Blog Critique Thread

[Former_Member]

How about an ongoing critique thread?

Give the person above you some constructive tips to help them better their blog. If you're feeling nice, say something nice about their blog too! But you MUST give them some kind of advice.

Post your blog URL after your advice.

http://www.theintermissionblog.com

[Former_Member]

Good idea.

I think your blog is nice and classically clean Intermission.

My only suggestion would be to add some color to your header, but that is totally a matter of preference. As you can see from my blog, I like color.

http://fabricfascination.blogspot.com/

[Former_Member]

fabricfascination

I love your blog! I love the Bible Verse at the beginning of your blog :) Your posts are interesting and easy to read, and your pictures are very nice!

The only thing I'm not a huge fan of is the banner, but that just may be my taste lol...it's just a little busy and dark for me :)

I'm a follower of your blog though, I love it!

[Former_Member]

Littlelilybamboo, you have to post your blog's URL!

[Former_Member]

bumping this interesting and important thread.

[Former_Member]

Love this idea!

I found lily bamboo's blog through a little poking around, at htttp://www.jadesteckly.blogspot.com/ . My critiques are that the blue font used for links and things in your side bars is really difficult to read on the background picture of the daisy, especially over the stem.... the color is too close to the background. I would suggest white or black instead.

The other things may be personal preference, but I strongly dislike having music play as soon as I get on a blog. I usually have a movie or TV playing as I surf the web, and having music I didn't choose play suddenly appear from nowhere is a real turn off for me. Could you make it at least an option that your reader could turn on instead of leaving it defaulted to play? Or, if you don't want to do that, at least put the little player right at the very top so that the reader can immediately see it and turn it off.

The last one is regarding the heavy emphasis on Christianity that is front and center on your page. I know there are just tons of Christian and Mormon bloggers out there, so that's a great network built right in. And if that is your only planned readership, that's great. Personally, I am not Christian and I don't like being evangelized at, so that is an aspect of a blog that would keep me from becoming a reader, and there are probably a lot of people like me. So, if the idea is to generate a readership that will buy your items, you might be a little less exclusive. This is obviously very very important to you, so if the idea of the blog is to focus on expressing yourself, then i could see why you would want to keep that up front. But maybe tone it down a little?

I'd love to get critiques on my blog! http://www.stitchingincircles.blogspot.com

[Former_Member]

Thanks stitching in circles! I'll keep those tips in mind :) Sorry for not posting the link!

[Former_Member]

Actually, two other notes: Make sure you fill in the "About Me" page, and be careful with your punctuation: your family's should be listed as The Stecklys, not The Steckly's.

I hope my advice is helpful.

[Former_Member]

It is. For the last 5 years, it's been strictly a family blog, and so those things weren't really an issue. Now that I've started branching it out to use it for business though, it's good to know these things. Thanks :)

[Former_Member]

Tina, I really like the colors of your blog and the arrangement. I love the dividers to separate the three columns. The placement of all of your page elements are also ideal and everything seems easy enough to find.

There are two main things I would like to suggest:

1. I prefer headers to be short enough that I can see part of the blog below. This gets the reader interested in seeing more. I'm not quite sure how to explain that but it's like hinting at what else is below....like wearing a short skirt. I also notice that your header isn't really a header. I would suggest, if you like that photo in your header, use it to create something that looks more cohesive.

2. I've seen a lot of blogs that use the same font as yours and I find it hard to read. In fact, I don't even try. It puts more strain on the eyes than some other fonts. You don't want your readers to leave without even reading just because of your font! I think it's okay to use that font for your titles but for your posts, stick with a standard font.

Other suggestions (mostly preference):
-Consider adding a navigation bar or buttons just below the header.
-Move the "Subscribe to" RSS feed widget up so it's easier to find. A lot of people use RSS instead of GFC.
-Keep your posts consistent. I noticed that some of your images are centered and some are right aligned. I think it would look best if they are all the centered.

Great blog! Keep up the good work :)

Lauren
http://www.theintermissionblog.com

[BeneathTheRowanTree]

Can I jump in? It looks like everyone above is done?
www.beneaththerowantree.com

Many Thanks!

[BirdandBlossomStudio]

Ok I'll jump in too!

Beneath the Rowan Tree I love your header! it grabbed me right away - clean modern and happy!

I love your posts too - I might enlarge the font a bit and put a little more space between the print and photos they seem very close together and compete with the ad space.

Maybe shade the outer columns and make the center white to play up your posts. I feel like my eye is drawn away from the posts because everything is competing for it's attention.Your great posts should be the highlight!

Ack here's me;

http://mylifeunderthebus.typepad.com

Thanks!

[Former_Member]

The Junquerie- I actually really like your blog! It's uncluttered and yet still has all the important stuff on the sidebar. The color is nice! I like that you have lots of pictures in your posts.
The things I would change would be:
Moving up the Friend Connect widget above the "The Bus Stops Here" section on the sidebar. When I go to follow a blog I like the widget to be up near the top and easy to see. =) I suppose that might just be personal preference.
That post about where your name comes from was REALLY funny! =) I'm not a parent (yet) but I completely understood (Growing up with 8 siblings, I've been under the bus a few times myself ;-). However the text was a little confusing to read because of the centered alignment. I'd change that to the right side alignment.

Hope that is helpful! =) Here's mine:
http://mountaincreekblog.blogspot.com

[BirdandBlossomStudio]

Thank You Mountain Creek!

