Squidblog

Please welcome me on my first post to the SquidBlog. Although the official Squidoo blog was previously reserved for big announcements from our more forward-facing team members (they only let me out on occasion), I pleaded and pleaded until they eventually agreed to let me start leaking (ahem, I mean posting) some of the amazing new features our development team has been working on.

One of my favorite reasons to visit Squidoo is to see what’s new on our Top 100. It not only shows me what’s popular in Squidoo, but what’s popular on the rest of the Internet (and probably out in the world too, not that I’d know).

On that note, we’ve created a new widget for Google users called Squidoo TopWatch. It works almost like a stock ticker, displaying a live feed of our top 100 lenses, except you’ll never have to leave the comfort of your homepage.

To use TopWatch you’ll need a Google account with the personalized homepage feature enabled. To get started, visit the TopWatch homepage.

TopWatch was developed by aspiring author Blake Schwendiman. Curious how he built it? Visit his lens to find out how.

Hot off the press… or, hot off Gil’s desktop… we bring you The Squidoo Firefox Extension.

This new plugin puts lenses at your fingertips, no matter where you are on the web.

It’s like the Bookmarklet on Red Bull. It’s like the second coming of the Web. Wait… Well anyway, we’re excited about it.

Just click here to install the Firefox Extension in 3 easy steps.

You’ll be able to:

• Make Squidoo a favorite search engine. Find great lenses, faster.
• Add Squidoo to your Firefox menubar. Watch the Top 100, quick-add links to lenses, and more.
• Add Squidoo to your toolbar. Jump straight to your Lenses dashboard, or add content to a lens without ever leaving the site you’re on.

We just did a big design overhaul for the Module Picker, the tool lensmasters use to add modules to a lens. These changes should make it easier to see Squidoo’s most recent offerings — such as our limited-time-only Watch the Olympics module — as well as to find the modules you want to use, now.

And the new Search (A-Z) option allows lensmasters to browse all our modules alphabetically, as well as to search for modules by title.

Let us know what you think! We think the new Module Picker will help lensmasters discover new modules, see what other lensmaster are using — and make better lenses, faster.

We recently improved how we share what we consider the best lenses — every weekday. These selections are picked by the Squidoo team purely on an editorial basis, not based on Lensrank, the star rating and so forth. They’re examples of what we think lenses can be — and lenses that inspire and inform our own lens building.

You can access Lens of the Day several ways:

• On Squidoo’s main page
• In the Lens of the Day blog
• As an RSS feed
• As an email newsletter. If you’re logged in, just go to My Account and check your Newsletter Preferences

And if you’d like to recommend a lens for us to consider, you can do so.

Here’s to the Lens of the Day!

Last week we quietly rolled out our powerful new SuperStore module.

It caught on like wildfire.

So consider this the Grand Opening announcement. With balloons and everything.

The SuperStore module offers thousands upon thousands of products that you can easily highlight and sell on your lens. Thanks to our trusted affiliates via Linkshare and Commission Junction, among others, we’re able to bring quality commerce options to your lens. Similar to the Amazon module, you can use this new module to recommend tools and products related to your topic, hobby, know-how or passion. We’re also betting your royalties will go up!

The SuperStore is quickly becoming one of the most popular modules in our stable. Check out these great examples of the module in action and find out why.

• A bounty of stylish laptop bags! This is a terrific lens that translates a lot of research and recommendation into purchasing power. See it here.
• The Rocketry lens uses a SuperStore module to give more color and context to the hobby.
• And finally, an outstanding (and particularly relevant) example: the Valentine’s Day Cookies lens. This lens has some of the best and most creative repeat uses of The SuperStore we’ve seen.

We just introduced a bunch of cool new features. They should make your Squidoo experience a little more flexible and functional — and a lot more fun. Among the new features:

• A new landing page! This revamped front door highlights our Lens of the Day, 9 Things You Didn’t Know and featured Lensmasters. This new entry point should get you started, fast.
• The Top 100 now includes a wide range of how to look at our “bestsellers.” See the top 100 lenses in terms of ratings, email referrals, blog mentions, traffic and LensRank. We’re really excited about these new lists — they’re going to surface a whole new cross-section of the best lenses on Squidoo. You can even subscribe to RSS feeds of your favorite Top 100 lists.
• Lensmasters can now transfer lenses to another lensmaster. If you want to transfer a lens from one account to another — or sell a lensname to another lensmaster — you can. For lensnames, think URLs: If a lens address you want is taken, you can come up with a suitable alternate or contact the lensmaster and arrange a barter! How do you transfer a lens? Log into SquidU and learn how.
• We now offer people who register for Squidoo the ability to choose whether they launch links in a new window. If you’d rather continue to open external links in the same window, consider changing your My Account settings.
• Tons of bugs have been fixed. OK, it’s not a new feature, but squashing bugs always makes for a better Squidoo experience.

Long story short: If you haven’t stopped by Squidoo for awhile, check it out!

Find a lens. Build a lens.

And let us know what you think!

P.S. SNEAK PEEK: COMING SOON… Refer a Friend, Get $5!

Bestseller lists tend to be self-fulfilling. Popularity is contagious.

For example, a book that hits the New York Times’s bestseller list will sell more copies because of the increased visibility. Which then helps its continued inclusion on that list, at least for a little while. Movies are slightly different, but if a movie opens well, more people are likely to check it out based on early reviews and word of mouth.

Online, it’s no different. The most visible web sites and blogs tend to be the most linked to and referred to, which in turn helps them remain the most visible. The cream rises to the top — and stays there.

At Squidoo, we’ve decided to shake things up a little. (Not that we suggest you shake your cream or milk containers.)

LensRank (how we determine a lens’s popularity) will still be based on the same formula, measuring things like traffic, click-outs, reader ratings, inbound links and affiliate sales. But now we’re going to change when that formula is calculated. On Monday we’re going to introduce a 14-day rolling window.

Which means what, exactly? Well, that our lensrank calculations will be done using data from the past two weeks, rather than looking strictly at a lens’s lifetime of publication. That will ensure that the freshest, timeliest and most actively updated lenses aren’t trumped by the lenses that perform well because they’ve been around longer. Squidoo is still rewarding the exact same qualities, but we’re tossing the grandfather clause out the window.

So, heads up that you might see some interesting changes in ranking this week. No, it’s not an accident. Yes, your lens can still rise to the top. Now that we have more than 13,000 lenses, the competition is getting a little stiffer!

I’ve just written three ebooks that help explain to your peers (and your boss) how the web is changing, what Squidoo is doing about it and most important, how you can turn your biggest asset (your fans) into the engine for growth you’re looking for.

Read about it here. And please send copies to your colleagues!