chrissie

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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With both NHL and NBA playoffs in full throttle, Bloggeries is looking at a sports blog today, and this sports blog is known as the Southern Sports Beat. Here the sports junkie will find all that they need to know that is sports, as this is the place where four opinionated bloggers write about every sport imaginable.  To see this for yourself, take a moment to look at any of their recent bloggeries:  Hockey Playoffs; Why the World Should be Yankess Fans;  Please Save Josh!!; Diamonds are Forever, and so is Ric Flair; The Future of Duke Basketball; One Shining Moment; and The Greatest Final Four?

The blog is fairly young and so at this point is all about content.  Thus with little blog meat the blog is easily navigated.  Bloggeries are right marginalized and there is a left navigation system.  Bloggeries are in black text on white background and links are highlighted in orange.  In the left navigation system you will find a Sports Poll, Pick a Topic Pick an Author Menu (Categories Menu), Links Menu, Recent Visitors Widget, and Archives Menu.  The Categories Men is comprehensive where you can do just as it says, meet any of its authors – Bigdog, Hot Route, Jeff, or Justin; or read about any sport – Liberty Patriots, MLB, Nascar, NBA, NCAA Basketball, NFL, NHL, or WWE.  Each bloggery is associated with a relevant sports related picture adding meaning to the blog.

This blog will get a 3.1/5 for this review, and this score is largely attributed to the blog’s youth.  There is very little blog meat and content within the blog, and for a new blog, this does not bode well.  The blog scores well on appearance with a clean and well organized template.  For navigation the blog does okay, though a few more blog essentials would spice up this blog.  The blog for example has healthy activity from its readers with many comments coming in with every post, thus a Recent Comments menu would be some great blog meat the blog could add to connect with its readership.  Activity is weak at this point, for a two month old blog there is very little activity.  This blog could beef that up with playoff season in two major leagues in full swing.  The blog also needs a healthier About Page, or an About Page in general and again, this would serve the purpose of connecting with its readership.  Right now the About information is in a short paragraph located below the header.  Using an About Page to recognize and profile its contributing Authors would add a tremendous appeal to this sports blog. Overall, this sports blog looks comprehensive and offers definite potential to the sports fan. With a few tweaks, this could be a very successful blog, even in the off-season. 

-Chrissie

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