Blog Reviews by Bloggeries

For those of you that love to cook, you will certainly appreciate the tidbits and morsels found at the Lets’s Get Wokking Blog, though I do not recommend you come to this blog hungry. Here you will find a blog that has been created by a stay-at-home mom who loves cooking for her family and loves sharing the recipes she makes with the world. Contrary to the title, this blog does not limit itself to only cooking with a wok but true to its name, it does focus on cooking and having fun while you do it! The author of the site also has another cooking site, of which there are many links to on the Home page if you want to check out more of her great recipes. You can see this for yourself through any of the most recent bloggeries which include: Blueberry Cupcakes; Sweet Pork; Baked Portabello Mushroom with Ham and Cheese; Stir Fry Pork with Mushroom in Miso; and Steamed Egg with Tofu.

The blog is well organized into a blogspot template making navigation fairly easy.  Bloggeries are left marginalized and they appear in black text on white background with links highlighted in purple.  There is a double sided right navigation system containing quite a bit of material for the readers.  Here you will find the About page, A translate this page widget, and a chat box which is a first for me to see on a blog.  If you want to talk to Wokking Mum and tell her how much they love her food or to ask questions about her recipes or cooking in general, you can use this chat box.   This navigation system also includes a recent readers widget known as ‘Regular Diners’, Subscription Info, Upcoming Recipes, a Categories Menu known as ‘What Was Wokked Here’, Archives Menu, and various advertising and blog widgets.  Each bloggery is associated with a relevant picture which adds to the hunger factor as you read through this blog.

This blog gets a 3.3/5 due to the fact that I was very much enjoying this blog until I started wading through the navigation system.  The navigation bars on the right offer readers a wealth of opportunities to connect with the blogger which I really liked, however, these sidebars are very disorganized and not easy to follow through. I would suggest dividing the navigation bars into two systems, with one system being the bar that contains blog essentials such as About, Subscription, Recent Posts, Categories, Archives, etc, and leaving the other navigation bar for these fun widgets.  This bar is not organized well and it is very distracting to the reader.  Activity scores need work as perfect scores here are the result of daily activity, and appearance is affected by the navigation system.  The content of the blog however is doing well to sustain a readership, and is very appealing and in a lovely personal voice.  The concept of the blog is very good as well, and this also is aiding in sustaining the readership. Overall, this is a great blog with great content and a creative way of asserting itself, however it does need some cleaning up and tweaking before I would bookmark it. Following that however, it would definitely get a thumbs up from me!
-Chrissie

P.S Would of loved to post a picture but they can’t copied due to a script the blog has installed.

If you like getting free food, or simply like to hear good food reviews, then you may want to check out the Gimmie Something to Eat Blog. This is a blog authored by two bloggers who love to eat.  These bloggers are committed to eating one new food a day and reviewing it for advertising dollars.  That’s right, you send them your food and they will document the entire review experience on video and publish it on their blog.  So if you are looking for ingenious ways to find a way to eat for free, these bloggers will definitely inspire you.  Mind you, these same bloggers are giving back more than their reviews, but also offering a substantial fundraising opportunity for local food banks.  For every month that they ‘sell out’ of food reviews, they will donate $300 to a food bank, and for every day that is sold, $1 to local food banks.  This is an ingenious way of spreading the word about good food, and helping those less fortunate at the same time.  And for companies or food sponsors, there is no warmer way to get your message across than by receiving a review from this creative team, and giving back to the food bank at the same time.  Take a look for yourself at the good work this eating team is doing by checking out any of their most recent bloggeries:  Pictures: Season One Episode 26 – Fluffy Jon and Mama D Take a Voyage on the Sea; Pledge to End Hunger: Can 5000 Really Feed 560,000?; Does Fluffy Enjoy Goji Berries?, and Fluffy has an Oat Dream.

The blog is fairly new and is organized into a clean template making it very easy to navigate. You will find handy navigation systems all round the blog in the header, footer, and right sided navigation bar.  Bloggeries are left marginalized and are in black text on white background.  In the top navigation system you will find links to the Home Page, About Page, Contact Page, and a ‘Send us Food’ link!  In the right sided navigation system you will find a Search Bar, Testimonials, comprehensive Categories Menu, and a series of Information Links if you want to get more involved with the blog.  And if you are a food lover, you will love the comprehensive set of food categories that you can read reviews on, such as Beverages, Dairy Drinks, Dessert Items, Energy Drinks, Juice Drinks, Meat Products, and so many more.  You will also find more to navigate in the footer with Menus here for Categories, Archives, and Recent Comments Menu.  Each bloggery is associated with relevant pictures and even videos of the food review experience and these add meaning and relevance to the blog content.

Overall this blog gets a 4.6/5 at the time of review.  For such a young blog at only two months old, it has laid a solid foundation from which to grow.  The blog offers many navigation systems on a clean template that is easy to use and easy to move around.  The only suggestion to assist in navigation would be the addition of a Recent Posts Menu, as more episodes get added to the blog, readers will find this very useful in navigation.  From an Appearance standpoint, this blog does well with its easy to read and aesthetically pleasing layout.  Content is well done in a strong personal voice that is both creative but to the point, and this will definitely assist in reader retention.  Activity scores are right on track as well, with this blog promising daily content and delivering it well.  Overall, this blog is well done on every level, and should see some great success as it continues to grow.  Food lovers will definitely want to take a bite out of this one!

-Chrissie