Review: Is Life Really Colorful?
Jan 19th
Abhijeet is the man behind the blog called “Life Is Colourful“. He has been the Top Commentator so many months that I have decided to give him the ad spot for as long as he is on top of that list. I subscribe to Abhijeet’s blog where he talks about everything from SEO, Affiliate Advertising and Google among several other things. As many of you may not know, the price of a Review through ReviewMe has now been raised to $100 to keep up with the other bloggers but you can still purchase a review for a discounted price directly through my blog. The price is $20 directly so thats about 80% off. Anyway, getting back to Life Is Colourful, you will notice that Abhijeet posts a few times a week and he was the one that informed me about how one can get reconsidered for being penalized on their Google Page Rank.
Design
Overall, I like the design on the blog but I do suggest that what is missing is some branding. Yes, the theme has been slightly customized but I would like to see what I call, a “differentiating factor” or something that sets this blog apart from others that use the same theme. This can probably be done with a customized header. The colors work well and the RSS Subcriber button is also placed in an appropriate place which is good.
There was an issue that I saw and even though I fall under the same category, I noticed that Abhijeet has a few too many ads on the website. I counted the ad blocks and came up with 6 total ad blocks and I am including a marked image to show that.
Another thing that I really missed was an About page. I can relate Abhijeet with LifeIsColourful.com but I was hoping I could get a little more information about the man behind the blog and things such as where he is from, what he does currently and things of that nature.
The thing that I really liked was the way he integrated MyAvatars into his comments. The image is displayed and then besides it is a dialogue box with the comment in it. I have had so many issues trying to get mine to work properly but that is probably the most likeable integration of MyAvatars in a blog.
Content
Abhijeet has been able to maintain a good frequency of posting and that has definitely helped his blog quite a bit and his posts itself are very well written and to the point. He doesn’t try to make it complex for his readers and that works to his advantage.
I also liked the fact that he has a Disclosure Policy in the navigation bar. Although, I have never felt the need for a disclosure policy, it can be useful to those who may object to some aspect of your blog content and by having a disclosure policy you can do away with all those people who have issues with regards to what you blog about.
One more suggestion that I would like to give Abhijeet is that, he might want to consider moving to the 3-column design of this theme and make the font of his content and sidebars a little bigger. I am used to reading small and large text but it can get to be a strain after a while for some people. I have kept mine at 11pt or 12pt font I believe but I think the theme itself has a stylesheet.css that sets the font at 10px which can be quite small. In comparison, the Google Adsense block on the left has a great font size and maybe making it a little bigger can help him.
So lets break it down to the Pros & Cons:
Pros:
- Great Theme Choice for the blog
- Location of RSS feed button is excellent
- Including Top Commentators is a good way to recognize your readers
- Nice Integration of MyAvatars in comments
- Good Frequency and Quality of Content
Cons:
- A few too many ad blocks
- Need an About Page to tell readers more about the author
Suggestions:
- Possible switch to 3-column design
- Increase the font size
- Cut down to 4 Adblocks from 6 AdBlocks
- Center Align the Feedburner Ticker and the RSS button below it
Hopefully those tips will help you out Abhijeet and I hope you like the review. I am sorry for the delay in getting this out faster! So go ahead and check out Life Is Colourful for a great read! Have a great rest of the weekend guys!
Enkay On Video!
Jan 16th
Well, its finally coming around soon and you guys get to contribute to the video making process. I have decided that I will do short videos once a week or so. The videos won’t be too long and will probably range from 1 to 4 minutes long.
To start off I wanted to do a few questions from my readers. You can ask me any type of question that you want, as long as its not too obtrusive. I always try to reply to questions and requests in email but to have them done through video might be very interesting.
If you have a question that you would like to see me answer, then just leave me a comment with your question. I will answer all questions as long as they are appropriate. I will write a few questions for myself that I think might be interesting and I will try to record them during one video session this weekend. Let me know what you guys think of this idea.
Hopefully the videos will turn out good and that you guys will like them. So, if you have any question you would like answered, let me know!
Is Alexa Unfair? & Why Is Alexa Important?
Jan 15th
I do not know about most of you but I have seen my Alexa ranking drop significantly over the past month and I am a little surprised by that mainly because traffic to the blog hasn’t gone down, actually it has increased! This trend has been seen not only in my blog but also some other blogs around the blogosphere.
