I’m here today with a helpful tip about buying and selling lenses and lensmaking services through Squidoo.

Just like any service that can be generated on the behalf of a client, Squidoo has become a popular place for “experts” to generate lenses on behalf of others. Maybe you bought a Squidoo lens that was already made, or hired someone to build one for you. Maybe you’re thinking of getting into the business, and making lenses for others. Like any business transaction, there are a few things to consider before buying or selling lenses. Here are a few notes on our official stance on this, plus some tips for making a buying or selling experience successful.

1. We don’t encourage or discourage the act of buying and selling lenses on Squidoo. Many a lens has been successfully transferred; the first sales and auctions were milestones of our early history. We’re mostly laissez faire on this, unless something goes wrong.

2. If something goes wrong and we get a complaint, we’re not responsible for moderating it. Simply, we’ll lock the account in question and refer the owner to the complainant for resolution. We don’t like doing that, though. We’d rather see you work it out.

3. If you’re buying or selling a lens, or a house, or a car, take the time to develop a reputation with the other party first. Know what you’re getting into, and don’t jump into unfamiliar territory.

4. If we find a lens that violates our TOS or SquidDon’t policies, or has actively spammed a network or individual, we’ll lock it, probably for good. So regardless of which end you’re on, be aware of our policies. Know what isn’t kosher to write about, and review our rules on junk and uncurrated content.

5. When in doubt, don’t do it.

There are plenty of great lensmasters who, over time, have helped others get a head start on their Squidoo account by building lenses for them. Or they’ve built lenses for their local businesses, their brother’s garage band, their niece’s class project, or their best friend’s wedding. Genuine lenses, with authentic content and solid social connections, that have performed well.

Unfortunately, there are also plenty of lensmasters whose purchased lenses ended up getting locked, because they were on movie downloads, or ten duplicate lenses on dental care in Boston, or hosted copyrighted material, or redirect scripts.

Bottom line? We’re hands off, but we won’t let you abuse the system, either. So play nice, play fair, know the rules, and everyone wins!

Make it a great day!
~Kimberly Dawn Wells
YOUR Community & Charity Organizer

PS - Curious about our stance on unofficial ebooks and tutorials?

If you have a Squidoo lens, chances are it’s not your only online presence. Before finding Squidoo, most lensmasters are already into blogs, personal websites, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Ning, or one of a dozen other online networks that they started or participate in. No matter where else you’re found on the web, if you’re not promoting your Squidoo lenses there, you’re missing out! Your online communities are already interested in what you have to say, so fulfill their curiosity and answer the question, “What have you been up to?”

If you own a website…
Chances are good some or most of your lenses are related to your website topic. If you run a website about horses, you probably have a lot of lenses on horses. Just as you refer back to your website in your lenses, refer to your lenses throughout your website. You can even use them to showcase exclusive bits of information, and they make shopping easy. There’s no need to plug all that crazy affiliate coding in to your website when you can easily organize it on a lens.

If you own a blog…
Blogs aren’t as static as websites, which means that every day is a new opportunity to spotlight one of your new lenses or a major update you made. Plus, matching your niche websites with niche blogs is a little slice of lens promotion heaven. Not only are you using the SEO friendly Squidoo to publish your knowledge, if you have Feedburner, your updates can automatically be sent to readers, newsletter style. It’s another quick way to automate your advertising.

If you are on MySpace…
One really cool way to promote your lenses on MySpace is with the rotating headline button from Feedburner. This nifty gizmo takes your lensmaster bio page RSS feed and rotates a list of your top lenses. No muss, no fuss; it’s all automatic. Plus, you can use your bulletin feature wisely to notify friends of big updates and new lenses, and create groups for your niche topics.

If you are on Facebook…
Consider using the cool Facebook Connect application on Squidoo to post stories on your timeline. You can choose from three display styles, and a post or two a day will keep your status up-to-date and your readers intrigued. There are also plenty of ways to organize and display your lenses, with link and Shoebox applications.

If you are on Twitter…
We have an app for that too! Each time you publish a lens, you can tweet your major updates and new creations right from your workshop. Or, personalize your messages with a teaser. “What does Chris’s new tattoo look like?” “Have you tried this BBQ chicken recipe?” “I got a new puppy! Update at Squidoo.com.”

