Review Me Today!

I don’t usually like to be negative, but today I am going to start with what is wrong with Men with Pens. If you have been reading my blog at all, you know there is only one color of text I like, black, and it should be on a white background. This blog has white text on black background. In other words, they have it backwards. What is worse is that the links are in a darkish blue on a black background, which makes them almost unreadable to me.

Then the blog is hosted on a .ca domain. What is that? It is not a .com or a .net or any common top level domain. But then I start to think, does the domain really matter? And as I start reading through the blog I find out that the awful white type on black text is only on the home page. Once you find a link to a post and click on it you are taken to a page with black text on a dusky blue background which is actually quite easy on the eyes.

On a side note, some day I will have to write about why I am so picky about the text on a blog. It might have something to do with getting older and finally admitting that I need reading glasses.

Back to Men with Pens. It turns out, men with pens is actually three men and a rogue woman. According to the about page, Tei Lindstrom was such a good copywriter they had to let her into the all boys club. So Tei joins James, Harrison, and Charlie in creating a blog that is full of good advice.

I spend a lot of time reading blogs about writing. Mostly because I still consider myself a wannabe writer. It is one of those things. I know good writing when I read it. I just haven’t quite learned to master it myself. Hopefully I am learning something. I really enjoyed reading Men with Pens. It is the type of blog that talks about freelance writing, and blogging, and business in gereral, and makes me believe that I might be able to do it. Maybe someday I will be a great writer with a blog with thousands of subscribers who lap up my every word and comment on how wonderful I am.

The lead post today is What a Rotten Roof Can Teach You About Your Business and I can tell you it hit home on a number of counts. First because I know I need to get my roof replaced and I am not looking forward to the cost, or trying to find a contractor. Second, because James uses his experience with finding a contractor, and the contractor turning down the job, to illustrate some important lessons about running a business…or a blog. Lessons like “never opt for cheap, even if you are on a budget”, and “your reputation is all you have”.

Harry wrote a whole series on the 7 Deadly Fears of Writing, looking into how fear of exposing yourself, inadequacy, and success can hinder your writing.

I tried to find some posts by Tei or Charlie but I didn’t have any luck. I am sure they are there, I just need to get this post done before I spend the next few hours reading Men With Pens and hopefully becoming a better writer. (I am sure you all would appreciate that!)

So good going guys, and Tei. Just do something about the home page for old eyes like mine. Thanks!

Oh, one more thing. They have a forum that looks to be pretty new. If you have questions for the guys and Tei you could probably get them answered pretty quick over there!

And another thing, I take back what I said about the .ca domain. Apparently that is Canada. I want to be nice to people in Canada. I might need to move there someday. I love the .ca domain, I might just get one for myself!

Sometimes I get tired of Forex Blogs. To me they mostly seem to be a bunch of charts and giberish. I don’t know the lingo so all I can tell from the blogs is that something is trading up or down and somebody hopes to make money off of it.

I don’t know much about Forex, but here is what I do know. Forex, is a term used for Foreign Currency Exchange. People make (and lose) money by trading currencies. It is not as regulated as the stock market, you can trade 24 hours a day, and lots of people are willing to help you… for a small fee.

At first look Million in Forex is just like the other Forex blogs I have seen. There are charts, and talk of Pips. (I have no idea what a Pip is) but there are also posts that make sense to me. There is a post on “Can you make a living Forex trading”, another on Forex scams. And if you dig deep enough, you will find posts on the basics of Forex trading.

For someone interested in Forex, this blog would be a pretty good read. You have the charts and pips and things that seem to be important to Forex, but you also have the basic background information that will help you be a better trader. Best of all, I don’t see any of the hype that often comes along with Forex blogs. There are no offers to sell you the next best trading system that will guarantee riches with Forex. Thank Goodness.

The blogger has some good information for beginning Forex traders buried deep in his blog. I suggest that he create a link category called, “beginners start here” or something of that sort, and link to his posts that explain the basics of Forex. I would get rid of the calendar in the sidebar, because in my opinion it is a waste of space. Also, change the widget that is showing your current blog posts, to a widget showing posts from your other blogs.

There are lots of things I can do, and then there are some that I know better than to even try. And when it comes to graphic design, well, to quote my dear daughter “Epic failure!” So I was pretty happy to find Simply Buttons and Banners. This is a very new website by a very new designer. Normally I would give the site a month or two to get going, but I am reviewing them today for a very good reason. That reason is FREE banners, badges and buttons.

You see, I am looking for a few banners, buttons and badges to spruce up this site. (And wouldn’t you love to have a badge showing that you had been reviewed by Review Me Today!) And if I can get someone to do them for free, all the better! If I can share with other bloggers and web designers where they can get stuff for free, Great!

Like I said before, the blog is very new and is still a work in progress.  Pages for the blogger’s portfolio and for Kudos simply say coming soon.  At the very least I would recommend the blogger get busy and have something in the portfolio page.  (Maybe lots of graphics for Review Me Today? With links? )  I also think it would make the blog more interesting if they were to post informative articles on using graphics on your website.

It looks like the theme of the blog is a custom theme designed by the designer. It is just a little “cutesy” for a professional site.  But other than that I like it a lot. It would be great for a personal blog, or for a hobbyist.

One big negative for this blog is that comments are restricted to “team members”.  Not letting your readers comment is like chasing people away!  You can always moderate comments if you are worried about spam.

Back to the free offer.  As a “grand opening special”  Simply Buttons and Banners  is giving away free buttons and banners.  All you need to do is write a post about their site on your blog. (You knew there was a reason I was reviewing them when they were so new!)  There is no word on how long this free offer will last, so if you are interested you better hurry up and visit Simply Buttons and Banners .