citizen Squid Marti Lawrence takes a look at what makes lensmaster Rick Phillips THE Anomaly Man.
Read on here: http://www.squidu.com/Profiles/rick-phillips-resident-anomaly