Can you keep a secret? Here are six secrets that every lensmaster should know if they want their lenses to be featured on Squidoo or SquidooHQ.
1. Use big, bright, beautiful square pictures in the intro module on your lenses. Look at the Squidoo home page to see why square works best. Aim for 250×250 px or larger if you’d like to see your lens featured on the front page.
2. To get featured in one of our magazines, include at least one nice, large, rectangular picture in the body of your lens. Use the “text with big picture” module and a beautiful, wide shot on lenses you’ve assigned to a Squidoo magazine category, then keep your eye on the magazine’s front page.
3. Complete quests. Check your quest tab often for lensmaking challenges. Robin, our amazing questmaster, features lenses on SquidooHQ almost daily that she finds in her “completed quests” inbox. You never know when one of yours will be included on a monsterboard or chosen as Lens of the Day.
4. Get social. In addition to completing quests, participate in the community by reading and leaving comments on lenses, on SquidooHQ posts, and on the Squidoo forum. It’s a great way to get noticed and, who knows, might lead to one of your best lenses being chosen for a feature.
5. Use Squidoo’s Amazon and eBay modules. They’re designed to look great on your lenses, they’re easy to use, and you don’t have to sign up directly with Amazon or eBay to earn commissions (a definite plus for those of us who live in “sales tax states” where we can’t be affiliates). Lenses that use the tools provided by Squidoo really do stand out.
6. Write great content. This is the most important thing when it comes to making a stand-out lens. All the above are icing on the cake, but great content is the cake! Strive for greatness in every lens you publish. Write unique, useful content and keep it updated.
These secrets to making stand-out lenses really aren’t secret at all. In fact, the tips you read here at SquidooHQ are designed to help lensmasters make better lenses and we want every lensmaster on Squidoo to know these things. That’s why it’s a good idea to make SquidooHQ a daily destination. Besides, you never know when you might arrive to find one of your lenses being featured!
