What do you think about my new blog?

25 replies
Hi warriors,
I have launched a new blog, an opinion blog. I understand that most likely I will get very low (If at all) income but it is mostly something I do for 'fun'. I'm planning to add some affiliate links and AdSense.
Here is the link: www.johnhighwaters.com
What I'm mainly asking which actions I should take to reach higher amount of audience? Paid traffic doesn't seems right for this kind of blog. Any ideas?

Please note that I'm on the final review steps of adsense the ads are off.

UPDATE:
Thanks to you Warriors, the following has changed:
1)Post fonts are now black - making it much easier to read
2)Fonts on the side bar changed - easier to read
3)subscribe button is now higher

Things which will be changed today:
1)The title fonts
2)Making it clear what the blog is all about
#blog
  • Profile picture of the author yezgani
    Originally Posted by CrisisCore08 View Post

    Hi warriors,
    I have launched a new blog, an opinion blog. I understand that most likely I will get very low (If at all) income but it is mostly something I do for 'fun'. I'm planning to add some affiliate links and AdSense.
    Here is the link:John Highwaters | Higher Prepective
    What I'm mainly asking which actions I should take to reach higher amount of audience? Paid traffic doesn't seems right for this kind of blog. Any ideas?
    Is it higher Perspective or prepective? You may need to edit it if necessary.
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    • Profile picture of the author CrisisCore08
      Originally Posted by yezgani View Post

      Is it higher Perspective or prepective? You may need to edit it if necessary.
      Thank you. I haven't noticed that

      Update:
      Fixed
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  • Profile picture of the author Danny Cutts
    Too early to say but the font is difficult to read :-)
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    • Profile picture of the author CrisisCore08
      Originally Posted by Danny Cutts View Post

      Too early to say but the font is difficult to read :-)
      Do you mean the titles font?
      It is the default, I guess I could change it.
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    • Profile picture of the author Michael Shook
      Its your titles font, whatever that is, it makes it difficult to read those.

      You could also change contat me to contact me and higer perspective to higher perspective.

      Its a bit difficult to read because the contrast is not so high between the font color and the background. This was the style a couple of years ago on blogs done in the Portlandia style (except for Social Triggers which was not done that way), but it was difficult to read then too.
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      • Profile picture of the author CrisisCore08
        Originally Posted by JMichaelZ View Post

        Its your titles font, whatever that is, it makes it difficult to read those.

        You could also change contat me to contact me and higer perspective to higher perspective.

        Its a bit difficult to read because the contrast is not so high between the font color and the background. This was the style a couple of years ago on blogs done in the Portlandia style (except for Social Triggers which was not done that way), but it was difficult to read then too.
        Yeah I should have checked for this kind of errors. Thanks!

        Do you think that just giving it a darker shade could help? I really love this font and to be honest, it is pretty hard to add a web-safe font which works for all browsers and that is responsive.
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        • Profile picture of the author moneygameplan
          Clicking on contact me gives the error that no result found. You may want to fix it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Danny Cutts
    I actually hate the theme ...lol Sorry :-)

    But thats my personal opinion :-) Fill the site up and test to see what gives you better conversions :-) Sites evolve and change over time :-)

    Good luck :-)

    Danny
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    • Profile picture of the author CrisisCore08
      Originally Posted by moneygameplan View Post

      Clicking on contact me gives the error that no result found. You may want to fix it.
      I think that it's only you. Tested it with 2 browsers with no problems.

      Originally Posted by Danny Cutts View Post

      I actually hate the theme ...lol Sorry :-)

      But thats my personal opinion :-) Fill the site up and test to see what gives you better conversions :-) Sites evolve and change over time :-)

      Good luck :-)

      Danny
      Thanks for the honest opinion. Since I'm using Elegant Themes it is not a problem to change the theme without loosing any features. For now I will stick with it but I might change it in the future.
      Do you have any tips though how to monetize it and promote it?
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    • Profile picture of the author Steve B
      You blog needs a title and a description. People coming want to quickly know what this site is all about. You have just a few seconds of attention on first visit and you need to be clear about what your site offers. You need a "hook" that makes viewers want to stay and read more.

      Good luck to you.

      Steve

      P.S. As much as you may personally like a font, is that what matters if it's giving your viewers a bad experience (as others have said)?
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      Steve Browne, online business strategies, tips, guidance, and resources
      SteveBrowneDirect

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      • Profile picture of the author CrisisCore08
        Originally Posted by Steve B View Post

        You blog needs a title and a description. People coming want to quickly know what this site is all about. You have just a few seconds of attention on first visit and you need to be clear about what your site offers. You need a "hook" that makes viewers want to stay and read more.

        Good luck to you.

        Steve

        P.S. As much as you may personally like a font, is that what matters if it's giving your viewers a bad experience (as others have said)?
        There is no doubt that something needs to change
        I'm just simply asking if changing it to darker shade might 'save' the font.

        And I will think what and where the hook can be
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    I have no idea what your blog is about. You should include a headline (like Steve said) and consider a different layout/theme. Why'd you want to choose this blog topic?
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  • Profile picture of the author cyberzolo
    Originally Posted by CrisisCore08 View Post

    Hi warriors,
    I have launched a new blog, an opinion blog. I understand that most likely I will get very low (If at all) income but it is mostly something I do for 'fun'. I'm planning to add some affiliate links and AdSense.
    Here is the link: www.johnhighwaters.com
    What I'm mainly asking which actions I should take to reach higher amount of audience? Paid traffic doesn't seems right for this kind of blog. Any ideas?

