Bloggeries Blog

Those readers that share their love with a fur baby in their life will really enjoy reading the ‘Animals Need Help’ blog. This blog is exactly what it says it is, a blog about the prevention of animal cruelty. The owner of the blog is Stacy and has been looking for a way to help abused animals. So she created a blog to use as an educational resource for others on the topic of animal abuse. Stacy also uses her affiliate links with pet companies to raise money for organizations such as PETA and ASPCA, and all monies raised by her blog will go to support these organizations or a local animal shelter. You can get a good idea for Stacy’s commitment to this project by looking at any of her recent bloggeries: Animalsneedhelp.com wins the thinking blogger award, Why are there So Many Pets in Animal Shelters?, Educate our Children on Animal Cruelty, How Many Dogs Does it Take to Change a Light Bulb?, Stop Puppy Mills, 10 Ways to Help Stop Animal Cruelty, and Animals are Not Ours To Experiment on.
 
The blog is well organized with a clean template which makes navigation very easy. Bloggeries are in black text on white background and the blog is bordered in grey and has mossy green color theme in the rest of the blog. The blog is attractive and appealing and greets the reader with an adorable kitty picture in the header of the blog. Bloggeries are left marginalized and there is a right navigaton bar. In this navigation bar you will find a search button, disclaimer on the non-profit nature of the blog, advertising, blogroll, sponsors list, categories menu, feature pet, more advertising, and feed information. You will also find a handy top menu in the blog that contains the Home link, About page, Partners link, and Contact information. The categories menu is comprehensive and contains relevant links for topics in the blog: Animal Rights Education, Animal Shelters, Blogging Award, Guest Posts, Pet Education, Stop Animal Cruelty, Stop Puppy Mills, and What You Can do To Help. Right now I do not see an Archives Menu, and I do not see a Recent Posts Menu. I think a Recent Posts Menu or widget would really help the navigation of this blog.

Overall I give this blog a 4/5, as it is doing very well on blog criteria for what seems to be a new blog. The appearance of the blog is appealing with relevant pictures that add meaning to the blog content. Navigation is very easy on this blog so it scores well for that also. Content is well written with a strong personal voice that offers credibility for the blogger, and is also appealing enough that it would lead the reader to action which is the blogger’s intent. I think activity could use some consistency, as there is bloggeries coming in every day for a few days, but there are gaps of anywhere from a few days to a week or so in between posts. Regular updating will definitely bring this blogger more traffic. Overall however, I think this blogger is off to a great start and if she continues at this pace should see some regular traffic as the blog grows.

-Chrissie

Bloggeries is going to take a look at a blog now that will take you into the future, sort of. The blog is called Smart Homes. The blogger is Sam, a 21 year old living in England. He studies at the ICT at Nottingham Trent University and blogs to keep himself occupied when he is not studying. The blog itself is a blog about how to make your home more independent, how to make it smarter. Here you will find information that was once spoken about in future tense, but is regarding technology that is in the works right now that will make your home a more efficient place to live. Think of things like, being able to turn your thermostat on via text messaging before you leave for work which you can read about in the bloggery “Text Your Home”. These are the concepts you will read about at Smart Homes. Find out what some of Sam’s recent thoughts are by reading some of his most recent bloggeries: Smart Home forums, Dimmable Flourescent Lighting and Home Automation, x10 problems, Insteon Heading to Europe, Popular Trends in Home Technology, Builders and Home Automation, and A Media Center PC Gives You the Ultimate in Home Automation.

The blog is very simple and almost only contains the niche content which makes the blog very easy to navigate. Bloggeries are left marginalized and there is a right navigation bar. Bloggeries are standard black text on white background with links highlighted in red. In the right navigation system you will find a Categories Menu, Advertising, Technology widget, Blog Directory Links, and Subscription Links. The blog is fairly new so the categories menu is not quite built up yet, but here you will find categories on books, features, Insteon, Smart Home Basics, and x10. Missing from the regular blog meat are an Archives Menu, and a Recent Posts Menu would benefit the blogger as this blog grows. I think adding more detail to the About Page would be good for this blog as frankly, it took me some time and reading to really figure out what the blog was about. This is a niche that is very popular and the blogger could make use of a large demographic if he provided more information to the readership.

The blog is new, and lacks some essential blog materials and so I give this blog a 3/5, but I see a tremendous potential for this blog. The idea is unique enough that once the blog gets rolling it will gain some popularity. For navigation, I suggest the blogger add some more content in his navigation bar, like the ones listed above – Archives, Recent Posts Menu, etc. I also think the blogger should be, if he is not already, working on a blogroll to link back to other blogs in the same niche. This would definitely help to bring in traffic. The content is well done, and written in a user friendly style, so that even though it is discussing technology, it does not overwhelm the reader and is easily understood. The activity is not bad, bloggeries are coming in every few days to a week in between. I think the blogger could pick this up in its early stages and post daily if possible, just to keep feeding the search engines good material. Overall however, this is a popular niche, and I think this blog has an excellent potential to do well. It just needs to grow a little bit, and add more material to its navigation system to look more like a blog.

-Chrissie

Bloggeries is going to look at a business blog today, and this is one that attendees of trade shows will be able to appreciate. The blog is called Chicago Trade Show Displays. The blog is exactly what its domain says it is, a trade shows displays blog for the Chicago area, and a trade shows tips blog that just about anyone who frequents trade shows will be able to enjoy. Have a look at any of their recent bloggeries to get an idea for exactly what the blog is about: Trade Show Leads – Make Them Count, Post Trade Show Evaluation and Follow-Up, Unhappy is as Unhappy Does – Dealing with an Unhappy Client, Effective Use of Banner Stands for your Next Event, Trade Show “Chotchkies”, Create a Winning Booth, Shipping May be Ripping you Off!, and What the Heck Does Drayage Mean?

The blog is cleanly laid out with a business style format and this makes it very easy to navigate. Bloggeries are right marginalized and there is a left navigation system as well as a top navigation system. Bloggeries are in black text on white background and there are blue accents and bordering. In the top navigation bar you will find links for Home, Contact Us, Trade Show Program Management, and Tradetec Skyline Displays. In the left navigation system you will find blogroll links menu, Editors Menu, Event Calendars, Trade Show Resources, Pages Menu, and Categories Menu. The Categories menu contains items such as Exhibit Services, New Products Announcement, Trade Show Tips, Trade Show News, and a category called Uncategorized. At present there are no accompanying pictures with the bloggeries as the blog is an information blog.

I will give this blog a 3/5 for now, but I suspect it is new and with some growth the blog should improve. It is difficult to tell at this point how old the blog is as there are no archives listed. The blog needs work in a few areas, but it does show some strength in some as well, so it has a good foundation at this point. Navigation is easy on the blog as there is not much to move around at this point. I would recommend removing the ‘Uncategorized’ category from the category menu, or changing the name of it to something less miscellaneous (such as Trade Show Information) as it makes the blog look a little disorganized. Appearance scores are very good as the blog has a nice clean template that gives it a true business feel. The content is well written and would be readable by an audience seeking this type of information, so as the blog grows, this may be its greatest asset. Activity however is lacking somewhat, with no strong consistency in activity. The last bloggery was run on January 2 and there is a range of one week to a month in between bloggeries. I also recommend adding an about page to the blog so that the bloggers and editors can establish a rapport with their readership by a small information page about the blog. Overall however, the blog has a good start and if it maintains the consistency of its quality content, it should do quite well in serving its niche as it grows.

-Chrissie