Any Squidoo Lensmasters Living in the UK

The Journal of the Traveling Squid is a goodwill project of sisterhood and brotherhood, connecting Squidoo lensmasters worldwide. Through this project, we are looking to connect lensmasters worldwide. It is our mission that The Journal of the Traveling Squid will travel far and wide; that it will cover all continents. And, in our effort to pay it forward, it is our goal to raise money for charity at each step of the journey.


The Journal of the Traveling Squid departed from Jacksonville, FL on March 19, 2009 jetting to the U.K. JaguarJulie posted the package to Squidoo lensmaster and Giant Squid, Gordon Hamilton in the U.K.

• Are you a Squidoo lensmaster living the U.K who would like to participate in this project?
• Do you live outside the U.K and want to participate?

Learn much more about this project : The Journal of the Traveling Squid.

Competing for the top lensrank

Competing for the top lensrank = earning charity dollars. I've just taken a look at the Top 100 listed lenses in several categories. Some rather surprising lenses -- no, I didn't have the time to visit each and every one of these. In some categories, I'm seeing multiple lenses on the SAME topics -- I personally would like to see more of a variety. And, be a little more topical on the topics; i.e., if holiday related and the holiday is past. ;)

The lure of many a new lensmaster joining Squidoo can probably be chalked up to the enticement of sharing in the thousands of dollars that some lensmasters say they are earning each month. There are plenty of ebooks out there instructing lensmasters how they can earn boatloads of money online. This is a tough economy; people have financial issues and are watching their budgets. I personally wouldn't want to get wealthy at the expense of putting another person in debt. But, that's me.

I'm of the belief that you need to "show me the money" before I believe all those claims about lensmasters or affiliates making thousands of dollars a month. I can believe that some lensmasters are making $100, $200, $300 or possibly $400 per month off their lenses -- but it is becoming less of a viable earning platform when you consider that you are competing with over 850,000 lenses rankling for a lensrank in the Top Tier which might pay $10-$11 for that position. Remember, the Top Tier only encompasses the top 2,000 lenses.

The enticement to join Squidoo has also brought with it some pretty spammy and non-quality lenses, recently referred to as SquidJunk. Well, I don't like spam and I surely don't like junk. Thankfully, there are efforts underway to address the spam and the junk -- thank you!

OK, here is what I propose and I'm sure this will be received with mixed reviews. Change the lensrank tier position royalties to automatically default to charity. Let the lensmaster select which charity or charities they would like to earmark their royalties to benefit. That could be the first step ... how do you feel about this?

In the pink literally : read all about it

Hubby was heading out the door on Saturday October 18th when he shouted back, "Hey, the newspaper's all pink!" Yep, sure enough! And, a mighty nice shade of pink I must admit. That must have been fun for the web press operators early that morning printing the Times-Union.

As a Squidoo Activist, I've created two colorful lenses Cook for the Cure -- Think Pink in Your Kitchen with KitchenAid and KitchenAid Artisan Mixers -- How to Colorize Your Kitchens. Both of these lenses donate their royalties directly to Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation. October is breast cancer awareness month so I'd say these lenses are definitely topical and spot-on.

Searching all of the many Squidoo lenses, would you believe there are some 573 that mention breast cancer while cancer seems more topical with 997 lenses. Shop directly at KitchenAid Online Store: Cook for the Cure!

New module for Squidoo lensmasters - Donations

Hey Squidoo lenmasters? Have you checked out the latest module that is available to you for making your lenses more charity-friendly? It's the donations module. You can easily select in the drop-down menu from a host of wonderful charities. If you have a couple of 'pet' charities, add a second or third donations module to your lens(es).

As many of you know, I have been working with First Coast No More Homeless Pets (FCNMHP) for about one-year. I first began working with them to get all the feral cats in our neighborhood spayed and neutered which was quite a job trying to just trap the 16 or so cats. When I took over the management of the feral cat colony, I had no idea what an active role I would be assuming in #1 managing the cats and #2 getting the word out to other lensmasters and Squidoo readers about FCNMHP.

FCNMHP was featured in June 2008 as the Squidoo charity of the month. In July 2008, I was able to raise a lump sum of $500.00 for FCNMHP from a winning lens in the Superhero Project honoring my grandmother Julia Nagy, My Superhero. Along with that amount, I raised other monies through several of my other lenses along with other lensmasters who earmarked their lenses to support FCNMHP.

Now if this is not your 'pet' charity, there are dozens more from which you can select. Do you know that each month, Squidoo donates well over a thousand dollars to charities? Yes, that is really amazing. So, what are you waiting for? Add that donations module to your lens today.

Huh? What's that? You are NOT a Squidoo lensmaster. Well, hey ... join today. Ah, too late!!!!