I am a massive believer in premium or unique blog themes.

To me, they are a statement that the blogger is serious about what they are doing – and I respect that.

One of my favourite WordPress theme sites is Elegant Themes because they don’t charge on a ‘per theme’, but instead allow you access to their whole catalog of themes for one low price (usually lower than the price of one theme elsewhere).

But what if you are using a WordPress framework like Thesis?

Introducing Thesis Themes Website – ThesisAwesome

I am sure that by now you would have heard of the Thesis Theme that is use by almost 30,000 bloggers – if fact you have probably seem quite a few of them, because in all honesty a lot of them look exactly the same!

That is the reason my good friend Hesham from FamousBloggers has taken the initiative to create his own Thesis Skins website where you can buy a membership to his designs and quoting their slogan ‘make Thesis awesome.’

New Themes Monthly

Currently there are 4 themes available but that is due to this membership community being completely new. Hesham is promising new themes each month and I expect them getting better and better!

I can see ThesisAwesome finding similar success to elegant themes because a lot of people are buying Thesis with no design experience whatsoever – so there is definitely a crowd of people looking for good Thesis themes.

How Much For These Thesis Themes?

Hesham has created three great payment options, that makes it easy for anyone to be able to start using his Thesis themes:

1. Developer Access – $69.99

   If you are planning on using these designs on both your sites and your clients sites then the developer membership is the right one for you! This includes full email support and 1 year of membership.

2. Personal Access – $29.99

   Only run you own websites, then the personal membership will be just fine. At just $29.99 for 1 years membership this is a great price for unlimited use on your Thesis websites.

3. Free Access – $0

   Don’t already have the Thesis theme? Buy it through ThesisAwesome and you will receive FREE personal membership for 1 year!

Worth Buying?

Now it may look quite bare at the moment, with just 4 Thesis themes. However, with new themes being added each month and for just $30, if you own Thesis then this looks like a great investment!

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If you would like this to be your blog next week then visit our “Free Blog Review” page and put your entry in!

This weeks Stand Out Blog is:

Blogussion.com

If you have been around blog about blogging niche for any time you are sure to have heard about Blogussion. Alex and Seth have just done some tweaking to their design and when I saw their entry I was excited to see what input I could offer.

So let’s kick things off with the design and aesthetics, as this is the area they have most recently changed, and pull the design apart and see what they are doing well and maybe just a couple of little things that could be tweaked.

• Design & Aesthetics

  
  

  Blogussion is based on the popular Thesis WordPress Theme, but has been highly customised into what I would say is one of the most well thought out and visually attractive wordpress themes at the moment,

  Here are a few features that I Love:

  1. Focus Is On The Important Stuff
     Anything that the authors have thought to be of importance to visitors stands out so that you definitely cannot miss it. From the larger sub-navigation under the logo, to the visually compelling sidebar that draws your attention to their RSS and Newsletter subscriptions as well as the most popular posts(bringing traffic back to older posts).
  2. Homepage Article Formatting
     Alex and Seth have somehow found a way to easily fit 15 of their most recent articles onto the homepage without the feeling of being overcrowded or overwhelmed by content. This would definitely help increase traffic flowing into more of their recent posts.
  3. Fantastic Use Of Below Post Space
     
     This is definitely my favourite feature of the whole Blogussion design. The implementation of a ‘Post Highlight’ to recap the most important snip its from the post is probably one of the most innovative addons to a blog design that I have seen in ages. On top of that, the use of ‘similar articles’ and calls to actions helps direct readers on where to go after reading the post – keeping them on the site long or converting them to followers of Blogussion in one way or another.

  The final positive note actually comes from my wife when she came over to see how the review was going and said ‘ Tell them that I want their design!’ – Enough said.

  How I Would Improve The Design
  This is a lot tougher than I would have through.Usually there are a heap of little things that could be improved with the design of a blog, however Alex and Seth have done a great job in nutting out the little flaws and there were only one tiny things that I could mention:

  1. The large amount of features started to draw me away from the main attraction – the content. All I will say is, “Don’t let your design become the focus of your blog. It is only their to compliment the content.”

