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Archive for the 'Blog Feedback' Category
Blog #1
tenForty
http://tenforty.blogspot.com/
First Impressions: Without reading the text, I was able to pin this as a travel blog, that’s definitely good. I didn’t pick up on the missionary vibe that does come through in the text, but I am not sure if that is necessary for a first impression. Scrolling down the post history, I am already feeling the clutter in the sidebar. I certainly sense a color theme working here, which does well for a cohesive blog experience.
Aesthetics: The header is a bit amateur, but it definitely gives the right message. I like the variety of pictures in the header and posts, they add a lot to the content and feel of the blog. I definitely like the “about” box in the sidebar. I’m not sure that the shoutbox adds too much to the blog feel, shouldn’t comments take care of this community need? I like the “I have been to” box. I am not sure that I like all of the table of contents stuff, but I guess it’s a more unique way to set up a blog archive. There are a lot of extra buttons and banners that are probably unnecessary here as well.
Content: Travels blogs are inherently interesting, so I likely can’t say a whole lot about how to improve your content. Continue in your travels, and you definitely have a guaranteed unique blog topic, when you combine the religious aspect into the mix. I like what I see for sure, and I encourage you to continue.
Overall: I like it, and I see a bright future for you. Maybe fix a few quirks in navigation, and a more professional look, and you will be doing wonderfully.
Blog #2
Life in Black and White
http://meghamathur.blogspot.com/
First Impressions: There is a lot going on above the fold. I am a bit overwhelmed at first glance. The picture of the miserable man definitely draws my attention. This is a very simple template, possibly too simple to showcase the content.
Aesthetics: The sidebar certainly has way more clutter than is necessary. I highly doubt that the google translator is the most important feature that new visitors should find - maybe replace this with a search box? I would recommend removing most if not all of the badges and awards, and if possible move them to a new “awards and badges” page or something. I would love to see the “About Me” higher up in the sidebar, or linked as a separate page. I am not sure what the significance is of all of the photos, but they definitely clutter up things as well.
I would recommend a new header which actually fills the top of the blog theme. I would also recommend a new theme, if possible, the current is too plain for the content.
Content: With headings like “Meaning of Life” and “Shades of Life” I am not sure that I am qualified to review the content of this blog, but it seems well written either way. I am always glad to see a blog that isn’t focused on marketing and advertising these days, and the content here seems nicely varied and involved enough to entertain. The fact that you have been blogging for close to a year also makes me confident that you know what’s best for your content, so I’ll leave it at that.
Overall: Not bad - definitely needs a facelift, and would benefit greatly from a move to wordpress, although the post history is tough to move over, or leave behind - maybe make the best of it by getting a good theme and a matching header. Some sidebar spring cleaning is certainly in order. Keep up the good writing.
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This is a “blog feedback” post. To learn more about my blog feedback category, please visit the Blog Feedback section. Below are a few reviews of other blogs. I would like to thank the blog owners for submitting their blogs for reviews.
Blog #1
Top Quality Men’s Suits
http://qualitymenswear.wordpress.com/
First Impressions: Is this a store or a blog? A quick check of the About section tells me that this appears to be a blog published by a store. Very simple layout, and a pretty generic-looking header. It took me a bit to decide whether this was a legitimate blog, or just a portal for affiliate programs, or something else. It seems that this blog actually does offer advice and information about men’s suits, a very specific niche, but a legitimate blog nonetheless.
Aesthetics: There is nothing really very complex about the layout here, and it certainly isn’t necessary, but as usual, I would suggest a better header. The fact that there is a title section and then a header is also a bit odd, I would probably eliminate the title section as well. If possible, make it more clear that this is the blog for eshopone - right now the bottom of the header looks like an ad.
This blog makes good use of generic seeming pictures of models wearing suits, but they certainly fit the content, and they help define the topic of each post. The use of a few low quality images does seem to cheapen the value of the posts they are attached to, maybe try not to use any low quality images in the future.