Squidoo isn’t an island. It was built to play well with other applications and networks, so take advantage of your resources. If you’re curious about increasing traffic but haven’t started here, you’re missing out. Solid promotion starts with a community of readers who care about what you have to say - the people you already know.

You never know what kind of difference you might make by sharing your knowledge with others. Today is a great day to start making a difference with Squidoo. It’s Seth’s birthday! Join us in saying happy birthday, then go out and start making your own difference.

Make it a great weekend,
~Kimberly Dawn Wells
YOUR Community & Charity Organizer

PS - does your charity want to win $3,000?

Every day is an opportunity to put what you do and what you know into a lens. What you think is normal may be totally new to someone else.

Here’s a short list of ideas for hot summer lenses:
- what to pack for the pool
- water-friendly baby needs
- finding the perfect patio furniture
- how to grill vegetables
- top ten grill accessories
- staying cool in hot dry/humid weather
- heat illness and water related first aid
- keeping your pets cool
- summer safety for seniors
- kid-friendly recipes
- shielding your skin from the sun
- keeping your annuals alive
- cool travel tips
- building the perfect sandcastle
- preparing a boating adventure
- fishing for beginners and kids
- planning the perfect graduation party
- back-to-school shopping sprees
- getting kids ready for school
- cool college stuff
- severe weather awareness
- family reunion fun

While its true that the real reward won’t come until next year, when a new season causes a summer searching surge, the here and now is where all your best ideas, photos, and tips will come from. (Of course, just as it cools off up north, the southern hemisphere is getting ready to break out their bikinis.) And when the occasional thunderstorm hits, there’s nothing more fun and rewarding than sitting down for a family lensbuilding activity. You’ll be earning income for your next family vacation, and teaching your kids valuable internet skills.

(For those of you in the southern hemisphere, do the same for winter. Track your tips and travels now and take advantage of some SEO lead time.)

Enjoy your summer!
~Kimberly Dawn Wells
YOUR Community & Charity Organizer

Hello Lensmasters,

Today we have a special story from Lens Promotion Mentor and Master jeffwend. He’s been dutifully collecting your questions, and has some great tips to share regarding making time to promote your lenses.

Time to Promote!

The question that I get asked most about getting traffic from outside Squidoo is, “How do you find the time to use all of these tools to promote your lenses?”

The answer to that is simple. Make time.

Organization helps too. I create a folder in my browser and file each of my favorite websites that I use inside of it. When I make a new lens, I simply work my way down the list one by one. After using the list a few times you’ll find that you can easily do it in less than 30 minutes.

Remember, you do not have to promote your lens all at once either. There may be some websites that do not need to be used with every lens that you create. For example, I only use Facebook for certain lenses that have active groups that my lens would complement. If you are like me and you make a lot of lenses, plugging every lens you make into Facebook is going to seem like spam and it will make both you and Squidoo look bad.

However, when I have a lens that is on a particularly hot topic and I am a member of an active Facebook group, I will post links to the latest video or poll modules as they come out. This worked great for my Jason Castro lens a year ago. After every American Idol performance, I posted a link to the video and asked people in the group to vote in the duel module letting the world know if they liked that evening’s performance. This brought in a ton of traffic and backlinks from YouTube and other blogs on American Idol.

For sites like Digg, I urge you all to go through the guestbook list on my lens and add every single person who left their Digg username as your friend and send them shouts when you Digg one of your lenses.

Soon you will have a huge group of friends helping you to promote your lens. Remember to help out others though when they send you a shout to Digg their lens. It only takes a moment, this I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine will make a huge different in the traffic and links you can pick up through Digg. One word of caution, you do not need to Digg every lens. Only Digg the best of the lenses that you make. If you Digg subpar lenses you may find your Diggs being buried by the community.

Soon you will find that promoting your lens will become like second nature. It will simply become part of the lens creation process. Master the art of it and you will find more traffic coming to your lenses than ever before.

Thank again, jeffwend, for sharing more of your promotion secrets!

As you know, “If you build it, they will come” does not apply to the internet. With billions of options and only 24 hours in a day, most web surfers will never see your lens unless it’s worth seeing and in the right spot to be seen. You can get more lens promotion tips from jeffwend at his Lens Promotion Mentor lens.

Happy promoting!
~Kimberly Dawn Wells
YOUR Community & Charity Organizer
Get daily tips @squidoonews!

