Comments on BlogCoach: Grow Your Blog: Critique This Blog #4: Shake the Salt

Christy-
First of all, you are very brave to be...

2008-08-06T03:05:00.000-04:00

Christy-
First of all, you are very brave to be asking for feedback. Kudos to you!

I "got" your title instantly. It is a biblical reference, correct? You may want to incorporate the coordinating scripture into your header somehow just to clarify it for your readers.

I am a fellow frugal Christian blogger, so I understand how difficult it can be to balance the 2-- your goal is to attract new readers, Christians or not, correct? My blog is also my testimony in a way.

A few suggestions:
The stripes on the sides are a bit distracting from the content.

I don't think you need to display your Technorati rating. Most readers have no idea what it is anyway.

Lighten up the pink background behind your main content if possible.

I recommend a smaller subscribe button as well. I noticed you lowered it, but now it may be too low.

I love your colors!

Blessings,

Alyssa
http://www.kingdomfirstmom.com

Many have mentioned your name and branding. I woul...

2008-08-06T00:19:00.000-04:00

Many have mentioned your name and branding. I would argue that brands are not made in one day, they are built over time. What does Monster have to do with jobs or Apple with computers? Yet those words have developed into major brands. So if you like the name and its not offensive to anyone, I would say build your brand around it.

Regarding the layout, It looks a little cluttered and inconsistent.

Last but not least, I don't know what in the world many of your ads are for. Now you might say, I just put the ads on my site. I am not responsible for creating them. I would argue that if you have ads on your site, your goal should be to maximize their effectiveness in order to maximize your revenue. If you aren't generating interest or clicks on the ad, then why have it cluttering up your site and taking away from other more successful ads?

Hi there

I saw this on Friday but had to co...

2008-08-03T14:00:00.000-04:00

Hi there

I saw this on Friday but had to come back and look at it again, so that I could clarify first and 'after' impressions. I agree what a lot of other posters said.

As to the title, no I don't really get any first impressions from it. On the other hand, who can imagine what Dooce is before they know her website? Maybe with a clearer tagline that shows where it comes from. I think that if you 'brand' it right, people will associate it with you and your site.

What I like: the color palette, your writing style.

It seems to me that the site is for 'selling' stuff- the content is not really key. If the middle column was wider that might help with that, and like someone else said, the type was wider.

I've seen some sites that have the giveaways on the home page and then on a /blog page they have their blog. It seems to me that the giveaways are more important to your site than the 'other' stuff- maybe by separating the two areas you'll increase traffic.

I don't really 'get' the bible verses. I mean, I get them, but I don't understand why they're on the site.

Good luck!

As much as I like the title of your blog because i...

2008-08-03T13:49:00.000-04:00

As much as I like the title of your blog because it is very unique and rolls off the tongue easily, it doesn't really reflect your content. Thankfully, there's a tagline to help clarify what your content is, but I think Marin is right: It could use a little of the spice to be found in your title.

As far as the design, I mean no offense, but I just feel like I've seen it before. And I think there are too many text colors in the sidebar, which makes it all too busy next to a very commanding striped page background. I think the stripes could stand to be a little more subtle so as to enhance the content instead of competing with it.

And my last suggestion: Try to make the widths of all the ads and graphics in your sidebar uniform (probably 120 or 125 px). You can do this simply by adding a "width" tag in your image links. Ie. width="125" or width="120"

That way, even if all the original graphics aren't the same width, you can make them uniform on your blog.

My immediate thoughts upon hearing "Shake The Salt...

2008-08-02T11:15:00.000-04:00

My immediate thoughts upon hearing "Shake The Salt" were not "foodie" or "margaritas" but more along the line of "pillar of salt", "get every last ounce out that you can", "salt of the earth". Not sure if this was what you were going for, or if I'm way off the right track!

I really like the title of your blog; it's catchy. But it doesn't necessarily make sense with your blog topics unless you use the tagline to explain it. The tagline is a little boring to me. It definitely explains exactly what your blog is about, but it's not catchy. I assume your blog title has a meaning; is there anyway to use the tagline to bring that meaning to the forefront?

I like your blog design, but some of the other commenters are right; there are a lot of people doing that cartoon chic thing. So in that way, there is no original "punch" when you click to your blog. In addition, I don't see a connection between your blog title and your blog design. But, again, I may have been on the wrong track with the "salt of the earth" thinking :)

I hope these comments are helpful.

