A review of The Reading Bumble Bee

Dear Bathila, 

I had the lovely chance to review your blog, The Reading Bumble Bee. You did a commendable job with your website and is very enjoyable to read through; your mixture of posts about books, your reading processes/habits, and other book-related topics is refreshing and informative, especially for someone (like myself) who is not very familiar with all these different topics relating to books. Now that we’re in the final week, here are some thoughts regarding your website to make it even stronger:

Content/Structure
Something I really want to commend you on is the diversity of the topics you’ve written about. From ergodic literature, to lively bookshelves, and reading journals, these are topics that I am not familiar with but was rather intrigued upon reading your articles. Your writing and insights evoke curiosity into unfamiliar subjects – for example you made me want to actually find a beginner ergodic literature because they look so appealing! When I first read the title of your website, I was thinking that it would be about book reviews, so this was a unique twist!

For the structure of your website, I appreciate that your navigation is simple, easy to understand, and scrolls up from the bottom of the site; it’s a pleasant interaction! The same goes for the design of your website as a whole: it is simple, fresh and clear. The imagery you picked was very representative of what you chose to talk about and was easy to understand; each image had a clear purpose and I appreciate that there was no clutter. My only feedback would be regarding the process posts: I can’t seem to find them in the navigation, but perhaps this was your intention so that only the teaching team can see them. So if you would like them to be seen, I recommend putting a link in your navigation! And a small detail, your content is very approachable and it feels like a friend talking to me; that said, I would recommend maybe including your name/introducing yourself more in your About section, simply so readers can reference who you are since you mention “I” throughout your writing. Or if you choose to stay anonymous, that is perfectly alright too! 

Marketability/Audience
I admire that I can get a sense of what your website is about right away based on the purposeful imagery you used and the large titles. While you may not have any ads related to the subjects of your blog, I can still tell that your intended audience can range from book/reading enthusiasts, to those who do not have much knowledge in this area. I can tell who your audience is based on the type of voice/language you are using; for example, you define for the reader what a dust jacket is, book nooks, and the different types of ways to annotate. For readers who are experts, these may all seem obvious, but to more novice audiences these definitions in a simple language are extremely appreciative and effective. All in all, I believe your voice/choice of language is one of the strongest qualities of your blog because it flows well, is easy to understand, concise, and informative. Your tone is friendly and inviting, like you’re excited to chat with your audience about the related topic – well done on this! If you’d like to increase your marketability further, I would suggest carefully placing ads in a way that does not interfere too loudly with the cleanliness of your blog, or perhaps even adding more hashtags near images so that people can find your website. For example, someone looking for book nook reviews might find your blog page and be more likely to click on it if there’s a tag on your page related to it.  

Overall
All in all, your website makes for an enjoyable experience for your intended audience range, both novice and more expert reading/book enthusiasts. I commend you for the effort you’ve put in that demonstrates what we’ve learned in class about how to present yourself online. I wish you the best in the final week! 

Best,
Paola