chrissie

If you are the type that enjoys saving money, and really, who isn’t in this economy, then you will want to check out The Money Saving Blog. The Money Saving Blog is found on its own domain at and is written by two money saving fanatics.  Meet bloggers Kathryn and Captain Frugal who will teach you everything you need to know about saving money. Kathryn herself is a freelance writer which means she has had to work hard to maintain frugality in her life and budget. Captain Frugal has learned from a young age that a penny saved is a penny earned and has made it his life mission to beat the system a few cents at a time.  At The Money Saving Blog you can get a heap of information and promotional codes that may make your life just a little less expensive.  To see this tips and promo codes for yourself, check out any of the recent bloggeries which include The Most Stupid Financial Decisions of All Time, Money Saving Website of the Week! Rather-be-shopping.com, The 13 Most Disgusting Ways to Save Money in 2008, How to Save Money on Air Fares and Holidays, 10 of the Strangest Things People do to Save Money, and 10 Quick Tips on How to Save Petrol.

The site is well organized and thus is fairly easy to navigate. Bloggeries are left marginalized and there is a right sided navigation system as well as a top navigation system over the header.  Bloggeries are in black text on white background and links are highlighted in blue, and the overall theme is very colourful adding aesthetic appeal to the blog.  In the top navigation system you will find links to Promotional Codes Home, A-Z Promotional Codes, Money Saving Blog Home, and Contact Us.  In the right navigation system you will find the About information, Popular Posts Menu, Categories Menu, and a Recent Readers widget.  Not sure if the widget was designed this way on purpose, but it looks like the iPhone theme, which IS mentioned on the blog through bloggeries, and I found that to be a very creative element of the website.  The blog is fairly young with only a few bloggeries to date, but you will find many relevant categories to get you started with categories such as Money Saving Tips, Frugal Living Hacks, and more.  Most bloggeries are associated with relevant pictures which adds to the overall theme of the blog.

I give this blog a 3.7/5 at the time of review, as it is fairly young and needs a few tweaks to get its ball rolling.  From an appearance standpoint the blog is aesthetically pleasing and the advertising blends well with the theme of the blog so as not to distract from its content.  The blog is well organized and thus easy to navigate, however some blog essentials are missing that may compromise navigation as the blog grows.  I do recommend the bloggers add in elements such as the Archives Menu and a Recent Posts Menu. The lack of an Archives made it difficult to determine the age of the blog, though that may be intentional given the blog’s youth.  Readers may look for this though and I do suggest the addition of this feature.  I also find a Recent Posts Menu on any blog is a useful feature, particularly for regular readers who do not subscribe to the RSS feeds, so this addition will complement their current Popular Posts Menu which already adds to the navigation system.  The content is well written and personal to the reader which lends to the credibility of the blog, but activity could use some consistency.  Currenly bloggeries are coming in every couple of days to a couple of weeks in between, and the bloggers need to maintain some consistency to engage the readers regularly. Overall however, for a young blog this one is definitely off to a great start with its unique content and appealing concept, so as this blog grows, it should be very successful.

-Chrissie

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If you like photo blogs, then you definitely need to take some time to check out Hawksdomain.  Hawksdomain is the handle of the blogger, and also the name of this photo blog.  This photo blog can be found on its own domain at and the blogger calls this blog ‘My view of the world’.   The blog has been created to showcase the photos that the blogger has taken, and most of these pictures you will see have been taken while she was driving.  You can see how this process would work as this technique definitely adds an added element to the photos showcased on the blog.  The blogger is also very active in social networking, and if you are interested in photography, you can get involved in some of her circles through information found on her blog.  To see some of this blogger’s talent in photography, check it out for yourself through any of the recent bloggeries which speak for themselves:  Sun Setting in the Trees, Eeerie Moon, Spectacular Sunrise, Pioneer Crossing Park ~ Part 1~, Curves Ahead, GOPMan, Coming and Going, AV8TOR, A Midsummer’s Night Sky, and Wooden Fence.

