Blog Review: Push Standards - Thoughts of a Young Web Designer
Hey, it’s Blogging Startup’s first blog review. And the beginning of many more to come. If you would like your blog reviewed, just drop me a note through my contact page. Please only submit blogs that are new, six months or less…just sorta sticking with the “starting a new blog” theme we have going here.
Alrighty, time to take a look at the Push Standards blog started by web designer, Tom Ross. So Tom, here’s my completely biased, opinionated, and seldom coherent review of your blog…
First, I have to say, I love the simplicity and attractiveness of the design. Well, except I see you had some trouble with the top right corner staying up on the screen, but the tape is holding fine. Also, since I know that you did the design yourself, you should add this to your portfolio.
Okay, here’s my breakdown of the pros and cons of the blog so far. Since there is very little content, I will comment mainly on the design.
PROS:
- You actually put thought and energy into your blog launch! That’s great. (My first two blogs were launched with zero fanfare and zero visitors for several days. I finally got smart with this blog; see the news report.)
- Great subtitle! I love it. Readers immediately know what the site is about. Very well worded.
- Clean, attractive design. Artistic, with good use of color.
- The writing looks good, so far. And you already have three posts up in the first day! Excellent. Be sure to proofread, as I found a couple small spelling errors. (And no, don’t tell me about my own spelling problem unless you write a review with a link back to BS!)
- Blog has tab links at the bottom of the page. Most blogs miss this, but readers love it. Even my own blogs are missing this.
- The tab titles help clarify what this blog is about; for example, “Portfolio” and “Hire Me“.
- Having your portfolio with links is a great sales point.
- It’s a new blog and you already have all your tabbed pages filled with content. That is excellent. I also like that you included a contact form and have a photo and description of yourself.
- You’ve added three major social bookmarking links at the bottom of each post. Now to write some posts that will attract those clicks.
- You’ve started doing some SEO work such as having clear post titles in the URL.
- You’ve already got the blog listed on Technorati.
CONS:
- The RSS feed button is small. This is a problem on one of my blogs and the subscriptions reflect that.
- As you add more content, you will want to have more links in your sidebar for readers to access the older content. A list of categories is a key way to help readers find what they are interested in.
- Blogroll only has one blog on it. Add some more, even if you need to drop them in the next few weeks. It just looks better and lets readers know you are connected.
- The title graphic could be a bit larger.
- Need to add a favicon to your site. (I know…who the hell am I to suggest this? Hey, mine are on the way; be patient.)
- Still some SEO work to be done, such as improving the home page title. Right now it is just “pushstandards.com” with no keywords.
- Personally, I wouldn’t list blank advertising spaces on a new blog (especially with no ads sold). Until you have traffic and stats to help sell your ads, these will be hard to fill. Add an advertising tab and list your ad space prices there. Blank ads announce that no one is advertising here.
Your domain name is a challenge, but not bad. Push Standards is probably not going to be a great keyword domain, but it does allow you some flexibility in creating your own image. My other two blogs use domain names in the same fashion. The key is to get your name out there and start developing lots o’ links. And I know you have already been working on this.
Overall, I think you could have a winner with this blog. The real question is, what will the future content look like? Readers need to have a reason to come back to a blog, and content is what gets them back. If your content is strong, this blog will do quite well.
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Comments
[…] highly recommend. Jim found my site through a blogging forum and was soon commenting and posting an outstanding review of Push Standards. Subsequently I am linking to his website, not because he asked me to, or because […]
[…] a list of strong points and areas for improvement. For an example of one of my reviews, see the Push Standards Review. My hope is to provide some encouragement, advice and a wee bit of traffic from my readers. I […]
Just by reading your review on other sites, I learned a lot already. Looks like I want you to review my blogs too, but not now. I’ll fix a few things first and try to minimize my Cons.
Hello Jim
Which is the best software to use for blogs is it word press or blogger, when u say add some social bookmarks do you mean only on the bottom of each page, as I have read somewhere about using ping to let the social bookmark site know you have content, is this advisable
Many thanks David
Wow, thanks very much Jim for the in depth review! I’m glad that you like the site so far, and I actually agree with all of your pros and cons. I’ll be making several changes to the design based on your recommendations, as I’m aware that a good blogger won’t just launch a website and then leave it the way it is.
As far as content goes I’ve got a bunch of ideas for articles that I will be adding over the course of the next few days. I’m sure that the content could be improved as I’m new to blogging, but hey I’m willing to give it my all. Also don’t mention the spelling, I’m afraid it’s definitely not my strong point!
Thanks again, and I hope that our two websites can continue to interact in the future.
- Tom.