Hungarian Spaetzle Case Study

Welcome to the analytical and informational Hungarian Spaetzle Case Study where we lensmasters take a closer look at the analytics and statistics behind a lens. This case study profiled on the Topicability blog is a companion analytical analysis to Hungarian Spaetzle - Little Dumplings.

You know, being on Squidoo, we lensmasters GOT to participate in a bit of a social experiment. Oh, I’ve tried my own type of social experiment and sometimes it works and then sometimes it doesn’t work. It’s OK to admit that you made a mistake about something and then pick up your chips and move on. And, the important part of that social experiment is to hope AND sometimes PRAY that the others are professional enough to understand … and let it go!

So, I had an idea, long ago and far away, about doing a Hungarian Spaetzle Case Study lens to track a lens’s performance. In the beginning, I was more proactive with the lens promotion. However, life intervened and I took a backseat to the normal type of promotion. After awhile, one hopes for normalcy and for fairness and for a return to the good old days when things were simpler and articles rose because they were good and got normal traffic that was also good.

I don’t cater to asking every tom dick and harry for a Squid Angel blessing. If YOU think my lens deserves that blessing, well go ahead and bless it! Personally, I think this is a pretty swell lens.

Size matters folks — and it’s NOT just in little dumplings aka Hungarian Spaetzle! Thanks for dropping by … I hope I can fulfill your needs today.

Photo credit of obviously delicious Spaetzle taken by Kobako.

Hungarian Spaetzle Squidoo Lens Published

This lens was published at 9am EST on 8/31/09. Ranked #2,073 in Food, #46,019 overall.

I am using this lens on Hungarian Spaetzle as a “case study” lens to document how this lens is promoted and to chart lens stats. It was my idea to publish a lens to be used as a “case study” as I was writing on the topic of lens promotion for a special project. It made sense to me that a lens be the “case study” to show how lens promotion could impact lens statistics — including traffic and lensrank. So, I made that suggestion that everyone do a “case study” lens to demonstrate their topic of discussion on Squidoo and Squidoo lenses.

Of course, we all know the IMPACT of Squid Angels in that lensrank — so if a group of angels were to bless a lens, that could definitely skew the rankings. At this time, It is not believed that this lens HAS had many of those angel blessings. So the lensrank achieved for this “case study” lens should be truer to the lens promotion that has been used for Hungarian Spaetzle — Little Dumplings. Nowadays, with all the groups supporting group members, it is difficult to get many lensmasters’ ratings for non-group lensmasters. I don’t currently belong in any “groups” aside from Seth Godin’s original Tribes project. So, getting visitors to rate lenses demands more creative lens promotion!

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This lens was originally created on 8/28/09 and worked for for a few days before publishing. This screen capture, taken before Noon on 8/31/09, shows that the lens has a 5-star rating, been rated by 5 people, and is Ranked #2,073 in Food, #46,019 overall.

A bug: This lens was originally created on 8/28/09, but was held until 8/31/09 to publish. It got caught in the bug that showed the lens in red WIP on the dashboard. The bug assigned lensranks of Aug 29: 792,181 and Aug 30: 794,020 with a two day Average Lensrank for Aug of: 793,101. A bug report was issued to ask that this lensrank be adjusted to 0.

Hungarian Spaetzle - Lensrolled
This lens was lensrolled on 8/31/09. These is a rather 'heavy' number of lenses for a typical lensroll.

 
After lensrolling, throughout the day, this lens was added to social media platforms, first through the lens buttons to StumbleUpon, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Digg, Delicious. It was added later in the day to Stumpedia, RedGage, Tagfoot, and ThisNext. A blog post was done on JaguarJulie Blog On and On along with a Posterous blog entry.

Hungarian Spaetzle - Dashboard Stats
As of 9am EST on 9/01/09 - Ranked #175 in Food, #2,880 overall.

Here are the Lensmaster Private Dashboard Stats as showing 24 hours after lens publication.

