Another Reviewer on the Block...

Hey, so nice of you. Look into my blog and give your feedback.

Mohan,

You must be kidding me and others on this forum while asking for a review. :) :)

Instead it should be the other way around - you take up reviewing job for the bloggers here. You can, even in your sleep, teach people 'Blogging 101'.

What you need is a consultant rather than a reviewer to take your blog on next orbit. I am sure you can play that role to perfection. Anyway, here's my take (not review! and let me put my Consultant's hat ;) )

General

The way a blog should be. One of the better blogs I have seen around (Your blog deserves to be 'blogrolled'). Everything is placed just perfectly. Neat theme, Categories, layout etc. Language and edit is solid. 

Suggestions

Surprisingly, people like me are intimidated seeing your blog. Too much information on th home page.  May be cut down number of posts per page (5 or less). Currently your blog has a Newsletterish feel to it, which doesn't do justice with content of your blog. 

You are a jack of all trades. A good quality to have especially in times of recession :). However. you have medium to strong understanding on lot of topics. I guess either you should think about having multiple blogs to do justice to the topics you are strong in, like Tech, Web etc. At present, its a potpourri of  topics. you can either have one-size-fits-all approach or create small brands of your own. Try projecting yourself as maven in tech and web. For that have a focussed approach. I mean look at all top bloggers, they seem to have competence in only one or two themes. You are blessed with so much knowledge, why not channelize it properly.

May be you can take a leaf out of Lakshmi Rajan's Ginger Chai - not make it a blogzine, but invite posts from people who are strong in domains which you are not. Something like Food (which I feel is wrongly titled - It should be restaurant review), Gardening (Which obviously you have just took baby steps in) etc. This will both improve PR and increase sticky readers (which you seem to have abundance already)

Your blog title is a huge let down. Seriously try changing it to reflect - its not just Mohan's world of experiments that the blog features. The blog has a lot which will impact the readers life. 

May be you should come out of review mode. There is too much review. I understand its about experiments. But, frankly, more likely I will refer bankbazaar.com or others on ULIPs or home loans reviews of features than Mohan's blog to help me make a decision. I hope you get the drift.

On the contrary, why not have a blog which is solely on review. Something like mouthshut.com? 

I hope It helps!

Sachin

P.S.> Take some time out and help us with critical reviews. 

Good one there Sachin, let me start thinking on all the suggestions you have made. Sure, I will come up with a blog review plan which will be different from the rest here :)

Hemal,

Leave everything aside, I am impressed by your CV and the work that you have done as a freelancer!! Really nice websites you have created. You are surely good at what you do.

Here's my review:

General

Black background, white font color - gives an impression of a cheat code or key generation website. Not good for readability as well.  Like Mohan, you too fall in the category of 'jack-of-all-trades' and master of some. 

Negatives

Most of your posts are round ups of things happening around us. Most of the posts are one/two para at the max. We need more from you, on what you feel. For round ups and keeping updated, rediff.com serves us better. (Some recent posts like 'sensex may plunge further' is devoid of any analysis and looks like a passing thought). I am not saying rant about it, but clearly your attitude is missing from the post.

Your title suggests that its a personal blog, but you have very few personal, opinion kinda posts. May be think of more than one blog to segregate the categories.

You are good in Sharepoint and HTML and other web techs. But posting that in your personal blog, you are doing injustice to both your blog and your skills. Those would look good in some other channel, but this.

Indianomics and Wild Life are among the best categories you have but grossly underdeveloped. Focus on these as they reflect your theme the best.

Positives

Catchy blog and post titles, You have a knack of writing about interesting topics which a reader might like. Your topics are well selected.

Cheers,

Sachin

P.S.> Editing needs due attention from you (in the sensex post, one of the tags is sexsex)... 

Take your time. by the way, it would be better if you could reply against the request comment than posting another comment on the thread.

Naveen,

Here's my review:

Negatives

A journey to unknown spaces - I thought it might be a travel/philosophy/fiction story blog. Alas, it is none of the these. There is no coherence in what you post and underlying theme. May be you should re-title it and make it more personal.

