Andrew Rouhafzai and the A2 Network Business Blog

While it cannot be said for certain whether this whole “make money online” business was started by a certain root of all evil, but it is painfully clear is that there is an overflowing abundance of blogs on the internet these days. Some are fairly small endeavors wherein the blogger’s thoughts are only read by a small circle of friends. Countless others, however, strive for internet celebrity status. They seek to reap in loads of dough and have a huge readership. I think Andy falls into this latter category.

Andrew Rouhafzai (don’t ask me how to pronounce that) of the A2 Network Business Blog asked that I review his site and provide any feedback that may help to “get a few more RSS feed readers” to his blog. That’s assuming that his blog is worth reading. Is it? Read on to find out.

What He Does Right

The “voice” on the A2 Network Business Blog is a strange one. On the one hand, Andrew offers a lot of useful tips like getting a website online, how to avoid the Google sandbox, and how he made $800 in one night. On the other hand, he has a casual, yet quirky sense of humor about him. In between the serious tone of useful information, he’ll break into a high school moment.

For example, in talking about ordering a review from Jane May, he says that the only reason why he went ahead and did it was “because Josh and I agreed she was hot, possibly one of the most attractive female web-entrepreneurs. By now, you’re probably thinking I am a total weirdo, but, sometimes I get bored on the internet and need to do random stuff for a break, so….whatever. Anywayssssssssssss —- awkward?”

It’s moments like these that remind you just how human Andrew really is. He’s approachable, and it’s easy for readers to relate to his experiences.

As evidenced by the poll shown on the left (which is currently running in the sidebar on the A2 Network Business Blog), Andrew has a very light-hearted approach to the internet. You can’t help but smirk at these lame attempts at comedy.

He also maintains a fairly regular posting schedule, with a new blog entry going up just about every day. In the month of May 2007, for example, there were about 20 posts. It’s not quite one a day, but it’s pretty close. Thankfully, each entry is a quality one and not just filler. The first piece of advice I have for Andrew, if he hopes to increase his number of RSS subscribers, is to post more often, ensuring that he puts up at least one new blurb each and every day. That includes weekends, Andy.

Style? What style? Individuality? What individuality?

This is an area that the A2 Network Business Blog really needs to work on. As it stands right now, it runs off the increasingly popular MistyLook WordPress theme, the same one that underlies the blogs of John Chow and Kumiko Suzuki. There’s nothing wrong with this particular theme, other than the fact that everyone and their mother is using it these days. What makes matters worse is that Andrew has done absolutely nothing in terms of customization. The color scheme is the default one (green links, light gray background, etc.). Even the header image has been left untouched. A casual visitor to the site will think it’s just another clone with nothing to offer. It is only after reading some of those great posts that you start to see the value, and if you can’t get the casual visitor to start reading, you’ve already lost a potential subscriber. A2 Blog needs some serious work in terms of aesthetics, but I’m sure Andrew already knows that. That’s tip #2.

Would this catch your eye if I didn’t tell you about the actually useful information found on the A2 Network Business Blog? I think not.

A few other quick-hitting things that I need to point out. The names of the categories aren’t particularly descriptive, so I’d imagine that their SEO value is quite low as well. It also doesn’t help readers very much when you have categories like articles, personal, and random, because they really have no idea what to expect. Based on those category names, the blog could be about cottage cheese for all they know. That’s tip #3. The category names, not the cottage cheese.

I like the giant RSS button he has running in the sidebar… you’ll notice that I got a big button too. What I don’t like is that the subscriber count widget underneath is black as that doesn’t match with the rest of theme whatsoever. Until you go through a redesign and some customization of the blog’s look, I suggest that you at least get this widget to “match” the site.

The blog needs a search form. This helps readers find exactly what they’re looking for.

Finally, I’m not a fan of having so much personal contact information so readily available. Maybe I’m just paranoid.

And The Final Verdict?

Overall, I’m quite pleased with the A2 Network Business Blog (for how he came up with that name, check out the about page). The clever inter-mingling of seriously useful tips with an overt casual and funny tone makes for a very entertaining read. I can recommend his site based on this. Where he needs the most work is in terms of creating a unique identity and this can be done largely through some WordPress customization. A little more (unobtrusive) monetization wouldn’t hurt either… that is, if Andrew does indeed want to make money online.

Yes, his posts don’t suck.