Oniyagi is into blues music, gaming, filmmaking, Guiness and has a thing for goatees. His own of course.
We signed up within 8 days of each other, in the month of June 2006, so that must make us Squid siblings or something. Here’s an interview that I had with Oni over a year ago…
Glen: How did you discover squidoo?
Oniyagi: My (ex)wife and I were part of Robert Allen’s Enlightened Wealth Institute. During one of our internet marketing classes, our instructor mentioned squidoo and Seth Godin. I went out and bought a few of Seth’s books, then checked out squidoo.
Glen: What is the process you choose to decide on a keyphrase(s) for a lens?
Oniyagi: To be honest, I try to keep all key words and phrases relevant to the topic of the lens. For some of my lenses, I use the keyphrase as more of a headline. I tend to change the intro to some of my lenses quite a lot, so using the keyphrase as a headline is important to me.
Glen: Is there an ideal number of modules you like to include and why?
Oniyagi: Not really an ideal number, but I do like to offer as much content as I can. I also like to put an affiliate module after every one or two content modules.
Glen: What success secret can you divulge (that is not currently being discussed in the forums)?
Oniyagi: I am such a bad lensmaster… I’ve not even been to the forum in months. My biggest suggestion is to add an affiliate module (amazon, eBay) after every one or two content modules (heard that somewhere before right…) the secret to that is make sure the affiliate product you choose are relevant not only to the entire lens, but to either the modules before or after it.
Glen: What are you doing to generate traffic to your lenses?
Oniyagi: I have links to my lenses up everywhere! I keep my “Who am I” lens link in my email signature, I use it as a blogger profile on my blogs, and I have it on my business cards. I have lens specific links in my signatures on different forums. I have links on myspace, facebook, and just about every other site I go to.
Glen: How often are you updating your lenses?
Oniyagi: I try to do lens maintenance twice a week. There are a few lenses that I’ve not updated in a long time, but finding “new” information on Kolchak the Nightstalker is kind of a moot point.
Glen: Do you have a favorite html trick?
Oniyagi: Yes, the one where the html saws Kimberly Dawn Wells in half… Oops, wrong trick. My favorite html trick is the big letter capitalization. <b style=”FONT-SIZE: 100px; FLOAT: left; COLOR: silver; LINE-HEIGHT: 70px; PADDING-TOP: 2px; FONT-FAMILY: times”>put your capital letter right here</b>
Glen: Do you have any tricks for encouraging your lenses viewers participation through any of the interaction modules?
Oniyagi: Other than just “talking up” participation, nope.
Glen: Do you start with an idea and then figure out how to monetize it, or start with a product and then figure out how to promote it?
Oniyagi: I start with a few hundred ideas… then weed those down after I research them a LOT. Then, I hit amazon and eBay and see what kind of products I can find to back all of that up with. Then I head out for pictures (remember to ask permission and include credits folks). Finally, it is time to throw in the elbow grease and get to lens building.
Glen: Do you focus on a specific, narrowly-defined keyword or phrase, or do you get traffic from a variety of different phrases and keywords?”
Oniyagi: All of my keyword are VERY specific. This might be my downfall, but when I search for something and then have to wade through useless crap that might just include the keyword I was searching for in passing, I get angry. So, I don’t do that to other people. I want them to search for a keyword, hit my lens, and be blown away that there is either useful information, or that I have pointed them to the best possible source for what they are looking for.
Glen: What non-Squidoo book or other resource have you found that helps you with your lenses? (SEO resource, marketing book, Seth Godin post, whatever.)”
Oniyagi: Ah, here is my chance to kiss up to the big guy… New or prospective lensmasters, I am talking to you here. Read Seth’s books. If you don’t want to buy them, then get them from the library. The most important thing is to READ them. That little bald guy is AMAZING.
Glen: What common mistake do you see even experienced lensmasters make (that you think you have a solution to)?
Oniyagi: I don’t know, but please let me know what you find out so I can quit making the mistake myself.
Glen: What mistakes have you corrected as you’ve built up your Squidoo expertise?
Oniyagi: The biggest mistake I have corrected is my use of images. I cannot stress this enough. If you use an image, get permission. It is as simple as buying it from a graphics site, or emailing the owner. There are even free graphics sites out there for you to use, just make sure to give credit where credit is due. This is a great pearl of wisdom that I am about to give you, so listen up. If you give credit (after you have permission) to the artist or creator of an image in the form of a link, he/she will most likely put a link up to your lens too. Then BAM! You got yourself a reciprocal link and you just made a friend.
Glen: What are your three favorite things about Squidoo?
Oniyagi: Kimberly Dawn Wells, Megan Casey, and Angela Harms… Wait, that isn’t what you were talking about at all is it? All kidding aside, my three favorite thing are the ease of creation, the ability to create based on my passions, and the great friends I have made when I was a Citizen Squid.
Glen: Do you have a schedule or management tip for managing multiple lenses?
Oniyagi: Make a project board and a To-do list, then follow it. This is something that I have got to work on myself.
Glen: How do you choose when to make several lenses on different angles of the same topic, or when to just make one very long lens?
Oniyagi: If the lens is starting to get really long, I break it up into multiple lenses. Take my Supernatural lenses, I have one for each season of the show, and one for each actor as well.
Glen: At what point did you realize how much you loved Squidoo?
Oniyagi: Right after I created my first lens.
Glen: What is it about squidoo – be it a person, feature, reason – that has caused you to stick around?
Oniyagi: I stick around because squidoo lets me be open in my creativity and allows me to pursue my passions.
Glen: What is your own favorite lens and why?
Oniyagi: Oh, my favorite lens isn’t even my most popular. http://www.squidoo.com/Kolchak is my favorite, just because my Dad and me together for some quality time.
Glen: If you were given a day in the squidoo hq office what would you do?
Oniyagi: Move in for good…
Glen: Where do you write the content for your lenses?
Oniyagi: Anywhere I can, and not always on a computer either. I have legal pads filled with lenses and lens ideas.
Glen: What’s your favorite module and why?
Oniyagi: The RSS module, it makes life so much easier when you have content that updates automatically.
Glen: What’s your favorite television show/s of all time? Have you made a lens on it?
Oniyagi: My two most favorite shows of all time are Kolchak: The Night Stalker and Supernatural, and of course those are lenses I made. What kind of a lensmaster would I be if I didn’t?
Glen: How did you get your username?
Oniyagi: My username is also my nickname. It comes from a shortened version of my middle name O’Neal (Oni) and Japanese translation for goat (yagi). Yes, “Oni” is also a Japanese demon or devil as well. Anyway, my family has always called me Oni (that is until my Japanese aunt told them that it meant devil) and I have had a goatee since I could grow hair on my face. So, I just put the two together when I need a screen name for AOL. That was back in 1995. Oniyagi is my squidoo name, my gamer tag, and my forum name on countless forums now.
Glen: What’s the topic of the next lens you’re working on?
Oniyagi: Hmm… that would be Season 4 of Supernatural!
Glen: What three words best describes your fondness for Squidoo?
Oniyagi: Never-Ending, Respect, and Home
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