PHILIPPINE BLOG REVIEWS

Why Blog Reviews are Important for Your Site

2010-02-08T19:00:00.000-08:00

Blog Reviews can give your websites added values and leverages.

And I will give you these values for free here at Philippine Blog Reviews.

Why blog reviews are important for your site? Please read through to appreciate it.

Embedded Links are Powerful

Are you trying to increase your ranking in search engines? Then, there is nothing better than to have links embedded in content.
Embedded links are very powerful because they come as parts of the content. Links are naturally webbed into a content because they are important for the readers. Search engines' crawlers like natural links because they see them as trustworthy.

Links in our Blog Reviews are Permanent

Blog posts are seen to be there for a long time. Blog posts are permanent unless otherwise deleted for whatever reason. If blog posts are permanent, so as their links.

Second Tier Links Leverage Your Gain

Blog content is highly visible and read often. There is a great possibility that your content could be syndicated by other bloggers and will produce some more links to your site. Some bloggers are not always looking for sticky post. They just grab what they liked and interested the most.

No Duplicate Content

Blog Reviews are seldom duplicated unless otherwise syndicated by others. Search engines frown on duplicate contents. So, it is great to have your site being reviewed. Blog reviews are expected to be unique contents.

Link is Relevant to Your Keywords

By having your site reviewed by others, the reviewer almost always focuses on your niche and direction. As a result, your dominant keywords are frequently used in the review. This leverages the power of your keywords and gives value to them in search engine.

Lastly, it is great to know that there are some other bloggers out there who are giving importance to what you are doing in your site. It is better to have them included you in their contents than to have you in their blogrolls.

Seeing your name in their site is great but it is better if you can see your anchor texts being used in the contents and linking back to your site.

Be proactive. Ask others to talk about you.

You can start right here. Post some comments and I will write about you. All I am asking is for you to make a post at your site about your reactions.

Or, you could always shell out some amount of money for sponsored reviews somewhere or you may want to do it by yourself by taking some books from amazon.com like Web Standards SEO and Beyond. (link to amazon.com)

Good day.

Blog Review #3: Social Entrepreneurship At Its Best

2010-02-03T23:26:00.000-08:00

Social Entrepreneurship at its best.

This is what mightyrasing.com wants to impart to the world.

***

For Business and Finance category, I labored to look for a blog that is worth our review. I made 7 attempts using our selection criteria. The first 6 sites that I stumbled upon were all money online blogs. I have a prejudice with this kind of blogs. Thus, I leave them out there for a while. I will go back to them in the future.

So, for now, I am breaking the blog-age rule of our review criteria. The site at hand is only a month old site. No money involved here (lol).

***

As the smoke of revelries welcoming the year 2010 faded, Mighty --the site owner-- started also his Social Entrepreneurship Site to "challenge you how to make a lasting impact in your world -not for world peace (n)or for humanity in general; not for the end of all wars, but for the end of the particular war and conflict you are closest to. Do something with the immediate circle of influence that you have..." (About, mightyrasing.com)

A great challenge, indeed, not only to us but also to the author.

The early blog posts are putting ingredients on how to become a social entrepreneur. The blog tackles on leadership, character and integrity. Mighty aims for transformational leadership and put some ways and characteristics on how to become one. There is a post also that draws some lessons from the Enron--that "outwardly robust company but rotting inside."

Mighty's subtlety in those posts are excellent. He seems saying: "Guys, start your wars within yourself. Transform and lead."

The site already started to showcase some great entrepreneurs. John Gokongwei Jr. is the first featured entrepreneur. We have to expect some more of these entrepreneurs in the near future.

mightyrasing.com offers also some online resources, i.e., some sites collaborating its theme: Social Entrepreneurship.

Mighty's site is surely a site to watch and this young blog's contents could attest to the deep commitment and knowledge of the blog owner who is also as young as his blog, mid-twenty lad talking about topics other youngsters hated the most.

The site's theme of white and yellow green is cool to the eyes. The site is clean except for the well-placed adsense.

One suggestion for improvement is to use list for the blog's list posts. List is clean and powerful. The blog owner should use them instead of putting short paragraphs especially with this post -- Interesting Blog Reads 1.

The Twitter updates should also be put in the sidebar under the Leadership Tweets widget and not as parts of the blog post section.

Navigation is easy except for the missing archives. But, the category section will help you enough.

