a lot of efforts vs a lot of effort

Some examples from the web:

• A lot of efforts have been done all over the world to make sure that women are protected against all kinds of sexual harassment and discrimination at the ...
• kill two birds with one stone. exp. to do two things at the same time using the effort need... beat one's brain out. id. make a lot of efforts to understand something ...
• Apr 3, 2014 ... I disagree. the difference between hard and hardly lies there! hard-earned money - you do a lot of efforts and earn money. hardly achieved ...
• May 26, 2014 ... There have been a lot of efforts to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay. Those efforts are noble. But they're not enough. It's beyond time to ...

Some examples from the web:

• There was a lot of effort put in to making this deal a reality.
• That would take a lot of effort to make that happen.
• To perform these actions do not need to spend a lot of effort.
• Native gardening saves a lot of effort in this regard.
• Especially a lot of effort should be put to restore the disappeared trust.
• Not always constant and with a lot of effort, Alagna is convincing in some moments of great intensity.
• So not surprisingly, there's a lot of effort that's been done to look at alternative cooking fuels.
• That's a lot of effort on Kilgrave's part.
• It's taken a lot of effort to drive these basic human emotions out of people's heads.
• It's taken a lot of effort to try to drive these basic human emotions out of people's heads.
• It takes a lot of effort, talent, and risk.
• Seems like a lot of effort to expend for trophies.
• Since then, a lot of effort has been invested to promote Display amongst decision makers, citizens and technicians.
• The code is easy to set up and it's pretty lightweight (doesn't take a lot of effort to load in your browser).
• However, FreeBSD provides two technologies which can save you a lot of effort: packages and ports.
• Tear down the walls and win really it requires a lot of effort and thought.
• The rooms are decorated with very creativity and love and you can tell that someone has made a lot of effort and thought.
• It took a lot of effort to get over the border.
• Beating someone to a pulp takes a lot of effort.
• That was a lot of effort for two lollipops.