• Content & Direction

  Once again, I have chosen to review a blog with a focus on producing quality content. When you consider that one of the Authors is only 16 years old, you begin to see why this blog is definitely on the right track for long-term success. When it comes to the individual posts, the formatting compliments the content very well and the unique quote box definitely draws attention to what is important.

  The current posting frequency at Blogussion.com, of once every two days, was quite acceptable given the length and quality of the posts. But with the introduction of posting every weekday will definitely increase traffic – especially from RSS subscribers.

• Branding & Marketing

  Branding comes down to just one simple thing – how people see your product (In this case your blog).

  

  The Blogussion logo has had a few simple changes with the new changes to the theme. The main one being the introduction of the comment icon with the ‘B’ inside it. I think this is a terrific branding strategy as it gives the blog a common icon that people can associate with.

  I know a lot of people associate branding with design, but branding also includes perception – which means how people see the blog. When you look at the the fact that the average post on Blogussion has anywhere from 20-70 comments, I am sure you will agree with me that the blog has some decent credibility.  This credibility has been based on consistent, quality content – and something that a lot of bloggers could learn a lot from.

  Guest Posting
  The authors are massive fans of guest posting as you can tell from their post: How We Earned Over 200 Subscribers With 2 Simple Posts.

  Guest posting is something that I have done a little bit of and it definitely comes down to choosing the right blogs to guest post on and considering that Seth has been writing for ProBlogger.net and DailyBlogTips.com, I am sure you will agree he is hitting his target market.

• Monetization

  Blogussion has a ‘no banner advertising policy’ which I totally agree with. You can read more in Alex’s post: How I Realized Banner Ads are Harmful to my Community. With a focus on community and the introduction of a mailing list, I definitely don’t think they will be missing the minimal banner ad dollars any time soon.

  One Thing I Am Surprised With
  

  Considering that Blogussion.com has been around for quite a while now, I am surprised with how long it has taken them to introduce a newsletter subscription. One of the most quoted statements when it comes to online marketing is, ‘The money is in the list.’ However, that being said, I am very much looking forward to seeing what this Newsletter has to offer.

In Conclusion

This definately turned into a what you can learn from a well planned out blog, rather than a review, but I really think that there are a lot of things that we can all learn from how the guys at Blogussion.com do things.

Now it is over your you, if you have any input for Alex and Seth, then leave a comment below.

If you would like a review of your blog like this, then head over to our Free Weekly Blog Review page as I will be giving away a free review each week as a way for us all to gain insight from other blogs.

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So I have decided to (hopefully regularly) highlight a few blogs from a certain niche and just rave on them for a bit. And even if the niche has nothing to do with your blog – you are sure to learn a lot from their blog and their blogging style.

Being a massive fan of entrepreneurship and innovation, I have decided to start with that niche. And the blogs that I have included, I believe are leading the pack in content and delivery in the entrepreneurship niche.

The 10 Entrepreneur Blogs You Need To Follow In 2009!

QuickSprout.com

QuickSprouts would have to be one of my favourite blogs to read in any niche. It is full of challenging, real life posts that always leave me thinking about my business (my blog).

Why QuickSprouts?

• Run by Neil Patel, the co-founder of ACS, Crazy Egg, and KISSmetrics
• Neil was named a Top 100 blogger by Technorati
• Neil was also listed as a top DIGG influencer by the Wall Street Journal
• Straight to the point posts that challenge your thinking

Visit: QuickSprout.com – (Subscribe To RSS Feed)

SmallBizTrends.com

SmallBizTrends is definately one of the biggest players in blogging FULLSTOP. With over 240k subscribers they must be doing something right!

Why SmallBizTrends.com?

• 240,000 RSS Subscribers!
• Forbes ‘Best Of The Web’ 2005 & 2008
• Entrepreneurs.About.com – #1 Most Practical Blog for Entrepreneurs
• Anita aso serves on a number of large business boards

Visit: SmallBizTrends.com – (Subscribe To RSS Feed)

RetireAt21.com

RetireAt21 has been in my feed reader for quite some time now and especially of the last few months I have been able to network with Michael Dunlop, the founder. During this time I have seen Michaels passion and drive turn this blog into a quickly growing entrepreneur hub.

