10 things you should do before requesting blog critique
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Asking for blog critique can be an excellent way to improve numerous aspects of your blog. However, some bloggers ask for critique far sooner than they should. Inevitably, this leads to some very basic errors being highlighted.
You can't get everything right first time - that's why criticism can be so useful. But there are some things you should try to resolve before requesting a blog critique.
1. Find your niche.
Here's what I'd say to anyone who wants to blog but doesn't know what to write about:
Write what you know and what you like, because blogging should be achievable and enjoyable.
Don't know what your blog should focus on? Look at what you know, and what you like, and go from there. I can't tell you which subjects would be best for you to write about.
It's best not to ask for critique if your blog just says "this is my blog, I'm not sure what to do with it just yet, we'll see what happens". Figure out that part first!
2. Finalise your design.
A recent review at Nice2All highlighted this issue - if you're not completely happy with your design or there's a chance you might change it, don't request a blog critique.
Blogging is not all about how the blog looks, but design does play an important part in establishing a memorable brand. If you keep changing your design, it's not the right time to request feedback. Get the design figured out first.
3. Write some content.
What's the point in reading a blog with no content? None at all, really. All blogs have to start somewhere, but don't ask for feedback on your blog if there's no content on it.
When you write your first few posts, use this initial stage of your blog's life as an opportunity to practise your writing. If you write a few posts and you're already having trouble putting them together - you may want to rethink your blog concept before promoting it or requesting feedback.
4. Put up an About page.
Your About page should give readers some idea of what the blog is about and who it's by. You don't have to write your life story, but you should write something. Don't say "I'll do it later". Do it now.
I've found that it's easier to write for a new blog once the About page is written, because it allows me to ask whether every post I write relates back to what the blog is about. That can be a good way to determine if a post you're planning to write is actually suited to the blog you're writing it for. If it's not, don't waste your time.
It might be "good" for search engines to write about obscure topics and litter your posts with high-paying keywords - but search engines don't leave comments or subscribe to your blog - so don't put all your efforts into writing for search engines. Anyway, that's really getting off the point...
5. Don't put up too many ads.
Even though some people don't admit to it, many bloggers want to make money online. Or to be more specific - they want to make money with not much effort. Slapping a load of ads all over your blog could generate loads of income, right?
Wrong. Ad overload is a major turnoff and is a complete waste of time for a small blog anyway. I partly agree with people who say you should put ads on your site from day 1, rather than being ad-free and suddenly springing ads on your readers somewhere down the line. I don't agree with putting a lot of ads on your site, unless you have a really popular blog and people are banging down your (web-based) door for ads. Even then, it's wise to maintain a balance. Otherwise, things just become... unbalanced.
6. Make it really easy to subscribe.
Subscribers are visitors who want to read more of your content. They are very valuable indeed. Therefore, you'll want to put your subscription links very high up on the page. Provide a way to subscribe in a feed reader, and a way to subscribe by email.
Be sure to check that all your feed links go to the same place - this includes the link in your sidebar, links in your posts, and the orange feed icon ("feed auto-discovery") that appears in your browser. I've come across so many sites where the links all go to different places, it's unbelievable. (See point 8 for more on this.)
Incidentally, FeedBurner is worth checking out.
7. Take a break and review your site with a clear head.
If you've spent ages working on your blog, don't just down-tools and say "that's enough, I'll just get it reviewed as it is now". Step away and do something else. Maybe look at it in a day or two. When you approach things with a clear head, you may find things you missed previously. Of course, blog critique will help too, but you'll want to work out the "easy" stuff first.
8. Test your site.
Try running it in different browsers. Try maximising the browsers then resizing them to a narrower width. Not everyone runs the same browser at the same size. Better still, try browsing your site on a mobile device - it's not going to look the same as it does on your desktop computer or laptop, but it should at least be readable.
How does the site perform? If you've used huge images, that might not be an issue on your widescreen laptop with broadband Internet, but a mobile device with slower download speeds and a smaller screen will not provide the best browsing experience.
You're not going to get your site to look identical in every possible configuration, but you should certainly fix any serious display issues, e.g. things overlapping or obscuring your content.
9. List and fix anything you're not happy with.
When testing your site, you might be able to fix things as you go - but it can be hard to work this way if you encounter lots of issues.
Take yourself out of the blog owner's shoes and imagine this is someone else's site. Grab a pen and paper - it's easier to note down everything as you find it than to try and "firefight" every time you find a new issue. Some issues could be fixed more quickly if you work on a few at once, and some fixes may negate other problems.
If you end up with a few issues you can't fix, you could list them when requesting your critique, and ask if anyone knows how to address them. This saves other people mentioning those issues and may get them resolved more quickly.
10. Read some blogs about blogging.
The following list of feeds for new bloggers to subscribe to is highly recommended. In addition to Top Ten Blog Tips, there are other helpful blogs that can help you get your blog off the ground and develop it into something awesome.
Of course, you don't have to read all of these blogs before submitting your blog for feedback! But it's worth keeping these blogs in mind at all times. Subscribe to them, and read them.
That's all from me - what else would you suggest to new bloggers who wish to get some constructive criticism on their blog?
