Bloggeries Blog

If you like reading international blogs, then you will really find this one unique in its own right. The blog is called Trendy Palermo Viejo. The author of the blog is Nancy, previously known as Dalila, and she lives and works in Palermo, Buernos Aires, Argentina. The blog is unique in its own right in that it is the first trilingual blog about shops, restaurants, hotels, places, and events of Palermo Viejo which happens to be the trendiest neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argetina. She writes the Trendy Palermo Viejo blog because well, trends happen too fast for print so she brings it all to you in three beautiful languages. You can check out any of her recent posts to get a true taste for this trilingual niche: Casa FOA 2007, Today is the World Lymphoma Awareness Day, New Business by Celebrities in PV, Photos by Nancy Kulfas Sept. 11, Jewish Music and Tradition in Palermo, More changes in the neighborhood, Photos from a Neighbor in Buenos Aires Argentina.

The blog is very easy to navigate. Posts are right marginalized and are black text on neutral background with faint pastel polka dots adding just the right amount of color to the background. A few posts have relevant pictures or videos attached, and all posts are written in three distinct languages. I am NOT trilingual so I am not 100% certain what the other two, besides English are, so to prevent errors I will not venture to guess. You will just have to check it out yourself! In the left navigation bar you will find the about page; archives menu going back to 2006; advertising; flickr album; menus for shopping, eating, walking, lodging; map of argentina; blogroll, recent readers widget; and a scrolling menu for recent news in the area. Each post does have labels attached to it, but there is no current categories menu despite the fact that there is space in the navigation system dedicated to a categories section.

I give this one a 4/5 overall, and I think that the activity is hurting the mark the most. Currently the blog is updated every few days to a week at times and the blog would probably score better if there was daily content. I also think the lack of a categories section in a blog of this niche is affecting the mark a little bit. With so many elements to this blog – dining, shopping, etc, this blog would do very well with a categories menu to aid in navigation. The content scores are very good as this blog offers a trilingual approach in absolutely every element to the blog which must be very challenging at times. I find this trilingual effect adds to the uniqueness of both the blog and its niche as well. The readership clearly enjoys this blog which is evidenced by its regular comments and active email feed of 89 readers. I don’t think it would hurt the blogger to add some AdSense or other advertising to the blog to take advantage of this healthy readership and monetize the blog a little more. Overall however, this was a very pleasant and interesting read and I recommend it to anyone that has an interest in international affairs.

-Chrissie

If you are a car aficionado and are looking for a new blog that will feed your love for engines, you may want to check out Babez a blog that offers car news, pictures, and wallpapers for all of the pretty vehicles of the world. This blog started in December 200 and was initially intended to be a support page for the luxury car magazine Classic Driver. But it turned into a blog presenting car news from all over the world on both classic and luxury vehicles. This blog publishes magazine articles from official car manufacturer news sources and with that offers the car lovers high-quality pictures with each of its reviews. You can check out some of its reviews by looking at any of its recent bloggeries: BF Performance GT 660, BF Performance GT 540, Audi Metroproject, Hamann Porsche Cayenne Cyclone, Hamann BMW X5 Flash, Hamann Lamborghini Gallardo Victory, Hamann Thunder, Toyota IQ, and BMW 1 Series tii.

I found navigation on this blog very difficult. In fact the further I went into the blog it seemed it was more a site for advertising than anything else. The blog starts off with advertising located even within the header. Posts are centralized with navigation bars on either side. In the left navigation bar you will find nothing but advertising banners or AdSense if you move within content of the blog. In the right navigation bar you will find a feed subscription and a top car links menu. The footer is somewhat difficult to navigate, or understand, I am not really certain what the links are in the footer. Missing from the blog navigation system are elements that make a blog look like a blog – Recent Posts Menu, Categories Menu, or even a blog roll. There is a large number of posts on the opening page and each post contains a link to take you to more pictures a full review of the vehicle being highlighted. This is one element of the blog that will appeal to the readers is the pictoral content. Anyone that has an interest in looking at beautiful cars will not be disappointed with this blog as it contains several pictures accompanied with every post.

That being said I can only go with a 2/5 on this blog, as its wealth of pictures is the only appealing thing I found with this site. The activity scores however are poor with total lack of regular and frequent posting. I mean on the front page I’m seeing posts that are a year old! As mentioned, the blog is very difficult to navigate due to its extreme presence of advertising. This also affects the appearance mark for the blog. The content does not score well as the content is not actually authored by the blog owner, each post contains a note saying ‘text and pictures courtesy of…”. Overall the blog needs to be neatened up a little bit with some of the advertising being more efficiently formatted. I also think some original content from the author would do this blog a world of good. If however one is inclined to only view pictures of pretty cars, this blog will serve you well, thought it will take you some time to get through the advertising to reach the meat of the vehicle pictures. If this blog were to get a make over and started posting it could be good as it’s already an older established blog.

-Chrissie

Well even though summer is over, it is never too late to start planning that next vacation, particularly when you add a brew of children to the mix. If you have ever wondered how to plan that perfect family vacation, you may want to check out the Vacationing with Kids blog. Here you will meet Joanne, the author of this blog, who loves to travel with her family but notes that traveling with children presents its own set of challenges. The blog discusses affordable family vacation spots, how to deal with it when one of the brew gets ill, vacation safety, and much more. The blog also has a very personal tone to it so you will get to know Joanne and her family a little bit more, even when they are not in vacation mode. To get some new vacation ideas, check out any of Joanne’s recent bloggeries: Pot Luck, School, Wild Girls, Slumber Party Time, Busy Times, Summer’s Almost Over Bash, My Feet!, Our Pool, Fun Inexpenseive Outings, Almost School Time, and Going to School.

The blog is very easy to navigate, bloggeries are right marginalized and there is a very handy left navigation system. Posts are black text on grayish blue background and links are highlighted in orange. In the left navigation system you will find the about page, family blog link, subscription links, archives going back to November 2006, links menu, business links menu, recommended reading and an extensive categories menu. The categories menu contains all sorts of great vacation ideas such as Affordable Vacations, Disney Planning, Family Vacation Ideas, Food for Vacation, Horseback Riding Fun, MUST HAVE TIPS, Sick Kids on Vacation, Ski Vacation Fun, and Vacation Safety. I don’t see any pictures associated with the bloggeries, and it would be my first recommendation. Otherwise however you will find navigation extremely simple with this blog.

I will go with a 3/5 for this blog. I think the blog needs some ‘oomph’ when it comes to appearance issues. For a vacation blog I think pictures would really appeal to the readership and give more voice to the places Joanne writes about. I also think the AdSense should be incorporated a little differently as seeing it in the middle of some posts is extremely distracting. The blog scores well on content however, the true personal voice to the writing style is definitely appealing in this kind of blog. I also think the niche is unique enough to appeal to a wide demographic – parents! Activity scores are a little low with posts coming in every few days to a week in between, and this blog may fare a little better if it had some new content on a regular basis.

-Chrissie