Read this before seeking blog reviews
We all want our blogs reviewed ,some of us get many reviews while some get none. I try to give as many reviews as possible but there are some basic things i find lacking in many blogs which may be the reson for not getting any reviews
Always remember inviting people to review is like inviting people to your house, so some housekeeping needs to be done.People spend time to look around your blog, read your posts and help you give constructive feeback, this is nothing but a goodwill gesture and the person seeking review must respect this and make sure its not waste of time
Here are some basic things i strongly feel a blogger must do before he/she requests a review.This will not only help people do better review but also help others concentrate on things that matter rather than stopping at basics
1. Make sure you have enough content, asking for people to review a blog with 5-10 posts is like asking for review of a house that has not been build. If you have so less posts ,most probably it will all look blank,you will not have categories,home page will be just one big page .Not much can come from this review
2. DO sanitation: Get your blog review ready,decorate it the way you want to. get your sidebars in order, remove junk content, remove default pages,default widgets etc
3. Sidebards: Oh i cant stress this enough, either it is empty or has too much content. If you do not wish to have a sidebar,choose a theme with no sidebar.if you use side bars have some logical things in it
generally it has
About me(dont leave default please)
featured/recent/popular posts
facebook/twitter links
categories
archives
plus anything you wish to highlight
4.Make sure you have proper categories and tags:If you have everything as uncategorized , you probably will get this as a major comment. Change it so that people can look at if your categories make sense or not and suggest ways to organise better
5. Look for distorted content: Many times i see people piling up things such as side bars thus distorting many things, make sure you go through your blog yourself before submitting. Get these basic fixes in place
6. Proof read: Always read your blog and run basic spell/grammer checks before publishing.This is not just while submitting for review but while publishing any content
7:Avoid SMS lingo: Ok ,you may want to leave behind those shortcuts.Not just in blogs but also when you request for review
Consider this
Hey...i blog bout seo and mktn can ya look at ma blog and gimmi fbck on imprv .M a begne,so pls don be cruel.Also chk ma fb page ,if u like it ill like urs back..cya
Unless you are a really pretty girl(sorry for this comment;) ) ,chances are you won't get any reviews. Also forget about reviews from serious and experienced reviewers
Remember when you seek review , i hear you saying i have done my best and want to know how i can improve.SO do your best :)
I know there can be exceptions, but would be good to point them out early
PS:This is not in reference to any particular blog but applicable to all including me :). I beleive if we follow these, review comments would be much better and relevant
Reason: adding more points as suggested by people
HI Amit, there already is a specific section for requesting reviews
Probably there should be a specific forum for reviews.The newbies definitely need guidance with respect to SEO,meta discriptions,layout manipulations and so on.
This will certainly add perspective to indiblogger as a whole community of advanced bloggers.
I am not sure if you are iviting people to get reviewed but if yes then please review my blog. Your honest opinion would be helpful for the progress of my blog.
HI Abhishek,
You can post your review requests in the Blog review section. Look here for details
http://www.indiblogger.in/forum/topic.php?id=2
Anyone from community can then give reviewes on your blog
Also, "The Fool" is doing some terrific reviews , there is a thread for that.Just check it out
even i need to know, i tried finding a plugin in wordpress but was unable to. Maybe Sorcerer can help us.
Nice, tips. I agree. When I review, I will like to give content specific feedback and not say these things.
However so far the blogs submitted to me have been of really high caliber. Guess the strict rules I have put for accepting reviews has helped.
oh yes defenitly , your conditions make sure you get quality blogs only :).Some of them can definitely be incorporated here also.
You also feel good to review blogs that are formatted well.
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