I am proud to announce the 3rd Reader Blog Critique. Last weeks critique proved popular and I thank all of you who contributed. I’m still waiting on Mohamads opinion on what the best comment was though rest assured the winner will be emailed as soon as I hear back from him (if not I’ll decide what the best comment was).
This weeks critique is SlyVisions, a blog which concentrates on blogging, internet marketing and making money online. SlyVisions is run by Sly Blanco and has been online since June 2007 
I asked Sly what he thinks needs to be addressed on the blog and this was his response
Concerns
- Sometimes it feels like I have too many categories and that I have duplicated a few of them but with different names. What should I remove/replace?
- The 3 main topics that I go over on SlyVisions is internet marketing, blogging, and making money online. Do you think that I provide enough *useful* content for each topic?
- I’ve tweaked the blog to make it as unique as possible even though I am using a free theme created by Adii. Should I purchase my own unique theme or is it unnecessary?
- Lastly, what would you like to see more out of SlyVisions?
In addition I welcome commenters to talk about the blogs content and design and any suggestions you have for promoting the blog.
The most helpful and constructive commenter will get $10. Alternatively, if you prefer, I can register a domain for you at eNom and push it to your account Sly will decide who the best commenter was.
As usual, I remind everyone that positive or negative, all feedback should be constructive.
If you have any questions about any of this please let me know in this thread
Blog to be Reviewed : SlyVisions
Rarst | September 10th, 2008 at 1:39 pm #
I am not commenting on content because I am not following blog (I visited in the past few times by links form other blogs).
So on theme and such.
1. It looks solid. Lots of red which seems common for marketing/mmo blogs. There are very few things that scream “Tweak me!”. On quick glance I can only spot :
1a. Using animated feedburner counter - it looks like empty square for everyone who has gif animation disabled.
1b. Boring default links for next/previous page.
2. It feels VERY slow. Around 0.6Mb total size for home page (I’ve seen worse) but 27 external java scripts + 40 images… Add up to enourmous quantity of HTTP requests and lag. I can feel my 3Mbit/s connection struggling to load it.
3. Ad-heavy. I am not saying that this is good or bad in general but for me it sets opinion about blogger’s priorities from the start. On home page actual content has barely 25% of page.
4. It doesn’t look unique, I had seen some blogs with same (or maybe very similar) theme. Can’t really get unique look with free theme.
5. I don’t see sitemap or archives page. There is no way for me to quickly determine site age and size and I like to do that.
Overall I am not directly interested in content so treat my opinion as that of random visitor.
banji | September 10th, 2008 at 6:38 pm #
I’m participating this time. Let me first address your concerns
1) You have a lot of categories that can be grouped into one parent category. Maybe you can try plugins like Enhanced Category to group all tips into one parent category (Tips). It will also allow expand/collapse behavior which makes everything more organized. If you do this, you don’t need to remove/replace any category
2) The second question is a bit difficult to comment. How much is actually considered enough? A glimpse of your main page entries shows that you wrote one entry on Make Money Online, while the remaining 7 is on another topic. However you make ammends by highlighting the post related to the three topics in your best post column. That is a thumbs up from me.
I also recommend you to highlight the three topics and make them more visible to first time readers. A good way to do that is by putting it in the title, or maybe make it bold in your welcoming introduction.
3) The rule of thumb is always to try and get a unique theme for a more professional look. But I personally believe tweaking free theme and make it slightly more unique is acceptable.
However I’ve read before that the decision to purchase unique theme can sometimes depend on your niche. For example, bloggers from your niche is very familiar with Adii’s work. So they will easily recognized the theme unless you did massive renovation.
And to be noticed in such niche, you might need the extra advantage of a unique theme.
My final verdict is to purchase unique theme or massively renovate this theme. Change some icons and color will usually do the trick.
4) What would I like to see more from Slyvisions?
a) Since you are offering to help other bloggers with their blogs, maybe you can come up with the same kind of review on a weekly basis. This will highlight your service and most importantly will become your portfolio when you start charging for consultancy later.
b) You might want to consider putting up your pictures instead of a cartoon character. An opinion usually carry more weight coming from a real person
5) Some other comments on design
a) Recent Posts doesn’t serve any purpose since readers can just scroll down to read your entries. You can either make the list longer or cut down the number of entries shown on front page.
b) I’m not a big fan of Recent Comments. Some bloggers consider it as clutter because nobody wants to read about comments, from topics they haven’t read and from someone they didn’t know.
c) Too many red fonts. It confuses some readers as to what is a link and what is just the column header.
d) Overall, I’ve enjoyed reading a few of your entries, especially your best posts. Keep it up
Steven Finch | September 11th, 2008 at 6:38 am #
The design is a free design by Adii, which really needs to be changed I think. However, there has been some good customisations done.
There is also a lot of clutter at the bottom of the sidebar that needs to be fixed. Plus, prob too much red!!
Aravind Jose T. | September 11th, 2008 at 11:53 am #
First of all, IT’S HEAVY.
It would be better if you could make it a bit more *lite*.
On scrolling down, the screen gets totally reddish.
And regarding the theme, it’s somewhat common and if you aren’t purchasing an unique design, atleast make those red icons to something else.
The number of categories IS NOT alarming and seems okay.
A bit ad-heavy too.
About the content:
Doing a good job. But, could make it more better if you write more insightful topics, rather than many reviews.
none of the above opinions are to be considered negative.
I just hoped that you could improve more and be more successful.
Seriously, no offences.
Above all, folllow the golden rule : KEEP GOING
Hussein | September 13th, 2008 at 7:39 am #
Sly, you don’t need anymore to buy a theme because your current theme is already awesome thought it is only a free theme. You have already branded it. Infact, whenever I see that theme of Adi, I used to remember your blog.
We just want more update from you because these past weeks you update too seldom.
Kevin Muldoon (Post Author) | September 15th, 2008 at 7:42 am #
Sorry for joining this discussion late
First of all, I’m a big fan of this design. It’s clean yet professional looking. However I do the design could be improved in a few ways. The main problem is there is too much info being sqeezed in there.
1. I think it would be better with just one sidebar, not two. Currently the posts are taking up less than 50% of your content area with advertisements and other information squashing the content into the left hand side. By removing one of the sidebars and expanding the main content area you could really improve the reading experience for visitors.
You have nothing happening in the footer. Some of the information like popular posts, recent comments and myblogroll could be moved down there to make room.
2. Your myblog headline reads ‘These are the cool and trendy people that reads my blog’. This is grammatically wrong. It should be ‘which read my blog’ or even ‘that read my blog’.
3. As most of you know, I’m not a fan of entrecard so I’d lose that
4. There are too many ads. I think the 6 banner ads would do but on top of that you have a 468×60 banner. You also have a 300×250 banner at the bottom of the page. Additionally you have an entrecard widget, a scratchback widget, a sponsors text list and a box telling people how many ad spots are available. Firstly I’d lose the 468×60 and 300×250 banner ads. I’d also remove the information about remaining ad spots and put it on the dedicated advertising page. You already have an advertise here link so it’s not needed.