For all youngsters who want to make a difference early in your lives, follow mightyrasing.com.

Blog Address: http://mightyrasing.com

Blog Description: Social Entrepreneurship. Leadership

Tags: personal development, transformational leadership,

social entrepreneurship, healthy lifestyle

My Mark: 3/5
____________________

Previous Blog Reviews

Blog Review #2: Jo's Bookshelf

2010-02-02T04:23:00.000-08:00

This is the second review for this site.

And, it's been for a while. (Sorry for that, folks.)

I do love books and I love to read anything (even canned good labels) during my spare time. But, I am not as wide reader as the owner of this blog.

We may call her Jo. Her name is Johanna. And she loves books that much; that is why she made a blog reviewing her collections of books. And in order for us to know her more, I quote:

My ideal piece of downtime heaven is curling up with a good book over-ice-cold soda or over a glass (or pitcher - hic!) of ice cold, tart margarita. I love them to a fault, a vice really. This vice has recently forced me an additional bookshelf for housing an accumulated 60++unread volumes.

The blog's author started with Douglas Carlton Abrams' The Lost Diary of Don Juan, a novel, in October 2008. The blog reviews a decent number of books since it started, from Atilla of William Napier to World Without End of Ken Follet.

Plenty of Books, huh? Actually, as of the date of this review, the owner of Jo's Bookshelf reviewed a total of 84 books. Some of these books were series of novels.

The book reviews did not focus only on fictions but you can also find some reviews on non-fictions: Analyses, Thesis, Dissertations, Inspirational and Memoirs.

She posted some random thoughts, too.

One of the strengths of this blog is that the author made lists arranged by author, by date of publications and by title. Jo made the blog site easy to navigate with these arrangements. She categorized the fictions she reviewed from Adventures to Techno-Thrillers.

Another noted strength of Jo's reviews is her rating for every book reviewed. She rates her books into five scales. The highest, she called it as "Bookshelf Gem" and the lowest, as "Trash! Don't bother".

Typical with wordpress blogs, the site is easy to navigate. There is no clutter in the sidebars. Menu tabs will also help you through it.

Jo's Bookshelf made a strong presence in book review niche as well as under the books and literature category. A must visit site for all book lovers.

For all of you who want to know some decent reviews on books -- those reviews that are not intended for commercial purposes -- visit Jo's Bookshelf and you'll envy what Jo's have in her bookshelf. More so, her reviews are made not in a writer's view but as a mere reader or lover of books.

Blog Address: http://josbookshelf.wordpress.com

Blog Description: Personal Reviews of My Collections

Tags: reviews, fiction, multi-genre, novels, books

My mark: 4/5

Nothing is Worse Than a Stale Blog in Blogging World

2010-02-02T03:28:00.000-08:00

Nothing is worse than having a stale blog in the blogging world.

I feel sorry for myself and for this space. And of course, I wasted my money for this domain by letting it flying in the internet without even putting a single word on it for a while. I take the responsibility for my indulgence and procrastination.

Sorry is often an abused word to make excuses. But, damn. I must swallow my pride.

Forgive me for not doing something in this blog. I wasted some good times.

My friend and I conceptualized this blog. And my friend was so busy for a while, err, or should I say: until now. And he left me to tend this site all alone.

Okay. Okay, I know, but all we wanted was to have a reference site for our blog hopping activities. But also, we want to share with you what we are discovering along the way.

We were so busy putting our offline businesses into the right tracks. We put our blog hopping activity at the back burner and made it as our less priority. We have to make some money to meet our obligations.

I think and feel that my business is on track now, and so I have more time to spare for this site from today. So, expect to have some posts for these coming weeks.

Stay tune, then.

Blog Review #1: Coffee Cup Adventures

2009-12-15T02:07:00.000-08:00

Enough is enough. (Whew! This is for me for leaving this site for a while. Sigh...)

Okay, let's go on with the blog review.

************

There are plenty of Arts and Craft Pinoy blogs floating in the Internet nowadays. Some are full of photos (of course, this category needs photos and drawings) that are expected to be present in almost all blogs under this Arts and Craft Category of TopBlogs.com.ph (102 blogs listed as of the date of this review), photos and drawings that range from hand-made souvenirs to pencil-drawn self-portraits and from tattoos to photoshop-enhanced pictures of whatever. But, it is great that I stumbled on Coffee Cup Adventures for this site's first ever review.

