Archive for May, 2007
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Posted by Bloggeries in Reviews, Construction
If you are in business at all, you want to check out Construction Marketing Ideas. The site establishes itself as a place to provide information and ideas for marketing and promoting your construction or construction-related business. The owner of the site runs a business that publishes regional construction newspapers in several Canadian and American cities and is currently building a network of approximately 100 regional and local construction sites. Some of the business’s publications and websites include: Charlotte Construction News, North Carolina Construction News, Ontario Construction Report, Ottawa Construction Report, Triad Construction News, Triangle Construction News, and GTA Construction Report. GTA stands for Greater Toronto Area, and I know that as I am waving from the Niagara Region as I write this. The site is designed to provide information and assistance on marketing or promoting your own construction related site, but if you look into it, you will find some good business sense that can be carried to many standard businesses.
The owner of the site, Mark Buckshon, writes and runs his business out of North Carolina and has a lot to offer business owners. Recent posts include: The SMPS Listserve: One of my most valuable resources; Coke, Pepsi, and Jeffrey Gitomer Do you Agree?; Five Golden Rules for Blogger Relations; Does ‘free work?; and Pricing, value and free services – The balancing act to name a few. One of my personal favorites was a great story about using executive air fares to get into the coveted lounge, but not actually using the ticket. You have to read “Marketing, time, and employees” to get that one.
The site is very simply constructed, this making it as simple to navigate. Posts are left marginalized, and the blog is active – already over 40 posts in May as of the 23rd. Down the right navigation bars you will find blog standards – a list of other construction blogs, recent posts, and the about me section. Here you will also find Construction Marketing Resources Links which if you are in the business, will be very useful to you. At the top of the page you can sign up for the blog newsletter.
I am going with a 3.5 here, and mostly would recommend some appearance changes to the blog. The site is so simple it does not appear interesting just from appearances alone. However the rich content makes up for that as all posts are well-written and the voice is clearly professional and knowledgeable. However some construction pictures, such as the ones on their publishing sites, would give this site a little bit of pop I think. Activity scores are high, as this blog is worked on regularly. And the content of the posts offers it some uniqueness points as well. I think also this site could use some categories, just to tag the posts a little more effectively and hopefully run up the readership. Otherwise, this is an excellently written blog and even offered me some tips for my own business (freelance writing that is) so I think it deserves a peek from anyone that is working for themselves.
- Chrissie
Note: For further blogs similar to this one or to submit your own please browse our World Famous and Incredibly Strong Blog Directory! If you’d like to interact with other bloggers to share tips and traffic secrets please join our Blogger Forum. If you would like feedback from your blog please make one of our Free Blog Poll’s!
Posted by Bloggeries in Reviews, Spotlight, Internet Marketing, SEO, Entrepreneurship
For today’s blog review we have another Internet Marketing blog, “Self Made Minds - Earning by Learning“. If you own a blog or run a website, this one is worth checking out. It IS another Internet Marketing blog, but it is not JUST another money making site. I promise you that you will get something valuable from this website even if you can’t drop in for more than a few minutes. Self Made Minds is the baby of two Internet entrepreneurs Al and Scott. Their goal of this “earning by learning” blog is to share with you, the Internet Marketer, what has and has not worked for them along the way. Both of them are true entrepreneurs with neither of them paying credence to the 9-5 rat race, and this blog as well as their other websites is what puts their “bread and beer on the table”. Even if you aren’t trying to make money on the Internet, take some time to go through some of their recent posts: “Well it works on my machine”, “How to value a site”, “Stumble on, and on, and on”, “Organic links and how to get them”, “Finding Traffic Domains”, and so many more. If you do so, you will understand why one of their sites is valued at 2.308 million dollars, a self-described “bloody massive slight over estimate” in their opinion. But if you view some of their work, you will see why they are so highly regarded. The goal of this site is to show by example, and they do just that, proving how self made their minds really are.
