A Guide to SquidooGroups Changes: Part Two

Many Squidoo groups have been disbanded in the last few days, indicating that many groupmasters don’t feel up to the challenge of making their groups great. Although it us unfortunate to see many of them go, it does free up the URLs, and new lensmasters will be able to use them once SquidooGroups open up for creation again.

In the meantime, many of us are rising to the occasion and polishing up our groups to meet the new standards. I personally find the challenge refreshing, and I’m looking at my own groups in a totally new light. Just as no lens is ever complete or perfect, groups need a lot of attention if they are to be successful.

If you’re not ready to close or transfer any of your own Squidoo groups, make sure you read up on the new guidelines from “Making Groups Great: Do you have what it takes?”. There is also a handy list of things that the SquidTeam will be looking for when reviewing groups, and what they hope not to see.

Here are the highlights from “Seven ways to make your Groups rock“:

1. Make your group HQ pretty.

There are plenty of ways to improve the appearance of any Squidoo group beyond that of the default HQ page. Though there aren’t very many modules to choose from, most of them do have description areas that you can use to display interesting pictures that will enhance your group’s front page.

You can use your own photos or scanned artwork, and of course there’s AllPosters.com links. And the internet is swimming with all kinds of free clip art as well.

Many lensmasters are also very generous with their images, and offer up plenty of great pictures especially for use on Squidoo. Check out Free Spacers and Fillers and Borders and Dividers for Use on Squidoo for some examples, and links to other great clip art lenses. (Please remember to give credit and link back to your sources. You can do this with a featured lens module, or with a hyperlink at the bottom of your lens.)

If pictures aren’t your thing, or you want to do a little bit more, try using some fancy CSS Tricks. To make a group even more impressive, combine your favorite CSS with the amazing palette of colors on HTML Tips for Color. For some pre-made module titles and more, grab yourself some Lens Candy.

2. Define the focus of your group.

Groups need to be about more than just the basic Squidoo category. Instead of a “Travel Group”, we need to have a “European Destinations Group” and an “RV Vacations Group”. The more specific your topic - and therefore collection of lenses - is, the more potential you have for visits, clickouts and return traffic. Why be the whole phone book when you can be the dog-eared restaurant guide?

When starting a new group, it’s a good idea to use one of your own lenses as a jumping off point. Start groups about topics that you are interested in. This will help you define your group’s area of expertise.

To fix a group that is too broad, try taking a look at the top five or top ten lenses in your group. What are they about? Check out the primary tags for each of them. Is there one that is used more than any other? Use that tag to set the main topic for your group.

For instance, in the top 100 list of an incredibly large group dedicated simply to music, more than half of the top ten lenses have the word ‘songs’ in the title. This groupmaster could redefine his or her group by changing the topic to ‘songs and lyrics’.

If you change the subject of your group, you will inevitably have to let some lenses go. But that’s okay! That’s what the SquidTeam wants you to do.

3. Go ahead. Fire people. We dare you.

See?

Being a good groupmaster is a tough job. Although the small power trip one can get from rejecting lenses that don’t meet guidelines can be fun, it’s much nicer to be able to thank a lensmaster for their wonderful submission. Booting lenses altogether is hard to do. Luckily, the SquidTeam is backing us up on this one, so we don’t have to worry quite as much about offending others.

If you’re removing lenses because you’ve narrowed your group’s focus, you could write a generic message and send it to those lensmasters who’s lenses will be removed. If your group is huge and you’re firing a lot of people, just post it on your HG page and hope for the best.

There are other reasons why you may want to remove a lens from your group. Perhaps the quality of content has dropped, links are broken and it hasn’t been updated in months. Maybe the lensmaster is MIA, since they have not made anything new or done anything to their profile page since you added them to the group last year.

To keep a good group going strong, take some time now and then to weed out lenses that don’t contribute to the quality of your content.

4. Give lensmasters something to talk about.

Of the small selection of modules available from group pages, most of them are interaction modules like the guestbook and plexos. These tools are there to make your groups more than just a place for people to dump their lenses and get a visit from you.

