Candleday

Blog author: Tomas

The depth of the steps we leave in life is defined by our love to others.

You've got a very well laid out and organized blog, I like how simple it is and the blog is very low on the clutter factor, great job.

I see four posts on the front page, very good - this is perfect. Readers don't read anything if you've got an overload of info on the first page.

You might want to center some of the items in your sidebar, just google html code for centering text and apply it to your buttons and badges in the sidebar.

Navigation is easy enough to do but it would help if you placed a link list in your sidebar showing popular posts or some of your favorite posts.

to get more visitors, go to other blogs with a similar theme to yours and leave meaningful comments and people will come check your blog out. Your comments on other peoples blogs are like a small advertisement or business card for your blog - make it good.

You might want to add a social bookmarking tool to the bottom of your posts, this way readers can share your work with others - check out addthis, sharethis or te!!

You've got some really interesting art work, keep it up.

http://candleday.wordpress.com/

Ludo and The Lion

Blog author: The Lion

Ludo and The Lion is a compilation of many things. But mostly, it is my way of reaching out to the world. I believe strongly in education of the masses and hope, in some small way, I can educate someone on some issue.

Great layout, I really like the color and template you chose.

Your blog is organized very well and you have done a god job adding useful tools such as the sharethis after each post.

The terms in the sidebar could be placed elsewhere and linked to as well as the copyright, you want to post quality content there.

You should go through your posts and find a few you like and then link to them from your sidebar - having a "favorite posts" section is a great way to get people looking through your site. Then after you get the navigation squared away you should reduce the posts displayed on the front page to three or four.

You've got email subscriptions now you just need RSS subscriptions, check out feedburner for that.

Great blog keep it up.

http://www.ludoandthelion.com

Views from the Emerald Isle

Blog author: The Emerald Islander

Personal thoughts, opinions and comments of an independent consultant, political analyst and historian, who lives in Ireland but is aware of the whole world.

Your blog takes a little while to load, you may want to consider shortening the front page. You can show three or four posts on the front page, then your readers will navigate through your archives. The main reason for this is load time but there are many other reasons as well.

If you were to add a links gadget in your sidebar with your most popular posts you could show less posts on the front page and still bring more readers in. There's just to much content to digest on the front page.

The banner is very nice, but I would crop it. You want to show more of your blog content immediately to the visitor - so they can find something that interests them.
¤ I have actually never scrolled down past your image at the top of the page while visiting via BlogExplosion.

You've got lots of widgets and stuff in the sidebar, while it is great and many readers will contect and use some of them - you should keep it to just the necessary items.

You've got the Email subscription option which is great but you'll want to place an RSS subscription option at the top of your page as well - this will bring in many quality readers.

There are some huge chunks of text in the sidebar, try to break it up with paragraphs or consolidate and summarize.

http://inishtrahoull.blogspot.com/

Ashish Gourav:Exploring The Hedonism of Life

Blog author: Ashish Gourav

Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence.

What type of blog is this? I had a hard time figuring that out. You might want to choose one specific point of interest and focus on that for your blog. You want to stick with one theme or idea - it might be hard but remember that there's a wide range of info in any topic.

Your title is almost invisible, try adjusting the font and or color of the text. You can adjust the colors of your whole blog to customize and personalize your blog. Change the top blogger navbar color to match your blog.

No RSS subscription button? - that is a necessity, get one and be proud of it!

I see some adsense right away, ads work different for everyone but I've had the most success with placing adsense in my content after posts.

I like the triple column layout but you should really reduce your widgets if you can. Think about what type of readers you get and try to make sure your widgets are targeted at your readers.

You're doing a great job using images within your posts, but you have too many posts displayed on the first page, reduce it to three or four, your page will load quicker and look more professional - not to mention readers will be more prone to look through your archives(lower bounce rate!)

http://iitashish.blogspot.com/

Incredible Indians

Blog authors: Harshad & Yash Chitalia

India is my country and all its cuisines are my brothers and sisters.

Hello Incredible Indians,

That's a great T shirt, you might want to try experimenting with reducing the size of the image though. You want more of your content shown to the visitor immediatly.