Traffic Sources:
Referral: 11
Direct: 10

Surfer Stats:
Clickouts: 10 (last 30 days)
Number of times lens has been emailed: 4
Number of times lens has been marked as favorite: 8

Referrers:
twitter.com
squidoomarketing.ning.com
tagfoot.com
facebook.com
stumpedia.com
squidoo.com
delicious.com
stumbleupon.com

Hungarian Spaetzle - Squidoo Directory Submissions - 9/01/09

Squidirectory – A categorized Squidoo directory featuring an interesting variety of different subjects ranging from arts and literature, shopping, and eco friendly tips, to vehicles for sale, travel, and everything in between.

Lensroll: Hungarian Spaetzle — Little Dumplings
The Isle of Squid
Squidom.com
Squidinkpot.com

Hungarian Spaetzle - Lensrank Chronology
Google and Yahoo started referring traffic on 9/02/09!

8/31/09: Ranked #2,073 in Food, #46,019 overall – 5 ratings – 5 stars
9/01/09: Ranked #175 in Food, #2,880 overall – 8 ratings – 5 stars
9/02/09: Ranked #134 in Food, #2,169 overall – 10 ratings – 5 stars
9/03/09: Ranked #134 in Food, #2,169 overall – 13 ratings – 5 stars

Hungarian Spaetzle - Lens Traffic - 90 Day Review
Taking a look back at the lens statistics for 3 months as of 12/20/09.

First of all! This is a very important statistic to note in the “case study” with regards to my previous comment about groups! See the previous module that reported “Lensrank Chronology” of:

9/03/09: Ranked #134 in Food, #2,169 overall – 13 ratings – 5 stars

Compare that bit of information with this lensrank AND ratings:

12/20/09: Ranked #1,200 in Food, #20,821 overall – 16 ratings – 5 stars

Does this NOT speak volumes that this non-group lensmaster’s lens has ONLY been able to garner 3 ratings in a 3.5 month time period? That equates to one vote per month! Heck, I’ve visited brand new Rocketmom’s lenses with some 19-20 votes right out of the gate! And, I’ve visited many of the other private/semi-private groups members lenses to see equally high number of lenses’ ratings — far more than the 16 ratings on a nearly 4-month old lens.

The power of Squidoo = the power of groups!

Hungarian Spaetzle - Thank YOU Google!

Google is responsible for bring the majority of traffic to Hungarian Spaetzle!

I’ve written much in my lensmaking experience about the power of Google and how it equates to the power of Squidoo in lens traffic. The cool pie charts that you can find on your lensmaster dashboard can give you a good idea of the health of your lens promotion.

According to the 90 day review of 12/20/09, Google is responsible for bringing in 59% of the traffic to Hungarian Spaetzle - Little Dumplings. That 59% is not a “little dumpling” in the composite of the “case study” of this lens. The other 41% of traffic is attributed to Referral, Yahoo, Direct, Bing, AOL, MSN, Ask, and Lycos. Discovery accounts for 0%. We all know that it is important to not “put all your eggs in one basket” if you are relying on a steady traffic stream to a performing Squidoo lens.

Are you a Spaetzle Lover?
Hungarian or Otherwise? Do you love LITTLE dumplings i.e. Hungarian Spaetzle? My grandmother made the best “Hungarian” Spaetzle ... little dumplings!

History: Hungarian Spaetzle : Little Dumplings was originally created on Squidoo by JaguarJulie on August 28, 2009. On January 25, 2011 this lens earned the Squidoo Purple Star Award for quality content.

Hey People - It's About the People Today

The Topicability blog has been spotlighting the Top 100 Squidoo lenses and lensmasters and taking a closer look at who, what, when, where, and perhaps why and how. The cornerstone of Topicability after all is "to be topicable :: that which is relevant, of current interest, contemporary, spot-on!"

Today we are turning our attention to the People Topic / Category of Squidoo.  We are looking at the various Squidoo lenses which have secured a spot in that Top 100 of the People Topic.  As I normally am thinking PEOPLE and different people ... throughout history, in politics, leaders, celebrities, actresses, models, stars, criminals and then some more people, I found it surely interesting to see this was the Wordle tag cloud today for that People Topic / Category of Squidoo.

Looking at this Wordle tag cloud, what really jumps out at me is Wedding!  Oh wow.  Wedding is dominating that People Topic, isn't it?  Then I see Quotes, Speeches, Toasts, Signs, Free, Maid, Sample, Women, Father and Cheating.  Isn't that interesting?  I don't see too many PEOPLE there which I really think is quite odd indeed.  After all, isn't the topic of people pretty straightforward?

