Top 10 Lists About Bento

If you haven't joined the Kawaii Bento Club yet why not start by making a Top 10 List About Bento!

RocketMoms leader, Bonnie, just reminded me how easy it is to make a Squidoo lens by starting with a list, so I challenge everyone to give it a try this week. Make a page about your top 10 most used bento recipes, your top 10 favorite bento gadgets or 10 shapes you can make with hot dogs. Of course, these are just examples, the possibilities are endless. It can be a shopping page or an information page. Review products, include links to your favorite recipes and blog posts, -make it personal!

To learn more about the Kawaii Bento Club and our members, visit our information page where you'll find out how to be included in our directory, gain exposure for your blog or store and earn money for writing about bento!

Yikes, Is Your Squid Showing?

I know that getting a page published on Squidoo is new to most of our members, so I will be sharing some tips to help you improve your rankings and earn more money from your bento themed lenses.

One of the most important things that you should after you publish your very first page for The Kawaii Bento Club is to edit your profile or you will be stuck with the default squid couple avatar that doesn't say much about your love for bento. 

Every member of Squidoo has their own profile page where other lensmasters can join their fanclub, see a list of all their lenses and learn where to connect in other social networks outside of Squidoo. This is your calling card. Think of it as an opportunity to show-off your personality and build your online identity. It only takes a few minutes to upload a photo and write something nice about yourself. You can even add links to your blog, Facebook and Twitter accounts too!

You can personalize your profile page by logging into Squidoo where you will find "My Profile" tab on your dashboard. After you edit your bio, the changes will appear in the upper right corner of each of lenses and people will start to recognize you as an author, join your fanclub and rank your lenses which will help you earn more money for the time you've invested in your club pages!

See your own profile @ squidoo.com/lensmasters/yourusernamehere or join here.

How A Squidoo Lens Is Different Than A Blog Post

If you are new to Squidoo and The Kawaii Bento Club, the idea of lenses may seem a bit odd at first. They are not blogs, they are not complete websites, so what are they and how do you use them?

Squidoo lenses are whatever you make them. A lens is like a flyer that can be viewed online by anyone, anywhere. It can and should be edited and updated ocassionally with fresh, relevant content. It is not a blog, but you can write about whatever you like, within reason, and you can use it to gain exposure for your blog as long as you are not making duplicate posts and are creating original content. It is not a store, but you can use it to review products and earn royalties for the items you sell. It is not a forum, although you will probably meet a lot of friendly people that you will soon consider friends.

Squidoo was founded on the idea the everybody is an expert at something. What are you good at? What do you have to offer? What can you teach? Do you have a secret recipe that everyone is always asking you to share? Do you have a favorite bento making tool that everybody asks about? Do you know how to photograph food and make it look like a magazine cover? These are the kinds of things that make great lenses because they are written by people who are passionate about their topic.

Lenses are pages that are built with a super simple publishing platform and can be easily filled with your stories, articles, recipes, tutorials, product reviews, photos, etc. As long as you follow Squidoo's TOS, you are free to write about anything that inspires you at any given moment.

The content is owned by you. Make as many or as few lenses as you want, all for free.

What will you make a lens about? If your answer is bento, start here!