Before I say anything about Sephy’s Platzish, I need to inform you that this is a sponsored review via SponsoredReviews.com that I specifically bid on. I'd already written a non-sponsored review for Sephyroth, but he changed over to WordPress as his blogging platform since then and desires an honest critique of his blog as it is now. If you've read most of my reviews, you'll already know that I don't pull any punches. Being paid to write a review isn't going to change that.

The last time I reviewed his blog, Sephy's blog had a Google PageRank of 0 because the domain name was put into place between Google's updates. It now has a PageRank of 4. Sephy doesn't want Google screwing with it, so the links in this review all contain the "rel=nofollow" attribute. That's right; Sephyroth wants a real review, not just a bunch of inbound links.

Sephyroth isn't his real name and you won't find his real name on the blog. According to his About page, he's been involved in scam baiting activities. Using his real name would be a little dangerous for him, if I have to say so myself.

Sephy’s Platzish is a unique personal blog which focuses on a lot of technical stuff, some of it way over my head. It's amazing to see the level of detail he puts into every article. His recent article, "Google Reader & Blogrolls - There’s Room for Improvement", is a minor example of this detail. Having articles dating back to August of 2006, there are many that are much more detailed.

When he switched blogging platforms, Sephyroth decided to use a fluid-width theme. I really like the theme, so much so that it's now on my list of themes to switch to when and if the time comes. Anyway, he's done his homework and made his blog load fast and flow evenly. The external social widgets are in the lower right sidebar where they have the least effect on page loading time. The rest of the sidebar widgets, both on the left and on the right, appear to have been positioned with some forethought because the locations are optimized. Of course, that's my own opinion and some may disagree. I'd have to argue with any disagreement though, because his blog popularity continues to improve, as evidenced by rank increases.

There's no overuse of images on this blog; there's just enough to convey the messages presented in each article that requires them. This is actually refreshing considering how many blogs I've seen that use too many images. Just like sidebar widgets, images can slow things down. I experienced no slowness on this blog and that's a plus in any visitor's book. In fact, the faster the load time, the more likely a visitor won't click away before a page completely displays.

Am I being one-sided? Is this blog really that good? Well, I spent over an hour yesterday and more than an hour today so far, reading and looking for things to ding him on. I couldn't find anything negative. Even the rotating header thing is not a distraction in any way (which I didn't notice until I'd already read more than 10 pages of text). Am I biased? Not at all. If this blog sucked in any way, I'd be the first to say so.

Overall, this is a great blog and very time-consuming to read (and I mean that in a good way). I heartily recommend a daily visit — add it to your feedreader if nothing else. I did.

(Admin Note: This is no longer considered a sponsored post.)