The Squidoo lensmaster in the spotlight today in the People Topic is EasyW who has 6 Squidoo lenses in the Top 100 of that category.  That's not quite as many lenses dominating a particular topic as we've seen in our previous blog spotlights for some of the other showcased topics.  All of these 6 lenses are on Weddings and related stuff.

Oh, and here is that Wordle tag cloud that is automatically imaging the various Squidoo lensmasters who have their lenses in the Top 100 of the People Topic / Category.

Two Squidoo lensmasters have 3 Squidoo lenses each in the Top 100 of the People category. They are hanjee and ThomasC.

Quite a few Squidoo lensmasters have 2 Squidoo lenses each in the Top 100 of the People category and I can say that a couple of them I do recognize! Heck I found my name on that list, quite surpringly! These Squidoo lensmasters with 2 lenses each include audreylai, chrgr, CosmeticMom, ihearthiki, Irenemaria, JaguarJulie, kab, monarch13, photos, Sadheeskumar, spirituality, squiddles.

My two PEOPLE contributions to this topic include  Gloria Steinem -- A Feminist Superhero #68 and Blondes Are SEXIER and Have More Fun #76!

A rather sensitive topic of discussion on Squidoo is that of multiple IDs. I am saving my discussion of this sensitive topic for another date. But, what springs to mind, is the fact that multiple IDs can hide the fact that the same lensmaster is in the spotlight, but under a different ID. So, I can’t help but think, when I see a particular “topic” like say “weddings” or stuff related to “weddings” and lenses ranking in the Top 100s, I honestly wonder which of those multiple IDs is the very same lensmaster?

Say!  You did know that TOPICABILITY is a portmanteau, right? Think of TOPICABILITY as:  Top + ic + ability   ...   OR   ...   Topic + ability   ...   I hope you get that.

The TOPIC of discussion has been the Squidoo topics or categories.  We've showcased Parenting and Kids, Local, Computers Gadgets and Tech, and DIY Do It Yourself ... here is a recap for you! I hope you enjoy them as I've provided lots of Wordle tag clouds and lots of image mosaic lists of the top lenses.

• Spotlight on Parenting and Kids
• It Is All Local Folks Oh My!
• Computers, Gadgets and Tech Oh My!
• Do It Yourself this Summer

And, you surely must know, by now, that I've profiled the top Squidoo lens, for more than a year on a special Squidoo lens, Squidoo du Jour -- The Top Lens, in case you are curious what's been on top overall. Or, maybe you are wanting to participate in my Hey Monkeybrain debate about Squidoo Stats -- Public or Private?

Google Trends would suggest a seasonality for Stuffed Cabbage

Google Trends would suggest a seasonality for Stuffed Cabbage? Have you checked out Google Trends to learn more about the topics about which you write? For me, one of my favorite topics is food and cooking. I think it is because of my Hungarian and Eastern European heritage that I love to cook with old world inspired recipes and to experiment with my own. You can always find me tweaking this or that recipe and coming up with my own secret ingredients to make that recipe special. Well, one of my all time favorite comfort foods, Stuffed Cabbage, is one of the foods that I write about lots! As they say, "you are what you eat," and I surely must be stuffed cabbage or a stuffed cabbage patch kid at heart. And, I do have a pretty good sense of humor.

Google Trends is a public web facility of Google Inc., about Google Search, that shows how often a particular search-term is entered relative to the total search-volume across various regions of the world, and in various languages. --According to Wikipedia.

Google offers some pretty amazing tools for us to help us in understanding the popularity of our topics -- you see Google is so much more than just a search engine. But, you probably already knew that if you are into that which is topicable or on the topicability index. So, stuffed cabbage is the topic for me and anytime I can find more scientific data to demonstrate the popularity of this comfort food, I am on it. I've been studying the Google Trends for the past several years, and what I find particularly interesting, is how the charted data is seemingly 'identical' for the years of 2006, 2007, and 2008. It would suggest a seasonality and consistency in the searching trends and popularity for stuffed cabbage.

