My Squid Life

I’ve had a few days off recently to be sure I got out and enjoyed some gorgeous autumn weather before it was too late. Perfect hiking weather!

I’ve managed to create a few lenses though.  First I did Homemade Vegetable Soup.  It’s actually a Beef Vegetable Soup. Apologies to the vegetarians out there but this is just a description of how my mother/grandmother used to make soup. Very basic but the addition of an apple adds something.  Interestingly, it’s had a good start during it’s first week with a 103 visits. The good news is that the visits are coming primarily from Google followed by other searches on AOL, Yahoo and MSN.  That’s some pretty quick indexing and reasonable search engine placement for a lens that hasn’t been  (and probably won’t be) promoted to any significant degree.

My second one was Sightseeing Indiana. I just put together a bit of information on some sites that I know about primarily just because I’m local. Perhaps someone just looking for a way to kill some time or who happen to be passing through would also find them interesting.  Hopefully I will be adding to the list over time.  It’s been found by Google searchers several times although it’s only about 3 days old so that’s not too bad.

I published a quick lens then yesterday about the Blackberry Bold 9000. It wasn’t something I had planned; I felt it was just too competitive to bother with doing.  I seldom do standalone lenses about the latest releases or the most popular models but with only some limited time yesterday I decided I had nothing to lose. It is a pretty remarkable phone, the screen is really leagues above most of them.

Well that pretty much sums up my week. For those of you in the U.S….don’t forget to VOTE!

I guess I’ve finally learned that when I’m not having a productive day doing one thing, I just need to switch to a different task, there is no lack of things to do!  I had set about writing some articles a couple of days ago and was frustrated by my lack of progress.  Finally, after a few hours, I got wise and shifted to tweaking some lenses based on the Health Check feature.  I think I now have my tags in order.

On Saturday, I thought I would put together a lens, but my creativity was lagging. By mid-morning I went over to Qassia and wrote a few articles though and made a more productive day of it. This morning my goal was to blog a bit but when that didn’t happen readily within the first half hour, I decided to pay attention to my poor neglected website.  I finally set up my Amazon electronics store although I wasn’t able to get it embeded into my site yet due to some technical glitches.  I did finally add some products however and edited several pages.  There’s still work to do, but at least I have a good start on it now.

I’m finally learning that if I hit a wall, I just need to move on to something else to stay productive.

My only real Squidoo news today is that my Text Messaging Help lens which has been my top ranked lens for “forever” was finally passed by my Cell Phones for the Hearing Impaired lens.  Although the Text Messaging lens has several hundred more visitors per week, it appears that the Cell Phones lens has more than 7 times the number of back links (396 vs. 52). The majority of those links are from Qassia and from my signature in the Squidoo forum (which I don’t visit all that often).  I still have several lenses I want to target more heavily and maybe this tells me for sure which direction to pursue in that effort.

How to go about promoting a website or webpage seems fairly straight foward. Getting backlinks is of course critical if you want to show up in searches and one of the best ways to achieve that is to write great, unique content, and to promote that content by writing articles, blogs, and other related webpages.

I’m capable of constructing reasonable sentences and can most often put my thoughts in logical order and express them in written form. I’ve certainly written several hundred blogs and hundreds of articles. However, I don’t consider myself a writer.  For this reason, I lack some of the necessary skills and at times, this is most evident in my ability to not only write well but to write quickly and in great volume. Hiring someone to write for me is out of the question right now.

As someone who would like to earn a living on line I guess it’s time to buckle down and focus a bit more on my writing skills in general. Over time, I’ve bookmarked a number of related articles which I probably need to actually review more thoroughly now that I accept this as a much needed goal. This all became evident to me as I began following Vbright on Tagfoot and Squidtop as she discussed her writing job. When I realized that a “writer” could produce 20 or more articles a day on a topic that was unfamiliar, I realized how far off the mark I was. I doubt that 20 articles a day is necessary for marketing purposes, but it’s a kick in the pants nonetheless to understand what some people are capable of doing.

I think I’ll start with some of the articles I have bookmarked on Tagfoot starting with the resources listed in this http://www.dumblittleman.com/2008/08/21-must-read-tips-to-write-better-web.html article.

I don’t aspire to be a professional writer, but the importance of writing is very evident. I guess that fact that web promotion is often about writing well and in volume has to be acknowledged and I need to find a way to do that in a more effective and efficient manner.

If anyone has other recommended online resources let me know!

Fresh content is always critical and the need to keep lenses updated is no different than with any webpage. Finding the time of course is another story. As I was perusing the news recently though I came across some nice information for several of my older lenses that will beef them up nicely.

First was news announced from MobileASL that they now have the software to allow US callers to make use of sign language on their cell phones. Now they just have to get manufacturers to incorporate their software.  I updated my Cell Phones for the Hearing Impaired lens to reflect this new development.  I was even able to include a video about the new software.  Although Sweden and Japan offers the ability to do this, data networks in the US couldn’t easily accomodate this until now. Great news for the deaf community here in the US.

Next I saw a press release announcing the Beta phase of Text Guard a new software program that will allow you to block text messages more easily, monitor your kids messaging if desired, and keep a log of messages in case you need to retrieve them later.  The best news is that it offers a free 60 day trial. I included this information in my Stop Unwanted Calls and Messages lens.

I didn’t get much participation on my Comprehensive Sex Education Should Be Taught in Public Schools lens and I assumed it just wasn’t timely enough.  I guess that isn’t the issue. Yesterday there was a front page story on MSN about the lack of evidence supporting abstinence only programs and the prospect of funding for such programs disappearing; particularly if the democrats win the White House.

