Tag Archives: peer reviews

Peer Review #3: Album Thoughts

Album Thoughts is a weekly album review blog that appears to focus on popular music and hip-hop/r&b. Upon first landing on the page, it is very clear that the website is focused on music. It is a clean and simple layout, which makes everything really easy to read and the website isn’t too busy which I think is appealing to its audience. I’m assuming they are targeting a younger crowd of all genders, therefore its neutral and minimalist aesthetic and overall vibe makes it marketable to its audience. I think the overall concept of the website, reviewing r&b/hip-hop top albums, both old and new also is a great selling point as this is the music that teenagers and young adults are listening to, which is who I am assuming Album Thoughts is targeting as their demographic. I like how there is a sidebar of recent posts as well as archives by month, it definitely intrigues readers to navigate towards the articles. Consumers also are always wanting the fastest most convenient way to access the information or products they’re consuming, so easy navigation tools such as this are always a great tool for a site and I appreciate the site author is doing so. Overall as a first impression, I think it is a good site and the concept behind it would make great marketable value for a younger audience.

After reading a few posts, I’d like to shout out a review that I think deserves recognition! (Although, I could be biased because this is one of my favourite albums.) Again, however, the music that Album Thoughts is writing about, and how they are the albums Noah most likely knows his age group loves makes it a great selling point as readers are going to want to hear what others say about their favourite music.

Frank Ocean’s Blonde album review was such a great read. I genuinely enjoyed this post and I think what makes this post have great marketable potential is how it’s more of just a review. It’s a very emotional analysis and informative piece on the album. Noah gives some context to the artist, their history and lead-up to the album and you can tell how passionate of a writer he is, which comes off as very genuine and appealing to readers. I love the little analyses of certain songs and lyrics within the album, I think this is what audiences are looking for with reviews. In the bit about Pink + White, I did not even know the song was about Hurricane Katrina and the loss of a loved one, I always just listened to it as a classic heartbreak song, which was super interesting and a great fun fact selling point. At the bottom of the post, he also adds a ranking list of the album, which I think is a great addition and gets audiences thinking about their own ranking list too. This can be a call to action for readers to listen to the album again, therefore they’re gaining a little activity out of reading this post as well. Overall, this was such a fun read that I thoroughly enjoy it and am currently reading his other reviews (such as Kid Cudi’s first Man on the Moon album – another favourite!)

Some points of critique I’d add are very small – probably just more images throughout the website such as adding featured images to your blog posts just to add more visually pleasing elements to the site. I think also creating a drop-down menu for the posiel menu would be beneficial as well. However, I genuinely enjoy this website and really wish Noah continues it after classes end.

Peer Review #3

Happy Monday, everyone! This week, I’m taking some time to review another class peer’s blog/website. Unlike my last reviews where we talked about movies and fashion, we will be talking about all things in the fast lane! That’s right, we’re talking cars. I will be reviewing and providing feedback for Christian at http://christianwilliams.ca. In this post, I will be writing directly to Christian.

Hi Christian, I hope you find some of these comments and feedback helpful.

Website Marketability 

The type of niche market/audience that you have established for your site is clearly indicated within the type of posts you generate. Your posts go into detailed encounters and experiences from various topics, such as buying a vehicle and getting it detailed. Although your website is about cars, your readers do not need to be car and or automative experts to follow along in your posts. This makes it very inviting for both automative and non-automative enthusiasts. The type of niche market/audience that your website is intended for works well for beginner and current automative enthusiasts, but also for casual viewers too who may be interested in learning more about cars and other automative topics.

Just have a few suggestions for you to make your website more marketable for your audience/readers. One of them is to have a few more photos, such as maybe a gallery of photos of your favourite vehicles either as a post or somewhere on the homepage as a click-through gallery. My final suggestion would be to display your social media handles on your homepage, or either at the top or bottom of your website’s page. I noticed that your social media handles are only visible on your “about” section page. By making them more visible on your website, this may help to increase reader-traffic to your website, offer other ways of engagement with your readers/audience, and help improve your website’s visibility.

Design

I really like your website’s main header/logo. It does very well to visually represent your website and without reading the site’s title, it automatically indicates to readers what your website is about. When I look at the image, it makes me want to go for a drive with friends or take a road trip up to Whistler with my family. The mountains, the lake, and the trees all work together to illustrate the “adventures” part of your title. In addition, the visualization of the car and the park sign help to place your images, as well as create a personal, geographical connection to yourself as the creator of the website. Also, the dawn setting of your photograph creates a relaxed and tranquil tone overall, for which further illustrates the laid back and friendly environment of your website for your readers. All together, they contribute nicely to your website’s title “Christian’s Automative Adventures.” 

The minimalistic approach you used for your website’s design creates a clear and concise layout, for which allows your readers/visitors easily access and navigate the site throughout. I like how you used two tones for your website layout, which are white and grey. The white background works to highlight your blog post content, while the grey background behind your posts allows for greater contrast, especially in terms of your posts readability. In addition, I like the incorporation of different sidebar headings, such as “archives,” “recent posts,” and “categories.” This neatly organizes all your work and content that makes for a very clean and professional appeal. Great job!

Content

As someone who does not know much about cars/automatives, I like how none of your posts are car jargon heavy because it allows for non-car/automotive enthusiasts to comprehend and enjoy your posts. My favourite blog posts are your “purchasing a vehicle from another province” and “superhero guest appearance.”

