See What Sells on Zazzle

Save the Date cards that recently sold are really cute!

Colorful Hawaiian look Invitation

Tango Tangerine and Hot Pink Custom Announcement by ilonagarden
Make invites using zazzle.com

A shirt for people who love Chicago in the spring!

I love Chicago Shirt by ilonagarden
View other Chicago T-Shirts at Zazzle.com

And original art keepsake boxes...

The Blue Nymph Premium Keepsake Boxes by eLainesLocker
Browse other gift ideas designs on Zazzle.

It Is 2013

a new leaf

I was busy in the last month, since Christmas is a big holiday for me. Still, I managed to fit in some time learning about Zazzle and finishing and creating new lenses. I also started organizing my old desktop computer at the beginning of this month.

Not too much headway in getting more exercise, if you except our two attempts to cross country ski (that is over for now since the snow all melted).

Zazzle Report

I have managed to get some regular orders, although it has been pretty meager, and suffered some cancellations. This month there have been some new images uploaded and creation of more products. I worked alot on eLaine's Locker, which is the store for my daughters  artwork. She FINALLY got a few orders on her stuff, not much in money, but it is a beginning.

I will continue to read up on how to make these stores a success. I created a couple more stores to separate topics, but they aren't live and have no products in them.

Squidoo Progress

The income steadily has been increasing since I now have a ...what should I call it?... stable of lenses? Some have risen in rank, while many dive to the bottom, and I have a number that struggle even though I think they are pretty good lenses.

Still, I keep trying to improve them, and the amount of Amazon sales are rising on them, so it seems that I must be getting a few things right. I try to stay active in the community, but Christmas holiday was challenging for that effort. I had to let most of the quests go by, and mostly tried to Squid Angel bless as many worthy lenses as I could, but wasn't able to spend as much time exploring other lenses. I often tried to find good lenses to like or bless from people who had visited and liked my lenses.... although normally I try to widen my range and go actively looking through Squidoo for good lenses.

New lenses I made since November of 2012:

1. Soup Tureens
2. What To Give Your True Love
3. The Christmas Play Costumes
4. My Vibram Shoes
5. I Spy Picture Riddles Book
6. Ugly Christmas Sweaters
7. Irish Claddagh
8. Decorating Ideas For Christmas
9. Hungarian Apple Bundt Cake
10. Adorable Diaper Bags
11. Flowering Hanging Planters
12. Woodland Christmas Decor

Now I realize just how busy I'd been. That is a lot of work represented there- I take several days worth of work to complete a lens, usually. And it is important to keep up with finished lenses to maintain them. They have images that go missing, or modules that no longer work, comments need to be moderated or responded to, and they often drop in rank if nothing is contributed to their upkeep for awhile.

That is most of the news... except that I've been giving attention some of my websites. I forgot all about posting on myreflectingpool.com until I started updating its software. When I saw that I was reporting on Squidoo lenses, etc but hadn't made entries since sometime in 2011, it reminded me to post here. I will work on things over there, too -eventually.

After all, it is a new year, with new possibilities.

Making Good Lenses

Up until recently I haven't posted tips about Squidoo, or anything else related to working on  or succeeding at the site, on this blog. I didn't feel qualified. I'm one of those people who takes a fairly long time to feel qualified. I lose that feeling rather quickly to boot. However, I reached a certain level of expertise there to start sharing tips.

Not that I am yet expert... I just reached certain benchmarks, and had some occasional emails asking for  advice.

Lenses

When I first started I made some lenses with quite a bit of HTML css decoration. It was fun and I was experimenting, but now I lean to the "less is more" camp, just as I did in my website creation. I still find the accents of initials and borders to be useful, but in lesser amounts.

I like medium length lenses, ideally.  Some lensmasters promote the idea of short lenses, maybe five to seven modules, but I feel that is too skimpy to do justice to a topic. I tend to make my lenses a little too long and take topic detours. I don't think that is ideal. The best lenses tightly follow the topic and have a nice flow of information. That is what I am now aiming for.

Making Money

Now that I have a solid year of very intense effort under my belt I am seeing income from my lenses. I utilize very little of my efforts for charity, to tell the truth. There are two reasons for that... I have to know about, and believe in the cause before I feel comfortable contributing, and I wanted to have a little income from the work. But I have contributed a little bit of my lenses to the Squidoo charities- the free garden photo lens and another type which I forget.

Here are some tips on making money:

Integrate the Amazon modules, title them uniquely or not at all; don't ever leave them saying just "Amazon". I like the spotlight modules the best.

Go ahead and use the eBay modules even if you are not familiar with eBay. I let eBay pick the items to post.

One of my best earners is a lens I made in response to a quest. I think Squidoo HQ wants you to succeed, and it is worth it to follow their suggestions and participate in their quests.

The earnings on Squidoo accumulate over time as the lens improves, as it ages ( while being consistently updated), and as a niche is being built. I have not yet mastered that last point, since I experiment with numerous topics.

I have seen steady growth, although the overall amount is not enough to qualify as a "wage". It is still more in the hobby sector.

Marketing Squidoo

Blogging can be hard work, but you need to have a blog to help out your Squidoo lenses rise above the web horizon. That is why I started this blog, to promote my lenses. Being a blogger at heart I am writing other kinds of posts here now, but you have to link to your lenses for them to get noticed and start to rank. I am beginning to do intra-Squidoo linking more right now. That is where you link related lenses from each other. Inside the content as well as Squidoo intro module related lenses.

I post to twitter and to Facebook on occasion. I don't like to overdo that sort of promotion, especially twitter which I am now using only occasionally. Twitter is only useful if you are dedicated to carrying on the conversations. I liked that, but had to cut back my time- especially as I gave more time to creating content.
Me, on Twitter

Pinterest has been good to me with giving traffic to my lenses. I am not a power user of Pinterest and I don't have many followers on there, but its popularity has created a nice side effect of interest in my lenses. I think it could be much more utilized than I presently do.
Me, on Pinterest

Some people use other sites such as Hub, etc. I am not familiar with those sites or writing for them.

Success

My greatest success on Squidoo has been my participation in the community, although I have yet to utilize the forum.

I am a Squid Angel now, and I try to bless both the accomplishment and the potential of a lens. Obvious mistakes, of course, will not merit a blessing from me, but when good content and a pleasing look accompanies an honest effort at making a good lens... I bless it. Maybe I'm too liberal, but I remember how those first angel blessing spurred me on at the beginning of my efforts. I want to be that kind of encouragement to others.

I like alot of lenses. But then, there are a lot of lenses to like on Squidoo, I think.
I don't comment as much as I used to, although I do leave comments. Mostly when someone did something really well, or if I am interested in the topic through the presentation of their lens content.

I might occasionally read about complaints or squabbles, but I don't get involved in business that isn't mine. I learned alot about online participation through many years of involvement in forums and in blogging. There are group dynamics in all these types of media. My advice? Keep your nose clean, and take the high road.

That is it. Oh, and just generally be a blessing and an encouragement... other people need that just as much as you do. that is a type of success in itself.