I don't see a RSS feed button anywhere, get on and place it at the top of your sidebar, this is important. RSS subscribers are the best kind of traffic, it's returning viewers and people that trust you.

You've got a little adsense in your sidebar..you need to remove it and place ads within your content. Try placing them after every few posts.

Speaking of posts, you only want three or four at the max on the front page, there's many reasons behind this but the main reason is that people will feel overwhelmed by a page with that much text.

Try to use more images within your posts, use creative commons search engines to find shareable friendly copyrighted images.

You've chosen a nice layout, now customize its colors and fonts to match your personality.

http://hdeshpande.blogspot.com/

Guerilla Info

Blog author: chrisjrt & Adam McG

Views and reviews on anything from news to blues

Hey guys,

My first idea would be a banner or something near the top possibly in the sidebar, a "brand" an image that you use to promote your site. It could be a guerrilla even.

Next, instead of having the social bookmarking buttons in the sidebar like you have done, use a button at the bottom of each post, check into addthis, sharethis or te!!. Either one will let your readers share your info on social bookmarking networks.

Next you'll want to move that RSS subscriptions button up to the top, your most valuable type of visitor is the one that returns to your blog on a somewhat regular basis - they are the people that trust your advice and will most likely recommend your blog to others(via social bookmarking or email.)

I just scanned your blog posts quick and it looks like you've got about seven posts on the first page, bring that down to three or four. Then go to your blog layouts, create a new gadget and choose link list - link to some of your favorite posts from the sidebar.

People will navigate through your site, don't try to show them every post all at once.

To get more visitors/comments on your blog, go and leave comments on other blogs.

I see at the bottom of your blog you advertise free link exchange - I'm in.

http://www.guerillainfo.com/

Cranky Chicks

Blog author: Cranky Chick

A place for cranky chicks to find info on cosmetics, make up, anti aging, PMS remedies, relationships, nutrition, herbs, weight loss and more...

I would try changing the top navbar from silver to black, it might go better with your pink background.

The site translator is a good idea, just make sure it's needed. You could run a pol to see how many readers actually utilize this tool - alternatively you could check into using analytics such as google analytics to see where your visits come from. When I looked at my map of visitors the first time, I noticed almost all of my visitors were coming from english speaking countries.

If someone wants to translate a page they will usually already have a translator tool in their browsers tool bar.

The adsense banner at the top is in a good spot for visibility but you may want to try applying adsense within your content after the posts. The adsense in the sidebar is almost useless(check the amount of clicks you've got from that ad alone.)

Move your RSS subscription buttons up to the top of your sidebar. You want to get a strong readership, this one of the best ways to keep people coming back.

You've got a lot of widgets, just check to make sure they're directly related to your readers and make sure they don't contain adsense.

Change the donation button into an image(check my sidebar for the coffee image) get creative and make your own donation image that is targeted at your audience.

http://crankychicks.blogspot.com/

The Pragmatic Liberal

Blog author: Marc

Rantings on the election from a pissed off and somewhat cynical liberal. More democrat than republican, I try to understand both points of view, but man those rovian make it so hard to be sympathetic.

H i Marc,

I really like the idea behind your blog, great topic. The first thing I see is that it's mostly text. Try to find or create a good header/banner for the top of your blog. Then go into your settings and layout and customize the colors and personalize the font etcetera..

The blog catalog widget is great and all but it really shouldn't be at the top of your blog sidebar, there should be an RSS subscription button there and then you can follow that with the bc widget.

On the topic of widgets - go with what is directly targeted for your readership. A few of your widgets come with adsense in the bottom of them, this means your making the creator profit every time your page is loaded. You can find many good free widgets for blogger - just google it.

Your archive is ok at the bottom of the sidebar but you might want to experiment with moving it up. Speaking of site navigation you might want to link to some of your favorite posts. Just create a link list gadget in layouts and then enter the links for your favorite posts.

After you get navigation squared away reduce the number of posts on your front page to three or four max. Having more than four posts can cause readers to lose interest, if people want to read more they will search your archives or navigate through other means.