Hi Christy!
Great start on a new blog but...
2008-08-02T02:53:00.000-04:00
Hi Christy!
Great start on a new blog but...

Entire blog has too much background space and not enough space to accomodate the side bars or center content area. The template needs to be expanded to give you more useable work space. The work space could be much wider to help you overcome some of the busy look that all the stripes do to overwhelm the eye.

Agree with others that the title is cute but misleading. Tag line is a good match to the content.

Highly suggest balancing the amount of info on the sidebars. Suggest moving your "memberships" to the right sidebar.

Work on combining as much techie stuff to one section on one sidebar and not splitting it up in several locations on both of your sidebars.

The icon for "Share This Post" is annoying the way it is seemingly connected to your signature in your posts.

On a positive note....
- Love the feel, look and colors
- Love your content
- Love the writing style, command of English language
- Love your selection of font. Would like to see the size increased when the width of the blog is increased. I'm very nearsighted and even with glasses I am squinting!

Most of all, I totally realize how easy it is for us to mention all of the things that could be tweaked and how hard it is to find a stopping point to execute them.

I wish you great success. I'm learning by the seat of my pants and have a totally DIY blog going that I dream of overhauling one day. Real life has a way of getting in the way.

I'm thinking that anonymous comments and blog crit...

2008-08-01T22:14:00.000-04:00

I'm thinking that anonymous comments and blog critiques don't mesh too well.

I think it is to "busy" - Way to many things on th...

2008-08-01T22:10:00.000-04:00

I think it is to "busy" - Way to many things on the side bars - very distracting. I have no idea what the title means and how it relates to the blog. There is nothing original about the heading. The only thing that I really like are the colors.

I agree about the title, I thought it was a foodie...

2008-08-01T20:43:00.000-04:00

I agree about the title, I thought it was a foodie blog at first. I personally like the subscribe button, I hate having to hunt for it on blogs. It did load kinda slow for me on firefox.

Thanks for the comments so far. :) I plan to do ...

2008-08-01T18:47:00.000-04:00

Thanks for the comments so far. :) I plan to do some changes to the sidebars after the launch party (most of the ads are sponsors of the launch party), and this feedback helps, as well as bringing up things I hadn't thought of - precisely the point of the critique.

The title reminds me of margaritas :-) but I'm not...

2008-08-01T16:29:00.000-04:00

The title reminds me of margaritas :-) but I'm not sure it really fits with the content of your blog.

I can't say that there's anything about your design that turns me off, but I'm not really compelled to bookmark it either. There are a lot of blogs now using the chic-looking female in their headers.

I agree with minniemom about some of the adverts/widgets on the sidebar. Some of them spill over a little and that's distracting. Would you consider moving some of the non-essential stuff to another page?

First thoughts: The title made no sense to me bef...

2008-08-01T15:58:00.000-04:00

First thoughts: The title made no sense to me before I clicked over to the blog. I like the tagline, but the title doesn't do much for me.

Your RSS subscribe button is really big. ;-) Are your blog stats what you really want people to see above-the-fold, so to speak? I'd rather see your current giveaways, coupon codes, categories, etc. up higher because those are the things I'm likely to notice and click on, and will keep me at your blog longer. I don't really care how many Feedburner or blogpatrol readers you have, frankly.

I love your color scheme. It's pleasant to read. You have a lot of ads on the left side, but they're down low and placed well, in my opinion.

Question: What are the Topspots, and why would someone want to buy one? Why featured so prominently? (I've never seen that before, so enlighten me!)

You have a lot of memberships--and most of them have big graphics. Do any of them have the option of a smaller sidebar icon? Your left side goes on and on and on.

Content-wise, it looks like you're doing what your tagline says you're going to do.

Can I say again that I love the look of your blog?

Strictly the title (not reading tagline) I think F...

2008-08-01T10:37:00.000-04:00

Strictly the title (not reading tagline) I think Foodie blog. The design says shopping to me, so I think that's ok. I actually did bookmark it. I don't like the center column's black font on pink though. I think perhaps it should be white or a fainter pink. I think you could go with a smaller subscribe graphic, to bring some of your sidebar content above the fold (left sidebar.) - Or another idea - put a subscribe link next to your about link in order to bring your current giveaways front and center above the fold. Hope this is helpful!