MrsBlogInternational

It was interesting for me to visit the blog TheCollegeWarrior at least because of 1 reason: the WP theme Arthemia, which I like very much and intend to use in the make up of my other website.

Anyway, the SWOT is below:

S:

- good template, design

- good header – simple and informative at the same time good, solid colors: red and white.

- the blog targets one special group: namely college students,  it is also a kind of niche and the blogger is consequently filling it.

W:

- the ad coming suddenly out of the blue and filling the whole screen is definitely a no-no

- looks like you have some interesting categories, but it is not necessarily that your articles stick to them, e.g. article ‘The Campus Drug Guide’ under ‘Career’??!! No, thanks!

- it is hard to locate you, it is hard to say what area /country you cover

- it also seems like your blog is mostly by guys and for guys – cannot imagine any girl visiting you on the regular basis – but I may be wrong!

O:

- I think you may have many opportunities with your blog as the niche is good and the plans are ambitious, but you need to make a concrete plan what do you want to achieve with the site, who do you really want to target (men, women, career-students, party-students, etc.). For now it looks like the party=social section dominates it all. In that case I think you should underline it more – and not giving some false impression that there is anything to do with ‘improving of ACADEMIC, SOCIAL, and INTELLECTUAL lives’.

- I would say that once you will decide to cover only the area of your activity at the moment (Seattle?) you may be very successful with your blog then covering the whole universe. Believe me, I know what I’m talkig about as I made this mistake with my ‘international’ and ‘global’ websites – it is many times too big challenge to fulfill!

- you may try to include more informations about the events, lectures, cultural happenings, etc. in the area you live

T:

- I am not sure, frankly as the college-blogs are not too familiar to me. This is the first one of this kind I see so far.

This time, the turn has come to the blog Provocation of Mine(d). The author – Rebecca – has finally decided to make an assessment of her blog by the outsider – me. I hope you can use my points to anything.

S:
- good writing style
- you are consequently personal
- you seem to have a great and loyal group of visitors – assessing on the basis of comments received

W:
- the DESIGN is absolutely DREADFUL! It kills completely your personal approach, it’s not only the visitor that is lost in your template – you are also feeling uncomfortable, I can bet on it! The template is not only boring, but also extremely wide, which makes a huge clash with the intimacy of your thoughts. It’s like reading a poem at the football stadion without a microphone…
- the header is also much too big, much too formal.
- the name of your blog is a bit confusing – but definitely remarkable. Bt the risk is that the visitor who would like to comeback at the site will forget the last letter of yor url (d or e??)
- the site is loading extremely slowly – guess some plugins/widgets you implemented at the site – you definitely do not need so much of them!

O:
- I think that due to the fact that your strong side is writing, the basics are solid for continue with a good quality blogging. You’re probably right that you need to describe yourself a bit better, become recognizable, remarkable because one or more features which are characteristic for you only: your sense of humor, writing from the woman/daughter/pet-lover/democrat/fishing person/etc, etc.
The simplest and most logical would be focusing on PROVOCATION – as your title indicates. As for now, it’s too little of it there. Some blogs simply take a very concrete approach starting each of their posts with the same noun/verb/etc, see e.g. http://gosmelltheflowers.com/.
Those are the suggestions only – just trying to make you understand my point of being a blogger others remember for something special.

T:
- it’s always hard to say what are the threats for a blog – in the Web where all other blogs are potential threats. Your very own threat would be the visitors who will never comeback due to the unfriendly design.

Overall, I think that you have the basics of a good blogger: your great writing style and the loyal readers. Those 2 points are crucial for blogging I believe, so all that I have ben writing about here – no matter how harsh it was – is at the 2nd place.
Wish you all the best and look forward to seeing you grow!

Even if I am not a woman with afro hair, asked for a blog review, visited YourEpifany. It was a great experience.

S:

- the template is very nice – is it really blogger? looks like an awesome WP theme!
- there is no doubt about what you’re writing – and you’re very consequent, you’re found your niche
- the posts are not too short and not too long, greatly illustrated and organized
- the colours match very much the subject of your blog, and the composition of colours is neat and nice

W:
- apparently, you have a huge issue with your header! need to be fixed ASAP!
- the menu section should be more visible
- The Beauty of the Month is a great initiative, but have an impression that a bit neglected – cannot see neither the beauties nor the months!

O:
- just a thought but would suggest that you may try to find equally focused blogs written about other colours/types of hair: blond, dark, red, straight – etc, if any. There would be an opportunity of cooperating and supporting each others blogs.
- focus not only on women but also on men and maybe even children..
- focus on other colors of the skin – as the expression: ‘women of color’ covers those as well

T:
- it’s hard to say as I have never explored this niche as the pale European, but can imagine that even if there ust be some similar coverage at the Web, so still the potential of it is big. You should definitely keep posting and spread the word about your blog to the targeted audience.