We asked two of the most prolific lensmasters for this niche, TheGreenerMe and a_willow, “What does it take to build a green lens?”

Squidoo: How did you pick your top Green Living lens topics?

TheGreenerMe: I chose the topics because I was curious to find answers to questions that I had of my own. I was asking myself questions like “What do you do with this?,” “How can you recycle this?,” “How can we prevent this from being thrown away?” I wasn’t sure if the lenses would be popular, but I knew they’d be useful.

a_willow: Well, since I started, I’ve published 20 green lenses and have 6 more in WIP. It wasn’t really intended. Inspiration came from looking for solutions to reduce amount of trash we make in our house. And then I stumbled upon the great book Extraordinary Uses For Ordinary Things containing so many tips for both reusing great number of household items and to diverse its purpose. And I thought, “Wow, have to share this!” Squidoo is perfect for sharing this kind of stuff! The second relevant thing for me was the fact that my husband is a teacher and he’s always looking for ideas for art class projects with his kids. With recession on our doorstep and less money in our pockets, the idea of compiling craft projects from reused items was born, and my creative project niche is the final result. For now, I’ve launched seven lenses connected to crafts for holidays and I’m planning to make six more to have all the major holidays covered.

Squidoo: How did you decide what readers should know about each topic?

a_willow: Since these are all lenses with tips and tricks (how to reuse lenses) and links for projects (creative project lenses) this decision wasn’t really hard - recipe is simple: ‘The more, the merrier!’. So I add to these lenses everything I can find or think of. I wasn’t thinking: ‘No, this is stupid! I’ll drop it!’. For all I know, what looks unusable to me, could be a problem solution or brilliant idea for someone else!

TheGreenerMe: I thought about what I was throwing away in my personal life and knew everyone else must be throwing these things away as well, so I knew readers would identify with the items in the lens. I’ve been able to cut my trash in 1/2 by following the guidelines and tips presented in the lenses.

Squidoo: Green living is obviously important to you! Your passion is obvious by the quality of your lens. How is passion for a topic related to making a great lens?

TheGreenerMe: Passion has been behind my best lenses! If I weren’t passionate about my topics, the lenses would’ve been cold and impersonal. I wasn’t trying to pass off a bunch of Clickbank ebooks, I was genuinely trying to pass along information to anyone that was willing to listen. I genuinely look forward to getting that information out there, and I think that makes a big difference.

a_willow: I don’t think it has so much to do with my passion for green living. More it has to do with desire to help others by sharing things that might be of help to environment but also money savers. For building part and why I’m good at it, my thoughts are: I was raised to do everything the best I could and push my limits each step of the way. So, passion is less relevant than discipline, willingness and persistence. People who only have passion burn out too fast too often! They don’t have ability to bring things to conclusion.

Squidoo: No matter what lensmasters are interested in, they have the potential to make superstar lenses. What are three quick tips you have for lensmasters?

a_willow: First would be: Never give up! What ever you do, if you hit the wall, look for a hole to crawl through. Every problem has a solution and sometimes you need to step back and things will be much clearer.

Second is: Never ever don’t be afraid to ask for help! Neither me or anyone else can help you if you don’t say what bugs you!

Third: Learn to create lenses which are outstanding and they will motivate others to do promotion for you!

TheGreenerMe: 1. Choose a niche that you know something about and continue to write. It may not be your first lens or first twenty lenses that are successful, but your 50th or 60th lens. By the time you have your first superstar lens, you’ll have a large back catalog of work for your readers to check out. If you have the material for them to read on the same niche, chances are you’ll get some readers interested in those similar topics. When you’ve found something that works, build on the success of that topic and make more lenses on that specific topic.

2. I always link lenses together with the Featured Lenses module. This seems to matter the most in terms of promotion. If you can tell readers why those lenses are similar and why they should visit them, you will encourage people to visit even more (right inside the featured lens module).

3. Pick topics that no one else is writing about, or at least do it in such an original way that isn’t presented anywhere else. Then, learn as much as you can about that topic. “Make money online” and those types of topics are so commonplace that they won’t really create a long lasting following behind you that’s going to be worth your time, and you probably won’t enjoy writing about it either.

There you have it!

Sharing the message about recycling may not be your thing, but you can use these tips to develop any niche. Using Squidoo to promote your passion not only helps the world stay green, it can help you generate some green, for your wallet or charity. Where else can you get paid for talking about toilet paper tubes!

