Tell Me What I Need to Hear !

[merik]

Hi,

Since I haven't had much traffic and zero comments I'm growing a bit concerned.

First, does this site stand a chance? Don;t be nice. be honest. I'm trying to do a good thing here. I'm trying to fight internet pollution and overload by promoting quality in blogging. I can imagine how the first promoter of fighting pollution must have received all kinds of flak.

Second, can any of you even post a comment to my site successfully? If not let me know what happens so I can fix it!

Finally, would you please review my site and give me some suggestions as well? I would ever so greatly appreciate it!

Think Look, feel, traffic, monetization or whatever! Thanks!

- Michael Erik, MBA
Quality Blog Critic
www.qualityblogger.com
"The Best Things In Life Are Free"

[goldfries]

firstly, are you practising being a quality blogger? :) and how does one determine quality?

you're still on blogspot, your blog - besides the title, i'm at a lost of the objective of the site in general. i see a huge adsense ad, followed by a bunch of amazon books.

ok well yeah i do see a bunch of article there and they seem to be nice BUT i think you need to step up your game with a more attractive design and a better layout perhaps.

[deronsizemore]

I think a custom design is definitely something you need. There is nothing wrong with using adsense, but if you're going to use it, at least don't make it the first thing you see in your sidebar. Visitors want to see your content, not that you've got ads everywhere. I think I would limit the number of amazon books displayed as well. Maybe four at the most? There is just to many there and you have no room for anything else like "categories," "recent posts," etc. which will help readers find content they are after.

What are you doing to promote your blog? Sometimes you have to toot your own horn so to speak. If you take the "build it and they will come" mindset, then you're in for a disappointment I'm afraid.

Put yourself in the shoes of your readers. If you were a first time visitor on your blog, would you stick around and read the articles? Comment? Think about the sites you like and some of the things they integrate with their site and do it on your own.

[ses5909]

I'm going to agree with the comments above and recommend you get your own hosting space along with a custom theme. You are trying to set yourself up as a "quality blogger" and while your content is good, the layout I think is scaring people away. TBH, the site looked a little spammy at first and it took me actually reading the content to see that the content was solid. But I only did that because you posted here. If I had stumbled upon it on the web, I would have kept going.

Can you tell us what your goals are with the blog?

[merik]

Thanks all. Now for part 2...

I made several improvements since the last though I am still using Blogger. But I think the layout is decent. More articles too, upwards of 100+ posts, almost one a day. Let me know if this is better. My frustration is very low traffic. About 5 hits a day and I have submitted, subscribed and done all the blogger 101 stuff it seems. Not sure if it's just too many expectations that I have or maybe lack of a tighter niche?

Here's the problem, there is just too much I want to blog about and I like to make things a one stop shop too. Maybe that is the biggest mistake no matter how hard I try to go against that. My objective is a quality blog about a variety if things in life...useful info, hacks, etc. I hate trying to narrow to one topic, so I decided to keep posting anyhow. Is my resistance futile? Read some of my content, and then let me know what fits and what doesn't...and what you recommend and I'll ponder the advice or maybe even blog about it until my blog experiment reveals what I really should be doing.

Thanks!

QualityBlogger (http://www.qualityblogger.com)

[Jewel]

Just as a starter, your subtitle doesn't really make much sense to me, you might want to change it and make it a bit easier to understand.

I like that there are so many different topics to read on your blog, but the list of categories is overwhelming. Is there a way you could condense it so that it doesn't overwhelm the entire page?

[shyflower]

The theme just doesn't work for me.

Adjust your style sheet so your title isn't underlined.

Text size is way too large in your header
Borders are way too wide.

Get the Google ads out of your header.

Try for better color co-ordination. I'm all for a lot of color, but your palette is off the mark, especially in your content area where it goes from red to orange to brown to black and then green with some aqua thrown in.

Take your first lines out of bold. It isn't stylish, IMO, and it defeats accessibility in semantic coding.

You have text ads and a "make a donation". Generally donation banners are for sites that aren't otherwised monetized. It looks chintzey.

