Today I will be writing a review about PureBlogging.com. David Culpepper of PureBlogging.com came by my site thanks to the recent John Chow post after I informed John about a problem with Brian’s Threaded Comments. When David browsed my site, he noticed that I write site reviews and requested that I write one about his site. He also mentioned that he has an excellent Blog Contest going right now where you can Win An 8GB Apple iPod Nano. I would have reviewed his site with just him asking, but still, that iPod nano is one heck of a great incentive. What a great prize offer! If you are comfortable with writing site reviews, I advise that you definitely take him up on such a great opportunity!

Okay, so lets begin the site review of PureBlogging.com.

The Good:
Wow, what a great site to obtain blogging information! Here is a couple items that I want to spotlight.

• Valid & Worthy Content - There are definitely no “fillers” on this site. Every post I read was useful and/or well researched. The writing style is exactly what you are looking for from a site directed at providing you information.
• Maximum Use of a Basic Template - Really loving it. David has really maximized the potential of his site’s “real estate”. He uses a very basic design, but everything is placed so efficiently that it all flows really well. I really like how the AdSense on this site is placed, a lot of the time you will see that it is obtrusive on most sites. That is definitely not the case with PureBlogging.com.

The Not-So-Good:
I am very impressed with PureBlogging.com. It was not easy to fill this section.

• Site Logo - although it serves its purpose, it really is unimpressive. I think on a information site you want something a lot more grabbing. Something that sticks out and will have its own associative look. Current design has elements that are too commonly used.
• Site Tag - “Make Money Online with” is being so commonly used these days. I’m not sure if this is a good angle to approach the net with so much well established competition.

Summary & Advice:
Really, please, keep doing what you are doing. Your content is great and well formed. Your site structure and setup is one that definitely makes me happy as a blog reader. I do recommend a logo redesign. If graphic design is not something you are comfortable with, many logo designing services are available. Perhaps if AdSense or anything else brings in some good income you can reward the site with a shiny new logo. “Make Money Online” is not a bad tag, just so widely used. I would go after a similar phrase that is used often in search strings and make it your own!

* My reviews are based on my own opinion of different matters. I can be very critical of some items, but that is just because I am trying to help. If you would like me to review your blog or website, now is a very good time. For a limited time I am offering my review services for free. Only requirement is that upon receiving the review, you can either review my site on yours or add me to your blog roll.

Share This

I think one of the first things you will see about MsDanielle.com is that it is more than Just another ego blog site. She has decided to start a Back Link Promotion involving blogger reviews of her site. I know Danielle is very active in the blogging community and I am happy to review her site. Blogging and Site reviews is something that I feel may be a great strong point of this site in the future, after all, I’m honest.

The Good:
Her site has a great appearance to it. All the colors mix well and basically bring you into this “Danielle World” that you can only associate with her. I can’t recall any other blogs that look similar to hers so her design and colors really do stick out on their own. Her posts are mainly focused on marketing blog tips, but she does not just stick to that. She expands into many topics but it all does flow great together. There are a couple posts of hers that I wanted to pull attention to. If you have never been to her site before, these are a couple that I have enjoyed immensely: Google Operators: What Are They and Why Do I Care? & Is There Such a Thing as Blog Ethics?.

The Not-So-Good:
Site Navigation:
This is something I am just picky about. Once I open an individual post, I really like to go straight from one post to the next or previous without having to go back to the main page. To me, having the next and previous links is something so basic that all blogs should just have. It makes it easier for the “active commentators” of your site to comment more.
Header:
“Thats a huge header!” It really looks great, I like the design of it and everything, but combining the image together with the rest of your header content and its easy to see that you are taking up around 40-50% of your opening screen space (on a standard 1024/768) with just the title of your page. Opening screen space is something very important. You want to be able to show a lot more content here to the reader as they will see this quite a bit before they scroll. Remember, the header area is the one thing you can guarantee they will see on every page load. However you have no idea if they will scroll the full length of your page. This space being used could be showing more props to your commentators or perhaps have more monetization without requiring scrolling.

Summary & Advice:
I think the layout, colors, and content of your site mixed into this wonderful recipe and became what it is! I honest can’t find a lot wrong with your site, its great! I would really throw in the navigational links, it really helps people comment more when they can jump directly to the next post. And I would also work on shrinking down the header, even if it was just width so that your sidebar could run longer. And finally, as your sites content goes, well, you have another RSS Subscriber and his name is - me

* My reviews are based on my own opinion of different matters. I can be very critical of some items, but that is just because I am trying to help. If you would like me to review your blog or website, please comment below. I am trying to get my feet wet on technical reviews and I am willing to review yours for free. Only requirement is that upon receiving the review, you can either review my site on yours or add me to your blog roll.

Share This

Shawn Knight, a fellow blogger, has decided to go in the footsteps of the great John Chow and start a “Review My Blog” link back program. Shawn was one of the first to participate on my site, so of course I have been participating on his. There have been different items about his site that I have noticed, and given this opportunity, would love to point out. I think it is our responsibility as a community to do such things for one another.

The Good:
Shawn’s content is amazing. He doesn’t only add new content multiple times a day, but its valid content. You never get that feeling of this was just thrown in so I can say I blogged today. He has a great “Daily Ownage” series going right now that involves pictures of a lot of unfortunate situations. Along with another series called “Photo-a-day” he really does a great job of keeping valid and updated content on his site.

The Not-So-Good:
There are a few things on Shawn’s site that almost sent me in a different direction. But his content is so good that it has kept me coming back.
Site Navigation:
The first thing I would like to mention is the unfriendly content navigation. When you are reading an individual blog, there is no way to navigate the next or previous one without going back to the main page. There are links for “Related Posts”, but I want to be able to just next and/or back through the posts.
Scare Factor:
John Chow just recently wrote about this too. You are advertising a low subscriber rate on your RSS feed. If you have a low rate, maybe you are not interesting? That’s not true of course, your content is great, but that low rate did almost scare me away. I would keep that little widget off until as John advises - 50+.
Partial RSS Feed:
I’m subscribed to your RSS feed, but noticed it is only a summary/start feed. You have to look at this from a different perspective. Most users, including me, subscribe to many feeds. They want to catch up on everything all at once. I think most users will not want to only catch the summary and than open your site, they want all of it. You may have a strategy as to why you only show part, but I’m telling you, that partial feed is most likely making you lose subscriptions.

Summary & Advice
Keep going in the direction you are already going. Your content is amazing and that is what is most important of a blogger. The rest of the stuff is just how you deliver it. Change or not, you still have me as a reader. I just know that if you are able to work on any of the “Not-So-Good” stuff, there will be a lot more out there sharing this great content of yours.

* My reviews are based on my own opinion of different matters. I can be very critical of some items, but that is just because I am trying to help. After all, I know I need to move my RSS links to the top of the page, I have not yet, but that would be handy advice for me. [Scratch That - took care of moving those links today]. If you would like me to review your blog or website, please comment below. I am trying to get my feet wet on technical reviews and I am willing to review yours for free. Only requirement is that upon receiving the review, you can either review my site on yours or add me to your blog roll.

Share This