Happy Mama Tales Review

Last weeks blog that was chosen for a free review at the Bloggers Helping Bloggers Link Party was my good friend Britni's from Happy Mama Tales.

Header:

 

A really cute header, but it's so little and being above a big add, it took me a couple seconds to find it.

Her header is hidden.  I actually wasn't sure I was on the right page at first.  I thought it was an ad page because I see two big ads front and center, and her posts are rotating beneath (which added to the sales-y appearance).  She has such a cute logo.  It should be MUCH bigger and front and center.

I absolutely love your header. But think its way too small - it's so pretty and it needs to be more prominent.

I love this blog's header graphic, very creative and visually attractive, but so small and tucked into the corner.  I don't mind seeing ads, but they shouldn't be the most prominent thing you see when opening the blog.

I really love the header.  However, you have to look for it and I think it would be better placed where the banner ad is now (maybe put the ad below it).  When you have a good logo, you want people to see it and this one seemed kind of hidden up in the corner.

Super cute Header! I think it would make more of an impact if it were bigger.

The header is way too small! It's lost of there in the corner of the page. That being said, though, I love the flags and the colors; it's too cute not to show off!

Sidebar (appearance and arrangement)

very clean and well-organized

nice side bar – even though the recent or popular posts aren’t on the side bar there is the popular click on the menu bar.

I wish the "About Me" section was under the subscription box.  Other than that, I think your mix of ads and connections to you are pretty good.  They don't distract me, and their purpose is clear.

I think your about me should be first in your sidebar - above your subscribe me box. I think your about me and subscribe box are both pretty and concise by the way. I like how every thing has a small border around it makes them really stand out but, I think some of the widgets like blog her or rivit could be moved to a footer but that's just my opinion.

The stuff you advertise is great!

I think you've done a good job with the sidebar.  The only thing I would do differently is to move the "about me" up a few notches but that's more of a personal preference.  Otherwise it looks great.   

I do like the look of your sidebar. A couple things that may help: You have a lot of blank boxes in the sidebar that I think could be removed for easier reading. Also, I'd like to see your picture above the "Top Mommy" Blogs. I know you want people to vote for your site, which is perfectly fine. I'd just like to know who you are before voting.

I love how clean your sidebar looks. It's streamlined and very well put together. Your About Me photo took me a minute to find because I thought it was an ad and your search bar should be higher up the page.

How Easy it is to Follow on Social Media

The buttons on the left side are a little small but colorful so they are clear enough if I’m looking for them, but don’t jump out at me if I’m not.

It's easy to follow on social media, but would love to follow on Google+ too!

very easy to find the buttons since they're close to the top

The buttons are available, but light colored and below the fold.  I am not sure they draw as much attention as she would prefer.  They need to be above the fold and brighter.

Easy to find...that's right where I would look if I were trying to find them

I can easily find your social media buttons, however, when I clicked on the email, it just led me to gmail.com. I would not have been able to contact you through email using your email icon.

Your social media buttons were easy to find and the link I tested worked.

Content

I read the post on cleaning your serger - mostly because I had no idea what a serger is.  The first photo of the lady hanging out of the washing machine made me assume it was about something on a washing machine. It wasn’t until I started scrolling down a ways that I realized we were actually talking about a sewing machine.  So, maybe a different photo that deals more with the subject at hand.  (Although the photo was funny.)

I then clicked on the “Learn to Serge” series and noticed that even there serging wasn’t explained.  Although the explanations of what to do do serge were very thorough, it would have helped to have examples of your finished work so readers know exactly what you’re creating.

I really liked how you explained mormonism.  Although not a mormon, I found myself wanting to know more.  Well done.

Content is great, easy to read with nice pictures and informative information

I figured I would check out a few posts.  Her pictures were great.  I really enjoyed the post I read on "10 Ways You can Be a Better Mom Today."  Loved the post on "How We Paid off $40,000 in One Year" (misspelled Nazi). I was amused by the title "How to Get Pregnant," so I had to read that.  Good tips ;)

I love to sew and don't know how to serge.  When I get a serger, I am going to stalk that category on her blog.  Excellent. I would have to say that the content was great. Really.  I like her style, and I would definitely follow her on Bloglovin or Blogher if she was a member.  As it stands, I am following on Facebook and Pinterest.

The articles are not the sort I would normally read, but they seem to be well written and the tone is friendly and engaging.

