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 Worldwide Reach of Squidoo

Ah, The Worldwide Reach of Squidoo - Thanks to Google and the Internet! This is the power of the internet in attracting readers to Squidoo lenses! As you can see, Google has the biggest pull among search engines with well over 55% of traffic! Referral -- other Squidoo lenses and word of mouth -- ranks up there for readers. Yahoo is trying harder to be a strong pull, but doesn't come close yet to Google. Finishing out the pie are contenders for search engine traffic. They are MSN, Direct, AOL, Microsoft Live, Ask, AltaVista, Netscape and finally AlltheWeb.

If you build it, they will come! If you create something of value, make a positive contribution that is interesting and unique, they will come. That is the power of the internet.

The worldwide reach of Squidoo is a phenomenon -- Squidoo was launched in late 2005.

Today, hundreds of thousands of lensmasters have joined Squidoo and account for well over one million lenses and growing at a rate of 2,000 per day!

So, if you are passionate about your hobbies, work, interests or are an expert and want to shout out to the world, you should consider creating a Squidoo lens page.

Want it to get noticed and read worldwide? Well, the trick is topicability!

Yep, when you write about something that is topical, spot-on, relevant or important -- you can get noticed worldwide as this chart shows.

This chart gives you some idea of where the readers are!

As you would well expect, the United States accounts for some two-thirds of readers.

Six percent are from the United Kingdom, 5% from Canada, 3.3% from Netherlands, and 1.39% from France and the Philippines!

Peope around the world are finding Squidoo lenses topicable!

They are reading Squidoo lenses in Australia, Germany, India, Spain, Italy, New Zealand, Thailand, Malaysia, Denmark, Hong Kong, Turkey, Bulgaria, Poland, Greece, Singapore, Indonesia, Romania, Switzerland, Ireland, Taiwan, Hungary, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Lithuania, Slovakia, Sweden, South Africa, Chile, Japan, Mexico, Finland, Ukraine, Serbia, Russian Federation, Korea, United Arab Emirates, Portugal, Estonia, Saudi Arabia, Croatia, Egypt, Moldova, Belarus, China, Puerto Rico, Pakistan, Austria, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Nigeria, Cyprus, Israel, Colombia, Costa Rica, Jordan, Barbados, Macedonia, Malta, Slovenia, Sudan, Venezuela, Latvia, Czech Republic, Bangladesh, Guam, Peru, Cote D'ivoire, Syrian Arab Republic, Panama, Georgia, Fiji, Saint Lucia, Asia, Morocco, El Salvador, Trinidad and Tobago, Norway, Uruguay, Iran, Guatemala, Europe, Mauritius, and Paraguay.

Isn't that just amazing? And, there are readers from other countries -- that's just a partial list.

Yes, the worldwide reach of Squidoo IS surprising!

A caveat -- While Squidoo is a great place to create a lens, interact with other lensmasters, share a bit of community spirit -- there is one thing you SHOULD know!

Well, maybe more than one thing -- that's fodder for more blog posts. But, one thing is important. SPAM is NOT tolerated.

Squidoo is a place for quality -- quality content, quality lenses, quality lensmasters!

So, are you ready to give it a try?

Do you have what it takes to create quality content that is on the topicability scale? That's what it takes to get your lenses noticed.

Come join me on Squidoo. Get started now building that lens. What are you waiting for? If you build it, they will come! If you build something that is topical, spot-on, of quality content, they will come back!