The rock and roll of lensrank

For most lensmasters on Squidoo, you learn to roll with the punches, ride the waves, and understand that there will always be a bit of rock and roll to lensrank. Sometimes there will be a dip; other times there will be somewhat of a climb.  Some lensmasters track lensrank almost daily, whilst others will take a gander at their monthly numbers to get a feel for how well they are doing.

Lensrank can be quite musical and also quite mysterious. It is intentionally kept a mystery as to what specifically comprises the algorithm(s) that drives lensmasters' lensranks. The other day, I blogged about algorithms and long tails on Jaguar Julie Blog On. You know there is quite a bit of an analytical nature to algorithms. I'm pretty sure I will never understand all there is to understand about algorithms.  And, last weekend over at Squidoo, there was a lot of mystery attributed to algorithms and whatever else was driving the rock and roll of lensrank.  I'm thinking it was the flashback algorithm 2.0 in operation over the weekend.

When everything seemed to settle back to "normal" and lensranks "settled" back to where they might have been before the weekend, I decided to do a little research on Monday, May 31, 2010.  I looked at a few hundred different lensmasters, tabulated their top tier lenses, and came up with a pretty impressive list of the Top 12 Squidoo Lensmasters according to top tier placements.

Ladies and gentlemen, that list of 12 include, in descending order:  Dagsmith, Pastiche, craftyville, MiaBellezza, rms, GonnaFly, Mulberry, Jimmie, spirituality, kab, noadi, and kiwisoutback.

Here is a bit of that data that determined the list.  The chart gives you total lenses in Top 100, Tier 1, and Tier 2 along with the total number of lenses in those two tiers, and the percentage of total lenses that reside in the two top tiers.  Dagsmith shows 45 Tier 1 and 29 Tier 2 lenses which equates to 61.2% of all lenses in one of two top tiers.  That's pretty good I would say.

These Top 12 lensmasters have 27%, or about 1/4, of the Top 100 lens placements as well.  There lenses in aggregate account for 14.2% of the 2,000 Top Tier placements.

Consistency is an important factor in a lensmaster's performance with lensrank to guarantee consistent monthly royalties that you can take to the bank. Checking back to my SquidU Forum posts for four of the Top 12 reveals this consistency with lensrank placements:

"Wow! Congratulations to dagsmith on reaching a "new" milestone! That has got to be a new record ... 39 lenses in the Top Tier! Bravo." --April 27, 2010

"Oh, and yes, congratulations to Lee aka Pastiche on her equally marvelous milestone accomplishments. I see 36 -- that's thirty-six -- lenses in the Top Tier!" --April 27, 2010

"Congratulations to Craftyville! I see that I am a fan of this lensmaster ... and dropped by to visit their lenses today. It is a WOW! 33 lenses in the top tier. 1,024 lenses created -- that is huge." --May 12, 2010

"Congratulations to rms on her milestone accomplishments! You hold the record for the most Top 100 lenses at one time -- was it 7? [Update: I think it was 9.] And, bravo ... 26 lenses in Top Tier is an awesome feat too." --April 27, 2010

P.S. I'll tell you it sure was a mystery last weekend over at the Squidoo lensrank dashboards! I had to blink a couple of times, because it was a flashback of sorts for me, a deja vu of the past. For two days, I too was experiencing the thrill of the climb. My lenses were ranking like they did say maybe two years ago. I had 2 lenses in the Top 100, 25 lenses ranking in Tier 1, and 111 lenses ranking in Tier 2. I'm telling you, that was the flashback algorithm 2.0 in operation over the weekend. I hope you enjoyed it and it gave you a bit of a thrill for the moment. Thanks everyone who made that thrill possible! Ah, the power of Squidoo.

A book report on the topic of lensrank

Lensrank has long been a topic that has hit the Topicability Index. Much has been discussed on the SquidU Forum with regards to lensrank:

• how to get a lens into the top tier
• how to keep it there
• squid angels' blessings and lensrank
• purple stars effect on lensrank
• falling lensrank
• bottom-feeders of lensrank -- those lenses that seem to fall even out of the last tier which has a 85,000 lensrank cut-off currently

Well, today a lens came into the Topicability radar in that the lens is another lensmaster's take on an existing lens that I happened to author. They are both SquidLit book review lenses! How appropriate for us to discuss this book report on the topic of lensrank don't you think? It also compares something old vs. something new. And, might also show the impact of Squid Angel blessings too!

First of all, back in January 2009, I purchased Julie & Julia at our local Borders store. Hubby and I were in the store looking for some other books, but when I spotted the cover and title of Julie and Julia, I was hooked. You see I am Julie and my grandmother is Julia! Get it? I always wanted to cook just like my grandma Julia Nagy. So, it was my hook!

