Kids these days are searching the net with abandon for hot topics and fun toys & games that appeal to their hungry minds. Advertisers everywhere understand that children have powerful sway in their parent's buying decisions. As lensmasters, we can serve kids well by creating educational and fun resources while still marketing to their interests. I've had marvelous success developing several kid friendly lenses. You'll find that creating lenses that appeal to kids is easy with some handy tips I've learned in the process:
1. Remember that parents are reading too. This is the reason I typically don't strictly write to either children or adults as my audience. While I use a great deal of slang and hip phrases, I try never to be disrespectful or condescending.
2. Find online game and educational reference links. Kids are Clicking Crazy! Adding external links always adds depth to your lens. When focusing on toys, I also try to add educational links for those seeking more information. Wiki is always one of my first resources. Online game links are also always one of my top clickouts – any clickouts from your lens adds to your lensrank. I go and play these online games too, to be sure I'm not sending my readers to someplace stupid or goofy.
3. Keep your language simple. When writing to an adult audience, it's easy for me to start speaking with academic terminology. When developing a kid friendly lens, I have to remind myself to write “then” rather than 'consequently', or “didn't mean to” instead of 'inadvertently'.
4. Locate hot topics and be there first. My best Squidoo successes have been with Bee Movie Toys and UB Funkeys. In both instances, I was very 'early' in finding these topics and was one of the first to publish material for them on the net. How did I find them? I watch the Nick Network, Disney Channel, visit kid's blog sites, and read “Google Trends” regularly.
5. Be rich with content. This is an important lens tip for any Squidoo-er. Google and Yahoo often favor Squidoo lenses because of our original, relevant, and deep content. Why not write a simple article about your review of that movie or toy or how they enhance a child's sense of wonder. Consider including extra images too – kids are more visually oriented than adults.
6. Think like a kid. I readily admit that I love monster toys. They're all over my house. If you open the butter compartment on my fridge, you'll find two plastic lizards. My car is named Godzilla. If you love finger painting, why not fess up and make the best finger painting lens out there? That's what's so great about Squidoo.com – we're always free to express the passions of our inner child, and when we do, we find that there are thousands of people just like us.
With this set of secrets, you're almost certain to have throngs of wild kiddies flocking to your new kid friendly lenses in droves. I'm all set for the competition with you too - wanna race to the next coolest trend in toys? I'm up for it. :)
"Expert Article" author rockycha is a member is a Giant Squid who has been with Squidoo since October of 2007, be sure to check out all of her fabulous lenses!.
