Archive for category: Reviews

BlogReviews#2: Bloggin-Ads

BlogReviews#2: Bloggin-Ads

This review is part of my free blog review offer.

Bloggin-Ads impressively aims to review a new blog every single day. The owner claims that his inspiration for creating the site was to enable smaller sites to get some exposure along with helpful advice, and I admire that goal.

This site has a really impressive backlog of blog entries, and as although it may not be an actual review every day, it appears Mike and his wife sure have been posting consistently since the blog started in October of last year (see archives). The daily posts made are informative, detailed, and in some instances can offer solid advice and ‘food for thought’ for any blogger. All posts offer up social link options, like bookmarking and adding to digg for example, a good move which will help bring in new and returning visitors. Other positive social aspects of the blog include MyBlogLog and Blogosphere widgets among others.

Additionally to Mike and Michelle posting on Bloggin-Ads the site also employs an interesting user-content style approach which allows registered users the opportunity to have their own review(s) posted. These reviews can be about a blog of the users choosing, and of course their own. This is a unique way of gaining additional content, and a nice way for start up bloggers to get some external exposure and link-backs. It’s like guest blogging for all, an open way for the blog owners to get more blog posts, and more importantly they can pick and choose.

The site has an About page which actually informs the reader what the site is about, it’s inspirations, and it’s overall goals, if only the same could be said for mine! More blogs, mine included, need to work on there about pages. Here is a good post from Skelliewag about writing a good about page. Other pages include the advertising page, which offers up various reasonably priced options, and a basic contact page, with links to social networking sites along with the expected email form.

One thing Bloggin-Ads does have which surprised me is a forum. This surprise was only down to seeing very very few blogs with forums, and as expected the forum was quiet with only 4 members posting in a measly 5 topics (at time of writing). Now a forum may well be a worthwhile addition once the blog grows and has users wanting to discuss and request reviews, but right now it seems like a worthless addition to an otherwise good site.

The site is using a good colourful free theme, and although it is a suitable theme, when the blog grows I suggest going custom.

If the blog keeps up it’s healthy rate of posting and continues to offer free reviews I can’t see why the site will not succeed in growing. Remove the forum for now, and keep on blogging.

Bloggin-Ads is a blog about blogs.
http://bloggin-ads.com/

January 7, 2008 2 comments Read More
BlogReviews#1: DailyNintendo

BlogReviews#1: DailyNintendo

Before I begin, just a quick word, hoping you all had a good Christmas.

For the first in a series of blog reviews I will be taking a look at DailyNintendo.

DailyNintendo, as the name suggests, is a blog which concentrates on aiming to deliver daily news about the popular videogaming company Nintendo. The site appears to have started posting Nintendo news back in March of 2007 and since then has been reporting various informal tidbits of information at a healthy rate. Despite having a healthy flow of news, it is worth noting that this rate is far from the advertised ‘daily’ (more so every couple of days), maybe something for the site writers to work on in order to stay true their name.

In terms of design the blog has a simple layout which appears washed out and unfortunately somewhat bland. The world of Nintendo is bright, colourful and fun, maybe the blog should reflect this. The header image is a positive step in the right direction, offering the visitor various imagery from Nintendo history (just refresh or visit another page), something no doubt any Nintendo fan would appreciate; although it may worth stylizing the DailyNintendo logo to increase recognition of the sites name and on a whole the sites identity. A splash of colour and a tweak to the logo will go a very long way.

Upon opening the blog, my eyes were immediately drawn to the Google AdSense advertisements on the right hand side, now this may well be down to my personal familiarity in dealing with AdSense, but the placement of these ads are very apparent and will probably result in very little organic clicks. The AdSense spots underneath each individual news post are much more effective, and no doubt receives more clicks. Check your stats and if so maybe consider removing that unsightly ad spot on the right.

At the very footer of the page a blurb of text quotes ‘Podcast Powered by podPress (v8.5)’, DailyNintendo may well have a podcast, but I can’t see it, and this is a problem as podcasts are great ways to bring return visitors and a superb way to interact with your loyal site fans. If the site doesn’t have a podcast, then why is it there? Am I missing something?

DailyNintendo is connected. Each post offers the reader the opportunity to bookmark it and add it to a wide selection of social sites, such as social news sites like digg and del.icio.us, and even networking sites like Facebook. This is a great way to get the site exposure. As expected of any blog you can also subscribe via the RSS feed, this is offered to the user via a small graphic on the right sidebar, and should be exposed more (bigger more attractive RSS image perhaps?) to increase readership; maybe even run a contest to get people to subscribe.

This blog delivers content at a healthy rate, but could be improved, as lets not forget, content is king. Spruce up the colours (Maybe a classic Nintendo red, or the Wii’s subtle blues?) and pay some attention to the logo. With these changes implemented no doubt your visitors will appreciate them, and no doubt you will too. Keep at it.

www.dailynintendo.com

December 27, 2007 Comments are Disabled Read More
Browser Compatibility

Browser Compatibility

When coding any website it is imperative to check that your code renders in a suitable fashion (preferably valid of course) on all browsers, be it Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer or  Opera  making sure your site is accessible to as many potential visitors is something that can not be ignored; and why should it? If you decided to code for just one browser exclusively you would be denying yourselves could be visitors.

