Dave of Virtual Marketing Blog is asking for people to review his blog. Since I’m acquainted with him through other things, and he often stops by here, I figured why not. So here’s a review with a bit of praise and some suggestions for change for VirtualMarketingBlog.com. Give it a read. More than likely some of the advice I offer will be relevant to one of your own sites or others that you come across.

The Good Stuff

• I like Dave’s general subject matter (obviously), but also his writing style. It’s easy to read w/o feeling like things are being dragged out too much.
• There’s a nice mix or news and tips on the site, without anything becoming too dominant.
• He recently added some free resources (free marketing ebooks) to the site as an added feature for his readers.
• There’s nothing visually intrusive within posts.
• Everything below the header area has a nice, clean, simple, professional look to it.

The Not-So-Good Stuff

• The logo isn’t very appealing. Actually, the text for the logo and slogan are simply too small in comparison with things like post titles, so it essentially gets “drowned out” visually, meaning people may not even bother to see what the blog’s called if they stumble across it in SEs. There’s too much of a visual distraction, where the logo should be an attention-grabber and at least a little bit memorable, or able to convey a certain attitude or air about the site. It’s not doing that at the moment. Â vs.
• Also on the branding side of things, the teal-ish header is pretty unattractive, especially considering how “pretty” and inviting the rest of the layout is. Teal just isn’t a great color for a marketing site… it doesn’t carry any air or authority, doesn’t help to build trust subconsiously, and doesn’t scream professionalism. I’d generally go with red for marketing, b/c it always seems to do well… that’s your “authority” color. Blue can work with business, but I wouldn’t use it alone for marketing. Even green might be better than the teal. It just needs something less cold and “metallic” feeling, and more inviting saying “you can trust the info on this site, and it’s going to help you make more money, improve your traffic, etc.).
  
• I like to know who I’m listening to when I read a blog. If I didn’t have a vague idea of who Dave was before I knew about the blog, I’d be clueless. Add a photo. Add a signature to the posts (something a few writing blogs I read do, and I just love the personalization it adds). Just do something to let people connect to you, and they’ll be more likely to interact with you. Adding a bit of personality into posts, plus letting them see you, know your name, feel like you’re talking directly to them, etc. will all help on that front.
• This might sound really silly, but I’d like to see more ads worked in, or at least see them optimized a bit more. It’s great from a general reader’s prespective that there’s nothing too big and intrusive. But this is a blog about marketing, making money online, etc. I like to see the authors of those kinds of blogs in a position where they’re trying to earn, b/c it gives them more authority to then tell that audience how to do the same thing. Ads don’t have to be unattractive or overbearing. But for this niche of blogs, I’d like to see a bit more integration, whether it’s trying different monetization efforts to diversify, to even just changing the adsense colors in the right column from that teal to better match the site links. I know it’s a silly thing to complain about, but I’m more likely to trust someone who’s able to fully optimize and monetize their sites while still keeping it attractive and informative than someone who’s not taking advantage of the opportunities to do that… at least in this subject matter.
• I like the “Question of theWeek” idea. It incites discussion. I’d definitely suggest bringing it back, especially since the site’s been live a bit longer now.

Overall, the site has a good bit of potential. It’s friendly and informative, albeit a little cold visually (something easy enough to fix). The posting seems to be pretty regular lately, which is good. With a minor “face lift,” I think it has a chance to be a high traffic, well-monetized blog in its niche. It might take a bit of effort to offer something in this topic area that’s different than the others, but I think Dave’s on his way by adding free resources, and I have no doubt that he’ll be able to find other ways to differentiate his site. I’d just love to see some better site and personal branding going on, especially for a marketing blog.

Categories: Advertising / Marketing / PR
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