Review: BloggingTips.com
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This is a paid review of a blog called Blogging Tips started by Kevin Muldoon.
Kevin has linked this blog a couple of times on BloggingTips.com, but I started noticing his blog only after he wrote that I was inflating my Alexa Ranking. I was actually just experimenting 
Anyways…when I first visited BloggingTips.com, the first thing that caught my eye was his professionally designed mascot, a modified version of my favorite superhero (superman) with lots of money behind him and a laptop. The face of the character resembles Kevin.
Overall the mascot suggests to me that Kevin is very good in making lots of money from the internet. Now we can’t really confirm that until he reveals his earnings 
On my first visit, BloggingTips.com had a different design. I think it was a 3 column theme with content in the middle and 2 sidebar on each side. The sidebars were colored back and did not match the overall theme. Kevin has got his blog a much better design now after many bloggers suggested it to him.
Here are some things that I liked and did not like about BloggingTips.com:
What I liked
- Domain name: The domain name bloggingtips.com is easy to remember
- Header: The header along with the mascot looks great and will mostly capture the attention of first time visitors to the blog.
- Tag line: I really liked the tag line of the blog- “Take your blog to the next level!”
- Featured Authors: Kevin has a few guest bloggers to help him keep his blog updated and he features some of them on the sidebar.
- Free Blog Themes: Kevin has offered a few WordPress themes for free
- Blogging FAQ: BloggingTips.com has a page that has the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about blogging which new bloggers will surely find useful (I found the page having some weird characters all over that makes it hard to read).
- Money makers: Kevin has listed 14 ad programs on his blog’s sidebar that can help make money online. The list can be useful to his readers looking for more ways to make money and helpful to him as he has used his affiliate links.
- Competition: Kevin holds competitions at times on his blog and features the latest one on the sidebar under heading ‘Latest Competition’ which is an excellent idea. Competitions can help make your blog active and get more readers to your blog.
What I did not like
- Not having a link to the About page in the main menu: Before doing a review of BloggingTips.com, I wanted to know more about the author but I could not find a link to an about page on the main menu and almost thought that the blog did not have an about page until I looked a bit lower on the sidebar. Also it would be good if Kevin linked his Blogging FAQ and Free blog themes pages on his main menu too.
- Having Feedcount displayed early: When I last checked, BloggingTips.com had only 214 RSS readers, so it might be a good idea if Kevin did not display the Feedburner Feedcount atleast until his blog has 500 RSS readers. Showing that a blog has low number of readers can prevent some visitors from subscribing to its feed. I know some may disagree with me here, but this is what I believe.
- Having forum on a new blog: BloggingTips.com is only about 4 months old and has a forum already? The forum can be handy to continue the discussion from the blog or for its readers to start discussions on topics they like, but I doubt the forum will be active until the blog has good number of loyal readers.
- AdSense: Kevin has placed 2 AdSense ad units and 1 link unit on his blog. The link unit is placed near the footer where I don’t think it will get much clicks at all and won’t be making much money as link units need 2 clicks to get publishers money. Also I think its best that blogs purely about blogging should get rid of AdSense entirely as AdSense may not perform well for them. I remember Darren Rowse once told me that he was thinking of removing AdSense completely from Problogger.net (he has removed the link unit so far). Blogs purely about blogging may be able to earn more if they offer advertisers with relevant products or sites a fixed banner on the sidebar (125×125), text links and maybe even a rotating top banner (468×60) just like Daniel from Daily Blog Tips has done.
- More tag: Kevin does not use more tags and hence his posts can be read entirely from the homepage. Using more tags helps you to increase your blog’s pageviews and prevent content duplication.
- Archives: Kevin has displayed his monthly archives on his blog’s sidebar. This alone is enough to let visitors know that the blog is a new one, so it might be a good idea to remove it from the sidebar atleast. Also using the CrazyEgg service I have found that visitors mostly do not click the monthly archive links which is why I removed it from this blogs sidebar. All it did was clutter my sidebar.
- MyBlogLog Widget: While readers may like seeing their avatars on blogs they visit, the MyBlogLog widget can increase the page load time which is why I removed it from this blog.
