Month: January 1970

The initial impression was that there was something amiss with the blog. On closer inspection I found that the links and everything else was at the top of the blog, with the actual entry’s were down the bottom.

I’m not sure if this is a template fault or not, the author might want to check it.

My impressions were that this might be an interesting blog. The title “A poet. Now a blogger.” left me with the sense that this might be a writers blog with lots of poems. There was only one poem translation on the blog itself, a few quizzes and some other links. I was expecting more poems and less quizzes.

The blog itself is a fairly new blog, was only started in July 2004. The design is a blogger template, like many other blogger templates.

I was a bit disappointed with the lack of writing material in the blog. The blog may develop over time into something else, or it may not. It’s more a personal blog that doesn’t really tell you much about the author, there is no “about” page or any little blurb about her writing or her life.

I hope that this blog does choose and path and hopefully develop. It has much potential.Pattern Recognition

I know I’m not the only person who has wanted to do something to improve the environment. We’ve been told to use public transportation more to reduce the amount of pollution or to lower your electricity bill by remembering to shut off lights when leaving a room. But we can do more than that. “So what can I do?” is a site that is dedicated to helping improve the environment with subtle changes that can make a huge difference.

Karama came up with the idea for the site when her and her friends got frustrated with the state of things. They decided that instead of sitting around, they were going to do something. She posts links about many topics from helping fight breast cancer, supporting non-profits to improving school lunches. What I like about this site is it caters to people who have the money to donate to those who just have a few minutes a week to make a difference.

One of my favorite posts is about how to get rid of computers and other electronics. I have an old laptop and still have it since I don’t know how to recycle it. Karama posted some helpful links for how to go about recycling computers and also old cell phones. Another post I liked was about how to calculate your ecological footprint. I found out I used a lot of resources. It helped me figure out I need to make changes when it comes to wasting food and using electrity.

The content of this website is great, however, the look of the site can definitely be improved. She’s using a blogger template and I’d like to see a design that makes this site stand out more. I know that when I see a blogger template, I tend to overlook those sites because there are so many sites that use the same template. Last thing I want to do is stare at it again. A new layout would really step this site up.

If you’re looking to do a little something to help others, make sure to stop by this site and see what you can do.
So what can I do?

This blog is designed for a target audience of…wait for it…small business. You didn’t see that coming, did you? (I kid.) It’s not a very well designed blog, but the sheer volume of links to resource material makes it an invaluable tool for anyone who owns or will possibly own a small business.

Denise O’Berry runs the site and has written “three booklets” and “several how-to pamphlets” on small business issues. It took some digging to find her bio, and I only found it after many, many clicks through her linked site which is deniseoberry.com.

Denise seems to be struggling to find an audience for her blog and her otherwise sound advice. My criticism of the site is two-fold: She should put her bio and info prominently on the page. People want to know why they are taking advice from Denise, what her credentials are, how she’s helped others. The second bit is: get rid of the annoying pop up ad for “Small Business Boot Camp” that comes up every time you hit a link to anything else. This will chase people away faster than a small business fails.

But! If you follow the advice Denise gives, perhaps your small business will not fail. Spread the word to your small business friends to check out this blog. I honestly don’t believe you’ll find a more comprehensive site out there on this subject. Just for small business

Just for Small Business is an information blog which offers resources and tips and examples to the backbone of most economies, those who run small businesses. The site is very simple visually, with a three column layout with the main content in the middle. As I scrolled down I noticed a few problems with the design, such as the ‘visit small biz boot camp box’ was overflowing into (and covering) the content (I’m browsing with Firefox), ho-hum.

The author, Denise O’Berry , has done a mountain of work with small businesses having, a small business online forum, a weekly Small Biz Strategies tip e-zine, plus she writes a syndicated small business column and publishes a small business newsletter. Phew. Clearly someone you should listen to!

The blog content contains great information for those in small business. I would think anyone running a business of any size could benefit from the wisdom and examples in this blog. It takes just a few minutes to read a month of entries. The information could potential make a major different in the success, of failure of one’s business. In one entry entitled, ‘Employees Aren’t Mind Readers’ Denise explains the importance of giving clear instructions to employees. In her example, an employee who couldn’t find a switch to turn off a machine pulled the plug out on the machine instead, which ruined the product inside by the next morning. Clearly this example underscores the importance of training staff and having reference material they can access if they need a question answered about how to do task ‘x’. Each entry has some timbit of useful information to share to help business owners in various areas such as staffing, planning, proposals, marketing, taxes etc.. The writing is straightforward and accessible for all readers, even those outside of business may find some benefit to reading this blog. Denise also reviews many books that focus on small business in her blog and offers photos of those books so readers can easily find them.

While not the most impressive site visually the solid content in ‘Just for Small Business’ makes this site an impressive resource for anyone interested in improving their bottom line. Even the casual non-business reader may enjoy some of the examples that Denise provides. Bottom line: An accessible, easy to read resource that should be mandatory reading for every small business owner.
Just for small business

This blog was submitted in the humor category, and after skimming a few posts I can see why. This blogger has the ability to write about daily occurences in his life and transform them into comical events.

‘Mindless Drivel’ is brought to us by ‘a guy in Texas with too much free time on his hands.’ This is a relatively recent blog with entries dating back only to October 2004. He chronicles things that happen as he goes about his life, updates often and his posts are insightful, detailed and of course, funny. Recent posts include his thoughts about how people from Texas act at Starbucks when it gets cold, his commute to work where he always seems to get stuck behind bad drivers who always seem to drive Toyota Camries, and one of my favorites, how squirrels enjoy “seeing us freak out and slam on our brakes, taking out mailboxes, flowerbeds, and pedestrians in a desperate attempt to spare the life of a suicidal rodent.”

The best thing about this blog was by far the entries. They really are entertaining to read, not too long and not too short. One thing I would have liked to see was more about the author in the ‘about’ section. He does give us the basics, i.e. age and gender, but it’s always good to find out a little about the person behind the writing.

This blogger uses blogger and blogspot, and he has added a nice design to a two column layout. In one column he has his blog and the other column has navigation, a poll, archives and links He uses creative headings for these categories such as “oldies but goodies” instead of archives and “blogs that are better than mine” instead of links.

Overall, I absolutely loved this blog. Did I mention he was a finalist in the ‘Best of the Rest Blogs’ in the 2004 Weblog Awards and it’s obvious why. His refreshinginly humorous writing style makes this a bookmark worthy blog. mindless drivel