Well, I decided to conduct some of my own scientific research through the employment of a reader poll, is stuffed cabbage a seasonal comfort food? Do you eat it during specific seasons of the year -- or do you eat it year around? Help support this scientific research and take some time to answer that poll. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, or year around -- when do you eat stuffed cabbage?

Oh, and why not check out Google Trends for your topic of interest? You might learn something new -- and if you do, please take a moment to tell me about it!

Traffic is Both Down and Up

The topicability index for today has stopped on traffic. Many lensmasters have spotted an anomaly with the traffic to their lenses reportedly not registering correctly. I've noticed that as well ... enough to stop and do this blog post.

MHM-666

It's not just one or two lenses that are off, but quite a few which raises a bit of a red flag. While it is difficult to analyze each and every lens when you have over 445 lenses; I have looked at some of my more popular lenses which have always gotten good traffic. It's odd to see so many different types of lenses being 'off' ... can this be attributed to the time of the year? For the most part, school is out for the Summer. Are less people on their computers? Are people going to other sites?

Many are saying that their lenses aren't getting the traffic to which they've grown accustomed.

On the other hand, I've noticed other traffic that is way up! For example, my inbox is flooded these days with the good [thank you my friends], the bad [bummer!], and the ugly -- those spammy emails! Traffic might be reporting as down to lenses, but traffic is up with the number of emails.

Looking through some of my stats, it was quite interesting to see that 96% of my visitors are new and unique! That's up considerably from the 77% or so of previous months. It's great to see that new readers are discovering the benefits of Squidoo. Now, we just need to sort out what's happening with those numbers!

P.S. I'd like to see some seasonality studies -- I'll report back when I find some. Meanwhile, I'm off to find the traffic. May the force be with you! And, if you haven't yet discovered the benefits of Squidoo, why not join me as a lensmaster and we can discover that traffic together!

Should I be a Squidoo lensmaster

Should I or shouldn't I be a Squidoo lensmaster? Today in his blog post, Seth Godin asks the question, "Why am I here?" Indeed! I'm not waxing philosophical when I say that I've recently been asking myself that question a lot! It's been a time of examining how my time is spent; whether it is making sense that I participate in some form or fashion online at certain social media sites. After all, a person can spread themselves a little thin by trying to keep active everywhere -- unless you are a Wonder Woman or a Superman or perhaps Guy Kawasaki who is one amazing guy -- especially on Twitter!

Just as Seth's blog post was quite topicable for me today, so was the blog post from the SAMBA blog. The latest post asked another resonating topicable question of What do you hear? That topicable question was also picked up on by ChefKeem when he asked, "Do You Know Who Is Talking About You On The Web?" The SAMBA blog suggested that we check out Social Mention which is an aggregator that collects information from a number of different social media sites.

In addition to listening to what people are saying about your brand, also listen what they are saying about your competition. It is not sneaky, but smart!

So what does that have to do with whether I should or shouldn't be a Squidoo lensmaster? Here, hear! When I was taking a hard look at my presence online, I was evaluating my presence at a number of social media sites. I took a particularly close look at two different activities: blogging and Squidooing. I've been blogging since December 2004 and on Squidoo since March 2006. There is a ratio of 2 to 1 when you compare the number of lenses I have authored to the number of blog posts I have penned. Squidoo has had me in its hold for over 3 years.

It is interesting to compare worldwide readership of blogs to Squidoo lenses. Here is a snapshot of readership -- the worldwide visitors -- from my Jaguar Julie :: Blog On and On ... blog:


For comparison purposes, here is a snapshot of the worldwide readership -- the worldwide visitors -- to my >445 Squidoo lenses:


It's pretty obvious from the second snapshot that there is more cultural diversity in the readership for Squidoo lenses. The worldwide reach of Squidoo is quite phenomenal! When you author a quality Squidoo lens that has been optimized with rich, meaningful content and relevant keywords, your lens has an excellent opportunity of being indexed by a variety of search engines so that you can have a strong worldwide readership base. The icing on the cake is when you additionally promote your lens judiciously to social media platforms.

Let's take a closer look at the top twenty countries for the worldwide readership comparing Squidoo lenses vs. a Google blog. Looking at the snapshot above, and comparing the list on the left with the list on the right, you see many of the same countries. In this example, the top three countries for both are the same -- the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom! Together, for lenses they account for 77% of the readership base; for the blog, 72%. For the most part, this would be what I expected to see without looking at the tangible evidence.

