Mrs. Mecomber's Scrapbook Talking technology, computers, and the Internet… for the average computer user

Zero and Up is a relatively new blog (Feb 08) but the style of the theme and the content quality makes you think it’s been around a while.

The theme is very striking, and very professional-looking. It’s another one of the new “making money” blogs that are cropping up everywhere. Because there are so many blogs like this coming out of the woodwork, these kinds of blogs have to be “above the fold” in style and content to maintain a reader base. So far, so good. Posts like “Four Reasons Why This Post Is Good” and “Don’t emphasize your absence” are excellent topics. I also very much enjoyed the post that asked specific bloggers why they chose their blogs names and what those names signified. It’s creative posts like these that spark a reader’s curiosity, and encourages the reader to return. Good work with such creative content.

The theme is simple but sleek (and custom made, too). There’s some text at the top of the nav bar about advertising on the blog. I was SO relieved to see a blog without dozens of 125boxes screaming “YOUR AD HERE.” Man, I hate those things. There actually IS an empty ad box in the sidebar, but it is amazingly inconspicuous (maybe due to the green color?). I am so used to seeing dancing bears or ladies on shower stools with virtual flashing neon…. those 125boxes can be a real pain, especially when they are so obviously empty! But Zero and Up is wisely keeping those boxes at a minimum and downplays what’s there. That’s a real blessing to the blog reader.

Things are neat and organized; there are a scanty few links to archives and a meta link list… perhaps it’s a tad bit uneventful? There is so little in the sidebars that the blog does give off an “I’m new” aura to it. Throw in some linky love lists or a few more interesting links to posts or something. But watch out for the flashing 125 box syndrome!

Overall, Zero and Up is a good blog to watch. I am very pleased about the content quality. I’d like to see the blog develop. Time will certainly tell!

I’m taking a little break from blogging about business performance management software and am finally back in the blog review business! I have a little list of blog reviews to do, and now that I am on WordPress and everything is settled, I can comfortable blog away!

Bloggin’ Mama is a “frugal” blog. These have become very popular recently. I must say that I do like them much better than the typical mommy blogs. Mommy blogs are nice, but… I tire of looking at baby pictures day after day, lol! Bloggin’ Mama is all about what’s hot on the ‘Net– saving money!

The template is very nice and simple. It’s a basic, general free template, but it suits the blog content very well. The buttons and banners are minimal, and even the AdSense ads (a bane of mine) are not very distracting. The Bloggin’ Mama has done a good job with keeping the reams of content well organized. I loved the sidebar categories section, and the well-titled links. Everything is very easy to look over.

The posts are filled with tips and techniques for the typical frugal mother. Some posts have cute photos of the baby, and they lend interest. The RSS feed button, so necessary these days, is large and obvious in the header.

My first suggestion would be to tweak the header a little. It’s rather dull, and the brown color is dingy. I would stick with the streamlined look– nothing fancy at all. Maybe just the blog title with fancy letters? No flowers, no baby bottles, God-forbid, no bills with Ben Franklin on them (HOW many blogs have that, now?!).

Also, every individual post has a list of AdSense ads before the comment section. I guess it’s OK, but… it lessens that personal touch and feels intrusive. I personally don’t like AdSense and I surely don’t like AdSense within the content of a post! It looks awful. But that’s my personal preference. Finally, the buttons could be organized a little better. There are big ones, little ones, long ones, narrow ones all over the place. I prefer the buttons to give a flowing feel. Cluster them in order of size, or in order of category (linky buttons here, pay to blog buttons there).

Over all, Bloggin’ Mama looks like a great blog. A few tweaks and it could be even better!