What was your first impression of chenpn.com?
Posted by pelf in Blogging Challenges & Tips, Site News
Hi guys! 
First off, I’d like to thank each and everyone of you for your comments on the first post of the Rediscovering chenpn.com series. Thank you very, very much, I appreciate your time and feedback…
… and to reward you, I will feed you with more questions, heh! 
First impressions *shrugs* We’ve read and heard too much that first impressions are important and everlasting. The first impression either lands you on the job, or it doesn’t. It either increases your RSS subscribers, or it doesn’t. It either makes your first-time visitors come back for more, or, well, it doesn’t.
I know I am guilty as charged. When I land on somebody’s blog for the first time, it’s very important that the blog theme and layout appeals to me (and my eyes). I have the notoriety of not coming back to a blog because the blog theme and colour scheme and font type and line height doesn’t appeal to me much. Much has been said about how content is king these days, but when the colour of the blog hurts your eyes way before you finished reading the first paragraph, I’m sure you too, wouldn’t stay any longer
And as much as I’d kill the blog I’ve just landed on, I do stay on to browse the categories and a couple of posts because I believe in giving bloggers the benefit of the doubt. Yeah, the blog theme may not be nice (it’s quite subjective anyway) or the colour may be blinding, or the font size may be too small for my liking (or I’d have to strain to read the posts) but if a blogger has good, quality content, I wouldn’t think twice before subscribing to his/her blog feeds.
Similarly, when I’m subscribed to somebody’s RSS feeds, overtime, if I find myself reading the feeds without wanting to click through to leave a comment, I’ll unsubscribe myself from it. And that’s the end. I will not return to that particular blog unless I chance upon it again while blog-hopping or while browsing a blog aggregator (e.g. Project Petaling Street or SARAWho or Frenzrss or 9rules).
So my question is this — What was your first impression of chenpn.com? How different (or similar) it is compared to the other blogs you’re currently subscribed to? And how different is chenpn.com from your first impression? Were you ever disappointed because the content wasn’t up to your expectations? Or were you excited about finding it?
So would you please tell me why you kept coming back to read chenpn.com? And if you’re reading this from your feedreader, would you please click through to tell me about it? Your feedback is greatly appreciated..
Rediscovering chenpn.com series:
- Why do you read chenpn.com?
- What was your first impression of chenpn.com?
- What have you learned from chenpn.com?
If you think this post might benefit other bloggers:
I have too many blogs on my blogrolls and I don’t subscribe to any feeds. That is why I rely on PPS. :-)
You write good posts. Good English.
First impression?
Well, I’ll be dead honest… For a personal blog, the header/banner is a little too serious.
If I’ve not seen your avatar, the name Pelf and the conservative banner would make you more like a guy. LOL.
Your contents are good. Just the banner….. Hahahaha
already said why i keep coming back…
first impression… i like the banner. really… first impression is everythin.
the color scheme is quite good. clear. and easy to read. maybe i should change my theme also. haha
Oh I do agree with you, that first impressions very much count. If a blog’s chock-full of ads, cluttering the layout, or everything’s messy, chances are I won’t come back either. If that’s the case, then the content really have to stand out, or else they’ll just be overlooked.
My first impressions of your site? Very clean. I love the header you used. Catchy title (Pelf-ism is contagious - good use of your slightly unusual name :p) . Good colour theme. But then again, I’ve always loved red :p
Like I said before, I like your writing. Witty. People might call you a do-gooder for being passionate about what you believe in, e.g saving the environment, spreading awareness about certain important issues, but really, I think it’s very good work that you’re doing there, which, I can tell you, few people can do. So to heck with them, eh?
So keep up the good work. You’ve got a faithful reader here anyway
I like the content… Keeps me up-to-date on environmental issues and conservation, which is one of my concerns too. As well as community service. That’s why I come back and subscribe to the RSS.
I come for the content, thus I don’t really bother about first impression.
But since you ask:
The 3 columns make it rather cluthered, especially when the 2nd column has all those ‘mi mi ma ma’ wording.
No offense, hor?
LOL. This is what happens when I wait to comment.
I agree with Yenjai about the layout issue. Your website is a bit cluttered, but the content makes up for it. Though it looks cluttered, at least it looks like organised clutter and not some random *drop here drop there* kind of clutter that I’ve seen on some other blogs.
First impressions? That’s so long ago… >
helen_H: I have had people addressing me as Mr. Pelf. Perhaps I shouldn’t take it for granted that people always knew “pelf” refers to a girl, huh? But then again, I’ve always thought that I’m not a “girlie” kind of person. I don’t like teddy bears, my room is messy and my stuff are never neatly arranged, and I have a taste different from other girls my age.. That explains the banner..
zewt: But has it ever occurred to you that the banner might be too “boyish” for a girl, like what Helen said? Did you know that my blog belonged to a girl the first time you were here?
