Recipe for Writing Scrumptious Food Lenses by rms

I've made my mark at Squidoo.com mostly through the popularity of my food related lenses so I thought I'd share my "secret recipe" for writing stand-out food lenses with all of you.

In my opinion a great recipe lens needs to contain more than just a great recipe.  I mean, you can find great recipes all over the web, right?  Squidoo recipe lenses are special because of all the extra ingredients we add to them.   The following are my favorite "ingredients" (modules) that I use when making my food lenses.

Ingredients --

Pictures:

Everyone loves to see what you are describing so be sure to add lots of great food photos to your lens.  Videos work equally as well if you can find one that matches your topic.

Links:

Take the time to find additional links on the web that point to similar recipes, or variations of your own recipe.  Everyone loves to be offered choices.  You'll see a good example of this at my Bunches of Birthday Cupcakes Lens. Bunches of Birthday Cupcakes is one of my most visited lenses and so far, no one has complained that this "recipe" lens doesn't even contain an actual recipe!

Text/Write:

Think of this as the meat in your recipe lens - the most important ingredient that you add.  You might tell your readers why your recipe is the best, where you got the idea for your recipe, or the best ways to serve your recipe.  In other words, share a story about your recipe.  This is what is going to make your recipe lens ultra special and hopefully memorable enough to keep your readers coming back.

Amazon Spotlight:

Use as many of these as necessary to showcase the products you use while making your recipe.  Cookbooks are good, but specific product recommendations are better.  Tell your readers exactly why you've chosen that particular product.  You can see an example of how this works at my Best Panini Sandwich Recipes Lens.

Guestbook:

Encourage your readers to ask questions, share their own recipes, or recipe related stories, in a guestbook or Duel module on your lens.

Polls and Plexos:

Make your recipe lens interactive and fun by adding polls and plexos that contain questions about your recipe topic.  At The Absolute Best Home Made Pizza Recipes, I ask people to vote for their favorite pizza topping and also what they think is the weirdest pizza topping combination.

Easy to Follow Directions:

Use as many of the above listed "ingredients" (modules) as possible.

Combine them with some of the other great module choices you find.

Add them to your recipe lens.  (Be sure to personalize each one)

Mix well to make your own unique recipe lens.

Serve hot!

For additional food writing help you might want to visit Food-Writing.com. For writers who love food and food lovers who write.  Stop by and sign up for their free ezine.  You'll find the link near the bottom of the page.  Although this site isn't specifically designed for writing Squidoo lenses you may find it very useful. I know, I do!

"Expert Article" author rms is a member of the Giant Squid Organizer Team and runs The Giant Squid Community Showcase.