Lens #1 -- Julie and Julia -- The Book by lensmaster JaguarJulie.
Created: January 2, 2009
Ranked: #277 in Books
Lensrank: #27,800 overall
Lens Rating: by 26 people
Favorites: 9
Total Traffic: 15 visits this week
Angels Blessings:
Guestbook: 9 comments
Poll #1: 18 votes
Poll #2: 9 votes
Duel: 8
Plexo #1: 34 votes

Lens #2 -- A Julie And Julia Book Review by Treasures-By-Brenda.
Created: September 20, 2009
Ranked: #826 in Arts
Lensrank: #15,791 overall
Lens Rating: by 9 people
Favorites: 3
Total Traffic: 8 visits this week
Angels Blessings: 5 visits by Squid Angels
Guestbook: 8 comments
Poll #1: 7 votes
Poll #2: 0 votes
Duel: 0

Ahem What is your lowest ranking lens

So, what is your lowest ranking lens today? Has it been your lowest ranking lens for a while or is it a different lens? Is it a lens that you feel shouldn't be a lowest ranking lens? Did you notice that usually video showcase lenses seem to be the lowest ranking lenses? Check that dashboard of yours and weigh-in on the topical twitterstorm, What is your lowest ranking lens? run by inkserotica.

What happens to be my lowest ranking lens today? Well, it surprises me to say it is NOT a video showcase, but is actually a travel-related lens of some mysterious place that I would love to visit: Carpathian Mountains -- Border Miles! This lens is actually part of a series of somewhat obscure places that I have on my travel agenda: Ural Mountains -- Border Miles, Carpatho-Ukraine -- Who, What and Where, and Ruthenia! Actually, they are all related in the sense that we are talking about Eastern Europe. I've done a lot of writing about Eastern Europe because of my family genealogy.
High Five to My Bottom Five: [update -- alas, I have deleted these lenses]

• Carpathian Mountains -- Border Miles
• Jaguar Julie Lensography-ography -- My Lensographies
• Damselflies -- Mating is Unusual
• Don't Get Bored -- Get a Board Game
• Listology -- L-I-S-T-O-L-O-G-Y -- List of Jaguar Julie Lenses et. al.

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?

Lensrank tanking for some lensmasters

Why is lensrank tanking for some lensmasters? The funniest thing about lensrank -- for some lensmasters lenses, their lensrank is tanking and in the toilet while other lensmasters are NOT experiencing such a tanking. Perhaps it is because of a new algorithm? Or because of more Giant Squids sharing in the wealth? I'm hoping that because I've started blogging more and am taking a look at some topical topics objectively, that there isn't a correlation to this apparent tanking. To be fair, ethical, objective, and evaluated on the same scale across the board -- is that too much to ask?

My THREE year anniversary with Squidoo is one-month away! For me, this is really quite an incredibly long period of time to be involved with one 'project.' I've held the passion and convictions that what I am doing is of value and worthy of my time. During these three years, I have spent COUNTLESS hours working on creating unique lenses, some of which are my 'pride and joy' although one wouldn't be able to tell by lack of a desirable higher lensrank. I've taken lots of grief from my hubby who has asked me way too many times if I was making more than $1.00 per hour with this 'hobby.' Squidoo has given me the opportunity to express myself through my lenses that I've not had the pleasure to experience ANYWHERE else.

In the past three years, I have achieved the 'honors' of Giant Squid, Giant Squid 100 Club, 2008 Giant Squid of the Year, Squid Angel, Lens of the Day three times, and 2008 Best Cooking lens, among a few other nice honors. I have not yet been tapped as a Citizen Squid -- that would have been nice though. I've created over 402 lenses and 6 groups and done my best to be a positive contributor on the forum. Through my private mentoring, I've helped many a lensmaster. Through the power of Squidoo, I've had the distinct pleasure to become online friends with so many wonderful PEOPLE -- people who matter to me ... Hello, you undoubtedly know WHO you are.

Recently, my lenses were HIT by a speed-rater who might have been disgruntled for some reason -- I can't speak for them as I don't know why. HQ was great in helping to remedy MY problem. Thanks Gil. And, thanks to Blake, Corey, Kimberly, Megan, and Seth -- and anyone else that I might have missed.

As Squidoo has exploded and grown to nearly one million lenses, there are a lot of issues to deal with -- how to handle all those bugs in a timely fashion with such a small staff is a top concern. How to handle all those lensmasters with multiple accounts; I'm not going to discuss that here -- I can well understand what I read about this in many a lensmasters' blog. What about non-authentic content; or God forbid plagiarism? What about all those many lenses on the same topics and the same questionable topics? Oh my! What about spam, one stars, locked lenses, being nasty to other lensmasters? That's not good at all. My grandmother Julia Nagy taught me that I should treat others as I would have them treat me; AND, if I didn't have something nice to say, to not say anything at all.

Squid Angels, and others with the power, can only do so much to ding those SPAMMY lenses to move them out of the top tiers so that the deserving lenses have the better lensrank. Squid Angels are human after all.

