Hi!  I’m JHF SEO.  I’m a west coast content developer, SE optimizer and more importantly, lensmaster at Squidoo.

Thanks to Loyalis and ZachG for another cool tool for Squidooers.  I normally use Blogger and WordPress, so this will be a good new haunt for sure.

Mimi / growwear is a lensmaster who’s making a name for herself blogging She’s been voting, favoriting and commenting some of my own favorite lenses - featured one on her new blog and interviewed me there as well. I’m quite grateful.

Why are you a squidoo lensmaster?
To build something that is (hopefully) informative or fun for others.

What is your favorite lens?
Of mine, I like Teach Children Character the best.
Of all Squidoo lenses that I have come across, I like Michelangelo’s David the best; it is the one that made me want to be a part of Squidoo. I have not promoted it on my blog because my goal at Squidoo Lens Reviews is to bring attention to those lenses that are good but may not have as much exposure.

What lens of yours is most under appreciated?
The Secret of Life Question

What lens of yours is most popular?
Teach Children Character

What’s one thing you see lensmasters doing that doesn’t work - and why doesn’t it?
Creating lenses that do nothing but offer items for sale. It degrades Squidoo because people won’t come if that’s all there is. Offering content in an informative, entertaining, and engaging way should be first and foremost.

What’s your most important squidoo promotion method?
Building relationships.

Which lensmaster(s) have helped you most? You, Katinka, have been very supportive. I thank you. Also, Susan52. I admire and appreciate you two ladies!

Winter52 has a job that ‘most girls’ dream of, she’s an online shopping diva, plus she inspires us with her mix of lenses! Enjoy this 2nd interview in my growing series of We Are Giants! If you are on the list make sure to watch out for a e-mail from moi’ with some thought provoking questions and your chance to shine here on my blog. Until then read on…make sure to click on the links to visit Winter52 on Squidoo and beyond. Thanks!

Why do you write on Squidoo?
I love having the freedom to write about whatever inspires me at the moment. I never dreamt that I could come up with SO MANY lens topics. I think that I’m at around 112 (some WIP) but I’m not going to do anymore until those are completed… at least I keep telling myself that.

Your lenses have an undertone of family, humor, and caring…who is it that inspires you to write and be creative?

Writing seems to have been passed down through the generations. My grandfather loved to write poetry and his mother wrote about her life in Ontario in the early 1800s. So, family does seem to inspire me.

How does it feel to be a Shopping Diva for b5media?

My husband would probably say that it is a curse because I now have a reason to shop lol… me, I love it.

You are here on Squidoo, where else can we find you on the Internet?

You can find me all over the place. I have a number of blogs of my own, plus I’m on StumbleUpon (note: I could not find Winter52 on SU), Twitter and b5media. Those are the major ones but I’m sure that I’m forgetting some.

Of the seasons, winter, spring, summer, or fall…what is your favorite and why?

It USED to be summer until this particular one hit. Allergies this summer is kind of ruining it for me. We have had tons of rain and things simply won’t stop growing!

Any finishing thoughts about making Giant Squid, being a lensmaster, blogging, family life, etc?

I’m just having the time of my life and the minute that stops, I will find something else to do lol… Life is just too short not to enjoy ever minute of it.

I (clouda9) personally like these three lenses:

Angels

Muffins Even I Can Make

Not In Love With Marmite

Meet lensmaster xtnshun, my 1st interview in announcing the Giant Squids of 07-2008! Make sure to click any of the links to learn more about this really honest fellow!

Why do you write on Squidoo?

Apart from being a little addicted I now Do the Squidoo for interest.  Yes, I can make money and in the long run I hope it will be significant, but I (now) use Squidoo to find out things about people and subjects I don’t know about. I know you’re supposed to write about something you are interested in, and I’ve done that, but I’ve had the most satisfaction from things like learning about Marlee Matlin and how she doesn’t let her deafness stop her, or working out the scoring system on Dancing with the Stars (still working on that one!)

