Archives for July 2007

If money is of any interest to you, and who isn’t interested in money, then perhaps you want to stop in to Silver Monthly: Resource for Silver Investing. If you have a look at it, you will see just how right they probably are, it is a very comprehensive resource when it comes to the metal exchange system. This blog has sought information from several resources that will help you determine where silver fits into your modern portfolio. Any of their recent posts will give you an excellent idea as to how comprehensive this blog really is: A history of money and banking in the United States: Book Review; Silver Bearish Investor Vs. Silver Bullish Investors; Eight Rules for Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) Success; MAG Silver Corp. to List on the American Stock Exchange; Chicago Futures Markets Post Record Volume in June; Gold, Silver Futures Advance as Dollar Weakens Against the Euro, Silver Price to Remain High on Investor Interest, U.S. Gold Corp Should Gain on Shaky Dollar, and Silver Stocks Outperform Gold Stocks.

The navigation is very simple on this site, with posts being left marginalized and two right navigation bars. Appearance also is very simple and readable, with black text on blue columned backgrounds against a primary white background. The left-sided right navigation bar contains a links menu, stock quotes, metal prices and a search bar as well as the categories of “All”, “Silver Investing Articles”, “Silver News”, and “Books Reviewed”. You will also find a link to the Silver Forum if you are interested, as well as a menu for the Most Popular Posts which will give you information on how to survive mutual funds, and which companies and countries are the major producers of silver. On the right-sided navigation bar you will also find a comments menu and the recent posts links.

I am going with a 4 for this one. The only suggestions I would have would be to add some pictures to give a little oomph to the blog – even simple pictures of money or gold or silver. Also I really like to see an About page on blogs, even on ones as professional as this one. It gives the blog a voice and even a little bit as to how the blog came into fruition would be very interesting to the readers I think. On other accounts however, the blog scores excellently for superbly written content, very professional appearance, and efficient usability with the navigation system in place. I also thought the advertising was so well formatted, that it could probably even use a little more if it wants to without running the risk of distraction. Judging by the quality of the recent comments in the very organized comments menu, I think this blog has a good following. Given the way the market fluxes today however, it could probably pick up a few readers along the way with some of these suggestions. Overall, the blog is doing well though and is a very professional and easy read.

– Chrissie

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If you are an artist looking for a way to market your work, you may just want to stop into Indie Design Marketing. Here you are going to find a blog that is dedicated to online promotional techniques for independent clothing and accessory designers. The owner, Alexis, offers a daily dose of ideas and inspiration to help your independent artistic business grow. She offers you insight on publicity, building websites, advertising on the Internet, and any other information she feels an independent designer needs to know. You can check out the quality of the information she provides through the recent posts: Promo Opportunities for Indie Designers; Solving the Sizing Dilemma – Jewelry Designers Edition, Solving the Sizing Dilemma; Why the Rich get Richer; Contrast and Conquer; $7 will get you 24 hours worth of Indie-Geared Publicity; Old School Marketing, Meet New School Marketing, and Product Photo Problems from a Bloggers Perspective.

Navigation on this site is very easy. Posts are left marginalized with black text on white background, and links highlighted in blue. There is a right navigation bar where you will find all the blog goods. Read the about page, and check out the archives or subscribe to the feed or email subscription service. The blog has a few categories that may interest the indie-designer, including 101 details, All about publicity, Blog-o-nomics, Can’t miss this, and Get the Sale. There is also a healthy blogroll in the works, which, considering this is a fairly young blog is indicative that marketing efforts are working very well. I did not see any pictures on the blog, given that it is a designer blog, I think that would add an additional element here that would interest the readers.

I will go with a 3.3 here. I like that there is regular content, but am thinking daily content for such a new blog may keep readers a little more hooked. I think the content itself is outstanding and very well written. It also clearly comes from a reliable source as Alexis has done very well herself on the subject matter and is teaching her readers accordingly. She has a good blogroll going which shows her marketing efforts are successful, as do the regular comments she is getting on her posts. Uniqueness and navigation scores are very good as well, as this blog is easy to navigate and offers a fresh perspective on an old topic. I would like to see some pictures to spice up the blog a little bit, but otherwise, this blog is doing very well so far in its youth, and should only expect continued growth and success.