But, why is lensrank tanking for SOME lensmasters? In the following graphic, you see three columns of numbers which are squidoo lensrank for lenses. In each row, you see the lensrank day #1, day #2, and day #3. The numbers show the progression of lensrank downward in just days for lenses.

Traffic and Lensrank - Follow-Up

The other day, I discussed how total traffic cannot be the only factor in determining a high ranking in the Top 100. Today, I wanted to follow up in my non-scientific analysis to revisit some randomly selected lenses to see how traffic stacks up against other lenses in the Top 100.

For an interesting comparison, I will show the same lensrank from both days, with a comparison of the seven-day, total week traffic and current lensrank. These are NOT necessarily the same lenses! The listing in red is the lens and associated lensrank and traffic from the other day. Today's ranking and associated traffic is in green. I've added a few lenses to the mix, so the previous day's visits are not easily known. You'll note that some lenses seem to be getting LOTS of traffic -- those visits are bolded. For the most part, these lenses with lots of traffic are hitting the topicability index for what's hot in the news or for the past holiday of Valentine's Day. Those lenses one would normally expect to be in the Top 100 overall.

#1 Lens -- Total Traffic: 975 visits this week
#1 Lens -- Total Traffic: 983 visits this week

#3 Lens -- Total Traffic: 949 visits this week
#3 Lens -- Total Traffic: 783 visits this week

#9 Lens -- Total Traffic: 462 visits this week
#9 Lens -- Total Traffic: 3,847 visits this week

#12 Lens -- Total Traffic: 460 visits this week

#14 Lens -- Total Traffic: 452 visits this week

#15 Lens -- Total Traffic: 306 visits this week
#15 Lens -- Total Traffic: 291 visits this week

#28 Lens -- Total Traffic: 474 visits this week
#28 Lens -- Total Traffic: 995 visits this week
#38 Lens -- Total Traffic: 248 visits this week
#38 Lens -- Total Traffic: 5,667 visits this week

#56 Lens -- Total Traffic: 1,414 visits this week

#58 Lens -- Total Traffic: 265 visits this week
#58 Lens -- Total Traffic: 2,323 visits this week

#66 Lens -- Total Traffic: 447 visits this week
#66 Lens -- Total Traffic: 3,564 visits this week

#80 Lens -- Total Traffic: 1,432 visits this week
#80 Lens -- Total Traffic: 6,426 visits this week
#81 Lens -- Total Traffic: 841 visits this week
#81 Lens -- Total Traffic: 604 visits this week

#82 Lens -- Total Traffic: 269 visits this week
#82 Lens -- Total Traffic: 5,710 visits this week

#83 Lens -- Total Traffic: 17 visits this week
#83 Lens -- Total Traffic: 1,033 visits this week

The Topicability of Traffic

The Topicability of Traffic - It's Just NOT Enough. A really hot topic these days is still lensrank. Normally, a higher lensrank position would be equitable to higher traffic. But, because of other factors that is not always the case. To illustrate this phenomenon, I have randomly selected several lenses and looked at the seven-day, total week traffic and current lensrank. Have a look for yourselves:

#1 Lens -- Total Traffic: 975 visits this week
#3 Lens -- Total Traffic: 949 visits this week
#9 Lens -- Total Traffic: 462 visits this week
#15 Lens -- Total Traffic: 306 visits this week
#28 Lens -- Total Traffic: 474 visits this week
#38 Lens -- Total Traffic: 248 visits this week
#58 Lens -- Total Traffic: 265 visits this week
#66 Lens -- Total Traffic: 447 visits this week
#80 Lens -- Total Traffic: 1,432 visits this week
#81 Lens -- Total Traffic: 841 visits this week
#82 Lens -- Total Traffic: 269 visits this week
#83 Lens -- Total Traffic: 17 visits this week

As I am quite familiar with one of these lenses listed above, I know that it's best lensrank overall has been #4. It's had a lot of Google love for quite some time after being created in late 2007. This lens is a rather niche-like topic and not the standard fodder for most lenses. But, this lens has gained in popularity since 2008 thanks to the online buzz and also thanks to Martha Stewart.

Well, obviously online buzz and Martha Stewart can only do so much to contribute to a Top 100 ranking for a lens. It's been noticed that this lens has slipped in rankings. So, what has changed? There is a hypothesis that such a slip in the ranking of this lens is due #1 to a change in algorithm or #2 a lack of squid angels' blessings or #3 more squid angels' blessings for other lenses or #4 the dreaded squid angel ding -- but, we don't think #4 is the reason as we are optimists and believe that the lovely people behind the scenes would see that a high-ranking lens had received a ding and then swiftly remove it.

Many factors are considered when objectively ranking lenses -- perhaps the number of lensmasters who have rated the lens and favorited it; number of click-outs; total sales; and a variety of other factors that can be implemented to keep you on your toes and working on keeping your lenses fresh and loaded with quality content.