Amazon Voting Plexo - Find some Amazon products that are directly related to your topic. Ask your visitors to vote for the ones they recommend. Remember to keep plexos items down to a minimum. Huge plexos aren’t flattering to groups or lenses.

Group Discussion - This is just like the guestbook module on lenses. You can have a comments section for members and visitors, and you can also use it to get tips or ask questions. Ask your visitors to leave their opinion on your group subject. If your group is about gardening, ask your readers to leave a tip for growing their favorite plants.

Link Plexo - These can be used to feature your group’s lenses - giving them a nice backlink - or you can ask visitors to share their favorite links related to your group topic. There’s nothing worse than a link plexos with totally irrelevant or spammy links, so make sure that you police your list. This will make sure that you’re providing a good resource for your visitors.

Poll Module - The possibilities are endless - ask a question, compare items, get feedback. Remember to always provide options for readers who are neutral, such as “Maybe” “Sometimes” “I don’t know” or “None of the above”. This will make sure that each visitor has a chance to interact with your page, which is great for lens rank.

Text List Plexo - There are plenty of ways to use this module to enhance the value of your group. Make a list of tips that your members can vote on or add to, or create a wish list for lens ideas.

5. Show off your best faces.

What’s the point of joining a group if your lens is just going to get lost in the crowd?

Use the featured lenses and links plexos modules to display some or all of the lenses in your group. If you’re visiting groups before approving them anyway, it takes only a few seconds to copy the URL and add it to your group page.

By breaking your group’s lenses down into categories, and displaying them in the appropriate section, you help your visitors find what they’re looking for. To see this method in action, check out the Family Time Group. If you're using categories, you should also know how to create a group table of contents.

There are also some modules for showing off your very best group members.

6. Keep it current.

You wouldn’t let your lenses go stale, so why neglect your groups?

The easiest way to keep a group fresh is to add new lenses to your feature modules when they are accepted. You could also change the lens picture once in awhile, add a poll, or write an article or blurb to enhance your content. Keep your page looking new with an RSS feed to a related blog (though new posts don’t count as updates).

7. You’re responsible for your members.

If you’re displaying lenses by someone whose conduct leaves something to be desired, it makes your whole group look bad. Set up some guidelines for lensmasters, not just lenses. Many groups require that lensmasters show some activity in the Squidoo community before being accepted.

Before approving a lens, check out the lensmaster’s profile. Look at how long they’ve been a Squidoo member, and how many fields they have filled out on their profile. Do they have contact enabled? Have they uploaded a picture and written a blurb about themselves? Do they have 10 lenses about acai berries or other spam bait?

Remember that your group is only as good as it’s members. Try thinking of yourself as an employer interviewing applicants for a job. Don’t hire people who don’t have the same ideals that you do. Try to encourage your members - and rejected applicants, too - to be active Squids with quality lenses that improve Squidoo.com as a whole. That’s what SquidooGroups is all about.

A Guide to SquidooGroups Changes: Part One

The powers that be at Squidoo have announced that some serious changes will be made to the way groups are managed at Squidoo.com. If you have not already read Kimberly’s post on the SquidU Review, it has plenty of detail about the current changes, and more to come in the near future.

Here are the highlights from Making Groups Great: Do you have what it takes?

“As of right now, no new Groups can be created.”

If you were thinking of making a group to fit some of your newest, best or loneliest lenses, it will now have to wait. As the SquidTeam sorts through existing groups to see what’s what, their job will be made easier by a halt in new group creation.

No word yet on when groups will be opened up for creation again. If you’d like to sound off about it, you can join in Groundswell’s SquidooGroups debate.

What this means for lensmasters:

For the time being, we no longer need to wonder if any new groups have been created that would benefit from the submission of our best lenses. In addition, this closes one avenue that might keep us from polishing our existing groups and lenses. And of course, it means those of use that might have been making groups will just have to make new lenses instead.