Of course checking that your site looks right in individual browsers can be a chore, so before downloading every browser on the planet make sure your code is valid, sure your code may well be pretty stable but different browsers has a habit unfortunately of rendering code in various alternative ways.

I recently stumbled upon a helpful site which allows you to enter any given URL to see how it appears in various browser windows, in fact it offers over 15 browsers (various versions) to try it in.  The site in question is Browser Shots (http://browsershots.org), it offers a simple interface and plenty of options for your desired results, from window size (800×600, 1024 etc), colour depth, and whether flash, javascript and java should be enabled and if so by which version. Upon submitting your desired URL the site takes a few minutes (so be patient) to retrieve your results, and when it does you will be presented with clear images of how your site looks, so click through them to spot any inconsistency’s.

If your currently in need of checking cross browser compatibility for your site Browser Shots is a highly recommended solution.

December 16, 2007 Comments are Disabled Read More
Free Blog Reviews

Free Blog Reviews

That’s right, from now until the end of January I shall be offering free blog reviews on ChrisBrandrick.com. If you would like your blog reviewing just check the following conditions and get in touch:

  • Your blog must have been active for over 30 days.
  • No blogs featuring explicit or illegal content.
  • I can decline to review any blog.
  • A backlink to my blog on your site (in any form, be it a blog post or text link) would be appreciated.

The reviews will feature my opinions on your area of content, the content itself, blog design, update frequency and so on. The reviews will be done on first come first served basis. You will receive notification from me when your blog review goes live on the site, or if you get declined. Just use the following form to get in touch, and be sure to include all the necessary details!

NO LONGER AVAILABLE, OFFER OVER, MANY THANKS TO ALL THOSE THAT SUBMITTED.

Thanks for the submissions in advance!

December 14, 2007 1 comment Read More
Say hello to Entrecard

Say hello to Entrecard

If you have never visited ChrisBrandrick.com there is a good chance you are here thanks to Entrecard, but if you are here wondering what Entrecard is then this blog post sets out to explain this new ‘Web 2.0′ service.

Entrecard (www.entrecard.com) is a recently launched website which offers the opportunity to share a ‘digital business card’ via your own personal blog. It’s a simple yet brilliant concept which allows site owners to widen there online horizons, find new blogs, advertise their own blog, and up their RSS count.

Upon signing up you create an advert that represents your site, and then start earning credit to use on advertising. Credit is earned via sharing your advert (entrecard/business card) on other peoples site, and when others leave there card for you to check out.

With this credit building up, it can then be used to advertise your card on a external blog of your choice (depending on several factors).

My Entrecard section can be seen on the right side of my blog under ‘Blog of the day’, so if you are already a user drop me your card! The site is growing fast and with good reason, it offers a free way to advertise and a superb way to expand your network.

Recommended.

December 13, 2007 Comments are Disabled Read More
Daily Lit

Daily Lit

Recently a friend recommended an interesting little website, DailyLit is a simple site which through the power of email (and RSS) you can read a book of your choice. The site has a simple clean look and it just requires you to choose a book from the somewhat small selection, and sign up via email or rss, and then each day you will receive a chapter or section of that book.

The idea behind the site is that those that find themselves lacking the time to sit down and read and commit to a book can have it in easy daily chunks, and although the site is still ironing out some copyright issues to make more books available it seems like an interesting idea worth keeping an eye.

Check it out.

August 5, 2007 Comments are Disabled Read More
Don’t Click This!

Don’t Click This!

While using stumbleupon earlier today I stumbled across this website: ‘Don’tClickIt‘. The site is simple but interesting and questions the ideas behind clicking on the web and explores alternatives including various mouse-over gestures. The site also includes a handful of stats on how many visitors clicked while using the page, and it’s high! An interesting look at web usage, be sure to give it a read, but don’t click!

http://www.dontclick.it/

July 22, 2007 Comments are Disabled Read More
TylerCruz.com – Blog Review

TylerCruz.com – Blog Review

For my first review I decided to take a look at a blog which I myself have been reading for some time.

Tyler Cruz’s blog revolves around his internet entrepreneur life and his antics online. I have been reading his blog for over a year now, and recently subscribed to the RSS feed on offer. What first attracted me to his blog was it’s down to earth and honest writing style when approaching such topics as buying and selling domains, big blogging and of course making money online. Unfortunately recently the blog seems to have moved away somewhat from the more personal posts and now seems more concentrated on reviewing and monetization and now features more than one poster, removing that personal touch, but of course we all need to make progress, and Tyler has done so fast with his blog and I commend that. Those of you who decide to take a visit can expect posts on such topics as making money online, statistics, domains and more.

A really interesting blog detailing the goings on of a true internet entrepreneur, check it out:
Internet Entrepreneur

June 29, 2007 Comments are Disabled Read More
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