Reviews

Everyone probably has at least one friend that is a contest or sweepstakes junkie. Perhaps that person is you. If so, take a minute to check out “The Prize Blog – A Free Updated List of Contests, Sweepstakes and Prizes!” Here you will find a free updated list of contests, games, and prizes available online. The site also offers a review of different gaming sites providing them with letter grades. The owner of this site, Brian Aldrich, started this site only a few months ago, to provide you with the best sweepstakes site the Internet can offer. There really is a sweepstakes for everyone here, you will find contests on everything from kitchen appliances to brand new 2007 vehicles. Each post represents a different sweepstakes or contest. On the opening page you will find posts and contests like, “Ben & Jerry’s Eco Excursion Sweepstake”, “Redbook Intimate Moments Sweepstakes”, HGTV’s Big Backyard Splash Sweepstakes”, “Lamps Plus Win a 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid”, and even a sweepstakes of their own “The Prize Blog and MyBlogLog Giveaway”. Other reviewers have said this blog is “attractive and interesting…really fun” and have stated it as the blog with all the “best online competitions available” . If you look around, you will see why this blog has received such excellent recognition during its very short time on the Internet.

Navigation on this site is very easy and straightforward. In fact, the site is so professionally laid out that it is almost hard to see it is a blog. There are two navigation bars, left and right, and a top navigation bar as well. Each bar offers different links, so you can see very quickly that this site has a lot to offer. On the left bar, you can check out some other contest bloggers like Contest Girl, and Grandma Jam. In the right you can read recent comments or go over some of the blog’s site reviews where it reviews some online gaming sites and easy cash programs. You will also find in this bar sweepstakes and contests links, and an opportunity to donate to the site if you wish to do so. At the top is standard site administration such as site map, FAQ, forum, contact info, about page, tools menu, and even a link exchange. Overall this site is laid out in a very clear cut manner, and if you are a sweepstakes kind of person, you should find yourself having a lot of fun here.

I am going with a 4 for this one which gives credence to how good this site is considering it is only a few months old. The site gets top notch marks for navigation and appearance with its very professional layout. Other reviewers have said in reference to its layout “If only my own company would have an awesome page like that.” And I have to agree, it is very user friendly and the overall appeal is nothing but professional. Content and activity scores are high also as the sweepstakes and contests are very diverse, and the posts are short and to the point. Uniqueness points are well earned due to the varied nature of the contests, gaming sites, and the overall concept of the blog itself. The few recommendations I would have would be to install more AdSense or advertising as a means of generating revenue, as opposed to the donation link. I think the appeal of the site is that it offers free stuff, and the donation link may distract from that goal; also the ads from adsense will probably be targetted to prizes contests and sweepstakes anyways so it should be easy to get people clicking. The site could use some more readers, but given its youth, I doubt once word gets out that would take very long. Should it establish a larger audience, that forum will grow a little bit and Brian could see some monetization from AdSense or other advertising means. If you like to enjoy contests, get in there while the readership is young, you just never know what you may end up winning. Good luck!

– Chrissie

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If you have any interest in photography, go see TornButtons.com a “collection of experimental series using traditional and alternative processes including pinhole and polaroid”. In other words, this site is anything and everything you want to know about digital photography. Despite the fact that this site is relatively new (it has only been around since January 2007) it contains quite a large spread of information on digital photography how to’s and 101’s. Recent posts include “Picture Perfect Photos”, “Digital Single Lens Reflux”, “Macro Digital Photography”, “Perfect Shots”, “Basics of Digital Photography”, and so much more. If you dig a little bit, you will also find a wealth of information on how to get the perfect wedding shot, and behind the scenes of fashion photography. This site is extremely informative and could be very useful to the potential photography buff, but the fact that it is not very old is not well hidden.