Your content clearly reflects how you have been developing your website in terms of its’ cyber-frastructure, particularly in your first blog post where you discussed the importance of cars in your life. This helped demonstrate to your readers for why you choose this particular subject for your blog/website, and further elevates it in conjunction to your “about” section. However, I noticed the little disclaimer you have at the top of your “about” section that says, “not finalized yet.” I look forward to seeing the final edit for that page. One suggestion that I have for that page would be to link it to your first blog post where you talked about why cars are important to you and your life. By doing so, you can keep your “about” section brief by linking it to that blog post for people to find out more about your site, as well as help to more strongly prompt readers to your blog posts section. 

Overall, great work and I look forward to seeing the rest of it come together!

The post Peer Review #3 first appeared on The Household Box Office.

Peer Review #3: Chii’s Sweet Home

This week I will be reviewing my classmate Chii’s website, Chii’s Sweet Home. This website shares “Home-cooked recipes, inspired by Asian cuisine with a touch of Western-Style.” Check out her website if you want to learn some do-able and delicious at-home recipes!

Initial Thoughts

Hi, Chii! First off, I want to say that I like the concept and backstory of your blog! I think it’s awesome that since moving to Canada you’ve stepped out of your “cooking comfort zone” and have combined different cuisine styles with your cultural roots in Vietnam. It’s great that you’ve taken your passion for food and turned it into something that you can share with other food lovers. I see great potential for your website to expand into a business of its own and for you to capitalize on monetizing the content you create.

Homepage

At first glance at your website homepage, my eyes are immediately drawn to the large background photo of food. This gives readers an idea right off the bat, what your website is about. I also like the colour scheme you have chosen on your homepage and throughout your website; the bright orange adds a pop of colour to the clean and simple aesthetic. The title, tagline, and picture on your homepage present a compelling brand centred around cooking. One thing I would suggest is to consider adding a photo of yourself to either the home page or the About section. Since your website is called “Chii’s Sweet Home”, including some personal photos of yourself would help readers put a face to your name and strengthen your brand’s image. Adding a picture of yourself on the sidebar above the posts calendar or the About page are fitting places.

You might also want to think about creating an Instagram account for “Chii’s Sweet Home” to increase audience engagement. Given that the content of your site is so visual, Instagram would be a great platform to post images of the dishes you make! If you do so, link your Instagram account to the homepage of your website so readers can find it easily.

Blog

As for the content of your blog posts, you have done a wonderful job adding a personal touch and an intimate feel. The difference between your website/brand compared to other cooking sites is that it is about YOU and YOUR culture. Taking it a step further from simply posting a recipe, you have done a great job explaining the cultural significance of the dishes, plus adding your connection/ experience with these foods. I encourage you to continue with this business strategy because it is what sets you apart— lots of people can post recipes but no one will have “Chii’s” personal stories and perspective on the food.

At the bottom of each of your blog posts, you have a comment section where readers can leave a reply by giving their name and email. I think this is a great idea to create reader engagement, however, I would suggest adding a public comment section instead. This way, readers aren’t required to give out their email if they don’t want to, and it allows for readers of your website to interact with one another. This allows your readers to connect with each other, strengthening the community of “Chii’s Sweet Home”.

Chii’s Bakery

This page of your website does not have any content yet, but the page description suggests that you’re expanding your website to include baking recipes as well. You explain, “Once I am confident with my baking skills, I plan to sell my product on order. The target customers are my friends and anyone who lives in Vancouver, BC.” I think this is a good idea, but I would suggest to first establish yourself and your site with “cooking” before trying to add baking. Once you are ready to expand, I think selling your homemade baked goods would be a great way to increase revenue!

Monetization

In terms of how you could monetize your content, I have a few ideas in mind! First, you could consider displaying Google AdSense throughout your site. With Google AdSense, you can’t individually choose the ads you want to display; however, you can control the categories and types of ads shown on your site. I recommend curating your add categories relevant to your website content. For example, an appropriate advertisement on your site would be an ad for a Vietnamese restaurant (after readers eat there, they will want to use your recipe and learn to make it at home!), or an ad for an ingredient used in one of your recipes. Another option for monetization is affiliate advertising where a company pays you directly to advertise their product. For example, you could partner with a company that sells a specific ingredient needed to make one of your recipes. Additionally, you might want to monetize your content by following a subscription model. You could offer a monthly subscription to your readers for a price, that would give them access to exclusive content. And finally, you could consider monetizing your content by posting videos to a YouTube channel. On your About page, I read that you started this website as a stepping stone to starting a YouTube channel. I think that is a great next step to expanding your brand and revenue of income.

Final thoughts

Overall, I love the concept, content, and design of your website, Chii! As someone who’s looking to try new recipes, I’ll certainly be keeping up with your posts! I think you have a strong business plan for your brand and I’m excited to see where you can take “Chii’s Sweet Home”.

Best of luck, Chii!

The post Peer Review #3: Chii’s Sweet Home appeared first on Sincerely, Gracie.

Peer Review 1

For the first peer review, I got to take a look at Leigh’s website called “The Visual Meditator.” The website appears to be a platform for Leigh’s photography and digital works at first glance. As an outside observer, I can tell that her blog is about visual art and culture by looking at the sub-heading and the header image, which give out a very artistic vibe, along with the quote “A state of “becoming”, rather than “accomplishment”‘

The title and header image of “The Visual Mediator”

The content

There are three main pages featured on the menu bar: About, Academic, and Blog. On the “About” page, Leigh stated that her content would be about “image ethics, visual literacy, and art history in the context of an ever-changing media landscape”. She also did a good job of showing the readers her personal branding and passion for photography through each and every one of her carefully edited images. Her posts about thoughts on changes in the media as well as photography-related topics are very well written. I found those insights admirable and inspiring to me, a person who is quite insensitive to art. All the content about her ongoing projects can be found right below the header image as I scrolled down the home page. The sub-sections are divided and titled clearly for readers to understand.