Happy lensmaking!
~Kimberly Dawn Wells
YOUR Community & Charity Organizer

Jeffwend, your Lens Promotion Mentor, wants to send a special shoutout and reminder to all of the fun-lovin’, sun-lovin’ lensmasters out there. If you’re planning on hitting up a special park, museum, or concert, a Squidoo lens is the perfect way to archive your memories and show them off to your friends and family.

Here are some tips, from jeffwend!

1. Wherever you go, take lots of pictures.
You can use the Text with BIG Picture module to create a visual scrapbook of your hike, or frame your favorite wildflower snapshots with the Polaroid module. The Photo Module with thumbnails easily corralls your concert shots, and you can start a Photo Phight with your family over who had the best reunion costume. Photos speak volumes in a language everyone can understand.
(Learn more about images from your Image and Video Mentor.)

2. Get others involved.
Speaking of family reunions, with the Guestbook Module and Comments Plexo, there’s no reason the whole family can’t get involved. To make it super-hilarious, check out the Photo Captions module. Try THIS secret weapon on your birthday bash lens! Plus, when you let other travelers comment, you become an instant expert resource for reviews and recommendations.

3. Sell what you use.
The easiest way to monetize your summer fun lenses is to sell what you use. Which tent are you packing? Which sunscreen and bug spray and GPS program do you recommend? Does your hotel have an rewards program? The travel and entertainment industry is alive and well, and personal recommendations go a long way when it comes to choosing to buy.

Some lenses on tourist traps rank better than their ‘official’ counterparts. Agents and employees can’t duplicate the enthusiasm and passion of a story told by a real live traveler, and we’d all rather read a story from someone who has been there than a sales pitch from the PR staff.

The best way to promote your lens is to first make it worth reading. With these lens building tips from jeffwend, you’ll be sure to create fun summer scrapbooks that will make the most avid travelers jealous.

(And if you’re on the downside of the globe, make this apply to your winter. We know you’re an active bunch when it comes to skiing, sledding, fishing, and all those other great winter sports. Show off your cool side while we’re turning up the heat.)

Make it a summer to remember!
~Kimberly Dawn Wells
YOUR Community & Charity Organizer
PS - are you getting all our best tips on Twitter @squidoonews?

There have never been more resources on Squidoo for getting help where you need it. Whether you’re a new lensmaster working on your very first lens or a veteran lensmaster just trying to master some advanced CSS, there’s someone to help.

Our Mentor Matches
The Mentor Matches lens is a free-for-all help offered and wanted board where interested mentors can leave a note about what they’re able to help with, and lensmasters in need of a nudge can find someone to share advice.

Our Citizen Squid Mentors
We currently have six fabulous lensmasters serving as mentors for important areas of Squidoo.

Groups Mentor: Barkely
Groups are collections of lenses on Squidoo, and Barkely has oodles of ideas for making them pretty, attracting quality members, and organizing lenses for readers.

Lens Promotion Mentor: jeffwend
A lens without traffic is like a fisherman without a rod (or spear, or bow, work with me). To do well, lenses need eyeballs, and jeffwend is your man for helping you get it.

Module Mentor: Ener-G
Energy is certainly what you’ll get with our Module Mentor! She is an expert at using modules to their full potential and teaching you how to find the hidden ones.

HTML & CSS Mentor: Trekkiemelissa
You don’t have to know a scrap of code to make your lens fancy with colors, borders, and cool coding effects. Melissa makes it easy to copy, paste, and edit code.

Giant Squid Mentor: RMS
Robin is a lady who has her hands full, but she always has time to offer advice to wanna-be Giant Squids. Learn more about the Giants program and find out how you can join this elite group.

Image & Video Mentor: LindaJM
If you’re not great at writing, you know what they say: a picture says a thousand words. (And a video even more!) Learn how to let visual aids do the talking with tips for using the photo and video modules available through Squidoo.

First Lens Mentor: lakeerieartists
Paula is our shiny new First Lens Mentor, helping new lensmasters get through that important first lens. (Many thanks to Margaret_Schaut for her fabulous set-up work!)

Be sure to visit them all and say hi! You can also catch a glimpse of their great work and keep track of “help wanted” and new additions at the Citizen Squid Mentors HQ.

