Archives for July 2006

Jul 24 2006

Review of the Travel Rants Blog

Since I’m in the travel blog state of mind, I decided I would go ahead and do a review that had been requested by DarrenC at V7N. According to the title of his blog, Darren is a self-proclaimed travel addict. After taking a look at his personal page, I have to say I agree with him. Although Darren is only thirty-three, he has done a lot of traveling.

Upon visiting the homepage, I was met with an attractive WordPress blog. I have to admit that I’m especially fond of the header animation. The man holding the phone and looking like he is about to snap reminds me of a few all too familiar situations in various airports. As far as the layout of the blog, it is very organized and free of ad clutter (I only noticed a few, unobtrusive ads throughout the site). At the top of the page is a navigation bar, which provides links to various pages, along with a travel forum. Although the forum is relatively small, it still has over two hundred and fifty members, along with a lot of good information. The only downside I see to the forum is the lack of comments on the blog (this goes back to Mike’s review of the Mark Joyner blog, however, Darren’s blog does not pressure visitors to go to the forum).

I didn’t take the time to find out exactly how old the blog was (there was no monthly or yearly archive link), but it does contain over one hundred and fifty posts. It seems like Darren does a very good job of posting fresh content on a regular basis. Although there is a link that allows visitors to submit travel articles, it looks like Darren does the majority (if not all) of the writing and posting.

I have decided to give this blog a four because of the nice template and extensive content. Although I wasn’t overall interested in the content (mainly because my travel opportunities at this point are slim), Darren has created a very useful blog for travellers (especially international). The posts and categories range from advice to news, and everything in between. This was the aspect of the blog that I liked most. Although the blog relates to travel, Darren varies his post by addressing many different areas of travel. On the homepage alone, his posts vary from “Wine Tours in New Zealand” to “Be Healthy During the Heatwave.”

As long as Darren continues to post regularly (and maybe even step up the pace a little bit), I see nothing but good things in the future for his blog.

–Tyler Banfield

Review of Vermont Travel Notes

Rated 3 at Bloggeries
I want to preface this review with this note: If you are not interested in Vermont travel, this is not the blog for you. Mr. Connor has created a blog that fits a specific niche and audience, so I will critique it accordingly.

Vermont Travel Notes was created on April 5th, 2006. Although the blog started off pretty slowly (only three posts during the first two months), the posting frequency has gradually increased over time (between three to five posts per week). During less than four months of existence, this blog has had over fifteen thousand visitors, which is pretty impressive for a niche blog.

As far as the content of the site goes, the title says it all. Jeff’s blog is a collection of events, tips and personal stories about traveling through Vermont. Whether you want to hear about Route 100 or current attractions in Vermont, this blog probably addresses it. In addition to providing plenty of useful information, the blog also provides external links for users to follow. On a topic that is as extensive as this, it is very wise of the author to supplement his posts with additional information from other sources.

The Vermont Travel Notes blog is actually a part of a larger site for the Grunberg Haus Inn. If you couldn’t figure this out, the Grunbeg Haus Inn is located in Vermont. I was impressed that Jeff avoided making the blog a blatant plug for the inn and actually made it a useful resource.

Although I think the content of this blog is useful, there are some areas of the template that I didn’t particularly like. In my humble opinion, the blog had way too many links to bookmarking and feed subscription services. A simple FeedBurner link (along with a couple bookmark links) would suffice. The excess of links makes the margins of the blog appear a little too cluttered.

I rated this blog a three for two main reasons. First of all, as I mentioned above, I think the template could be improved through some minor changes. Second (and most importantly), this blog is fairly new and needs to stand the test of time. Although it is being updated three to five times per week, less than a month and a half ago it was being updated much less frequently. As long as Jeff continues to maintain his current posting rate, he will have no problem making his blog grow and flourish.

–Tyler Banfield

Jul 12 2006

McHammer – The Blog

blog review So what do we know about Hammer? He was an MTV icon for a minute and then became the butt of jokes. Well now he has a blog as well. A blogspot blog. Could he be that broke?

Well, apparently McHammer (btw. I thought he was just called Hammer now), has a team member named Eric who works for Google. Google’s blogger department, the one responsible for such mess-ups like deleting blogspot blogs for interlinking, assuming that it’s all done for the reason of manipulating search engines rankings (true in some cases, but not all). So it seems like Google and Hammer are in this together. Whether he is trying to get the domain name McHammer.com or not, I don’t know. But it seems like he is fine with the way things are right now. Doesn’t make sense to me how anyone could be ok not owning his own online identity.

So now let me put away whatever I know about Hammer, Blogger and look at the weblog itself.
In his profile he says:

I’m an ordinary man, who has lived an extraordinary life. I have been to Japan,Russia,Korea, Hong Kong,Egypt,Germany,Spain, Australia,Singapore,Puerto Rico, every state in America including Alaska and Hawaii.I have met and dined with Presidents and Sultans, and Princes. Most and above all I have met God.

and suddenly I realize, that none of us really know the person. What he says about himself. His blog entries are about his family, his music videos and whatever seems to interest him.

Fishing with the boys, stuff like that shows me that his interests are no longer to be the biggest star in the world. He doesn’t seem to care too much about image at all. His entries seem laid back, and he takes the time to respond to fans commenting. He does however promote current and upcoming events in entries such as DC Hammertime Hyphy Show as well as on his My Space Blog.

To make a long story short, I’m giving it a 2. I like his effort. I give his at least a 4 for his own writings and participation. I hate the slow loading time, the low budget presentation that blogger seems to limit its users to. I would like to give it a higher rating, but believe that the owner of a blog should take some serious interest in aspects that he himself is not an expert in as well.

Register a domain name, Mc. Hammertimeonline.com was available the other day. Sue for your own domain if you have to. Create a stronger presence online. You’ve skyrocketed to the top once, don’t let Blogger keep you from doing so again.

– Mike Damman
Blog Reviews and More