The challenge for the first week of the RocketMoms was to write an "About Me" lens. I find it very difficult to write anything about myself about the best of times but struggle even more to share anything too personal when it comes to writing things on the internet.

In the first session I participated, I wrote about my love for Genealogy. So when the first challenge was announced, I wondered what on earth I was going to write about this time.The topic area was actually suggested by my husband when I was telling him about the challenge. It took a few turns and curves from what he originally suggested, but it is a part of me that intrigues him at the same time as driving him to despair.

I am the quintessential gadget queen, so I decided to write about the five gadgets I can't live without - some big, some small, but all things which I have as part of my daily survival. No, I am not including these in the same category as family, friends, shelter, food and all things required to live a healthy and happy life... BUT, these five things make my very busy life easier. Some help me to work better and keep up to date with all things GiftsBonanza, others help me to relax and unwind.

So, the finished page for my week one challenge is 5 Things I Can't Live Without and More. What gadgets couldn't you live without?

 

 

Yesterday saw the beginning of the RocketMoms Spring 2011 session and my second experience of participating in their challenges. This time, I intend to keep up the blogging throughout the session.

Like the last session, the first challenge is to create an "About Me" lens. Again we have been asked to write the introduction first and post that for everyone to see. From Wednesday, we can show off the full lenses we have created. So at the moment, everyone is busy with their introductions and sharing them.

I just love the support - everyone offering advice and feedback in such a way that we can all learn from.

There a few introductions that have completely pulled me in and I just can't wait to see how the rest of those lenses unfold.

Anyway, back to completing the rest of the "About Me" lens...

Following the end of Session 12, the RocketMom's went into Operation Clean Up. I have to admit, I have not been as active in completing this as I should. There are a number of lenses which require a good makeover to breathe new life into them.

One makeover I have completed is on the second lens I ever created called Unique Australian Gifts which was initially created to promote Australian designers and storekeepers on Zazzle. I have always struggled with this one and have tried to create a slightly different feel. While the page still largely features zazzle products, I have tried to focus on all things Australian. It is a work in progress and I'm not completely happy with it, but it's a start.

So... what has changed? Firstly, I re-wrote the introduction entirely for the change in focus. This was probably the hardest part, given that the url I had chosen was not something that gave me an awful lot of scope.

I changed an Amazon module featuring five books on Australian animals to an Amazon spotlight for a great Australian book by Bronwyn Bancroft and wrote my own review. It is such a great book for any youngster and deserved to be in the spotlight all on its own!

I added some social modules - Squidoo HQ suggests giving the reader opportunities to participate - so now the lens has a duel debate about whether koalas are cute and cuddly,a poll module on whether the reader wants to visit Australia, as well as the original reader feedback, which has had questions added to encourage feedback.

I removed a few modules too - RSS feeds from one of my blogs and twitter account, a YouTube video of a kangaroo and at least one more that now escapes me (see how memorable it must have been!)

And I followed other great advice I have received from my adventures with the RocketMoms - always include not only titles to each of the modules, but also include subtitles and cheesiness was encouraged! I also added a link to the How Well Do You Know Perth Quiz to create backlinks and to start linking lenses which are from similar categories.

I'm hoping to clean up a few other lenses over the next few days... it will be interesting to see if these makeovers assist in increasing visitors and lensrank. I'll keep you posted!

 

Filled with excited anticipation, I dived head first into my first experience with the RocketMom's for their 12th session which was titled "Back to Basics". This sounded perfect for someone like me - I had dabbled a bit with Squidoo with limited success when I first joined, but lost interest as it seemed I couldn't create any momentum. At the end of last year, I decided to give Squidoo another go and after making a few new lenses, I found out about RocketMoms.

In this first challenge, we were asked to create an "about me" lens - it could be a personal page to write about ourselves, or we could write about something we love, our favourite book, anything which meant we could all learn a little bit about each other. Firstly, we were asked to write just the introduction to the lens and share it with all the RocketMoms. We all received advice and feedback to improve our introductions. Not only did I receive valuable advice for my own, but I learnt from the advice offered to others. It really was a win-win situation.

For this challenge, I wrote about my love of researching my family history - focusing on one of the great family stories I have found and has continued to captivate my interest in my family tree. My story is not an unusual one, particularly for those researching Australian family trees, but it is one of the reasons why I am a Genealogy Addict.

At the beginning of the year, I joined the RocketMoms on Squidoo. This is an amazing group of women who are supporting each other to create quality lenses - offering advice and encouragement on all things to do with Squidoo (and more!)

I joined just in time to start session 12 - an eight week challenge to create a lens a week. Given that one of my goals for 2011 was to create 50 lenses over the year, this seemed like a fun way to try and do it. Each Monday we receive a challenge and are given the week to complete our creation. We are now into week four and I am really enjoying the challenges and the comraderie that RocketMoms has to offer.

If you are interested in finding out more about RocketMom's, visit RocketMom's HQ. It's definitely worth it!

By Squidoo's standards, I probaby still have my land legs, venturing out into the water to test my swimming skills every now and then. Sometimes I sink straight to the bottom after being unsuccessful in transferring an idea in my head to writing on a page. Other times, I just manage to tread water, creating a page which I am happy with, which brings in visitors from a variety of places, but becomes static.

Over the past month or so, I have tried to branch out in terms of the things I am writing about and I am finding this process very rewarding. I will share these with you as time goes on - share my successes and the absolute duds. But I am learning from the duds just as much as I am learning from the better lenses I have created and already thinking of how they can be improved so that they are at least treading water!

 

If you have heard of Squidoo, then you would actually know what I mean when I say that I am a lensmaster, known as GiftsBonanza. If the term squidoo is new to you, it is basically a site which allows people to create individual webpages.

I have been a member at squidoo since November 2009 and until recently, had only made about 9 lenses (or webpages), primarily promoting products from the print on demand company, zazzle. I have started the new year with a renewed interest in squidoo and an urge to explore what I can create there.

This blog is about my journey on squidoo... what I am writing about, what I am learning and the fun I am having along the way. My hope is to share this with you as well, so join me on this journey ~ A Squid's Tale