“We’re setting our expectations for your existing Groups a little higher.”

The SquidTeam is checking up on groups that have already been made. They want to see who has been running groups that make good use of the tools provided, and who is stepping up to the plate with the new standards.

What this means for lensmasters:

If you’ve made groups that don’t fit in with the intended purpose of SquidooGroups, you’ll need to do one of three things:

Close the group. Many groups have been disbanded already.

Transfer the group. Plenty of lensmasters would be happy to take over for you. Just make a post in the SquidU Groups forum and let everyone know it’s up for grabs.

Improve the group. More on that in an upcoming post!

“We’re going to choose up to 100 of the very BEST groups on Squidoo and unlock a special tool just for them. These groups will fit a list of our criteria and be nominated by SquidStaff and our Angels.”

Our SquidTeam is looking for the best of the best, and whoever makes the cut gets a special prize. Once again, our beloved Squidoo is rewarding members who do more than the bare minimum.

What this means for lensmasters:

If you’re already running groups to the best of your ability, you could be getting a nice bonus tool this summer. If you’re running groups with a minimum of effort, you’ll need to pull up your socks and polish your group mastering skills (or give someone else a chance to do it by transferring your group).

It also means that our lenses which are in groups (especially these top 100) may be getting a little more love in the future. A good group showcases their best lenses, so if you’ve been wishing your lens would get featured more often, you may see it come true.

“We won’t be shy about locking spam or junk or abandoned Groups over the next few months.”

SquidU forum users have been asking for this for a long time. Most savvy lensmasters know that poorly run groups are more of a drain than a boost for our lenses. We don’t want the lens that we worked so hard on lumped in with just any old fluff.

What this means for lensmasters:

In addition to the groups that have been voluntarily closed since the announcement, we’ll be seeing a lot of our other groups disbanded in the future. Even if you’re pretty careful about the groups you join, if they’ve been abandoned, they’re getting the boot! Our lenses will have a much shorter group list as a result.

Though this may temporarily cause drops in lens rank, it could be offset by improvements made in groups that are here to stay. Only the SquidTeam knows for sure what lensrank will be doing.
It also means that we’ll never have to comb through endless groups looking for the ones that have something good to offer.

High five!

Photograph by Mark Thayer

The Face of Spam

Anyone who spends any amount of time working or playing online knows that there's always some kind of spam lurking out there, just waiting to pounce on you. Generally, the term spam refers to unsolicited information in the form of ads, email, etc. We all know it when we see it, and wonder how on earth people who create spam still manage to attract people to their site, product or cause.

When we find a nasty little fish (or phish!) in our spam filter from "Sales Blaster" or "asdfjkl.com", we usually delete it without looking. But does anyone stop and wonder what kind of person wrote such an email? Who is the man or woman that so shamelessly invades our space with their nonsense?

Recently I had the opportunity to meet a spammer almost face to face. One of my groups received several join requests one day, four of which were from the same lensmaster. This in itself isn't unusual, so I didn't think there was a problem until I started reviewing their lenses. Each of the four pages had similar titles, and nearly identical content. All of the links pointed to the same website, and there was little to see besides a short blurb and an Amazon module.

Because my groups' guidelines specifically state that all lenses must have original written content, I had to deny these lenses from the group. It didn't help that they were barely related to the group topic as well.

When I went to the lensmaster's bio page to let them know why their lenses weren't accepted into the group, I noticed that these four lenses were the only works so far made, and the lensmaster had only been a Squidoo member for a matter of weeks. I don't remember how I worded it, but I let this person know as politely as possible in my message, that their content was spam-like and not the best use of Squidoo. I try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt...sometimes people are making honest mistakes.

I checked back in with this person's bio later, and discovered that they had added a few new lenses - all of them about credit card debt. So that was the end of that relationship. It became obvious to me that I had met a real-life spammer, and I found the experience very confusing. Here was a real person, with a photo and a bio and everything. And they were doing things that I normally associate with facelessness and codes. It's certainly possible that the photo and blurb provided were totally fake, but there's still a breathing person behind these meaningless contributions - a person who is capable of making better decisions.

