A Little Discouraged

I've been working my butt off and networking like crazy and my lens rankings are getting better, but my top three are getting worse, so it is more or less evening out.  I also worked really hard on my Top Ten Heroine Suspense Movies for this week's RocketSquids challenge and our computer ran out of juice late Saturday night because our power cord had apparently stopped working.  Sunday night I created as much of my lens on Squidoo as I could using my iphone as I could, but it is tough to do it that way and my phone wouldn't let me do everything I can when using the computer.  Monday morning we had a doctor's appointment for my little boy, then went and got a power cord.  I was an hour late submitting my lens.  However, I left a comment on the Rocketsquids Top 10 Lens Challenge lens and the lensmaster kab added my lens to the list, which I really appreciated.  There were so many lenses included for this challenge, which is great, but mine is not getting a lot of views from being so low on the list.  Better luck next time I suppose.

I also completed a squid quest on the 28th that was to write about a toy.  I came up with the idea to write about the Skip It Toy.  It was a quest I was so excited to do and when you completed the quest you were to get 250 points, I think it was, and also have the chance of getting a purple star, which are given to exceptional lenses and really help you to get recognition.  Well, today the quest has disappeared, as the the due date was yesterday, and still no points and don't know who was awarded the purple star.

Upon visiting my blog I also find that I still don't have any followers.  I'm hoping I just need to work on being more patient and that good things will come with time.  I keep reading about how to do better, get more traffic, and all these other great tips and I try to apply them, but I'm not seeing results right now.  It makes it tough, especially when my hubby doesn't really get why it is so important to me.  Although, he has been very supportive when I take the time to publish my lenses, which for me can be quite a process, and wanted to get the power cord ASAP, so I could finish my challenge.  Besides all that, in the all too real world, my little boy has been having problems with his ears, was sick with strep and a chest infection this last week, and has been cranky because of it.  Our vacuum also stopped working and the place we were last renting from is holding part of our rent.  It has just been one of those weeks and I really could use some good news.  Just gotta look towards this week with hope that will go better.  I'm off to get breakfast with my baby boy - I know that will help us both feel a little better! :)

Added a Followers Section!

Photo credit: www.clker.com

I realized I did not have a join this site button on my page, so I added one (right below the about me section) and hope to see some faces added, as I need some followers!  I am still getting use to all of this, so please bare with me.  I hope you enjoy reading and don't be shy to comment.  If you are also a lensmaster on Squidoo, feel free to either leave a link to one of your lenses in a comment on this post or my very first post that I made on this blog.  Welcome to you as you join me on my journey and life behind writing on Squidoo!

I'm Back!!!

Photo credit: www.ckler.com

We have been moving into our new home that we had built and I was without internet for quite a while.  Moving can be a pain, but we are so happy with the new house and I am ready to pick things back up!!!  The last lens I created was How to Clean Your Spoon Collection.  Somehow I will need connect with more spoon collectors, as these seem to currently be my least popular lenses.  I realize after not being on Squidoo for more than two weeks that it is a weekly, perhaps even daily, hobby.  Within that time all of my lenses have stopped having earning rankings, except three.  Two of those three were ones I created for RocketSquids challenges, so it does pay to be part of the group.  I also missed two RocketSquids challenges during my time away from the internet, but this week the challenge is to write a Top 10 lens, which I am very excited about!  Time to socialize again and get the word out on my lenses!!!  Good luck to you other writers out there and make sure to check out my stuff ;)  New lens coming to ya soon...

I Like to What?!?!

That's right I said I Like to Spoon - the title of my last lens!  Did I mean to put that?  Yes, it was a "play on words" so to speak and I wanted to catch people's attention.  Hopefully it worked!  This was written to complete a quest using the new "Do the Polka" theme - it has pastel colored polka dots and is really fun.  I received 200 points for completing it and I might get featured in an HQ lens - we will see.  You learn a lot more about me, as I write more lenses and I gave away my identity in this lens!!!!  Not sure if I like it or if I am warming up to the idea of sharing my secret life with family and friends.  Whenever I decide to reveal my true identity to those that are closest to me you will have the first notice and inside on how it all goes.  I try to be funny in this lens and hope others share my humor.  I talk about being a spoon collector, which I have to admit is kind of geeky, but I like being different.  What is geeky really anyway?  Definition one, according to Google: An unfashionable or socially inept person.  And number two: A person with an eccentric devotion to a particular interest.  I'm going to go with the later in this case.  Either way, I don't really care, all I know is I like doing it and it brings back so many good memories for me, as I started collecting them while on a family vacation.  I don't know if it because it is summer or because I am missing my family so far away that this subject seems to be on my mind a lot.  I actually featured my Summer Trips Driving as a Family lens as well as a lens I read that originally inspired me to write about my spoon collecting. (Check out this lensmaster's stuff: Scarlettohairy)  I actually have another lens on this topic already in the works, so stay tuned!