Why RetireAt21.com?

• Quality interviews with many top entrepreneurs
• A quickly growing entrepreneur forum
• An inspiring list of the top 50 Entrepreneurs under 30

Visit: RetireAt21.com – (Subscribe To RSS Feed)

InspiredStartup.com

InspiredStartup is another new blog on my radar but definately earns it’s place on this list with Andy not only being a serial entrepreneur but also a very keen social entrepreneur.

Why InspiredStartup.com?

• Founder has invested in 13 companies and currently runs BuddyTV.com.
• Sits of 4 boards and 2 non-profits
• Incredibly inspiring posts
• Actively applying his entrepreneurial skills to help combat extreme poverty.

Visit: InspiredStartup.com – (Subscribe To RSS Feed)

VentureHacks.com

VentureHacks is run by a team of highly successful entrepreneurs and investors. Definately a great resource to gain from.

Why VentureHacks.com?

• The team has raised over $100million in financing
• And invested another $20million into about 12 companies
• The also provide great content and recommend some fantastic books

Visit: VentureHacks.com – (Subscribe To RSS Feed)

GuyKawasaki.com

I don’t think I could have left Guy out of this list if I have tried. Probably more of a fun and personal blog than the rest, however Guy definately backs himself up with some thought provoking posts.

Why GuyKawasaki.com?

• Guys founded and runs a very successful venture capital company
• Has authored 9 books – most with an entrepreneurial theme
• Writes for Entrepreneur Magazine

Visit: GuyKawasaki.com – (Subscribe To RSS Feed)

BizCrusader.com

BizCrusader is brand new in my feed but it instantly struck a chord with me due to his (John Park) straight forward, no hype posting.

Why BizCrusader?

• Author has over 18 years business experience
• Posts are based of ‘real life’  business issues
• Not afraid to ask the tought Questions!

Visit: BizCrusader.com – (Subscribe To RSS Feed)

KillerStartups.com

KillerStartups is definately the blog to visit if you are looking for inspiration for new online ventures.

Why KillerStartups.com?

• They review 15 new startups each day
• Allows you to review each startup
• See if you can pick the next big internet venture!

Visit: KillerStartups.com – (Subscribe To RSS Feed)

ShaboomInc.com

ShaboomInc is probably more focused on self-emplyment then on ‘entrepreneurship as such, but I added it to the list because of the content. I am a huge sucker for a personal touch in blog posts and the author does this very well.

Why ShaboomInc.com?

• A more personal look into small business
• A focus on innovation and ‘dreaming’

Visit: ShaBoomInc.com – (Subscribe To RSS Feed)

NextBillion.net

While NextBillion is not the typical entrepreneur blog, I guess I included or that reason. The focus is not on making money for one’s self, but on entrepreneurism for positive social and environmental change in low income communities.

Why NextBillion.net?

• To inspire you to look into social entrepreneurialism
• To make you aware of issues facing people outside our backyard
• To read about the creative innovation that comes out of necessity

Visit: NextBillion.net – (Subscribe To RSS Feed)

———————————————————–

I am sure you will agree, some very inspiring blogs. I’d love to hear your comments.

• Which blog is your favourite?
• Who did I forget?

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The following is a paid review and is completely my own opinion and not influenced by being paid. If you are interested in having me review your site or product please contact me.

Do You Want To Retire At 21?

I know a few of you may be thinking, ‘but I am already older that 21.’ Thats ok! Because today I will be looking at a website  that although is called RetireAt21.com, Michael Dunlop, the founder says:

I hear you cry. Don’t worry, despite the name, the information and advice is more geared towards retiring prior to having a fake hip installed. Even if you retire just a few years earlier due to the advice at retireat21.com it surely has to be worth taking 5 minutes from your day to check it out… doesn’t it?

But What Credibility Does Michael Have?

