Reviews that have been completed for many different web sites can be found under this category.
I enjoy technology, which is evident in the fact that I am the author of a technology blog. Since I have started writing free reviews, I haven’t really reviewed many technology-related blog.
This week I will look at a blog that actually has a very long title, but I will shorten it to Upcoming Technolgies. In case you are curious, the full title I was given was “Upcoming Technologies,Current Technologies,Reviews,News,Info and more!”
I have read many personal blogs. These are the blogs that don’t have any true focus since the posts are what the author has felt like writing at a specific time.
I enjoy reading some personal blogs as they can provide quite a break from reality. This week I review a personal blog, that is geared more towards the college crowd.
Web Site: Tetsujin’s Blog
Description: It is about college life, general life on the internet, and random technology, it is a lot of personal blogging fun.
When I read the e-mail requesting the review I never clued in that I have seen this blog before. When I viewed the blog I instantly recognized the image in the header of the blog. The header takes up quite a lot of real estate on the blog, but the image will be associated with this blog.
Below the image is a menu consisting of links to a forum, suggestions, the “about me” and “contact me” pages, and a “One Buck Review” page. More on the “One Buck Review” later.
The actual content portion of the blog is split into three columns. The left column contains the Entrecard card, the BlogCatalog and MyBlogLog widgets, and recent posts from other blogs. The content is in the middle with another navigation bar on the right.
The right navigation bar contains the subscription link, sponsors and category links, favourites, archives, a calendar of post dates and other personal links.
The columns should be switched, with the blog related links on the left so the visitors can easily navigate the blogs. The BlogCatalog and MyBlogLog widgets, as well as the advertising should be moved to the right navigation bar. The personal links could be placed below the links on the left to make the left navigation bar a one stop shop for the links.
I’m not a fan of the green coloured text, especially against the light background. A darker colour would make it easier to read, especially if the text was also larger.
The design could use a few modifications to make the blog better to allow visitors to easily navigate and read the blog.
It is always difficult to rate the focus of a personal blog because there usually isn’t one. That is true in this case. There is no true focus of Tetsujin’s Blog but it seems to be more geared towards college life.
The content of Tetsujin’s Blog ranges from long posts to relatively short posts. The author doesn’t post on a regular basis and can sometimes leave large gaps of time between posts.
The author does include some appropriate pictures to enhance the point of a post. Some images, however, can be quite large and take some time to download. For the most part the images are small and download quickly.
In the top menu there is a link for “One Buck Reviews”, which I’m guessing means you buy a review from the author for one dollar. The reviews are small (about three paragraphs), but for one dollar it is a good investment if you want a backlink.
I did enjoy reading some of the content, which has a college feel to it. If you do like reading these types of blogs, then you may like reading this one.
There are a few spelling and grammar mistakes that did cause me to reread sentences a few times. All posts don’t contains sentences like this, but those that do definitely take away from the readability of the post. A spelling and grammar checker would help in such cases.
Tetsujin’s Blog is a standard personal blog in which the author writes about anything they are thinking about at the time. There are several issues with the design of the blog that could make it difficult for visitors to navigate or read.
The focus of the blog, like many personal blogs, is almost non-existent, but the content is interesting. It would be better if the author wrote on a more regular basis as large gaps between posts could stop people from subscribing to the blog.
A spelling and grammar checker would help correct some of the errors that appear in some of the posts.
Overall the blog is a good blog with a few minor flaws that could be easy to fix.
When viewing blogs I like original blogs. It seems most blogs today discuss the saturated topic of making money online, or SEO (Search Engine Optimization). When I see a blog that is not focused on one of those two topics, it is like a breath of fresh air.
This week I look at a sports related blog, specifically F1 racing. I am not a F1 racing fan, but this is definitely one of the best blogs I have seen. Lots of content, a specific topic, with a great design.
Web Site: F1-ToGo
Description: Dedicated to the fast paced world of F1 racing. Featured are original content news stories, opinions, and a bit of controversy along the way.
The design of F1-ToGo is well done. It is a standard design with the content on the left and two navigation sidebars on the right. There is also a menu bar at the top of the blog for easy access to important pages.
First let’s have a look at the content section. The titles are nice and large and easy to read. The font and font size chosen for the content is also nice and large. Anyone should have no trouble reading the posts.
The sidebars on the right are neatly organized, which is unusual considering the amount of information the author has provided. There are ads at the top, however, they don’t drown out the actual navigation links. There are a few ads on the right side of the sidebar, while the navigational links are on the left.
There are many categories in the sidebars with each one having a well-defined header. The categories, recent posts, and favourite posts are near the top of the left side of the sidebars. This allows visitors to find the posts without having to scroll down the page.
The only issue I found with the design was with IE7. When I viewed the sidebars in IE7 the “Recent Viewers” widget from BlogCatalog stretch from the left side to the right side.
The overall design of the blog is well done, and shows how a great blog should look.
The focus of F1-ToGo is simply F1. Every post is related to F1 racing, and includes discussions on tracks, results, drivers, teams, and rumours. The focus is clear and well-defined. No problems with the focus on this blog.
