Blog Review: OzStudentSaver

The title on this blog reads: "Extravagance on a Budget". Sounds rather promising. :-)

One of the things that really stood out to me was how clear and uncluttered this blog is. I love the choice of layout, especially the way the 3rd column has a slightly different colour background, allowing a differentiation between the 2 sidebars.

Another interesting element on this blog was a list of recent posts at the bottom of the page, with a partial feed for each one, allowing a new reader to quickly browse these posts and choose to read any that sound interesting or relevant to their own interests. A great idea for encouraging a new reader to browse past posts.

Clearly, the emphasis of the blog is that of finding ways to cut costs and live frugally - without necessarily feeling like you have to go without the things in life you love.

Currently the most common content is that of gardening with some lovely clear photo's of the bloggers own garden. I particularly like the photo's showing container gardening - making it clear that ANYONE can grow something themselves.

I also thought the Aldi product reviews were a fantastic idea for those who might be considering trying an Aldi store and uncertain as to the quality of their products. In fact, it's an idea I myself might "pinch" as part of my "reducing the grocery budget" series. :-) Not for Aldi as we don't get Aldi here but for the more common generic branded products that I use.


WHAT WOULD I DO DIFFERENTLY IF THIS WERE MY BLOG?

* I found the use of a small heading and large advertisement in the header a little bit off-putting. I think it is something I would get used to but it drew my attention away from the blog and made it hard to quickly ascertain what I was looking at. My concern would be that a first time visitor might not take the time to move past that and move on quickly to another blog.

* At the moment the blog is a little light on content. Having been started in July, there are around 33 posts currently available to read. I prefer to read blogs with regularly updated information so wouldn't like to see any less than the 10 posts per month that seems to be the current level of posting. Some of the pages offered are currently blank and there is very little information in the blue coloured sidebar.

* I noticed a number of comments by readers had gone unacknowledged by the blogger. It may well be that they had been responded to privately or via the commenters own blog. I like to see the interaction between the blogger and the reader through the comments section of the blog so would prefer to see more comments made by the blogger.


OVERALL IMPRESSIONS AND RATING

While it is clear that this is a blog still in it's setting up stages, I think it holds a lot of promise as being a blog providing lots of information in a clear and relaxing manner. Overall I found it a joy to read.

Rating: I'm going to rate this blog a 3-star with the potential to become a 5-star blog!

You can find this blog here.


NOW IT'S YOUR TURN

This is my first blog review I've ever written. I'd really appreciate some feedback as to what people thought. Was it informative enough? Interesting enough? Accurate? Please let me know what you think. :-)