Advertising blog

You may want to check your Validity.

ermm.. honestly, i think it’s terribly hard to read. since we tend to read when on the web that might be a problem. It reminds me of an online pharmacy web site or something?

Too many clashing colors, which are ads! The content is muted and subtle and the ads are a loud gross out. If you want to look classy, make your messages larger and give your page a more unified color palette. Worry about the ads later, unless you’re getting paid a lot of money to run them.

I’d have to agree that you have some ‘contrast’ problems here.

For readability, I’d suggest these ideas:

– left/right columns needs to be lighter gray (or another complimentary colour)
– right column is too wide (perhaps to account for the ad size)
– the ad is too large … so as to not turn off your visitors on first sight, how about making it about 60% of its current size
– main content/body column in the middle needs to be wider (which fits with the right column narrowing a bit)

Right now, and I apologize because I do not wish to offend – and I’m not trying to be mean or impolite – the site sort of screams commercial and ‘template’ … If you, the blogger, want’s to achieve an audience, where is that all important ‘personality’ aspect – your personality. Blogs are, after all, conversations … not sales pitches (at least not blatant sales pitches).

The beauty of a business blog that works is focusing on making the viewing experience pleasant and not another roadside billboard experience – literally. Your banner appears to be a road leading nowhere. And that, right now, is what your blog looks like. The only link list you might make right now is the one for ‘site designs to never launch’. I am just being honest with you. It is my opinion, that’s all.

The thing that will sell the blog is not the template/style, after all … it is the content of the writing. Your writing.

Just my two cents. Best of luck with your blog.

The commercial billboard style that everyone dislikes is what I want. The blog is about advertising, and is not a personal blog. Unfortunately billboards are generally ugly because they are designed to attract attention and everyone including myself would rather not see them. Since this blog is about advertising, it is only appropriate to look like advertising. I have already received a couple of emails from people who liked it, so I guess not everyone is against it.

If you want some more insight into blawgs, check blawgs.com.

there is a growing special niche for law blogs.

blawgs.com looks like a link farm with nothing but sponsored link ads

PhilEsq,

the bit about it looking like a billboard isnt neccessarily what i think is “off” about it

You have very little left-to-right reading space for whatever content you do have, whether its personal OR related to advertising. Contrast that amount with the huge amount of white space (actually grey but you get the idea) on the far right under the calendar.

I think the site isnt reader friendly, this is a reading media, after all.
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I noticed you are using the Trademark symbol with the the name LawyerAdvertisingBlog, but a trademark search for that didnt return anything. Interesting.

Yes, the small center column with the right sidebar of equal size is both unsettling and unprofessional. By standard rules, the sum of the widths of the two sidebars should equal the width of the center column. IOW, each sidebar should only be half as large as the center column.

Kinda OT, but here is some brilliant advertising by a Canadian law firm:

https://www.jonimueller.com/media/was-his.jpg

And here’s my two cents about the design (coming from my skewed view as a legal secretary who’s worked with lawyers for over 25 years, and as a web designer):

1. The “highway sign” superimposed over the background of the highway is jarring. It looks like an afterthought, as if it doesn’t belong.

2. I agree with everyone else about the column widths, but what’s more, the letter spacing seems more open in the left and right columns than it does in the middle. There should be much more white space in the middle, and of course, the middle column should be wider. The text currently looks cramped, as if threatening to bust out of its box.

3. The entire page is much too busy with images. It is a site that purports to give information, to instruct. And the legal field is still very traditional. The design should reflect that.

FWIW.

Joni ??

First, these comments are OT

This is really funny. We’ve got someone discussing the design of his blog, and the focus on advertising design, and at the same time advertising … hehe this is really funny. I am almost tempted to suggest this was not a serious discussion but an attempt to get some airtime.

It reminds me of those late night commercials for home appliances with the business owner playing the lead actor in the commercial.

Well done.