It seems as though the New Year is bringing a big change to the way Alexa might be ranking its websites even though I am unsure about any algorithm changes. Now some of you may ask, why does Alexa even matter? Well, here are its advantages
1) Alexa is a major deciding factor if you are planning on signing up for ReviewMe or Sponsored Reviews or similar pay-to-blog websites mainly because your total ranking takes into account your Alexa rank.
2) Alexa is also a big deciding factor in your TLA sales. If you are using Text Link Ads, then Alexa is probably a big deciding factor in that too.
3) Alexa provides advertisers and other individuals who are interested in your blog, an idea about whether your blog/website is able to sustain its visitors or not
4) Alexa creates an even playing field for all types of websites so there is no bias of any kind.
Now that you have seen the advantages, lets recap on its disadvantages
1) It may not be too accurate because not everyone has the Alexa toolbar installed and so you may have lots of visitors but only a few with the toolbar installed and that can hurt your ranking.
2) Subdomains or sub-pages are not ranked and the ranking is based on the main domain only
3) Alexa can be influenced with certain tricks that you can read about all over the web and that leads to some “artificial” ranking
Anyway, hopefully this post has been insightful and I would like to know if any of you have seen your Alexa ranks decline lately.
GPS Tracking For Your Car
Jan 11th
So everyone by now probably knows what a GPS is right? It stands for Global Positioning System and some cars have the option for GPS Navigation but have you thought about GPS for security? well it is true. I received a ReviewMe offer to blog about gps tracking and I have to say that I was skeptical about this product but I have to say that it works really well. My family recently purchased a new Toyota vehicle that had the option to get “GPS Tracking” on it. This essentially allows me to look up my vehicle at any time from the internet and see where it has been driven today, what the average speed was, a map of the route traveled and several other things. Its really worth the price in terms of tracking your vehicle in case it was stolen or something or that sort.
Well, LandAirSea.com have a product that is similar to the one equipped in my vehicle. Their GPS Tracking Key allows you to receive signals from 24 Department of Defense GPS satellites orbitting the earth. The key lets you locate the device within 2.5 meters and records the data too. The data can be downloaded onto the computer with the use of a USB port and can be viewed in Google Earth which is a fantastic integration.
Its essentially what my car has installed – it can keep track of your driving information. There was even a news case where this particular GPS system helped in solving a murder case – check the story out here. I even had a look at the prices and the prices are much lower than what I paid mainly because mine was dealer installed. Either way, its a great deal and a great device and I can personally say that I really like having it in my car as it gives me a peace of mind. The company is selling these as low as $250 and its a steal for that price. Check it out for yourself!
Jump Start Your Blog
Jan 10th
Lately, I have been trying to “Jump Start” my blog and I have noticed that several fellow bloggers are either leaving the blogging business or have slowly started to disappear as time has gone. I have dealt with the issue of not devoting enough time to my blog and have seen the negative effects of doing so. Getting back into the “grove” was quite difficult but now that I am easing in again, it makes me feel more comfortable. I thought I would be a perfect example of reviving your blog again and could provide some tips to slacking bloggers so here goes:
1) Create a schedule – The best way to start getting into blogging again is to pick out a topic ahead of time and think about it a little before actually writing it. This may give you ideas for other blog posts and that way keeps the creative process going. Also, if you decide to publish one post a day before 9am then make sure to stick to it and that way you will start to get accustomed to it again.
2) Look for support – Look around in the blogosphere and see who else may be dealing with the same issues you are. This time around, there are quite a few bloggers struggling to revive their blogs. Send them an email and see if you can motivate each other. The way I did it was to see how many bloggers were actually quitting and that motivated me to try and not be one of them.
3) Be passionate about your subject – The best way to get started is to blog about something that you are passionate about. If you like consumer electronics, blog about it a little and that will keep you going. Its easier to blog about something you are passionate about than something you are not. This doesn’t mean that you have a blog about cars but your passion is horses. It has to be somewhat related.
4) Let your readers know – Another form of support is from your readers. When you let your readers know that you are working to get the blog back on its feet, you will usually get a few people who will commend you for it. Positive feedback is always a great sign and will help you ease back into blogging faster.
5) Dont Give Up – This is advice that anyone from Donald Trump to Warren Buffett will give you, never ever give up! If you personally have given up but still want to blog then it will never happen for you. You have to re-ignite the flame within you to give you the motivation you need to get back on your feet again.
Hopefully you like my tips and make use of them. Have you seen any blogs fizzle out lately? and What would be some of your tips?
