I don’t know much about brogs but that one looks cool. Design wise I’d say its sleek and I have no idea what it’s about or who is composing all of that and I still like it, so to improve I would just say go with your gut.

Could you bump up the size of the text. That is hard to read.

is it a personal thing? i just had a skim :P
I’m new in the blog circut too and the best thing i find is to specialise your blog to an audience.
My own blog for example is a collection of things that inspire me creatively and hopefully others too.
Gotta agreee with johnpowell there, small white text on a dark background is a no-no. same size text on a light background is alright though generally.

Unless you are old :P

@roons same size text on a light background?
What do you mean by ‘same size?’

Since the design isn’t mine and I don’t have the CSS editor, I’ll have to change the design completely.

ah same size as in the font size, is what i meant.
Yeah i would just keep it in mind. You could probably change the font color without the CSS editor

Apart from inspiring me to do my own blog now…. I’m intrigued and will probably follow your blog…I’m intrigued as to what exactly is going to happen to you…you sound quite ambitious but not with an exact direction and focus, which is not unlike myself…. hmmm interesting…

In terms of the actually blog itself…i think its just fine… and personally i like the small text

Visually it’s really nice; I agree with johnpowell about bumping up the font if you keep it as reversed out of the dark background. You might want to think a little bit more about your purpose for blogging; at the sixth entry, you’re beginning to drift in style, and it gets confusing. You’ve branded the blog, “living the good life” but the entries don’t relate to that.

I’ve been involved with blogs for 2nd year now. I must say, from the start rush on, regular updating determines a good blogger.

Having a domain of your own is a plus, although I don’t know if you host it on Wordpress.com or you have your own server. If the latter is the case, another plus. That way, you can modify your themes and a unique theme is a very important (if not the most) thing the visitor firsts notices and that way memorizes your blog. I’ve discovered that people tend to read more blogs that are bright, not dark.

If yours is a personal blog, not much can be done to improve your position No. on Google, Yahoo, etc. You can write juicy titles, that are in a way deceptive (ie, has more meanings). I tend to start every article with a picture. For instance, my last post was about new computer. I pasted Intel logo in the first place, so it was very obvious the post is a: about computer, b: a computer that runs on Intel. That’s two pieces of information, hidden in a couple of kilobytes, measured in a couple of pixels, but is perceived in the blick of an eye.

If you have the option, install the All In One SEO, which will give you the option to add meta description and meta title, which will give you better position on Google.

What’s concerning your content is, more or less, up to you. Follow style guidelines, for instance to create an optimal number of paragraphs proportional to the whole content. Some may be shorter, some longer, but do not push to extremes (have a paragraph containing 2 sentences, an yet another one that would fit a whole sheet of paper).

You can also add some photos in between the paragraphs, but be sure to give them alt attribute. Another option is to place a photo in a paragraph. That would push the content to the right (or left, depens how you want it) and would look like the text is a more extensive description acompanying the picture.

YouTube videos are a plus, too.

Don’t be afraid to try and experiment. If it works, way to go. If it doesn’t, hell, at least you tried.

The design is nice, very slick, although I would like to see more space between entries as they are smooshed together and it’s hard to scan through them quickly even with the titles in a different color. Similarly, more descriptive blog post titles would be great, as right now nothing really jumps out to me and makes me want to read it. As well, there is simply too much text to encourage me to read, putting a photo or video every now and then would help to space the text apart more. Personally I don’t see a problem with the text size or color as I’m a young gal, but some other people may find the size to be somewhat discouraging.

I would like to see more activity in your sidebar, maybe a twitter plugin if you use it, or flickr, etc. The Pages links are nondescript and don’t make me want to click them. Ultimately, I’m not really sure what the purpose of your blog is, or what I would gain by reading it, so maybe an about page would be nice.

With blogs, the main key in improving is in the number or quality of the posts you make. Strive to make one post a day for a week. Then, see how long you can go with making a post each day! Practice makes perfect, even if these once-a-day posts aren’t the greatest, you’ll learn quickly on how to improve them.

More pictures. More readable typeface. Better separation between entries.

And switch to Tumblr so I can follow you easier. (I typically don’t follow personal blogs in my newsreader. For me, it’s Tumblr or nothin’.)

@robmandu honesty is the best policy :) I’ll look into it.

@robmandu ooooo tumblr is fun :D

As for a CSS editor, you can edit it within WordPress, or you just use your basic text program on your computer.

@btko yeah but the css editor on WordPress costs money. tumblr is free :D
BOMG! (Blog OMG)

http://vimeo.com/2841917 :D

I’ve been blogging since 2001 and have four blogs :P The layout is clean enough. Wordpress is just newbie junk if you ask me. I’ve convinced other bloggers to try b2evolution and they can’t stop thanking me.

As for traffic….

Obviously you have to write something to interest people. Join some blog traffic sites to help bring new eyes in. Do a little research on SEO and using good keywords for links. You can see my favorite blog networking on my sidebar:

www.foreverpurple.com/blog

Entrecard is my favorite because it works for me even if I do nothing :P

I’m getting in the habit of trying to include a pic of some sort in my posts. My friend who is a drama professor and skilled writer and uber blogger says it’s nearly mandatory at this stage in the game :)

@cage, hey man are you using wordpress.com or wordpress.org ? In other words, did you install your own copy of wordpress on your own website?

If so just go to this link: (of course, replacing your domain name in)
http://www.yourdomainnameOMG.com/wp-admin/theme-editor.php?file=/themes/default/style.css&theme=WordPress+Default

You will have to be logged in for it to work.

I started a blog back in October, and I’ve asked myself a lot of the same questions you’re asking.

To me the number one thing anyone can do to improve their blog is to come up with great content. It’s not hard to drive traffic to your blog; it’s hard to keep them coming back.

After content, I think the next most important thing is regular posting. Occasionally I’ll sit down for some blog-hopping. It amazes me the number of blogs that haven’t been posted to in months. I currently post every day, and I think it helps bring people back.

Layout and design are important, but not criically so. My number one gripe about this is pages that have so many add-ons that they take forever to load. Videos and music seem to be the number one thing that causes it.

Improving blog depends on following factors like your articles and promotion of your blog. I would like to recommend you start promoting your blog in blog directories and RSS directories. Start blog comments it will surely help you.