The sidebar is nice and neat, without too much clutter - the only things I might remove are the spam counter, blog stats, meta section, and social bookmarking section. You also should probably move your search box to the top of the sidebar, to make it obvious to users who might look for it immediately.
Content: As I previously said men’s suits is a very specific topic, but it seems that the author of this blog is well versed in the topic, and is offering some solid advice and knowledge about the topic. Some of the “sales” posts seem a bit too commercial for a blog that appears to be more individualistic - but are certainly nothing more than the stuff that comes from the “make money online” crowd.
Overall: At first glance this blog is a bit confusing and hard to unravel. Making the visual first impression better might help people know what they are getting into upon their first visit. Good enough content, and good niche.
Blog #2
Thoughts of a Blank Mind
http://blog.treiziethoughts.ws/
I was ready to review this blog, but noticed it has not been updated in over a month - so I will put it on hold for now, hopefully the author will pick it back up later, but we’ll see. On to #3…
Blog #3
Freelancer For Hire
http://www.kellybax.com/
First Impressions: I didn’t have to search for any information about this blog, as the whole description appears to be in the header. It is a bit of a long-winded introduction for the casual visitor, that might be better suited for an “About” section, but I guess blogger does have it’s limitations. Maybe try to cut down the info in the header if possible.
Things don’t seem to be well organized here - the sidebar isn’t in any way separated from the content, the ad below the header seems to jump out and clutter up things.
Aesthetics: I really don’t like this layout. The single solid color is overwhelming, and the lack of boundaries is a bit distracting. I would suggest a more customized theme, and header, if possible.
Your sidebar has so much clutter in it, that I don’t want to even try to dissect it. I would just suggest that you remove as much of the unnecessary content as possible - For example, I doubt that the google ad buried at the bottom will draw many clicks in it’s current position, so better optimizing all of the sidebar content would likely serve you well.
Content: The mix of blog promotion posts, freelancer tips, and other related content seems to work well here. The only thing that might need improvement is that some posts seem a bit too random - if you have people reading for only freelancer info, they may be turned off a bit by the off-topic posts.
Overall: Good content - lots of great freelancing information can be found here. The visual representation of this information could use a lot of improvement - perhaps a switch to wordpress would serve you well, and allow a lot more customization. Good luck, and keep up the good flow of freelancing postings.
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Greetings! My name is Brian Purkiss and I’m doing a guest post for Kevin over here at Review Bunker. I’m an freelance designer, writer, and web consultant for hire. If you like my post, check out my blog - plainbeta.
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy this review!
My first review here shall be of twelve year old Meghna’s blog, Meghna’s Pages.
First Impression: Girls’ blog. New to blogging. Elegant. About blogging.
Upon closer inspection I realize that I’m partly true, partly false.
The author is indeed a girl (as I said, 12 years old), she’s new to blogging, and going for a more elegant feel.
However, where I was wrong was about her topic.
To put it in her words, her blog is “an attempt on creative writing and contains humor, stories, poetry, fiction, fantasy, bizarre, oddities, school, children, books, reading and the like.”
Ok, this is my biggest flag.
Meghna, you have about three seconds to keep your visitors from leaving your blog and about ten seconds to get them to start reading your content.
You need to grab your reader’s attention.
Ok, how do you do that?
Well, many ways.
Your title needs to be your web site’s title.
Would you be confused if a web site’s title was “Sophisticated Essays on the Nature of Man” and the url was http://IlovePuppies.com? Yeah, that would be confusing.
While that is a bit of an exaggeration, you get my point.
If your URL is MeghansPages.blogspot.com then your title needs to be Meghan’s Pages.
Similarly, your tagline needs to be concise and powerful.
Your current tagline is very explanatory, but it also long for a tagline.
Consider my blog’s tagline: design & blogging
Instantly you know what my blog is about - design and blogging.
