The Scroll of Originality

Content is king.* You've heard the saying. But what kind of content? Is some content not king (or queen)? Is there a standard for great, high quality, remarkable content? You bet.

We at Squidoo believe that original, handcrafted, written-and-loved-and-tended-by-you content is not only the most enjoyable to write, but also the most useful for readers to discover, and the most likely to get spread to other people.

Even better, let's put a face on the word 'content.' On its own, 'content' is a broad, generic, vague term. What we've found works best for our Squidoo writers is opinion content. First hand reviews. Recommendations. Storytelling. Experience sharing. As we said 5 years ago when we started the company, Squidoo is an opportunity for you to share your point of view, your take on a specific topic. That's why lenses are called lenses -- they snap your point of view in to focus.

This is a handshake, a thank you, and a reminder to keep writing original lenses. Lenses that no one else could have written better or more uniquely than we know you can. It also comes with extra tips, to save you from spending time and energy on a low-quality, non-original lens that winds up getting removed.

The best rules of thumb for creating original content are:

1. Write about topics that interest you. When you're interested and have an opinion, it's easier to make a great lens.
2. Push yourself to create. Creation means building something from scratch. And it's extraordinarily rewarding when you do.
3. When you quote from or cite other sources on the web, link to them. Only quote small excerpts. Even ask in advance if you're not sure. And better yet -- follow it with your own unique perspective on that information.
4. Do the same for product recommendations. Even if you don't have first person experience with the product, you surely have an opinion about whether you wish you did, and what you might do if the item landed in your lap!
5. Achieve balance. If you handcurate and quote other sources, be sure to add plenty of your own original content to the lens at the same time.
6. "Duplicating content" isn't a great practice, and if there's too much duplicated content, that means it's not unique to your lens, right? It could get removed. If it's plagiarized (meaning, you use too much of someone else's content, or you don't cite even the smallest amount), your lens will get removed for sure.
7. Try original, with a twist: Be the editor in chief of a conversation on your lens. Even if you don't write it all yourself, moderating and adding context to other people's comments creates unique collaborative meaning.

This is an agreement to create, craft, build, bake, innovate, write, opine, talk, storytell, review, recommend, and stand out from the crowd. That's the magic of Squidoo. Thank you for being here.

By continuing to maintain and publish lenses on Squidoo, you are pledging to craft original, unique lenses. We at Squidoo are pledging to you in return that we will continue to support quality work and will help remove low-quality, aggressively non-original lenses.