Posted by Bloggeries in Spirituality
Bloggeries is going to look at a personal blog today, and that blog is known as Jesus Encounter. The blogger is Jeremy Newton, a 19 year old Christian and student leader in his church. He is very active in his faith and his church, and is using the blog as a place for other Christians to congregate and learn about God, as well as to help others grow in their Christian walk. He wants the blog to be a discipleship if people want it, or to be a place for prayer if people need it. Most of all, he wants his blog to offer a sense of community, so others don’t have to feel they are alone for Christ. You can see Jeremy’s vision and faith through his most recent bloggeries: Your Desires, Dream On, Weekend Updates to Jesus Encounter, You Still Poop in Your Pants, and Heart Support.
The blog offers a clean and organized template with a very serene feel to it, and this makes navigation very easy. Bloggeries are left marginalized and there is a double right sided navigation system. Bloggeries are in black text on white background with black border and menu headers in a quiet blue tone. In the left navigation bar you will find links to Jeremy’s social homes; Recent Posts Menu; and a Categories Menu containing links to categories such as Anger, Challenges, Healing, Leadership, and Love. In the right sided navigation system you will find subscription buttons, Entrecard, All Posts (archive menu), Christian blogs menu, and Links Menu.
I give this bog a 3.4/5 overall for its review. The blog is a well-organized blog for a personal blog, but it seems a little quiet to me. Appearance wise the blog looks very appealing with its quiet tone to it, which is the strength behind the blog’s meaning. I think however a few more posts could use some relevant pictures to it to add to the inspiration and motivation that each post offers. I also see a lot of white space in the navigation system, and the appearance could be improved if perhaps some content was placed in these navigation bars, or if perhaps the navigation bars were merged together to make one navigation bar, thus eliminating the white space. Otherwise, navigation on this blog is very good with all essential blog meat easily navigated to. The content on the blog is well written with a strong personal voice. It is clear this blogger has conviction in his blog’s intent, and conveys this beautifully to his readers. Activity scores could use some help with posts coming in several days apart. The blogger will connect more with his faithful readers, and attract more as well, with daily bloggeries. Even if the blogger is low on ideas, this blog could make use of a daily inspiration, Bible verse, or a quote just to ensure something gets posted daily. Overall however, this was a beautifully written blog to read and review, and should the blogger continue on this journey, he is sure to see much success.
-Chrissie
Posted by Bloggeries in Personal Blogs
For those that are conscientious of the generally unlucky number of 13, you may want to check out a blog that functions around this number. This blog is the My Lucky Numbe 13 Blog. The blog is a personal blog and the blogger considers her lucky number to be lucky number 13, and so the blog is about her life experiences. Meet blogger Diana Bajenaru who is blogging from Romania, and she is very proud of this, and of her country. The blog is a little bit of this and that with a lot of opportunities for you to learn from Diana about how to make your blog and web experiences better. Diana writes on her blog from her own experiences from developing a B2B Portal that she says was successful, and as well, she has created and managed many other sites and knows a lot about SEO, SEM, and many other things. See what Diana has to say in any of her recent bloggeries: Resource for Bloggers Carnival 12th Edition, Resource for Bloggers Carnival 11th Edition, 30+ Places to Promote Your Free Wordpress Themes, Green Money – Free Wordpress Themes by EzMoneyOn.Net, SEO Tools, Top 13 Commentators – February 2008, Free Web Directory – 134u.net, and My Domain is For Sale, WHAT?.
Navigation on the blog is very easy with this clean and organized template. Bloggeries are left marginalized and there is a wide right sided navigation system as well as a top navigation system with standard blog links such as the Home Page, About page, Contact Information, and the blog’s Disclosure policy. Bloggeries are in black text on white background and the header and blog menu themes are in a green, aqua, and mustard colored theme palette. In the right navigation system you will find Subscription Options, Categories Menu, Top Commenters Menu, the Last 13 Posts Menu, the Last 13 Comments Menu, a 13 item Blogroll, Archives Menu, and Recent Readers and Recent Viewers widgets. The categories menu is a melting pot as you would normally find in a personal blog, and here you will find categories like Blog Carnival, Blogging, Contests, Funny Stuff, and so much more.
I give this blog a 3.4/5 overall. This blog scores well for appearance with its clean template and organized design, as well as its good use of advertising without being too distracting. I think however the blog’s appearance could be beefed up just a little bit through the use of pictures associated with its bloggeries. Otherwise the blog starts to look too texty which can make reading cumbersome for the Internet reader. The blog has a good navigation system and offers all of the blog meat necessary to keep readers organized and active in all aspects of the blog. The content is well done considering English is not Diana’s first language, and it comes in a strong personal voice its readers can connect with. The activity of bloggeries right now is coming in every few days to a week or more in between, and so with a little more regular updating the blog would probably see more consistent traffic to it. Overall however, this is a great concept blog built around the unique notion of the number 13, and this creativity is something its readers will enjoy participating in.
-Chrissie
Enjoy this blog? Find other’s in our Personal Blog Directory. From now on we are pulling most of our free reviews from the “Show Off Your Blog” section. So join the forum and maybe you’ll be next!
