Category: Web Site Reviews

All the previous blogs that I reviewed had a set focus that was easy to determine once you read the blog. This week’s review is a little bit of a change. There are probably millions of blogs on the Internet, and a great many of them are personal blogs where the author just rights about anything. I review a blog that falls into this category this week.

Suburbian Queen is written by a mother of 2 who obviously enjoys writing on her blog. Although the focus may be a little hard to determine, her posts are far from boring.

Design 

The design of Suburbian Queen is a simple design with the main content on the left, and a navigation bar on the right. The provides an easy to read layout for the blog.

There are a few flaws that I can see in the current design of the blog. The first is the background image. I found it too distracting, and think a solid grey colour, or a faded image in the background would be better. Another issue I found with the design in the fact that all text is bolded. This seems to be a common trait for many blogs, but I feel bold should be used for emphasis only.

The last issue I had with the design is the order of the items in the navigation bar. I would move some of the post navigation links, such as the categories and archive links to the top of the navigation bar. This will allow visitors to easily navigate around the blog.

Besides the simple layout, I did like the size of the font, which made it very easy to read the posts. The menu at the top of the page stands out as the font is large, capitalized and is fairly dark compared to the white background.

Overall the design of the blog makes reading and navigating the blog easy.

Focus 

The focus of the blog can be confusing to a visitor who has not heard of Suburbian Queen in the past. There is no brief description of the blog in the header, which would have been nice.

The description of the blog sent to me by the author is as follows: “Suburbian Queen is a blog about everything in general. Sometimes funny and often times thought-provoking. This blog has something for everyone”, which after reading a few posts becomes quite obvious. This brief description would be nice in the header of the blog to prevent visitors from being confused.

Content 

Unlike my posts, the posts on Suburbian Queen are short and sweet. Many posts can easily fit on a single page without causing the page to become too large. This is a big plus, since many visitors probably won’t want to read large posts.

Another thing I also like about the posts are the little images the author has inserted at the beginning of each one. Each image the acommpanies each post is simple, yet appropriate, to the subject of the post. Images are always a nice touch to any blog.

Spelling and Grammar 

This is the first blog to receive a perfect 5 star rating in any category. It is hard to find a Web site, or blog for that matter, which has near perfect spelling and grammar. Suburbian Queen has well written posts that are very easy to read. The author has definitely spent some time to ensure to correct any spelling and grammar mistakes, and it shows in the posts.

Overall 

Suburbian Queen is an interesting blog that is fun to read. The design of the blog doesn’t distract or make it difficult to read the blog. The focus may be a little confusing to a new visitor, but after reading several posts you have an idea of what the author is trying to achieve. The posts are nice and short, and include simple and appropriate images. The spelling and grammar is top notch and achieved a perfect 5 star rating, a first in any category.

There is much information on the Internet today that discusses how to make money online. Everyone appears to have a method that works for them, but what it all comes down to is hard work and dedication.

In this review I look at, not only a ways of making money, but also of increasing your traffic and online presence as well. This week I look at the blog The Path To Total Financial Freedom.

Design 

When I first viewed the blog, I noticed that it consisted of a left navigation sidebar and a content section. As I scrolled down the page I quickly realized that the design of the blog was the weakest part of it.

Although there is a navigation bar on the left, it didn’t help provide an easy means of navigating through the blog. A blog will usually consist of a category list and an archives selection method. Although there is an archives list further down the page, I had trouble finding anything that resembled a categories list.

The sidebar was confusing as it consisted of many jumbled and unorganized images that may have some meaning to the blog, but I had difficulty associating them with it. If the navigation bar was more organized, it would make moving around the posts easier.

The home page itself contains much information for a visitor provided in many posts. The downside of this, however, is that it increases the page size dramatically. Checking the properties of the page, I noticed it came in at a whopping 173KB, and that is without the images. Reducing the number of posts displayed on the home page, and including a nice navigation bar will help the design greatly.

The design flaws show up in the posts themselves, as I noticed some posts had blue links, others had light green links that were hard to read, while others even had red. Being consistent with the link colours using CSS can make them easier to understand for visitors.

