Carol (AKA Grandma Carol) sent me a group of lenses to pick from for a featured lens.
They are all on cooking and I know Joan will love to take a look and lend you a hand!
I noticed that they all have 2 main calls to action and that is to go to your blog and to sell your $7 ebook. There are 2 ways I would change the way you are obtaining those objectives.
1. Pick one lense and drive traffic to that from all the other lenses, but do it in the into module or just after it. Then in the master lens drive traffic to either your blog or the ebook… I suspect you want people to buy the book rather than go to the blog as you have no real money making stuff on the blog… not even adsense.
2. In each lens make the intro module a traffic funnel to the blog or salepages… again I think the ebook is your main object.
I will pick the following lens as the main lens and use that as the master lens.
Learn Cooking Basics From Grandma Carol
I learned cooking basics from my grandmothers and have been cooking for more than 50 years. I am anxious to pass on my passion and knowledge of food.
The only way to get good at cooking is to do it.
1. Acquire proper tools.
2. Find a basic recipe of something that you really like.
3. Buy all the ingredients.
4. Read the recipe until you know exactly what to do.
5. Go for it.
So the last thing in this would be a link to the sales page or even a picture of the ebook that links to the page. I would probably get ride of the ‘contents at a glance’ and put a ‘my fav link’ module.
A little bit about me
My grandparents lived with us until I was about 10 years old. I loved to stand by and watch my grandmother put in a pinch of this and that. It also fascinated me to watch her mix biscuits with her hands and then scrape the dough off her fingers with the back of a knife.
When I was a junior in high school my mother had to be gone for six weeks. I had to learn to put a meal on the table and do it fast. From that point until today, I never looked back. I have cooked for over 50 years for family, friends, church groups and so forth.
After this module it may be good to have a twitter module and let people talk about their own experience.
Acquire the Proper Tools
Quality Before Quantity
Proper utensils will make your job easier. Quality over quantity should be your motto. You probably won’t be able to purchase every piece that you want at the beginning. By graduallly adding to your collection of cookware, you will be able to build a set that will last you for a very long time.
Pick a brand that is sold as “open stock”. “Open stock” means that the cookware is available for purchase by the piece. You won’t have to buy a complete set at the same time but can build it a piece at a time.
“Grandma Carol lets you into her kitchen as she starts from the very simple — what to buy for your kitchen.” Visit my blog to learn more about the beginner’s kitchen.
If you had not put a voting module then that is what I would have suggested… so a thumbs up from me…lol
Choose a Recipe
What are you going to cook on your first adventure in the kitchen? My suggestion is to start with a simple recipe for something that you really like.
Strive for something that has as few ingredients as possible. You should be aiming for success here and perfecting something that can be added to in the future.
Possibilities include:
1. Toast
2. Eggs
3. Pasta
4. HamburgerAll of these have a huge amount of possibilities for variations. Check out my book, “So You Have Never Cooked Before” for step-by-step instructions.
Instead of the link I would have used another fancy text box module. Maybe even used a few yellow sticky postit notes, one for each recipe. Like you I would end with a comment module and then add a final call to action.
If anyone would like to add there own view on this lens then please go ahead and if you want to have your lens featured do so below.
I also added this email update thingy as per a request from Joan….. Not sure if it will work, but I am sure people will let me know
Love it! Great niche idea, Carol.
I think plural of lens is lenses. check module title for your featured lenses.
rather than “check out my blog”, use the RSS module and pop your blog in there. without saying “check out my blog” - just give blog title and something welcoming.
“check out” always sounds pushy to me.
pictures are great! esp the one of the small child! made me smile.
not “give me a chance” - sounds begging. you are providing a service. you are the one doing the giving.
use “Grandma Carol Can Help” or something like that. in fact, I might even remove that whole title, since the module before that has similar title. Try and see how that looks. no title on your book module–let it flow into that Learn Cooking Basics one.
Module title - featured lenses -
Easy Recipes for You or better yet, Cooking Lessons from Grandma Carol
Do you have more than one blog? again, just use RSS. and remove other mentions.
It’s really a super lens. I am lensrolling to my
http://www.squidoo.com/scramble-eggs
it’s an old one that still gets consistent traffic 20 or so visits a week. yours should do much better than that! I featured your Cooking Basics on that one.
hope this helps!
lol lol now I see a million things to change on that scrambled eggs lens, but no time for that today! lol will add to my list of things to do later!
Carol, do add your photo to your profile/bio. Orange guys are a turn-off anywhere on Squidoo.
go to your dashboard and click on profile tab and fill in all the information. great place to put your blog, too. Write a short paragraph about you. right now it says “this is my bio. i can finish it later”.
am I allowed to say something too?
Nice to see your photo on the bio
My suggestions:
I think you should add one of your recipes in the intro and then something like: want more recipes like this? then go to YOURLINK. And then have 2-3 free recipes to give away for an email address.
Now English is not my Native tongue but the headline “Took a Look at my other lens” Shouldn’t it be Take a look at my other lenses ? I would change that headline to something link: More great Basic Cooking Lenses.
The yellow sticker: 3 ways to make toast, if you have enought characters add the link to your cookery book.
In stead of 2 yellow sticker you might choose a speech bubble or something else - for the variety.
I have rated your lens and lensrolled to my http://www.squidoo.com/casserole-recipes - it is getting a good amount of visitors, you might get some of it
Best
Susanne
Nice cooking Grandma Carol!
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My grandparents lived with us until I was about 10 years old. I loved to stand by and watch my grandmother put in a pinch of this and that. It also fascinated me to watch her mix biscuits with her hands and then scrape the dough off her fingers with the back of a knife.
Proper utensils will make your job easier. Quality over quantity should be your motto. You probably won’t be able to purchase every piece that you want at the beginning. By graduallly adding to your collection of cookware, you will be able to build a set that will last you for a very long time.
What are you going to cook on your first adventure in the kitchen? My suggestion is to start with a simple recipe for something that you really like.
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