I'm very glad that I know better!

Squid Stockings

I have started yet another group, and this one is the most exclusive yet. Anyone is welcome to join, of course, but the focus is on About Me lenses for the holidays.

I don’t remember how or when the idea came to me, but I decided that my contribution to the Month of Hope challenge would be to create a list of all the things I would love to receive for Christmas this year. Perhaps that sounds a little greedy, but I always say that if no one liked getting gifts, then there wouldn’t be so much fuss about giving. So let’s all just admit that we like getting presents just as much as we like to give them. And one of the best things about giving is knowing that the person is getting exactly what they wanted.

In any case, I wanted my lens to be autobiographical. Many lens masters indicate that they love to read about their fellow Squids. It’s true that bio lenses are fun to read, and anyone with a lensography knows that the more of You you put into it, the better. So I picked 10 of the things I’m wishing for most this year, and described what it is that I love about them.

It occurred to me that anyone and everyone could do a Christmas wish list lens, and so I created the My Christmas Wish List group. I’ve had no new bites so far, except for an hilarious lens by kab, which I stumbled across shortly after publishing the group. It’s actually a list of things that no-one - especially kab - would want for Christmas. Actually, I would like a couple of things on the list, but I’m not as normal as the average bear, so to speak.

Although the idea behind My Christmas Wish List is to make a lens devoted to charity, I thought it would be a fun way for lens masters to let their friends and family know what they’d like to find under the tree. I’ve even thought of posting my own list on Facebook. Either way, I think that Santa will appreciate getting a letter that has so many visual aids.

Naughty Squids

Life is so full of ironies, and Squidoo is no different. When I created my first group, I was eager to get started and build a community. I decided not to put any criteria up, so that no one would be discouraged. If I honestly didn't like something, I would send a polite message to the lensmaster saying why their join request was declined. I really didn't see any terrible lenses, and that was fine by me. So, when I created a second group, The Armchair Critics, I decided I would post up some criteria. Of course, not even twelve hours later, I had two emails saying that there had been a lens request for each of the groups. One of them had nothing to do with the group topic, and the other one was just bad. It's funny. I'm almost certain that the only people who would stop to read the guidelines are the ones who already know what a good lens looks like!

Whenever I receive a request for a lens that hasn't quite gelled into greatness, I always direct them to the HQ page. I keep a running list of some of the great Squidoo tips lenses out there. I know that when I first became a Squid, I had no idea that there were so many tutorials around. I wonder if the people I message ever get around to reading them? From now on I might also send them this link: Joining Groups (from aj2008's Squid Etiquette Lens).

I'm such a ninny, and I hate telling people what to do, but if I didn't I would post my top five yucky lens pet peeves in my group guidelines. I can still remember what it was like when I was first figuring out what Squidoo was all about, and what it can do, so I try to be sympathetic when I view an awful lens. If I wasn't so nice, these Squid-Don'ts would send me running every time!

Mortira's Top Five Worst Lens Traits

5) No bio filled out, no 'Contact Me' enabled, no picture!
This is the sort of thing you should do as soon as you create your account! That's like showing up for work without your nametag and uniform.

4) No Guestbook module.
This is only forgiveable if the rest of the lens is really polished, and 'Contact Me' is enabled. Sometimes leaving out a guestbook makes a lens look more professional, but anonymity does not.

3) No original content.
If all of the written content is just copied from Wikipedia, I won't even bother reading it. I came to read a lens, not a wiki. If you're not passionate enough about something to write from the heart, then it's probably not something you should be writing about at all.

2) Poor writing.
I appreciate non-anglo writers who try - I don't even know two languages, so kudos for them! What I don't like is text with all caps, or no caps, or no punctuation, or all slang. We're talking about creating websites, not texting our friends!