“Projects” blocks of “The Visual Mediator”

The design and layout

Logos are the faces of brands as they communicate the brands’ value and meaning while interacting with the community that they approach. However, a brand is not just a logo or a design. It can be anything that marks the brand’s existence, making it stand out. So far, Leigh is doing really well in making a difference in her brand with the harmonized combination of colour choice, web page layout, and visual presentation. I find the theme of the website very creative and eye-catching, with the main colours of black, red, and white. The layouts of her posts change flexibly according to the correlated content. I don’t know if this is her intention, but her posts are inconsistent in terms of theme and the size of the fonts. I think this is because she wants to match the fonts with her unique content for every post. Leigh also makes effective use of images throughout her posts, so they always keep readers’ attention.

Suggestions

I just have a small amount of minor feedback that I hope Leigh will consider. I notice that in most of her posts, she has a lot of external links embedded for readers’ references. Those links are usually opened on the same tab as her web page, which I find quite inconvenient for readers as their flow is interrupted. It may be a better choice if she sets the links to be opened in a new tab for later posts.

From what I read on her website, I believe Leigh has a second website that features further content related to her posts on The Visual Mediator. She might not notice this, but the link seems to be broken. Fixing it would be really helpful for her followers who are curious and interested in looking deeper into her works. On another note, I would suggest creating a section for any contact info or links to her works outside of the website.

Conclusion

In my opinion, I think Leigh has a clear picture of what her branding will look like and the potential that comes with it as she goes on. I am looking forward to seeing her progress in developing as a brand throughout this course.

Good luck Leigh!

References

Godin, Seth. “Definition of a Brand“.

Suzanne Norman. “Week Three-PUB 201 Intro to Branding – Visual Branding” PowerPoint slides.

Peer Review #3 – Procrastireader

Hello folks, today I will be reviewing the third and final blog of this semester: Procrastireader! 🙂

I’m actually very pleased to be reviewing Victoria’s blog, because unbeknownst to her, she was actually a source of inspiration in the early workings of my blog! Her customized header that fills up the page on her home screen inspired me to make my own – it’s fun, eye-catching, and really gives her audience a sense of who she is by just using pictures! Victoria’s informative sidebar also is currently inspiring me to do something similar, in order to really introduce herself, give her pronouns, and inform people on her brand and why people should read her blog:

cute cute cute!!

“Hello everyone and welcome to Procrastireader! My name is Victoria (she/her) and as the name suggests I like reading to avoid doing the unpleasant things I should really be doing in life. If you are also a procrastireader, this blog is the place for you. “

Victoria’s sidebar

In terms on monetization and a business plan, Victoria took it upon herself to make Press Release, announcing that she has made an email account for people to contact her at! This is perfect for sponsors or other brands looking to collaborate with her, and she makes it easy to find by also adding a CONTACT page at the very top menu!

With the brand that Victoria has gone with, there are many possibilities to collaborate and extend her audience. She has created the opportunity to expand her reach by encouraging book publishers to reach out to her if they would like a review of any of their books done by her. Great strategy, Victoria!

Victoria also started a Tik Tok which is a great way to take her brand to another platform and cross post! It’s also a great opportunity to build a community with other BookTokers (is that a thing?? thats a thing right?) – and it also spices up her content by giving her a platform to create videos! Victoria is VERY active on Tik tok and has quality videos. It gives audiences a chance to get to know her better which make her posts even more personalized and her voice recognizable! Find her Tik Tok HERE! 🙂

One of my favourite posts of Victoria’s is her Quarantine Book Recommendations (By Mood). As someone who plays TOO MUCH Animal Crossing, I will absolutely be checking out her recommendation for the book “Summer of Salt” which is for people like me!!!!

I thoroughly enjoy the consistency of her blog posts – she seems to really have a passion for reading and all things books and that really comes through in her blog. I too – have a passion for procrastinating, and her blog is making me want to pick up a book once in a while in order to escape our current hell-scape of a world and enter a nicer, fictional one! I will absolutely be referring to her blog the next time i’m looking for a book to read!! 🙂

savannahswatske.com – Peer Review 3

For our final peer review, I was paired with Savannah, who runs savannahswatske.com, a personal blog dedicated to “lifestyle, travel, [and] health & wellness”. 

Savannah’s blog is visually stunning, something that visitors can immediately feel soothed and welcome by. The design is very user-friendly and simplistic, which lends great to accessibility while staying within a clean and modern aesthetic. 

The About Me page centres the framing of the website, and serves as a great introduction to Savannah’s brand and personality. I really like how clear her mission statement is without explicitly stating that it is her brand’s mission. While I tend to follow content creators who fit into more specific niches that align with my interests, the brand and business narrative being presented here are very effective and have piqued my interest greatly. Savannah notes that she strives to be “authentic” on her About page, and that authenticity is extremely present and what is keeping me enticed by her brand. 