I’m sure most of you have read about the recent module additions at Squidoo.  I haven’t tried the new text/write modules with larger pictures yet, but I’ll be excited to try it.  Pictures add so much to a lens and those tiny thumbnails do little more than break up text. Up to this point I’ve mainly used the Polaroid module to get my big photos.

This morning I noticed a small change on the dashboard that I hadn’t heard about. Along with the options to label, edit, delete or check your stats on a lens, you can now check your lens health. Tips about your titles, length of your intro module, your tags, and more is all available to help you improve the health of your lens.  Nice addition.  Now I need to set aside some time and go through each of my lenses.

I found several of my lenses had some bad affiliate links in them earlier this week.  I spent yesteday swapping them out. Unfortunately, they don’t alway show that they aren’t working at a glance and I fear they’ve been non-functional for 6 or 8 weeks. Nothing like losing revenue over something that basic!

I’ve created 3 or 4 new lenses this week but I believe my efforts in the coming several days will be directed toward tweaking and updating.  Fresh content, pictures, and checking “health status” and links is on my list to do.

I finally decided that I needed to try a Hey Monkeybrain lens. The ones that I like are those that are a really good debate; something that allows people to express strong opinions.  I am a bit timid however about stating an opinion that people will find TOO offensive. It’s a fine line I guess.

I finally settled on Comprehensive Sex Education vs Abstinence Only programs in the schools. For those who are more conservative it should bring out a bit of an opposing view but hopefully won’t offend them. I had searched to be sure it wasn’t done previously and found nothing.  Was disappointed to find later that I had somehow missed one created earlier. Grrr.

Hopefully, I’ll get something more unique next time!

I was working along this weekend and had a couple of pleasant surprises. First, when I stopped by to visit CleanerLife’s lens on Installing a Backup Camera I saw that a couple of my lenses were featured on the page. A very pleasant suprise! I don’t personally have a back up camera on my car, but I must say it’s something I’m considering. I’ve only had a few minor “fender benders” in my lifetime of driving, but amazingly the consistency is that I’ve backed into something that’s below my level of view. CleanerLife’s lens does a great job of showing you how to install one yourself.

On Sunday I did a very quick lens about The Samsung Instinct. It’s not the most fascinating topic but for people who love the iPhone & want to save some cash, it’s a great option. Anyway, it’s not the kind of lens I would expect to take off based on “popularity”.  After publishing it, I went back less than 3 hours later to find that it had 189 visits already. Zikes! What had I done?  Well, as it turned out I had done nothing. But pMolinero had stopped by and decided to submit it to StumbleUpon whereupon 180+ people decided to check it out.  If you haven’t seen any of pmolinero’s lenses, I suggest you check them out. There are a variety of topics, but some of my favorites are the food oriented lenses. All About Watermelons is my current favorite and Halloumi Cheese is another that’s caught my interest as I’ve never met a cheese I didn’t love.

Today was pay day in Squidoo-land. It turned out pretty much as I had suspected, with $246 from Squidoo.  My lens rank fell quite a bit in September so I don’t know that I expect much better next month unless I make more Amazon sales or something. Still keeping my fingers crossed for $350/month by the end of the year. I can always dream, right?

Spent a bit of time on a new lens, the Influence of Advertising, which covers information about marketing campaigns which target children.  It’s just a complement to my Influence of Media and Television and Children lenses which cover information about media violence and the effects of media images on body image, sexual role development, and so forth.  

Tomorrow I need to start something new, hopefully an idea will come to me in my sleep! Then I’m off on Wednesday to take care of some medical appointments with my mom. Hope pay day was kind to everyone.

I’ve begun working on a new lens today, but things have been slow.  I’m not sure if it’s just me but everything I do on Squidoo the past few days has been agonizingly delayed. Out of frustration, I stopped my work and simply finished up adding a few photos to my Small Town USA lens.  It’s just a bit of history and a photo gallery of the tiny rural town where I now live.

With fall here I will probably be taking some days off here and there to get out and enjoy my favorite season before winter comes blasting in upon us. The leaves are just starting to change here and there, the humidity is gone, and the temperatures are perfect for me. It’s insane, I become almost euphoric from now until January.

In the meantime of course, there’s still blogging and Squidoo lenses to keep me busy. Happy Autumn to everyone!

Uh oh. I missed my goal of hitting 100 lenses by the end of the month. My EXCUSE is that I had a number of other off line things which interrupted unexpectedly.  None of it was bad, just unexpected. A friend showing up in town, my sister visiting unexpectedly, a last minute decision to go door to door in getting voters registered for the November elections, my 19 year old neice deciding she needed help with some things, etc.

I published two lenses this week.  The first was Parents of Famous People. Although parenting can certainly play a strong role related to some of the great achievements and excruciating mistakes that some famous and “infamous” people experience, I feel we are pretty complex and there are many other factors that determine our success or failure. In some instances, a person faces terrible circumstances and manages to achieve greatness while another seems to have a relatively “normal” childhood and fails miserably. This lens is not a serious look at the issues surrounding parenting! It’s just for the curious.  I would love to add more famous or infamous people and would appreciate any suggestions you have.

My  final lens is about the small town where I live. Although it’s complete as far as content and published, I’m not ready to “promote” it however, as I still have a few pictures I want to add.

My “results” have been mixed this month. I’m still only averaging 2,700 to 3,000 visits per week total and without having average stats available I would guess I only averaged 10 lenses in the top tier.  On the other hand I’ve had more affiliate sales to help offset this.

Here’s hoping the remainder of my week is quiet (predictable) and productive.