You don't need all those feed banners. Feedburner takes care of just about every feed reader in use.

Although I would get rid of all the banners in your sidebar, if you're going to keep them, at least center justify them.

When I clicked on one of your comments in the sidebar, I was brought to the article - sans comment.

Don't mean to offend, but for a blog that's supposed to be about quality blogging, you have a lot of work to do to make it so.

[merik]

Just as a starter, your subtitle doesn't really make much sense to me, you might want to change it and make it a bit easier to understand.

I like that there are so many different topics to read on your blog, but the list of categories is overwhelming. Is there a way you could condense it so that it doesn't overwhelm the entire page?

Jewel,

I actually had the exact same things in mind...how's this?

Shyflower

Thanks for the input, but understand my qualityblogging which you knocked was based on appearance and not content...and I am about at least 80% substance 20% form...i.e. what about my articles as a qualityblogger??? I noticed your comments were 99% about form and 1% of substance...great but not entirely what I was after...though I probably should've asked what people thought about my content up front, though I assumed it was 80% of the deal...I will take note of some of the things you said, but no one else has complained about the color scheme yet nor an underlined "title". I def want more opinions before I make any more changes...there comes a point when enough is enough and one is branded by how they look...BTW the feed banners are center justified...thanks

[shyflower]

Here's my point. First impressions are everything. If you want people to read to your content, when they first access your site it has to look the part of a quality blogger. Right now, it just doesn't look that way to me.

Your opening sentence said you have no comments. Could be that those who access your site are backing out before reading anything. The way to get more traffic is to get people reading and commenting on what you write, but first you have to get them to stay on your site.

Moreover, how you format your content also speaks to its readabilty. With all the color variants you use in your present formatting, it makes it very hard to focus on your text.

Your present article on Jennifer Lopez... I didn't stick around for the read more. You say she's relevant to your discussion, but you don't give a reason why. Looks like a poor attempt to get traffic off a name to me.... Again, not quality blogging.

[ses5909]

Shyflower is definitely right. I recommend you reading this blog post:

How important is your blog design (http://www.theblogexperiment.com/blog/2007/07/30/how-important-is-your-blog-design/)

A first impression will go a long way to having people stay. If I were to stumble upon your blog, I would probably have kept going because it just didn't look professional. But as you asked for a review, I stayed longer to check it out.
You can definitely still use a free theme, just find one that is more appropriate for your message and your audience.

[merik]

Thank you both for being honest and I read that article by ses5909 and it makes sense. First impressions do count even if the substance is good and what is the real test. A good title to get the click, a great looking blog, and then solid content, Got it. Thing is, when I see a site like entrepreneurs-journey or others they seem to get away with what you've pointed out as not so good...then again they have the reader base and I don't...is that why? It will take me some time to do this (make changes) and I expect it won't happen for a couple weeks at least. I made many widget and hacks into the blogger template to get it to be how I have it and would hate to have to take too long to get it all back up...is there a free express way? Would you recommend livejournal or wordpress or something that can easily transfer over on a new integrated template? Do you recommend 2 or 3 column. Also what's the best source for quality pictures to use? As this is experimental, I am not going for a paid service yet because I want to see how long I can endure this and how it all works out and really is once I get it right. Fun, but very time consuming. And yes the Jennifer Lopez story is somewhat experimental although I did try to make the story work, wanted to test to see what my demographic may be, but I may pull it in the future or rewrite it. For now, I thought it was a decent article regardless of what opinions about her might be :tongue: The title didn't do much for traffic yet as I could tell, but by just experimenting. Relevancy may suffer a bit though. Anyhow just a trial. That's what this forum is all about right, the blog experiment? Trial and error.

BTW I was thinking about changing my site name to 12-topics.com instead. Take a look at my recent/prev post about my 12 topics. And the colors do seem to work better when read in a feed which most see it in...if I eliminate the bold, should I keep the green and black or brown and black sub and sub sub headers?