The footer is just as confusing as the sidebar as it is a jumble of links and images.

The design of the blog is by far the weakest part of the blog, but one that can be easily fixed with minimal effort.

Focus 

The focus of the blog is easy to determine since the author has conveniently provided a short definition below the title: “A Guide on how to succeed with the amazing Passport To Wealth Business Opportunity”. The posts he has written maintains this focus as the posts provide tips and tricks on succeeding the online business by increasing traffic and your online presence.

To strengthen the online business called “Passport to Wealth”, the author uses it in the title of various posts. Although he has included the name in the title, many of the tips the author has provided can be used for various online opportunities as well.

Overall, the focus of the blog is well defined and represented in the various posts by the author.

Content 

The content of The Path To Total Financial Freedom can at times be nice and summarized, while other times it can be quite long. For the long posts, it can take some time to download, especially if they are included on the same page. It was much easier to read the smaller posts as the author nicely summarizes the important points nicely.

The posts in general focus on increasing traffic, and focus on such Web sites as Alexa, and Google. Many of the tips provided in the posts can also be used for other online opportunities, which makes this blog a valuable resource for generating traffic.

The posts the author has written on the blog do provide some useful information, but finding them can be quite difficult because of the current navigation available at this time.

Spelling and Grammar 

There are a few spelling and grammar mistakes in several posts that could cause a visitor to go back and reread the sentence again. For the most part, however, the posts are easy to read and understand.

Overall 

The Path To Total Financial Freedom does have a clear focus and well written posts that do provide a visitor with many tips and tricks. The design of the blog, however, will need some major rework to make it easier for a visitor to retrieve the information they are looking for. Restructuring the navigation sidebar will go a long way to making the blog better.

Many blog authors like to write about personal experiences, which can be a refreshing change to those who like to read blogs. It’s nice to read about someone’s experiences on what they have done, or would like to do. For those that write a blog on their travels, the photos they take and display add to the enjoyment of the blogs as many of the photos provide a windows into another country and culture.

In this post I review a blog that provides both great content and photos to locations in the eastern part of the world. You may not understand the title: tenforty, but once you read the description of the title on the blog you will understand.

Design 

When I first looked at tenforty one word came to mind: blue. The entire site is mainly various shades of blue. If you are not a fan of that colour, then this may not be the blog for you. Blue is my favourite colour, however, I do have my limits to the amount of blue that I like to see.

Unfortunately, the right navigation bar’s background colour is blue as well as the links. This makes the links more difficult to read as blue on blue doesn’t work too well. Once a link has been visited the colour changes to a light orange colour. This makes it also a little difficult to read.

There are some items in the navigation bar that just don’t blend well with all the other items. An example of this is the Resources item, which stands out amongst all the other items since it has a faded book background. Making all items in the navigation bar similar will provide a nicer look to the entire right-side of the pages.

One of the things I liked about the design of the blog were the design of the posts. The author has chosen a nice large and very readable font. The titles of the posts are even large so they stand out against the fonts chosen for the post content. I like how the posts are all surrounded by a thick border and are separated by other posts with a space. This provides some nice separation between the posts.

The design of the blog could be improved if the author limited the amount of blue as a background colour, maybe possibly making the right navigation bar and the post background match and keeping the main body background as blue.

Focus 

For those that haven’t visited tenforty before may find it a little confusing as to the focus of the blog. There are many categories listed in the navigation bar, which may obscure the focus.

To help visitors understand the focus of the blog, the author has provided a nice description in the upper right corner. There the author also explains the name of the blog: “The 10/40 Window is an area of the world extending from 10 degrees north to 40 degrees north of the equator, and includes countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.” This also helps to set the focus for the entire blog, which is really ingenious. Sometimes coming up with a name for a Web site or blog can be complicated and I feel that the name captures what the author is writing about.

The focus of the blog is enhanced by the well written posts that also include photos of the authors experiences. Once you have visited the blog, the focus is more easy to determine as your read the posts on the blog.