Well Michael has something in common with many of the most successful business men in the world. He is young, and a college drop-out – getting his business education the old fashion way. On the street!

Starting his entrepreneurial career on Ebay, Michael soon moved onto websites and currently runs many successful websites including, WebDesignDev.com and RetireAt21.com.

An All-In-One Entrepreneurial Website!

While most websites focus on just one area, RetireAt21.com takes it a couple of steps further and has integrated some of the most important tools an entrepreneur needs online – all in one website. These tools include:

• Interviews With Successful Entrepreneurs
• An Active Entrepreneur Forum
• The Rich List – Top 50 Entrepreneurs Under 30
• Frequently Updated Blog

So let’s take a look at each of these and see how you can benefit from what RetireAt21.com has to offer!

Interviews With Successful Entrepreneurs

You know when you visit a website and they have an interview posts and you have no idea what who the person being interview is? Well that’s not what its like here! Michael has somehow managed to get interviews with some of the most successful online entrepreneurs – that I am almost positive you would not only have heard of, but wish you were even just remotely as successful as them. People Like:

• Darren Rowse – ProBlogger.net
• Aaron Wall – SEOBlook.com
• Matt Walls – SnorgTees.com

An Active Entrepreneur Forum

One of the things that aspiring entrepreneurs really need to focus on is networking! Networking is one of the most important things in business. Finding people you can partner with, learn from and build each other up is what will not only keep you in business but help you turn your project into something big!

The RetireAt21 Forum is a great place for you to meet some of these people! So what makes this forum so special? Well it could be the fact that there are over 2000 members which means that finding people who will compliment your business or website should be quite easy. PLUS they are all there for the same reason that you are – They want to create a successful business or website and want to retire early!

I love getting around people with the same dreams and desire that I have, because it is so inspiring, and keeps me on track. So I strongly suggest you head on over to the forum and register and start networking!

The Rich List

Simply put, this is an inspiring list of the richest 50 entrepreneurs under the age of 30! ‘The Rich List’ ranges from The founder of FaceBook who is worth $700million to the 19 year old founder of Bodis who is already worth $1million!

Frequently Updated Blog

The thing I  have found about websites that include blogs is that they are not usually updated all to often, it is just another service they try to provide – but usually fail! However the thing that Michael has done that as a blogger like, is that he spends a lot of time on the blog section of the website . The way that he does this is by having multiple authors for the blog. The added benefit of this is that the expertise areas is also increased! Check out just a few of the great posts on the blog:

• 10 Reasons Having Your Own Internet Business Is Better Than Any Job
• 6 Lifestyle Choices For Successful Entrepreneurs
• A Beginners Guide To Internet Marketing

Advertising Opportunities

If you have a product or website that is targetted towards entrepreneurs then this seems like a great place to find them and there are many great ways to advertise! But first lets check out the websites stats:

• It’s a PageRank 3
• Alexa Rating Of 77,525!
• 500+ RSS Subscribers

And Here is what a few advertisers have said:

“Wow, when I signed up for advertising on Retire at 21, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, not only do I get a good amount of traffic but Michael has personaly guided me on how to get the most out of advertising on Retire at 21!
I would recommend advertising on Retire at 21 to anyone who wants to promote a new website or a already estimblished website wanting to boost traffic and sales!” – UniversalClients.com

“I have been promoting my Reverse Funnel System on all of Michaels websites for a few months now and I’m still collecting affiliate commissions! I can’t begin to tell you how impressed I am with the amount of quality traffic I receive on a daily basis. I advertise on a lot of different websites and I can honestly tell you that my ads with Michael out-perform all of my other ads. If you have the opportunity to advertise on one of Michaels websites take it!” – ReverseFunnelSystem.com

Nothing like raving reviews!

I must say that Michael has done an amazing job with his advertising page. It is well laid out and gives you all the information you need to make an informed decision. AND, when you are ready to purchase and add you can do it through paypal right there and then.

So why not head on over and check out his advertising offers and if it’s what you are looking for, then grab yourself one of the spots – I’m sure you won’t be dissapointed.

