dotbloggers

Knock Knock WHOIS There is proud to announce these members of our dotblogger program.

    .blog Featured Site: tvfanatic.blog

    Love television? Then tvfanatic.blog might be the blog for you. Blogger Amy is obsessed with television, so she started tvfanatic.blog to share reviews, ratings, and more with like-minded tele-philes. 

    On her blog, Amy covers both old and new shows, so whatever your favorite boxset might be, she’s probably covered it. Tvfanatic.blog also encourages reader participation, with the comments open for discussion and critiques from all TV fans.

    What is the blog about, who does it target, what need does it meet?

    Tvfanatic.blog is aimed at anyone who loves TV – from die-hard fans to evening binge-watchers to casual viewers. Though Amy is a self-proclaimed television obsessive, you don’t have to match her level of fandom to love her blog.

    In each of her series and episode reviews, Amy looks at the pros and cons of a show and concludes with whether she’s ‘in” or “out’. New series reviews begin with the show trailer and follow a standard template for each post which means readers know exactly what to expect. 

    And all of Amy’s reviews are spoiler-free to avoid ruining the experience for those who’ve not yet watched. When she does share information around plot points, a big red warning will let you know before you get to it, so you can skip ahead to the next spoiler-free section.

    What makes it special?

    Amy’s blog is super easy to navigate. On the sidebar, you’ll find a list of all the shows and series that she’s reviewed in alphabetical order. 

    Some of the top blog categories include ‘TV Performance of the Week’ and ‘TV Ship of the Week,’ where Amy shares her opinions on what she’s watching right now and the elements of the show that she’s most excited about.

    Amy says she watches TV like it’s a full-time job, and Tvfanatic.blog shows us how blogs that come from an authentic love of a subject can easily draw in other fans that recognize the genuine passion behind the writing.

    What to steal?

    • A well-organized sidebar makes it easy to find the shows that interest you.
    • Amy uses the site to promote sales of her books, including a series based on Alice in Wonderland.
    • The use of a template including a trailer, pros and cons, and the “in” or “out: ratings means that readers always know what to expect, and also makes it easier for Amy to write her blogs.

    #dotblogger

    .blog Featured Site: theholeygrail.blog

    Have you ever become so obsessed with a dessert that you can’t stop thinking about it? The author of theholeygrail.blog knows how you feel. In fact, she took things one step further: she started a blog about it. Theholeygrail.blog is one woman’s mission to find the perfect donut. Right now, she’s focused on bakeries in South Australia, but she’s sampled donuts from across the globe—so when it comes to finding the best, we trust her judgment.

    What is the blog about?

    Born from a simple love of donuts, theholeygrail.blog rose into something more: it gives the author’s love of eating donuts a self-proclaimed purpose while providing plenty of entertainment and information to her readers.

    The blog has reviews of donuts the author has tried. Each is ranked out of 10 on four criteria: Aesthetics, Dough, Topping, and Texture. To keep things fair, she only ever samples the same few types of donuts—a circle donut with either a chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry topping and sprinkles.

    As well as her ratings and opinions on her sweet treats, readers can view every donut on a map. So if you want to track one down, you can find exactly where it was purchased in and around Adelaide. You can also view the Top 10 highest-ranking donuts, which changes as more are added.

    What makes it special?

    Though the donuts reviewed on theholeygrail.blog are exclusively found in South Australia, everyone can enjoy a slice of the joy, no matter where they are. The fun theme, engaging writing, and informative reviews mean anyone can share in the author’s hobby.

    ​​Creating a unique design and layout for her blog also allows the writer to showcase her unique and playful personality through the illustrated design elements and bold, fun aesthetic of the website.

     Ideas for inspiration

    Offering information in different formats like maps and lists helps different kinds of readers digest your content.

    If you run a review website, set criteria, and rating systems help make your reviews easier to understand.

    Don’t be afraid to be funny on the internet! It’s one of the best ways to build a community, so don’t make yourself sound too serious if it’s just not you.