A Lot of Quests and Challenges = Overload!!!

I don't think I have mentioned this before, but Squidoo will send out SquidQuests that allow you to increase your level and trophies...I think it is just a way of helping people get more involved in the community and makes the whole experience a little more fun, but there might be another reason I have yet to discover.  Anyway, these are done at random and there are two quests that I really would like to complete within the next week that each can give me 200 points if I complete the task well.  I also have my second RocketSquids challenge that we are to write a lens in which we ask a question.  With fourth of July today, closing on our home, packing and moving I just couldn't imagine writing so many lenses at the same time.  Thus, as I just wrote my Dragons Myth or Real Creatures lens that would fit this not too long ago, I decided to submit it for this week's RocketSquids challenge.  I fully understand that the point of joining this group is to create new lenses, but I did not want to miss this challenge or create a completely new lens right now with everything going on, especially as I already had one that I could submit.  The question is, will it be accepted?  I tried asking if there is a rule against it and the general answer seemed to be that it is frowned upon, but permitted.  I did revise my lens and republish it from the things I learned from my last RocketSquids challenge, which I think counts.  Just something I wanted to jot down quick for the night - to be continued...

UPDATE:  The article was not only accepted, but mentioned and number three on the list of articles submitted!  I didn't realize I had gotten featured until people started leaving me comments.  I still wonder how they decide to put that list in order on RocketSquids - maybe it is the order that they are received because I put that one in pretty early.  Here it is in all it's glory. lol:

RocketSquids Success!

Well, in less than a week my Summer Trips Driving as a Family lens has made it up the ladder to a little over 17,000 lens rank!  It really helps that RocketSquids publishes a lens with each week's submissions for the challenge (see screen shot taken of published featured lens with a few others from the challenge below).  I hope to see a lot of other future lenses with this group get such a good lens ranking!  I am not sure how they organize the lists, but to find mine it is placed at about 15 down on the the list and if my counting is correct I believe there were right around a total of 75 lenses featured for this challenge.  I know it not meant to be a competition among us, but it would be interesting to see where your article is ranked amongst others within the challenge.  I have been getting a lot of feedback from other lensmasters; some good and some bad.  I really appreciate it when someone has constructive criticism, but have a hard time when someone thinks they just need to tell me what I should be doing creatively.  I guess that is the price for putting your stuff out there, but most times it is good and I am learning a lot!  I would suggest to anyone that is currently in the group or considering joining that you change your comment settings to be notified to approve comments instead of just allowing any comment to be posted, as you will get a lot of critiquing.  Here is some of what I've learned so far:  people like a customized bio for each lens - include key words from title, it is better to break up writing into sections instead of "blocking", choose any featured products wisely, make sure your intro photo is a square photo at least 250pixels in size, always give credit to your pictures (that is a tough one, but worth it and I am currently trying to work on going back to other lenses and add this), and people really like personal experiences included in the lens - which is great because that is how I like to write a lot of my lenses.  All of these tips will help increase your lens rank.  I appreciate that I was sent the invitation to become a member of this group and am eager to see what other creativity and lessons come from this experience.  There are some other really great RocketSquids Summer Travel Lenses, so be sure to take a look at them!

iphone screen shot of RocketSquids Summer Travel Lenses

Edit and Revise

Well, the last couple days I have just been editing and revising my lenses, which I'm sure I will periodically do throughout the future, as I learn new things. The main thing I've been working on is making sure that all my lenses have right around 20-30 tags. A tag is a word that people use to find your lens. It seems my ranking has gotten better since I've done this, but I have read on some lenses not to have more than that general number of tags. I've also been changing some of the words, as they were not quite as good as others I could have chosen. I also received a message from another lensmaster saying they could not read the fantasy font I had on my Dragons More Reality Than Myth lens.  I really appreciated the heads up on that!  I was worried that not everyone could see that font on their computer depending on the type of computer or web browser they are using.  Thus, I changed it to Times New roman, hoping that will correct the problem.  That is one change I would like to see happen on Squidoo; more ability to format the page and font.  Right now you can't change the font at all except using HTML and there are different themes for your page, but that is about it when it comes for format changes.  I wonder why it is so limited in that aspect?  I also spruced up the Save Big On Large Appliances At Sears page that I created for the upcoming 4th of July sales event that Sears has.  I finally added up all the purchases we made at Sears and found out we actually saved more than I thought, which was great to add to my lens!  I also have added a prediction module and will give credit on the lens to those who get the prediction correct.  I will be updating that at every major sales event that I mention in the article.  I found out about this module from the RocketSquids page and am very glad that I decided to join so far!  If you see anything that needs to be changed on any of my lenses it would be great if you could send me a message letting me know, as I probably don't catch everything.  It is still early, but happy upcoming Independence Day to you all and if you are shopping I hope you find some amazing deals!

PS:  Updated, edited, and reformatted my blog today, what do you think?