Navigation on this site is straightforward. If you are looking for something specific, you will either find it very quickly, or it won’t be listed on the site. If that happens to be the case, be sure to drop them a note about it. They value their readers input and take it seriously, as you will see from their opening page and how they have been responding to readers comments. However if you are into Marketing online, you should not have a problem finding an answer to any of your questions in the Adsense, Blogging, Building Traffic, Business News, Domains, History of a $100 K Site (theirs, by the way), Miscellaneous, Money Making Tips, Online Business Ideas, and Site News Categories. Their understanding of the importance of content is palpable simply from their own writing, and the credence they give to their current guest author Jason Rickard. The posts here are well-written, such that you get the immediate impression that these opinions are professionally derived, but they are not pure business speak. The content is extremely user friendly, enjoyable to read, and appropriately humorous when called for. Further, it is clear that they have a solid and loyal readership judging from the amount of comments each of their posts contains. That alone gives a substantial credibility to this website.
I am going to go with a 4.8 here. The content is very unique, this site definitely sets itself apart from other Internet Marketing blogs. Navigation and appearance marks also score very well. Activity is so excellent, that no improvements are needed there. For two very busy guys, they are extremely dedicated to ensuring the success of this website. The only suggestion I would make is to shorten the blog posts just a smidge. I understand the reason their posts are the length that they are, as it is difficult to provide quality, unique content in just a paragraph or two, however I found them very long and was not able to get through the entirety of a few posts. Not that I didn’t find them interesting, just my attention was not maintained and found myself wandering to other areas of the site. However, if you are an Internet Marketer you may feel different. I urge you to go check it out, and can pretty much guarantee you will not walk away without at least one new idea for your Marketing campaigns.
- Chrissie
Note: For further blogs similar to this one or to submit your own please browse our World Famous and Incredibly Strong Blog Directory! If you’d like to interact with other bloggers to share tips and traffic secrets please join our Blogger Forum. If you would like feedback from your blog please make one of our Free Blog Poll’s!
Posted by Bloggeries in Reviews, Contests and Freebies
Everyone probably has at least one friend that is a contest or sweepstakes junkie. Perhaps that person is you. If so, take a minute to check out “The Prize Blog - A Free Updated List of Contests, Sweepstakes and Prizes!” Here you will find a free updated list of contests, games, and prizes available online. The site also offers a review of different gaming sites providing them with letter grades. The owner of this site, Brian Aldrich, started this site only a few months ago, to provide you with the best sweepstakes site the Internet can offer. There really is a sweepstakes for everyone here, you will find contests on everything from kitchen appliances to brand new 2007 vehicles. Each post represents a different sweepstakes or contest. On the opening page you will find posts and contests like, “Ben & Jerry’s Eco Excursion Sweepstake”, “Redbook Intimate Moments Sweepstakes”, HGTV’s Big Backyard Splash Sweepstakes”, “Lamps Plus Win a 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid”, and even a sweepstakes of their own “The Prize Blog and MyBlogLog Giveaway”. Other reviewers have said this blog is “attractive and interesting…really fun” and have stated it as the blog with all the “best online competitions available” . If you look around, you will see why this blog has received such excellent recognition during its very short time on the Internet.
Navigation on this site is very easy and straightforward. In fact, the site is so professionally laid out that it is almost hard to see it is a blog. There are two navigation bars, left and right, and a top navigation bar as well. Each bar offers different links, so you can see very quickly that this site has a lot to offer. On the left bar, you can check out some other contest bloggers like Contest Girl, and Grandma Jam. In the right you can read recent comments or go over some of the blog’s site reviews where it reviews some online gaming sites and easy cash programs. You will also find in this bar sweepstakes and contests links, and an opportunity to donate to the site if you wish to do so. At the top is standard site administration such as site map, FAQ, forum, contact info, about page, tools menu, and even a link exchange. Overall this site is laid out in a very clear cut manner, and if you are a sweepstakes kind of person, you should find yourself having a lot of fun here.
