Case study : What Makes a GREAT blog?

So what makes a great blog? Every one talks about how “Content is King” well good content will surely go a long way. But there are other factors that you need to keep in mind while building your blog.

Today I am going to do a case study of great blog. For a change I am not going to pick an internet marketing or make money kind of blogs. I am going to pick something we all relate on… and that is my favorite topic “weight loss”.

So right now I am watching a blog built on blogspot.com. Though I hate blogspot.com for blogging ok here you go with this blog http://gladiator-fit.blogspot.com/ . I’ll reserve my statements on blogspot for a while…

Lets start with a review on this blog. Notice the first thing about this blog “Gladiator Fit”. It assumes that its not going to be average weight loss blog. Why? Because we are talking about gladiators, who were known for their extreme fitness conditionings.

This blog is about year old and the author recently started maintaining on regular basis. In fact I found him on top 3 at blogsearch.google.com

The best points of this blog are

1. Frequently updated content : Search engines like google have shown a tendencies to be good for blogs/sites which are updated frequently. If you are in tight niche then your frequency of updating can matter a lot in terms of traffic.

2. Quality of content : As I have a fitness background, I can tell the quality is good. He’s not overwhelming his visitors by providing too much information all at once. His post are divided into small chunks and easy to understand. Remember the ease of use matters to your visitor.

3. Variety of content : Now this factor is something that bloggers tends to forget. But the author of this blog is really good. Maintaining good content with lots of variety. You’ll see videos from youtube, pictures, slide shows and everything he can to ensure he’s giving out good info.

4. Subscribing option : On Top right hand corner he have a subscription box. Well the sales pitch for subscribing is up for debate. But at least he’s trying to collect emails of his visitors.

5. Web 2.0 : He is using Web 2.0 techniques to share his blog’s content. He have links to digg, stumbleupon and other social networking sites in every single post. That’s a good option (I wonder how he’s doing it on blogspot? Is this all done manually?).

Let’s talk about things he can improve.
1. The Copywriting : The heading to his blog doesn’t excite me, well I guess it’d be same for everyone. “Straightforward tips about fitness, conditioning & fat loss”. It’d have been much better if he wrote “Uncensored Tips About Fat Loss, Conditioning” or something like “Are You Struggling to Lose that Extra Unwanted Pounds?” if he’s targeting for busy people.

Same goes for his subscription box. He can improve his subscription rates if he just add good copy.

2. Too much distraction : There’s too much going on his blog. Too many ugly logos. Too many search buttons. I think he’d do much better if he just puts his resources section and blog archive just under his picture.

3. Affiliate links : I am wondering how much commission he’s losing. He’s using clickbank links but not at all trying to hide it. Again his workout resource section is about affiliate products. But its so darn below… how many people would notice?

4. Firefox Plugins: Now I use Firefox to surf the internet and I am being told to update on apple quick time plugin. If I try to update, I can’t. I have to un-install. This is another thing He should avoid it… if he needs to showcase any videos. He can use google videos, youtube and any other service.

5. Targeting Keywords: Its not very big deal but I think he should be targeting some focused keyword in his blog titles. Its just spider food for google, yahoo search engines, nothing more.

6. I Hate Blogspot: You know I think it’s a great blog with loads of content but its hosted on blogspot.com. I’d rather have my own blog on wordpress where I have complete control over my blog. Who knows when blogspot decide to delete this blog.

Update: Since I reviewed this blog, Author has moved his blog to its own website and hosting.. This is a good choice as you have complete control of content and blog this way.

There you go. I gave you quite a few tips on good blog structure. There were some good things, and some bad things in this blogs. If the author tries to improve on some of his low points. His blog can easily become one of the best.

About the Author

Varun Pratap is working in online business as a pro blogger from 2004. His blog on Imbasics (Internet marketing Basics) is all about making money online ethically without resorting to tricks, techniques and gimmicks.

If This is your first time on this blog, Subscribe to my Feed to get regular updates.
By Varun Pratap | Filed Under 30 days to Online profits, Blogging Tips 

comments

2 Responses to “Case study : What Makes a GREAT blog?”

  1. Anonymous on September 6th, 2007

    Case study : What Makes a GREAT blog?…

    Does your blog have what it takes to succeed?…

  2. PlugIM.com on September 6th, 2007

    Case study : What Makes a GREAT blog?…

    Does your blog have what it takes to succeed?…

Leave a Reply