***

Lenses and forums and feedback
When you can’t talk to a live person in the moment, the instructional lenses they’ve prepared can be just as awesome. Our best lensmasters have spent hours putting together helpful how-tos so you can learn their top tricks on your own time.

The Answer Deck
The Answer Deck is a collection of Squidoo Tips lenses built by Giant Squids or approved by HQ, so you know you’re getting the best advice out there. Plus, our SquidStaff has added a large showing of lenses to answer official policy questions in an easy-to-read format.

The SquidU Forum
Whether you need a lens critique, help fixing a glitch, or want to dish on something cool you found, the SquidU Forum is our community-driven discussion board.

Need help from HQ?
Our official point of contact for bug reports and feedback from a SquidStaffer is our feedback page. Be sure to enter your details completely (including your email address!) so we can look into it promptly and get you an answer quickly.

***

When you’re a lensmaster on Squidoo, you’re never alone. Thousands of peers with all levels of knowledge and backgrounds of expertise are available to give a helping hand. Awww…it’s one of the traits we’re so proud of!

Happy learning!
~Kimberly
YOUR Community & Charity Organizer

PS - have you been getting hot tips from our Mentors on the Charity Blog?

1. Don’t automate it
Squidoo comes with an embedded Twitter tool that helps you tweet updates when you publish lenses, and this should be used sparingly. If you update lenses every other day and post 47 tweets as such, it can be a huge turnoff to followers. Use it when you post updates of value, or add a personalized tweet through your favorite Twitter client to describe what new content can be found on the lens.

1.5. Automate it
To maintain a consistent posting of tweets about your lenses, even when you’re not around, try TweetLater.com to queue up authentic, conversation-style posts about your lenses.

2. Be Conversational
Friends choose whether or not to follow you on Twitter, so if all they get to read is that you published another lens, off the list you’ll go. Use Twitter as a two-way communication tool. Ask and answer questions, chat about why you created a lens, share stories and experiences and even bloopers. Show readers there’s someone with a unique voice behind your Twitter account.

3. Follow people who are relevant
Following other lensmasters isn’t about spying on the competition, it’s about creating synergy and building a stronger brand. The same goes with people relevant to the topics of your lenses. Follow them and engage them in conversation. Use their content for your lenses, and tell everyone about it. Don’t feel obligated to follow anyone who follows you, but actively seek out the right people to team up with.

4. Make sure your people are on Twitter, and refer to them
If you’re a one-person operation this can be a challenge, but we’ve all got some form of “people.” When you’re doing business with someone, there’s no greater compliment than to share public praise about a colleague. It makes you both look good.

5. Answer your mentions
Part of being conversational includes replying when another Twitterer replies to or mentions you. When you’re an authority figure, it’s that much more important to maintain your reputation. Plus, followers LOVE to be acknowledged. It’s a quick thing that means so much.

6. Search for your name
Thousands of Twitterers have mentioned being contacted or followed by a company they recently tweeted about. It’s exciting to know people are out there, paying attention beyond the confines of their follow list. If your name isn’t yet a big deal, search for your niche topics. Comment on relevant tweets and follow relevant tweeters. This is another quick and easy way to attract attention and followers.

7. Consider creating sub-accounts for sections of your business or customer base
This may not be relevant to casual Squidooers, but if your lenses focus on two or three hardcore niches, creating separate accounts for each of these will help you organize information and better brand your businesses. There are dozens of Twitter applications that can help you organize this process. (My favorite is TwitterFox for FireFox.)

8. Use Twitter to ask your customers questions…and get good answers
We all know how challenging it can be to get feedback. Eighty-eight views and no guestbook comments? Ugh! But asking a question is the simplest way to invite casual feedback. After they’ve answered, invite them to post it on your lens. This opens the door for guestbooks, polls, and Plexos.

9. Be a good Twitter citizen
If you wouldn’t want someone doing it to you, don’t do it to others - it’s the Golden Rule of Twitter. The biggest issues here are generating inflated traffic or spamming your followers. Stay away from bots and referral programs, and focus on the tips above for finding authentic readers who have interested and relevant eyeballs for your work.

If you’re not already using Twitter, it takes only seconds to get started. Building a deserving reputation happens over time, but with consistent efforts and honest intentions, you too can become a famous Squidooer on Twitter.

~Kimberly Dawn Wells
YOUR Community & Charity Organizer
Visit US on Twitter @squidoonews!

