Giant Squid Tips

When an author writes a book, she writes an Acknowledgments section where she pays homage to and says thanks for all the people who helped along the way.

Acknowledging the people who got you where you are, or helped with a particular project, or inspire you daily, is a great way to recommend people for their work (and say thanks). So this next challenge is to make an Acknowledgments lens of your own. Imagine these 5 uses for Acknowledgments lenses, just for starters, and then make a few or come up with your own.

1. Did you recently renovate your kitchen? Are you happy with the outcome? Make a lens to acknowledge (and recommend) the contractor you hired, the guy at Home Depot who helped you every weekend, the friend
who told you about the great handmade tiles you could find at Etsy… Tell the story of your project by spotlighting the people who made it happen.

2. Did you recently get your new blog up and running? List the site you use to power it, thank the person who designed your theme, link to the 5 other hero sites that inspired you to make your blog, post a shout out to the people who contribute to your blog… Even if you feel like you set your blog up all by yourself at 3am, chances are you’re using tools you love that some hardworking web developer built for you. An acknowledgments lens can help others find out what you recommend.

3. How about that book you read last week? What if you make an Acknowledgments lens to say thanks to the author for writing it (how’s that for a change of pace). As well as the person who recommended it to you, to the NYT reviewer whose writeup caught your eye, to the blogger who posted about the book.

4. Or, there’s always the Soundtrack to Your Life. Make an Acknowledgments lens for the people who have made you who you are. Say thanks, say a little bit about what they did for you, and then be sure to send it to them. The more specific the better, like “Acknowledging my favorite teachers over the years” or “Acknowledging the top 10
authors who influenced me” but a broad overview works if you’re feeling stuck.

5. You could even just have an Acknowledgments lens, blogroll style, of the top 15 blogs you read every week and why you love them. Or the 25 people you’re glad you follow on Twitter and why.

The secret to your success with these lenses is that when you say thanks, say it loud and say it proud. If you’re including someone in your Acknowledgments lens, make sure he or she knows about it. Send it to the bloggers you mentioned, to the Realtor you thanked, to the contractor you love, to the authors you claimed as mentors.

Imagine how you would feel if someone included you in his Acknowledgments.

Personal and relevant and annotated recommendation is what makes the web go round.

To all of you Giants participating in Summer School… keep it up. Your answers to the weekly lensmaking challenges are impressive, but what’s even better are the conversations that happen in the forum around the daily lessons.

If you’re a brand new Giant (hi & mazel tov!), you are welcome and encouraged to follow along with the 8-week Summer School mastery program right here on this secret blog.  We post 1 lesson or tip or idea a day.  And there’s 1 lensmaking challenge each week.  A great way to keep up is by subscribing to this Giant Squid Tips blog by email or RSS.

Since it’s already the end of Summer School week 3 and you’re entering midstream, you might feel a little behind.  No worry! You can either sit in the back of the class and watch, or you can scurry and do some makeup work from the last 3 weeks.  In order to graduate, though, you have to have completed and turned in all 8 new lenses for the challenges.

I know you just finished sprinting a little to make Giant Squidhood in the first place, so we’ll give you a hall pass if you’d rather catch your breath and wait for the next mastery course (maybe in the Fall).

Either way, don’t be shy… introduce yourself in the Giants Only forum!

We’re thrilled to have you here.

Megan

You worked hard, you made 50+ quality lenses and now you are a Giant Squid! So a HUGE congratulations to every one of you.  Take a look around, read the handbook and most of all take a much deserved break this weekend. GO GIANTS!

-Bonnie

The first question to ask is: Do you care enough to make a difference?

So far, Squidoo has given hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars to charities around the world. Thanks to the insight and generosity of lensmasters like you, we’ve made it easy to contribute a penny, a nickel or a dollar a day to your favorite charities… without spending any money.

Here are my top three ways to make a difference for your favorite causes:

1. Build a lens about your charity.
Include all the useful and compelling details that real people might be interested in. Point to their website. Include a debate, a map, a Twitter search. Basically, it’s a watercooler for people who want to learn about and connect with the charity (and each other).

2. Get the charity to talk to its fans about your lens.
If you know people in the organization (not just the leaders, but anyone involved), tell them about your lens. If there’s a newsletter, get the editor to mention it. If they’re doing a fundraiser, have them point it out. BECAUSE: if you can get other members/donors/users of the charity to build their own lenses, that’s when the charity really benefits.

3. Add another zero.
Start building lenses, a lot of lenses, on lots of different topics, and dedicate the proceeds from those lenses back to the charity.  Build a lens about each item on your Christmas list. Build a lens about anything up for auction on eBay that people might be interested in. Build a lens about your favorite books, focusing on discussions and interactions that connect people.

If you have 2 lenses for your charity, add another zero to that number. Build 20. Better yet, you don’t have to do it all yourself.  What if just 100 other people who care about the charity do the same thing? That’s 2000 pages working night and day raising money for a charity you all believe in.

This isn’t difficult. It’s far easier and cheaper than running a fundraiser or a walkathon and far less exhausting than organizing a bake sale. And it works. And it keeps working. Every month.

If you want to start today, start by making a list of 10 types of lenses that are fun for beginners to build (a lens about their pet, a lens about their favorite books, like that). Then make a list of 10 people you think would like to help raise money for that charity. Send them your list of lens ideas and a personal note, and you’re off to the races.

Thanks for changing the world.