1) No unique module titles.
This drives me totally bonkers. When I see a module called something like "Great Fishing Stuff on eBay" I actually twitch a little. The word "Stuff" doesn't belong in a heading unless it's part of a cliche. Such as"Does Obama have the Right Stuff?". When I read a lens, I don't want to feel like I just walked into a high pressure retail store, either.

Well! I feel better now. I'd rather point someone in the right direction than tell them that they suck. Sadly, some people don't even care if they're going in the right direction.

Good News All Around

There's so many great things to report, I don't even know where to begin!
Let's start with one of my favorite Lensmasters, Bradshaw, who was super awesome for blogging about one of my lenses. He's got a great Squid blog going called Squidoo Land, and a Facebook Group for lensmasters, among other great projects. He's got the Squidoo bug bad, and it's all good for lensmasters everywhere!

I've had my first sale...it's still pending, and it's only 48 cents, but that's 48 cents more than zero! Someone was poking around on Beading and Beyond, browsing for beads, and I got lucky! So far it's the most successful of all my lenses, though it is soon to be surpassed by my most popular holiday page. Still, it will probably remain the most popular beading lens on my list, though I would love to see it hit a triple digit lensrank.

I also must give many thanks to fabulous lensmaster spirituality for including my beading group in her Great Squidoo Groups Lensography. There are some awesome bead artists showcased in the group, and I hope they'll get plenty of exposure! I highly recommend adding Great Squidoo Groups to your favorites. It's the perfect place to shop for your newest lens' first group.

15 Lenses and Counting!

I've just created my personal lensography. I'd been putting it off, then decided to put it together because I wanted to link to it in my latest lens The Top Ten Move Vampires. I didn't realize how many lenses I had under my belt until I viewed them all together that way. The list seems rather small compared to the number of lenses I have planned on my To-Do list. I have another Top Ten lens in the works, and when it's complete, I will add them both to my lensography.
As soon as it's no longer a Work in Progress, the first thing I'm going to lensroll is the Great Squidoo Groups Lensography. It's a great spotlight on some of the best groups on Squidoo, and my new destination when I'm looking for groups to join. Running a group efficiently and making it useful is just as important as creating good lenses. Far too few people take it as seriously as they should. But, like lensmaster rwoman says, the cream rises to the top.

SquidU - School or Cafe?

Well, I took Party Animal's advice, and stopped by SquidU for the first time in a while. I browsed through the Critique Me section for a bit. A lot of the lenses looking for input were quite religious, and I don't trust myself to give a proper review of them. I had to pass those by, but I did find a few gems.
My favorite was "How to Set Up a Snake Cage", something I wish I had read when I was snake-sitting for a friend a few years back. The lensmaster, RoundTrip, has written a lot of great tips and advice for snake owners. I was very impressed with the way he presented his Amazon modules. Instead of feeling like I was being sold something, I felt like I was being shown my options, should I ever decide to keep a pet snake.
A badly put together lens can feel like a high pressure retail shop. You can just tell that the staff are desperate to make a sale, and you can't enjoy shopping while they pester you with suggestions. I couldn't stand trying to sell things to people when I worked in retail, because I like to assume that people are generally smart, and I always felt like they were on to me. This feeling has followed me to Squidoo - I don't even list prices on my Amazon/eBay modules. So when I read something that seems to use Amazon like an image picker, not a sales pitch, I really appreciate it. RoundTrip did a great job of this - I learned something from every part of the lens.

On another note, I was pleased to discover that my latest lens Movie Classics: Hallowe'en Marathon was accepted into the group Horror Movies Central. I came across this excellent film group while looking for a home for Hallowe'en Marathon, but I hesitated to join. It's a pretty serious horror fan group, and I wasn't sure if my review of The Great Pumpkin would be a turn off. It turns out that not only did the group master like my lens, but thought it should be featured as the group lens of the week! It just goes to show that taking a chance can certainly pay off! After all, it's just the internet. Getting denied for a group request isn't nearly as terrible as bombing at karaoke or a job interview, is it? As a huge zombie lover, I'm thrilled to be a member of HMC - there's a lot of great lenses there for fright fans.