Critique my BodyBuilding Blog

by gareth
18 replies
I just did a make over on my blog - what do you guys reckon ?

FreeFitnessGuru.com

Next I will add a lightbox optin popup and a footer optin popup

I may add a horizontal line of videos at the top of the first post also.

That should be enough - then I will SEO the plugins and focus on automating content and traffic.

Plugins used so far:

tubepress
dandyID
friendfeed
maxbannerads
rss icon
sociable
tweetmeme
#blog #bodybuilding #critique
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    • Profile picture of the author gareth
      there is a youtube video there - you got flash installed ?
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      Gareth M Thomas
      Serial Entrepreneur
      Auckland, New Zealand

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  • Profile picture of the author MustafaKamal
    Oh yeah, my bad. The browser kinda played games with me by loading it all in a slow pace.

    IMO, the last two graphics, on the flickr stream, has nothing to do with bodybuilding, so you may want to look into that.

    Other than that, I find it pretty reasonable for an average laymen to check out your blog.
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    • Profile picture of the author gareth
      What do you think about the idea to put maybe 3-4 video thumbnails above the top of the first post ?
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      Gareth M Thomas
      Serial Entrepreneur
      Auckland, New Zealand

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  • Profile picture of the author pcpupil
    Hemmorroids is spelled wrong in the main title of your post.
    Other than that i wish i had a site like that.
    That looks like one of the best sites ive seen in a while about bodybuilding.
    Im still learning so i cant really critique very much.
    But it looked easy to read and follow.
    Matt
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    I will be your Digital Assistance for cheap.PM me.
    I can help relieve your work load.Pm me

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  • Profile picture of the author Jay Rhome
    It's has a nice, clean look.

    You might consider adding pages and/or categories so people can browse more of your site.
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  • Profile picture of the author gareth
    Yeah I plan to do that during the content and SEO phase

    Have much planned both automated and hand written.

    pcpupil this site was easy to make - just buy artisteer and make your own themes and use the plugins I suggested

    Also look at blogs of the experts for ideas. I modeled ideas off mashable and shoemoney
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    Gareth M Thomas
    Serial Entrepreneur
    Auckland, New Zealand

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  • Profile picture of the author Joel Gray
    You need to add the following plugins

    All In One SEO
    WP Generic Footer

    Graphics look good, I like the layout of your site and the way you incorporate the videos is very good.

    Joel
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    "Punish The Deed, Not The Breed"

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  • Profile picture of the author gareth
    It looks like putting the video bar above the first post requires hard coding the template - this is something I want to avoid so I will have to miss this feature out for now.

    If anybody knows of a plugin that can insert code at the top of the first post or above it please let me know. Does wordpress itself have a way to do this ?

    Next I will add the optin pop ups and I'm done with the appearance.
    Signature

    Gareth M Thomas
    Serial Entrepreneur
    Auckland, New Zealand

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  • Profile picture of the author gareth
    OK I tried a footer popup and it sucked - prob over kill if I use a lightbox anyway

    Final touch will be the lightbox optin then.
    Signature

    Gareth M Thomas
    Serial Entrepreneur
    Auckland, New Zealand

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  • Profile picture of the author nickwilliams
    Hi Gareth

    The site looks good - but seems to take a long time to load.

    Good luck.

    Nick
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  • Profile picture of the author ForeignProfessor
    Looks good.

    But I think my wife thought I was looking at gay-medical-porn until I managed to scroll down to Lingerie Football

    I'm into fitness but not serious bodybuilding; but if I was, it'd probably by my scene.
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  • Profile picture of the author Christian Fox
    Holy hot pictures at the bottom!

    I don't like the red text, you will get tons more traffic if you add a forum and develop a 'hook'

    Something unique....

    I know this stuff I used to be really big (pun intended) into bodybuilding. I miss it but gotta pay some bills.

    Good start!

    Oh and you wont be able to use PPC with that pop.
    Signature

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    • Profile picture of the author Ross Bowring
      I'm with Christian, you need a hook. Something to differentiate yourself.

      Nice content but you need to let folk know upfront what's special about you and this blog... why this should be their one-stop shop for body building info.
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  • Profile picture of the author pixguy
    Hi, Just my 2 cents but...
    1. Where are your H1 tags? also your H2 tag description does not look relevent to the sites theme? probably because of artisteers SEO limitations.
    2. By December 1 you will need to comply with the FTC's blog rules and make sure you put the appropriate links next to all affiliate pictures and links etc..
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  • Profile picture of the author bosawi
    hi all, newbie here just joined
    nice blog but i would go with another text color, not red... but others are fine to me
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