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View Full Version : Time for a review. All opinions are welcomed



Harold Mansfield
02-26-2014, 09:54 AM
I decided to get back into blogging. The official launch is March 2014, but I've been "practicing" for about 2 weeks now.

It's an Entertainment and Lifestyle blog that features Dance Music, Whiskey, Bourbon and other spirits, [it will also feature] Restaurants, Lounges, Clubs and other venues, with a smattering of Consumer level tech news and help articles. Pretty much the stuff that I know or have experience with.

It's a strange mix with a weird name, I know. But beleive it or not the categories are related and it does overall target a specific demographic.

It's whiskeyandbacon.co

Thanks in advance.

vangogh
02-27-2014, 03:31 AM
Strange or not I like the name. It's pretty easy to remember and somehow it fits. I'm trying to think how all those topics are related, but I'll trust you on that. I liked when you blogged previously so I have no doubt the writing will be good. Since it's a lot of topics and it looks like you're trying to update often will you be writing everything yourself or do you plan on having others join you?

The home page feels busy to me, though it probably doesn't have any more content than the usual magazine style theme. Just a lot of things to look at. The interior pages are easy for me to just jump in and absorb the content. It's an easy site to navigate. I see it's responsive and works well. I do notice your logo looks a little off at certain resolutions. When one of the words drops to a new line it covers the image slightly and I think it's also covering up the social links. Also check the colors in the responsive menu. It's dark text on a dark background. I couldn't see any links until I hovered over them. I'm looking again and I can see the active page and if I tilt my monitor forward I can see the links barely. I would definitely check their color and go with something lighter.

Harold Mansfield
02-27-2014, 10:40 AM
Strange or not I like the name. It's pretty easy to remember and somehow it fits. I'm trying to think how all those topics are related, but I'll trust you on that.

Dance Music->Clubs, Upscale Restaurants and Lounges->Bottle Service = A 21-35+ Demographic with disposable income that is very tech savvy, predominantly single, enjoys nightlife, and new trends.


Also check the colors in the responsive menu. It's dark text on a dark background. I couldn't see any links until I hovered over them. I'm looking again and I can see the active page and if I tilt my monitor forward I can see the links barely. I would definitely check their color and go with something lighter.

Yeah, I screwed the CSS on the responsive menu. I know it's impossible to read at the moment. I'll be taking care of that this week.
The front page may be too busy. I have a tendency to put a lot of things on the home page...look at it for a while, and then scale back. I think once the press starts flowing better I'll probably be making adjustments to some things in the sidebars.

Thanks for the tip in the logo. I hadn't noticed that. It's actually just the title text with an imported font, which is easy to reduce.

As far as writing, it's a combination of press releases, promos and original articles, so it's not as daunting as having to come up with all new content everyday or multiple times a day. Right now it's really easy to post twice a day.

Another thing, this is the first time I've ever used a default WordPress theme. That's a modified version of 2014.
Original Version: http://twentyfourteendemo.wordpress.com/

vangogh
02-28-2014, 12:36 AM
Makes sense about the demographic. I had a feeling that would be the connection, but figured I'd ask. The menu will be easy enough to fix. Just a few color and/or background color changes.

That makes the writing easier. It looked like you might be grabbing some content from other sources.

I noticed you were using twentyfourteen. I figured it was WordPress and I took a peak at the source. I saw it was a custom child theme of twentyfourteen. What do you think of it? I guess I've used default themes as starting points in the past, but it's been awhile.

Harold Mansfield
02-28-2014, 01:35 AM
That makes the writing easier. It looked like you might be grabbing some content from other sources.
It's mostly sent in and I add my own words and experiences to it. I'd rather have info and images from the source so that I know I have permission to use it, and I know I have the details correct.

It's hard in the beginning till I get my contacts built up again, but I was lucky enough to still be in contact with a major management company that handles a lot of artists, so he started loading me up immediately with fresh press and images.

At the moment I'm dropping emails for press when ever I hear about something that fits my niche and I want to post about.
Some people are slow, but like for instance that J.R. Ewing Bourbon...I heard about it, but didn't see any articles with complete info. So I dropped them an email and 2 days later they had press in my box with all of the particulars and images, and I was able to get it up before the product launch. I think I was first on that one. No one else had full product info when I posted.

Once you get going you don't have to ask anymore. People see you, and just start sending stuff because they see stories and press about competitors on the site.

I'm noticing a lot of Bourbon brands following me on Twitter the last week or so, so that's a good sign that it probably doesn't suck.

When I start getting my upscale restaurant, dive bar, and other venue stuff in it I think it will really start coming together.


I noticed you were using twentyfourteen. I figured it was WordPress and I took a peak at the source. I saw it was a custom child theme of twentyfourteen. What do you think of it? I guess I've used default themes as starting points in the past, but it's been awhile.

I like it. It's the first default theme I've ever considered using. I've always wanted to see what could be done to customize one just for the hell of it. but until now they've really sucked. It's nice the WP finally put a magazine style theme with the download 3 years after magazine style themes peaked.

I was in the middle of customizing it when an article caught my attention from WPMUDEV, which led me to Josh Pollock's child theme. So I abandoned what I was doing ( which was mostly the same thing minus the menu) and just added my own styling on top of it.
I'm actually glad I went this rout rather than doing a build from scratch or customizing something else. This time around it's less about bells and whistles on the site, and more about syndication.

But something's still not right. I look at it and I don't love it. It looks adequate, but it doesn't look great.

Harold Mansfield
04-03-2014, 08:54 PM
Well... I changed the whole thing. Complete redesign. I wasn't happy with it. I kept tinkering and tinkering and it just wasn't doing it for me.
Dumped Adsense, the crap ads were killing the vibe. Dug up my old Ebay script and the other things that I used to make money with.

I still need a logo, but I'm much happier with it now.

mrcfoodsrvc
04-04-2014, 05:38 PM
I really like the idea of blogging, similar to my forums

Harold Mansfield
08-13-2014, 01:13 PM
Still tinkering, but things are going much better. Traffic is up, press is coming in ( even though many people are still unresponsive), and the affiliate stuff seems to be coming along. Oh yeah and I completely changed the name. Hey, sometimes you have to make adjustments in your plan to do what you want to do.