The text only posts aren't going to get you very far, use creative commons search engines and look for copyright free images to incorporate in your posts.

Get active in other political blogs, search the listings at some blog directories and bookmark the popular ones. Now make a habit of commenting on good blogs, leave quality comments and people will check out your blog after reading your comment.

http://pratimazan.blogspot.com/

Celt's Blog

Blog author: Steve

My feeble mutterings on many aspects of my life in the Philippines. The good times & the bad, The laughter & the tears. Oh & if I get the time I'll tell you a little about the Philippines OK...?

Hey, how's it going Steve?

Your blog looks to be part of a forum of some type so the layout and design can't really be critiqued. I might suggest you try a free hosting site like blogger or wordpress.

There is one problem I encountered with your site though, the scroll bar doesn't work for me. I tried to load the page in a few different browsers but the scroll bar just doesn't work and even disappears when I try to use Firefox..

The only real comment I have about your content is the text. You might want to try to break it up or format it differently every once in a while to add interest. Photos work wonders but aren't necessary. Try creating more paragraphs or just dividing the text a little more.

http://www.surigao-expats.com/forum/index.php?blog=4.0

iblogZone

Blog author: ditesco

Information and Resources on Making Money Online, Blogging Tips, Building Traffic, and Personal Finances

Hey ditesco,

You've got a very well organized blog, navigation is real easy and you don't have to dig much to find something interesting.

The navigation bar is easy to use and you've done a great job keeping things neat and uncluttered. Since your navbar is so well laid out I would say you should just show three or four posts on the front page. Readers will quick read those posts and then go look for more. I scanned your page a few times but never actually scrolled all the way down - less is more sometimes, it's hard to show fewer posts but experiment with it.

You have done a great job with RSS feed links but you might want to try putting your email subscription a little higher up the page, maybe on top of the ad in the far right top corner.

There's a lot of blogs out there with tips on blogging and helpful stuff so you need to check out the competition and see what they're saying. Then offer something different and unique that is helpful for bloggers.

http://www.iblogzone.com/

Nurse Jen Doll

Blog author: Nurse Jen Doll

Reality Student Nursing. My quest to becoming a liscensed nurse in the USA, for real. Seriously! Sarcasms, satire, oppinions, and gossip.

Hey Nurse Jen Doll,

You've got a cool blog with a unique topic.

The first thing you could add is a favicon, it helps readers identify with your site and sticks out when they bookmark your blog. Google the words favicon generator and you should be able to find it from there. Try and make it something that is an image somewhere else on your blog too, this will help promote your "brand."

If you could make the banner image/logo a bit smaller it would show more of your content to visitors. The next line down is perfect, it's adsense mixed with subscription info. The next section down is your navbar, which is very well laid out but the border is a bit large, you might want to try and shrink the border to fit if possible, doing this will again, show more content to visitors immediatly.

You've got some great related widgets and links in your sidebar but it's always best to go with the most important ones only. People will look through a few links or headlines but when there's more than five it just gets skipped over.

Try showing less lines in your blog catalog widget, when you have more it doesn't really look better, it just takes up space. Also try turning the background black for the blog catalog widget, it would probably match better that way.

Instead of having adsense in the sidebar, try placing it within your posts, it is much more profitable when your ads are in your content.

You might also want to look into a social networking button for the bottom of your posts, google sharethis or addthis or te!! a friend.

You've got a nice little niche here where you could really get a large readership. You're doing great asking and polling your readers about additional content. Keep it up.

http://nursejendoll.com/

Hackers Enigma

Blog author: Amol Wagh

Hackers Enigma aims to provide an complete 'Ethical Hacking' database for beginers in this field as well as for those who are currently working in the same. We are covering here topics like XSS, SQL Injection Atttacks, Viruses, Penetration Tests, Open Source Security and Recent Security World News.

Great looking blog, you might want to have a small description at the top of your blog letting visitors know what you're all about or link to your about page from there.

I really like the blog layout, everything is crisp clean and easy to find.

The only real big problem I see is the sidebar, you have a few too many posts displayed on the front page but the sidebar goes even further down the page than the posts. Try only having the necessary amount of widgets and try to have gadgets and tools that really are targeted towards your audience.

