Blog Reviews

**romeo7** · 10-09-2011, 05:35 AM

I have put up a new blog at www.kitchen-herbs.com.
To start with, I have posted few articles. I shall add more articles gradually.

Your views please!

**Giselle** · 10-09-2011, 11:50 PM

An educational and interesting blog site on Herbs, Spices and Minerals! All the links work fine, content is clear and very readable. I don't see the rss.png image next to the RSS on the right side, the graphic above the text appears to be muted, perhaps that is the effect you were striving for.

Some errors in the validator....

**romeo7** · 10-10-2011, 12:20 AM

Thanks.

I agree, the picture is not very good. That is because I took it with my cell phone camera. I do not have a digital camera. However, I have readjusted the colors but will try to make it better.

Re validation: Since I used the wordpress software, I thought it was already validated. I will check it up and correct the code wherever I can. That is what happens to computer illiterates like me.

Thanks for pointing out.

**Giselle** · 10-10-2011, 12:05 PM

The graphic looks much nicer now! There is only one other thing I would do, although the website is very nice and you did a great job! I would put the Kitchen Herbs in the green header, maybe change the font and another color, pull up the beautiful green header to the top and change the background to a real pale green, just my thoughts.

**romeo7** · 10-10-2011, 02:02 PM

Thanks Giselle, you have been very helpful. I have changed the header. I have also increased the height from 100px to 150px but have not touched the page background because I failed to make a suitable match of pale green color as you suggested.

Thank you once again. I have your views on the other blog (fever123.com) will also be very valuable.

**Giselle** · 10-11-2011, 01:51 AM

The header looks much better!

Fever 123 is another educational informative site, first time I've heard of Dengue Fever. I assume you are still working on this site, the Fever links and some of the other links go to a sorry/error page.

The header is very nice, think I would put a textured background using the basically the same color. Depending if you change the header background color I would change "Information on Fever Types, Causes, Symptoms and Fever Treatment" to the orange, same color as Fever123.com. Sometimes you just have try different things, such as color, text, backgrounds, etc. Mainly to see what looks the best to you.

A few errors on the site, not bad though...

Good job!

**romeo7** · 10-11-2011, 08:10 AM

Thanks for your continued help.

Dengue fever has become more notorious during the past ten years or so. According to WHO, over 2.5 billion people all over the world have been affected during the past decade. It is simple to treat but some professionals in the pharmaceutical business have made it a source of huge money. The purpose of this site is to create awareness and suggest simple remedies so that people can themselves without losing money.

Coming to the site www.fever123.com, the links did not work because something went wrong with the hosting server. They shot the trouble and now it is working fine.

I shall keep your views in mind and will try to look for a better background etc. I have not attended to validation yet. Will do it as soon as I am done with more important features of the two sites.

Thank you once again. I hope you would continue helping me and others.

God bless you!

**chrishirst** · 10-12-2011, 04:15 AM

You should hire someone who actually speaks English and can write in correct English to proofread your copy.

Quote:

The spices, herbs and minerals that we commonly use in food items are in use since thousands of years.

should be

Quote:

The spices, herbs and minerals that we commonly use in food items have been in use for thousands of years.

Quote:

they must have done so on some solid bases after experience,

Should be

Quote:

they must have done so based on experience,

And that's only the first paragraph!

**romeo7** · 10-12-2011, 05:20 AM

Thanks for the correction chrishirst!

I have corrected what you said. I know my expression can be faulty because English is not my first language. It shows one thing at least that I write the articles myself.

Hiring an editor/proof reader is beyond me due to .......

I shall try to write better. For now I hope it is understandable even though the grammar might be inaccurate.

**chrishirst** · 10-12-2011, 08:23 AM

Sure, but if you are targeting an English speaking readership (and I'll include Australians and Americans in there

} grammatical errors like that lose you credibility straight away. Spelling errors you can often get away with, but grammar and context errors make it very difficult to read and comprehend the article.
People are inherently lazy and mainly read by scanning the text, when it is well written and grammatically correct we can understand our own language without actually reading every word. Some grammatical error means that what we just scanned so does not make sense when the brain interprets it, so has to be read again, this time slowly and thoroughly.
If this is repeated two or three times, unless the reader is determined enough they may persevere, but the average reader will discard the entire article and move on and be lost to you, possibly for ever.

Another example of how NOT to write is this. It looks to be exactly what it is, written to meet a "keyword density" target. or was it a contest on how many times "Cinnamon" can be mentioned in one paragraph?

in addition this

Quote:

It has a positive effect on highly aggravates cases of psoriasis but initially it might aggravate tremendously. So be careful with it

Is complete nonsense.

as is

Quote:

but in now it grown in India,

If you want your pages to be taken seriously you cannot afford NOT TO have them proofread.