I like the slideshow that displays popular or recent posts.  It's a nice, quick and visual way to skim for content.

Motherhood, marriage and health issues are very general, and also very subjective topics.  That's why I am tickled to see sections of the blog devoted to a practical and straightforward topic like serging.  That is a skill I am interested in developing, and I'm glad to know where to find good tutorials.

I would like to see more finished serging projects.  Perhaps a photo gallery?  The tutorials are very detailed and technical, which is good, but it would be fun to see more of "the payoff."  How do you put this skill to work?  What have you made with your serger?

Great content! It fit with the theme and while I only had time to read a few articles, they were very well written and helpful.

All the headings in your navigation bar are perfect for your content. I can tell exactly what this blog is about. Your content was great... I kept looking around at different posts, so it was engaging.

I love your variety of content. I think you really do have something that would interested just about any kind of reader.

I love all your content, and articles under happy mamma and happy wife. I looked under learn to serge and knew it was something to do with sewing but have no idea exactly what it is or how it differs from sewing with a sewing machine. I thought all the tutorials were cute, I am the opposite of a crafty person but loving seeing others finished projects.

How Easy it is to Read (Fonts, etc.)

same as with content – easy to read font, clear pictures, great information

Perfect.  Loved reading the posts.

Fonts are big enough and clear enough to read easily. the only thing that is a little small is the tagline, "The Tales of a Happy Mama"

I wouldn't mind larger and/or darker fonts to make the content a little easier to read. 

I found the articles well written and easy to read.

Easy Reading for sure. Your font and font size are perfect.

The size of the font for your content is good, but the font for your menus should be larger.

Overall it's fairly easy to read, I might change the main font to a shade or two darker grey to make it stand out a little more.

How Easy it is to Navigate, and Find What you are Looking For.

easy to navigate and get back to the landing page

Very easy.  You know who you are.

very easy to navigate. I wasn't looking for anything in particular, but there seemed to be a wide variety of content and the menus seemed helpful in terms of organizing it.

I thought the navigation bar was clearly designed and made it easy to find what you were looking for.

This blog is very easy to navigate.

I like that you have several menu choices, but you could stand to have even more. Your content is so broad, it would stink for someone to miss out on a post because she wasn't sure where to look for it.

You do have to look for your search bar, but can find it easily enough if you are looking. Some of your articles don't seem to fall under the menu categories - like your giveaway but I know it's probably hard to have subjects that encompass everything you write about.

Overall Appearance

very user friendly with a nice overall appearance

When I look at your home page, I am not attracted to your blog.  The huge ads, little logo, and hidden "About Me" page tell me that you aren't looking to connect, but to sell.  I would have turned away.  BUT, since I was purposely trying to give you a helpful critique, I found a blog I really enjoy.  The home page appearance is really an issue for me.

I like it. it's very cute.

I thought that this was a well-designed site overall with a lot of great articles for moms.

I love the appearance of this blog. It's very neat, clean, and easy to get around.

Overall, it seems... small. The header is small, the menu font is small, the content area is small. There isn't any one spot to grab the eye. White on white content area and background is fine, but your header is so small that the whole page lacks color and pop. Increasing your header size would do wonders for the overall look.

I like the overall appearance of your blog - feels very feminine and pretty but I would probably lose one of the banner ads at the top of the page. I like the slideshow of the title images which are all well done but might make it a little smaller so the post summaries aren't so far down.

Other Comments or Suggestions

Congrats on the Liebster Award - I had never heard of that!

Great job growing your blog so quickly!

I would suggest you have a static front page that is dedicated to promoting you and your blog.  The posts can line up under categories.

Love your ideas! Started following you over on Pinterest. Glad I found your blog through the link up.

Is it possible to play around with your post previews and image sizes? Everything looks much more polished when the image size is the same height as the preview text (the Surface 3 giveaway post and the Liebster Award post are almost examples of what I mean, and I think those look the best).

My Overall Summary 

 

Pretty positive comments all around. Some recurring suggestions were to make the beautiful header larger and more prominent. Move the about me on the sidebar to a top spot. Explain serging to those of us who have no idea what it is lol, be available on more social network platforms and some differing suggestions on changing the layout.

And if you found this blog review of Happy Mama Tales helpful - don't forget to come back to Musings of an Average Mom and link up to Bloggers Helping Bloggers Link Party and have your own blog reviewed by your peers. Starting every Tuesday at 7:30 am and running until Sunday evening.