This post is the fourth in a series of 5 free quick blog reviews worth a total of $500 that I’m giving away to promote my blog consultancy. First review: Caroline Middlebrook, Livin Online.
MarcoRichter.net
MarcoRichter.net has a rather audacious (and copied) tagline: “The Miscellaneous Ramblings of an Internet Tycoon.” I’m going to believe that tagline is tongue-in-cheek.
First Impressions
The theme is brilliantly designed, but also used frequently by others. To really stand out and be original, a blog’s design must be original.
I am so wary anymore of inexperienced bloggers pretending to be experts that when I see a new blog, the first step I take after reading a bit of content is to check the About page for evidence of experience and expertise. If I don’t see any, that causes me to lose trust in the blogger. Often, I can tell by the content whether or not the blogger really knows their stuff and what I see on the about page usually confirms what I perceived from their content.
Content and Purpose
Marco’s not doing too badly, but he’s not doing too great, either. He doesn’t provide any indication of his experience, authority, or expertise in his About page. Nothing tells me he deserves the title of Tycoon — jokingly or not. The writing style is very approachable, with peeks into a sense of humor here and there. Mostly, though, the writing could really benefit from more unique personality and originality of post topics. I’m sorry to say that much of what I read gives me a sense of deja vu and is very similar to what can be found on thousands of other metablogs.
I hope Marco will receive my plain speaking in the way I intend: I’m looking out for his best interests and for the success of his blog. There are a million “me too” metablogs out there. Marco needs to look within himself and fan that spark of uniqueness and individuality into a flame that makes him shine more brightly than other bloggers doing the same thing as everyone else.
A tough question to ask of your blog and its content is: why would anyone want to read this? I ask this of myself with everything I write. If I can’t think of a good no bullshit answer, then I delete the post (I believe in taking my own medicine). Unless I’m a complete beginner, there isn’t much on Marco’s blog I haven’t already read in some form or other many times over. I’ve said this before in other blog reviews, but it is so important: Marco needs to think about his motivations for blogging and what he wants out of blogging. He needs to have a purpose and a plan for his blog that reaches those goals. He needs to know who his audience is, and write for that audience.
Recommendations
- Really try to figure out why you’re blogging, because the answer to that question will tell you everything you need to know about what to do next
- Create a long term blog plan
- Cultivate a more original writing style and choose topics that aren’t the same thing everyone has already covered many times
- Try adding some graphics to posts for visual interest and to enhance/enforce the point of a post’s message
- Flesh out the About page so that we can determine how much trust and credibility to give you
- Use the title and description/tagline of the blog to tell people why they should spend their time reading it, because the title and description are the first part of the first impression, if you know what I mean
Marco’s big challenge is to offer something unique, different, and special that people will not find anywhere else. His writing is extremely competent, accessible, and succinct. He seems to have no trouble coming up with posts. He pays attention to his blog’s visitors, replying to their comments attentively. So he’s got some big plusses working for him. The big three take-aways from this review are: understand your purpose, create unique content, and get a unique design.
I hope you found this review helpful (and not too hard to take). Here’s to your success, Marco!
Get the good stuff like this every weekday! Subscribe to my RSS feed!