Desert Meandering Review

This week's blog review from the Bloggers Helping Bloggers link party is Desert Meanderings.

 

Header

You might want to make it a little wider so that it stands out more.  The tagline might also be easier to see if it were in a darker shade or in color.

The header is very small and simple but it works - I like it. I might make it a fraction bigger to make it a little easier to notice.

Sidebar

I hadn't seen a double sidebar before so found that interesting.  It might be just a little bit too busy and detract from your main content.

 Also, I got distracted by your widget bars- since they are on both sides it almost makes it hard to focus on the content you WANT us to see. I would cut back as much as possible and have one sidebar- two is just too much on the eye.

I would love to see an image of you under your about me blurb - a picture of a camel seems a little comical.

I think you should have one sidebar on the right - there is not even very much information in the left sidebar.

How easy to follow on Social Media

I was originally looking for social media icons but didn't see any.  I then realized that that's what the large boxes in the sidebar were for.  Once I realized that it made more sense.  It is easy to share posts using the buttons at the bottom.

Super easy to follow on twitter and like on Facebook but have trouble finding any more ways to follow you on social media. Did you have a Pinterest or Google+  account?

Also I like Pinterest widgets to see what other people are pinning and might switch Twitter to Pinterest if lacking room as I find Pinterest drives a lot more traffic to my blog then Twitter but that's just my personal opinion.

Content

 It's not the type of blog I would normally search out because my religion is slightly different.  However, I think others that might be more interested in the subject matter would find it relevant and interesting.

Eva, although I don't share the same faith, I actually enjoyed reading your blog. You have a unique outlook, and your blog posts, for the most part, were real and coated with bits of wisdom. 

When I first came to your blog though, the first post on the slideshow was a paid book review-
personally I'm not a fan of paid reviews, because it's not the first thing I think readers should see. 

How Easy To Read:

The fonts were all very easy to read.

I like the font choices, and it's generally dark enough to read against the white background except in some cases like the date for instance I find is too light.

Navigation:

The categories were easy to understand and navigate through.  

As for the layout, I noticed you didn't have a home button which made it hard when I wanted to go back to the homepage after surfing around.

I find the pages seem to get lost at the top. I might make the font a little darker and possible place them underneath your 'red preview bar' - I like the drop down menus though.

Overall Appearance:

At first glance, the maroon part looks like the header.  That's why I suggested the actual header might be better if it were a little bigger.  I also personally would prefer just one sidebar but that's just me.  You might also want to put a picture of yourself where the camel is...it helps us feel like we know you better.  I do like the social share buttons at the bottom of each post.

I like how you have your popular posts cycling in the maroon space but think that it's too large and prominent and would like to see it smaller especially when you have summaries of your posts on the home page not the full articles which I prefer and need to change on my own blog.

Comments:

I wish you the best and hope these reviews help!


If you want to have a free blog review of your own blog just make sure to link up every Tuesday beginning at 7:30 am EST at Bloggers Helping Bloggers.

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