I don’t know about you, but my eye is immediately drawn to kab’s avatar (3 boxes down, 4 boxes right). Her avatar uses bright primary colors and large, distinct shapes.

Here’s another example:

In this cluster, my attention immediately goes to enslavedbyfaeries‘ avatar: A red mushroom. Again, a vivid primary color and a simple shape that’s instantly recognizable. After that, I notice the wine glass and the planet.

If you want your avatar to stand out in the fan club pages, I’d suggest going with something bright, simple, and easy to identify on a small scale.

This is a case where I won’t be following my own advice, though. Because 1) I’ve already changed my avatar once, 2) I like it for sentimental reasons, 3) I don’t need to confuse people even more, and 4) there are other ways to stand out from the crowd.

What makes Silly Symphonies special is that the series was a training ground for Disney’s animators. This was where they developed their animation and storytelling skills. It was in Silly Symphony cartoons that Disney experimented with groundbreaking technology at the time, such as Technicolor and the multiplane camera. Disney was all about innovation. If Walt Disney were still living, I believe he would have been one of the first to embrace CG animation. (Ditching 2D animation altogether, though, I’m not so sure about…)

Silly Symphony lenses so far:

The Skeleton Dance - The very first Silly Symphony cartoon.

Flowers and Trees - The first ever Technicolor animated film.

The Wise Little Hen - Donald Duck’s debut.

The Pied Piper - A charming rendition of a popular tale.

The Old Mill - Disney’s first use of the multiplane camera for achieving depth and realism. The Snow White film was just over the horizon.

When anything weird like that happens, it’s best to send in a bug report.

Sounds obvious, right? Except some lensmasters hesitate or don’t do it at all. We’ll cluster around SquidU, checking to see if anyone is having the same problem and find out if somebody sent a bug report. Some lensmasters are also afraid of pestering the Squidoo team and making their lives harder.

However, we’re encouraged to send specific and detailed bug reports, EVEN if someone else already has. It helps the Squidoo team figure out whether they’re dealing with an isolated case or a site-wide problem. The more people that report a certain problem, the higher its priority.

Because Squidoo is run by a very small team, you don’t always get a response. But in the end, it helps them help us.

What happens then? In my case, you end up looking at this big neglected pile of projects, and you don’t even want to LOOK at it anymore. You push it aside, take walks, learn a new job, read books… then you get yourself a computer virus, which is always embarrassing. Fortunately I had backups of most of the things I cared about.

I think I’m ready to try again, though. And despite the neglect, some of my projects have continued to work behind the scenes. I got my highest payment from Squidoo, I’ll finally get a check from Google AdSense, and I’m still getting occasional Clickbank commissions. People have even sent very nice comments about how my lenses and blogs have helped or inspired them, which I really appreciate.

I feel like I’ve cleared my head some and am ready to start digging in again. Just need to decide on priorities, come up with a more decisive plan of action, and avoid too many distractions along the way.

Normally, an Amazon module shows you a list of products. They’re stacked, and it always looks rather cluttered to me. However, switching to the thumbnail view changes it so that the products are listed horizontally as small thumbnail images. I find it looks more attractive.

The only downside with the thumbnail view is that it only lists the images and the titles. There’s no room for the prices, availability, or any of those other details. However, if you’re willing to sacrifice those features, it looks pretty good.

While you probably won’t get a lot of Google traffic with “Squidoo about Squidoo” lenses, you have a built-in audience right within Squidoo. Most lensmasters who care about making better lenses are going to have at least a spark of interest in a lens that will help them achieve these goals.

The best way to promote “Squidoo about Squidoo” lenses is to join the SquidU forum, link to them from your signature, and participate in discussions. Or, hey, if you’re lucky, it might end up on the Squidoo Answer Deck!

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.

Each has its advantages. I personally decided to use my real name because I’m trying to use Squidoo as a tool to build my online reputation. It’s part of a long-term strategy. Many people decide against that route because their real name is boring, or because they want to remain anonymous.

Most Squidoo lensmasters create nicknames for themselves. That’s cool, too. A cute or funny nickname is often more memorable than a mundane real-life name.

And then some lensmasters use a business name as their identity. While that makes sense if you’re mostly going to use Squidoo to promote your business, it’s easy to get addicted and start creating lenses on unrelated topics… which could start confusing people. If your Squidoo name is “BigBadMonsterTrucks” and you have some lenses that promote flower gardening or pink lingerie, well, it doesn’t quite work. (However, you can always create alternative accounts for other types of lenses.)

None of these choices are wrong. It all depends on what you want to get out of Squidoo.

So, how’d you decide on your Squidoo lensmaster name? Are you still happy with it?

This isn’t to say looking at what others have already done is a bad idea. But I wouldn’t do it with the mindset of, “I won’t make a lens about this if someone else already has.” Instead, it’s better to think in terms of, “Is there something new or unique I can bring to this topic?”

Imagine a world where no one tried to compete with each other. Apparently there’s enough room for PCs, Macs, and Linux boxes. There’s also room for McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s. As if that weren’t enough, there’s a dizzying array of toothbrushes to choose from at the grocery store.

Don’t worry about coming up with a 100% original idea. Just concentrate on topics you love to write about.

There are a lot of articles and websites that just say stuff without citing their sources or giving concrete examples. Doing the opposite will make you look like that much more of an authority. That’s part of why Wikipedia does so well. You’ll usually find at least a handful of supporting links at the bottom of each Wikipedia entry.