The Rocketmoms are back in action today with Session 8! This special 5 week session’s theme is Fun With Food. It looks like fun all around with prizes from food sponsors and a 2010 Rocketmoms Cookbook. There’s sure to be some tasty lenses made this session, but they don’t even have to be recipes either.

There’s a category for the Most Creative lenses made about food, and those can be crafts, hobby or humor.

The Smartest Women On The Web are a sisterhood of women who want to learn to make good, better and the best lenses on Squidoo. We have a Ning group; we’re on Facebook and Twitter and there are several Rocketmom sub-groups where we can get or give help.

Would you like to know more about the Rocketmoms? Check these out:

Getting Started On RocketMoms

Rocketmoms On Facebook

Rocketmoms Top 100

Rocketmoms Blog

And if all that isn’t proof positive that these women aren’t the busiest, coolest and smartest women on the web…they even put together some tips for building lenses on Squidoo.

The Rocketmoms Best Tips On Building A Lens

Keep an eye on that cookbook ~ I know it will be a bestseller!

From The Squid Zone,
Sylvia

We’ve all heard about Ning going to paid communities by now. It affected some of the Ning groups we as Squidoo lensmasters are members of. Some groups are closing, some are staying & paying, others still are moving.

So I wanted to do something to offer Squidoo lensmasters another place to gather, visit, share their lenses, etc. and I found a place with a free network. It’s called SocialGo.

Introducing The Squid Zone Community Network. Joining is easy, but is on approval (to help try to keep spammers out). You will need your lensmaster URL to join, but that’s it!

We have a forum, blogs (they call their blogs ‘magazines’), and groups. You can upload pictures and video.

I won’t be ‘running’ the place by myself~it’s for all of us. I set it up the best I could make it resemble the familiar groups we know. But we can change it according to all our needs & wants.

You’re cordially invited to go check it out and join if you like. Remember it’s Squidoo lensmasters only.

Gotta go work on another lens! See ya soon,
Sylvia

Well, after a bit of an emergency sabbatical, here I am back again.  My apologies for the inconvenience, it just couldn’t be helped.  I’ll do my best to make it up to ya with some fun features and all the Squidoo news you need to know.

As always, Squidoo is hopping with activity!  I’ll bring you all the latest shortly.  There’s a charity contest, new clubs, and the matter of Ning going from free to fee.

All links have been processed ~ be sure to submit your Squidoo lenses and blogs to the directory.

Time to go  see what nuggets to talk about next time!  See ya soon!

Squidoo is donating $1,000 to charity EVERY DAY through Thanksgiving.  Isn’t that amazing?  This is a  great way to earn money for your favorite charity.  And there’s a $5000 grand prize vote-off on Thanksgiving Day, too!

* Win $1000 for your favorite charity on Squidoo’s  list of over 100 charities
* Get featured as the Lens of the Day (with exposure to over 100,000 people)
* Have fun sharing your best food and kitchen tips and recommendations.
*And even get a cute exclusive Thanksgiving theme on your lens….

Enter the virtual Cookoff here!

All you do is create a great food-related lens on Squidoo as part of the contest. That’s it. Lenses are free and easy webpages to make. Could be about your grandmother’s pumpkin pie recipe, your family’s thanksgiving dinner menu, tried and true baking secrets, top 5 holiday coffee flavors — anything and everything food, it all goes. Every day Squidoo will pick 1 lens they like best, post the winner on our Lens of the Day blog, and award the charity you selected $1000.

Check the Squidoo Lens Of The Day post for more information and be sure to read the rules on The Official Squidoo Thanksgiving Cookoff (for charity) lens.

The Rocketmoms are at it again! The 4th session of Rocketmoms is HUGE and so exciting, you *have* to see it to believe it.

During this six-week session, the Rocketmoms are coming up with some super holiday shopping lenses just in time to make your Christmas shopping easier & more fun.

Visit Holiday Shopping With The Rocketmoms for a weekly index of their projects. Be sure to bookmark it to visit again and again.

Their first week was a super way to kick off the holiday shopping season – Totally Unique Gifts. Unique they are, too! An eclectic collection of gifts for men & women, gifts for our pets, electronic gifts and more. Visit today for some “totally unique gifts” for your holiday gift-giving!

Find Recipes & Cool Kitchen Gifts with the Rocketmoms’ second week project. During this amazing week, the Smartest Women On The Web entered the Official Squidoo Thanksgiving Cookoff For Charity using a HOT new Thanksgiving theme introduced for the contest (more about the cookoff very soon).  But wait, there’s more!

If that’s not enough excitement for you (!), then you have to see the Rocketmoms Thanksgiving Day Feast. Here is everything you need for a wonderful Thanksgiving day and meal. Tips, recipes and more, from The Smartest Women On The Web, Rocketmoms ~ don’t miss it!

The Giant Squid Community Fair competition is well underway and there are several excellent entries but there’s plenty of room for more so if you’re a Giant stop by and enter, or vote for your favorite lenses in each of the seven categories.

Even if you aren’t a Giant you are very welcome to visit and vote.

The fair will be accepting entries until September 4th, 2009 so there’s still a little time to squeak in an entry, but you better hurry!