Alvin: I love my current theme. And yes, I can definitely see that you love red, because I do too
Tine: I have to admit that there was once I chucked my blog full of ads out of ignorance. And then I started reading blogs on blogging and all, and I’ve learned very much since then. I have realized the importance of having good content and all, but I never knew that my content is good enough for my readers. I have never imagined that.
My content comes from my heart. I do not blog them because there is a lack of such blogs in the blogosphere. But then, I’d also need readers like you who would see my subjects from a similar point of view
And for that, I am grateful.
Bernard: But I don’t blog as much about environmental issues and conservation here these days.. Is that why you’re only clicking through to leave a comment whenever I blog about the environment?
yenjai: You think a 3-column blog looks cluttered? Hmm.. So what are the things that you would remove if you were the owner of my blog? What are things that are important on the sidebar, and what aren’t? Personally, I love 3-column themes, because then I have some space to display badges and other stuff that would usually not be displayed if I used a 2-column theme..
Pat: “Organized clutter”?! Thanks for this brilliant phrase, I shall tell my Mum that the next time she complains of my messy room
Ah, part of my comment was cut off. Ah well, wanted to say that I stayed for the content. Can’t remember much about what I thought about your layout, but your content was why I remained a faithful RSS reader.
I still serong at your header though.
Blog themes will not have any effects on me unless they are totally causing a negative emotional stir. I always come back for content. Makes me know a lot more about turtles and how you interpret the world. It is interesting to study and share the growth of another person through writing.
Your blog actually has personality (I must be crazy…) I can hardly find any similar blog with similar to yours so until I can find more, I’ll be staying here for quite a long long time
First impression is important. If a blog theme/skin/layout falls into the the “sins” as KennySia described, I will not give the blog a chance. I will just click on the “X” button to close the tab with that opened blog.
If I gave the blog a chance, in which means the theme/skin/layout passed my “Quality Check”, I will read the content. If it’s good, or I find a “click” from that blogger’s writings, I will subscribe it.
But the weird habit of mine is that, although I subscribe to that blog, it doesn’t necessary means that I will read it and comment on it. Sometimes its like I look through the title, read the first few sentences, and if it doesn’t interest me, I will mark it as read and proceed to the next unread item. And sometimes, even if I do read the blog post in my feed reader, I don’t comment on it.
Once I subscribed to a blog, I will not unsubscribe from it, unless the blog is not updated for months without any hiatus notice, OR, that blog suddenly writes too many irrelevant sponsored posts. I hate sponsored posts, because I see that most of the target market is not for Malaysian. I don’t mind if that blogger suddenly blogs about Jack n Jill chips or Susu Cap Junjung.
Real nice looking theme. Anyway, it’s content first for me.
There’s no reason for any blogger to have a reallllly bad looking site anymore — there’re loads of nice looking and free templates around.
ColourfulWorld: Thank you so much for being my fan, heehee
I hope you have benefited from my turtle posts though I don’t blog about them as often as I used to..
GeminiGeek: I think we are alike on some matters, but I do unsubscribe from blogs from time to time. I’d prefer to keep my RSS feeds clutter-free. Plus, it saves a lot more time if I were to just completely remove the feeds I am no longer interested in.
Vincent: Thanks for the compliments
First Impressions? Aiya, you changed the theme so many times! (like me, haha) I come back for the content though.. If it is interesting.
Personally, I think you can cut down on the word count for each post. Not many of us can read long long post. And I think you should stick to your Turtle Jihad thing. It works.
Oh yeah, the theme is too serious for a personal blog.
Hmm, I was most taken by your use of the English language when I first visited your blog. That and the serious matters addressed.
To be honest, I don’t really place much store by how the blog is designed because after reading the latest ten posts, I kinda know whether or not I’m going to subscribe to the RSS feed and I do all of my reading from my feed-reader. So for me, the content is king!
First Impression???? Oh yes, this is my first visit ever to the blog, though I’ve heard about it (Bloggeries forum), but didn’t have the opportunity to have a look at it due to time constraint.
Well, now when I’m here, the first thing I found very good was in fact the theme and then the content, not only the written material but appropriate use of images.
Will, have another visit soon!
Josh: Err.. Are my posts wayyy too long for a normal blog post?
rinnah: So you enjoyed the “serious matters” la?
Qurratulain: Thanks for the compliments!
Definitely the content. There are quite a few blogs in my RSS that I really don’t like their blog layout but if the content is good as long as the theme isn’t offensive I don’t care what type of theme they use. :-)
Nice layout, great content.
Keep rockin, dai kah cher!