You know I just re did all my graphics and it jumbled my side bar ( a few things disappeared) so it's helpful to know where people look for stuff! I was wondering about the text too since my last set up had a larger column!

[OxArtJewelry]

Mountain Creek - I'm afraid these comments will be totally useless but I spent some time on your blog and your Etsy shop and really didn't find anything to be critical of. (Maybe that I don't agree with the subject of tanning but I know that's not the kind of advice you're looking for) :)
You have interesting posts, great photos and lay-out. I'm so new, perhaps a seasoned blogger would be more help. I enjoyed looking and added you to my circle and am now a follower!

http://artsyplace.blogspot.com/

[Former_Member]

Mountain Creek- My main trouble with your blog's appearance is that the reddish brown font is hard to read when paired with the colors of your background.

Also, before the the wood/lace background loads, there is a different background that looks like a mountain landscape. You may want to look over your HTML code to eliminate that as it could slow down your blog's loading time.



Ox Original- I like the idea of the news article-style posts, with the text wrapped around the photos but since your post area is so narrow, it doesn't really work. I would either increase the post width or simply center all the images.

I can't say much about your template because it's just one of the basic Blogger templates. If you plan to grow your blog, I would suggest that you consider upgrading your template to something more customized. Your blog's appearance would also benefit greatly from a header.

Your sidebar looks good and I like that you don't have too much in it. This will help dramatically with loading times. Since the sidebar is so short, you might consider decreasing the number of posts on the main page of your blog.

Lauren
http://www.theintermissionblog.com

[Former_Member · Accepted solution]

I'd like to remind everyone to make sure no one is skipped. You should critique the last person to post before posting your own link.

You MAY critique more than one blog (and in return be critiqued more than once). In fact, I suggest it. One person's opinion of your blog may be completely different from another person's.

[OxArtJewelry]

Lauren, Your comments are well taken. I will go to the wider template. I suppose most have a wide screen now. Yes, I want to customize my background and make a header. Writing for the blog takes more time than I imagined but surely I'll get faster and have time to work on the cosmetics?? I want to use one of my own illustrations but may need to hire help for the installation.
Thank you very much for your critique and for your suggestions to Mountain Creek!
PatsyOx

[Unblushing]

I've been working on my new blog design for a while now. It has come a long way! It's definitely been a challenge, I'm not exactly html savvy. Any constructive criticism would be appreciated!

www.julieannart.com

[Former_Member]

Okay, maybe I didn't explain this correctly. Please critique the last person to critique before posting your link. You give a critique, you get a critique.

I'll critique JulieAnnA anyway:
I've already told you that I love your design. It's very pretty and looks very professional.

I don't have any comments on the design and appearance but I do have a BIG, BIG suggestion. I didn't find any images on your blog with alternative text (alt tags). What alt tags do is show Google (and other) crawlers/bots (the things that check your blog for new content to add to search results) that there is an image there. Since they can't see images, if you have an image without alt text, it will look like your blog has BIG empty spaces all over. That will lower your pagerank and do absolutely nothing to help your SEO.

They are also helpful to people who have images turned off (yes, there are actually people who do that) or in case the image won't load.

I'm pretty sure there is a post on the team blog (etsyblogteam.com) about SEO (do a search), which will tell you more about that and other things but to add alt text, go to the HTML view of your post and look for the image code. Add the code:

alt="Descriptive Tag Here"

Blogger will automatically put the tags in alphabetical order so it doesn't matter where exactly you put it but make sure it is within the <img .....> tag.


Lauren
http://www.theintermissionblog.com

[Former_Member]

Critique of- Lauren, TheIntermission

Comments- I love the colors of your blog. It's visually interesting, yet doesn't feel overpowering. I like that you tied the circles from the top in with the buttons on the side. One suggestion I have would be to condense your buttons (such as about me, etsy shop, etc) into either the top or the side. There were some that were repetitive and it felt excessive.

Please Critique- Jenny, http://abirdinthehandart.blogspot.com/

[Former_Member]

Bumping! Next person, please critique ABirdintheHandArt

[sibstudio]

Hi ABirdInTheHandArt
I'm new to this team so I hope my critique is still helpful. I liked the green background. It makes your photos pop. Your blog is uncluttered and is easy to read. I also love your photos showing what you are working.
It would be fun to see a slide show widget showing what else is in your Etsy shop on the side bar. After reading your blog, I want to see more of your work . :- )

I started my blog prior to Etsy for my local customers. I welcome any critique. http://www.sibstudio.com/

[LaurelsArt]

You are absolutely right sibstudio, that is the biggest Christmas cactus I've ever see too, and my husband has some that are pretty out of control.
I am new to blogging also, I started this blog to keep my family and friends who are out of town up to date with my works. Now I'm trying to keep customers and fans interested.
I like the simplistic background of your blog, I have gone a similar route. I believe it leaves more room for the eye to take in the pictures without being influenced by another color or image.
I'm having a hard time finding followers. I'm even trying to do a giveaway for the month of April. I'm not having the greatest of luck. Any suggestions are welcomed.
http://laurelsart-thepowerofcreativity.blogspot.com/

[Former_Member]

Hi Laurel,

Although new, your blog already contains some informative articles.
It's a good idea to show the progress of your works.
Keep it clean and simple, and don't forget to post regularly, not overlooking your work of course.

http://theartinquirer.blogspot.com