Squidoo Tip #53: Balance Your Modules
Sometimes I’ll see lenses that are a bit “lopsided.” The content isn’t balanced as well as it could be. First you see rows of text modules, then a bunch of interactive modules, then a bunch of Amazon and eBay modules.
It’s actually better to mix it all up. Breaking up your text modules with a poll, an Amazon spotlight, or a picture can liven up your lens. It’s like commercials in a TV show.
Suppose TV shows never showed any commercials except at the end of the show. Well, that would be great, except people would have no reason to watch the commercials. Once the show is over, you can just change the channel without watching a single one.
However, if you start off your lens with too many lightweight modules (polls, black boxes, sticky notes, spotlights, etc.), people may get impatient before they reach the meat of your lens. Unless you’re making a pure shopping lens, I’d suggest starting off with no more than one or maybe two non-content modules.
6 Comments »
linda said :
July 17, 2008 at 5:12 am
Good point - I have a lens in mind to ‘balance’ this way.
kanga said :
July 17, 2008 at 6:33 am
That’s a very good point. So far I’ve done a fair bit of rearranging to try and balance my modules out… Sometimes when I come back to a lens after it’s been published for a while things will suddenly jump out at me. I guess a little ‘break’ from the lens helps me to see things through the eyes of someone else who is seeing it for the first time
spirituality said :
July 17, 2008 at 8:13 am
Very true. One thing about mixing it up is that it also looks better. The easiest way to get pictures in a lens is to mix it up with amazon or ebay modules
mosaic said :
July 17, 2008 at 11:48 am
Totally agree with spirituality. Plus, mixing it up gives you some white space between text modules, letting your reader’s eyes rest.
treasuresbybrenda said :
July 18, 2008 at 3:52 pm
I’ve been thinking that people want the information first and then the ’shopping’ or lighter items. I do spend a lot of time thinking about whether a lens looks good — is balanced, attractive, etc. I guess I felt that eBay and Amazon clutter things up a bit. I’ll have to have an other look at my lenses with your thoughs in mind. Do you have an opinion in this regard on my lens, L.M. Montgomery Creator of Anne of Green Gables? It features a ton of interesting information and then a ton of options for sourcing related items. (I do find the list of Montgomery’s books long and wonder if I should remove it.) I would welcome your thoughts.
Brenda
victorianeely said :
July 18, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Truth be known, I’m biased against the standard eBay and Amazon modules because of just how cluttered they look. That’s why I favor the Amazon Spotlight.
But interspersing the others throughout the lens can help relieve the “cluttered” look.
One way I like to use commercial modules is to build on something I’ve already written. Some examples of that are in my Prevent Lost Luggage lens… there’s a text module about how to travel with toiletries. It’s immediately followed up with an Amazon module for non-liquid toiletries. It seems fitting to put it there instead of dropping it way down at the bottom of my lens, because it’s in context there and is more likely to pique someone’s interest.
In the Anne of Green Gables example… the nice thing is that you usually have reviews for the products, so in a way the content keeps going. However, it would also be fitting to add an Amazon spotlight for a book about Lucy Maud Montgomery immediately after the brief biography. If anything, it would be convenient for anyone who gets really curious about Montgomery and wants to learn even more. That’s just an example. The lens is good as it is.
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