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Posted by Bloggeries in Blogging
If you are looking for another site or blog that can offer you additional insight on how to make your blog even better than it already is, then you may want to check out Blog Duck. This site is a blog that provides blogging tips and ideas and is geared towards helping people become better bloggers. You will find here ideas, articles, and information perfect for either the novice or the expert blogger. The owner, CEO, and webmaster of Blog Duck is Brian Alrdich, and he has been around the blogging block for awhile and can offer you some know-hows on what has and has not worked for him. An example of this would be in his anecdote on how using the likeness of Blog mogul John Chow backfired on him. While Brian has some contributing authors working for him at Blog Duck, you can still get a true sense for his personal voice, and his involvement at Blog Duck through any of the recent bloggeries: Is Your Blog Worth it?, When I Used to Think It Was OK to Use John Chow’s Likeness, Get Blog Rushed Already, A Quick Review of RevieWOW, Think and Don’t Drink and Blog, Why Being a Cow is Better Than Being a Chow, and When Hardware Held Me Back.
Blog Duck offers a clean design and layout making it very easy to navigate. Bloggeries are left marginalized and are black text on white background and links highlighted in blue. Though I have yet to understand the meaning of the duck theme, or the name of the blog, I think it’s cute and provides a unique feel to the blog. The header is in large bold lettering and includes a duck motif. Blog Duck contains two navigation systems, one in the right navigation bar, and a top navigation menu as well. In the top navigation menu you will find the Home link, About Blog Duck, Become an Author link, and a Contact Me section. In the right navigation system you find subscription buttons, a list of the 5 current blog authors that takes you to their own blogs or websites, a Categories Menu, Blogroll, Recent Readers widget, Recent Comments menu, and sponsors and ads. The categories menu is comprehensive and contains everything you would expect in a blog advice blog such as Alexa info, Google info, blogging, make money online, increase traffic, ideas, social bookmarks, reviews, speed linking, and many more.
I am going with a 4/5 on this one. I really enjoyed reading this blog and the blogger is definitely a credible source when it comes to advice and tips on blogging. I think the content has a unique personal voice that fellow bloggers will enjoy reading. The blog contains both sound advice with anecdotal speak so it is not only informative, but an enjoyable read. Blog Duck also scores well on navigation, appearance, and uniqueness criteria as all of these aspects make the blog a very easy read. My only complaint would be that there is not enough activity, and this is not to say I am complaining, but serves as a compliment to Blog Duck. The blog is well done, and would be much more successful with more frequent activity. This is the kind of blog that could retain a healthy readership, and would be more successful at that with more activity. Currently the last bloggery noted is October 19, and the bloggeries prior to that are coming in once every week or so. Simply put, we want more Blog Duck! The tips and advice are certainly well worth it.
-Chrissie
Posted by Bloggeries in Reviews, Spotlight, Technology, Internet Marketing, SEO, Entrepreneurship, Blogging
If you are a blogger, and I mean really, if you are reading this chances are good, then you definitely want to visit Blisslogs. Blisslogs is a little place where you can pick up some blogging tips and learn from the author’s blogging experiences. It did not take me long to really like this blog, or in fact bookmark it. That being said, bloggers need to take note of this site if they want to improve, promote, or start their own blog. The author is all about helping to help you, and is even willing to provide you your own domain through blisslogs as well as some free blogging software. Further, he will not just help you build a blog, but help you work on monetizing that blog for a little extra side income. Have a look at any of his recent posts to see what I am talking about. Here you will find Goo Goo for Google Monday – Google Talk, BlissLogs is a Winner, Improve your Google PageRank in 4 Easy Steps, WordPress Wednesday – Timestamp your Posts, The Face Behind BlissLogs, Market and Analyze your Site for only $5, John Cow Contest, Blog Contests, Create your Blog Posts with a Free Editor, and many more.
One of the first things I noticed that I love about this blog is that within each post you will find a popularity ranking (of the post), a date and author stamp, tags, Digg and Email links, and then a section on Related Posts. I think the popularity rating is a great tool for both the reader and the author in terms of knowing what to write about. It also helps the reader determine the success of a particular post. I also like the Related Posts links. I find this really increases the readability of the blog, so that users spend less time on a blog searching for what they want to read about. I do not see this often on blogs, so needless to say, I was impressed.