Overview

So there we go, RetireAt21.com seems to be a great website to become a part of if:

• You are an entrepreneur looking for networking opportunities
• You are interested in becoming an entrepreneur and keen on learning
• You are looking for advertising opportunities that target entrepreneurs

One last thing I think you should do before commenting on RetireAt21.com below is to subscribe to his RSS feed!

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1. Why Did You Create The Blog?
I created a blog mainly to give me something productive to do rather than just chilling on the computer playing games and using StumbleUpon. I figured that establishing a web presence for myself (especially at a young age) could be something nice to put on a portfolio and I’d learn how to manage a business (that’s what a blog is, after all). Oh, and I also want to become filthy stinking rich. But that’s a side-goal.

I picked the niche of blogging about blogging/SEO/MMO because I thought I was fairly knowledgeable about the subject and it’s something I’m very passionate about.

2. What Are Your Goals For The Blog?
I’d like to have over 400 subscribers and get into the top 30 MMO blogs on 45n5 (currently #80). These two goals basically just involve expanding my readership and reactions to my blog – two things essential for success. Oh, and I also want to become filthy stinking rich ($400+/month by the end of ’08 should do it).

3. Who Is Your Target Market?
My target market? Well, according to me, it’s tech-savvy webmasters who are passionate about increasing their influence on the web. Generally, it’s 18-35 year old males. According to Quantcast, though, it’s old poor white dudes without kids. You tell me which you think is more accurate.

4. What Do You Think Is Good About Your Blog?
The content is probably the best part. I don’t write crappy stuff like plenty of other MMO “gurus.” My advice is funny, practical, and effective, or so I’ve been told. Helping and entertaining my readers is what I’m all about. That and the filthy stinking rich part. I’m also fairly fond of my blog design and that little button that brings you to a random page when you click on it.

5. What Do You Think Needs Improvement?
Improvement? My blog is perfect already!

Well, uh… I guess I could get a custom blog theme and spice it up a bit. I think mine is a little too cluttered. Maybe you can tell me some other things I can put in this category? :)

Lets Have A Look At BlogBadly.com Shall We?
Now we know exactly what Max is trying to acheive with his blog lets take a look at a few of the key areas of a blog to see the areas he is doing well in – and maybe we will be able to give him a few suggestions of areas of improvement. So here we go…

Design & Aesthetics

The design seems nice and clean and looking at the footer it appears to be a free theme. Free themes are a great way to start a blog and make it look nice without spending to much money – so nothing wrong here. One thing I went through with the launch of my new theme was the fact that a lot of bloggers commented that the content was not the priority and there was too much other things taking up too much room. I see a bit of this happening here. Here is what I mean:

One thing I did to try and expand the area of my screen that the content took up was to convert from a 2-column side bar to a single sidebar. Personally I i think it just looks a lot cleaner. Otherwise I really like the theme!

The other main portion of the design is the logo. Everyone who has read my blog knows that branding is one of my favourite topics – and your logo is an essential element of branding.

Looking at your current logo:

I see a nice custom logo. It is unique and has the starting of something that could easily become brandable. The one thing I see that is lacking a bit in the logo is it just feels a little bit plain – it doesn’t stand out enough. Now I am not a graphics designer by any stretch of the imagination but I just played a bit with the colours of your logo to give you a bit of an idea of what I think would help your logo become a bit more brandable.

Notice how it stands out so much more – I’m not saying it has to be those colours, it just needs to be a bit more visible.

Other than those couple of small things, I would say you have done a great job with the design of BlogBadly!

Content

Content is king.

Or atleast that is what everyone is saying. And reading the content on blog badly, I think you have hit the nail on the head when it comes to content. The tagline of BlogBadly is ‘The funny Problogger’. Although the indepth posts like Problogger many not be there, the funny is. Check out some of these posts:

• Blackhat Money Making
• Online Work Habits Efficiency
• How To Talk Yourself Out Of Writing A Blog Post

But inbetween the funny ones there is still a lot of posts that contain quality information that will keep the readers coming back.

Great content!

Traffic

Im just gonna give you 2 quick tips that I used to maximise my blogging reach!