While yours doesn’t need to be as short as mine, it should be a little shorter. Remember, you have three seconds to capture your reader’s attention before he/she does a Google search and has access to another million web sites.
Before I branch away from the attention grabbing topic, let’s examine your layout.
Your layout is one of the most influential parts of your blog.
While it is not the most important part of your blog, your layout can keep visitors just as easy as driving them away.
While I think it fits you, I think you could do a little better.
It seems a little too peach - it’s slightly overwhelming and the contrast between the white content area and the peach background is a little too hard on the eye.
Personally, I think you should switch to Wordpress.
You can have free hosting via Wordpress.com, but self hosting throuh Wordpress.org will be best.
But that is not the purpose of this review. But hey, if you want you can contact me and I’ll be happy to share my reasons.
Ok, back to the layout.
I think you have too many widgets.
Lemme go down the list.
About Me
Eh… Alright, ‘About Me’ is needed. But you need to have an individual page for your About info that sticks with your layout (which I don’t think you can do with Blogger). You should tell about your blog, and then about yourself.
AdSense Ad
I realize that you want to make money, but you don’t want to devalue your site.
The colors in your AdSense Ad and the colors in your layout clash too much.
I just recently got a new layout for plainbeta, and in it I removed all of my AdSense ads (Read about it). Why? Because AdSense often detracts from your blog (More thoughts on AdSense)
While that doesn’t make AdSense evil, you should think about including it.
If anything, make it work with your site more.
As I Say…
?
Yep. I’m confused, but that doesn’t make me want to stay. While I find it humorous, it just clutters up your sidebar.
Technorati
Ditch it.
If someone wants to check your Technorati Authority, they’ll do it themselves. The colors don’t work with your layout and they just clutter up your sidebar.
Label Cloud
Keep it.
Tag Clouds are great ways of getting your visitors deeper into your content.
Just don’t let it get too cluttered.
Blog Archive
Eh… I’d get rid of it.
Trend Watch
Is your site about shoes? Nope.
So why are you trying to sell them?
You’ll be a lot more effective using that space on something related to your web site.
Search
VERY IMPORTANT.
But you don’t need that large ‘google’ - that’s something Wordpress would fix. ;-)
It should also be moved further up and have your web site as the default field to search.
Best Posts
Excellent. Very nice to have.
Recent Posts…
Get rid of it.
People don’t need that widget to see your recent posts.
RSS
Again, excellent. You need that.
But make it more prominent and above the scroll.
I Like to Read…
If you want that, then have a unique page for it.
Although, again, I don’t think you can do that with Blogger. (but you can with Wordpress!)
Follow Me
Put that in your about page.
My Awards
Nice!
Congrats on the awards!
But that should be in your about page. Don’t clutter your sidebar.
‘my motivators’
There is a lot of discrepancy on these, but I think they shouldn’t be there.
If you want, create a ‘community page’ (like on binh.name).
Ok, let’s move away from the sidebars.
Your Content
Not bad!
You have some nice content in there.
Your writing could be improved, but hey, couldn’t everybodys?
I don’t see too many blogs along these lines - you have some potential.
I like the use of images - very nice.
Although, you should float them.
You can learn about floats here.
If you can’t figure it out, I could create a simple float script for you and teach you how to use it.
I also like the use of Related Posts.
That will help drive your visitors further into your blog.
Three things I’d change in your content though.
Get rid of the Digg widget.
Unless you’re expecting to get to the front page of Digg, they’re useless and detract from your web site.
I would also get rid of the AddThis widget for similar reasons. If someone is using any of those services, they don’t need your widget for it. Again, it detracts from your web site.
And finally, I’d get rid of the guitar with Meghna on it.
It gets repetitive and a little annoying. :-/
My Conclusion
Your blog has some potential.
You mainly need to refine the look.
Clean up the blog and make it less ’spammy.’