If you had to choose your top three lenses what would they be? How bout 50words or less as to why?

Jokes My Daughter Finds Funny - This really is a list of jokes my 12 year old daughter likes.  She has stopped sending them to me at the moment (it’s now boring) but I’m sure she’ll start again.  I’m actually glad they are relatively innocent!

Dancing with the Stars - This was the first lens I really applied myself to and it really enhanced the enjoyment of watching the show.  I did 12 SquidWho lenses on the contestants and learned things about them that are really interesting.  I had a spotty teenager girl accuse me of being “gay” because a 40-something man wrote a page about Sabrina Bryan.  We became friends though.  I also found it fascinating that I got 1200 hits on one day wanting to know if Helio Castroneves was married!

The Backyardigans - I started this because I got frustrated finding out which episode was on what DVD.  I actually enjoy the show and it grew into a resource for people wanting to find out about the Backyardigans.  I’m particularly proud of the little pen pictures of each of the characters.

It looks like you have great ideas about gift giving. Give us some thoughts about how you got started.

I found Squidoo through an article on how to get backlinks to your website.  I actually found it confusing and simply had a lens with mainly links to my gift site and articles I had written. I now have a full time job (darn it) so haven’t been able to keep up with the gift side, but I plan to return to it, plus it always perks up nicely at Christmas.

You have over 50 lenses on Squidoo and several blogs…how do you keep track of all your projects?

Badly.  I’m not the most organized person.  What I do is monitor the blogs and sites through my iPod Touch - you can’t do lots of writing on it, but you can start lenses pretty easily and tweak tags and title just fine. Some of my blogs have fallen behind because of work, and some were actually experiments (normally failed ones!).

Besides Squidoo, where else can we find you on the web?

I am xtnshun everywhere you go.  If people follow me then I look at their profile and usually follow back.  It’s sometimes quite hard to give those sites the attention they deserve.

Any finishing thoughts about making Giant Squid, being a lensmaster, blogging, family life, etc?

I make a lot of crap lenses.  If I see something interesting, I produce a basic lens with the full intent of returning to it when I have time to make it better.  I am slowly achieving that but don’t be surprised if there is a bare-bones lens near the bottom of my list!  On that subject, I’m actually anti-anti-spam.  I think a lot of spam is actually people who aren’t very good at it, and they need help and encouragement.  However if they are ramming something down our throat, are cheating, then they are fair game to get whacked! Squidoo can be a very frustrating place, but it’s a wonderful tool and the people are really nice as well as being pretty darn good when it comes to building pages. I’m proud to be a Giant Squid and will try to live utp to the standard that has been set by the other Giants.

**Please see We Are Giants for more information**

What a great cast of characters I am amongst for this picking of the Giant Squid! Cannot wait to find my way around to enjoy all the benefits!

Please visit my lenses and leave a message on your favorite…I’d be honored to hear from you. Curious who made it? Click here!

So it is onward and upward we go!

Here I come!

I received an e-mail yesterday from Bonnie (bdkz), the Giant Squid Organizer asking me “What inspires and motivates you to want to be a Giant Squid?” Surprisingly it did not take me that long to write my response, there are times I painstakingly pour over something to write for a lens intro or on here.

Without further ado….~drumroll~…here is my response! Front and center on the So You Want To Be A Giant Squid Blog.

Life of Lewister post: How old do you like your books? Features my newest lens on historical fiction set in Rome.

SquidTop is now setup on MyBlogLog.  If you currently have a blog on Squidtop and would like to be listed as a ‘co-author’ on the Squidtop MyBlogLog Community -

1) Become a member

2) drop a comment here with your squidtop blog as well as your mybloglog name and we’ll add you as a co-author!

Blog post: Oil-eating mushrooms?

Blogpost: I don’t like people

I just joined SquidTop, thanks! Check out my other blog. This seems like more fun!