You know it would be interesting to have a snapshot of the membership base of Squidoo lensmasters to see how their percentages stack up against the readership base. Much has been said that more Squidoo lensmasters are of the female persuasion; many of which are work-at-home moms. I'm thinking that the greatest percentage of Squidoo lensmasters DO come from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom!

OK, so back to the question, "Should I or shouldn't I be a Squidoo lensmaster?" If you are interested in having a worldwide reach that is quite phenomenal, I would say that the answer is a compelling YES! Do you have something that you are passionate about? Why not create a phenomenal lens to shout out to the world? Why not join me! I've invested many an hour writing about a number of things that I find interesting; looking to engage my readers -- my worldwide readership base.

And, now I'm looking to judiciously monitor my time by asking, "Why am I here?" and What do you hear? Can you hear me now?

The Topicability of the Purple Star

The topicability of the purple star ... in the titles of lenses. Well it was just another Wednesday morning for me until I ventured into the SquidU Forum to find that yikes, my Stuffed Cabbage lens was a hot topic of discussion in that a star symbol had been inserted into the title of the lens after the title of "Stuffed Cabbage."





To help you determine how you would like to weigh in on the debate about showing special characters in lens titles, I have included a snapshot of the Stuffed Cabbage lens with the open shadowed star design that I currently employ on my twitter profile. Thus far, I have heard no comments one way or the other on the appearance of the stars on my twitter profile. So, I can't weigh in with the scientific evidence about that.

However, a few lensmasters have mentioned that browsers other than FireFox do not recognize this special shadowed open star! Hmmm -- must fix that!


OK -- so this snapshot above of my Stuffed Cabbage lens uses a special character star that I believe should image correctly in browsers other than FireFox. It doesn't quite have the impact of the other star and it is definitely not purple -- haven't figured that one out.

Well, the purple stars are being handed out now at a rate of 21 per week -- we will be close to one hundred lenses I think by the end of this week. I've got ONLY one purple star while there are lensmasters with 2 purple stars and quite possibly some of these lensmasters may earn a third purple star in the near future. I'm holding my breathe for a second one although I did NOT nominate any of my lenses this week.

So, what do you think? Like any of these stars in the titles? Actually, thinking about it ... I know I did happen to see a registration mark or a copyright mark on a lens title for a trademarked product. I think those special characters should be allowed to be used!

By the way! You wouldn't believe how many other lensmasters started employing the asterisk in their lenses titles. Good to see so many jumping on the star bandwagon.

Rewarding Content - Unveiling the Purple Star

Rewarding Content - The Unveiling of the Purple Star. The PURPLE ONE has made its appearance at Squidoo! By 'purple one,' I am referring to the purple star that is now being rewarded to Giant Squids for their quality content lenses. These purple stars made their debut on April 16, 2009 -- oh, they had been around for quite some time, but officially just hit a handful of Giant Squid 100 Club lenses.



Above is a screenshot of what that beautiful purple star looks like on a lens -- you can find the purple star next to the gold star under the lensmaster photo in the upper-right hand corner of the page. I love that my Stuffed Cabbage lens was tapped for my first purple star !



For those Giant Squid 100 Club members who have just earned their first purple star you can also see a purple star on their lensmaster profile. Check out mine!

The purple star program has now kicked into high gear! To find out more about what it takes to earn a purple star, be sure to visit this official Purple Star Program Lens lens which explains the program. At the moment it is only available to Giant Squids! So, I'd say that is an incentive to qualify as a Giant Squid!

Update: After my Stuffed Cabbage lens earned the purple star on April 16, 2009, it made it to the #1 spot overall on Squidoo on April 19th. As of May 18, 2009, it spent 24 days in the #1 spot; 6 days in the #2 spot. As of May 18th, it was one of 3 different lenses, each recently earning purple stars, to make it to the #1 spot. The Stuffed Cabbage lens, now HUB, had been experiencing excellent traffic for about 1-1/2 years, before it earned the purple star. It is open to debate whether any lens now occupying the #1 spot could achieve that lensrank without the benefit of the purple star !

Say, you're not yet on Squidoo? Hey, what are you waiting for -- here is your invitation!