While many lensmasters say they work hard to promote their lenses, most are missing out on the most basic ways to share their knowledge with friends and family and use social tools to their benefit. Could you be missing out on some of the easiest ways to get traffic?

Squidoo has social, seo, and promotional tools built right in, and they’re free and available to everyone. Are you using them all?

1. Lensrolling
Lensrolling relevant lenses to each other is a socially responsible way to help everyone on Squidoo prosper. Readers find more lenses to answer their questions, lensmasters share traffic with one another, and lenses get indexed more quickly. Everyone wins!

2. Twitter
Squidoo makes it easy to tell everyone you have a new or updated lens, and you don’t have to type a word to do it. Scroll to the bottom of the My Profile tab on your dashboard to set it up. Then learn 50 Ways to Use Twitter and start a TWTTRSTRM.

3. Facebook Connect
Even if you’re not an active Wall-to-Waller, you can let your Facebook frenzied friends know what you’re doing on Squidoo. Facebook Connect on Squidoo helps you publish blurbs about your new and fresh lenses. We know of at least seven great reasons to use it, and we bet you’ll discover thousands more.

4. Groups
“But I thought groups were gone?” With recent changes to how we’re approaching groups, it’s true that a lot of groups have disappeared, but it’s been mostly for the better. The groups that still exist are run by more passionate groupmasters who have promoting their niche topics at heart. That’s good news for you! It means you might find just the active collection of lenses you were looking for. Meet your group match.

5. Tags
Many people forget about tags as an SEO tool. Not only is it easy to add and edit the tags on your lenses, you can easily add tags others are using to find your lens. Pick your favorite lens and head to the stats page. On the traffic tab, you’ll see a box in the right column. If you see words with little linked + signs next to them, this means readers have used keywords to find your lens that weren’t included on your tag list. Click the + next to words and phrases you’d like to add, then republish.

6. Tips from a Mentor
If you’re still looking for some promotion tips, ask jeffwend. He’s our Lens Promotion Mentor, and a whiz at teaching lensmasters how to hook up with popular websites and social tools.

6.5. If YOU’RE the promotion wizard, share your knowledge by volunteering as a mentor. Help as little or as much as you want. Signing up on our Mentor Matches lens is easy, and there’s no long-term commitment required.

7. Take a hint from a SquidAngel.
Our SquidAngels are committed to keeping the top lists on Squidoo squeaky clean, and it’s a job they take seriously. As such, they’re pretty honest about what does and doesn’t fly with Angels. It’s true that Angels have the power to give your lens a little boost if they really love it, and the recommendations they give are based on nearly 100 combined years of Squidoo experience. Pretty impressive! While the tips Angels give aren’t directly related to promoting your lens, they’ll help you create a lens that has long-term sustainability. In the end, quality speaks for itself.

Promoting your lenses gets a little more challenging every day. As thousands of new web pages are developed, standing out amidst the noise takes increasing commitment and a fresh perspective. The benefit of this is that people looking to make an easy buck quickly get frustrated and disappear. Covering your bases is the first step to securing the spot you deserve - it’s where most scammers and fly-by-night operations end. The basics help your readers develop trust. If you’re willing to build a strong foundation and stick it out, long-term treasure can easily be yours.

~Kimberly Dawn Wells
YOUR Community & Charity Organizer
Learn something new every day at @squidoonews.

SquidooGroups, as you know, was a feature announced in the fall of 2006 to help groupmasters bring together like-minded lenses and lensmasters for the benefit of all. The main idea was twofold: that lenses would get discovered more when organized into relevant niches, and that giving a Groupmaster a platform for listing and featuring and communicating with her group members would lead to higher quality lenses and increased participation. That’s still an overall concept we believe in, and we intend to support it in several ways big and small throughout the site.

To help set the foundation for even better interactions between lensmasters on Squidoo, and to align with the new quality assurance programs we’re putting in place going forward, we’re making a few changes to SquidooGroups:

1. As of right now, no new Groups can be created.
2. That means the Groups you already have are special. It’s a closed privilege. As such, we’re setting our expectations for your existing Groups a little higher. We hope you’ll take some time to check out our list for taking your Groups from Good to Great, below.
3. Some time before June 1 2009, 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.
4. At the same time, we won’t be shy about locking spam or junk or abandoned Groups over the next few months. So make sure yours don’t get mistaken for such.