Editing is a serious issue. You need to either write in MS word before transferring it to blog or need to at least read once before posting and spot errors.

Work on creating proper categories and tags after you have an underlying theme. Times New Roman font doesn't help either.

Positives

Your travelogue and 'My journey ..a tale' was good. Though you can cut-out on details, but your story was intriguing.

keep blogging,

Cheers,

Sachin 

Hi Chandrika,

Already did a review for you...

http://www.indiblogger.in/forum/topic.php?pageNum_Posts=1&totalRows_Posts=62&id=4967

This was the review :

++

Nice underlying theme. Your blog is a refelection of your day-to-day experience, with atleast I could identify with. Your writing is effortless and easily understood.

Your posts are very short. Easy to read and comprehend. Would love to see you go beyond the obvious. You leave much to imagination of the reader :)

- -

Tags and Categories Missing...for example, you can pretty well place the creature-survival kinda post into one category and people related post into other...

cheers,

Sachin

Hi Sachin.

Thanks a lot! :)

Witty,

You are doing justice to your blog, collating and displaying the best of web in terms of humor.

Your blog is all about good posts from web, so there is nothing serious I can review. Only one thing - please mention the source of the post, which is currently missing. It is a good practice to follow. No one's taking credit away from you of finding out the post and putting it on your blog. That is why you have so many followers.

Keep blogging, and keep making people laugh or smile,

Cheers,

Sachin

Hey Karthik,

While visiting your blog, it seemed as if your blog has been taken over in a strategic deal by Bloggertrick.com. There is nothing that tells me its your blog. You need a better theme or organize current one in a better way.

Negatives

Writing with ... would put any one off. I know its your personal space. But would you want to keep it like that or wish to invite people as well? For that, please write in proper sentences with clear punctuations. 

What these .... do is confuse people. Like your 'Why Do I Blog"? By the time I was at the last line, I forgot what I read four lines earlier. Slick sentences would do the trick for you.

No Clear theme. Your interests are as varied from Rants to Avatar to Management to Film Making. Nothing that would make a reader stick.

Keep Blogging,

Cheers,

Sachin 

Desi Girl,

You have really created a excellent blog and your theme is fun to read even for guys. On the contrary, a research says that more number of men read women's magazine than women themselves. :) So, you have wider audience which I am sure you will not disappoint with interesting and relevant content. My take:

General

Your choice of themes and topic is too good. Your layout is a diary like which supports the theme of your blog. The girl on the left corner completely captures the essence and serves like a logo/mascot. Take my word, never remove it and make it your signature!!

You may want to cut down on number of posts per page. At the moment, its way too long.

Negative

Narration is a let down. It really nullifies the effect the ideas you put together in the middle. A reader on your blog needs patience and concentration as the font size is small and there are more than 16 words per sentence. This really requires an effort and makes reading bit difficult.

Non - Consistency in font style and colors is also not helping matters here. Why would you want all text to be bold in a post? How would you highlight or differentiate key words/essence/punch of your post? It can be used in a scenario where you were really angry writing that post and wanted to emphasize each and every word. Choose at max two colors for text which are easily readable. You can toggle between these two, but keeping one font is a good option.

Positive

Writing. I like every post I read on your blog. You have the sticky factor for people who would like to read something new and interesting. You combine incidents around your life with the social issues pretty well. I mean it is seamless and does not look like you are trying hard to prove a point. Compassion is what is needed in theme like yours and it was there in plenty.

You write with sense of purpose and it shows. Your posts are well rounded, supported by good links. Atleast I have never come across a blog like yours and you have definitely added a reader to your list.

Survival Guide is definitely going to my blogroll. :)

Cheers,

Keep Blogging,

Sachin

P.S.> That curry and rice girl song is your creation?? I could not stop smiling while reading that...

Hey, The template is awesome. But if you can change the font to get a contrast your posts would be more eye catchy.

You have put a lot of interesting articles on a wide variety of subjects. You have a very interesting sense of writing too. (I only read some 2-3 articles of yours.) But I sense you experience a shortage of ideas at times. Just my take. Sorry if I am wrong

Analyst,

You have it. Some are sarcastic, some lament, some make fun, but very few have wit. Your title says it all - move ahead at your own peril and be ready to read some stuff which 'The Analyst' has put together for you.

