Get your smiling muscles ready for this next blog review, because it’s Time For A Smile!

I think this blog probably has the most unique concept I’ve seen so far. It’s essecntially a collection of photographs of people smiling. In a world where there’s nothing cheerful on the news anymore, this blog is a welcome relief.

There’s not much else to say about the content, other than to have a look for yourself. I’d have to say the RIb tickling smiles are my favourite.

The layout looks custom, and is well balanced all the way down the page. Having two RSS icons are a littel confusing, until you realise that one is actually for email subscriptions. The only think that really bothers me is that it might not be designed for viewing in my browser, because the header looks like this:

The RSS feed is covering up the catch phrase!

Overall a highly enjoyable site. earning it a 9 out of 10.

If cats could talk, they probably wouldn’t. At least, that’s what I’ve been told.

I tend to think that if they could talk, they would mostly be saying the following

• Food. Now.
• Let me sleep.
• Open the door
• I demand your full attention
• Fool. That’s what you are.
• I have changed my mind.

And yet, there are countless blogs out there that claim to be written by cats. And what’s more, these cats seem to have the ability to say more than the half a dozen things I listed above.

Yes, I realise they aren’t actually cats that are blogging, but doting owners who want to share their love for their kitty over the internet. And some of them are actually quite good reads if you’re only looking for a bit of fun. Even though it does seem a bit strange to be blogging as your cat rather than about your cat.

Theseblogs do seem to generate quite a big following. This just goes to show that the internet can never get enough of cute cat photos.

So if you’re languishing for comments on your blog, consider harassinf your cat with your camera and posting some photos. I’m willing to bet that cat photo posts always generate comments.

Here we are at yet another free blog review and it must be said; this one is very pink.

It is, of course, Domestik Goddess, a lady’s blog about all those sorts of things that ladies are interested in; homemaking, clothes, craft, pets, kids etc. Not a power tool in sight!

I feel quite out of place reading a blog such as this. There’s lots of sewing and craft, and I can’t remember the last time I tried to do anything of that sort. Don’t get me wrong, they’re very informative, but they’re going to appeal to those people out there interested in doing creative and practical things around the home.

Mind you, I was entranced by this post: Bacon Bits Collection. Fascinating, especially as I’m writing this just before lunch.

The layout isn’t as pink as I originally implied. The page is bright, clear and easy to read. Even the placement of ads doesn’t detract from the overall appearance, and the regular use of images makes it an appealing blog to read.

Is there anything I would change about this blog? I’d maybe consider havign one less post on the front page so that the length of posts match up with the sidebars a bit more. I know standard advice is to have at least 3 posts on a blog, but the recent posts widget in teh top left would probably compensate.

Overall a 6.5 out of 10.

Go to any forum. Ask about attanting pagerank. Brace yourself for a slew of answers about how a Google Pagerank is ‘worthless’ and links to their own personal blog posts on the subject. Most of these people have lost Pagerank in the past, and are bitter about it. Perhaps they think that if they can convince enough people that Pageranks are worthless it will validate their own tiny rebellion against Google.

It’s childish and petty. Not one of them would freely give up their pagerank if they could, they are simply following the philosophy of “I don’t have it so I’ll claim I didn’t want it anyway”.

That’s not to say that a Pagerank is everything. It’s nice, and it’s not worthless. It’s nice to have if you do, for many reasons.

1. Pagerank shows your site is here for the long run. It is an indication that it has been there for a few months, and that you’ve put effort in to linking it around the internet. You can’t fake a pagerank in a google toolbar.
2. It shows that Google has noticed you.
3. It’s a fast way for advertisers to assure themselves that your website is of reasonable quality.
4. Some people and services value your links based on pagerank.

#4 has been a big issue in the pastm especially as Google stripped ranks from sites that appeared to be selling links. People are increasing looking to other ways to assess a website’s value, so whether you choose to place a large or small value on Pagerank is up to you.

Just grow up and don’t proclaim it to be worthless if you don’t have one.

Have you ever tried using Yahoo Answers? To be honest, it can be a tough place to get a real, helpful answer when you need one. It’s full of people with the following tendancies:

• Strongly oppinionated but dont’ know anything about the actual topic
• Don’t read the question so don’t give you a useful answer
• Insult you because they can
• Copy passages from wikipedia that aren’t helpful
• Answer with “I don’t know.”
• Give you a sentance teaser, and then a link to their website.

So if you actually DO come across a good, helpful answer, they are like gold. Not to mention a boon for webmasters seeking targeted traffic.

You see, so many people focus on Google and Google alone when trying to build up their space in the internet, that they forget about Yahoo. Yes, people still use Yahoo. And people still type questions into search engines when they don’t know where else to look, and Yahoo questions often pop up on page one of the SE results.

Yahoo! Answers is a boon for webmasters is particular niches, such as automotive, beauty, food, health, pets or science, because you have a multitude of potential visitors all looking for information. Information that your website just might be able to provide.

There are a few tricks to gaining that traffic, but they are quite simple.

1. Actually be helpful. Nobody is going to click the link you dropped if you haven’t given any information.
2. Don’t drop links all the time, and don’t link exclusively to your websites. It’s spam.
3. Use a username which relates to the website you are trying to promote, and mention the website in your profile. I have noticed an increase in yahoo search results for nich website names using this method, rather than direct traffic from dropped links.
4. Don’t copy text. Write out each answer individually. Few things will earn you more thumbs-down than copy-pasting a wikipedia article
5. Vote for your answers. A lot of the time a ‘best answer’ will not be chosen by the person who asked the question, but is instead chosen by hte most votes it gets after the question is closed. You have nothing ot lose by voting for your own answer, so why not do it? Best answers get more exposure!

The point to all this, of course, is being helpfull. The internet has enough junk on it already, stand out by helping someone.