Final Thoughts
BloggingTips.com is a daily updated blog with lots of good quality content. I was not able to read most of the older posts of the blog as it has been down for several hours. Anyways I enjoyed reading the recent posts from the blog’s full feed and I am sure it will help you take your blog to the next level with its wonderful tips.
These are some of my favorite recent posts on BloggingTips.com
- Bad Blog Design - Not adding a comment link at the bottom of each post
- Hosting : The Basics of Hosting a Blog
- Hosting : What you should look for in a hosting company
- How to convert guests to readers?
- Blogging when you don’t have internet access
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Posted on June 10th, 2007 | Category: Reviews |
Enea
June 11, 2007 at 3:00 am
Very interesting but also very difficult. I wouldn’t have time
Kevin
June 11, 2007 at 7:18 am
thanks for the review John. I will definately take your comments on board.
Allow me to talk about some of the points you brought up
the about link - ive added a link to the about section at the top of the page. I had removed it before when messing about with the design.
Blogging FAQ - at the moment this page does not have as much info as i would have liked therefore i am gonna add more info to the page before displaying it predominantly.
feedcount - its a fair point however at the moment im gonna leave the count up.
adsense - i placed the link unit at the bottom a few weeks ago when i changed the design. Im still modifying the design a little and i’ll be moving the link ads to a different section of the site. The blog still hasnt got a pagerank so im not looking to make money from the blog as yet. Once it has more traffic and a good pagerank i will be looking at increasing revenue and at that point i can review the adsense situation and perhaps use some an alternative solution.
forum - yeah its still early however the forum i will be using it much more when i return home in the next few weeks. Im currently travelling and the forum has suffered because of it.
the more tag - i agree with you 100% and it’s why the blog used the more tag up until a few weeks ago where i directly asked readers if they wanted the more tag to remain. Every reader said they wanted it removed and i obliged.
archives - you may be right. Perhaps i should remove the archive links however i’m pretty open about myself and the blog - if people dont wanna read what i write because this blog is new then so be it
The blog might be new but ive worked on the internet for over 7 years now.
earnings - i may disclose earnings for the blog in the future but not about my total internet earnings. I’ve been self employed via the internet for 3-4 years and make a good living though i dont feel the need to boast about that kind of thing. However i may disclose earnings if it helps readers understand how i make money through this blog
with regards to the downtime - unfortunately my host has been awful recently so i will be moving to a new server in the near future.
again, many thanks for the review. i will take your comments on board
tmhung
June 11, 2007 at 9:23 am
Can you show me some making money online tool for my website ? I haven’t earn some money from google and some ad tool . here is new tool : http://tranmanhhung.info/Tmhun.....-per-post/ . Do you think it good for me ? please reply me . Thank ^^!
Mani
June 11, 2007 at 10:11 am
Indeed a honest review John,
Kevin - Could anyone reply better?
Cheers!
Mani
Nirmal
June 11, 2007 at 10:13 am
I think it was a good review. I have been reading bloggingtips for quite some time.
Ronald
June 11, 2007 at 12:04 pm
After read the point about “did not like”, that help me to improve my blog about content and layout
Thank’s John
horisly
June 11, 2007 at 1:34 pm
Having Feedcount displayed early: When I last checked, BloggingTips.com had only 214 RSS readers, so it might be a good idea if Kevin did not display the Feedburner Feedcount atleast until his blog has 500 RSS readers. Showing that a blog has low number of readers can prevent some visitors from subscribing to its feed. I know some may disagree with me here, but this is what I believe.
———————–
this is niche tips.
horisly
June 11, 2007 at 1:36 pm
btw, i wanna know that how much he paid for this review? lol..
Alex Panait
June 11, 2007 at 1:47 pm
I remember I noticed his logo a few days ago and I liked very much, but I disliked the design. Anyway Kevin writes some good articles and I think is a good blog.
SELaplana
June 11, 2007 at 1:58 pm
you pointed a lot of good points so that the bloggingtips blog will grow.
however, just want to comment about removing mybloglog. I think, instead of removing it, it would be better if it will be placed on the sidebar that loads the last so that it will not affect the content of the blog.
that’s what I actually did at my blog. I can’t remove that widget because that’s one of the ways other bloggers can promote their blog to my visitors.
i know allowing my visitors promote their blogs to other visitors is quiet confusing but i want it like that way.