One thing that might clean your sidebar up would be putting some of the ads within the content. Many people find this much more profitable and it helps reduce clutter in the sidebar.

You don't want to have too many terms or tags up at the top of your page, less is more sometimes. Try to narrow it down to the most accurate tags and it will look cleaner and be easier for visitors to read.

I like the way you have it setup, great blog.

http://www.hackersenigma.com/

Everything Under the Sun

Blog author: Lanie Yu

the assignments' blog

Hello, interesting blog topic - I don't think I've read one about academics yet.

I like the layout and everything looks very clean. The tabs at the top caught my attention at first. There's a loner, one tab below the rest, is it possible to divide all the tabs between the two lines? If possible maybe you could decrease the amount of tabs there and just have the necessary ones.

Theres no RSS subscription button at the top of the page. It is lower down and all I could find was the email subscription. That's a good start but it needs to be higher up, the very top thing, you want people to see it first. You have a lot of widgets in your sidebar, try to organize and or clear out the unnecessary ones. The problem with some of the widgets is that they have ads in them put there by the widgets creator, so you're making someone else money by having it there. Only use widgets that relate to your readers.

Your posts really stick out well in this theme, the red border helps them pop out and grab your attention, that is nice. You have a few too many posts on the front page, try three or four posts at the most. This is a good number because it keeps thing clean and clutter free but also allows a good chance for readers to find something interesting.

You might want to consider placing a blog description above your posts. Just a couple sentences telling visitors what you're blogging about. One thing that would really help is to break your posts up a little more with paragraphs. When the text is separated and broken up more it helps readers digest it all and it's more interesting to look at.

Looks nice, keep it up.

http://lanieyu.blogspot.com/

Latest Football Highlights

Blog author: shaquil

Latest Football Video From Top Competitions including Premier Leaque, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera División, Champions League, UEFA Cup Games of The Season.

You have a very eye catching banner at the top of your blog, it looks great but it might help to make it a little smaller if possible. This way visitors will see more of your content when the page first loads.

Theres a bunch of ads that show up right away, there's nothing wrong with this and it's actually the best place to put ads but there needs to be balance between content and advertisements. Other than that the layout is organized very well.

It would help to move your RSS subscription higher up the page. You want this to be one of the first things people see. When readers keep coming back they will trust you more and more and then maybe even eventually click on one of your ads.

For the RSS button check out feedburner, they've got some good stuff or just google around for RSS buttons.

Sorry but I'm going to return to the adsense ads again. When a reader sees ads they usually will be more critical of your blog. You need to have everything very professional for ads to work properly. It might be best to wait on ads until you have a lot of subscribers. After your site starts to get a lot of comments and views then you can introduce ads slowly to see the effect. The reason for this is that you won't make anything more than just pocket change until you have a solid readership.

Sports blogs can be difficult to do, it isn't impossible though. Fans can go just about anywhere to get the latest updates on sports, try to show a unique angel.

Keep it up your blog looks good so far.

http://latestfootballhighlights.blogspot.com/

Naturocity

Blog Author: Dan Bodenstein

Naturocity: The art of loving nature

Photographs, tips and more

I have been following your nature photography blog for a while now, you have some amazing shots and all are top quality.

Your site is top notch as far as the main elements go, I have been looking into scraping my photo blog and starting one with the one of the shutter themes layouts.

One thing you are missing in the top portion of the page(what the visitor sees first) is an RSS subscription button. Check out Feedburner to burn a feed for your site. There's also a bunch of navigation links in the bottom right hand side that you might want to reorganize into a flat line.

You could try moving your recommended reading to the sidebar to even things out. You have a bunch of posts on the front page which may seem overwhelming to some readers. Try showing three or four posts on the first page. With just a few posts on the front page it helps reduce clutter but still lets the visitor find something they connect with.

One thing that really helps draw new and quality readers in is posting on other blogs in the same category. Try to create a bookmark list or RSS list in your reader of choice(I use google reader) and make a habit of commenting on popular and theme related blogs.

http://www.naturocity.com/

Lipstick Addict

Blog author: digitalbodega

This Blog is all about what women want, beauty fashion, make up and product reviews!

