Faze One Studio: Blog Review
Last week I gave you, my readers, the opportunity to have your blog reviewed here at IGTB. I have received many requests since then (more than expected), and I'm going to try to do as many as I can. This opportunity is still open, so if you missed my post and would like a review, you're still welcome to email your link to me. (And to those who've sent an email and haven't heard back from me yet- I haven't forgotten you. I'm tackling the emails in groups, in order of the date(s) submitted. You'll hear from me soon, I promise!)
Today's blog, Faze One Studio, is both a personal and photography blog, and is part of a larger website advertising the author, Benjamin Doolittle's photography and design services.
Before I start throwing in my personal critiques, I'd like to say that, just to be clear, this is my own personal opinion. You may agree or disagree with my advice, and when getting a review from anyone, take it with a grain of salt. There are no set rules to blogging.
The first problem I encountered was accessing the website. Every now and then I'd get an error message that prevented me from exploring further, and it would last for some time, and eventually straighten itself out. I can't determine whether it's the hosting or my computer, but it's definitely something to look into, and attempt to fix. A problem like this could result in a huge loss of traffic- many first-time visitors will not think to return later, once confronted with a Yahoo error message.
Once it was working properly again, I began to look a little deeper to see what I could find.
I very much like the design and colors. It's a basic yet attractive, two-column template; artsy, and perfect for a photoblog like this. The content is on the left, which is great for SEO. However, I do feel the grey-on-white text is a little too light, and at times, difficult to to read. I think that going a shade or two darker would make a huge difference in readability, and still keep the soft feel of the template.
The sidebar is clean and doesn't distract from the main content- that's great. But in order to make the blog easier to navigate, I'd suggest including links to the most recent posts, and placing the RSS widget somewhere near the top of the sidebar will encourage readers to subscribe.
The content is good, and the photos are great, but I'd like to see a little more "meat" thrown into the mix. Pillar articles (in this case, they would be photo and design tutorials) are necessary for attracting a significant amount of traffic from search engines, and social media websites like StumbleUpon. They are often rich in content and keywords, and exactly what search engines aim to provide for searchers.
Some Faze One design tutorials you may want to check out:
Overall, Faze One Studio is a good blog, and if photography is your thing, give it a read. Or, if you're looking for a logo or design for your blog/website, you may want to hire Ben to do the job.
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