The design and and the focus are top-notch, and the content is also in that category. After reading some of the posts, I am amazed at how well each post is written.
Most of the posts discuss drivers, teams and upcoming races. For race results, the author includes the placing of all drivers as well as the fastest laps. The content of F1-ToGo shows the author’s passion for the sport without a question.
I found that the posts are well written and contain very few spelling and grammar mistakes. For those posts that do have a mistake, the mistake doesn’t reduce the readability, or distract from the point the author is trying to make.
This is one of the best designed and written blogs that I have reviewed. I’m not a fan of F1 but I still read many of the posts on F1-ToGo mainly because they are very well-written. The sidebars are well organized, and the fonts and sizes chosen make the blog very easy to read.
If you are a fan of F1, then you should definitely check out this blog. If you aren’t you should still check out this blog and see what a great blog looks like.
One of the most popular niche many people choose when creating a blog is the “money making” niche. I am not a fan of this niche, in fact I think it is too saturated with blogs.
The blog this week, title Life is Colourful, is a blog that is partially in the “money making” niche. There is more to this blog, which is a good thing, as they author also ventures into the world of the Internet and SEO to provide even more tips to help you get started in blogging.
Web Site: Life is Colourful – Making 2 cents per minute
Description: It’s all about Blogging, Internet, SEO, Technology, Reviews and Life.
On of the weakest points of Life is Colourful is the design. While one of the main topics discussed is how to make money online, the blog isn’t overwhelmed by ads. The design of the blog contains three sidebars, which is a little unusual. There is a left sidebar, and two right sidebars. The content is between the left and right sidebars.
Since there are three sidebars, each column is not very wide. This has caused the author to choose a rather small font for the sidebars and the content. This can make it difficult for some to read easily. I rather prefer a larger font, at least for the content.
The left sidebar contains only ads, and not many as only three are displayed at the top. The right sidebars contain the navigation links. The links are organized into sections, however, there seem to be too many. This clutters the right sidebar to the point where it is a little difficult to easily navigate around the blog. There are many comment links and other Web site links included in the sidebar. I’d much rather see more links related to the content of the blog.
A few minor tweaks to the design of the blog will make it a much more appealing blog for all visitors.
The focus of the blog is rather difficult to find as many topics are discussed on the blog. If I had to choose the main focus I will probably put it in the Internet category. Unfortunately, the Internet category is very broad and not very focused.
In this case, however, the author has chosen many topics on the Internet, including making money, SEO and Web site reviews. Many of the topics discussed can be a separate blog in itself. There are also a few technology reviews as well.
The author does indicate other Web sites and blogs that they manage, but maybe a few more with the topics discussed on this blog can narrow down the focus of Life is Colourful.
I enjoyed the content of this blog, as I found the posts well written and not too long. The addition of images within each post provides some nice colour without distracting from the point of the post.
The author takes time to update the blog on a regular basis. It seems on almost a daily basis the blog is updated, which indicates the devotion the author has to the blog.
The content of Life is Colourful is definitely the strongest, and with good reason, aspect of the blog.
I found that the posts are well written and contain very few spelling and grammar mistakes. For those posts that do have a mistake, the mistake doesn’t reduce the readability, or distract from the point the author is trying to make.
The design of Life is Colourful can be a little cleaner to make navigating around the blog easier for visitors. Reducing the number of links in the two right sidebars can go a long way to the usability of the blog. Increasing the font size will also help with the readability of the blog.
While the focus seems to be a little broad, the actual content of Life is Colourful is the strongest point of the blog. The author updates the blog on a regular basis which is always good to have on a blog.
Overall, Life is Colourful is definitely a great blog to visit.
When creating a blog there are two things that separate a good blog from a great blog: a focus and a good design. A blog needs to be focused on a specific subject, unless it is a personal diary, and it also needs to have an easy to follow navigational design.
For this week’s review I will look at a blog that contains a long description, but short posts, and all the elements of a good design. The author has chosen to talk about many subjects, but can they all be tied together under a single focus? Let’s have a look at Blog with Ric.
There are many types of blogs on the Internet, but the two most common, at least from what I have noticed, are blogs that provide money making tips and personal blogs. The money making type blogs usually provide the same posts as other blogs, and don’t really have much of anything new to say. The personal blogs, on the other hand, contain posts on anything and everything in the life of the author. This can lead to some very entertaining posts.
This week’s review is a personal blog from an individual in South Africa, and like most personal blogs this one tends to lost its focus at times.
It seems most people that start a Web site or blog attempt to make money in some form from their endeavour. I for one have a few money making items on Technically Easy, so I fall into that category.
There are many new blogs that have started up with the main focus being making money online. This week’s review focuses on one of those blogs. This week I review a relatively new-comer to the “make money online” arena called BloggerNoob.
Up until this point in my review writing campaign the Web sites that I have reviews have been various types of blogs. For this week’s review I have the opportunity to review a non-blog Web site, which is a nice change.
The focus of this week’s Web site is on water garden’s, what they are, how to create them, and other important information. After visiting this site I can easily tell this is on well planned, thought out and maintained Web site.