HoboStudent is aimed at giving advice, guides, and information to students who are struggling to get by, especially during these times of recession. Basically, the blog’s motto says it all: “Where the broke students go.” Getting by college life is difficult, but the difficulty level rises a few notches when you don’t have the money you need for this. HoboStudent seems to have a mission to inform and aid students how to get through college without much money. The blog has topics like Obtaining Beer with Little to No Money and The Secret to a Free Haircut.
What you’ll like about HoboStudent
HoboStudent has a web design that is very easy to use. With the categories lined horizontally along the heading of the page and other links lined along the right margin, the webpage is easy to navigate. Also, the blog posts are easy to spot and easy to access with large link buttons. Another good feature of HoboStudent is the use of pictures. Including pictures for each blog entry is important if you want to grab the attention of your visitors. The layout of the page is very organized and easy to understand as well.
What’s not so great about this blog
At first sight, it would seem as though HoboStudent has a good concept, albeit rather pessimistic. If I personally planned and conceptualized this site, I would try to have a more optimistic approach to helping less fortunate students get by in college. Instead of teaching students how to get by with no money, why not focus on helping students get out of their financial struggles? When you actually take the time to read some of the posts on this blog, it makes you wonder whether the authors are genuinely trying to help or they are just trying to get some laughs from their readers. From the site name alone, HoboStudent, it’s already hard to take the blog seriously, and the blog entries only prove my point.
Student Bloggers is a blog that has the main objective of building connections between blogs, bloggers, and blog readers. The blogger behind this site is a college student; his target audience includes college students and bloggers. Some of the typical types of blog posts that you will find on Student Bloggers are student stories and featured blogs of the day.
A rather unique perspective
The best thing that Student Blogges has is its unique perspective. Yes, there are numerous other sites out there that seek to link blogs together, but what makes Student Bloggers unique is that it takes an unbiased approach to its aim. Other sites with a similar concept normally link together blogs from a single college or university, or link together blogs about prestigious universities. Student Bloggers, on the other hand, links together practically any student blog, as long as it conforms with the three rules posted on the blog’s “About” page.
Room for improvement
Although Student Bloggers has a good concept, the execution of this concept can be improved. First, the web design and layout needs a revamp. The site looks like a typical blog, with no personality to catch the attention and interest of the visitors. Furthermore, the website lacks color. Although some of the blogs have pictures, the blog site itself doesn’t have much decoration. The layout should also be improved for more convenient navigation and to make it easier on the eyes. Looking through webpages can be a pain on the eyes–both literally and figuratively — and when you have a cluttered layout it only makes it harder for your visitors. Finally, I suggest that Student Blogger increases the number of articles on its page. Most of the blog posts are just “featured blogs of the day,” but there isn’t much original content being produced by the Student Blogger authors.
