Please evaluate Blog site (reward details inside)

[BizDoc]

Hello. I'm looking for evaluation of content and layout for my blogger site. the Ingenious Business Guide

The reward I mention is the content at the site which will grow your business. What would you value being able to add profit to every sale you made, or increase prices easily, or become a powerful negotiator right now? You can learn how ... just by clicking on the site above.



Okay, that's the extent of my pitch. Please let me know your opinion on:

Content of posts: frequency, relevance, clarity, interest, style (dumbed down/over the head), length.

Design - I'm in the process of redesigning this template and I'll repost the mockup when I get it hosted.

I would love to know what you all think. Please be as brutally frank as you wish. There's no ego in this request. I genuinely want to craft the optimum site. Thank you very much for your candid opinion.

Cheers!

[Forummaster]

I checked your blog and found it beautifully designed. The contents are also nice and written in line the subjects. As you have said, you may change the blog template. I think it would it would be more lucrative. Thanks for publishing such a nice blog.

[Fergal]

Overall the blog looks great and it contains some very useful tips for new business owners. The first comment I would make is that your blog might do better on its own TLD domain name. Blogspot blogs can be very successful, but it will be easier for you to brand your blog if it has its own domain name. It will also be easier for your visitors to remember the name of your blog and make a repeat visit to it.

You asked about post frequency and personally I feel that this is something you should be looking to increase. There were times when there was five days between your posts, your visitors don't have much reason to return to your blog, when there is a break in posts. If you added quality content every day, your visitors would have a stronger reason to return. One way you could achieve this is by having guest posters, post on your blog.

I see that you have the AddThis retweet buttons, which is great, however it could also help to have a "follow me on Twitter" button or link clearly displayed on the blog. When I see websites that I like, I generally follow them on Twitter to help me keep up to date with what they are doing. A linked In button might also be a good idea, as it's a network that is particularly attractive to business people.

Good luck with it!

[BizDoc]

Thank you both for the feedback. I will consider and act accordingly.

Cheers!

[GekiDan]

Your blog's design is really attractive. Using a notebook like template made it look really like a notebook that one will definitely take note from.

And since you are running using the Blogger platform, you can add the "Post Summary" script so that only the first paragraph of your articles will be seen on your homepage. And it is to minimize the length of your page. You can also check this blog for some modifications and customizations on your blog.

Your blog is kinda lacking a logo. You can customize this image so that you can add your logo or banner. After it is up, just remove the Header Widget on your dashboard so that the text above this image (The Ingenious Business Guide) will be gone.

I also noticed that there's an empty space above the list of your recent post, do you have a blank widget there? Can't the list be moved upward?

And, I'm wondering why the title of your article simple Marketing, pt iii, including other parts, are in lowercase while Do you have a paypal account? then Read This Immediately! have the stating word in uppercase letters?

Adding a custom domain will not hurt. You can now get a COM domain for at least $6-$7. Having this will give you much better search engine visibility. Your blog also lacks a Favicon.

Last suggestion, have you tried using the Justified text alignment?

[50Cent]

Looks very for your blog design. Just a advice for you, find or create a better quality of image you used? As the current one are not really looking good and appealing.

[BizDoc]

Hi 50 Cent,
Thank you for your critique. Do you mean the profile photos or the graphic images? I find or take photos and then run them through a cartoon transformation filter to brand my look. Are you suggesting it takes away from the professionalism?
Thanks,
Cheers!

[BizDoc]

Originally Posted by GekiDan

Your blog's design is really attractive. Using a notebook like template made it look really like a notebook that one will definitely take note from.

And since you are running using the Blogger platform, you can add the "Post Summary" script so that only the first paragraph of your articles will be seen on your homepage. And it is to minimize the length of your page. You can also check this blog for some modifications and customizations on your blog.

Your blog is kinda lacking a logo. You can customize this image so that you can add your logo or banner. After it is up, just remove the Header Widget on your dashboard so that the text above this image (The Ingenious Business Guide) will be gone.

I also noticed that there's an empty space above the list of your recent post, do you have a blank widget there? Can't the list be moved upward?

And, I'm wondering why the title of your article simple Marketing, pt iii, including other parts, are in lowercase while Do you have a paypal account? then Read This Immediately! have the stating word in uppercase letters?

Adding a custom domain will not hurt. You can now get a COM domain for at least $6-$7. Having this will give you much better search engine visibility. Your blog also lacks a Favicon.

Last suggestion, have you tried using the Justified text alignment?