-Seth

Share how YOU can change the world on the Giant Squid Tips Forum!

Today’s lesson brought to you by Giant Squid Organizer Robin Svedi (RMS, at your service). Happy day 13 of Summer School, and happy tweeting! — Megan

How often you tweet about your lens really depends on who you have following you, and how much you respect these people.

Or better yet, how much you want them to respect you.

If you tweet every time you cross a T or shift module positions on your lens, after a while, people will naturally lose interest. They won’t pay attention when they get another “I just updated my Squidoo page” message. They’ll begin to look elsewhere for their 140 character news and entertainment. They might even (oh the horror) unfollow you.

But if you save tweeting about your lens until you have something totally exhilarating, original or new to share, people will begin to look forward to your next tweet. They’ll love being the first to hear about your brand new lens. And they’ll be a lot more ready to participate in (and re-tweet) your newest additions.

Unless your only follower is your mother.  Mom really does want to know what you’re doing every second of the day.

The rest of us only want to hear about the good stuff!

Try building context around your tweets, instead of just the generic note. Think about what kind of sound bite you would create about your lens, and then tweet that.  Or try spotlighting specifically which part of the lens you think people would like most, like if you added a new Caption Contest module. Better still — if people comment or participate on your lens, try re-tweeting their posts, giving them @reply credit.

Go ahead and share your best ideas for getting (and earning) your Twitter crowd’s attention and interaction on your lenses.

P.S. A little housekeeping. If you’ve completed your lenses for the Weeks 1, 2 and 3 Summer School Lensmaking Challenges, make sure your lenses are listed on the Plexos on these homework lenses. Thanks!

Week 1: Caption Contest Lenses–Turn in your homework here
Week 2: Prize Possession Lenses–Turn in your homework here
Week 3: Restaurant Review Lenses–Turn in your homework here

It took Google four years to be an overnight hit. Twitter took more than two before it caught on. The internet is filled with long-term overnight sensations.

Here’s how you win: you build something worthwhile and then you tell ten friends. And then you follow up with them. And then perhaps a few contribute. And then you follow up and make it better and build another lens right next to that one. And then you tell ten more friends. And perhaps a few contribute. And then you introduce a few of the contributors to each other. Then you write to a relevant blog and introduce yourself and contribute something. And then you go back to the first ten friends. And then you add some more content. And then you write to another blog. And then you introduce some contributors to each other. And then you go back to the first blog and show them what you’ve organized. And then they write about you. And the next thing you know, it’s two months later and you have a hit.

I have a dozen or so friends and colleagues who started blogs a few years ago. A few of them blogged for a month or two, nothing much happened and they gave up. Several, though, have stuck it out, pushed and pushed, and now they have blogs that rank in the top 100 out of the 80 million blogs in the world.

Over and over, that’s what happens. When everyone else gives up, you win.

-Seth

Share your tips for being patient right here!

SusanVillasLewis already shared with you what she learned as part of Seth’s “Alternate MBA Program” . Here’s another tip you should enjoy! — Megan

I have no idea how or why I chose the topic of my first lens. With the second, I was sitting on a mound of research that came together easily.

And then I got kind of stuck. In a world of infinite possibilities, just what would I talk about next? Tell the truth, I don’t even remember what lens three was or how long it took me to figure out what to do it on. But there was a lens three, and four, and five, and 205.

We’ve all made it to Giant, so we know that there are dry spells in the idea department, but we press on. Sometimes life just interferes with lensmaking (how dare it!), sometimes we feel every idea has already been done. Or, if you’re like me, you come up with a fabulous oddball idea that would just be fun to do and discover kab’s taken it. Or a great selling idea and Janet21’s been there already. (Dang it. Stop it you two! And why is it always you two?)

So what to do when the well runs dry?

Ensuring there is no such thing as dry drives projects like The Carnival of Squid, The Purple Star and numerous others. They toss out topics to get the squidly part of your brain (found squished against the amygdala) pulsing again.

We’ve tied The Carnival to specific holidays and “holidays” in part because it makes it easier to come up with topic ideas (didn’t expect me to work did you?) but also because lens ideas based on events, holidays, dates, birthdays have built in promotion mechanisms.

Every year on National Lollypop Day or Ginger Rogers’s birthday or the running of the Kentucky Derby, someone’s looking for information. You have an excuse to talk about your lens. You have a means of driving new traffic. You have a motivation to update that sucker.

So next time you’re in need of an idea, repeat to yourself – the calendar (and The Carnival!) is my friend.

-Susan

Post your comments on the Giant Squid Forum!

How many people love their offline, real world community? Hands up! I’ll bet about 75% of you love something about where you live. The other 25% are either in the process of finding a place they love or are in driving distance of it. Community loyalty and pride is something that can easily be converted to a great, specific, recommendation-rich lens. I’ll bet there are many, many, many lensworthy places that you frequent on a daily basis.  Some examples:

Coffee house
Park
Winery
Restaurant
Farmer’s Market
Amusement Park
Arts & Crafts Festival
Local Charity
Ice Skating Rink
Museum
Fraternal Organization
Artisan Shop
Natural Wonder
Historic Site

These are just a few to get you started. The bottom line is that getting local also gets you traffic.

If you have a “local” lens, what if you emailed it to just 10 people in your community? People who might like and support the same place. If you did a great job on the lens and made them glad to read it, I bet they’ll email it on to 10 more people in the area…. Then who knows, you might just end up in the news yourself!

-Bonnie