Explore: An Industry Voice is a blog that reviews hotels. Doug, the blog’s content creator has a few years of experience working in the hotel industry and through this blog is applying his expertise in the reviews he is pending.
Central to this first peer review is the creation of Online Self. Doug’s about section can be found in the menu bar and is quite simple.
In order to build an online self, I really think Doug would benefit from updating his about section. Either, if you plan to keep it short and sweet build it into the home page instead, I would suggest also adding social media handles somewhere on the homepage as those accounts can greater demonstrate who Doug’s online self is. In John Suler’s The Online Disinhibition Effect, he discussed putting up self-boundaries and feeling guarded online. I really feel this boundary when I look at Doug’s about section, as I do not really feel as if I know Doug much at all. Doug elaborated more on himself on a past process post, and I think the about section would really benefit from some of the content of that post being transferred to the about section.
Let’s switch now to the design so far. I like simplicity in blog design, as it allows for the content to shine. I really like the colour choices, typefaces, and WordPress theme Doug has chosen for the blog. I do not understand the connection between image and the content of the blog. The tagline “An Industry Voice” also requires tweaking as on first glance, the reader will be unsure about which industry Doug is discussing.
Doug has uploaded one hotel review:
As someone who also does reviews, first off I love having the scoring system and the overall rating. It will be so handy when comparing to other hotel reviews on the site. The review lacks visuals though. Any audience today, is just getting less and less willing to read plain bodies of text. Rather than visually explaining different aspects of a hotel, such as the pool and gym, pictures of these places would elevate the reviews. Whenever I book a hotel I am usually persuaded by ones that have comprehensive image galleries. Incorporating images into the hotel reviews I believe will attract a larger audience, and most importantly keep them on the site.
Doug is quite knowledgeable, the written content demonstrates that beautifully. Areas of improvement fall in the creation of online self, design, and visual content. Upon further refinement, exploredoug.ca will be the first place I check the next time I am booking a hotel.