    .blog Featured Site: offrecord.blog

    Love music? You’ll adore offrecord.blog—especially if you live in Texas. This independent blog is run by three college pals who love their state’s arts and entertainment scene. But they grew tired of re-reading the same old news, so they took things into their own hands and launched offrecord.blog. The blog that sources and publishes lesser-known news stories from the Texas music scene.

    What is the blog about?

    As well as untapped music news from Texas and beyond, offrecord.blog shares interviews, reviews, photos, and recaps from live shows. The site is easy to navigate, with articles filed into categories like Features, Live [music], and Media & Culture.

    What makes it special?

    Offrecord.blog spotlights new talent and gives a voice to the otherwise unheard. The blog has been able to develop a dedicated community and a platform for smaller artists. It’s a place that others can get involved in and feel a part of. And, as anyone who’s been deep in a music scene will tell you, the best thing about it—after the music itself—is the sense of community it nurtures.

     Ideas for inspiration

    • Find a niche in the market—like finding brand new and unheard news stories—can make your work harder. But it also ensures that what you publish is interesting and relevant and that your audience knows to come straight to you to find it.
    • As a music blog, offrecord’s Spotify playlist is a nice touch. 
    • Creating a community around your blog helps increase reader loyalty.

    .blog Featured Site: breck.blog

    They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and Breck.blog is here to prove it. The website is a love letter to Breckenridge, Colorado, in photo form. 

    It allows people to upload their best shots of the stunning area. And alongside photography, contributors can add titles and captions. It’s a chance to explain who they are, what they saw, why they were in Breckenridge, Colorado.

    What is the blog about?

    Made up entirely of user-submitted photos, Breck.blog acts as an all-in-one visitors journal, a tourism board, and an art gallery. It showcases life in the area through regularly-updated imagery. Which creates a photo album feel for those who already love Colorado and those who are thinking of visiting.

    What makes it special?

    To post on Breck.blog, you have to become a website contributor. This helps the moderators keep an eye on who and what is being posted on their site. But it’s not an exclusive club, and you don’t need to be a local or a pro photographer. Tourists and amateurs alike are welcome. The only criteria is that submissions should show Breckenridge in all its glory.

    As well as promoting Breckenridge to tourists, it also allows photographers of all levels to reach wider audiences. It shows off Breckenridge’s beautiful scenery and community feel from different perspectives. And it gives an authentic glimpse into life in the town.

     Ideas for inspiration

    The blog’s creator makes all of the images available for use under creative commons licensing, so anyone is free to use or even adapt the images as long as they are not used for commercial purposes.

    .blog Featured Site: scottlamb.blog

    This week’s featured blogger is an expert in the field of blogging and content creation. Writer, editor, and VP of content at Medium, Scott Lamb is a self-described “internet person.” Scottlamb.blog, is his personal corner of the web and offers everything from memes to tech industry news, and the future of AI. 

    What is the blog about?

    Stories of Christmas break and crosswords sit alongside articles on Web3, and how Medium approaches new digital trends like AI-generated writing.

    His writing targets just about everyone interested in online publishing and how it might look in the not-so-distant future. Anyone who uses Medium can learn a lot from Scott’s insights. 

    What makes it special?

    Scott’s passion for writing means that the latest trends and developments online are interspersed with his own joyful content on “less important” (though no less interesting) themes.

     Ideas for inspiration

    1. A personal blog doesn’t always need to stick to a niche. At scottlamb.blog, we get his take on everything from Wordle theories to the climate crisis, to writing advice and TikTok.

    2. The first name + last name + .blog combination is the perfect domain for a personal blog. scottlamb.blog immediately tells us this is Scott Lamb’s blog. Or go with just a first name, last name, or nickname. All intuitive choices for anyone leaning into their own personal brand.

    .blog Featured Site: screenhub.blog

    Screenhub.blog brings together a community of bloggers who are passionate experts in the world of TV, movies, and gaming. By consistently putting out new content, including reviews and recaps, Screenhub attracts readers looking for news and information on “all things from the screen.”.

    What’s this blog about?

