Promoting The Hobby (latest rankings)

dgreene56

My latest article appeals to parents who want their kids to be the best and the brightest and explains how collecting world coins can help achieve this. I created what's known as a "lens" at Squidoo.com to promote this idea to the Parenting and Kids group over there.

Please check it out if you have a few minutes and if you like my "lens" please rate it 1-5 stars (hopefully a 5 star!), answer the poll question, and maybe leave a comment if you'd like. These things can move my "lens" rank up which will give it more exposure and help spread the word about world collecting and maybe bring a few more YN's into the hobby.


World Coin Collecting - The Hobby For Brighter Kids


David

lordmarcovan

Squidoo is blocked by my company's server for "Gambling".

It once blocked some ancient Macedonian coins for "Porn".

I'm not sure what keywords set it off.

pendragon1998

That's a nice article. You have to register to rate it, and I'm about to snooze for the night, but you deserve a bunch of fives. Nice penny

theboz11

What a great idea and site, My hats off to you

cladking

Good article.

dgreene56

The site is doing well and has moved up to #8446 overall out of about 325000 and is up to #339 in the Parenting & Kids category. Nice move for one day, but could still use more help, especially need some brief comments at the bottom of the lense as well as the star ratings on the top.

Thanks for all the nice comments here and for those who have checked out the site. Very much appreciated.

David

P.S. Lord M, I checked the keywords to the site and I see nothing obvious that would relate to gambling so I don't know what's up with the company computer blocking you. Maybe check it out when you're at home if you get a chance. Thanks

bidask

Great idea.

mrearlygold

Nice article.

Rickc300

A very nice article and one I will pass to parents of younger kids and please do not take this the wrong way as I don't want to be a nitpicker. I just want to maybe offer some ideas to make it even MORE appealing to parents as these were some things I noticed, while not "wrong" but maybe could be improved on.

1. I like the ten cents per coin example as an affordable hobby but asking a child to dip into "her" savings to buy more coins is like asking a child if she would like to buy a banana split instead of a cone but she has to pay the difference! It may not be the best thing to point out dipping into her piggy bank...

2. Your girl likes rainbow toning... So do I! Outside of the hobby though, rainbow toning means little if anything. A rainbow is seen sometimes during rain, in a waterfall or as a promise from above that the earth will never be flooded again. You should maybe explain a little further.

3. Value. A windfall of an error coin going off on eBay is a great experience, but not one that should be encouraged. Odds are any coin bought recently and then sold will result in a loss, not a windfall. Maybe point out that you encouraged her to save 25% for a really, really special "horse" coin and put 50% in a savings account or bonds (for future use as she wishes) and that the remaining 25% could be spent for more coins or any other thing she wanted for her own personal use that met her parents approval as far as safety or rules of the house anytime she wanted. Also, since you brought up taxes and all the good that comes from them and that the entire 330.00 was not hers to keep, you did subtract the eBay fees and PayPal if that was used and explain that it does take a little money to make money... LOL, Welcome to the real world on that one!

4. Foreign exchange... This is a subject that is hard to explain to adults let alone children and while you didn't explain how the value of the Canadian dollar went up in value against the US dollar or bring any other world economics into the conversation you hinted it was there. There are many adults who, if they even get that far in your article will feel uncomfortable in trying to explain this to their kids as many will not have any idea themselves. Maybe you could give a very simple basic outline of what you mean so even the adults who have no idea on world trade can maybe offer a few words to their kids and maybe learn a little with the kids while actually having them do the research. I know I said that wrong... If I have a little info, I can fake my way through almost anything as I help someone "else" learn. While in all actuality I am learning along side them while offering keywords to "Google" while doing Internet searches with them...

5. I give it a high five!!! I submitted a 299 character reply (allows 300) but never saw a way to "rate" the article.

Nice job!

Rick

dgreene56

Rick,

Thanks so much for the detailed critique, I appreciate the time you took review the site. I will try to incorporate your suggestions in the next few days.

As for the ratings, there are stars at the top of the page, just under the orange title block. You click the number of stars you would like to rate the site. You may have to register to rate, but it's very fast and easy. There's alot of other stuff on Squidoo that is pretty interesting; I've learned quite a bit from some of the lenses over there.