When your blog first loaded there was one thing that really caught my eye: PINK! that is really pink but it looks like you're doing a good job working with the color.

You might want to play with the fonts and colors a little more to make the text contrast a little better. Try a darker shade of black in some places or a bright white. Some of the links are hard to see such as the comments link.

Using pictures within your posts is a great way to break up the text and/or draw attention to the text. It looks like you have consistently been centering your images, try placing them on the right or left. This way your text is next to the image and they compliment each other a little better. You could also break your paragraphs up a little more. Breaking paragraphs into little chunks makes it more readable.

It looks like you're using TE!! a friend and another social bookmarking tool - choose just one and try to keep things uncluttered.

You have a lot of good widgets but try and just use the things you need or think your users need.

http://lipstickaddict.blogspot.com/

The Life Uncommon

Blog author: Isolde

The Life Uncommon is following my journey as an aspiring freelance writer/novelist who is trying to transition out of the corporate world into the world of the written word.

First couple things I noticed were your banner, adsense and sidebar. The banner image at the top, while very nice looking, may be a bit large. The adsense thing is hard to get right - most people have had luck placing it within there content i.e. after each post. Sidebar ends ends abruptly after scrolling down the page just a little.

After scrolling down a little it looks as if all of the good stuff you want in your sidebar has somehow moved to below your post.

I see you have a donate through paypal button, it might help if you use your own custom image. I have used a coffee cup(see sidebar). This helps users determine and amount and also makes some people realize that just a little can actually help. When readers see "buy me a coffee," they think I can afford that and it would be nice to help a little.

Your RSS/Email subscription area is way down at the bottom, you want this to be one of the first things people see.

You might want to give a description or short explanation at the top, this helps readers know what to expect at your blog.

Try showing fewer posts on the front page, if someone wants to read more they'll go look for it. If you have three or four posts on the front page then people can get a taste and then they will go look at your other stuff. Anything more than five posts and people feel overwhelmed and don't connect with anything.

Great blog, keep it up.

http://www.thelifeuncommon.net/blog/

What People Hate

Blog author: whatpeoplehate

This blog posts funny articles about pet peeves, things people hate, or otherwise annoying things.

This blog is still fairly new but it looks like you're off to a good start.

You should have a sharing tool for any blog that has these type of comical posts. Check out ShareThis or any other social bookmarking button add on. This way people will send your post to other people who will most likely be interested. Referrals are the best way to get new readers, they stick around longer.

People bookmark these kinds of blogs because they like to come by every once in a while for comic relief, they become accustomed to your style of posting so try and keep it fairly constant and regular. Get in a habit of posting everyday if you can - if you can't try and get a post out every other day.

Try to find some blogs similar to yours and exchange links with them, this is a great way to bring interested readers to your blog.

The banner at the top is perfect, it gives people an idea of what the site is about. With a blog name like this it's important to be as clear as possible. Keep using images in the posts, it really helps get the point across and it also helps break up the text.

http://whatpeoplehate.wordpress.com/

SFCHESSNEWS

News relevant to San Francisco chess players as reported by your average Joe...

Blog author: Joe R.

Hello Joe,

You have a nice layout and the blog looks well organized.

If you were to place an image behind your title banner it might help the page to grab more attention. You could use an image of a chess board graphic or chess pieces on their side.

At the bottom you have a "notable links section" which you could place on another page. Just create a new post, then go to post options and back date it so it will be archived as one of your oldest posts. Then create a link to that post from your sidebar.

You have a unique blog here which will require a certain type of readership, I don't know if your already active in chess forums but you could try posting in forums and put a link to your blog in the signature of your forum posts.

Another great tool that would be perfect for this blog is craigslist. You need to try and not look spammy with your posting at craigslist but offer a link to your blog that way too. Craigslist is very targeted to specific areas which would work well for your blog.

http://sfchessnews.blogspot.com/

Mini Chandeliers

Blog author: kril

Mini Chandeliers are perfect for area too small for regular size chandeliers. Add a mini chandelier to bathrooms and bedrooms for an elegant touch

Hello Kril,

Interesting blog topic, there might not be a lot of blogs on this subject so you could have something here.

