Lately, I’ve taken one of the Captain’s constant themes to heart and have been creating lenses that are branches off of others. So I now have the entire iCarly cast - I started with the star, Miranda Cosgrove, some time ago - and am considering a lens about the show because the one out there isn’t that great. But there’s a lot of competition in the space for iCarly right now, so I’m still debating with myself whether it’s worth it. But it would complete the set.
I’ve completed more than 50 lyrics lenses in my other account. It was fun, I’m seeing a tiny bit of traffic on some of them already, but I think I’m burned out now. I’m sure I’ll get in the mood again later and do more. Or go back and add ringtones to each. Didn’t think about it the first time through. But I ended up doing quite a bit of branching there as well as I did my keyword research. So I have a string of Elton John, Tim McGraw, Madonna, Carrie Underwood, Bee Gees and Wham songs. Chosen because people were actually looking for them, so I’m feeling pretty good about their chances overall.
My other branching of late has been on the store front, mostly to avoid creating an overwhelming experience for the shopper. So I broke out two more cycling jersey lenses, so I have four now. Then, after I started my LittleMissMatched lens, I realized that I could break out the furniture line separately, so that’s done now. And I finally broke up my Skelanimals lens and started a shop with just apparel and accessories. More lenses to manage, yes, but the more frequently changed items are off on their own, which makes it easier to keep up with them in general. So instead of just three shops, I’ve gotten eight lenses out of this batch and eight opportunities to make a sale.
In fact, five of my seven WIP lenses right now are branches of current lenses. It’s an easy way to come up with a new lens idea and establish yourself in a niche of some sort.