New Look to Squidoo Home Page - Like Alltop

I simply must go on vacation more often -- why you ask? Well, lots of things happen when I go away! It's rather like Murphy's Law.


The first thing worth mentioning is that a whole new group of Squid Angels were chosen -- I missed out on the call as I had no internet access in Southern Spain; dog-gone it! The 'new' Squid Angels were chosen by invitation from Kimberly. I've asked that she put me on her list for the next go-around! Now, we have many returning Squid Angels doing second and third tours of duty; I'm thinking there are probably some doing a fourth tour of duty -- those lucky guys and gals!

The next really big thing that I noticed that was new was the super cool view of the Squidoo welcome page -- the home page. It gives an overall look at all the topics or categories within Squidoo by spotlighting the Top 5. I love this! Especially if I can make it into the Top 5 in any of the topics -- not an easy feat to do. Luckily, I seem to have hit on two of my lenses being spotlighted: Stuffed Cabbage and Meniscus Tear -- Not just a jock's injury! I think some lensmasters have several of their lenses showcased on this welcome page -- a hearty congrats to them!

P.S. Here is another view of Top Lenses from Squidoo -- it's Squidoorati @ Alltop.

Celebrating 3 Years on a Social Platform

Celebrating 3 Years on a Social Platform - Not a Flash in the Pan! March 21, 2009 marks my third anniversary as a lensmaster on Squidoo. That is a pretty long time to be able to stay active on one social platform and not be a flash in the pan! Squidoo has been a remarkable place to BE -- I absolutely LOVE Squidoo. I originally came to Squidoo from a personal BzzAgent invitation. At BzzAgent, we learned to be word-of-mouth evangelists [not religious fanatics]; and we learned to spread the word or buzz about worthy topics.


During the past 3 years, I've authored over 404 lenses along with 6 groups. I became a Giant Squid and achieved the honors of Giant Squid 100 Club, rather a daunting achievement at the time as I experienced a crushing hard drive crash in the midst of qualification. HQ blessed me with the wonderful experience of being a Squid Angel -- putting me more in touch with my spiritual side. ;) Hard work and luck gave me 3 different lenses of the day or LOTD! Each of these LOTDs were very special lenses to me: To Catch a Thief in under 40 Days!, Jaguar Julie Lensography, and Julia Nagy -- My Grandmother, Namesake and Superhero.

So, are you celebrating a special anniversary on Squidoo, or have one coming up? I'd love to hear from you! Please take a moment to visit my signature lens, Jaguar Julie Lensography, and be sure to sign my guestbook to let me know you dropped by! Thank you and may the force be with you.

P.S. Want to join me on this wonderful platform? Hey, what are YOU waiting for! Get started now. Do you have a favorite food like stuffed cabbage or maybe basa? Have something to debate; e.g., blondes are sexier and have more fun? Experienced a sports injury like a meniscus tear and want to write about your personal experiences? Or, maybe you just want to remember your mom!

Hey What is Your Star Sign

Wow, wouldn't it be cool to have some statistics on people who Squidoo and Twitter as to their star signs? A Squidoo lensmaster, aj2008, has this cool TwitterStorm, What's your star sign? I'm scratching my head, "Now, why didn't I think of this?" I absolutely LOVE this TwitterStorm and can't wait to see all you lensmasters and twitterers weighing in to let us know, What's your star sign?


Me? Well, my star sign is Cancer. Interestingly enough, my birthday is just one day away from Seth Godin, the Squidoo King [this is my lens honoring Seth Godin]. I am so thankful each day to both Megan Casey and Seth Godin for having created such a wonderful platform of Squidoo!

P.S. On March 21, 2009 I will be celebrating three years as a Squidoo lensmaster. So, are YOU on Squidoo yet? Hey, why not join me on Squidoo?

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.

Amazon is a Cool Platform - Cool Modules

Amazon is a Cool Platform - And Makes for Some Cool Modules. One of the coolest Squidoo modules for generating a little sale or two; i.e., royalties, is the Amazon module. A module is a building block that you add to your lens when you create it. I've loved the Amazon module when there was ONLY one of these. As of the writing of this blog, there are now 6 different Amazon modules to select from.