My entry is in the Arts & Crafts category and it’s the Best Halloween Crafts Ideas. So stop by the Giant Squid Community Fair and vote for it! LOL

I’ve been away for a bit, haven’t I? I’ve gotten caught up in a couple of projects (ok, several) at Squidoo. My favorite one at the moment is The Giant Squid Buddy-Up Project.

Giant Squid Organizer, bdkz (Bonnie) is leading this month-long challenge for Giant Squids only.

The “Giant Squid Buddy-Up Project” is a month-long challenge and opportunity for the Giant Squids to teach, mentor and support a small team of people they think would make a fantastic lensmasters.

Well, it’s now the middle of August and here are My Buddies ~ The Budding Squid Buddies Buddy Up Challenge! What an amazing group of women too! What we did was create a private Ning group where we have chat, a forum, blogs and so far, only a couple of posted videos for discussion.

Mojavelyn, Owner of AlsoShop Online Auction, came in and blew me away when she built her first lens on the first day of class! She’s incredible! Here it is ~ AlsoShop Top Sellers. If you’re a Squidoo member, please rate it (hopefully 5 stars, eh?).

Patti, Owner of A Beautiful Secret, has also been hard at work. She was already a lensmaster at Squidoo, but joined the group to polish up her skills. Here are Patti’s lenses:

A Little About Me

It’s All In The Face

Please do stop by and visit them. You’ll be glad you did!

Now, Wilma is our Super Star! Wilma owns A1 Collectibles And Gifts and had never been on Squidoo but wanted to learn. She’s quick to learn, too! She hit the ground running and never looked back! Here are Wilma’s lenses:

Wilma’s World

A1 Collectibles And Gifts

Wilma’s Fabulous Smothered Chicken

These Budding Squids have learned a great deal in their first two weeks. I’m honored to know them; to have been of service to them. Please join me in wishing them every success!

Got more Squidoo news to share, so come on back now, hear?
Blessings,
Sylvia

Are you looking for a creative outlet for writing about your favorite interests, your political passions or favorite travel destinations?

Do you need marketing and promotion help for a blog or web site?

How about some extra income ~ a little or a lot, it’s up to you. You can make some extra cash for yourself or help out a charity. Maybe you can even carve out a career for yourself.

When I came along, I was looking for a way to promote my ecommerce store and direct sales companies. I taught myself how to build some lenses and linked back to my sites. They weren’t great lenses, but they worked and I got some excellent traffic from those pages. But then, something else started smoldering deep inside.

I enjoyed making those lenses. I started looking around at more lenses and WOW, my eyes were opened to all kinds of ideas. I saw that Squidoo was actually quite a social community, and there were lots of folks willing to help each other get better at making lenses and promoting them, etc. Passionate, generous, creative people creating lenses about everything under the sun and always willing to help a fellow ‘squid.’

Here’s what I suggest, grab a steno pad or other notebook and jot down what your interests are. Your hobbies? Favorite movies? Crafts? Are you a volunteer? Do you have a favorite charity? A favorite cause? Favorite books? Cars? Collectibles? Animals? LOL

Do you feel strongly and passionately about: parenting, politics, the economy, the environment, world views, war?

Have you filled the page yet? LOL

Chances are, you have quite the list going, eh? Have you noticed I’ve said almost nothing about affiliate marketing? Let’s not even go there this time around, ok? More about that later.

For now, hold on to your list or maybe make notes about some of those topics. You can sign up for Squidoo here.

When you’re ready, take a look at this incredible lens, How To Make Your First (or Second) Squidoo Lens.

Share your knowledge. Make A difference.

If you have hobbies, an eBay or Etsy store, love movies or books, gardening or politics, animals or travel…or just about any of the thousands of topics that can be found on Squidoo, then pull up a chair and grab a cup of your fave beverage. You could be sharing your knowledge with someone that’s looking for it, and you could earn some cash at the same time. Upset about global warming, the state of the economy, polar bears? Share your knowledge and make a difference. Let me explain…

Back when Squidoo started (launched in 2006), the founders liked to say that “Everyone is an expert.” That phrase, or tagline, seemed to prophesy the phenomenal growth of Squidoo since then. In 2008 alone, Squidoo grew 91%! That should be impressive in anyone’s book, I’d say.

So, the obvious question. Just what is Squidoo, anyway? What are we doing here?

Well, Squidoo is:

It’s a supersimple, fun and powerful way to share your interests, build your online identity and credibility, and connect with new readers and friends. It’s all free, and you could even earn a royalty for charity or yourself.

That’s the definition we see a lot. Actually, it’s true. Squidoo is a fun way to share your knowledge and ideas online. You can easily make your own mini web pages (we call them lenses) with modules provided by Squidoo. Most fun of all? It’s addicting. You can’t build just one! Soon, you’ll have 2, 10, 25, 100 and there is a member (lensmaster) with over 400 lenses!

What are we doing here? If you want to share your knowledge with the world; if you want to promote your blog or web site; if you want to earn some extra cash for yourself or your favorite charity, come along for the journey through The Squid Zone.

There’ll be News from Squidoo, the founders, the community organizers and more about getting started, contests and events.

I’ll feature people, cool lenses, top charities and causes from the Squidoo Community.

Best of all, I’ll bring you the best tips for your Squidoo success that I can find from the top lensmasters, blogs…and anywhere I can find them, LOL!

Stay tuned and be sure to subscribe! I have some squid adventures planned for you!