    Please note that I'm on the final review steps of adsense the ads are off.
    I personally think you shouldn't put adsense ads on your blog until you see at lease 1000-2000 unique visitors per month cuz you won't be making much at all if your traffic doesn't at least match up to that.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris30K
    Originally Posted by CrisisCore08 View Post

    Hi warriors,
    I have launched a new blog, an opinion blog. I understand that most likely I will get very low (If at all) income but it is mostly something I do for 'fun'. I'm planning to add some affiliate links and AdSense.
    Here is the link: www.johnhighwaters.com
    What I'm mainly asking which actions I should take to reach higher amount of audience? Paid traffic doesn't seems right for this kind of blog. Any ideas?

    Please note that I'm on the final review steps of adsense the ads are off.
    The cool thing is that you're taking action. That's awesome, and keep taking action.

    One thing that I might suggest though, is that you ask yourself these following questions:
    • What problem am I solving with this blog?
    • What solution do I have?
    • What customer am I targeting?
    • Have I validated this problem with the customer?
    • Is it a pain in which they will return for more content? Or even pay for a product?
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    Chic Fil A > McDonald's

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  • Profile picture of the author harvie316
    font hard to read

    Im on the blog and I have no idea what its about either
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  • Profile picture of the author brunski
    Other then the text being difficult to read other things I found:

    The subscribe to the blog updates are too low in the side bar ( I would put it higher on the side bar). I really don't understand why started the blog (something that needs to be clear to readers when they visit)
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  • Profile picture of the author Ben Scott Jr
    The theme and the font should probably be changed. It was so hard on my eyes I couldn't go further and read it.
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    • Profile picture of the author CrisisCore08
      Originally Posted by Chris30K View Post

      The cool thing is that you're taking action. That's awesome, and keep taking action.

      One thing that I might suggest though, is that you ask yourself these following questions:
      • What problem am I solving with this blog?
      • What solution do I have?
      • What customer am I targeting?
      • Have I validated this problem with the customer?
      • Is it a pain in which they will return for more content? Or even pay for a product?
      I'm after something more general but I think that now I know that I might want to go a little more specific. Thanks
      Originally Posted by harvie316 View Post

      font hard to read

      Im on the blog and I have no idea what its about either
      Change thank you!
      Originally Posted by brunski View Post

      Other then the text being difficult to read other things I found:

      The subscribe to the blog updates are too low in the side bar ( I would put it higher on the side bar). I really don't understand why started the blog (something that needs to be clear to readers when they visit)
      Changed
      Originally Posted by Benny Taylor View Post

      The theme and the font should probably be changed. It was so hard on my eyes I couldn't go further and read it.
      The font is changed, I think I will stick with the theme though. For now at least.
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  • Profile picture of the author dids
    if your going to have your navigation on the left I would suggest having it slightly higher on the left at the min it kinda gets lost in the page
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    • Profile picture of the author CrisisCore08
      Originally Posted by dids View Post

      if your going to have your navigation on the left I would suggest having it slightly higher on the left at the min it kinda gets lost in the page
      It appears so but when the blog will have more posts (day or two) they will need to scroll down anyway
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  • Profile picture of the author Dave37
    The interface is nice and simple, I just noticed the font of the posted article (The Trinity which makes Democracy) is a little too small. You might also want to install some plugins to further customize your blog
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  • Profile picture of the author judchuks
    Banned
    [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author PCH
      I think it would be time really well spent if, right this minute, you stopped what you're doing and took a look at a few other blogs.

      You'll note that they all have one thing in common.

      They all kinda look like blogs!

      You'd be best to copy the general format of another blog. Use a theme that you can see the end result of. Because to be totally honest, yours is a bit 'ordinary' I'd have to say.

      I don't mean that to sound deliberately rude buddy, - although it probably does.

      But I seriously think you've gone into this without actually knowing what the outcome should resemble.

      I hope this helps get you back on the right track. If you need any suggestions, just google 'best blogs' and look at what comes up. That's what yours should look like give or take a bit
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      • Profile picture of the author CrisisCore08
        Originally Posted by PCH View Post

        I think it would be time really well spent if, right this minute, you stopped what you're doing and took a look at a few other blogs.

        You'll note that they all have one thing in common.

        They all kinda look like blogs!

        You'd be best to copy the general format of another blog. Use a theme that you can see the end result of. Because to be totally honest, yours is a bit 'ordinary' I'd have to say.

        I don't mean that to sound deliberately rude buddy, - although it probably does.

        But I seriously think you've gone into this without actually knowing what the outcome should resemble.

        I hope this helps get you back on the right track. If you need any suggestions, just google 'best blogs' and look at what comes up. That's what yours should look like give or take a bit
        Thank you, great advice!
        I agree that at this point I have no idea what I wanted. After a quick research I have an idea, of course it needs more development but now I can see it.
        I should touch more subjects which are happening now.

        I must say though that it doesn't look like a blog because it is missing posts.
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  • Profile picture of the author JRJWrites
    Bro, that looks awesome. Especially the blogroll. That's just a work of art.
    Some people hate it, but I kinda like the look.

    The only thing is that this doesn't seem to be a very optimized site for earning at all - more like a service provision/personal blog kind of thing.

    If you're gonna try to earn $$$ from this website, I suggest changing the theme, especially since you have the ET membership.

    Regards,
    JR John
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