Site Review - Ocean Africa @ Bundublog
Hi,
NOTE: This is a site review, of a non Internet Business site.
On the 18th of March, I posted an entry entitled SEO For WordPress, and one visitor ‘Frostygirl’ asked if I could leave her some constructive criticism of her blog called Ocean Africa which can be found at http://frostygirl.bundublog.com.
This is not a paid review, but my feedback to her about her site.
Who is Bundublog?
Apparently, the term “bundu” means “remote, deserted and uninhabited region, wild area (slang used in South Africa)” according to http://www.seslisozluk.com/?word=bundu.
I found the About page of Bundublog and this is what is said:
bundublog.com is about freedom, it is a means to express yourself without boundaries.Based on an Open Source platform, bundublog.com forms part of the “Open Movement” by offering a “No Cost” blog hosting environment for Africa.From the vision of Gordon Bishop, bundublog aims to give Africa a Voice, a Voice to be Proud of!
Unfortunately the information is pretty vague, so you’re still left wondering about them. However what you can find about Bundublog is that it is a platform for African bloggers. I actually did register for an account, eventhough I am not in Africa.
You can also visit their official blog at http://info.bundublog.com/.
Bundublog appears to be on the Wordpress platform. Once my account was verified, I was able to log into it. They are using the WP platform.
They offer 50mb of space for your WP blog and provide 17 different themes. Only 4 plugins are provided, and unfortunatley Akismet isn’t one of them — but something that is a must.
A cool option that they have enabled is the AMP plug-in (Anarchy Media Player).
Besides this - it’s a WP blog; nothing more can really be said about that.
Who and What is Ocean Africa All About?
Ocean Africa is a blog that has been set-up for visitors to “Learn more about people from South Africa” (I really liked the header!).
There is a wide variety of posts on her blog:
- Social Commentary - http://frostygirl.bundublog.com/2008/03/23/charity-begins-at-home/ & http://frostygirl.bundublog.com/2008/02/28/africa-playing-catch-up/
- Tourist Safety Tips - http://frostygirl.bundublog.com/2008/03/16/safety-tips-tourists-in-south-africa/
- General Discussion - http://frostygirl.bundublog.com/2008/02/22/what-shapes-a-person/
The only thing a little “dubious” was the link to Dubai Dollars which appears to be a MLM program, but otherwise the links were to affiliate sites to services for travellers so she (I assume she, based on the screen name of Frostygirl) is trying to monetize the site.
There is some advertising along the sidebar, but some blocks were blank and others didn’t show the image - only the telltale sign that an image should be displayed.
The content on the blog is very good, you can easily tell that a lot of thought has gone into the posts since there are very few “read me & run” type of posts.
The layout is pretty nice as well - very simple and straight forward.
She has even provided a Photo Gallery - only two pictures, but I would guess that over time more will be added of the city she lives in. My kid loved the picture of the elephants and lion!
Suggestions For Improvement
I’d like to see an About page. Although there is content on the site that describes the sites purpose, you need to hunt it down. An About page would be the ideal place to keep this content so that it is accessible easily. If an About page it not possible, then a link to the appropriate content on the sidebar should suffice.
Install a comment spam stopper! There are some good comments on the site, but there is also spam. Comment spam will stop the comment from appearing or the linkback from cluttering the site, but the link will still be there to the site on the splog — not much can be done about that.
Overall Impressions
Overall I liked the site, well laid out and not a lot of clutter. I liked the template being used, although the font was a little tiny for my aging eyes — but still easy to read.
I will be back to the site, and to the platform looking for other African blogs since I am originally from Uganda, and my wife is from Tanzania and still has a lot of family there. Although I can not relate to Uganda and Africa in general as I grew up in Canada, I always feel a bit of sentiment when I read about Africa. I’ll try my blog over at Bundublog and then perhaps recommend it to family members that live in Tanzania.
If you happen to visit her site, please do leave feedback here or at her site.
Regards,
Mohamed
Popularity: 8% [?]
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Comments
You are very welcome! I’m sure we will see lots of great things with your blog. If you want to participate in affiliate programs, there is a WP plug-in that performs redirections but the base URL would point to a spot on your site - something like this:
http://www.oibo.org/likes/makingmoney
This would be redirected to another site — but this looks much cleaner than using an actual affiliate link.
One such program is http://www.wpaffiliatepro.com/ - but it is not a free solution.
There is a free solution - http://www.optiniche.com/blog/305/affiliate-link-redirect-script/ - I have downloaded and installed this, but have not yet tried it out.
Keep up the good work!
Regards,
Mohamed
Hi Mohamed.
Thanks for your article on frostygirl.bundublog.com and bundublog.com.
Just to shed some light on some topics mentioned in your article;
Akismet is not currently used to block spam but may be introduced at some stage.
bundublog.com currently has three phases to block unwanted people and spam. Sign-ups are limited to certain countries and an Anti Splog checker is in place and linked to spamhaus.org.
bundublog.com also has a comment spam pack installed to stop comment and trackback spam, which validates trackbacks, has a simple spam filter and Anti Spam Image.
If the spam still gets though the user still has to option to moderate comments in the bundublog.com console.
bundublog.com is also new to the African Blogsphere and our huge focus is to give Africans a free platform to express themselves.
By offering a great support structure, bundublog aims to help bundubloggers through the blogging process.
Keep Well
Gordon
Hi Gordon,
Thank you for taking time out to comment!
I appreciate you taking the time to clearing up points I had brought up. I am sure that Bundublog will be very successful, as individuals from Africa are fiercly proud of the continent and of their countries regardless of the situation they are in.
As I mentioned, I have family living in Tanzania and the Internet has been tremendous for them as it has allowed them to keep in contact with friends and family that reside outside of Africa. They’ve embraced sites like MySpace and other similar social networking sites.
I’ve mentioned Bundublog to my wifes’ family who live mostly in Tanzania, and I’m certain to see their blogs online soon!
Keep up the great work - providing the voice is an essential service so that everyone regardless of where they are in the world has the opportunity to participate in this global activity.
Regards,
Mohamed
Hi Mohamed
Thank you so much for your review of my site I found it very constructive and it makes me want to improve my blog even more. I have taken the Dubai Dollar off as you are right it does not belong there. I am still very new at designing my adverts and some of them are not good but Godon the owner of Bundublog is really helping me a lot and he is extremely patient. I hope to hear from you again in a few months and hopefully you will find an overall improvement.
Enjoy your day!