Would u be so kind to critique my first blog!

pbaumcivil · #1 (**permalink**) 02-29-2008, 02:06 AM

Just asking if a few or as many as possible of you would critique my blog, tell me what you think, be completely honest. Criticism, especially constructive will be fully appreciated. This is my first blog ever, leave comments if you like, just want ways to improve. Thank you.

jaressloo · #2 (**permalink**) 02-29-2008, 10:18 AM

I like it...

I got distracted and read through your 139 things! I guess that's a good thing right?

pbaumcivil · #3 (**permalink**) 02-29-2008, 12:04 PM

I appreciate the compliment, any criticism, is there anything I could do better based upon the topic, is this something that you would enjoy reading or you think others would, let me know.

KevinCamon · #4 (**permalink**) 02-29-2008, 01:23 PM

Okay,

From what I see, this blog's main purpose is to get people to read your life story and maybe they will be inspired by your life's experiences? Before I get into actually critiquing your blog, let me ask you a question: What will be your method of marketing for your blog? How do you plan to reach your targeted audience? I'm curious to know.

Now, here's my critique, and please allow me to be honest:

Be it being a blog from blogger, This familiar template is one of my favorites. The colors you chose for your blog blend well. The one thing I would change the color of the left column where your main content is because it is the same color as your background. This will make it a lot easier for your visitors to read your content easily and it helps the eye focus on your content easier rather than trying to find where it begins. One color that go good for your content area would be a light fainted beige.

One thing I do see is the lack of elements. What I mean is when you start marketing your blog and you start getting some traffic you want to keep your viewers interested. It may get a little boring just reading articles about your life. I would say, ad a search bar, calendar, site categories, poll element, ads, video etc.

On your topic: 139 Things 2 Do B4 I Die: I'm not sure if this is how you want your list to look but I see some coding there that makes it a little difficult to read. 1.  I see that from the top to the bottom. Find out what's going on what that or you probably wont see any comments for that topic.

I see one google add at the top. If you can try to have it blend in with your blog's colors. That way, it won't stand out and people won't avoid it.

For the most part, you are off on a very good start. What you have here is the basic framing of a house, the next step would be to decorate your house so that visitors can feel welcome. It's an on going process that will require you to put a little work into everyday. Don't try to make it HUGE all in one day. Continue to take baby steps each day and before you know, your blog will be where it needs to be within a year.

Goog topic for a blog btw.

Hope this helps

KevinCamon

pbaumcivil · #5 (**permalink**) 02-29-2008, 01:55 PM

I greatly appreciate those comments, I will work on integrating them, and hopefully I can ask you later once I work on it a bit more. This is something that I'm truly developing a huge passion for and have always wanted to help people. I will work on incorporating these comments into my blog. I agree, baby steps.

I don't know how that google add got up there, I haven't subscribed to google ads yet.

lisa · #6 (**permalink**) 02-29-2008, 03:49 PM

Hi

Nice concept for the blog but I have to agree with Kevin on the "me" aspect of it.

Ken Evoy said it best. Your visitors don't care about you until you show what your site can do for them. Sounds a bit harsh but it's true.

People surf the web for information that will benefit them. Whether it be "how to live longer", "how to lose weight", etc. But the reality is, they don't really want to know about you until you've helped them with their question or problem.

So I would shift the focus of your blog slightly and make it seem as if you are trying to teach people how to live THEIR life without regrets. It's OK to add your own personal experiences and goals but keep in mind people want to know how you can help THEM.

You've sort of done that but you spend an awful lot of time talking about your own experiences. I'm concerned that people will quit reading if you don't show how they can apply this info to their life.

If the purpose of your blog is only to appear as a journal of your life, then this is awesome. But to appeal to other people and make money (if that's your intention) you are definitely going to need to shift the focus to helping your reader and talk less about yourself and more about how you can help someone else.

Remember, no one knows who you are. You're just another blog on the net until you establish your identity and credibility. So you want to limit how much you talk about yourself upfront and prove that your blog is useful to a specific audience. I understand that your goals and "things to do before you die" can inspire someone else but you still need to explain how.

This could really turn into something good. I just think you need to tweak your voice and spin.

pbaumcivil · #7 (**permalink**) 02-29-2008, 05:31 PM

I guess my problem is I'm trying to dual focus, yes I want this as a journal of my life in hopes to inspire others, but I actually thought about this aspect a bit and ignored, that's why I need the ppl on this board. I can easily turn focus, I will most likely do 2 blogs, 1 as a journal of my life and another helping people and creating a lot of useful information for them! Just know that I'm not someone just looking for compliments, I like the constructive criticism and feels it's the only way to improve. I will work on writing in this way, believe me my intentions are good at this and not purely looking to make money. Lisa you Rock!

rwskate · #8 (**permalink**) 03-04-2008, 10:21 PM

I posted mine previously under the Blog Forum but I think I should have done it here. I'm working on my third blog and that will be it until I switch over to SBI the end of next week. In the meantime, I'm going to continue adding content to all three blogs. Here are the first two right now. As I stated in my other post, it's in it's very, very early stages so please be gentle with me. And Lisa, I'm still waiting to hear from you especially-

-

I want my blog to be a series of blogs (later moving to an SBI site) where different areas can be covered: Finances, Job issues, Family, etc. So, HandleYourBusiness when it comes to this and that. You know what I mean-

-

R.

psychdev · #9 (**permalink**) 03-04-2008, 10:31 PM

I like the idea, and I think it looks great. And your birthplace is about 14 miles north of my home.

WB Sponsors