I hope none of you are working on new Valentine’s Day lenses or web pages right now. You’ve almost certainly left it too late to get much profitable traffic this year, if you are.

Easter, though, is nine weeks away. This gives you time to get a lens or two online. You’ll have time to choose a good subject, hopefully one that puts a slightly different spin on the usual Easter eggs and little bunny rabbits. You don’t want to compete head-on with the top Easter pages, do you? Maybe you know about some Easter customs unique to your area, or your family has its own traditions or recipes for the festival.

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When I seriously started writing lenses on Squidoo, the first thing I did was look at other people’s work. I visited a large variety of other lenses assessing what worked and what didn’t.

I picked up many tips just by looking. It’s what I’ve always done to learn to improve my writing and web page building. Look at what the experts do and learn from them.

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Seriously, I’m not joking. You should not only be thinking about Squidoo lenses or web pages for Valentine’s Day on February 14th 2010 now, you should also be thinking about Easter next year too.

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Susanna Duffy, Squid Angel

I’ve known Australian Susanna Duffy online for several years and she has always made great web pages. It’s a talent she’s transferred to Squidoo and now makes great lenses too.

She was made a Squid Angel a few months ago and she has carried out her Angel duties assiduously – I wouldn’t expect anything else from her.

How does she find time for all her many activities and enterprises? I have no idea except I suspect she works long hours and doesn’t waste too long sleeping.

Read more about her in this interview.

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September 30th saw the final deadline to make Squidoo Giant or a Giant 100 Clubber. The Wiwon Team did well and I think many of its members will qualify with either 50 or 100 lenses. They’ll know later this week. In the meantime, I know from experience, it’s quite worrying wondering if your lenses are good enough even though you hit the target number.

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Sylvestermouse's Avatar on Squidoo

No, I’m not suggesting you shake the tentacle of a denizen of the deep blue sea but rather learn about one of the great people who write on Squidoo. The first in this series is Sylvestermouse, AKA Cynthia.

I became aware of her when she posted a critique request for her first lens (web page) in Squidoo’s forum – Sewing in the House of Sylvestermouse.  I took a look at it and, although there were things that needed to be done, it was obvious to me that Cynthia could write in a good and interesting way. I made some suggestions, as did other people, and she actually implemented them – not something that always happens. After that, I’ve taken an interest in her progress and she has done very well, having made many interesting lenses. I now think of her as my ‘baby Squid’ who is growing up fast.

Read what she has to say about why she joined Squidoo and her thoughts on different aspects of the network.

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The Fun Side of Work

Almost anybody who writes has been there. You need to write something new, maybe because your blog need updating, you write for a site like Squidoo and you’re taking part in a challenge or perhaps you are lucky enough to have been invited to submit ideas. Some days, though, your mind just goes blank, you can’t think of a thing to write about.

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Rocket Moms on Squidoo

I must be crazy joining the Squidoo group, Rocket Moms, right now when I’m so busy. It involves writing a new lens every week on some aspect of a certain subject, which is posted on Mondays. This week it was A Favourite Toy so I chose Meccano.

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I’ve been putting suggestions in the Stazjia’s Stars forum for ideas to make into new lenses. My latest suggestions have been inspired by the weekly Senior Squids Challenge. Last week, the subject was ‘The Moon’ so I wrote about Moonflowers – Night Blooming Plants, this week it’s about ‘Time’ so I’ve done one on Local Time and Railway Time.

The point is to take an idea that is very wide ranging and think of your own slant on it. There is no way that anybody could write a comprehensive lens or web page about the moon or time. Both subjects are too big.

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My Coaching Lens for Stazjia's Stars

Because I made the Giant 100 Club last time, Wiwon, the group I joined to help me, has made me one of the coaches for people hoping to make Giant or the Giant 100 Club next time, deadline September 30, 2009.

Stazjia’s Stars is one of the small coaching groups. I have six members, which is about average for each group. In SS we are still getting to know each other but have started reviewing each other’s lenses and that seems to be going well.

I think giving critiques on lenses helps the owner of the lens and the people doing the critique. Obviously, the owner gets suggestions for improvements but how does it help the other people?

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