Started on August 2008, Coffee Cup Adventures aims to chronicle simple pleasures of the blog owner who called herself, Anatotski aka Inday, who is a graduate of fine arts and loves coffee that much. The artist on her emanates on her first ever post that states "it's like drawing something on the first page of your sketchpad. It has to be really, really, really good". While the blog focuses on her everyday simple pleasures, there are also posts centered on her philosophical and spiritual sides concocted with her comic views of every simple things which range from her office "stuffs", yes, she meant it, "stuffs", to her travel experiences.

The content of this blog draws you in the author's views of the world and enthralls you to stick with it from the opening sentence to its last item - the animated tuzki bunny - the owner's current mood icon when she made the post. There are lots of stories depicting lives - simple and complicated - and from time to time accompanied with graphics drawn by herself. Anatotski writes also about her inclination to music particularly her viola. The fine artist in her draws her to Alphonse Maria Mucha and his artworks. Some posts she tagged as 'life lessons' are fascinating and inspiring.

The way the blog uses the 'storytelling technique' could keep your wrinkles away for a moment.

Try to learn Tagalog (Filipino), though, because mostly of the posts are written in mixed Tagalog and English.

The blog uses simple wordpress theme and it is easy to read and navigate. There are no frills and clutters in the sidebars. The only problem is that the blog has no archives section and if you want to read some previous posts, you have to labor yourself navigating the 16 pages contents. The posts are worth your efforts, though.

However, if you are looking for 'how tos' on Arts and Craft, they are not there. Instead, you will find a life of an artist told in a happy, usually comic, stories.

Lastly, this review is, maybe, too late. The owner just opened a new blog for her artworks at Coffee Cup Stains (link is not included, visit the site for the link of the new site). I hope, though, that Coffee Cup Adventures will continue brewing because "mas makulay ang buhay kapag may kape!"

Blog Address: http://yanangski.wordpress.com

Blog Description: Mas Makulay ang Buhay kapag may Kape!

Tags: art, coffee, vector art, music, photoshop

My Mark: 4/5

Blog Review Processes

2009-11-04T12:28:00.000-08:00

WHAT IT TAKES TO GET REVIEWED?

Well, I guess I should let you know my expectations and what it takes to get a review. Let us also add how I am going to select blogs for review.

For a start, I expect to review blogs that are regularly updated. Regularly Updated Blog means to have a post at least once in a month for the last six months before the review. Well, for those bloggers who are fired up updating their blogs in a daily basis or weekly basis have always advantages. I just can't help myself reviewing stale blogs or dead blogs. Come and think of it, nobody will read a blog that is not current.

Second, I expect to review blogs that are suitable for all readers or audiences. I will shun away from blogs that are using foul language and/or promoting pornography. I will not risk my credibility promoting blogs that are not worth reading.

And last for now, I will give due emphasis on content, readability, uniqueness, activity and appearance. I will be reviewing blogs with these five criteria.

How it will be done? I will randomly select blogs that are listed under Top Blogs Philippines & Pinoy. I will be reviewing one blog from each category from Arts & Crafts to Web Development & Design. After one round, I will start again. From time to time, I will also review Pinoy blogs that are not listed on Top Blogs.

REVIEW CRITERIA AND GRADE SCALE

Before I will start with my reviews, I should be putting up some Review Criteria and Grading Scale.

So here are the criteria and how the grading scale works.

Criteria:

1. Content
2. Uniqueness
3. Activity
4. Appearance
5. Navigation

Each characteristic has a maximum 1 point value of 5.

1. Poor - .20
2. Below Average - .40
3. Average - .60
4. Above Average - .80
5. Excellent - 1.0

With these criteria and characteristics, a blog with excellent grades in content, navigation and appearance, and with average grades on uniqueness and activity will be given 4.20 points value, that would be equivalent to 4.0 grade scale.

HOW ARE BLOGS BEING SELECTED FOR REVIEW?

So, for this site not to be accused of being selective--though, I have my own prejudices--Philippine Blog Reviews needs to be transparent on how blogs are selected from blogs listed with the Top Blogs Philippines & Pinoy.

We need to be cleared on the following:

1. All blogs are qualified for review if they meet the criteria previously stated in "What It Takes To Get Reviewed" post of this review blog.