JohnTP
June 11, 2007 at 3:25 pm
Kevin- Readers may prefer that we don’t use the more tag, but it is best you use it to prevent duplicate content.
Your blog might be new but I did enjoy reading the recent posts…so I subscribed to your feed
tmhung- I have not tried pay per post, but tried ReviewMe which is a good.
Nirmal- Thanks.
Alex Panait- Yes, the mascot looks great and will capture the attention of first time visitors to the blog.
Kevin
June 11, 2007 at 4:19 pm
i totally agree john - ive actually wrote a few articles about this myself and explained to people that the more tag was used specifically for that reason. However, most readers still wanted it removed.
Its a no win situation really - i want the site to do well in search engines etc but i also want to retain those who read the blog on a regular basis
kay
June 11, 2007 at 9:03 pm
It’s brilliant to get a review from johntp.com
I guess Kevin has got more visitors.
Abdul
June 11, 2007 at 9:07 pm
I think duplicate content should not take preference over readers preference. I persoanlly find it very annoying to click More to read a complete post.
Alex Panait
June 12, 2007 at 12:38 am
There are other ways in you can stay away from duplicate content that work better instead of using more tag.
Jamdo
June 12, 2007 at 9:26 am
Yeah, I have been a fan of bloggingtips.com for a while. And you’re right - the logo kicks ass.
Vikram
June 13, 2007 at 5:24 am
Nice Review John
green
June 13, 2007 at 3:56 pm
I always welcome blogging tips. Thanks for publishing useful content for bloggers
Madhur Kapoor
June 13, 2007 at 7:02 pm
Good review John . I checked the site and it offers some good content .
Pan Bread Recipes
June 14, 2007 at 7:43 pm
The mascot is awesome! Added to RSS.
Neotica
June 14, 2007 at 11:56 pm
This review can be a good referance for all blogs. Mascot is great.
kay
June 15, 2007 at 8:11 pm
Why superman but not spiderman or batman??
Don
June 16, 2007 at 1:32 pm
Good review John. Well thought out.
Don
Wallace
June 17, 2007 at 9:49 am
it would be better to change the title text.
CristianR
June 20, 2007 at 3:59 pm
very nice review . Well done John , and by the way , why is everyone using superman as a logo ? ( another example is shomemoney with his $ sign )
Pallab
June 22, 2007 at 2:23 am
I am not sure if removing the more tag is such a good thing. I certainly dont link blogs without more tags - especially if it has long posts. You have to scroll too much to get past the content that doesnt interest you.
Also it increases the size of webpages - especially if you use images in your posts. I generally put the large images after the jump. Thus not only do I prevent content duplicaiton, I also save bandwidth and increase page loading time.
Alex Panait
June 22, 2007 at 4:56 am
If you write long posts more tag is useful but if your posts are short adding that can make your visitors stay away or read just one article and then to leave the blog and don’t read your other posts.
Internet Tv
June 25, 2007 at 1:18 am
great points everyone. i disagree with the widget john.. it doesnt make page loading on my blog any longer… however i noticed your blog takes a very long time to load.
Saher
July 7, 2007 at 6:06 am
thats fantastic i have not seen anything like this before where the owner and the critics discuss everything in detail for everyone.
Gili
July 8, 2007 at 12:11 am
It’s a good review, i paid them a visit, i must say it’s a great site
Ram
July 9, 2007 at 10:24 pm
Good Review about bloggingtips. I have started to read that blog too and it seems Kevin has a lot of information and content.
Susan
July 10, 2007 at 2:48 am
Surprisingly, at first I also thought displaying the number of subscribers would work against an author’s favor but I’ve found that with a new site there are favorable situations to add the feed count. Usually if one is getting a lot of good responses immediately after ‘launch day’ or they’ve had a big hit with an article, then by all means show the feed count and publicly show how many readers are benefiting or enjoying the content. If the number stays stagnant, I would take down the counter.