Polar Bear: 2nd Runner Up LOTY 2007

Frankster's page Are You Polar Bear Aware is one of the most entertaining pages at Squidoo. It has been consistently in the top 100 since she first published it, and no wonder! She's brought awareness to the plight of Polar Bears everywhere, and her style and approach endear them to everyone that goes near Frankster.

If consistent performance and making a difference had anything to do with the LOTY selection, Frankster would have won it hands down. I, frankly, thought she would! Polar Bear Aware has contributed so much to the well being of a very endangered animal, has promoted ecological awareness and responsibility, and made it all FUN.

If there was ever a page that would encourage experts and those with passion for a cause to create fabulous Squidoo pages, THIS page would certainly be one of them! If you like her style, check out all her pages. They're so much fun!

Beatles: First Runner Up LOTY 2007

Zuzanna has an eye for very popular topics and good ideas. Her Beatles lens was one of the first, and most popular example, of using plexos when they first came out. Although the rest of us were in a fog about what plexos were and how best to use them, Zuzanna caught on right away.

You may also be a dreamer, Zuz, but I hope they all come true for you! Congratulations!

Absolute Best Lens at Squidoo 2007

Karendelac took Lens of the Year 2007, the absolute best lens out of 400K. She has really wowed everyone with her talent and beautiful pages this past year, and it is no surprise that with her eye for layout and great art, she would make such a beautiful page. I've enjoyed her work very much since she arrived at Squidoo and I'm very pleased to have her in my groups!

Take a look at her page RMS Titanic!

But, I suggest you don't stop there. Take a look at some of her other lenses- she has a very interesting line-up!

Boy, I sure hope its not prophetic!

Squidoo's Beauty Pageant

Kimberly Dawn Wells ran the show on a beauty pageant model (pun entirely coincidental) which was an excellent idea!

Now that we can remove the preparation H for dark circles and eye bags from squidooing, and duct tape to make our butts tight, waists tiny, and boobs high, here's the lineup so far as I know for certain.

Out of 400k lenses, I managed to take 'third runner-up'. Not bad! Last year's contest it was a big 3.5! While less of it this year, the competition was much more difficult. The entire list had fabulous lenses on it made by extraordinary lensmasters. I THINK each of them had been on the top 100 list at least once, and most of them had also won Lens of the Day at some point. If not, they should and will soon, I hope!

So, here is my

"Squid-Beauty-Bouquet"

(Eye-Squirt!) I'm so happy!

I want one of those banners!

Commerce Lens Building Tips #1

A problem: you have a great lens which is performing, but suddenly someone else builds a page and you can see they're doing MUCH better! What happened, and what can you do?

When someone else gets an idea for a page that is similar to yours, it can be very discouraging! The internet marketing focus is to find something good, make your own, and then take DOWN all competitors. It is definitely an effective strategy, but the problem with it is that is doesn't 'live and let live.' Moreover, Squidoo wants LOTS of pages on any given topic, and it has done many things to encourage that, such as all of the co-branding. Therefore, if you can have 50 different lenses on, say, handbags on the main site, you can have 50 more on handbags on Squidvids, ever.com, squidwho, and so on.

It is a REAL challenge to stand out, but it can be done successfully in such a way that it is hard to duplicate.

My suggestion is that you make your page PERSONAL.

P: pertinent to YOU.
E: experiences. Share your experience of the product, service etc.
R: relevant to life, living, and using what you offer.
S: story. Tell a story with a beginning, middle and ending. Make it satisfying.
O: overboard- at least a little! Emphasize fun, excitement, make it memorable.
A: automatic: with a compelling story, it is automatic to check out your product.
L: leave them WITH something beside a full page ad. A tip, suggestion, a reason to return, a reason to share your page with others.

The internet is buried in cleverly constructed pages designed to drag a person, willingly or unwillingly, to an ad, product, and ppc links. People are really starting to feel abused by those techniques.

You will get farther, for the longer term, if you create original stories and personal experience pages that have, as part of it, relevant offers for specific things.

I know this is more work, but it helps you build an audience, is very tough to duplicate or exploit, and it adds to the pleasure of people who use the internet to shop.

If you build pages like that, PLEASE let me know. I'll feature them in a few special ways I have planned, and I'll post them here on the blog!