Navigation on this site is very simple, and that is probably because there is very little to navigate. The posts are left marginalized, and there is a right sided navigation bar. In the right-handed bar is a series of AdSense that is graphically incorporated into the theme of the blog. There is also a list of categories, currently only containing one link “Uncategorized”. It is in the Uncategorized link that you will find the total of 29 posts that are on the site since its birth in January. The right sided navigation bar also has an about page that is currently still in its Word Press default mode. In this bar you will also find a photography feed, as well as a link to comments that exist on the blog should there be any. To spice this section up a little bit I would recommend adding some recent posts links as well as setting up some categories for readers to have easier access to specific information. (i.e. weddings, fashion, lighting, etc.) For a photography site however, it does market itself very well in terms of the photography on site. The pictures are clear, relevant, and give each post meaning.

I’m going to give this site a 3.1 because it is well done but could use some touching up. I reckon that if the owner increased the posting activity as well as selecting a more search engine optimized name for each post he could increase his pageviews and hopefully readership. That aside the advertising is alittle much, I recommend the owner puts the menu up top and if they choose to have adsense put it in a less intrusive location. I do however like how the adsense is integrated into the top and bottom (footer and header). I think the ads down the side would be best as text ads underneath each post because currently they are clustered at the top then leave a blank column for most of the blog. Another HUGE factor to this blog is Uncategorized category listings!! If there is one thing the author should take from this review is to make suitable categories that are searached on technorati and use them. Putting all these posts in uncategorized is not a wise idea and by simply using proper categorization the blog would look nicer, serve as a better resource and begin getting blog search engine traffic. Good work and if they make these simple changes it will improve the owners bottom line; guaranteed!

-Rob

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If you are an Internet Marketer, or just trying to make some money with your blog, in which case you are still an Internet Marketer, check out Mubin Ahmed’s Internet Marketing Blog. This site comes from a very dynamic 22 year old who has traveled the world but still finds his computer chair the best place to be. His goal, to help people make money. Yes, this IS another how to make money on the Internet site, but it offers a bit more punch than some of the ones that I have seen. Some of the recent posts are about making money and they offer Internet Marketing news tips which is something not often seen on most marketing sites. His recent posts include, “Agloco Viewbar does exist! Here’s Proof!”, “Are you the Next Internet Millionnaire? Reality TV Hits the Web”, “Tired of Updating your Blog or Site? Make Money from Its Decline!”, and “How Robert Makes Money Online and Gives Away His Secrets”. With eye-catching titles like these, it will not be long before Mubin has an established readership even larger than his current 107 base. Some of my favourite posts included “My $1,500 Adsense Month” and “How I made $2,683 without Adsense. The Post you have all been waiting for.”

Navigation on this site is very straightforward. Here you have a what you see is what you get kind of blog. Posts are left marginalized with black text on white background, and there IS a blog navigation bar but you have to scroll down to the bottom of the page to get to it. Here you will find categories such as AdSense, Affilliates, Agloco, Ebay, Internet, Making Money Online, Money, MySpace, Personal, Proxy, Technology, and more. Even more interesting is that the posts seem to be fairly evenly distributed throughout the categories, making this a pretty comprehensive blog on its topic. Currently there are photos lacking from the overall site design, but the opening page does have a relevant YouTube video that does lend some interest.

I am going with a 3.4 for this one. The content is very well written, and the eye-catching titles of the post make you want to read them, even if like myself, you aren’t an Internet Marketer. The site scores on the average scale for uniqueness because it IS another Internet Marketing site, and needs some formatting work to spice it up a bit. Perhaps some You Tube videos of Marketing gurus, or some audio on the site as you open it up might set this one apart from the rest. The navigation bar needs to be reformatted as it is currently very difficult to find in its location at the bottom of the page. Activity scores some extra points here, in May there has been a post every day. Lastly appearance needs some work again, the site is somewhat bland looking and the AdSense is very distracting. With some of these changes, I think the content of the site which is fantastic and very well done could gain some of the credit it deserves.

– Chrissie

Note: For further blogs similar to this one or to submit your own please browse our World Famous and Incredibly Strong Blog Directory! If you’d like to interact with other bloggers to share tips and traffic secrets please join our Blogger Forum. If you would like feedback from your blog please make one of our Free Blog Poll’s!