Two critiques this week. Because I love you. Not at all because I slacked off last week. Nope. Nosiree.
And the critique today? You're gonna love it. I mean, seriously, because Mina Lobo is pretty entertaining. Visit her and meet below.
Mina, I adore you. Very much. Your posts are awesome, your personality exudes. You got greatness. And, for as few followers as you have, you get a lot of comments, which is a sign that you are good at engaging your readers. That's awesome.
There are many elements you have that work for your blog: I like that you have pages for your important stuff, your name is in your header, your profile is nice and high, we know who you are, you're easy to follow, you use labels, you tell us when you blog, you use colors consistently.Yeah, lots of awesome.
But now I'm going to get all critiquey on you and tell you what I'd do differently:
- Colors - You think I'm going to get all grouchy about your color scheme, but I'm not. It fits what you're about. But Joe suggests that you pull some of that really light purple from your background and add it to your posts to round out your palette. Use it to replace the white - it will be easier on the eyes.
- Your font needs some variation. Especially in your posts. It's awfully big and, again, hard on the eyes.
- I love that you have pages, but it drives me crazy that one of the page links sits on the next line of your navigation bar. Can you shorten one of the titles so they fit on one line?
- I wish you had Link Within. I want to read through lots of your posts and it would be a great way to do it. Also, it would add some nice color without having to change your palette.
- I like that you only have a few posts on a page, otherwise it can take forever to load. But I don't like that your sidebar goes on a long time past your posts. I'd cut some of the unessential stuff off the side.
- Hmm, I totally thought I had more, but I guess I don't.
Do you all have advice for Mina? Or kudos for her? Read some of her posts. She's truly entertaining.
36 comments:
Mina is absolutely entertaining and I'm a happy follower of hers. I think her blog does a pretty good job of echoing who she is.
But, OK, yeah -- the font could be a little smaller. ;^)
Love both of your blogs! Great suggestions to spruce it up. I may have to try some of these ideas myself. :D
Love both of your blogs! Great suggestions to spruce it up. I may have to try some of these ideas myself. :D
I am new to Mina, but just love her writing style. My only issue is the warning that comes up when the page loads. I understand that some people find it necessary, but for myself, with a slower computer it just makes it harder to get to the good stuff. I never thought of the link within being a useful tool to direct people to previous posts... perhaps I will borrow that idea for my own blog.
Great ideas! I didn't know about the link within. Now that you point it out I realize I've seen it, just never thought about how important it could be. Thanks Laura :)
White font on a black background is difficult to read, at least for me.
Me too. I think if she does a light purple it would be better.
The white font on a dark background normally bothers me to the point I can't read the posts at all, but it doesn't on Mina's because of the larger font.
I love the idea of a blog overview based on marketability. That's so cool! I'm a big fan of Mina - she always has great posts.
I'm a new follower here and hope you can critique my blog some day.
(Sorry I'm posting as a reply. The comment box won't load for me for some reason...)
~ Lexa
http://lexacain.blogspot.com/
Silly me. I hadn't even noticed the fact that the font was white or large. I guess it doesn't bother me :) but purple sounds pretty too
Purple is always good IMHO;-) Slacking . . . you . . . never. I mean, I'm sure you have loads of time as a wife, mother of 3, marketing consultant and writer!
This sounds like good, solid advice. I'll have to apply some of this to my blog. Thanks Laura:)
Ohmigosh, I totally adore you too, Laura! For realz! Seriously, I "said" it to you via e-mail, and I'll "say" it again in public - it is SO generous of you to offer blog critiques (for free!) to all us anxious writerly types. Really. You provide such excellent feedback, and your blog is chock-full of wonderful (free!) advice. Thank you, thank you, and thank you again - you're the grooviest!
Thanks for the info on Linked In! I've seen so many blogs doing that and have been clueless as to how they went about it. About the font size - having read (on your blog, for free!) about dark backgrounds making text difficult to read, I thought a nice, big, white font would be easier on the eyes, not harder - but I'm stoked about experimenting with color (And purple is *so* goth!).
I hope it's ok to bug you with follow up questions via e-mail, once I've been able to give your suggestions deeper thought. (Not too many e-mails, I promise!) As for your note that my "personality exudes" - Depends will help with that, right? ;-)
Some Dark Romantic
Oh, and thanks to all for your comments - I'm diggin' learning your thoughts, so please keep them coming! :-)
Some Dark Romantic
I can't really critique because I have only been once. However, I'm following now and will be rectifying that lack of visits. :) I do like the font size, I guess because my eyesight is so poor (I'm near-sighted and wear bi-focals).
Thanks Laura for the lovely post AND the information about LinkWithin...I didn't know about this widget and have now added it to MY blog...www.donasdays.blogspot.com
Thanks for all you do for the writing community!
Donna L Martin
www.donnalmartin.com
www.donasdays.blogspot.com
I totally love Mina's blog! The advice you've given her seems really sound and I'll have to examine my own blog to see if I can use any of it there.
Yeah, she really captured her personality in her look, I think. Thanks for adding your comment. :)
Thanks, Jackie!
Link Within is my fav. I could get lost in it for HOURS. :)
Yes, the larger font helps with that issue, but I think it would be better with a purple and a smaller font. Maybe even a different font style. She needs to play around with it. Thanks for the comment!
Thanks for the follow, Lexa! I'd love to add you to my critique schedule. Does Sept. 17th work for you?
I didn't notice at first either. Things like that don't bug me. That's why I rely on Joe and Tom to help with those suggestions.
And I love purple :)
LOVE purple. And thanks for reminding me I'm not really a slacker. It helps erase my guilt. :)
Thanks, Gwen!
A, thanks, Mina. :) And thanks for your patience with my insane life. I hope my tips were helpful. I really do love your blog!
Yeah, the big font must be nice for you then. I wish blogs made it easy to do the "change font size" option for readers. Then people could click bigger and smaller as needed. Hear that blogger? Work it out!
Thanks, Tracy!
So, like, I couldn't leave things alone and started futzing with fonts, font size, and font colors. Hope these are easier on the eyes for y'all! :-)
Some Dark Romantic
I recently learned that the keyboard shortcut CTL and the + key will zoom in and make text larger on any Web site (y'all probably already knew this - I'm still learning junk). CTL and the - key will zoom out. I've used that on blogs/sites where the font's teeny-tiny and found it helps a lot.
Some Dark Romantic
Good reminder. I forget about that. It doesn't work on every website, though. But it should on most blogs. :)
Very helpful, of course!!! <3 <3 <3 :-D
I have awarded you the Blog On Fire Award! Hop over to my blog to check out today's post...http://www.donasdays.blogspot.com
Donna L Martin
www.donnalmartin.com
www.donasdays.blogspot.com
I liked the recommendation about the purple. It's a very nice blog!
Hi Laura :) I was just swinging through via the Blogging from A to Z challenge (I haven't given up on visiting everyone on the list LOL) but I'm so glad I did. I thought your critique of Mina's blog was fantastic and now I want to read more of your posts and crits to get some pointers for my own blog.
Wow, thanks Rhonda! Glad to meet you. :)
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