Content 

As I have briefly touched upon in the focus, the main content of the blog is about the author’s experience in the eastern countries in the world. The author has gone into great detail in some posts, but not too much where they have lost the focus of the post. Many of the posts are enhanced with the inclusion of at least one photo followed by a brief description of the photo. This helps to picture what the author is illustrating in the posts.

While the photos help the posts, those visitors on dial up may have to wait for the complete post to be downloaded. Some posts have one photo, while others may have several. Some of the photos can be rather large (80KB and larger) which can take longer if you are on dial up.

The content overall is detailed and well illustrated with photos. The post length is not too long where the interest of the visitor can be lost, but are rather short and to the point, while at the same time not losing the focus of the post.

Spelling and Grammar 

As I read several posts I noticed that the author has obviously spent time checking both the spelling and grammar. I rarely found any problems with the spelling and grammar, which sometimes is a rarity in blogs. The very minor mistakes I did find, didn’t affect the readability of the posts. In this regard the author is very careful when writing the posts.

Overall 

I enjoyed reading many of the posts that have been written on tenforty, as well as view many of the photos that are available. The only issue I found with the blog is the amount of blue that was used. This made some of the links in the navigation bar hard to read as they almost blend into the background. Besides the blue colour, there were no real issues with the blog and was a really well written and detailed blog. It was worth the visit.

With Technically Easy I try to write posts that are both informational as well as helpful. I am a more serious blog as compared to other blogs. There are many types of blogs that people have authored, informational, personal, witty, or funny, as is the case with Web Mash.

It is nice to just get away from the pressures of life and just kick back and laugh and just have fun, and that is just what this blog provides.

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There is much information on various Web sites devoted to SEO, WordPress or blogging in general. Many simply display the same information that is provided on other sites, while others provide the information in a badly designed Web site.

This week I look at Matts Nutts which is focused on SEO, WordPress and blogging. The blog provides original posts with a nice clean design that will help others succeed in the world of blogging.

Design 

When I first looked at Matts Nutts I was immediately impressed with the look of the blog. I found it very easy on the eyes with a nice selection of colours. All colours on the blog seem to fit together nicely with none of the colours feeling out of place. I thought even the search bar with an completely different colour than the rest of the blog was a nice touch. It made the search bar stand out with is a nice plus if you would like to find specific information.

I like the fact that the header wasn’t too big and allowed at least one full post to appear above the fold. Many web sites have such a large header that a visitor would need to scroll down to find any of the content. The author has created a good size header to prevent any scrolling for content.

I like how the author shows only a few paragraphs of each post on the main page and then a link to the full post. This allowed me to quickly scan through the posts and click on any that I was interested in reading.

There really wasn’t any downsides to the design of the blog. I didn’t, however, like how the “Categories” section in the navigation bar was to the far right, and on my display, below the fold. I always like the categories to be more accessible as I can then easily view posts for a particular category.

One other issue I found with the design was on the “Contact Us” page. I found the headings in the form to be a little hard to read. The text is too small and light for the background colour. Besides these two design issues, the design of the entire blog was really well done.

Focus 

The focus of the blog is mainly on SEO, WordPress and blogging in general. When reading the posts you can easily determine the main focus of the blog.

I noticed that WordPress is covered in more detail than the other two focus points of the blog. The author definitely has much experience with using WordPress and provides great information on using it to create better blogs.

As for SEO, there are several posts relating to this topic, albeit, not as many as WordPress. The author provides some useful tips to optimizing your blog for search engines, especially if you use WordPress.

As for blogging in general, the author provides information on how to mnage blogs and tools that you can use. Many of his WordPress posts can also be used for other blogging engines, so don’t shy away from the blog just because you don’t use WordPress.

The focus of Matts Nutts is well defined and narrowed down to specific topics. Simply reading the blog without knowing the main focus will allow you to determine the focus yourself.

Content 

The content of Matts Nutts is well focussed. The posts are detailed and provide information on the various tools and tips on creating and maintaing a blog. Although blogging in general is discussed at times, the main target audience are those bloggers that use WordPress.

The author publishes posts to the blog on a regular basis, which is a good indication of how much time and effort the author puts into the blog. Subscibers to the blog will be rewarded with at least 3 posts a week.