• Amazon -- In this standard module, you can only feature up to 5 products per Amazon module. If you want to feature more products, you will need to add more of these modules.
• Amazon Recommendations -- You can select a category and enter the link or Amazon ASIN and feature up to 5 products in this plexo style module.
• Amazon Spotlight -- Perhaps my favorite Amazon module in which you select one item to promote that makes sense for your lens!
• Amazon MP3 -- I like this module because your visitor can listen to music selections during their visit to your lens and debut music prior to purchasing -- how cool.
• Amazon Search -- I love this Amazon module and will include it to allow my visitors the ability to search Amazon for the products related to my lens topic. You can present search results as 3, 6, or 9 results. Your reader can also use their own search terms to find items on Amazon.
• Amazon Voting (Plexo) -- Feature items from Amazon that your readers can vote up, or vote down if allowed, to show popularity of products. You may want to monitor the links that your readers add to this module!

I'm still studying the effectiveness of these various Amazon modules to identify the better performing module of those offered. Some of the interesting Amazon sales resulting from the use of these modules include the product widgets.

P.S. I was writing this blog post JUST as the payout of royalties on Squidoo was occurring for the month of January 2009. Now that is topical indeed!

Topicability Drink - Starbucks Coffee

The Topicability Drink - Starbucks Coffee vs. Dunkin Donuts vs. Coffee Shops. To know that coffee is topical, look no further than today's SquidU Review email from Kimberly -- Coffee Shops: We want YOU!

What do you think about when you think “coffee shop?” Do you think brick walls covered in abstract art, with the hiss of the espresso machine interrupting delightful chatter? Do you think serene walls in teal and cream, with enormous ceramic cappuccino mugs and oversized chairs that wrap you into their folds while you read? Or do you think of your own local coffee shop, with the chalkboard menu you’ve memorized, coveted internet connection, and regulars that appear like clockwork? -- Kimberly

My Sample Coffee Shop is the lens Squidoo HQ has designed to show you how to start creating your coffee lens for highlighting your very own "java central."

P.S. While you are thinking about it and what you think about Starbucks coffee, why not weigh in on the Hey Monkeybrain debate that I've been hosting at Squidoo. It's STARBUCKS vs. Dunkin' Donuts - Coffee Wars! This debate has been waging for well over a year. It was the FIRST of its kind; now there are a number of similar debates on coffee. To know that coffee is hitting the topicability index, searching Squidoo produces 986 lenses at the minimum. A "Starbucks" search yields 286 lenses; "Starbucks coffee" returned 157 lenses. I predict that number will rise very soon!

The People Who Make My Day

I've been online for more than 12 years, first with free websites and later with several of my own websites. I've sold online through eBay, eCrater, iOffer, and Overstock; and only had an eCrater store until I closed that too. Next, I tackled blogging in 2004 and still manage to do a bit of blogging although not always daily. On March 21, 2006, I joined Squidoo and began my quest toward the Giant Squid 100 Club.

Today, I have authored over 400 lenses and spend many an hour weekly administering to my lenses, groups, and comments -- while also taking time to visit other lensmasters' lenses to offer my advice, encouragement, or to just plain make a thoughtful comment.

Well, I've had my share of some pretty remarkable comments through the past 3 years. Today, I was particularly touched by the comment I received on my Stuffed Cabbage lens. My reader Erin Baxter wrote:

I remember quite clearly the smell of stuffed cabbage floating through the house when I was a child. My family called it Sodoma (I'm not sure of the spelling) and it was my Great Grandma Fox's recipe. She was of Croatian and Slovenian descent. I never liked it but my mother still loves it although she is disabled now and can no longer make it. I am the one preparing it for her now. I put all of the ingredients together in a crock pot but instead of cooking it at my house, I take it to hers and my father and her not only get to enjoy the taste, but they get the aroma as well. Here's my family's secret ingredient - when everything is in the pot and ready to cook, you pour a pan of bacon grease ( what is left in the pan after cooking a lb of bacon) over the top. How unhealthy is that?! But my family swears by it's deliciousness!!! This recipe and other recipes of old world food MUST be passed down from generation to generation! Food is the international language of love! God bless

Join me on Squidoo! Create a lens or two, participate in the community and meet some great people like I have!