    Launched in 2018, ScreenHub publishes the latest news, theories, and reviews on TV shows, movies, and video games. Its five authors focus on new releases from varied genres, but almost always cover Hollywood blockbusters like The Mandalorian, The Last Of Us, and The Lord of the Rings. 

    Screenhub.blog diversifies content with both ‘spoiler review’ recaps of movies and episodes and spoiler-free reviews for those who haven’t watched yet.

    What makes it special?

    The authors at ScreenHub clearly know their stuff. Each blogger shares in-depth knowledge on specific topics and series, bringing in relevant references and trivia that span eras and genres of entertainment. Screenhub.blog also hosts a podcast that focuses mostly on movies. The podcast is a great way to bring these topics to life and turn them into conversations with other passionate experts. It also allows their readers to take a deeper dive into the subject and engage with Screenhub via a different medium.

     Ideas for inspiration

    • Use tags to help readers find content that matches their interests. Screenhub.blog uses a wide range of tags such as #horror #marvel #netflix to categorize content by genre, platform and more.
    • Diversify your content! Screenhub.blog uses different content formats; spoiler reviews, non-spoiler reviews, etc. and different mediums; both podcasts and blog posts.

    .blog Featured Site: urbannature.blog

    June Hunter is an English photographer and artist living in Vancouver. She turned her childhood passion for photography into a career as an artist, with a specific interest in urban environments, crows, and other birds. Her work is featured and documented on her blog, urbannature.blog.

    What’s this blog about?

    As a professional artist, June uses her blog both to promote her work, but it also introduces her work in more depth. Her commentary gives readers a glimpse into the history of June’s passion for birds. It contextualizes the images she shares and adds extra information about the birds, the areas they live in, and even their characteristics that June has picked up on through years of documenting their lives.

    What makes it special?

    June’s blog reminds us that joy and beauty can be found anywhere—including urban environments. Each of her blog posts focus on a different topic, showcasing her particular interest in crows but also in starlings, hummingbirds, and other species. By exploring urban areas in Canada, she highlights how easily nature can be found and enjoyed, not just in wild or rural places.

    Highlighting how to make more from the mundane: June finds delight in everyday things that she captures within a few streets of her home in urban Vancouver. It encourages us to find beauty in our cities and inspires us to pay closer attention to the everyday things we so easily overlook.

     Ideas for inspiration

    • Instagram galleries are a great tool for photography blogs. Having an Instagram gallery in the menu of her blog makes it easy for fans of June’s work to browse a more curated selection of her art.  
    • If you are selling online, use your blog to promote your products. Urbannature.blog offers product suggestions in the footer at the end of each blog post.

    .blog Featured Site: skill-yoga.blog

    A blog can be an important tool for businesses in establishing a brand and expert voice. It can also play a role in attracting new customers online. Skill Yoga, a company that offers personalized online yoga training plans, understands this very well. Let’s take a look at how they use skill-yoga.blog to publish expert content on all things yoga, health, and mindfulness.

    Who is the blog for, and what’s it about?

    The information shared on skill-yoga.blog is broken down into three clear categories: movement, mindfulness, and strength. Some posts focus on just one, while others cover all three. Topics discussed on the skill-yoga.blog website and podcast include the benefits of yoga for the mind, different poses to help various ailments, and information on the fundamentals of yoga for beginners. 

    What makes it special?

    The world of yoga can feel like a daunting realm to enter, but the blog’s friendly approach introduces the fundamentals as well as diving deep into more specific topics, such as how our goals can hold us back or how to make yoga work better for your knees.

    The visuals and overall aesthetic are consistent, calming, and appealing.

     Ideas for inspiration

    – What kind of information may your potential new customers be seeking? How can you incorporate that information into your blog?

    – Skill-yoga.blog includes lots of how-to articles such as how to do a certain pose or what poses are good for achieving certain goals. Think about what kind of content you can offer customers to help them get the most out of your services or products.

