I know this sounds too much to some people, but I’m serious. What people write in your guestbook, how your plexo’s look and stuff like that makes a BIG difference to the feel of a lens. And the feel of your lens can make the difference between a sale & no sale.
I have a lens on How to get rid of red cheeks. It’s not a big money spinner, but since I’ve been applying sales tips, it has been getting sales each month (which is more than any of my other lenses) – until that is, some friendly lensmaster commented that red cheeks didn’t look at all attractive. I’m sure he was being friendly – just wanted to help me along – but since then no more sales. On the very day I deleted that comment (and a few others that just weren’t on topic) I made the next sale.
Why was that comment no good? Because really red cheeks aren’t that big a deal. Some people think they look healthy. The issue isn’t with red cheeks, it’s with TOO much redness on the face. Another issue is with redness being blotchy (as it is with me, though less than it used to be).
It took me a while to realize that that comment was not only rubbing me the wrong way (I was like: hey, I was never UGLY – I just look better NOW) but my potential customers as well…
SO edit those comments people- those that don’t fit your message, get rid of them.
And while I’m at it: the same goes for plexos people. I’ve been seeing plexos recently that no one would want to copy to their own lenses. Check whether the links in your plexo actually go where they are supposed to. Some people will enter a link without the http:// part and that link will NOT go anywhere. Check whether they put in a title to the link. Why have ‘http://www.somethingorother.com/somethingelse’ on your lens? Doesn’t look good at all.
Worse: some people leave in links that aren’t related to the topic of their lens. Or links that are low quality.
Just because it’s user contributed, doesn’t mean you should not edit it. It’s your lens and a badly managed link plexo reflects on YOU, not on your (anonymous) user.
The same goes for comment plexos. Sometimes people will put in a link (thinking it’s a link plexo). Delete that entry.
And one more thing: sometimes squidoo software is a bit slow – and thinking their link didn’t go through, people will put it in twice. I’ve done it myself. Be the editor – delete that second link, please.
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Good tips! I will delete in a heartbeat any comment that does not fit in with my intended audience — the audience who will come by…eventually…next month, maybe…well, some time in the future…hopefully.
Will take your advice and double-check the user-added links. Amazed at the number of well-known lensmasters hauling around those double- and sometimes triple-entry posts and blurbs.
Yes, agreed. I’m not as diligent as I should be about this but I agree it’s worth the effort. I had a lens that the acne remedy folks attacked and I swear my key word density on the lens (which was probably about cell phones, text messaging, or something) was highest for “acne”.
Of course I also get commentary that isn’t too positive toward the topic on occasion… like “I don’t want a cell phone with music, why can’t a phone just be a phone?” on a Music Phone lens I did. So, what? Some people want a phone with music, some don’t. Personally, I keep any negative feelings about a product or topic to myself when visiting. These are pretty mundane things so I have no “fire” to comment. I have no need for baby blankets, party favors, dog medicine or many other things but why would I leave a negative comment for other visitors (who might be interested in such things) to see? I think that’s a violation of Squid Ettiquette
The thing is: sometimes a comment is perfectly reasonable from a human point of view – but it just doesn’t work. It’s not so much spam, not even bad squidetiquette, just not what your audience needs to read.
Especially on those very precise one product lenses (which are the ones that usually do best in the sales department) you don’t want any distractions. You just want them to see the product, read the review and buy it if it suits them. In fact this issue might be a reason to not have a guestbook at all – but I’ve not gone that far just yet.
As far as multiple submissions go: sometimes squidoo just looses a submission – and if you can’t see it, how do you know it’s going to show up in an hour or two? Usually they do, but you never know. So I’ve done my share of double and triple submissions – and if I find out in time I always give the editor permission to delete the extras. But they really don’t need my permission: they should do so even if I insisted that I have a right to three links to the same page…
Great post, Katinka.
I had a comment on my Treasures By Brenda lens that slammed eBay — I dithered for weeks on whether to accept it or not. I know a lot of people have issues with eBay but I thought that the comment was out-of-place. It talked about a problem transaction without any details and, of course, it was anonymous. Eventually I deleted it. The purpose of my lens is to talk about and therefore promote my eBay business, not to debate the merits of eBay. Sometimes debate is appropriate; I decided it was not on this lens at least about this subject.
Brenda
As usual Katinka, you make a lot of sense. We need to be confident that actually WE own the lens and it is up to us what appears on it. I am off to delete a couple of comments…..
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