Make the purpose of the site clear.
Props Meghna for starting young.
I hope you make it big one day!
-Brian Purkiss
Thanks Brian for your guest post, I’ve enjoyed having another person’s perspective and style in the blog feedback section, and I hope we see more from you in the future. To read more from Brian make sure to check out his blog, plainbeta.
-Kevin
If you enjoyed this post, Please consider subscribing to my full-post feed, or subscribing to receive my posts by email. Also, please check out my contribute and get reviewed pages. Have anything to say? Please comment!
This is a “blog feedback” post. To learn more about my blog feedback category, please visit the Blog Feedback section. Below are a few reviews of other blogs. I would like to thank the blog owners for submitting their blogs for reviews.
Blog #1
Coffee With Allan Cockerill
http://allancockerill.com/
First Impressions: Hello Allan! Your picture is everywhere! I understand why you have a picture in the header, but does it also have to be repeated in each post, and in the about page? Maybe you could put a new picture in the about page so your users don’t get bored of seeing only the one view of you, and remove the every-post picture.
My eye was immediately drawn to… the Australian flag? and the date of Australia Day? I wonder why that is there… huh, clicking it doesn’t help out, maybe there is something in the about section … nope. I am a bit baffled by the appearance of the Australian flag, do you live there? Maybe make a mention of this in your about section. You might want to find a better way to portray your blog in the header, maybe a stylish cup of coffee?
Aesthetics: A very simple theme, it works, but it’s not impressive. A more stylish header would do wonders for the look of the entire theme.
Your two sidebars are a bit cluttered with unnecessary items - cutting down on clutter helps the user find value in your sidebars, and keeps them from distracting from the content. I would suggest removing the large “Affiliate Commando” banner that links to a non-existent URL, the “Meta” section, maybe some of the social networking links, and maybe the profile picture of the woman near the top (which links to a blog about stumble upon?).
If it’s possible, it would be great for you to work a few colors that compliment the blue into your template somewhere - as it is, it’s just a bit too boring in the color department.
Content: I don’t have many suggestions for your content - this seems to be a good mix of personal blogging with some of your hobbies and interests thrown in for good measure. I am not sure what audience you are targeting, but you seem to know what you want to write about. You write well and concisely, keep it up!
Overall: Allan, yours seems to be a pretty solid blog with a defined direction - all it might need is a bit of sprucing up, and a little bit more explanation about the contents of the header, or a new header. I imagine you could take it in many different directions, so keep up the good work.
Blog #2
HiTech Dads
http://www.hitechdads.com/
First Impressions: Nice tag-line, it explains a lot about this blog right up front. You have a few weird color combinations going on here that I notice right away, but more on that later. It’s a little odd that your “About Us” button is above the header - I didn’t see it for quite a while. You could use a header to spice up your first impression.
Aesthetics: Your theme seems to be blue-based, which makes the red text of the sidebar stand out a lot - it’s not necessarily bad, red and blue can work together, but you might want to work it in subtly a few other places as well, so it’s not so obvious that only the text is red.
Also, with a blue/red combo your black and white adsense ads are even more distracting than the red, because they don’t match the theme (that goes for the RSS button as well). I know that some people suggest having a lot of contrast for your ad units, in order to draw attention to them, but in my opinion blending always works better, and lends itself to a better visual experience for your users as well. Consider switching them to a better matching color palette.
I like the fact that your sidebars aren’t cluttered, but they do seem too compact - there is little to no space between any of the separate entities or widgets, making the sidebars have a bit of a crammed feel. Maybe you would benefit from a theme that has only one sidebar, or instead of two sidebars next to each other, one on each side of the content.
Three posts on the front page seems almost too short, you might want to consider lengthening post count to at least 5, so that people have a better chance of getting involved in your content before deciding to head to the next page.
