Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Blog Critique: Susan Roebuck

In this series I give constructive feedback about the look and function of an author blog from a marketing perspective. As always, I rely on help from graphic designers Tom Barnes (my hubby) and Joe LaRue. To review the blog elements we look at or to submit your own blog for critique, go here.

Day 2 of Blog Critiquing Awesomeness: I really enjoy critiquing published author's blogs like Susan Roebuck's because after publication, platform and blogging becomes critical. Why don't you take a peek over there and come on back.

Susan, first of all, you are one of the sweetest bloggers out there. I love to read your blog and see your personality pop through. Just lovely.  Your blog is set up and organized very well and the layout is clean and clear. There is a great separation from your sidebar and main area. The background is a nice touch. You should be very happy with it. There are just a few minor graphic notes, mainly from Joe:
  • Header: The black box around your text is sloppy compared to the rest of your blog. The tagline should be indented to match the indent on your "Home" button. Even better, center your tagline. Also, it would be nice if your headline color matched a color from the graphic. I'm also not sure who you are from your header image. I don't get published author from it.
  • Title: I love the title because is the origin of my name, the beautiful lauracea plant (laurel plants). However, it doesn't say your name or what your blog is about either and that's really preferred. It's hard to remember what lauracea has to do with Susan the writer. Know what I mean?
  • Navigation: Your navigation text is a little on the small side. Also, the green color that shows up when you are on that page needs to be lighter so it can be seen better.
  • Sidebar order: For a published author I recommend that your book(s) should be first, then your profile (which you don't have at all), then followers. You want it to be easy to follow you so make that accessible. Even though you have an about me page, a small profile is good so people don't have to look for you. And awards are not as important as being able to make a book purchase. Also, if you declutter your awards and such your reviews will stand out more.
  • Some pictures go over the posting area. Adjusting your blog widths will fix this. See my Sunday post if you need help with this. You can also change your Facebook graphic that goes over in your sidebar by adjusting the width in the HTML text.
  • Formatting: When you copy and paste text into your blog, make sure to erase the format and so that it looks uniform.
Sincerely, those are really small corrections and as I went through my blog checklist, I found very little for you to change. Great job!

There is one overall question I have, though, and I think addressing the answer could really bump your blog to the next level: what do you want your blog to say? Right now I don't know. You told me that you mostly blog as an author helping other authors, but I don't really get that sense at first impression. I also don't have a real sense of what you write from your blog. Romance, right? Or LGBT? Let us have a little more sense of that in your blog colors and your header. I really feel your blog is more scrapbook at this point - which is not a bad thing if that's what you intend it to be. I'd be happy to talk with you more about possible ideas to get across your message once I know what it is. Just let me know!

What do you think, dear readers? Do you have suggestions for Sue? Do you know who she is from her blog? I know she'd love to hear your comments!

13 comments:

Sueroebuck said...

Thank you so much Laura, Tom and Joe. Excellent comments and tips which I'll put into practice. Lauracea is the name of the huge Laurel Forests indigenous to Madeira Island. In the beginning I blogged all about protecting them. But then I became an author! How could I change the name and URL of the blog and not lose my followers? Probably not possible.

AlexJCavanaugh said...

Another great critique! And I had no idea it was a plant. Agree on the blog title - I was told title, web address, and one's name should all be one and the same.

Nancy S. Thompson said...

Grr! I hate it when I copy and paste without remembering to clear the formatting first! And yes! the author's books should up front, leader of the line!

Great crit once again, Laura!

Stacy S. Jensen said...

How does one erase the formatting when using a Blogger blog? I've run into a formatting issue recently and can't seem to clean it up. I visited Susan's blog and I think the header has changed. It does help if the blog's URL is easier to remember. I follow one writer on Twitter. I remember her name, but forget her Twitter handle sometimes.

Sueroebuck said...

LOL. Yes. The header's changed and I'm still trying to center it. BTW - even the URL is changing. In three days it should be www.susanroebuck.com. Phew!! So much to do...so little...

Laura Barnes said...

You can remove formatting in the place that you edit/write your posts. On the toolbar there is an icon with a T and a red x. It's in between the quotations and the spellcheck. Hit it and it will erase the formatting of anything you have highlighted. Hope that helps!

Julie Hedlund said...

I hadn't visited Sue's blog before, but I'm glad I have now! Lots of great content. I have the same question she has actually. I've been toying with changing the name of my blog - possibly even the URL - but I don't want to lose people who follow that URL. Is there an easy solution to this?

Sueroebuck said...

Hi! I managed to change the name of the blog very easily. I bought a custom domain from Blogger (or Google) and set it up as www.susanroebuck.com. Apparently anyone still using the old URL will be automatically directed there (I think it's the same place actually). Only problem was that I scared myself half to death by, during set-up, thinking I'd deleted my gmail account! (But I hadn't).

Laura Barnes said...

Sue, that's perfect!!

Laura Barnes said...

You've already figured this out now by purchasing your own URL. If you don't want to buy one, then of course you have to do it the hard way which is by just encouraging people to find your new blog. Even though people will be redirected, be sure to let people know your knew address.

Laura Barnes said...

It is true! I found Laura Barnes wasn't available and I really probably should have tried LauraBarnesWriter. But I couldn't resist that it felt like I was saying "Laura Be a Writer". :)

Laura Barnes said...

Thanks, Nancy!

Laura Barnes said...

Lots of people have successfully moved from one blog to another and not lost the followers that are really following. But yes, it's a risk. The best idea to deal with it is to purchase a website and have your blog redirect to the website. I don't think you really need to worry about it until you are agented.

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