Navigation on this site is so easy, it will not take you long to find what you are looking for. Posts are left marginalized with black text on white background. There is a top, right, and bottom navigation bar. In the top bar you can hit the Home link, read the About Me page, and Contact the author. In the right navigation bar you will find a Most Popular Posts Menu, Categories Menu, Recent Posts Menu, Archives, and the Blogroll. In the bottom navigation system you will find very similar menus, recent posts, archives, and etc. I am not seeing any advertising on the blog, so I am not too sure if this one is being monetized, or is one that is ‘all about the love’ of blogging.
I am going with a 5 for this one, which comes rare but deserved. The fact that I spent more time wandering and reading and bookmarking and taking notes (for my own blog) than reviewing was a pretty powerful indication to me that this blog is worth a subscription and bookmark for any blogger. The blog is chock full of information. The content is spectacularly written and extremely user friendly. And the blogger is really all about helping you succeed, you can’t ask for much better. On all accounts of activity, uniqueness, content, navigation, and appearance, it scores beautifully. The only suggestion I would make is the addition of some pictures here and there. I say this because I know what Internet readers are like, and visual is important and ties in well with good content. But as I have already mentioned, the content is fantastic, and the blog is extremely readable and very user friendly. You really need to check it out for yourself.
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- Chrissie
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Posted by Bloggeries in Reviews, Spotlight, Internet Marketing, Blogging
If you are looking for that little something to mix up your blog a little bit, and really, who isn’t, check out Pure Blogging - Blogging Tips, News and Tutorials. This site is so far the most comprehensive blogging blogs that I have seen yet. This blog is relatively new, but is geared towards publishing blogging news, tips, and tutorials and is intended for anyone interested in learning the secrets of blogging success and monetization. The owner of the blog, David Culpepper, is actually a full time chemist who works this blog in his free time to keep you updated about breaking technology developments, strategies, and the general blogosphere buzz in a user friendly format. Check out any of his recent articles to see what I am talking about: More Blog Contests, Effects of the 1000th Comment Contest, We have a Winner, Pure Blogging Goes Mobile, Contest Update 2 — $200 Cash Giveaway, June Roundup, Weekend Links, AOL Gets a New Look, The Bloglines Train, and Contest Update for the $200 Giveaway.
Navigation on this site is very straightforward, but if you are a blogger looking for advice, set aside some time for this one. You will want to spend some time here, as David has a LOT to offer you. There are 3 navigation bars, and posts are left marginalized. The first nav bar is on the top and offers the Home page, About page, Subscription Links, Top Posts, Archives, Links, and a Contact Button. I love the Archive link here, wish more blogs had them set up like this. The archives are not only categorized by link and date, but by topic as well. It doesn’t get any easier than that. You will then find two right navigation bars, and I could spend a lot of time telling you exactly what is there, but check it out yourself and you will be glad you did. Top features I will mention are the “Top Commenters” menu, where David offers links to top commenters in his blog in these bars, which I think is an excellent way to recognize and connect with your readers. There is a long list of categories and money makers for your blog each containing a huge amount of resources for your blog. These include but are not limited by blogging tips, blogging news, blogging tools, alexa, monetization, blog promotion etc… You can also read here about featured authors on the site. Oh, and here’s something else I haven’t seen yet, a menu with links to the most recent comments, fresh idea and I love it.
This blog is getting a 5 from me, I have no suggestions FOR this author but will happily take some of his for myself. I am very surprised to find out that this blog has only been around a few months, you would never guess by the layout, content, navigation, or appearance of this blog. The readership of 389 also speaks volumes to the blog success. What I love most about this blog besides its stellar content and user friendly material for the novice blogger, is this blog is dedicated to the reader. This is a lesson learned for all bloggers who spend so much time working on monetization strategies that they forget they are blogging to an audience. I love how readers are recognized through the top commenters menu and that active links are up for these comments. That this may be a result of the 1000 comment contest is irrelevant (though that in itself is an EXCELLENT idea *hint hint*). The blogger has worked very hard at establishing a solid and excellent reader base, and I think has several valuable lessons to teach all of us.
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- Chrissie
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