From that, the posts on the site are very reflective of the overall goals. The content of the website is very well aligned to the topics outlined in the About page, with each topic of interest clearly organized in the drop-down menu. I really appreciate the raw honesty in her post Well, It Finally Happened… in which she discusses testing positive for COVID-19. It’s personable in the way it’s written and the subject matter, but the categorization of the post fits seamlessly in with the branding of the blog. I also really enjoyed reading R.I.P. To My Bank Account. I love fashion and clothes, so it was great to see some very nice pieces, but also to learn more about who Savannah is. All of her posts have that same theme of fitting with her interests and speaking to her personality, which achieves her blog mission incredibly. 

I completely agree with Cailey’s peer review of Savannah’s site, especially with the emphasis on how Savannah is inviting her audience into what works for her and encouraging them to find their own ways and inspiration from her, rather than telling them what to do. I also think that Savannah should continue to focus on copy editing her content, as there were a few typos in the posts I looked at.

In terms of monetization, the site’s design makes it friendly for advertising, and making ads stand out. While I think the site could use Google Ads, or other kinds of banner ads, I believe sponsorships and affiliate links would be more effective and logical ways of monetizing. For example, I think having a discount code or a sponsored post for comfortable and fashionable workout clothes would fit really well into her brand, all without forcing banner ads or clicks, which can deter an audience. This would be great on the blog itself, or on her YouTube channel, where sponsored content and banner/preroll ads can generate funds. 

Overall, I think Savannah’s blog is very well branded and extremely compelling. She has found a wonderful balance of the personal and professional self in her content, which is great for drawing in a broad audience and for monetization. I really look forward to seeing how her blog and brand continue to develop! 

Peer Review #3

For this peer review, I will be reviewing Hayden’s blog.

My first thoughts when opening up this website is that I love the design. The theme is great, I think it is well picked for a lifestyle blog. The colours are are calming, I don’t feel overwhelmed or underwhelmed looking at the page.

As a visitor to this site, I am immediately drawn in by the design, and I am excited to see more of what this site has to offer.

One thing I would recommend to make the front page more cohesive is to have all of the posts have a featured image that are all the same size. The pictures that are uploaded already are great photos, they are very aesthetically pleasing and go well with the content of each post.

Hayden has her blog post content split up into 3 different categories, keeping active, lifestyle, and traveling. I think this is really helpful to any visitor of this site, as they can immediately identify what type of content they would be interested in and read it.

Starting off with the keeping active page, so far I really like the content that is there. A workout routine is great content that visitors to this site may like. I think a great addition to the content would be to add links for products described in the workout routine, such as the dumbbells and the peloton. This way visitors can find these products directly from the blog post. This would also be useful to make this blog monetized, as affiliate links would be a great way to monetize a lifestyle blog.

The second page is lifestyle. I think there are some great posts here, and I think the photos chosen to represent these blog posts are great. I would maybe split up the text into more paragraphs, so it seems less heavy for visitors and easier to read. The photos could be placed throughout the post, maybe putting the coffee picture right after referencing coffee and the laptop photo after mentioning doing homework.

The third category is travelling. I like the posts here, and the photos chosen are beautiful. One thing I would like to see for the latest blog post, Past Travels, is more personal photos and write up about each trip.

I think something that would make this website more marketable would be to look into search engine optimization. Some ways to do this would be to rename blog posts to make them more relevant to google searches that a potential visitor might have. Instead of “Past Travels”, it could be something more specific like “Top 10 Sights to See in Japan”. This would make it likely rank higher on a google search and be easier to find. Having key words in the blog posts would also help. Having links to products like I mentioned above would also be really good. Adding a plugin for SEO would be helpful for this, I use mine to make sure my titles are written well for SEO, my blog posts are a good length, and I have keywords written in there. I use Yoast SEO for this and I recommend it.

To market this website more, I think it would be good to utilize social media platforms that the imagined audience would use. For a lifestyle blog I would suggest Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok. I think you could get some really great reach from those if you chose to do so.

Overall I think this website has a great design and great content. I love the aesthetic of the page and I think it is all laid out very well. The site is easy to navigate and the posts with featured photos have great pictures that make me want to click. Great job!

The post Peer Review #3 appeared first on Home.

Peer Review #3

For this week’s peer review, I will be reviewing Cinema Gum. Cinema Gum is a site dedicated to discussing movies outside the parameters of traditional review. The site is colourful, well laid out, and contains content that I believe would be quite interesting to marketers. To start, with the site being a site dedicated to movies, people could see the benefit of linking to various streaming services off the site. This can help the site monetize its reviews by allowing individuals to either sign up for sites such as Netflix or Apple tv or reminding individuals that their choice of streaming service is well made. Further, with many of the movies containing a plot which is sure to instill thought, these movies are sure to cause some thought in the reader. Perhaps after reading the reviews, the user may suddenly have a craving for something that was mentioned in the review or movie. I know when I watched Happy Gilmore, I had a strange desire to play golf. It is instances like such that can allow the site to monetize its reviews. Cinema gum could link out to sites that are relevant to its reviews, then this would allow its readers to purchase readily and easily what they already crave. This isn’t limited to items such as golf clubs but also foods such as spaghetti. People often have cravings for certain foods seen in movies when it always looks so good on screen. Further, they site could always have a visual ad for microwave popcorn. Since popcorn is often associated with movies, a movie review site would generally benefit from an ad for a product people will eat while watching the movies reviewed. A company like Orville Redenbacher could see a steady stream of clicks through this site. With each movie, I am also certain that there will still be merchandise offered by each of the producers. For instance, Jaws has a great cult following and there is surely to be tons of Jaws memorabilia. Cinema Gum could monetize this by taking a portion of each merchandise sale made through its website. Lastly, Cinema Gum’s alternative yet aesthetically pleasing appearance could attract a certain type of visitor. As pointed out in the blog title, Cinema Gym is a nontraditional movie review site. The appearance reminds me of a Kitsilano vibe and cinema gum might consider advertising for brands such as Patagonia, or stores like 8th & Main. These brands seem like they would have a good fit with Cinema Gum and a similar target demographic.