    .blog Featured Site: thinkinginenglish.blog

    This week we introduce Thinking in English, a podcast for English learners. We delve into how its creators use thinkinginenglish.blog to enhance and support their podcast, offer listeners additional resources to help them achieve their goals, and to act as a portal for their English conversation classes. The team behind the blog promotes the importance of thinking in a language you’re learning as a key part of developing fluency and delivers content and materials to help people achieve this goal.

    Who is the blog for, and what’s it about?

    Founder Tom Wilkinson came up with Thinking in English in response to the frequent complaints of students about a lack of suitable and accessible resources for advancing their English. Today the blog features three qualified teachers with experience working with both adults and children learning English as a second language. 

    Thinkinginenglish.blog offers additional resources for listeners of the podcast, including podcast transcripts, vocabulary guides, reading comprehension practice, and conversation classes.

    By publishing content around talking points like politics, the news, and philosophy, thinkinginenglish.blog helps English language learners take in and consider information in a second language. This helps them get used to processing their new language and also encourages them to engage in topical discussions.

    What makes it special?

    Thinkinginenglish.blog brings together resources across multiple mediums to support their listeners’ language learning goals.. Creating accessible short-form content for students learning a new language makes learning more fun and achievable while helping them fit lessons into their everyday lives.

    The creators had existing expertise and found a way to transfer it into a blog and podcast that reaches beyond their classrooms.. By offering both written and audio content to their audience, they increase not only the ways in which their students can learn but also how new audiences can find their content. 

    From pronunciation guides to discussing sports and considering wider societal issues, the range of topics available to English students on thinkinginenglish.blog helps users progress at their own rate, dip their toes into new topics, and increase their understanding of the basics—all of which contribute to becoming fluent in a new language.

     What to incorporate into your blog?

    – Think about the different mediums and platforms where you publish. How can they interplay and work together to create an even better experience for your readers? Thinkinginenglish.blog publishes both written and audio content to help reach a wider audience and present a broader offering to their students.

    – Publish podcast transcripts on your blog. This offers greater accessibility and has potential SEO benefits as search engines index text better than audio.

    – Offer paid users premium content or courses such as the conversation courses on offer at thinkinginenglish.blog.

    .blog Featured Site: thesporting.blog

    Blogging about sports can mean competing for readers against major media and news networks, but thesporting.blog has a clear strategy on differentiating from the competition, and it’s all centered around producing quality evergreen content that stimulates debate and discussion. From martial arts to cricket, thesporting.blog covers just about everything within the world of sports.

    Who is the blog for, and what’s it about?

    With an aim to be the internet’s biggest publisher of evergreen sports content, thesporting.blog produces informative recaps, reviews, and articles, lists, and interviews by and about people involved in sports.

    The blog was started in 2017 as a place for founder Oli Harris to write about and interview professional and amateur sports people. In the years since it has flourished to become a platform for fans of all sports to explore and discover more about their favorite teams and hobbies.

    Now, thesporting.blog is more than just a blog. It’s home to a community of avid sports fans and runs its own podcast. In fact, there’s just one thing thesporting.blog doesn’t do: publish sports news. 

    You won’t find the score of last night’s game here. Oli’s vision for an entirely evergreen sports website, where audiences can refer to any article at any time and find relevant information, need not compete with the hundreds (if not thousands) of sports news and commentary websites out there. They’ve carved their own timeless niche, and it’s working for them.

    What makes it special?

    Thesporting.blog is entirely inclusive. Fans of NFL, rugby, and kabaddi will all find sources of information, interviews, and expert insights into their favorite games. Having developed a community of passionate writers with one thing in common—a love of sports—thesporting.blog is able to offer unbiased information about even the most niche sports from across the globe. 

    This sets it apart from other dedicated channels that are focused on just one sport or one team, and it offers new audiences a chance to explore games, teams, and other aspects of sports that they might not otherwise have known about.

     What to incorporate into your blog?

    – When choosing a domain name for your blog, think about how you can use both sides of the dot. Thesporting.blog is easy to remember because it’s a phrase that incorporates the Top Level Domain, and tells us exactly what kind of website to expect.

    – Creating evergreen content is a great way to keep your articles relevant for longer and makes room for annual updates, which helps boost your SEO.