I am going with a 4 for this one which gives credence to how good this site is considering it is only a few months old. The site gets top notch marks for navigation and appearance with its very professional layout. Other reviewers have said in reference to its layout “If only my own company would have an awesome page like that.” And I have to agree, it is very user friendly and the overall appeal is nothing but professional. Content and activity scores are high also as the sweepstakes and contests are very diverse, and the posts are short and to the point. Uniqueness points are well earned due to the varied nature of the contests, gaming sites, and the overall concept of the blog itself. The few recommendations I would have would be to install more AdSense or advertising as a means of generating revenue, as opposed to the donation link. I think the appeal of the site is that it offers free stuff, and the donation link may distract from that goal; also the ads from adsense will probably be targetted to prizes contests and sweepstakes anyways so it should be easy to get people clicking. The site could use some more readers, but given its youth, I doubt once word gets out that would take very long. Should it establish a larger audience, that forum will grow a little bit and Brian could see some monetization from AdSense or other advertising means. If you like to enjoy contests, get in there while the readership is young, you just never know what you may end up winning. Good luck!
- Chrissie
Note: For further blogs similar to this one or to submit your own please browse our World Famous and Incredibly Strong Blog Directory! If you’d like to interact with other bloggers to share tips and traffic secrets please join our Blogger Forum. If you would like feedback from your blog please make one of our Free Blog Poll’s!
Posted by Bloggeries in Reviews, Photography
If you have any interest in photography, go see TornButtons.com a “collection of experimental series using traditional and alternative processes including pinhole and polaroid”. In other words, this site is anything and everything you want to know about digital photography. Despite the fact that this site is relatively new (it has only been around since January 2007) it contains quite a large spread of information on digital photography how to’s and 101’s. Recent posts include “Picture Perfect Photos”, “Digital Single Lens Reflux”, “Macro Digital Photography”, “Perfect Shots”, “Basics of Digital Photography”, and so much more. If you dig a little bit, you will also find a wealth of information on how to get the perfect wedding shot, and behind the scenes of fashion photography. This site is extremely informative and could be very useful to the potential photography buff, but the fact that it is not very old is not well hidden.
Navigation on this site is very simple, and that is probably because there is very little to navigate. The posts are left marginalized, and there is a right sided navigation bar. In the right-handed bar is a series of AdSense that is graphically incorporated into the theme of the blog. There is also a list of categories, currently only containing one link “Uncategorized”. It is in the Uncategorized link that you will find the total of 29 posts that are on the site since its birth in January. The right sided navigation bar also has an about page that is currently still in its Word Press default mode. In this bar you will also find a photography feed, as well as a link to comments that exist on the blog should there be any. To spice this section up a little bit I would recommend adding some recent posts links as well as setting up some categories for readers to have easier access to specific information. (i.e. weddings, fashion, lighting, etc.) For a photography site however, it does market itself very well in terms of the photography on site. The pictures are clear, relevant, and give each post meaning.
I’m going to give this site a 3.1 because it is well done but could use some touching up. I reckon that if the owner increased the posting activity as well as selecting a more search engine optimized name for each post he could increase his pageviews and hopefully readership. That aside the advertising is alittle much, I recommend the owner puts the menu up top and if they choose to have adsense put it in a less intrusive location. I do however like how the adsense is integrated into the top and bottom (footer and header). I think the ads down the side would be best as text ads underneath each post because currently they are clustered at the top then leave a blank column for most of the blog. Another HUGE factor to this blog is Uncategorized category listings!! If there is one thing the author should take from this review is to make suitable categories that are searached on technorati and use them. Putting all these posts in uncategorized is not a wise idea and by simply using proper categorization the blog would look nicer, serve as a better resource and begin getting blog search engine traffic. Good work and if they make these simple changes it will improve the owners bottom line; guaranteed!
-Rob
Note: For further blogs similar to this one or to submit your own please browse our World Famous and Incredibly Strong Blog Directory! If you’d like to interact with other bloggers to share tips and traffic secrets please join our Blogger Forum. If you would like feedback from your blog please make one of our Free Blog Poll’s!
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