Negatives

Stop gap posts ruin the blog! How your latest post was related to any of the beautiful posts you have done earlier? Everyone has their own opinion, but I won't write anything on my blog which I don't have conviction in. There is no compulsion of posting. No one's gonna reprimand you for not posting. But do justice t your blog. If someone starts with your first post, I am sure they will be disppointed as the move up. You yourself believe in content being the king, then why do it for just heck of it?

Justification of text might help giving the blog a slick look and reader would find it easy. Remember, no one's gonna print your blog and read. If that's the case, stick with left align.

Positives

Writing, wit, rich vocabulary, knowledge, and a distinctive style - reciepe for a good blogger in making. Conviction and focus is what you need. You are well read and it shows. Completely justifies the Pseudo title you have given to yourself - The Analyst.

Try to segrgate the blogs - If you feel writers block is too much for you to handle, make a seperate personal blog. Do not mix an excellent posts like Third Reich, Twitter.., The Tale etc. with something like latest post. I hope it helps.

Cheers,

Keep Blogging,

Sachin

P.S> Guess you love proscrastination way too much...you know what I mean :)

Thanks for the review, I guess it is my first time here that somebody has reviewed my blog with some comment on the content, most of the time the only reply I get is something like tweak my template which I am too lazy on doing. As far as readership is concerned other than my post on Procrastination I don't think anyone has actually read my blog, glad that you did that. Btw agree that my last post has nothing to do with the other posts in my blog, will do something about that. Shall do the justification thing, did not take notice of that.

Anurag,

It took me a while to get a hang of what your blog is all about. Then, I looked at your description about the blog and yourself, I got my answer. Confused. Not a bad thing though as chaos always precedes order. So, you are on track.

General

For a 21 yr old, you are way pessimistic on life (my guess). Anyway, I found it difficult reading with white font, though your template has nice feel. But for posts with your length, best thing would be to have white background and black text.

Negatives

Sometimes you just forget that paragraphs exist. One big post in one, single paragraph? Not cool. I was lost big time in the text.

You suffer from the same problem as I do. All text and no picture makes us a poor blogger. A picture does speak a thousand words, I have realized. So, use of pics to capture the essence is highly recommended.

No theme, though number of posts are too few to set a theme. You seem to be a global citizen, it would be good idea that you write on culture more. 

Smaller sentences definitely help. Try them.

Life on a Conveyor Belt - to me, it would mean that my life is just going on as a conveyor belt without any variation/change and I am being too mechanical. On the contrary, I felt you do have good time (with the kind of songs, books, movies etc. you listen/read/watch) in your life. May be that is the confusion. You want it to be a pessimistic blog, but it comes out to be a totally variety - wala, actually full of life blog.

Positives

You write well. Think on a different tangent as evident from your Names...Indian Fan and 9/11 post. I would rate the Names post as your best. 

Your posts do have a charm that can attract readers. You are reading right stuff (Chomsky, Russell etc.) which would help transfer your ideas on blog better.

Keep Blogging,

Cheers,

Sachin

Anurag,

It took me a while to get a hang of what your blog is all about. Then, I looked at your description about the blog and yourself, I got my answer. Confused. Not a bad thing though as chaos always precedes order. So, you are on track.

General

For a 21 yr old, you are way pessimistic on life (my guess). Anyway, I found it difficult reading with white font, though your template has nice feel. But for posts with your length, best thing would be to have white background and black text.

Negatives

Sometimes you just forget that paragraphs exist. One big post in one, single paragraph? Not cool. I was lost big time in the text.

You suffer from the same problem as I do. All text and no picture makes us a poor blogger. A picture does speak a thousand words, I have realized. So, use of pics to capture the essence is highly recommended.

No theme, though number of posts are too few to set a theme. You seem to be a global citizen, it would be good idea that you write on culture more. 

Smaller sentences definitely help. Try them.

