Jane May Blogs

I don’t know if many of you know this, but I am a big fan of white wines.  Well, by big I mean I don’t know much about them, but I like the sweet taste of them.  This is why I chose to do a review of RedneckWineReview.   By the title, I really had no clue what to expect.  I thought I might see a middle aged unshaven man, with a straw hat, wife-beater tank top, blue overalls, grasping a bottle of wine by the spout and chugging away at it.  Pretty picture right???

What I’ve come to find is quite the opposite.  The title is reflective of the entertaining writing style of the blog owner.  Brian, the owner, started this site in August of 2005.  I was surprised at this since there wasn’t very much content on the website.  Like many, Brian suffered from the blogging blues when first launching the site.  But now, he’s gotten back up on his horse and has committed himself to the website and quality content.

As you can see, there is no unshaven hillbilly drinking a bottle of wine anywhere.  It’s actually a great resource for a couple of reasons:

1. You can find out what level of wine drinker you are- 5 Levels of Wine Drinkers
2. If you are on a budget, you can check out what top wines you should stick to- Top Wine Reviews For Wine That Is Less Than $25 
3. If you are pretty much dirt poor but have the taste of the wealthy, you can check out the top wines for less than $11- Top Wine Reviews For Wine Less Than $11

This isn’t a how to make money online website, so the way Brain approaches his blog is going to be a little different than other bloggers out there.  RedneckWineReview.com is a website that tries to make light of a traditionally snobbish hobby while still providing valuable information for wine drinkers. The blog claims to be a “down to Earth wine reviews” website.  From the articles I have read, I would say it’s true.  What I like most about the site is Brian’s ability to entertain the reader about a subject such as wine.  I found myself reading his latest post (5 Levels of Wine Drinkers) and thinking, wow, that is so me.  I was definitely a Level 1 wine drinker for about 2 years.  I think I’ve moved into Level 2, and tipping into level 3.  But I’m not that hard core yet to be drinking the red wines without grimacing

Here’s the About the Site section along with a few mug shots of Wine Lovers: 

It’s good to see that Brian is doing all the right things to gain exposure to his site.

1. He ordered a review from this site (sorry, shameless plug)
2. He’s tapping into the social networking community of bloggers
3. He has a nice big RSS icon making it easy for people to see and signup, you can do so here: Feed Me

Theme

I like the WordPress theme that Brian is using, a three column template.  I like three columns because it allows for content, ads, and your traditional sidebar plugins.

• Caution: you have two pretty big wine banners, both above the page break.  This can be a bit overwhelming since one of the banners is 336×280 pixels.  It may come off as you are trying to over sale a product.  Having one under your header might be good enough and you’ll just need to find another space or a smaller banner to put elsewhere if you really want two.

Adsense are placed within the text and in the sidebar.  I think it’s just the right amount as they blend in well with the site.

Recommendation:

The best recommendation I can give Brian is to make the website user-friendly.  One way to do this is by creating a top toolbar with the appropriate headings.  This will be easy since the template already has pages you can add built in.  You can keep the ones you have, but I spent a while trying to figure out if your “Home” button was really “Wine Reviews” and if I was completely missing your “About Me” page.  Turns out, the about me was in the right sidebar.  Making it easy for your users to find things such as an about me page, archives, top posts, etc. will increase the retention of your readers.

Go pay Brain a visit and vote on his poll he has in his latest post.  I’m still debating as to what level of wine drinker I am

If you would like a site review or private review for your blog, website or program, you can contact me with the details.