Anyhow thanks again and I am sure I may ask for more advice in the future if you're willing to give it! :)

[shyflower]

I looked at entrepreneurs journey and subscribed after reading several articles. Yaro knows his business IMO and I quickly found several articles that will help both me and, eventually my readers. What I don't get is the comparison between your blog and his.

1. He uses lots of color, yes... but he uses it appropriately.
2. His headlines don't use buzzwords unless they specifically describe what the article is about.
3. He doesn't name drop unless he is specifically describing how his association with the other person helped him and/or can help the entrepreneur.
4. His comments area clearly displayed.
Finally, it appears that he has several years experience in his field... which gives him authority.

You need to find something that you can do as well or better than your competition and hone in on it... consistently selling it to your readers.

You need to be totally, incredibly honest in your writing. Don't tout experience that you don't have.

Take a look at Dave McNally's Blog (http://vertexity.com/blog/).
The first time I looked at it (a couple of days ago :o ) I read a bunch of his articles and subscribed. Not because he offers free themes in one of them but because of this line in his current article:
I have not been freelancing for too long

IMO, that kind of statement it brutally honest. He takes a risk... admitting that he's no expert but still dares to offer his opinion. It builds trust and puts himself right along aside any other new freelancer or reader who is trying to find their way.

You know what though? I'm not thrilled with his blog design. Too dark for my taste and his text size is a bit smaller than what I like to read... but he drew me in with one honest statement. I easily found good information in his other articles and then I subscribed so I can read it in my feed reader.

Simplify your design. Tone down the ads and mute the bells and whistles. Draw attention to your message so that your readers can focus on what you have to say. And when you write, deliver your content honestly and concisely. Don't use your headlines to hook readers with something that you really don't have to offer.

[Cedric]

I think you should really think of getting a unique theme and make your blog look as professional as possible. I'm not saying that using Blogspot's default theme is bad but if you're aspiring to have a professional blog, by all means you need something different. Perhaps you can try looking for a 3 column theme?

And here's a lil pointer, is it possible that you stick to one color for your font? Like just black only?

[mrs.tinsley]

The fact that your site doesn't work is why it's failing.

[merik]

Yaro's blog has as much clutter if not more yet you now start talking about his substance now not his form?

He uses color "appropriately" is about as specific as going to subway and ordering a "sandwich" What's appropriate and who defines it? I know, you do right?! :-?

Yaro is good because he kept posting. He started off some years ago inexperienced as a blogger...so what you say now is history in the making...and is experience gained by experience...like everyone else including you...the topics I write about I have experience in, and the blogging about blogging articles/piece is a blog-by-experience tale, so what? Whose isn't? That's what makes it valuable, fun, you find something that works and share it and it's the nature of the blogging experiment. Did you forget the title of this forum?

BTW the article headline thing was a recommendation from several other highly reputable blogs...you telling me your advice tops theirs??? Please. I got 9 times the hits above my average after checking, so their advice worked...not deception but creativity...so getting creative and finding a way to make things work is cool...let others have a right to their opinions and methods and not hold them to your standard because who says your way and standard by which you judge is THE way...:-?

[shyflower]

I'm sorry you took offense. However, if you don't want feedback, don't ask the questions.

I took another look at your blog today and I see you have made substantial changes in your delivery. Your active window looks much better and your content is much more readable. Good job!

I would make three changes in your sidebar. Put your search box, subscribe, and About Me closer to the top of your page.

[merik]

I actually posted a reply but not sure why it didn't end up getting posted.

Anyhow, just wanted to say, much better approach.

Yes I cleaned up quite a bit. My last article about my Keyword Mistake is what I consider one of my good lessons learned articles under blogging because it's an angle I have not seen covered by others. They may have but I haven't found it. So maybe if it becomes truly helpful as I think is can be, it can become a pillar article. Anyhow...

Thanks for the sidebar recommendations, I did make some changes there. The 12 topics (categories) I think are also a bit better and I shortened my most popular list.

Cheers, :rockon:

QualityBlogger - 12 Topics Hundreds of Lifehacks (http://www.qualityblogger.com)