Life on a Conveyor Belt - to me, it would mean that my life is just going on as a conveyor belt without any variation/change and I am being too mechanical. On the contrary, I felt you do have good time (with the kind of songs, books, movies etc. you listen/read/watch) in your life. May be that is the confusion. You want it to be a pessimistic blog, but it comes out to be a totally variety - wala, actually full of life blog.

Positives

You write well. Think on a different tangent as evident from your Names...Indian Fan and 9/11 post. I would rate the Names post as your best. 

Your posts do have a charm that can attract readers. You are reading right stuff (Chomsky, Russell etc.) which would help transfer your ideas on blog better.

Keep Blogging,

Cheers,

Sachin

Hey Subups,

Travel blog is really not my forte, Still, I would try suggesting something as a reader. It cant be called a review as I know little about Travel Blogs,

Suggestions

Beautiful Pictures - though you can cut down on the size. They look big and intimidating with respect to the text. Also, try and limit the no. of pictures. Your post should be about experiences and not about the pictures you took. Instead, you can have a slideshow inserted in between the post (if you really want to show those really beautiful pics) and build a story around that (I am not very sound technically, but I know Word Press allows you to do that. I am sure Blog Spot would have something of the sorts).

I thing you should integrate Tripit, Google Map, Earth etc. to your blog. That will take it the next level. Something like a map which has pins put on the places you have been to.

Story is not really coming out properly. More tighter story required. Either mention day-wise itinerary or seamless, but not mixture of both. A summary can precede if you are writing day wise.

Key data like how to reach, fare, where to stay and what to see needs a lot of attention. Try out some funky tables or graphics for them (you can use simple software like PPT to create graphics) Remember, this is the crux of your posts. Some people may not read your experiences and excursion details. All they would be interested in is these key stats. An seeing your key stats, they might read the whole post. 

Cheat codes are missing. I mean for tourists, how-to-save kinda thing is very important. based on your experience, I guess you can include that. (Like if the public transport was good, then why use your own vehicle etc.) 

I hope these suggestion would help you organize your blog better. You can take help from someone who is sound in technology on Indiblogger, who would help you out with some of these things.

Cheers,

Keep Blogging,

Sachin

hey Sachin !!

Thanks a lot for so much of useful tips. I had overlooked all these. Its the first time someone is really giving this much of a detailed review. Thanks once again!!!

Hey Karthik,

I was really not sure what your blog was about. You mentioned about day-to-day experiences of a BE Mech Student. But, there was hardly anything which differentiates you from BE IT or CS or for that matter any other student. I guess you need to really figure out a theme for your blog to write, if you want to reach wider audience.

Negatives

Absence of a theme - Whether its about your student life, sports, mechanical marvels or any other thing mechanical, I am not too sure.

Diary like posts - If you mention diary like post, write in a way that intrigues people. Things that are exciting and will catch people' s attention. If you are going to write down sequence after sequence of what you did (paid fees at CADD center), I doubt how many people would read that (except your GF, friends and family)

Tight grammar, tight edits (your tagline says Day today experiences....it should be day-to-day or simply everyday) and please stop toggling between Calibri and other default font. Be consistence in the look and feel.

Positive

Your interests seem to span sports, tech, movies and your mechanical engineering curriculum. Good to have such knowledge. Channelize it in right directions.

Cheers,

Keep Blogging,

Sachin 

Hey Loganathan,

Congrats for completing two years as a blogger. You have certainly progressed as a blogger - clearly visible from some of the posts that you have written now vs. what you had done as a novice. I hope you know what I mean :)

General

Sir, please get rid of this template. Why a girlie template for your life. I mean for Desi Girl (who blogs here - http://girlsguidetosurvival.wordpress.com/ ), it makes perfect sense to use this template as she writes about woman issues. But for Loganathan, it does not make iota's sense (unless your GF likes it :) ).. A new template will also usher a huge change - ease of reading. The comment that I made of Desi Girl will make sense for you as well ... A reader on your blog needs patience and concentration as the font size is small and there are more than 16 words per sentence. This really requires an effort and makes reading bit difficult.