Unfortunately, at times the spelling and grammar mistakes can take away from the readability of the posts. If there were less mistakes, then the content would be top notch. These mistakes are discussed in the next section.

Spelling and Grammar 

The one downside to this blog is the spelling and grammar. There are various grammar mistakes that may cause visitors to re-read a sentence a second time to understand the point the author is trying to make.

Many of the spelling mistakes are simple mistakes such as forgetting punctuation or the space between words. A simple text editor that includes a spell checker can easily identify the spelling mistakes within the posts. Most of the mistakes, however, don’t make the posts unreadable as they are usually just simple ones that you can easily identify the word the author intended to use.

The one mistake that appears throughout the blog is that of not capitalizing names. There are several posts that list the names of companies or products and the names are all in lower case. Once again, however, a visitor can easily understand the name of the company or product since the spelling is correct.

Overall 

The look of Matts Nutts is very easy to read and navigate around. The colours are easy on the eyes and blend well together, with the exception of the some of the headings on the “Contact Us” page.

The posts in the blog are detailed and provide much information with regards to blogging. The blog indicates that it discusses SEO, however, there aren’t too many posts dedicated to the section, at least not yet.

The one downside to this blog is the spelling and grammar mistakes. Many of the spelling mistakes are simple and can easily be correct with a spellchecker in a text editor. Some of the grammar mistakes could cause visitors to re-read the same sentence over again to understand the point of the author.

Overall, the blog is well designed and very informative, and could help many soon-to-be bloggers understand the world of blogging.

I mentioned in my last post that I will post reviews of Web sites and blogs for free. This is my first review and I am very familiar with the parent Web site of the blog that I have reviewed. The blog is managed by someone I have conversed with on Website Babble and have witnessed the development of the Web site.

The focus of the Weight Loss Weapons blog is simply the author sharing his experience about losing weight, but without the pills and the programs. Does the blog provide enough information to help you with losing weight that is easy to read and follow? Read the review to find out.

Design 

The design of the Weight Loss Weapons blog is very similar to the parent Web site, although the blue colours seem to be a little darker on the blog. This may have been done to set the two apart. In general, the blues that the author chose are nice and are easy on the eyes. This allows you to read the content without being distracted.

The navigational bar is to the right, but the list items are really close together. More spacing between the individual items would make it easier to read each item. As many blogs have, the author has chose to include a MyBlogLog recent readers list. Unfortunately, the placement of the widget is above the Blogroll and Archives lists. The blogroll and archives should be above this widget, with the Archives list appearing just below the Recent Posts.

The blog does include a handy search option, which works nicely. The search, however, is in the upper-right hand corner and can be missed easily. It would be better if it were more prominent, such as beside the top menubar. I was happy with the speed and accuracy of the search and feel that it is a nice feature.

Once aspect of the blog that I like was the nice, large and easy to read font. I have visited many Web sites and blogs where the font is small. I can read small text without any trouble, but others may find it difficult. They don’t have to worry about this blog as the author has chosen a nice size.

In terms of the design of the blog, I found it neat and easy to read and navigate. The author has definitely spent a great deal of time in the design of the blog.

Focus 

I mentioned in the introduction that the focus of the blog is on weight loss. He has gone into detail on such things as exercising and meal planning. There are many comments on each post where people have also provided good advice, which just adds to the focus of the blog.

Much of the advice that is given on the blog can be followed by anyone who just wants to get healthier, even if they don’t plan on losing weight.

There are a few posts that are a little off topic in the blog. They usually provide updates about the blog itself. While they may be off topic, the author has nicely included them in a separate topic in the navigation on the right. This excludes them from other topics someone may use for weight-loss.

Overall the main focus of the blog is clear and easy to determine by simply reading several posts. The author obviously has had experience with losing weight and it shows within his posts.

Content 

I like to use long posts in my blog, mostly because I have a lot to say. For most bloggers, short and concise posts are what they favour. The author of the Weight Loss Weapons blog has chosen to write smaller posts, but they are not short on information.

The posts within the blog are well written and contain a lot of useful information. The author seems to publish several posts a week which is great for those looking for information. It also shows that the author spends the time and effort maintaining the blog, which adds to its quality.