1. Drop your maximum entrecard drops each day!
I think you are allowed to make 300 drops, if you have the time do it! I found doing this along made my traffic jump a great deal, and there are lists of blogs that load quick if you do a quick search that will make your dropping easy!

2. Comment On The Blogs You Entrecard Drop
I think this is where a lot of entrecard droppers miss out on a golden opportunity. If you are already visiting the blog to drop your card, then spend an extra 5 second to see what their latest post is about. If it’s something you’re interested in then leave a comment – that way you are promoting your blog to all that blogs readers as well!

Income

Currently I can see two advertisements slots on the blog. One at the top, and one side banner. Neither of these are generating any money. The quickest way to get these sold is to let you readers know about them. Leave a quick post to tell them whats available and how much, and I bet they’d both be snapped up straight away!

Until then, why not stick affiliate ads in their to at least try and make a few extra dollars a month in commissions. I did this and made $50 from host gator – more then the rest of my income from this blog combined.

Conclusion

Blog Badly is a great blog, with a lot of potential. I think that if you look a little bit into your brandability, and make it a priority to constantly be active in your nicne, that this blog will definately not only be around in 12 months time, but it will be thriving!

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I Am Planning On Reviewing A New Blog Every Week!
Starting with a four week trial to test the results of the reviews. Especially your comments on whether you like it. I think this is a great way for me to give back to you, my readers, something that is valuable and will help improve your blogging.

What Areas Of The Blog Will Be Reviewed?
Great question. I will be looking at the blog as a whole, starting with an introduction of the blog explaining a little bit of background information. Then I will start looking at the pros and cons of the following key areas:

• Target Market
  We will take a look at exactly who this blog is targeted at. This needs to be identified if we are to correctly analyse the following four areas.
• Design & Branding
  Here we will spend some time looking at the blogs theme and logo as well as how brandable their blog currently is and what they can do to improve it.
• Content
  Content is king, as everyone says, so we will spend some time analyzing the content of the blog, posts and pages, and the based on the target market of the blog see what can be done to improve conversion of visitors to subscribers and subscribers to raving fans.
• Marketing/Networking
  How active is this blogger in their niche? This is what we will tackle in this section. We will look at the bloggers current marketing and networking efforts to see how they can increase awareness of their blog in an efficient manner.
• Monetization
  What is being done to make money from this blog? And how can the monthly income generated from this blog be improved? We will look at ways to optimize revenue and increase the blogs earnings.

Would You Love An In Depth Blog Review Like This?
If you want to be the first blogger to get their blog reviewed on StandOutBlogger.com then don’t expect it to be easy. No you don’t have to be a subscriber to enter. This is open to every blogger but I expect a level of effort from the winner.

1. Answer A Few Simple Questions About Your Blog
   Before I visit your blog and start working on the review, I will want to ask you a few questions about your blog so that I can look at things like your target market and your current promotional efforts. This step is important and I will need the info emailed back to me within 48hours of receiving.
2. Be Prepared For Criticism
   I am a big believer in constructive criticism, however I am a positive person and love to focus on the good things, as well as the ways that good things can come from current bad situations. However, my readers may not be so kind, so be prepared a chain of readers opinions

Simple… So How Do I Enter
This part is so easy all you have to do is:

1. Comment Below, Nominating Your Blog For A Review
2. Tell Me In 100 Words Or Less Why Your Blog Should Be Reviewed
3. Post Comment

How simple is that!

You Have 48 Hours To Enter…
So start getting creative with your 100 word answer as this will be how I chose the winner. Here are some ideas that I might like:

• A Funny Answer
• A Serious Answer
• A Suck Up Answer :D
• A Self Sacrificing Answer

In other words ‘be creative’. Make your answer Stand Out from the crowd and get noticed – then get reviewed!

I Will Only Be Reviewing One Blog A Week, so comment below to give your blog a chance to get an in depth blog review for free!

Vote for StandOutBlogger.com at Blogging Idol: Subscribe to our RSS Feed or email updates to get each new post to you as soon as they are written!

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