To help, we’ve put together 7 important things you can (and should!) do to your Groups to make them better, and three things that probably signal that your Group is spam or junk.

Seven ways to make your Groups rock:

1. Make your group HQ pretty.
The front door of your group is a pretty good indicator of how dedicated you are when you start the group.  We’ve seen some lensmasters spend hours on designing a fun group, while some others just phone it in with empty modules and blank HQs.  Plus, setting this page up in advance can make it easier to maintain in the future.
I like: The Netherlands

2. Define the focus of your group.
Some groupmasters MIGHT be able to pull off a group on something as big a “travel.”  But did you know that by being more selective you can get even more attention and better submissions?  Think as niche as you can.  “Vegetarian soup recipes” or “Great kitchen gadgets for advanced chefs” is way better than a “Cooking” group, because it lets you set the rules, have criteria for accepting or rejecting lenses, and gives you a clear topic to discuss with your group members. Plus it’s better for traffic, and a lot more interesting.
I like: Tropical Fish Headquarters

3. Go ahead. Fire people. We dare you.
Size doesn’t matter.  In fact, the worst performing groups are the ones with tens of thousands of lenses with nothing in common and have no focus. Groups are about curating and showcasing lenses on a specific topic, and about giving you a chance to play Editor in Chief of your slice of the web. It isn’t personal - if you have a lens that doesn’t belong in your group, boot it.  If you have a lensmaster who doesn’t participate, kindly bid adieu.
I like: The Costumers’ Guild

4. Give lensmasters something to talk about.
You don’t get to become part of an elite group for the purpose of doing nothing.  Give your lensmasters something to do.  Host a weekly poll about a hot topic.  Start threads on the guestbook.  Post Plexos of favorite related links or lenses. Run lensmaking challenges; require a brand new lens every week in order for them to stay in your Group. Go above and beyond and blog or Tweet about your members. Make it a place people WANT to belong to.
I like: Green Crusaders Headquarters

5. Show off your best faces.
The Featured Lens and Featured Lensmaster modules are two of my favorite modules to use on a group homepage.  In fact, you can show off your newest members without doing anything - groups come standard with one each of these modules that automatically pulls from the five most recent adds. Better yet, try posting weekly Q&A sessions with your top Group members. Spotlight a review of a new lens that joined your Group. The more you do for your members, the more they’ll do for you.
I like: Ethnic Food Headquarters

6. Keep it current.
If your group hasn’t been published in a while, it’s time for a facelift.  Rotate in the new and out the old.  Use Featured Lens modules to publicize the most current lenses in your Group. There’s nothing as sad as a stale, abandoned Group.
I like: Shopping Headquarters

7. You’re responsible for your members.
Your group is only as good at its weakest link. If the members of your groups have spammy, junky, and/or SquidDon’t lenses, that reflects on you and could get your Group locked. (Yup, you let them in, after all.)  Remember:  it’s ok to have specific rules about what lenses must include and what lensmasters must do in order to be a member.  If they can follow those directions, they get the prize.
I like: Pimp My Lens

And three common Group mistakes that don’t work (and could get your Group locked someday soon):

1. “Anyone can join” groups
Having groups just for the sake of having them.  Creating the biggest group on Squidoo might be a fun trick, but totally pointless if you’re looking for things that matter, like participation, traffic, friends or sales.

2. Groups set up for SquidDon’t lenses
Some lensmasters have taken spam and junk to the next level by creating groups to contain all their lenses.  All this really does is draw more attention to them and increase their chances of getting locked or deleted.

3. Topics that are way too general
Groups set up to contain Squidoo categories (entertainment, shopping, and business, for example) aren’t just redundant, they’re usually ineffective for all involved.  But if you can prove us otherwise, we’d love to hear about it.

Many of you have been vocal about great ideas for new Groups-related tools and technology and features, and we know we haven’t spent a lot of time on those, in a long time. And here’s one reason why: Great groups can be developed without those extra tools.  The secret to a good Group is how you run it. How good of a leader you are. How good your members are.  It’s about quality and spirit and going niche and staying relevant and mentoring each other. So if you can rock groups with what you’ve got, we’ll know that they’re a good use of our development time and more attention going forward. So get out there and make your Groups Great!

~Kimberly
YOUR Community and Charity Organizer
PS - learn more about great groups with our Groups Mentor, Barkely