Peer Review 2

Self-illustration of Kelly on the “About” page

Hi, everyone. Today I would like to discuss my peer Kelly’s blog, “Kelly in Saturn.” Looking at the home page, I could feel a very calming vibe. The description of the blog is placed in a block on the sidebar. It states clearly that her blog focuses on her daily self-care routine.

Description of the blog

The content

After browsing the website, I got some main points about “Kelly in Saturn”.

Her blog was created last month, which was at the beginning of this semester, so there are only a few posts. However, she is doing really well in building her online self. It seems that her content is not just about self-care; it is also about personal opinions on social issues, mental health issues, and updates on daily activities.

Storytelling is crucial to a brand’s image. Sometimes, stories can make a brand venerable. Hence, if it is interpreted in the right way, it reflects the background story of the brand, represents the brand and inspires the audience. By engaging the audience with her own stories, using universal language and a neutral tone, the brand’s backstory is subconsciously shaped in the minds of the readers. At the same time, it encourages the readers to take care of their lifestyle by showing empathy through Kelly’s daily life stories. In one of her posts, I like how she uses the lunar new year as a bridge to discuss Asian hate crime in New York, which has been aching on social media a lot recently.

An illustration from Kelly’s post about Asian hate crimes

The five main pages are organized on the menu bar: About, Blog, Resources, Personal Projects, and Pub 201. On the “About” page, Kelly explains the reason behind her brand name and briefly introduces the blog to establish a standard foundation relationship with the audience. The “Resources” section really impressed me with how she managed to make connections for her brand in the early days. To me, as a reader, it’s interesting to be able to quickly find her other works in the “Personal Project” section.

The design and layout

The main colours of the website, which are marigold, midnight blue, and off yellow, harmonize well together. With her art as most of the illustrations, it does mark the brand’s existence, making it stand out and unique. The layout of the website is not too dense but also not too loose, leaving enough blank space to ease the eyes of readers.

Conclusion

Overall, I think Kelly has built her brand really well, especially in terms of storytelling. Although the website is new, it has a lot of potential. I would like to thank Kelly for creating such a fascinating website to spread positive energy to everyone. It is exciting to see how the brand will grow in the future.

Good luck, Kelly!

Reference

Suzanne Norman. “Week Six-PUB 201 Brand Storytelling” PowerPoint slides.

My Story

When I look back on my life and my journey to this point, I see a singular catalyst that launched me towards the path I am on today. When I was seventeen years old, my guitar teacher asked me to join a band, as a bassist. This of course seemed like a preposterous idea to me at the time because I was a fairly beginner guitar player at any rate and I had never even touched a bass in my life up to that point. For some insane, unfathomable reason, I decided to take that leap. From that decision, Esc. was born. That one choice I made back in high school, before I even knew what university I wanted to attend, or who I was going to prom with, unknowingly sent me on a journey towards my greatest passion and truest calling in life: I wanted to consume, live and breathe music.

Playing music, booking music, releasing music, writing about music. Whatever it was, I wanted to do it. I wanted to dip my toe into every part of the music industry. I wanted to make a name for myself in the local industry. I wasn’t fooled into believing this would be a career that would bring me wealth, but it was my greatest desire. Somehow, I have made it to where I am today. I still play in my band, but I am also a session musician. I have planned and executed a successful local concert. I am published in a popular local blog for a piece I wrote about the local music scene. If there is one thing I know about myself it is that I am persistent. I do not give up. So far it has all paid off. The one thing I do know is that I will keep working, because I am nowhere near done getting my name out into the world.

Somehow, a girl from Cloverdale who loved music but didn’t really consider herself much of a musician ended up where I am today. A girl who has always loved listening to music now has the opportunity to write about it. I have had the opportunity to work with so many amazing people so far and I hope to continue to be able to do so again soon. If there are two things, I can promise you, they are my persistence and my passion, and they haven’t let me down so far.

The post My Story appeared first on Keely Rammage-Scott.

Peer Review #3

I will be reviewing a website by my peer Milton Jang his website is MiltonJang.com The first thing I’d like to say is Milton’s blog is everything I wish mine was the front page is simple yet it captivates the reader with just enough to keep you exploring the website it features a Logo and then “I’m Milton” written and his little self quote below is little about me section with the cutest picture of a dog and it fits in so well.

His sidebar features an About the site page which goes in depth of telling us what he and his blog are about, a Blog which drops down to archives which shows magnitudes of his work sub divided by the months that he did them Immensely organized and his work was beautiful , nothing dull and many option to choose from he has everything intact to keep his audience engaged and never lacking

The question today is if i find Miltons blog marketable and i would like to say yes i do , i do not exactly know who he is marketing to but it certainly appeals to me he has a portfolio which includes featured pieces he has worked on this in my opinion speaks to his professionalism and his expectation for the website . My review ? Milton took this as more than just a class assignment , looking at his website the only thing that comes to mind is that anything worth doing is worth doing well , he put his heart and soul into this website and im proud i had the task of reviewing it. I had a lot to think about after and it only made me want to make my site better, so Milton thank you for a job well done.