2. Of course, it is given that all blogs listed with Top Blogs Philippines & Pinoy are operated in the Philippines and/or Filipino owned blogs. For those blogs not listed with Top Blogs, we have to ascertain that these blogs are Filipino-owned-blogs through their posts. Blogs listed with Top Blogs but are not openly talking about Pinoy will be by-passed.

3. For every review that will be made, reviewer/s will visit the Top Blogs site and will always start at the bottom of the list in each category being reviewed. If a blog qualifies with the criteria stated in "What It Takes To Get Reviewed", then a review will be made. However, if the blog would not qualify, the reviewer/s will select blogs in random. It will be done in this way:

a) The reviewer will subtract the odd number 13 starting from the bottom, e.g., 104-13=91. Then, using the criteria stated in "What It Takes to Get Reviewed", Philippine Blog Reviews will evaluate the site. If a site is qualified, then a review will be made. If no blogs qualified for a review using the odd number 13 until the top of the category for review, then,

b) The reviewer/s will again start at the bottom subtracting the odd number 11, e.g., 104-11=93, and so on and so forth.

4. Of course, PBR will not be presenting here the Top Blog ranking of the blog being reviewed. Owner/s of blog being reviewed know their ranking for that day.

So, these are the ways we select blogs for review. At least, for now.

As we go along, I will inform you if there will be changes with the selection process.

It is not this site's priority to feature blogs that are famous enough. Thus, I will always start at the bottom of Top Blogs Ranking System. However, given the manners of selection and our criteria, there is a greater possibility that blogs being reviewed are within the Top 20 in each category the review is being made.

For any suggestions or comments, please feel free to leave them here, below. Or, you may contact us.

How Are Blogs Being Selected For Review

2009-11-03T23:55:00.000-08:00

So, for this site not to be accused of being selective--though, I have my own prejudices--Philippine Blog Reviews needs to be transparent on how blogs are selected from blogs listed with the Top Blogs Philippines & Pinoy.

We need to be cleared on the following:

1. All blogs are qualified for review if they meet the criteria previously stated in "What It Takes To Get Reviewed" post of this review blog.

2. Of course, it is given that all blogs listed with Top Blogs Philippines & Pinoy are operated in the Philippines and/or Filipino owned blogs. For those blogs not listed with Top Blogs, we have to ascertain that these blogs are Filipino-owned-blogs through their posts. Blogs listed with Top Blogs but are not openly talking about Pinoy will be by-passed.

3. For every review that will be made, reviewer/s will visit the Top Blogs site and will always start at the bottom of the list in each category being reviewed. If a blog qualifies with the criteria stated in "What It Takes To Get Reviewed", then a review will be made. However, if the blog would not qualify, the reviewer/s will select blogs in random. It will be done in this way:

a) The reviewer will subtract the odd number 13 starting from the bottom, e.g., 104-13=91. Then, using the criteria stated in "What It Takes to Get Reviewed", Philippine Blog Reviews will evaluate the site. If a site is qualified, then a review will be made. If no blogs qualified for a review using the odd number 13 until the top of the category for review, then,

b) The reviewer/s will again start at the bottom subtracting the odd number 11, e.g., 104-11=93, and so on and so forth.

4. Of course, we will not be presenting here the Top Blog ranking of the blog being reviewed. Owner/s of blog being reviewed know their ranking for that day.

So, these are the ways we select blogs for review. At least, for now.

As we go along, we will inform you if there will be changes with the selection process.

It is not our priority to feature blogs that are famous enough. Thus, we always start at the bottom of Top Blogs Ranking System. However, given the manners of selection and our criteria, there is a greater possibility that blogs being reviewed are within the Top 20 in each category when the was reviewed.

For any suggestions or comments, please feel free to leave them here, below. Or, you may contact us.

What It Takes To Get Reviewed

2009-11-03T23:14:00.000-08:00

Well, I guess I should let you know my expectations and what it takes to get a review. Let us also add how I am going to select blogs for review.

And last for now, I will give due emphasis on content, readability, uniqueness, activity and appearance. I will be reviewing blogs with these five criteria.

Review Criteria and Grade Scale

2009-11-03T21:25:00.000-08:00

A Fresh Start

2009-11-03T00:35:00.000-08:00

Since I've been blog hopping for quite some time now, I decided to put up a review site dedicated only for blogs maintained by Filipinos and/or blogs listed under Top Blogs Philippines & Pinoy.

It will be a sort of review of what Filipino bloggers are doing.

So keep posted.

Forum

2009-11-02T22:45:00.000-08:00