With the exception of a few posts that provide a blog update, the posts pertain to weight loss, which the focus of the Web site and blog. His posts are well written with very few spelling and grammatical errors, which I discuss in the next section.

There were a few problems with some of the pages and links on the site. The About page link in the menu bar links to a standard WordPress template page that isn’t complete. A nice about page would add to the blog. The link to the parent site works correctly in the navigation bar on the right, but brings up a “Page Not Found” page from the link in the footer. If you do want to go to the parent Web site, simply remove the “/blog/” from the URL.

Besides those to issues, the content within the posts are nice and short and easy to read. For those looking to lose weight, you will find a lot of useful advice without the fluff.

Spelling and Grammar 

The author has definitely taken the time to check for spelling and grammar on his blog, as it was difficult to find any mistakes. I did, however, find a few minor issues within some of the posts. There are a few times where the author includes a comment in parenthesis after a paragraph but doesn’t include an ending period. There are other times where words within a sentence are capitalized when they don’t need to be.

Besides those two minor issues, the blog did not have many mistakes, which made it nice to read. The issues described above did not affect the readability of the posts in any way.

Overall 

As I mentioned, I know the author of the blog from Website Babble, and so I also know the amount of time and effort he has put into it, and it clearly shows. Overall I found the blog nicely organized, and easy to read and understand. With the exception of a few minor design and link issues, the Weight Loss Weapons blog is a great blog that anyone trying to lose weight should check out.

I have been thinking about how generating backlinks is a great way of getting exposure for your web site or blog. It takes time and effort to generate backlinks to your web site, and it is a never ending experience.

I have decided to help out those who have a web site but are having trouble getting others to link to them. I’ll even go one step further than providing a backlink, I’ll write a full review about the web site in a future post.

The details about getting a review of your web site can be found in this post.

Requesting a Review

To get a review done about your web site, you simply need to contact me in the e-mail address provided on Technically Easy. When you do send an e-mail to psalmon12@gmail.com, include the following:

• Your web site name.
• Your web site URL.
• A description of your web site.
• Your name and e-mail address. (Don’t worry these won’t be published in the review).
• The subject of the e-mail should read Free Web Site Review.

I’m interested in relatively new web sites and blogs to help them out, but I do have my limits. I won’t review sites that only have a few pages (less than 10), or blogs that have few posts (less than 10). I will review sites only if they look like the owner has put some time and effort into the site, and not some quickie, spur of the moment site.

I can’t give a timeline on how quickly your site will get reviewed, but I’ll try to create a review on a regular basis. Depending on how many requests I get, it could take some time to post a review of your web site. I’ll send you an e-mail once the review is available.

Review Criteria

I have decided to rate a web site on the following elements:

• Design – Is the look and feel of the web site pleasing to the eye and easy to navigate? Does the entire site seem to flow or is it a jumbled mess?
• Focus – What is the focus of the web site? Is it easy to determine or does a visitor have to hunt around for one?
• Content – I’ll read through some of the content to see if it matches the focus of the entire web site. I’ll check to see if it is easy to read and understand and make note of any content that stands out.
• Spelling and Grammar – I’ll see if the content is well-written by checking the spelling and grammar. Having bad spelling or grammar can make the content more difficult to understand.

There may be other criteria in the future, but these are the main elements that I will be targeting. I will rate each element out of 5 stars, and then rate the entire site overall out of 5 stars.

I will be honest with my reviews but will mention both the positive and negative aspects of the web site. Don’t get angry with me if your site doesn’t receive a high rating. I am just one person, and another may have a different opinion about your web site. Keep in mind that I’m writing a review for free.

Summary

Generating backlinks to your web site is one of the best methods you can do to increase the exposure, and eventually traffic, to your web site. It takes time and effort to generate backlinks, but I can help to make it easier for you. I will write a free review for your web site and post it on Technically Easy.

I will review several elements of your web site and rate them out of 5 stars, and also rate your entire site out of 5 stars. If you would like a review, simply send me an e-mail that includes the information outlined in this post, and I’ll visit your web site and write a review.