To Milton, I would say keep doing what you’re. doing and don’t lose whatever fire made you keep this blog passionately going, Inspire more people like you did me, and don’t listen to hate because it will certainly come… you have built a brand don’t let it fall under your current standard. The world is your Oyster.

Peer Review #2 

The review should assess theme and customizations, typography, layout, social media integration, site structure, usability, and any other design decisions you notice. Your review should be 400+ words and posted to your Process Blog, with clear links to your peer’s site.

My second Peer Review is of my classmate Regina’s website – http://rtopianist.com/saysomething/

The second peer review tasks us to assess our peers themes and customisations and various layouts. Regina on her home page has a moving background which i found quite unique and beautiful the picture is dark because it happened to catch the image while it was changing and moving . The layout of her home page is simple and easy to navigate she chooses subtle typographies and they are not all over the place. It is quite inviting and interesting to look at and it makes me want to explore more of the site .

The usability of my peer Regina’s site is quite high in my opinion it was full of content and she did not leave any weeks without content , weeks where we had no assignments or assigned process posts she would fill in by making a movie review, another reason why i believe in the usability of her blog is because it is simple and not overcrowded.

The theme she uses isn’t one of the default ones that comes with wordpress which entails that she did some exploring before figuring out what she wanted and how she liked it. In terms of social media she doesn’t really integrate her social media on the blog she has her instagram linked at the contact area but that is the only social media listed.

At the top right of Regina’s website she has five chain links before her search bar and if you click any of them you would be taken to her mean items at the top left of her website she has one for her home ,mumble , process posts , peer review and essay this is like a mini short cut to her menu i thought it to be creative and helpful My only criticism is that it is somewhat too simple in some areas like the backgrounds of her posts and could do with some more colour other than that i. loved her blog and found her content riveting

PUB 101 Peer Review #3 — The Power of Painting

For my final peer review, I had the pleasure of reviewing Carissa’s blog — The Power of Painting. As a 4th-year Communications Student, minoring in Publishing and Digital print, her website focuses on documenting her creative journey with painting!

Right off the bat, I was impressed with the simple yet stylistic choice of her theme and colour palette. The relaxing hues of pastels and neutrals contrasted really well with the overall white background of her website. Her content focuses on all things painting while describing her various experiences, techniques and ideas learned throughout. I would argue that her intended audience demographic would range between the 16-24 age group. Carissa is very vibrant and youthful in her writing and I think it would attract those who are similar!

In terms of organization, I really appreciated how her content was categorized in their respective sub-headers. At the top of her website, there is a dropdown menu that separates both blog posts and PUB 101 content, showing her eye for detail and functionality for users.

In Travis Gertz‘s reading by “Design Machines” (2015), he explains the impact design has to make or break a brand. I think Carissa did a great job at evaluating a website theme that would promote a relaxing and easy-to-navigate page. Her website is purely one the represents herself through her art/blog posts and puts the notion of “connecting the content to the medium” into action (Gertz, 2015).

One of my favourite parts of Carissa’s website, was the Gallery feature. In this particular section she displays a collage that showcases some of the past art pieces she has painted for herself, friends and family! I would argue that Carissa has created her own digital garden where she has cultivated her own little piece of the internet. In Tanya Basu‘s article she defines a digital garden as a space that “explore[s] a wide variety of topics and are frequently adjusted and changed to show growth and learning, particularly among people with niche interests” (Basu, 2020). I hope Carissa chooses to continue posting on her website as well as her instagram account so others can see her amazing work!

Possible Opportunity for Monetization!

After seeing this gallery, I couldn’t help but think about the opportunity it gives Carissa to monetize and gain revenue through her art (only if she wants to of course). In our lecture with guest speaker, Trevor Battye, he explains how success comes from a combination of one or more of these features:

  • A niche tribe which you lead
  • A voice that a brand can attach itself to, to speak to a tribe
  • A monetizing action, for your audience to respond to

Ultimately, I believe that Carissa’s website has what it takes to gain profit from what she creates. If I were to make any suggestions I would advise her to move the left and right navigation buttons to the bottom of the page instead of the middle. I found myself getting distracted a bit while reading a few of her blog/process posts.

Conclusions

Overall, I really enjoyed seeing the progress that Carissa has made with her blog and brand as an artist. The image to the left represents a bit of what has happened since she began her journey as a painter at the start of quarantine. I find it very encouraging to see a visual representation of what hard work and dedication can do. It’s great to see her using her extra time

Please make sure to check out Carissa and her wonderful website at — www.powerofpainting.com and her some love. I hope you continue painting after this pandemic is over & consider selling/commissioning your artwork online. Best of luck! 🙂

The post PUB 101 Peer Review #3 — The Power of Painting appeared first on Marylou Villegas.

Peer Review #3- Marylou Villegas

For my final peer review, I will be reviewing a blog by Marylou Villegas. On her About page, Marylou describes herself as “a singer-songwriter, a YouTube content creator and a full-time student”. When I read this, I was so impressed, I barely have time being a full-time student!

At first glance, her blog looks to be about her singing and music career. This was really interesting to me because I had not seen a blog like this before and was quite different than the other two blogs I previously peer-reviewed.

I first chose to watch a bunch of her covers, she has a really beautiful voice! You can really tell she is passionate about music and that she has a lot of experience. Clearly, her music and channel are well-loved by her audience, she has over 180k subscribers on her YouTube channel!

In general, I think Marylou’s audience comes for her amazing covers and updates about her music. She has a really great following on other platforms and hopefully, that transfers over to her blog!

