Blog Feedback Post #4

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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