Greekgeek's Squidoo Lensblography

A Behind-The-Scenes Look at My Squidoo Lenses

Care and Feeding of Apostrophes

January7

My twelfth lens, The Care and Feeding of Apostrophes, is one of my favorites. I published it 6-6-07.

What This Lens is About

A funny (I hope) guide on how to use apostrophes correctly.

Excerpt

If you’re talking about joint ownership, put the ‘s after the last owner:

Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure

But if you’re talking about separate ownership, then each owner gets his own ‘s:

Bill’s and Ted’s underwear (They’re not wearing the same pair of underwear.)

Why I Made This Lens

I have a bizarre and abiding affection for apostrophes, and I hate to see them abused and misused.

Things I Learned Making This Lens

It’s really hard to make grammar lenses funny. Brevity is key.
A printable cheat sheet / summary is very useful for many kinds of lenses. Clickouts boost lensrank!

Things I DIDN’T Learn Making This Lens

The lens is a little too long. I probably should’ve put the quiz nearer to the beginning.

Lens Stats and Milestones

As of today: Lensrank #8,644, 15 ratings, 12 favorites, 5032 lifetime visitors.

Best lensrank achieved: #302. Lifetime earnings: $65.36.

Link:

The Care and Feeding of Apostrophes

Russell Martin of the LA Dodgers

January5

My eleventh lens, Russell Martin of the LA Dodgers, was created June 6, 2007. It’s a TERRIBLE MESS! Update 1/6 — not any more; I’ve cleaned it up and split it into 2 lenses!

What This Lens is About

My favorite baseball player. Gah. Why did I get hooked on baseball? Oh yeah. Vin Scully, best radio announcer ever. Blast him.

Excerpt

May 5th, 2006. 23-year-old Russell Martin was called up from AAA Las Vegas for his major league debut to replace the LA Dodgers’ catcher, Dioner Navarro, put on the DL by a wrist injury.

June 21st, 2006. 33-year-old All-Star veteran pitcher Derek Lowe was getting frustrated after too many good outings without run support. Martin jogged out to the mound to check in.
“Relax, bro,” said the kid.
Lowe glared.
“I’m not leaving until you’ve calmed down,” Martin insisted.

Why I Made This Lens

Russell Martin was leading NL catchers in nearly every offensive and defensive category, but because it was his first full year in the major leagues, no one outside of Los Angeles was voting him in for the All-Star Game — they’d never heard of the kid! So I wanted to get the word out about him.

It helped! I got a ton of hits, the voting turned around in the last few weeks, and he went to the ASG!

Things I Learned Making This Lens

Pick a rookie player the INSTANT he starts looking like a good athlete. It is fairly easy to get a webpage on page 1 of Google for a rookie, before the media and fans have really “discovered” him. Of course, he may fizzle and burn, but you’ll own the Google ranking!

Fans are always looking for t-shirts and jerseys. Include an Amazon module selling them.

Note and be quick to add trivia the instant it comes out: name of new girlfriend, what the guy’s walk-up song is, why he changed the name on his shirt…etc.

Fans are also looking for photos, video highlight reels.

Don’t waste keyword space with a catchy title like “The Five-Tool Catcher of Cinquo De Mayo”. Use the guy’s name + his team name. That’s what people usually search for.

Things I DIDN’T Learn Making This Lens

Don’t make a fan page following someone’s career chronologically. After a few years, you have a HUGE amount of material, too much to plow through. I am still trying to trim and reorganize this lens.

Lens Stats and Milestones

As of today: Lensrank #15,769, 15 ratings, 6 favorites, 8838 lifetime visitors.

Best lensrank achieved: #202. Lifetime earnings: $99.33.

Related Lenses:

Russell Martin’s 2007 All-Star Season :: Vin Scully

Link:

Russell Martin of the LA Dodgers

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