Marketability

I think Marylou’s blog is a great place to market herself and push her brand. For starters, she mentions that she has multiple channels like YouTube, Instagram and Spotify. I noticed them all linked at the bottom of her about page, but I think that they could be more prominent on the home page or have their own tab! This way, her blog can act as a home base for everything Marylou and if some people didn’t know she had a Spotify or YouTube channel, they could find it all in one convenient place.

Speaking of her YouTube channel, while I was watching one of her covers, I got an advertisement right before. This is really interesting to me because she is already monetizing on this platform, which makes sense because the video I clicked on had 3.8 million views!!

Advertisement on Marylou’s most viewed video!

One of my suggestions would be that when she include outside links, she could choose the option to open that link in another tab, that way her audience can easily come back to her site. It’s a super small thing, but I personally find it a little annoying when I am on a site and when I click a link it leaves that site and if I keep clicking, I eventually lose the original site I was on.

In her future, I definitely see merchandise as a way for her to get some income from this blog and her other channels. This could be in the form of clothing and accessories or Vinyl/CDs that she would want to sell. I think that would be really cool to have and this could easily be included in a store tab or sidebar. This way of making money reminds me of some really big artists and Trevor Battye‘s friend who took his prints and paintings and made them into pillows.

While there is no shame in using her platform as a source for revenue by using advertisements for things other than herself, I personally don’t think they fit on this page. If you go on any authentic artists’ websites, you never see any pop-up ads or ads on the side-bar that do not have to do with the artist themselves. Because of this, the audience can tell that the artist is not just in this for the money but for the passion.

Conclusion

Overall, I think Marylou’s blog is a great place to market herself and bring together all of the different platforms she is on. I am really excited to see what she has in store for her in the future and I will definitely be following along with her journey!

Go check her blog out here!

Bye for now 🙂

<3 Carissa

The post Peer Review #3- Marylou Villegas appeared first on the Power of Painting.

Peer Review 3: simple art.

Click here to visit simple art. First Impression Keeping in mind marketability, my first impression of the blog site simple art. was that it had the potential to market themselves to their intended audience. Maybe not through the usage of ads, but maybe through affiliate links. Marketability/Monetization For example, there could be a navigation button […]

Peer Review #3 – A Blog for Life Livers

I love this blog!

A Blog for Life Livers is written by Hope Stewart, an adventurer and life liver, sharing her stories of childhood joy and new experiences. Hope writes beautifully about enjoying the life around you and being present in every moment. She uses pictures and poems to portray her feelings and emotions from each adventure, with occasional videos showing small moments that she wants to remember.

This is blog that leaves you feeling refreshed, optimistic, and in wonder. Check out a Blog for Life Livers here.

Organization

Hope’s homepage is set with pictures and bold fonts that capture the viewer on first glance. As you scroll through, you’ll see some images that capture the vibe of this website and set the tone for all of her blog posts. There is also a welcome message at the bottom of the page that invites you to consider your own life and how you might create new adventures.

So come in and stay awhile, as each page has been placed here for you: to draw inspiration for your next adventure, to help you conquer fear, to help you seize each day, and to learn to fully immerse yourself in moments both wild and calm.

The top menu is well organized and gives the viewer easy access to the media they are looking for. The media gallery highlights Hope’s videos and photos and immerse the viewer into an adventure of their own. Browsing through Hope’s media makes me feel as though I get to experience a little bit of her adventure as well!

Marketability

This blog presents many beautiful original images that capture the vision of Hope’s website. Creating prints or postcards of these images could be a great way to allow your audience to participate in the stories while supporting your writing! Post cards would be an especially unique product you could sell that represent the slow-ness of handwriting a letter and enjoying every moment.

Check out Hope’s media gallery here.

Another way to market your website could be to partner with tourism companies in encouraging more travelers to come visit their area. Your video of Hornby island captures moments that feel whimsical and magical and could definitely inspire more people to visit those places! One suggestion would be contacting small island communities like Bowen Island, Gibsons, or Lund and offering to make them a video showcasing the best part of their city! This could be a great way to travel, gain more content for your website and generate revenue.

This website is beautifully simple and refreshingly organized, so I would hesitate to incorporate ads that may hinder the viewer experience given that this blog is very experience driven. One possibility for ad revenue could be to partner with related companies to promote products that relate to your blog postings.

An example of this could be with the Mushroom Hunting Blog post. You could reach out to companies that offer classes or books on how to identify mushrooms and then collect revenue based on how may clicks from your blog lead to theirs.

A similar example could be with your Mindfulness and Yoga post. This post links to Yoga Youtubers and workout routines, which could potentially be business partners and generate revenue for your website!

Overall, this is a beautiful website that creates freshness and relief in a busy and confused world. Check out a Blog for Life Livers to enjoy nature, mindfulness, and stealing moments as presented by Hope Stewart.

Stealing moments helps you realize that you are the master of your own time and that you have more control over your own happiness than it may feel. It helps you look for little silver linings in the smallest of things and encourages gratitude and mindfulness.”

Peer Review #3 – Great White Sport

This week’s peer review is for Great White Sport, a sports blog focused on events and athletes specifically in Canada.

There are a lot of great things about this site that I noticed right away. Specifically, the homepage (which is the featured image for this post) is great because it combines an overview of what the site is about while also including a “Recent Posts” section. I am also a fan of the header and the carousal of images.