Topicability of Numerology - Square Root Day

The Topicability of Numerology - Square Root Day or NOT. Yesterday bore a significance in that it was a memorable day for its numerology. March 3, 2009 = 3/03/09 OR referred to as Square Root Day. I recall seeing a couple of lenses promoting that day; now those would have been an appropriate Lens of the Day [LOTD]! Too bad no one asked me about my opinion for a good LOTD!


Well, today may not be a Square Root Day for me, but I did just notice the MOST curious coincidence when I posted about my dead battery on Twitter. You see, immediately following my Twitter Update, @SquidRich Actually, it's a 1999 yellow roadster as seen here -- "I keep it garaged" dead battery and all > http://blondesthatdiy.blogspot.com/2014/08/best-roadsters-ever.html, I noticed that it was my 1999 update! I actually think that I was hearing the Twilight Zone movie music playing.

Isn't it interesting to note the topicability of numerology on the internet? Just yesterday, @Scobleizer was talking about how cool 66,066 would be for number of followers --> The next person who follows me will be 66066 -- that is a cool number!

P.S. It was because of my car having it's second dead battery that I am sitting here doing this topical blog post!

P.P.S. And, I am now reflecting on a related topic, Chirp, Chirp, Chirp -- How Often Should You Send a Twitter Update?

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?

I seek comfort in Stuffed Cabbage

In times like these, I seek comfort in Stuffed Cabbage. In the past 4 weeks, much has been happening -- here, there, and everywhere. It's a time to turn to some comfort food like Stuffed Cabbage. My grandmother, Julia Nagy, bless her heart, taught me to make stuffed cabbage rolls. Our family has carried on her name through her many fabulous Hungarian and Czechoslovakian recipes.

A couple of Sundays ago, I made a huge pot of stuffed cabbage rolls that lasted us for the entire week. I've now got a request in, from one of our workers, to make this again really soon.

Today there were a lot of topical happenings over at Squidoo. Early in the morning, I received an email, from another lensmaster, alerting of a new spam filter that was snagging good lensmasters' content-rich lenses. Well, that was enough for me NOT to do any updating as Squidoo's staff is small and I wouldn't want to add to their work to hand-review any lenses.

I've taken some time today to check into the Squidu Forum -- it certainly is reassuring to see that Megan and Seth both have taken time to ensure us lensmasters that good things are being done to address the issues. Oh, and they encouraged us good lensmasters to perhaps blog about some of our GREAT lenses! Well, look no further ... this is one of my lenses that I am quite proud of ... and because of my grandmother, Julia Nagy, this lens was able to be written.

Thank you grandma ... I love you and miss you dearly! Hope to see you soon.

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.

Buy Quality Bag Lenses

Buy Quality Bag Lenses - Created by Jaguar Julie. Are you into authentic designer handbags like I am? Perhaps you are a bag lady or actually know a bag lady. Well, I've got an assortment of lenses that I've spent many an hour researching, creating and maintaining. These lenses are now ripe for the picking!

Check the list below to get a look at which lenses I am willing to part with -- at the right price! So what might the right price be? Well, many a prominent lensmaster has discussed how to attach the right price tag to a lens -- but, if you are into designer handbags, you probably have a good idea how much you want to pay.

For more information on why I am selling my lenses, look NO further for the truth than here, and here and here! Oh, and the country club cats thank you for your interest!

UPDATE: Squidoo key content has been acquired by HubPages ... and some of our content went there whilst some of our content got moved!

• Best Backpacks for Work and School
• Neoprene Lunch Totes -- For Work and School
• Best Bags -- A Top Ten Countdown
• Coach Company -- Designer Handbags, Accessories and Footwear!
• The Best Bags Ever

Folks! At one time us Squidoo lensmasters were able to transfer purchased lenses to other lensmasters. That ability was removed. And, then, Squidoo was acquired by HubPages. In the meantime, I attracted an internet troll who established multiple accounts on Squidoo for the purpose of one-starring my lenses. He started with the handbag lenses. Why? Because that was what HE wrote about. Thankfully, Squidoo dealt with him. He moved on the HubPages ... and was banned. How about that? Beware of bag salesmen. Probably worse than a used car salesman or maybe a t-shirt salesman!!

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.