Mutual Blog Reviews

I was browsing blogs online this weekend when I came across this post about Mutual Blog Reviews. What I understand is that there is a small following of people who will, free of charge, review and critique each others blogs. I guess this is a great way to boost your sites rankings to draw in traffic and if you are blogging for bucks this makes way more sense then plastering your site with distasteful and irrelevant ads. I have been experimenting with loads of stuff over the last few months to learn more about internet marketing and just to stay up to date with what is happening with businesses online. I have picked up some useful information and some not so useful information, like now I know what a FLOG is. For those of you who are not up to speed, a FLOG is a FAKE WEB LOG aka BLOG that is set up just to reroute and draw in traffic or market products. Large companies actually set up full on FLOG’s that appeared to be written by real people just to promote their own products like clothing, travel services, and restaurants.

Recently I have stopped tweaking Indo Dreamin’ so much and I have just let it rest as a porthole to this blog, but given time I will continue to change things up there. I have put loads of links on that page and I have signed up for numerous services. Not really to generate traffic or make money but more to study. Using Google Analytics I have managed to monitor and track how and where these plug-ins, add-ons, and links have affected traffic. All in all I found most of them to be quite useless, apart from My Blog Log, Technorati, Haloscan, Blog Roll, and Spring Widget. And of course Feed Burner. I knew nothing about feeds until I started playing with my own domain. And the more I learn about feeds and how they can be utilized. I am flabbergasted at the scope of what lies ahead in terms of basic internet technology and how it will shape the future of small and large businesses. I was going to do a full in-depth analysis of all the services I have subscribed to but I lack the ‘anal’ edge that allows one to be analytical, pay close attention to details, and create formidable comparisons.

So I read about Mutual Blog Reviews, or MBR’s on Infektia. According to the plan I should write a review about her blog and she or someone else will review mine. I like the overall layout of her blog. It is a Word Press blog and not Blogger. A lot of the blogs I visit which have their own domains are hosted by Word Press. They apparently give you more freedom over the design of your blog. I have not taken the opportunity to play with Word Press but I am very temped to. Infectia is not littered with ads and link exchange buttons giving the page an overall clean look. Even her archives and links have been placed on separate yet clearly identifiable pages. This is a theme I am considering adopting. Having few links has apparently not affected her traffic as there is a ‘Bloggers Choice Award’ nomination prestigiously displayed in the side bar. Visually I also appreciate the way each post is footnoted with a picture of her signature. Also the RSS Feed is clearly located on the top of the page, once again demonstrating how integral feeds have become to blogging. Somehow I think I was a bit slow getting onto the feed wagon.

It appears to me that the author of Infectia is a self taught developer who is also learning while playing with her site. She seems to have incorporated all the links that a good blog requires without compromising the websites integrity. My Home Page is such a whore right now. I really need to get rid of half the shit I got in the side bars. She has managed not to take away from her writing by keeping the images on her page to the minimum, but I like posts with pictures. I find they make longer articles seem less intimidating to light readers. Looking through Malin’s archives I find her articles about services she has tried out for her site to be quite in depth and informative. And considering English is not her first language I would also say they are extremely well written. If I could offer any constructive advice, it would be to add some personal pictures to your site, just because I like to feel who I am reading.

Infektia.net