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Patrick Wong over at WikiGiz.Com contacted me requesting a review of his community blog, Wikigiz. It took me a long time to finally get to the review so I will try to make it a good one. Ok, Patrick here goes 
. Remember I do not claim to know everything about blogging or blog design. I just have a reader/consumer review approach that I hope will be useful to you (Patrick) as well as other bloggers.
If you are into gadgets you will find that Wikigiz.com quite entertaining. I know how gadget people are. They spend as much time as they can researching the latest gadget, looking at the latest gadget and talking to people who have or want the latest gadget as much as you do. It so happens I am a “gadget person” myself and if it wasn’t for the lack of money I would have a number of useful/useless gadgets.
Review of Content
Wikigiz is a community blog which also makes reading articles more interesting. Wikigiz allows you to submit posts and share the blogs revenue. The articles are screened by Patrick Wong (the blog owner) before they are published. The blog offers a wiki-style content that allows multiple users to generating the content. I like the idea of the wiki/multi authored blog but I was a little disappointed to find there was no information about the contributing authors.
When I visit a blog I often search the site for more information about the author(s). Doing this helps me to understand where the author is coming from and their experience and knowledge about the topics discussed. I would recommend Wikigiz include an “about contributors” page to better help readers connect and feel confident about the content. Someone once told me that it’s important that visitors can tell right away that your blog is not a splog (spam blog). One way to do this is by adding a photo of the author(s) but I think it’s even more important for blogs to have an “about page” and/or an “about contributors” page.
I have come across blogs that only offer an about page that will put me to sleep while reading it. Patrick, did a fair job of offering us a little information about the blog as well as himself. I think it would be great readers to be able to get to know the brains behind the blog so a little more information couldn’t hurt. As I mentioned before, I think it would also be great if your community blog had an “about contributors” page. The contributor about page could be a way to encourage more contributors by offering to link to their websites. Contributors don’t have to include a lot of personal information but they could offering readers a few sentences about themselves.
Review of Blog Design and Reader Usability
I found the blog design easy to navigate but the look and feel was slightly bland. When I think of gadgets, I think of shiny new things and I would think a blog design that compliments that look would do very well. I do realize a goal for this blog is probably to be highly Adsense friendly but I think there are plenty of free themes that could offer both a high-tech look as well as Adsense friendly. Speaking of Adsense, at first sight I was getting the feeling that there were to many Adsense ads but after reading the blogs income report it’s apparent that Adsense will probably be one of Wikigiz’s top income sources. So, at this point I don’t think it necessary to take any of them down. You might want to try and fix the slightly cluttered look around the Gizmo-meter though.
I was a little surprised to see that Wikigiz wasn’t using other types of revenue sources. This particular sight would do very well with Chitika and WidgetBucks. So, Patrick you might want to consider including one or both of these revenue sources. I also think you should make a spot for potential banner advertisers. The more popular your blog becomes the more likely advertisers will want to contact you. However, if there are no spots already designated for banner advertisers and a way to find out more information about advertising they may not take the time to contact you. So I would suggest that you designate a spot for banner/button ads and create an “advertise” page.
Extra Perks
Wikigiz has also been running contests where you can win prizes such as flash drives and gift cards. You can check out contest details here.
Here is a review of the list of suggestions I have for this blog.
- Offer more information about Wikigiz contributors.
- Consider getting a theme that is a little more of a “high-tech” look.
- Consider making the area around the Gizmo-meter a little less cluttered.
- Look into other revenues sources such as WidgetBucks.
- Include advertiser page and designate a spot for banner or button ads.
So that’s it. I hope it all the advice I offered was useful in some way and I hope the best for Patrick Wong and Wikigiz.com (hey that rhymes ).
Nice review, makes me feel like going over to Wikigiz to have a feel myself.