This is yet another review that is going to be totally unfair. I've been reading all three blogs belonging to Chris Lodge for months and Blog-Op is one of them.
Chris has a nice-looking blog theme. This is the only place I've seen the theme, so either it's not a real popular theme or he's modified it enough that it doesn't look like the original. It's easy to navigate and he puts the important stuff above the fold where it belongs. It's too bad there isn't enough space above the fold on most blogs to put more of the important stuff, but we have to do what we can with the screen real estate we have at our disposal.
While most blogs that are focused on blog-related topics have a tendency to be "preachy", Chris doesn't operate that way. He takes what he learns and shares it with everyone else, asking questions about it from his readers. He actually learns from his readers. You can see the time and quality he puts into his articles just by reading three of them: Getting Started With Blogging - Exploring The Archives Part 1, Increasing Traffic - Exploring The Archives Part 2 and Optimize Your Blog And Improve your Rankings-Exploring The Archives Part 3
There are a couple of things that are annoying about his blog, but they're really minor in the grand scheme. The first is his contact information. He has a "mailto" link with an image that you won't find unless you go into one of his pages. He should have something visible in one of his sidebars or his footer. A contact link or form should only be one click away from the index page, any static page, or any post, but not two clicks.
The other thing that's annoying, and it isn't his fault, is the loading of everything else before the content. If a script hangs before the content displays, you have to reload the page and hope the content comes through the second time. He's going to lose new readers when that happens. I have a suggestion, but it's a painful one. He needs to get a different three-column theme and then modify it to look like this one. If he's up for it, I can modify my own theme to look almost exactly like his (or even better). Then he'll have two things going for him: A theme that works like it should and someone who knows where to send him when he wants to make a change. (Of course, it wouldn't happen overnight. I do have a life.)
If you want to seriously improve your own blog's performance in the rankings, make more money, pull your hair out, or whatever, then this is the blog to read every day. Chris is easy to get along with, even if he does talk and write funny. (That's just a poke, he's from Scotland, not America.)
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