First, I'll give an update on my new lenses. I realized that I am a little behind on posting about these, so here is a list:
Stuffed Animal Storage Bag - 09/18
Halloween Holograms - 09/20
Delightfully Easy Fall Casserole - 09/22
Scary Halloween Rats - 09/26
Instant Costumes With Hats and Ski Masks - 09/29
Carved Gourds-The Perfect Fall Decoration - 10/02
Take Along Toys for Babies - 10/05
Haunted Hayride Madness - 10/12
Holy cow, I didn't even realize how much I have done in the last month until I listed it all out like that!!! I've been writing a lens about every three days, with the exception of the last one.
Now, for the story behind them...better get some popcorn, this is going to be a long blog entry!
Stuffed Animal Storage Bag: I created this article to complete a quest to write about an Amazon product. I absolutely love this product! My son loves it too and everyone that comes over asks us where we purchased it. I am so glad that we bought this, as there are no longer a pile of stuffed animals all over the house. I thought those that completed the quest would be spotlighted or featured somewhere, but I haven't seen anything.
Halloween Holograms: I LOVE holograms! I can't get enough of them. When I was little my dad worked at a mall or something where they had this really neat studio (
a different store from where he worked, not that where my dad worked wasn't neat or anything) that featured all holographic art. The pictures looked like they were moving and could jump out at you and I was just mesmerized by them and I have fond memories of going there. What better time to feature these awesome creations than Halloween?
Delightfully Easy Fall Casserole: I also was completing a quest when I shared this recipe. It was something I was waiting to make until it was officially fall. It is great resolution for Thanksgiving left overs too! My grandmother made it the best, but couldn't remember how when I asked her, which I talk about in the article. It is a comfort meal for sure!
Scary Halloween Rats: A Halloween quest had gone out to write about a Halloween creature. Some examples were listed, but I didn't want to write about what everyone else was writing about. I bounced a few ideas off my husband, who really didn't add much input. I had almost settled on crows, but that night I was sitting watching my son's favorite movie with him, which is Disney/Pixar Ratatouille. That was it!!!! After that I just started searching for the scariest rat items I could find on Amazon. I also discovered Zazzle, while I don't sell anything on that site directly, there are some great images you can use and the HTML code is already provided and your readers have another product option that they might love.
Instant Costumes With Hats and Ski Masks: I felt like I hit the jackpot with this one and it has been viewed a lot, but not the most. I think it is a great idea; put on a hat or ski mask that is a character and you've got your costume! No hassle, inexpensive, and simple. It was featured on the
Happy Happy Halloween Squidoo Online Magazine and on their
Facebook page.
Carved Gourds-The Perfect Fall Decoration: I literally got goose-bumps from writing this article! I wrote this to complete my final RocketSquids challenge, which was to use the new autumn theme. I was looking at the fall decor we have and realized my all time favorite piece is the carved gourd we have. Growing up, my family always loved to go into art and gift shops and thankfully my husband still likes to do this. We were is a tourist town that we visited often in the fall and we picked out this great decoration there and also bought an owl gourd tree decoration for my mother-in-law, as she loves owls and these were just so beautiful. The lamps I found for this lens are AMAZING, I can't say enough about them and can not do them justice. Thank goodness the creature puts pictures of his latest projects on his site and includes the RSS feed - I used the RSS module for the first time for this lens and it was great because I didn't have to site the pictures or include links, it is already done and when that page gets updated, so does my article! I was just a little sad to realize I would no longer be part of this group, so I immediately applied to be a Squid Angel.
Take Along Toys for Babies: I completed yet another quest when I created this article. It was for a Gift Guide topic and there is going to be a new Squidoo online magazine called Celebrate that will be coming out soon. I thought this might be featured on there, but it doesn't look like they have it up and running yet. I'm guessing it won't come out until after Halloween. Here is a thought though, to keep sales lenses and fresh and up to date I'm guessing that you could keep the Gift Guide topic and change the subtopic to the holiday or event that is most popular at the time, especially if it is a gift for any occasion. I might play with this theory and get back to you on my findings. ;) Also, check out this great lens that I found to get great tips about writing sales lenses:
Why I Write Sales Lenses on Squidoo.
Haunted Hayride Madness: This was a big quest sent out from the Happy Halloween Magazine, the first 250, I think it is, will be featured on Halloween! I sure hope I made it, I completed it two days after the challenge went out I believe. I shared a true story about the hayride I will never, ever, forget. I had been saving this story for the perfect moment and I hope I did it at the right time. It has been very popular already (
already 60 visits and counting) and it just got featured on the
Squidoo main page, not lens of the day, but still awesome! The child that was on this ride was actually rushed off by the adults that brought him as soon as the mishap occurred, as they thought it was part of the scare as well. When we were walking back to the parking lot in the dark one of the actors was guiding us and an actor was just sitting out in the field and scared the living day lights out of me!!! It was also so dark that I stepped in a hole and twisted my ankle. My mom has this sixth sense kind of gift when it comes to her kids that she just knows deep down when something will go wrong and we took my sister who was older because she could make the decision on her own at that age, but we really tried to convince my mother to let us bring our brother. For whatever reason she said she felt he shouldn't go. Boy, was I glad he didn't go on that ride with us, it was too scary and his leg had already been injured from sports or something, so the walk back would have made him hurt even worse!
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| ^ Haunted Hayride |
I also reached some major mile stones this last month that I'd like to share:
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| ~ First Sale! ~ |
My goals now are to update all my lenses at this point and write a lens about my RocketSquid experience and then I will be applying to be a Giant Squid, hoping to join soon! I am so excited this experience is going well and hope I am giving people added motivation to join or stick with it! I love this community! Many blessings to everyone!
For more Squid Images like the animated SquidAngel visit: http://www.squidoo.com/animatedsquids.
My family went on vacation for two weeks and I tried to make sure to keep up with my lenses while we were gone, but it can be tough! Halloween brought good success, as I made more sales from those articles - not much, but I am still excited about it! Not sure how long the high ranking will last from those, but it sure would be nice if it could stay that way throughout most of the month. My Haunted Hayride Madness did really well, although I'm still kind of kicking myself that I waited so long to write it. Hopefully it will be just as popular next year. It was featured with other lenses on the Squiddo front page through Halloween and, as seen, was mentioned on the Happy Halloween Magazine facebook page. I was kind of sad to see Halloween go, but am getting excited about Christmas!