Now, I will get into the topic of monetization. In your Process Post #10, you mentioned that you were content with not monetizing your site right now, which I can definitely relate to. However, your site does have potential to monetize, so I will discuss ways you could do that. You mentioned that you do not want so many ads that your content would be covered, and I have to agree- if I was a user, I would probably leave an ad-cluttered site pretty quickly. I think that you could still make a decent amount of money if you filter advertisement to be related to your content. There are plenty of sports-oriented companies that I am sure would love to be featured on your site one day!

Another idea that may work in your favour is crowdfunding/sponsorship from institutions. According to Vauhini Vara’s 2015 article “Survival Strategies for Local Journalism”, advertising alone may not be enough if you want a steady stream of revenue from your site. If you were to ask your readers for a donation to keep your site going, I bet many of them would do it. It is like what guest lecturer Trevor Battye said- people want to help you! The more personal you get in asking, the more likely your readers will contribute to the site.

Next, I have a couple of suggestions that could help your site, regardless of whether you monetize it or not. First, I think you should rearrange your menu order.

All the right elements are there, only “Contact” should be moved to the last position, right after “Pub 101 Coursework”. This seems to be an unspoken rule of the way a menu should be set up, according to our T.A., because normally someone would go to contact you after reading through the written work.

Another suggestion I have is that you install a contact form. You currently have your university email on display, which may attract spam by being so openly available on your site (I won’t include a picture here so that you can keep that information private). Installing a contact form will add an extra level of professionalism to your site (very important if you ever want to monetize); it should be painless if you follow the steps here.

Finally, I noticed that your site is currently unsecure.

I used the Really Simple SSL plugin to solve fix this problem, and it only took a few minutes to do! SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer, and it shows that a site is secure and that the link between the server and the client is encrypted. This is another important step to take to protect the privacy of you and your readers, especially if you do decide to monetize your site.

Overall, I really enjoyed this site. The quality of your work is excellent, and I can tell that you are passionate about sports and running this blog. If you ever change your mind about monetization, I am sure that you can do it in a way that does not interfere with your content.

Peer review #3: Masked Retail (maskedretail.com)

This week’s peer review will focus on a website by one of my classmates called Masked Retail, which covers many topics related to working and shopping at retail stores during the COVID-19 pandemic. The topic couldn’t be more relevant to our lives right now with case numbers increasing and the holiday shopping season upon us, so I actually really enjoyed exploring this website.

The website has a very clean design that’s aesthetically pleasing. The header isn’t overwhelming and adds a nice splash of colour to a simple, yet inviting homepage. I like that homepage draws readers in with a couple of simple questions before inviting them to browse the site to find the answers to those questions and more.

Masked Retail is also very easy to navigate thanks to its implementation of a standard menu bar. Moreover, giving users the ability to click just about anywhere (header, pictures, headings) and be taken to a page makes it extremely user-friendly. I could continue on about the positive features of this website, including the friendly about page and well-written blog posts, but at this point in the semester I think it will be more helpful to focus on a few specific elements that could benefit from a bit of tweaking.

With this week’s topic revolving around marketing, I’ll now consider the ways in which this website is marketable. As I mentioned previously, the topic is something that is relevant to all of us as consumers right now, so in that sense, it’s highly marketable. After reading the admin’s latest process post, I can see that she doesn’t feel like she’s in a position to monetize right now, which is completely fair. However, for the purpose of this week’s review, I’ll go over a few things that could improve the website from both a design standpoint and for potential future monetization.

As the admin notes, a site cluttered with advertisements isn’t their style, and I agree that it might take away from the tidy nature of the website. However, Masked Retail definitely has the potential to feature sponsored content or affiliate ads from specific retailers or others involved in the industry who might want to get a message out to a broader public concerned with safe shopping practices.

I understand that the admin doesn’t want to be identifiable on this website for privacy reasons, but perhaps as the website continues to grow, it might be useful to create a Facebook or some sort of social media page under the same name for people to connect to. That way, readers can stay up-to-date on the latest posts without having to check back on their own accord. This would likely increase traffic and improve the overall marketability of the website.

Another suggestion regarding social media would be to add shareable buttons at the bottom or top of posts that allow readers to share them with their social networks. The following website includes a few options for plugins that accomplish this. I just installed Social Snap on my website personally, and while you need a premium membership to unlock more niche platforms, the free version includes Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and email, which are useful.

Looking at the website’s contact page (below), it might also be useful to include a little message above the fillable fields that suggests why people might want to leave a comment or contact them. For example, they could ask people to contact them with any story suggestions, marketing/partnership opportunities, or just to say hello.

Lastly, I want to briefly address the post grid that the admin has included on their homepage and other post pages.

The use of pictures and a preview of the text within the post is great and gives the site a professional feel. However, when I loaded the site on my mobile device (iPhone XR), the post grid design didn’t transfer all that well. I’m no WordPress guru and don’t know exactly how one would go about making the plugin and site compatible with mobile devices, but it might be something worth looking into. Below are two screenshots side by side of how the homepage looks on Safari on my phone.

If the admin ends up tweaking with the post grid plugin to make it more compatible with other devices, they can use a website like responsivedesignchecker.com, which allows them to plug their URL in and preview the website at different screen resolutions.

Otherwise, this has been one of my favourite websites to explore in the class and I think it has a lot of potential going forward beyond this semester.

Peer Review 2: Falling For Fashion

Click here to visit Falling For Fashion. First Glance Through When first landing on the blog Falling For Fashion. I am greeted with a welcome message and an explanation of what the blog is about. It is nice to have this text there, however, I don’t think it is completely needed as the banner and initial […]