Thanks again!

David

unknowncomic

My grandsons and I are doing the same thing as dgreene is doing with his daughter. I have had a lot of help from many of the forum members. One of my kids has ADHD but he stays focused when we are researching any of the world coins we have collected. This hobby is a great learning and teaching tool.
BTW I did register and gave your article 5 stars.

dgreene56

unknowncomic,

Thankyou for the 5 star rating. That is so interesting that your son with ADHD is able to focus when you guys are collecting coins together. Yours is a very powerful testimony to the positive effects on your family of collecting.

I would appreciate it if you would leave your comment about this on the site as this is just the type of information that parents should know. I frankly never thought of it being helpful to the ADHD child (or adult) but you have made me aware of this and I believe other parents with ADHD children (and ADHD adults, too) may want to know. This could touch a lot of families in a very positive way.

I have adjusted the settings on the site to where you don't have to log in to leave a comment, I hope it works.

Thankyou!

David

dgreene56

Just an update on how the lens is doing as of this morning (12/20), the lens is ranked as follows:

#676 Overall out of over 325000!

#44 in Parenting and Kids! Would love to see it in the Top 10!

This is just phenomenal for just the few days its been up. Thankyou all for your part in this and if you haven't visited, rated, and left a comment on the lense yet, please do so to help increase the exposure even further.

World Coin Collecting - The Hobby For Brighter Kids

Thanks, David

dgreene56

The latest rankings:

#421 Overall out of over 325000!

#31 in Parenting and Kids category

This is excellent progress.

If this could ever make the Squidoo top 100 list, the exposure this message would get would be phenomenal. Please visit and vote (click the stars near the top of the page), take the poll, and leave a comment if you haven't done so yet. Thanks for your help.


World Coin Colllecting - The Hobby For Brighter Kids

David

dgreene56

Now #344 Overall

#25 in Parenting and Kids

We keep climbing but it will get tougher now as the competition is fierce.

World Coin Collecting - The Hobby For Brighter Kids!


Please visit, vote, take the poll and comment if you haven't already.

Thanks,

David

dgreene56

Now ranked #295 overall!

Just awesome! This is #295 out of over 325000 lenses on Squidoo
(gotta get in the top 100, we're so close!)

#18 in the Parenting & Kids category!

Please help to get the word out about how good collecting is for kids. Visit the site and vote, take the poll and comment at the bottom if you haven't already.

World Coin Collecting - The Hobby For Brighter Kids!

Thanks for your help,

David

Rickc300

I registered and voted the other day, I forgot to pass that along. I have also sent links to a number of parents and fellow coin collectors, We'll see if any will oblige and give it 5 stars...

Rick

dgreene56

Thankyou Rick for doing that!

Today's ranking is #271 overall

and #16 in the Parenting and Kids category

Good News! The lens has been designated as a "Featured Lens" at Squidoo. This means it will show up in search results at Squidoo which should be helpful. Still the ultimate goal is to get it into the Top 100 which will really give it huge exposure.


I found a thread with a poll over on the US forum Why you Collect, Promoting the Hobby, and Poll that underscores the importance of exposing kids to collecting. Based on the poll, 72% of the collectors responding became interested in numismatics between the ages of 3 and 15 years old.


World Coin Collecting - The Hobby For Brighter Kids!

Please visit, vote, and take the poll if you haven't already. Thanks to all who have helped,

David

dgreene56

#255 Overall out of over 325000 lenses

#14 in the Parenting & kids category


Still climbing, thanks to all who have visited the site!

David

World Coin Collecting - The Hobby For Brighter Kids!

dgreene56

Happy New Year everyone!


Mixed news on the latest rankings

Overall ranking dropped from #255 to #270 as other sites got more relative activity the last couple of days (getting in that top 100 is going to be really tough)

Moved up to #11 in the Parenting and Kids category (from 14 previously)

Please email the site to any parents that you think may appreciate this.

World Coin Collecting - The Hobby For Brighter Kids!

Thanks,

David

dgreene56

Our mo-mo is fading

#291 overall

#13 parenting and kids