Hi Gekidan,
I thanked you before but my post must have gotten trapped in the ether. Anyway, thank you so much for your thorough feedback. I intend to redesign with summaries for two reasons: 1) to display more content; and 2) to trap analytics. Unfortunately I am unable to use the Blogger's built in functionality of the jump summary, and I borrowed/tweaked an existing template so I can't insert the Jscript Msr Bloggerbuster recommends.

As to the logo, I'm unsure. I've tried to use the animated headline gif but can't seem to get it to work in this template. I am in the process of rewriting my own and changing the elements I want to including these two and a better sharing facility.

I've corrected the extra line problem. The text I wrote that way to differentiate; do you think it detracts? Too fanciful?

And I'm considering a custom domain but the ones I want aren't yet available. I'll probably do that in the future but for now I'm content to host with Blogger.

Thanks again!
Cheers!

[GekiDan]

Originally Posted by BizDoc

And I'm considering a custom domain but the ones I want aren't yet available. I'll probably do that in the future but for now I'm content to host with Blogger.

Just a heads up, you can use custom domains Blogger.

[50Cent]

Originally Posted by BizDoc

Hi 50 Cent,
Thank you for your critique. Do you mean the profile photos or the graphic images? I find or take photos and then run them through a cartoon transformation filter to brand my look. Are you suggesting it takes away from the professionalism?
Thanks,
Cheers!

I mean the graphic image. Just keep it original would be better..

[Tecknowoman]

Hi BizDoc - just had a look at your blog.

My first question is why you don't run a self-hosted blog with as much customization as you could want? Anyone who knows me here will know I have a bug bear about maintaining control of your assets which you can do cheaply online.

Second I found the lovely curly, paisley image background at the top distracting from your purpose and content. It isn't related and takes up space.

Third I suggest breaking up your larger paragraphs into smaller bites. Offline and in different formats they are probably fine but online they look like big walls of words. Smaller bite size chunks would make it easier. In my case I am a scanner of blogs and the size of your paragraphs made it difficult to scan to see whether you had valuable content for me to bother reading the entire post.

With images see if you can make it obvious why they are relevant. For example the post with the car - as I just looked quickly there was nothing to indicate why a car was relevant without reading it. Tying the image and a heading, or a caption showing relevance helps to grab interest and entice people to read.

Good luck with it - it is a good looking blog and from your posts here you appear to be offering great content.

[BizDoc]

Originally Posted by 50Cent

I mean the graphic image. Just keep it original would be better..

Just want to make sure I understand: keep it original as in uncaricatured? Or something else?

[BizDoc]

Originally Posted by Tecknowoman

Hi BizDoc - just had a look at your blog.

... I found the lovely curly, paisley image background at the top distracting from your purpose and content. It isn't related and takes up space.

Third I suggest breaking up your larger paragraphs into smaller bites. Offline and in different formats they are probably fine but online they look like big walls of words. Smaller bite size chunks would make it easier. In my case I am a scanner of blogs and the size of your paragraphs made it difficult to scan to see whether you had valuable content for me to bother reading the entire post.

With images see if you can make it obvious why they are relevant. For example the post with the car - as I just looked quickly there was nothing to indicate why a car was relevant without reading it. Tying the image and a heading, or a caption showing relevance helps to grab interest and entice people to read.

Good luck with it - it is a good looking blog and from your posts here you appear to be offering great content.

My apologies for the belated reply. I didn't realize I'd been getting comments.

This is terrific feedback and I thank you. I will be ditching the paisley as soon as I find something appropriate to my theme.

I started with a template that had most of what I want. As my availability and competency increases I am successively refining it to better meet my needs. Eventually I'll ditch the template entirely, but I don't have the time or skills necessary yet.

The comment about the graphics being relevant to the title is a good one - I'll add captions where the association isn't readily apparent. I also appreciate your emphasis on brevity. As suggested above, I'm adopting a blurb and <more here> link to expand content but it's a work in progress. I'm hoping that will satisfy that need.

Thanks for some terrific critique. Please feel free to add any other comments, you or anyone else out there have. I want to make this blog the best it can be.

Cheers!

[GekiDan]

Since you are using the Blogger platform, you might want to check out these links posted on the Useful Online Business Resources:

Blogger Templates
BTemplates
AllBlogTools
50 More Beautiful Blogger Templates
How to Install Blogger Templates

Blogger Tutorials, Tips and Tricks
Complete List of Blogger Tutorials
Tutorials on Blogger Template Design
BloggerBuster

[krispykreme]

cool blog, but I think I have seen this designs before..