First thing I noticed is that there's a huge open blank space at the top of the page.. If you were trying to put adsense there remember that you can have three ads maximum per page, so if all of those other blank spots on your page were meant to be adsense as well, just delete the code from where you do not want it.

You might want to wait on ads anyways until you have at least a small readership. Once you have some constant traffic then try and throw some ads up to see what the response is. You could also use this same technique for comments. Don't allow comments until you'll be able to get at least three or four. Many people judge blogs by how many comments they receive.

I would move the archive to the sidebar, you want it closer to the top so it is more visible. Keep tweaking and adjusting things on your blog until the colors and framing are just right.

http://minichandeliers.blogspot.com/

COGADGET

Blog author: Safi Baig

If you want all the latest gadget news, tips, hacks and reviews then cogadget is right place for you.

There are lots of gadget and technology blogs so you will need to continue offering something unique. It looks like you are covering some of the more popular tech news, this is needed but needs to be complimented with some unique view or input.

I like the sidebar, it's organized very well and only contains the necessities. If you could shorten up the image gallery to match the others it might improve the appearance.

Other than that looks like you have all the good RSS and sharing tools in use.

Great gadget blog, keep it up.

http://cogadget.com/

Jay Zuck's Sketch of the Day

Blog author: madhollywood

Sketches and artistic musings from the mind of Jay Zuck

Hello madhollywood,

Great sketch of the day blog, that is a big commitment, but if you're up to it that's great. A blog needs to be steady and regular. One of the biggest things though is to remain consistent in your posting style/timing. If you fail to post daily you might lose readership. Try pre-posting or time release.

The images are amazing and you've chosen a very cool way of displaying them.

You may want to adjust the text color in your sidebar to make navigation easier to find.

If you could have fewer posts displayed on the main page that would help with load time and make first time visitors more likely to search the archives. Try bringing it down to three or four posts on the first page.

I really like the Hank Hill sketch and it's sad to see him go, you've got a good blog keep it up.



http://jasonzuckerman.com/

Gadget talk

Blog author: raghu

gadgets,apple,iring,technology,recent,forum,phpbb,opencourseware,wall,tourism

Hey raghu,

You have chosen a nice layout for your blog, very clean and involves some interesting graphics.

Gadget and technology blogs are everywhere and to really capture an retain readership you need to have a lot of quality content and content that no one else has - original stuff. Looks like you're doing a good job so far keep it up and keep adding unique posts.

Your sidebar is a little disorganized, I've had this problem for a while and it seems to be one of the hardest areas to get just right. You don't want too many widgets but you want to offer a few target audience related tidbits on the side. The key is to really only use the necessary and most applicable widgets to your blog.

You have some really long posts and a few too many on the main page. To make navigation easier set it so there's just three or four posts displayed per page and if you have a really long post consider breaking it up into a series. Making a series of posts is a great way to bring readers back to your blog.

http://www.heightz.blogspot.com/

redbubble

I haven't reviewed a blog in a while because I've been focusing on my photography blog. But I will start catching up here in the near future, so keep checking back.

I' going to review an artist community that I have recently joined though, it's not a blog but it does offer journals and other blog like features. I've been trying to find a site to share and monetize my photography and it looks like I've found a winner.

I have had a great time at redbubble so far, it seems like a nice place for artists to discuss and showcase their work. The merchandise appears to be of good quality, I will be purchasing a few prints of my photographs just to make sure but user reviews have looked great.

The tools this site offers are unparalleled, I haven’t been able to find another site that offers this level of quality.

The promotion tools offered are very helpful. I was able to easily add buttons, sideshows and viewers to my blog I then added a widget to my Facebook profile so my friends can see my work that’s up for sale.

The best part about this site so far is the community, I have met a few people already that were more than helpful with any problems I ran into.

Thanks to everyone out at redbubble,

http://photoexpose.blogspot.com/

Evan