Negatives

Please write proper sentences. There is no bigger torture than reading things like ppl...ma..thr...etc. I know your posts are much more cleaner, but you really need to make a concerted effort to get rid of this habit. This is not cool. Anywhere. A little more attention on editing, may be.

Pictures..they tell a thousand words! it would be a really good idea to include pictures which will capture the essence of the post. I also realized it late, but completely back and vouch for its utility.

Theme's missing (as is the case with lot of personal blogs)...but you really need to segregate what you would like to showcase to your reader and what not (like the PStation visit). 

Narration is a bit of a problem. Also, paragraphs do exist in the world as of now, why not use them in your posts till the time they are available? :) A little less detail, little more story like writing or some other interesting style. 

Positives

What will keep me coming to your blog would definitely be posts like 'It just looks like Yesterday' , 'Are we unaware of Or we refuse to be aware of', 'I have a life' etc. They bring out a whole new loganathan which has a lot to say to this world.

Cheers,

Keep Blogging,

Sachin

Hey Sachin,

Thanks for a such a detailed review. I had mystic ocean template for 2 yrs. It looked dull and so changed it to desi girl template. yes, as you have rightly said, it makes reading very difficult. I've changed my template to dusk now. How I wish I could edit the sidebar's CSS.

As for your suggestion on the use of paragraphs, I wonder how i missed this out for 2 long years. Now I see the posts and it strikes me. Thank you sir!! A long way to go!!

Cheers,

Loganathan

Hi Neha,

I could not stop smiling when I read your request for a 'review'... Thats truly humble of you (like Mohan is so humble and appears in every review :)...)

I am a regular reader of your blog (not much comments though, cos I know you really have tough time to respond to all those flood of comments) and like your blog. What follows in not much a review but observation (Yeah, I guess that's a better term :)) 

General

Nice easy to eyes and mind blog you have. Your readers really love you, as I am yet to see a personal blog of your genre, with this much people following, liking and commenting... I mean your blog is mostly about your observations in life, with all your inspiration coming from whatever happens around you (quite similar to my way of blogging).

For you, I will reverse the order of my observation, positives followed by negatives -

Positives

You are funny and creative. You know the tact of story telling and making the mundane sound super exciting. Your experiences make people say wow! what an observation! Oh! Did I forget you are doing your 'law'....ha ha... If people studying law cant tell a story, then who would? 

Bestest thing about your blog is simplicity. Its not pretentious. You do not claim of knowing and try to analyze too much. 

Confess - you are a true semi-colon lover. When lot of us have forgotten and pushed the poor semi-colon to extinction, you are the one keeping it alive and giving it full honor by using it in correct places; though it may be one too many in some places.

Negative

You are turning into a politically correct author, a diplomat (Law is certainly rubbing off some of the characteristics on you). Attitude from your posts is on decline. Who are you afraid of? In the process, you may be missing some of the hard hitting satirical punches in your posts. Though last post was close to that effect!

Calibri is a nice looking font. My default font in MS Word is Calibri. But, its not a very good font when it comes to highlight. It is already faded. So, you make it bold to be easily visible. But how would you highlight anything you want to lay emphasis on? Plus sparring use of italics, quotes etc. You may think about changing the font style.

All in all, your blog is a one nice example of how personal blogs should be... with some uniqueness of their own... 

Cheers,

Sachin

P.S> Checkout some of my blog's (www.sachinarya.wordpress.com) older posts, you will find a semblance in the topics I write on, though your interest are much varied.

Thank you for the wonderful review Sachin.

Flood of comments - lol. Not exactly re. They are fine; but you do leave a word when you do not like something :)

General - Thank you again.

Positives - another thank you. Semi colon - well I prefer to use them than using short sentences. Too many at some places? - I will be careful the next time. Appreciate this :)

Negative - Politically correct - that depends on the subject. I do not want to be the one giving my opinions all the time. (won't that make my blog boring? :P just kidding). But my last post on Kasab - I spoke my mind. So it depends on the subject.

For last two posts I have been using Trebuchet.

I will hop on your blog as soon as I have some free time on hand :)

Thanks a bunch once again for the wonderful review.