I Blog – You Blog: For Ambitious Entrepreneurs Only
In the past I’ve been lucky enough to review a few entrepreneurial and blogging related blogs, such as NorthxEast (which has since gone on to become an industry-leader in its niche) and WRevenue (another wonderful blog by Scott Wainer). So when the opportunity arose to review I Blog – You Blog, I jumped at the chance.
First, let’s take a customary blurb from the About page to see what the site is about:
I Blog – You Blog is an effort to help people make money and a successful presence online through blogging, online entrepreneurship, SEO, and much more…I only write what I believe. I hate recycled content and my posts always come from my own mind, not from anybody else’s ideas. This is what I believe makes my blog different from most others.
This is certainly a bold opening statement to read, and it’s one which I like to hear, especially from newbie bloggers trying to make it big in an ever-widening and difficult blogosphere to gain respect.
Credibility
The claim that the owner also makes an average of “2750$ each month” is very promising to read too, but aside from the fact that no proof is shown (maybe a good-looking screenshot a la UberAffiliate?), there is also no name to refer too.
Now whilst I don’t make it compulsory to have a full name to reference, it’s beneficial to list just your first name (or an alias if you so prefer), so that the reader can connect with someone or some figure who is behind I Blog – You Blog. The other background information is great other than that and really sets the scene for something special.
The Design
Above is a screenshot of I Blog – You Blog. What is nice to see on websites these days is a little bit of white space which is left free of advertising and which, if added tastefully, can really add to the design element. Whilst the site in question does use white space effectively around the edges of the template, I feel that valuable estate is being wasted.
The header is a good example of this. The image of the pen is relevant to the theme of the website in a subtle way, however, it seems out of proportion with the rest of the site. Perhaps if this image was scaled down in size, it would shift the content further above the fold, attracting more visitors to read the content – the aim behind such a site.
Apart from this however, the skin is clean, simple and visually appealing.
Blogger versus WordPress
One of my oldest articles which continues to attract search engine love was about the Battle between Blogger and WordPress. Here I laid out some simple premises behind choosing each platform, as it was a debate which I was having with myself around a year ago as I transitioned to WordPress.
Whilst it is not blindingly obvious at first, I Blog – You Blog actually uses Blogger, but has been crafted very well to feel like a normal WordPress site.
As a bit of personal advice, I would instantly recommend a move over to WordPress; it’s a more flexible and more supported platform which can really help your blogging and help you drive to the next level. From my own experience, the transition too is very easy – so if the owner needs some help in porting over, they should give me a shout!
The Strategy
All bloggers need to have a strategy of what they would like to achieve whilst they are maintaining their site – whether it be to find ways to increase revenue, attract subscribers or push up traffic. I Blog – You Blog seems to have identified their strategy in the gaining of RSS subscribers – and this is something I also preach to my customers when Blog Consulting.
The orange RSS icon is positioned well, in the header above the fold, and a call to subscribe appears in a strategic place at the end of each post:
This will inevitably lead to more visitors viewing the RSS option and clicking through to the link. For the less tech-savvy, the owner has also placed an email subscription box, which is another great addition to the site – I have well over 50 email subscribers for Blogtrepreneur (but even such a small amount makes a huge difference).
Displaying your Feedburner Counter is always a controversial topic. As a rule of thumb, I suggest that you only display the number of RSS subscribers publicly, when the figure is over 100, so I Blog – You Blog passes the test but only by a small margin. Displaying the figure (which currently stands at 154), could have the effect of distracting or attracting subscribers – it would be hard to tell which happens though.
The Content
A great thing about I Blog – You Blog’s content, is that each post is fairly short, yet contains golden nuggets of information. Here are a few of my favourites:
- Over Hyping
- The Great Google Sandbox
- An Alexa experiment to decrease your rank by 3/4
- Established Sites vs. New Sites
One of the drawbacks to using Blogger is that there isn’t an ability to create an Archives page. Hence, it’s quite hard to find some of the older and popular post from I Blog – You Blog’s past, and so this would be one of the first things I would add to the blog – as it is content that the visitors are after in the first place.
To Conclude…
I Blog – You Blog has a wealth of content that has already been making waves in the blogosphere, and this can be seen by a healthy RSS feed subscribership number, and the fact that InstantCoding has started advertising with them (as well as with me!).
I’ve included some tips to help the owner really make the most of their web presence, and to expand their brand even further – something which I help others to do whilst Blog Consulting at blogLOUDER. All that’s left now, is to say Good Luck and to continue with the great content!