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Comments on 10 things you should do before requesting blog critique
2
All great tips. Basically, just have everything set up before you go get a critique.
3
The design issue that you refer to was my blog and I sure learned my lesson. I did plan to change the design but did not get around to it in time before the review. We make mistakes and learn from them (hopefully). I was only focused on content and design was secondary. I knew I had to change it from what it was but had the review requested which was still really helpful and pointed out several things which could be improved.
I am very happy after all that I did request the blog review when I did it as it was really helpful and constructive criticism is a great tool if you want to improve on anything.
4
Nice list Ben. I have to agree with every point you have made. One of the problems I have noticed is that there always seems to be a fairly long queue at most of the sites that offer reviews. This means that people have to wait for a while. I do think that some actually forget about the review they have requested and then things like what happened to me recently, happen. I love doing the reviews and if the truth be told, I think that every time I do a review, I learn more than the owner of the relevant blog. PS. Thanks for the mention and link.
5
Thanks for the comments guys! :)
6
Great list, Ben. And thanks for the reminder that I Really need to make my subscription links easier to find. (They are all the way the Very bottom of the page :(
7
Thanks Ben. I wasn't sure I wanted to ask you for a site review when I did and now I'm kind of glad you haven't done it yet because my site has gone through quite a lot of changes since I've asked you :P
8
Great list and very well written. The only "review" I've sought out was just for fun, from Ask and Ye Shall Receive. They're notorious for being jerks, and jerks they were with my review (which I expected). However, it did provide the impetus to get a new header, something I'd planned on doing anyway. After reading your list (and getting my new header!) maybe I'm ready for a "real" review!
9
I'm guilty of asking for a review before there's much content. My reasoning was that I wanted to know the site design worked because I didn't want to have a huge job of changing it if there was some problem I had overlooked.
Is that a valid reason for reviewing early? Is there any benefit of knowing the structure of the site works for people visiting before there is lots of content?
10
Thanks for the comments everyone. :) I've been quite busy this week, so didn't get to reply to your comments until now (although I did check in to say thanks). Sorry about that.
Kathy, I don't know, maybe they want to know if they said Hello World in the best possible way?!
Blog Expert - exactly! But that would have been a short post ;)
Apollo, I see your point. However, if you'd finalised your design for the reivew, you might have had more suggestions for making your site better. I guess you may have changed the design as a result of the review anyway, but I haven't seen many sites that review the same site twice. You may be limiting the results of a review if you only want feedback on the content - will you ever get feedback on the design?
Lyndi, happy to link, after all your blog did inspire that point. :D I think you're doing a great job of your reviews. I miss doing reviews, they don't really fit here, but I can do my bit in the Blog Critique forum.
Alan - oops! Best move them up then ;)
Fragile - I don't know if I can fit reviews into this blog - I don't want to copy "10 things I hate about your site". Maybe "10 things I love about your site" might work - but I'd have to include some negative points too, so I don't think it's going to work. If you want a full review and not just feedback on your header, you can use the Blog Critique forum. :)
JD - do try Lyndi at Nice2All, she'll give you constructive feedback. And try my Blog Critique forum too.
Jane, unless you have a blog that I haven't seen, it may be a different story to ask for feedback on a non-bloggy website. You do have to be prepared first, and having no content at all would make it hard to give a full critique. But if it's a work in progress and you have some content online (as you do), it's much the same as asking for feedback on a blog with, say, 5 posts. It's just getting started - but feedback could still be useful. Of course, you could request feedback on your design alone. But I think most bloggers take a pre-made theme for their blogs, and there isn't a lot of point in asking for feedback on that - we'd just be saying "I like that theme" rather than "I like your site". It's not true of every website, of course, but as you do design-y things I'd say you could feasibly request feedback on your design alone if you wanted to. Bit of a ramble that - any thoughts?!
11
That's a good point about pre-made themes, I'd not thought of that. the site design is always such a personal thing: I cannot abide cluttered places where I can't see the wood for the trees. At the moment my site is probably bare in places there could be more: I'm ruminating about that at the moment :o)
12
Hi Ben,
thanks for the post (and for the link, too). I've been using addthis.com for subscription links, but it doesn't seem to offer an email subscription option. Do people really use email subscriptions? (it seems a bit odd in the era of rss feeds...) Also do you know an easy way to offer email subscription within the Wordpress universe?
cheers,
Zsolt
13
Zsolt - some people use them. Try FeedBurner.
14
I think I'd be asking for it if I ask for a critique haha.
15
I would love to have a blog review but I will wait until I have tweaked the design some more. I have been trying to concentrate on writing good articles about digital photography, so I haven't worried too much about the design. I have a long way to go yet in my Wordpress For Dummies manual, LOL.
16
Texas, Millard, if either of you would like a review just contact me using the link at the top of my blog. That goes for anyone else too. :) (Fragile, you'll see I went ahead and wrote my first blog review, so I will get to your site in the New Year.)
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Great list! It amazes me the number of people who want a blog review with little more than the "Hello World" post showing! Content is king and asking for a blog review without adequate content is like entering your toddler in the Miss America contest!