The blog is well designed and organized and very easy to navigate.  Bloggeries are centralized and in black text on white ink.  There is no strong color scheme, as the photos on the blog are left to stand out for themselves, and add to the overall appearance and aesthetic feel of the blog.  In the left navigation bar you will find a search bar, Entrecard, Photography Forums, Facebook links, Blog Calendar, Recent Posts Menu, Blogroll, and various advertising and widgets.  You will also find a pull down menu with the Categories listed on it and this menu includes a variety of categories such as specific areas of the country, nature categories, and the unique category of ‘Personalized Plates’ among so much more.  While the blog is centralized there is currently no content in the right navigation system, and I do suggest the blogger fill up this section with some color and some content as this empty space leaves a lot of unnecessary white space for the blog.  Otherwise, as expected, each bloggery contains relevant photographs and often, the photographs are the bloggeries themselves.  As mentioned, the pictures speak for themselves and are quite breathtaking, and a beautiful way to showcase this blogger’s creativity and talent.

Overall I give this blog a 3.8/5.  This blog scores well on all accounts and I have addressed some of the finer suggestions this blog may want to take advantage of.  The content is well done and the brief descriptions for each bloggery are appropriate, and the pictures are beautiful.  Content is also coming in daily which is always an excellent feature of any blog, and the blog is well organized and easy to navigate for the most part.  I might suggest moving blog meat content such as Recent Posts and Categories Menu further above the fold in the blog, as they currently seem to be lost amongst some advertising and readers may not want to spend the time looking for these essential blog features. I think simply moving them would make this blog even easier to navigate.  Also, as mentioned, some use of the side bar would be very advantageous to the overall appearance of the blog.  Overall however, this blog is an excellent blog, and I truly enjoyed spending time with it.  Fellow photographers or those with an interest in photography will definitely enjoy this blog as well.

-Chrissie

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This blog is for the shopper or the bargain hunter in all of us, and it’s called the Shopping 4 Coupons blog.  Shopping 4 Coupons is a blog designed to provide online coupon codes where shoppers can check for deals of the day, special merchant offers, promo codes and free shipping deals from hundreds of online stores.   The categories offered for these online coupons is quite extensive, and there is a little something for everyone here.  The blogger hopes that you will save money by shopping online through this extensive collection of coupon codes and deals of the day.  You can see this for yourself in any of the recent bloggeries:  Free Kershaw Knife at OutdoorPros.com, Find a Pet Sitter in Your Neighborhood, Bachelorette Party Gear Save 10% Promo, Tickets Now Tickets Sale Save 20% on FTD Flowers for Mothers Day, and Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Coupon Code.

The blog is organized with a clean template design, and this aids in its ease of navigation.  Bloggeries are right marginalized and there is a left navigation system. Bloggeries also are in black text on white boxed backgrounds, and the blog is bordered in a light, lime colored border.  In the left navigation bar you will find the Entrecard, Requests Link, Categories Menu, Blogroll, Recent Posts Menu, Pages Menu, Archives Menu, and Recent Comments Menu.  The categories listing is very comprehensive thus ensuring that any kind of shopper would reap benefits from this site.  The Categories Menu includes categories such as Affilliate Marketing Deals, Amazon.com, Apparel Sale, Blogging, Buy.com, Clothing Sales, Computer Coupon Codes, Deals of the Day and much much more.

I give this blog a 3.0/5 for now and would suggest that most changes occur within the content.  Overall from an appearance and navigation standpoint the blog has a lot to offer with its clean and aesthetically appealing design.  The blog also contains all of the blog ‘meat’ and this assists with navigation and readability of the blog.  From a content perspective however, the more I read I sense that this is more a blog to showcase advertising in bloggeries format.  I am seeing very little written content within the bloggeries, and more advertising from the blogger.  Judging by the recent comments menu, these are more trackbacks and pings from other business blogs, and are not so much an indication of an involved readership. Should the blogger develop a more personal voice within the bloggeries, that may change.  Activity also is  hurting with bloggeries coming in every few days to a week or more in between.  Given that the blogger indicates regularly that daily deals are available on this blog, that activity rate is going to hurt their credibility.  I think with just a few tweaks to the written content, as well as to how frequent the content is added would definitely improve the likelihood of success with this blog.

-Chrissie

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