Content: You have done a wonderful job of writing to your niche, and it seems you have found a niche that you are able to write about consistently, so you are in a good place. Some of your posts are off topic, but that seems to work with the relaxed feel of your blog, and I doubt your audience is looking for strict hitech content, so I think you are safe.
A bit more visual variety would do a lot for your posts, so I would suggest if you have a digital camera, try and spice things up with a few home-shot pics.
I like the multi-dad writer idea, I think it adds variety to the writing, and it give you more content - keep it up.
Overall: A good niche with good posts, definitely on the right track - you could use a bit of visual help, to keep readers on the site, and it wouldn’t hurt to have a header image (I have to suggest that every time, don’t I?) - keep hitech blogging!
If you enjoyed this post, Please consider subscribing to my full-post feed, or subscribing to receive my posts by email. Also, please check out my contribute and get reviewed pages. Have anything to say? Please comment!
This is a “blog feedback” post. To learn more about my blog feedback category, please visit the Blog Feedback section. Below are a few reviews of other blogs. I would like to thank the blog owners for submitting their blogs for reviews.
Blog #1
Global News Blogger
http://www.globalnewsblogger.com/
First Impressions: It’s no secret that I am a fan of header images, and I think this blog could definitely use one. Some sort of visual variety in the theme would do wonders in keeping people’s interest on their first impression. The sidebars appear cluttered. I like your tag line, even though the blog premise is pretty straightforward, it helps portray right away what the content is about.
Aesthetics: I definitely find your theme to be a bit bland, but I am happy to see that it is at least not distracting, it is simple. If you can find a way to integrate a header image, that might be all you need to do to spice things up.
Your sidebars are definitely a bit cluttered, I would suggest removing a few things including the “Pages” section, as this is just a repeat from the nav found in the header. I have never found that calendars are very useful, so you might want to remove that as well. The “Meta” section isn’t useful to any of your visitors, neither is the “spam blocked” counter. You might also want to remove the badges linking to blogging community sites. A smaller “recent viewers” widget would also help clean things up.
Content: I like your content so far. I realize that you are a somewhat new blog, and you are still working on defining your blogging topics and categories, but I think it would help a lot to have something more than your own interest in the articles guiding your content. Keeping your own opinion on each article is important, and is what gives your blog a unique flavor. Even if you continue to post without more definition, as long as you use interesting articles and give your own take on things, I think you can do well. The van crash story was amusing, and definitely more interesting because you witnessed it yourself.
Overall: This is a good start to a blog, and with a bit of cleaning up and possibly a few visual enhancements, you will catch the eye of visitors much easier, and draw them in to read your content. Keep improving your article choices and writing skills, and I think you can take this blog format pretty far, especially if you are passionate about it.
Blog #2
Fresh Art
http://cindy-hesse.blogspot.com/
First Impressions: You could use a new sub-heading. Telling the users how often you plan to publish something isn’t really necessary, your posting history can tell them that easily enough - and in order to properly catch a visitor’s interest, a sub heading that explains the blog better would be great.
The almost solid blue is a little bit overwhelming.
Aesthetics: Maybe a header image designed by you, as you are an artist, would fit well at the top of your blog. At the same time, it would be nice to find (or design) a theme that fits with the new header image. If this isn’t an option for you, I would definitely recommend finding a theme with a more diverse color scheme - the blue is a nice color, but it is a bit too dark, and definitely too overwhelming.
I appreciate that you don’t have a lot of things cluttering this site, it is very straightforward and simple.
Content: I love your blog concept - having a site to publish your original art seems like a great motivational tool for getting paintings done, and it gives you a way to share your work with the world. I like how you are also selling some of the paintings and promoting the sales through this blog, this is a great idea. I have enjoyed looking at your paintings and checking out your post history. I only have one thing to suggest for improving your posts, I would like to hear more about the painting and creativity process, if possible.
Overall: Great concept, in a less than ideal setting. If you can get some of your personality and creativity into the blog theme you will be set!
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