Blog Reviews by Bloggeries

Political blogs are quite popular these days, and when well written, are a fun read regardless of what side of the partisan fence you are sitting on.  The Thunder Dragon blog is no exception.  When first landing on the Thunder Dragon blog, you will quickly appreciate the newsy articles this blog has to offer.  The Thunder Dragon blog is a blog written by Chris Hawes, who is a recent university graduate and political activist and enjoys writing about his political views and ideas, and what you can expect of the blog, which is a blog that covers global politics, with a focus on the UK and the United States. See this for yourself through any of the most recent bloggeries which include: Cameron Direct to Watford, Lib Dems And A Hung Parliament, I don’t like driving in my car and A Tax On Chocolate.

The blog is well designed into a clean and organized template which upon first glance, makes navigation very simple, however navigation becomes a little cumbersome as you move through the blog.  Bloggeries are left marginalized and appear in black text on white background with a black border around the blog giving you a newspaper feel.  There is also a double wide right sided navigation system where you can find all of the blog meat.  In the navigation system you will find very little in the right sided bars, as the navigation moves with you as you scroll down the page.  Content contained here includes some blog widgets, a Recent Posts Menu, Comments Menu, and Blogroll, however the font is very tiny on these features and it may take you a few minutes to see them enough to use them.  The blog also offers a top navigation system under the header where you can travel to the home page, About, Blogroll, Comments Policy, Copyright, Email, and RSS information.  Most bloggeries are accompanied by relevant pictures to the content which makes for an enjoyable read and adds some definition and life to the overall appearance. I don’t understand why the sidebar slides with you as you scroll down. It looks to me like it’s stopping us from accessing some of the data such as “Recent Posts”

Overall this blog gets a 3/5 and needs a few tweaks to make it an exceptional blog, however, this blog does not have far to go in that respect.  Although it does have the basic features that make a blog easier to navigate, the sliding sidebar kinda confuses me and cheapens the appearance.   Placing these different features on the home page in a more static location would make much more sense.   Also, the blog features are too small to read and a different sized font would change this.  Further, some additional blog meat needs to be added such as the standard Categories Menu to make reading easier for the readers if they are looking for a specific topic.  The color scheme also makes it difficult to read the different features and focus on the content and black text on blue background in the navigation system is very hard on the eyes, and may make readers wander elsewhere.  However, the blog does have a lot of information and the content is quality enough to carry this blog.  Activity is great as well with new bloggeries many times a day, which is always great to see in a blog.  Overall again, just a few tweaks mainly to appearance and navigation to make this blog more user friendly and this blog is well on its way to successful growth. If you’re reading this and you change your layout be sure to contact us so Rob can add you to the directory; also with a simple change this blog could easily be a 4+/5.
-Chrissie

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We are looking at another political blog called A South Dakota Moderate. This political blog is ‘trying to see purple through all the red’ and is a site authored by one who has a strong desire to express political opinion through the South Dakota Moderate blog. The blogger makes it known that he has no affiliation politically in the sense that he is not being paid by any party to write the blog, nor has he ever worked in the political arena. He is a former 9 year Navy veteran, originally from Ohio, who has settled in South Dakota and has never looked back. The blogger tries to focus on South Dakota politics, but also includes bits from national politics and some interest on gadgets and technology. The blog is very well written for one that is motivated to see ‘purple’ and you can guage that yourself through any of his recent bloggeries: No Surprisek Here, Everyone is an Expert All of a Sudden, So What do you Really Think?, Please don’t Petrae (us), Chris Nelson: It’s Broken, Makes you go Hmmm…, Do you really want to impress people?, Clean Cut Kid Is Charged, Sweeping Away Global Warming, and Pizza Hut Is Getting To Be A Pretty Dangerous Place To Work.

The blog has a very clean and sleek format and this makes it very easy to navigate. Bloggeries are left marginalized and there is a dual right navigation system and a simple top navigation bar. Posts are standard black text on white format and the navigation systems are very nicely laid out. In the top navigation bar you will find links to Home, Contact (containing the About Page), SD Search button, and a register button. In the left/right navigation bar you will find a very healthy categories menu on many different political topics, a feedburner with 19 readers, and archives going back to February 2006. In the far right navigation bar you find an advertisers link for campaign signs, Recent Posts Menu, Recent Comments menu, Blogs I Read, and a South Dakota Blogwire widget.

This blog will get a 4.5/5 from me. It satisfies all of the blog scoring criteria excellently. The content is very well written and the activity is quite frequent with posts coming in daily or even twice a day. The blog is well read as is evidenced by its many page views for each post with each post reaching several hundred page views. There are currently 51 in the feedburner showing there is a steady following with this blog. I would suggest making the about page a little more prominent and accessible to the readers at this point. Currently it is located in the Contact page and I think many readers may not find it if they do not choose to make a point of contact. It will establish a little more personal voice and connection with the readership. I would also suggest adding some more relevant pictures for the odd post here and there to spice up the overall appearance. I might also suggest taking advantage of the many page views which signifies a strong readership and possibly monetize the blog a little bit through AdSense or other forms of advertising. Otherwise however, I think the blog is very well done with an excellent format and design and would be found very appealing to those that enjoy reading political blogs.

-Chrissie

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We are going to look at another political blog that also has a very present personal voice which makes it an interesting read. The blog is called the Skeeter Bites Report and is a weekly news analysis and commentary on U.S. politics, culture, and life in general with an occasional look at Canada. You will find articles published every Monday with some Special Editions coming in on Wednesdays or Thursdays if the scoops warrant it. The blogger is Skeeter Sanders, a native of New York City who is currently living in Vermont. He’s a former freelance journalist, a self-described ‘fiercely independent thinker’ who is highly skeptical of authority figures when they disagree with him. The blog is definitely politically charged but very well written, which you can guage for yourself in the recent Bloggeries: Are you on an Adults-Only Social Network Web Site? Big Brother wants to know why?, Ex Federal Reserve Chairman says war in Iraq is ‘Largely about Oil’, Strong Evidence Emerges that ‘Osama bin Laden’ in New 9/11 video is an Imposter, and McCain, Nominee of ‘Rich People’s Party,’ Calls Obama ‘Out of Touch’ With the Poor.

Though the site is very well written, I find this to be difficult to get to at times with its fierce amount of advertising. Bloggeries are right marginalized with black text on beige background and links highlighted in red. In the left navigation bar you will find advertising, an Archives pull down menu, Where the blog is found on the blogosphere, News the Mainstream Media May have Missed, Headlines from Buzzlash.com, Subscription info, Feedback Section, About page, and a link to listen to Skeeter’s 2 hr weekly radio show. Missing from the navigation system are a categories menu and a recent posts menu. I think these two elements would add to the navigation of the blog. I also don’t see labels attached to the posts and I think the blog could get a much larger readership if it used Technorati tags or sorted the posts with labels and categories.

The blog will get a 3 from me. This blog is a little cluttered and needs some organization and reformatting in order to fare better from me. The blog could be more active. Though this keeps in line with the weekly nature of the blog, the articles that are posted are extremely lengthy and have the potential of losing the reader’s interest. I would suggest breaking one article down to make it more readable and spreading it out over the course of the week or a few days to increase the activity aspect as well as make it an easier read. I would also add some blog elements such as a categories menu as previously mentioned just to organize the blog a little and make navigation a little easier to work with. Further, I would move the advertising around so that it is not the first thing the reader sees and blends in more with the content of the blog. Otherwise, I think the content is extremely well done and the niche itself is unique and very appealing to a large audience. I think with just a few changes this could be a very successful blog with an extensive readership.

-Chrissie

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