Peer Review # 3 This week I am reviewing “MY LIFESTYLE” by Ziqi Qin (Bonnie).
Direct Link: http://ziqiqin13.com/blog/
First impression: At first glance, Bonnie’s website has beautiful artwork of a sunset over a nature scape that is used as her banner, it gives a feeling of warmth and calmness. The title of her website is called “MY LIFESTYLE”, it is in bold, large lettering that stands out and has contrast against the artwork she chose. This makes her main page appealing and accessible to readers. I like the pink tones throughout her page, it compliments the artwork well. I really love the palm tree in the left top corner, you can click on it on any page to get back to the main page. Her menu tabs pop out and are easy to navigate. You get a sense that it is a personal blog about what she finds interesting to write about. Her vibe isn’t to become viral but more of a personal blog to share amongst peers. As mentioned in John Suler’s (2004) article “The Online Disinhibition Effect” Bonnie uses the “We’re Equals (minimizing authority)” technique because her interaction with the reader feels like a peer relationship that is based on mutual experience and story-sharing. I would suggest adding an accessibility plug-in to her website to help those that have certain visual abilities and that could benefit from the variations of text and contrast. The plug-in called One-Click is an example that is easy to add to your website that comes with a variety of settings to help accommodate all readers.
Content: I love the content posts on travel and her ragdoll cat. I like that her contact info is in the contact section and that you can leave her a message in the provided fields. I would remove or change the generic contact info from the bottom of the pages. It would be nice to see more content within her posts along with adding enticing headlines.
Audience: Bonnie mentions in one of her Process Posts that her intended audience is her classmates and friends. I think if she wanted to, she could expand her public further if she used social media links on her website, but that is a personal choice. I think that Bonnie’s audience would be a younger demographic looking for a peer to relate to for travel or lifestyle ideas and also she could attract cat owners/enthusiasts with her cat posts.
It would also be helpful for Bonnie to incorporate SEOs in her posts such as adding keywords to her blog posts, adding videos from YouTube, and including related hyperlinks to her content posts to increase engagement and increase her google search credibility. As Sam Hollingsworth (2021) mentions in “15 Reasons Why Your Business Needs SEO,” using SEOs will ensure a good user experience and increase the chances that more people will read Bonnie’s content. Implementing these strategies could help Bonnie grow her public numbers.
Website’s Marketability: I think for marketability Bonnie could have an opportunity to try some monetization techniques. There is the option of adding ads to her site; Google Analytics has AdSense that you can add to your website. Also, using affiliates is another option, like for cat food or cat supplies or promoting hotels or travel, since she likes to write about her beautiful ragdoll cat and the trips she takes with friends, however, she would have to focus on creating a larger public first. Christina Newberry (2022) says “affiliate marketing is a way for content creators to earn commissions by referring customers to brands.” So you can use affiliate codes or links on your content website and every time someone clicks on that link and purchases that item you can make a commission.
Overall Bonnie’s website looks professional, is aesthetically appealing, and is well-designed. With some effort and planned direction, her website has the possibility to become more marketable.
References
Hollingsworth, S. (2021, August 9). 15 reasons why your business absolutely needs seo. Search Engine Journal. Retrieved from https://www.searchenginejournal.com/why-seo-is-important-for-business/248101/#close
Newberry, C. (2022, February 22). Using social media for affiliate marketing: 4 tips to get started. Retrieved from https://blog.hootsuite.com/affiliate-marketing/
Suler, J. (2004). Psychology of cyberspace – the online disinhibition effect. Retrieved from https://truecenterpublishing.com/psycyber/disinhibit.html
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