Getting to Know John Couke
Squidizen Marti Lawrence interviews John, who has some good advice for creating niche lenses.
Marti: How did you first learn about Squidoo?
John: I was an avid reader of Seth Godin's blog, and through reading that I believe I first came across the idea of Squidoo. I was immediately intrigued about the idea, so I signed up to be a beta tester. I became a beta tester for the site, which allowed me to get a bunch of lenses early on.
Marti: How many lenses do you have? Plans for more?
John:I have 20 lenses, which back in the day was the maximum allowable amount for one person. Some I chose wisely, like Alfred Hitchcock, learning Japanese, GMAT prep, and other topics of which I have a strong interest. Others I didn't choose well, like comics or London, simply because the topic was too big. I've come to realize that good lenses are lenses that address very, very specific topics.
Marti: What do you like most about Squidoo? Least?
John: The point I made above about having a specific topic for your lens. The more specific it is, the better your lens can serve as a resource for another person who may be a bit down the learning curve from you on a given issue or situation. I like the idea of taking one, very specific and detailed question, and answering it in many different ways, all on one page.
What I like least about the lenses was the early stages of progression of the site, both pre-beta and post-beta, where there were a lot of bugs. While I can certainly understand that this happens with any project (let alone one with the scale and scope of this) it was heartbreaking for me to put a lot of effort into a lens, only to see that content vanish for no discernible reason. This happened once or twice for me.
Marti: How do you promote your lens(es)? Do you encourage others to build lenses?
John:I don't actively promote my lenses at the moment, because I am not really doing any online development of other websites. When I was, I promoted my lenses through those projects. At the same time, I also had a blog, and I used that to promote my lens.
One of the wonderful things about a lens is, and I'm returning here again, if it's about a specific enough topic, you really don't need to advertise it much at all. Once the search engine crawlers find that content, rich with mentions of one or two keywords, it'll literally climb the search results charts all by itself. An extremely streamlined and specific topic is like providing built in SEO for your lens.
Marti: What's your web background? Blogs, websites, writing, design, programming?
John:I started writing in html in 1996, so I guess I was a bit late compared to others. I had my first web site (home page) in 1997. It was a site about Alfred Hitchcock and his films. I created a link repository for film sites that got really, really big over a few years. It got to be so much work that I gave it up. I ended up going back to my initial streamlined topic, and made a new website about Hitchcock. I really liked this site a lot, but I gave it up earlier in 2006 when I got too busy with other stuff. I had a blog for several months in 2005 and 2006.
My work isn't directly related with the internet, although obviously as an information source everyone's life is pretty much intertwined with the internet these days. I use sites like del.icio.us and my google home page more than anything else right now.
Marti: How do you plan to use Squidoo in the future?
John: I plan to write a lens about how to choose an English-language MBA program that is taught in Japan. I did a lot of research on this myself, and so I'd like to pass it on. I think it's specific enough to make for a great lens.
Marti: Tell us a little more about yourself.
John: Born in Toronto in 1971, graduated from the University of Toronto and moved to Asia to teach English. Did so for three years, then became a manager of language schools for the better part of five years. Did an MBA at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo, graduated in the fall of 2006, worked for a time at a large internet marketing firm, and am currently employed at the Princeton Review of Japan. Currently working on a bunch of different things in a bunch of different areas of the company. I love my job, because I work with great people and get to learn new things every day.
Learn more about John here: http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/john
