Lens Harbor

Woohoo! This week the poll on my lens about the online game Fallen Sword got its one thousandth vote! That’s way more votes than any other lens poll I have.

It didn’t happen overnight, the lens will be 2 years old in a few weeks, but it’s cool to see a poll get that much interest. It’s also good to know people read down the lens at least as far as the poll module. Here’s a screen shot…

One thing that I think helped get this much participation (other than traffic) was offering more than 2 choices. When I see a poll where the only options are “It’s Great” and “It Sucks”, I’ll usually pass if my opinion isn’t at either extreme. But if there are some more moderate options to choose, I’ll probably vote.

Look at the results above…40% of the votes were for the middle three options. That’s 400 votes that might not have been cast if the only options were “Awesome” and “Complete Rubbish”.

When you have multiple lenses covering a core subject (especially one with its own jargon), it gets repetitive writing the same explanations over and over again.

Consider building a glossary lens to supplement the content on those lenses.  Then whenever you use a jargony term, simply create a hyperlink and point your readers to the definition on your glossary lens.

Benefits of this are:
1. A common set of original definitions that you write once and link to from your other lenses and blogs.
2. Continue to demonstrate your subject expertise by pointing visitors to explanations that you wrote.
3. Declutter your core lenses so they stay focused on the meaty content. If someone needs a definition, they can click on the link.
4. Another lens to earn revenue, attract search engine traffic and refer traffic to your other lenses!

After my 2nd or 3rd fantasy football lens, I built a fantasy football glossary to support them. About 2/3 of the visits come from my lenses that link to it but there are search engine visits as well. Plus it even refers a little traffic back to my other lenses.

My preference is to use a text module for each term defined. Use the term as your module title and write up an explanation in the body. Then you can link to that specific module from your other lenses using the term as the anchor text. Remember to add a handy Table of Contents for visitors who found your glossary from a search engine and are starting at the top of the lens.

Final thought…only hyperlink a term once per lens.  That way your lens text won’t turn into an unsightly mass of hyperlinks if you use that term a lot.

I’m creative writing challenged. I can wing it occasionally, but it’s not a skill that I’ve practiced much. So it’s a challenge to come up with funny or engaging lens and module titles.

Then I read Shane Amber’s amazing Rubberwood lens. It was featured as a Lens Of The Day back in the early days of Squidoo soon after I joined. Sadly, the lens has disappeared, it was one of the best I’ve seen…on topic, well laid out, witty, informative and about an interesting topic I didn’t know existed.

Anyway, Shane credited a site on the lens that he used to generate his module titles. It’s called the Advertising Slogan Generator. Simply enter your subject and the site returns a real advertising or popular slogan with your subject mashed in.

A few examples using “Squidoo” as the subject are:
Moms Like You Choose Squidoo
Snap! Crackle! Squidoo!
There’s First Love and There’s Squidoo Love
Obey Your Squidoo

The site has been very helpful to me when I’m struggling to find the right title. Now, instead of staring blankly at my lens workshop, I click over to the generator. I’ll use a slogan as generated or one of the slogans will trigger my creativity to develop the right one myself.

Give it a try when you need a creative catalyst! And thanks to Shane for the link!

Get a jump on your competition! Most fantasy football sites are open for registration and the season is starting. Here are a couple lenses to help you prepare for this season.

Are you new to fantasy football? The Fantasy Football 101 lens has the info you need to master the game quickly. It’s even a former LOTD winner.

Are you ready to run your own fantasy league? The Fantasy Football League Commissioner Guide will get you up to speed on the keys to a successful and fun league.

Good luck this season!

You think up great descriptions for your Link or Amazon Plexo items, save, publish and what do you see? The first 50 characters followed by more….

D’oh!…all that hard work writing the perfect description and now you have to hope readers will take the time to click more… to read it. For every single item in your Plexo.

Here’s how you fix that:
1. Edit your Plexo module
2. Click the Display tab
3. Select “Nope” for the “Use one line previews for item descriptions?” field.
4. Save the module and publish the lens.

Your Plexo will now display the full description for every item.