**romeo7** · 10-12-2011, 08:41 AM

I agree and will review.

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrishirst

... It looks to be exactly what it is, written to meet a "keyword density" target.

Did not occur to me at all.

Thanks.

**romeo7** · 10-12-2011, 09:49 AM

I just checked up. Perhaps you are referring to three additional but different names of cinnamon that appeared in one sentence in the first paragraph. Those are Cinnamomum Ceylanicum (or Cinnamomum Zeylanicum) and also Cinnamomum Cassia. I do not know if this could be called keyword density targeting. Other than that I did not repeat it unnecessarily.

Thanks for pointing it out anyway.

**chrishirst** · 10:49 AM

Quote:

keyword density targeting.

it probably isn't called that but it looks that way.
It is what so-called "SEO Copywriters" do and generally make articles unreadable

this for example:

Quote:

... but as a medicine it is used alone in powdered form or in the form of cinnamon tea

could be

"... but as a medicine it is used in powdered form, or can be drank as an infusion".

Drank being the past tense of "drink"

We already know you are talking about "cinnamon" so there is no need to force the word in one more time.

I can't really imagine what the page looks like with the Google toolbar "Word highlighting" on with "cinnamon" in the search box (I don't have the toolbar installed) but it probably lights up like a Christmas tree.

Writing well in any language requires a masterly grasp of the grammar and nuances, as in English a word may take a different meaning depending on the context it is being used.

for example: The very Indlish use of "since".
in the "in use since thousands of year"

It would be correct to use when refering to a previous time, date or period. Such as:

I have been waiting here since yesterday.
or
it has been in use since the middle ages
or
the bus is late, I've been here since two thirty.

but it is incorrect when used with an enumerated prior period

waiting since three days

or the forum posting of;

"I am interesting to this and have been looking since three days."

You may have guessed by now that I am a lover of the English language and dislike seeing it vandalised. (especially by those American chappies who insist on inventing new verbs by adding "ized" onto the end of just about every noun going

)

And you may say that I would equally vandalise your language, and you are absolutely correct! which is why I don't try.

Maybe I should offer my services as a proofreader to people; for the right price of course

note to self: Proofread your own posts before pressing submit!!!!

**romeo7** · 10-12-2011, 01:22 PM

Understood, thanks.

Quote:

note to self: Proofread your own posts before pressing submit!!!!

I always do. Habitually I write in the word processor, check the spellings and grammar and save the draft. Before posting I read it again. I am still wondering why those mistakes occurred right in the first sentence. I read it at least twice before posting but ... as if I had gone blind to that sentence. I already know the use of "for" and "since", which I learnt (or learned) in my school days over fifty two years back but still ... Anyway, mistake is a mistake whatever be the reason. I am particularly thankful to you for pointing out.

**logoonlinepros** · 11-04-2011, 07:26 AM

Very well blog. I think you should more work on blog content writing.

**romeo7** · 11-04-2011, 09:48 AM

Thanks logoonlinepros, but the story is somewhat different. The blog you have commented on does not exist any more.

About two weeks back, I deleted my all the three blogs. Kitchen-herbs.com (topic of this thread) and fever123.com now redirect to homeopathy.com.pk, which is a static site not a blog. The third one pksocialblog.com now redirects to reikimaster.com.pk, which is again a static site. Till that deletion and redirection, both these (.com.pk) websites were on wordpress but I converted them to static html sites. In fact I had been maintaining both versions simultaneously, wordpress on server and static on my own machine. So changeover took less than 15 minutes.

In addition, I have completely deleted adsense from all of my websites. Having been powerfully guided by my subconscious mind I suddenly realized that I was pursuing a line that was not for me; I must stop making websites, blogging and writing articles on multiple topics and that I must revert to my original profession. I accepted the guidance verbatim, decided accordingly and said goodbye to what I had been doing for many years and earning. The decision was hard but I could not say no to a very strong guidance. It must have a purpose, which the time shall reveal.

Before closing I must thank everyone here for valuable views and suggestions.

God bless you all.

**reverseengineer** · 04-15-2012, 02:10 PM

Not there anymore but your redirect to your homeopathy site is pretty neat. What happened to the kicthen-herbs section?

**romeo7** · 04-15-2012, 11:43 PM

My previous post contains the reply to your question and the reason why I deleted my all the three blogs including kitchen-herbs.com. From fever123.com I moved all articles to my homeopathic site. Blogging is a good thing but everything is not for everyone.

I am now focusing on my Reiki and homeopathy practice through www.homeopathy.com.pk and www.reikimaster.com.pk.

Thanks for your interest in my deceased blog.