Punch out 2.0

Have you ever wondered if you could beat up your friend in a real fight? Well thanks to googlefight, you can now have a battle on whose name has the most entries on Google. All you have to do is enter two different searches. These can be either names or inanimate objects. It doesn’t matter. Then there is a stick figure battle. After the battle, the results are displayed and the winner is announced. It is good for wasting 10 minutes if you are bored. Have fun and good luck in all your battles!

Battle of the Ah-lain-ah’s

Entry to the competition

For my last subject matter post I will revisit the battle royale theme that was started way back in October. This time there are only two contestants. They are Alana Garcia and Alayna Lim. When spoken they both sound like Ah-lain-ah but they are quite different. I will look at both subject matter posts and decide who is having the better December for blog dominance.

Alana

Alana Garcia blogged about Tiger Woods. The post was on a topic that didn’t really interest me because it was beaten to death over the whole week on radio, TV and in print. It was relevant to this weeks news cycle which earns one point for being current (tip #3). The writing was good but the link at the bottom was better. Having the link there was a good use of source material which gets two points (tip #10). The original reason why I was interested in reading this post was the title. Using cheatah instead of Tiger gets five points for originality and being catchy (using title effectively). Having a picture of Tiger/cheatah Woods under the title let the reader know who this post was about even if the name didn’t ring a bell. For the use of an image one extra point will be rewarded (tip #5).

Alayna

Alayna Lim wrote about copyright infringement in England. It is a topic that is getting more interest among people who make laws (apparently more so in the U.K.). The use of a skull-and-crossbones symbol at the bottom of the post was a great use of imagery and gets one point (tip #5). Underneath the image was a credit for where the photo was from. This gets four bonus points for not infringing on a copyright (tip #5). The red font stood out to me from the beginning. Everything else was black but the quote from the article was red; the color of pain and agony. Using a quote in the post nets three points (tip #4). The post was short and to the point. Two points are awarded for quickly relaying information (tip #8).

Showdown

It was a close battle and the score came down to a singly point. Both did an excellent subject matter post and should be applauded for their efforts…(short pause for applause break). Now to the scorecards. Alana scored nine points in the battle and had a decent shot of winning. However with ten points which was aided by a credited photo, Alayna wins the battle and gets the crown Top Ah-lain-ah of December!

And the winner is

Entry to the Competition

The contestants must have a first name that is two places higher or lower to David in the alphabet. They also must be enrolled in COM 495. Finally they will have to have a blog on WordPress.com because I am in fact a company man (dun nun nunh, dun nun nunh). I will be looking for readability and consulting with experts in the field of blogging to determine a winner.

Similarities

I only noticed one similarity through all four blogs and that was a white/light background and black/dark text. Readability is key in getting your word out. Before this change, some blogs were hard to read. Apparently not being able to read light text on a dark background is due do to astigmatism. This was one drawback of bad eyes I have never heard of. Since all four contestants had the insight to have dark text on a light background they will move on to the second round.

Differences

Theme colors were chosen with great care in this competition. Ashley chose a blue theme. Bryan, with a y, had a grey theme. Delaney and Ivan both chose white themes but Ivan’s didn’t have a border around the blog posts. Bryan and Delaney both had a title and a subtitle as mentioned in 10 design tips to make your blog look fabulous. They will move on to the final round in the first annual Battle of the Blogs.

Showdown

The winner of the competition came down to the wire wih the title being the deciding factor. Research has shown that blogs with well thought out titles get more traffic. Delaney’s subtitle was informative but Bryan’s, with a y, related to a catchphrase a certain no nonsense sports reporter uses. Bryan, with a y, wins the first annual Battle of the Blogs competition! He gets the coveted second link to his name, which will invariably double traffic to his site. Keep checking the blog for other competitions in the future like Craziest Post and They Said What.