Interview with PotPieGirl on Squidoo

Posted In: potpiegirl , squidoo .

I get many emails, private messages, and questions in forums about my experience with Squidoo that I figured it's time to spill it and do something very unconventional.

This will be unusual.

No, this will be flat-out WEIRD.

I am about to interview myself.

Now, don't get me wrong - I am not going to talk to myself, but I am going to re-print the most common questions I get asked about my "career" on Squidoo.

Why not, right? It's not like Squidoo is some deep, dark secret.

So, here we go. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to leave them in the comment section. I'll answer asap.

How long have you been active on Squidoo?

I think I signed up for Squidoo in Feb or March of 2007. I remember hearing about it and really liking the concept/vision Seth Godin had for the site. However, I signed up and had NO CLUE what I was supposed to be doing or how to do it. I messed around with it for a little, and then I guess I gave up and forgot about it.

What brought you back to Squidoo?

A little book called Squidoo Blueprint. I read that ebook and it's like a lightbulb went off. Not only did I "get" what I was trying to accomplish, but I had a uhhh...well, for lack of a better word, I had a blueprint to follow that showed me HOW to accomplish it. It certainly was a defining moment.

After that "defining moment", how did you do with your lenses?

I made notes of my first attempt with making Squidoo lenses after reading Squidoo Blueprint. I created a few lenses on May 2, 2007 and they all did well, and it was QUICK.

For example, my still best-performing lens, Lens Exposure was #132,965 the day i created it. Over night, it went to #2,495 and #77 in its category. Within 5 days, it was at #1268 over-all and #35 in its category. Once I had the total concept of what I was doing, and how I needed to do it... I was off running!

In the 3 months since creating that lens, it has gotten better and better - it has even spent time in the Top 100 lenses OVER-ALL!

Is the "secret" to Squidoo all in making the lenses?

No. While it is super important to do "on-page" optimization properly, it is equally important to learn how to promote your lenses. I learned a lot about that from Squidoo Marketing Systems.

Ron Pass, the author, is such a neat guy. From Ron, I learned not only about creating lenses, but about marketing them to get the most traffic possible. There so many things you can do to increase traffic AND lensrank. Simple things - like signing guestbooks, but knowing when to leave a link to YOUR lens - and when NOT to leave a link. There are so many tips to doing better on Squidoo and Ron has so many of them in one place (AND he sends a regular update newsletter when he finds something else).

How many lenses on Squidoo do you have?

I believe I am currently at about 44 lenses. The ones at the bottom of the heap are patiently waiting for me to stop playing on my blog and come love them a little =)

Out of all your lenses, which is your favorite?

Actually, I have a couple of favorites.

I love What is Squidoo? Squidoo is such a cool site and I want everyone to be as fired up about it as I am.

I also really like my Blogging Advice lens. I made that lens right before I started this blog. Blogging was intimidating to me and I wanted to learn how to do it right. That lens offers a lot of solid advice on how to get the blog going.

I love making lenses that allow me to have the real "me" shine thru. I have an odd and conversational writing style that may annoy some - but it's me. I type the same way I would talk to you if you were sitting right in front of me.

Whats the best single piece of advice you would give a new-comer to Squidoo?

While there are so many important things to know and practice on Squidoo, I would say this is the #1 -

Write your own content.

Nothing works better than your own unique style and wording. Once you learn how to create properly key-worded content, the sky will be the limit for you. Copy/paste ain't gonna cut it on Squidoo - or anywhere on the web.

What do you think of the recent "Squidoo Slap"?

This may sound odd, but I am actually glad it happened. So many lenses with sub-par content were riding the coat-tails of Squidoos powerful Page Rank... it wasn't fair to those that were busting tail to make solid and high-quality lenses. I'm afraid that if the spammers kept on being rewarded from Google by simply abusing Squidoo, that the entire site could have fallen apart. To me, this so-called "Squidoo Slap" was like a good rain shower that cleared the air. Now we can all get back to work.

How did you do on the last pay-out from Squidoo?

I did well...about double the previous month. I made a bit over $60 and that made me quite happy. Heck, Seth Godin is the only person I know that pays me to hang out with him! That payment was purely because I have lenses on Squidoo (AND I learned HOW to create them). I can't wait for NEXT month! Is it September yet?

Is Squidoo your sole source of online income?

Oh no....definitely not. One really good rule is to never put all your eggs in one cyber basket. I love Squidoo, and Squidoo has been darn good to me - BUT, it is ONE free platform I use to create a whole system of revenue on the internet.

What's your golf handicap?

Uh boy - now who went and asked that? Once upon a time, before my butt was parked in front of a computer all day, my handicap was about a 9. If I play to a 14 now, I am thrilled. I just don't get to play enough.

You and your hubby play a lot of golf together....do you place wagers on your round?

Always. And honey, it can get quite serious. He is my husband and best friend...but on the golf course he is just another player (as I am to him). Being that we are both highly-competitive people, we both enjoy this trait about each other ...most of the time ;)

Who wins most often?

Oh dear, can I take the 5th on that? Hmmm....

Alright, here is my official answer since this blog is available to be read 'round the globe.

At this moment we are all square. That's my story, I'm sticking to it.