Reviews are running a bit late at the moment. I'll get them all done shortly. Sorry for the delay. If you want a review, contact me.
This time I'll be reviewing Turnip of Power.
Hey, what's that? A Ben Barden interview? Gee, I wonder if that will score some bonus points... 
Turnip keeps it simple: his tagline is The Social Networking Side Dish, and his About page refers to the site as The Premier Site On Social Networking. But is it any good?
Content
Turnip is not selling anyone short by referring to Turnip of Power as a premier site. His content is absolutely top notch. He is honest and sometimes quite critical, but he's always fair, often including plenty of constructive comments.
Typical posts include reviews of social networks, advertising networks, and plenty of commentary relating to Entrecard. Although it's not all about Entrecard, you can usually rely on Turnip to say what's on everyone else's lips, which makes it easy to jump in and leave a comment.
I hope he's reading this review because I do have one gripe. He doesn't offer full feeds, so when I view his site in Google Reader, I only get the start of the post. I understand there are pros and cons here, but I think it's a shame he uses partial feeds. Turnip of Power is almost the only site I am still subscribed to that does not provide a full feed. A site has to be very good indeed to make up for the lack of a full feed, so I guess that speaks for itself. But hey, how about giving me a full post to read in Google Reader? 
Community
This section is a new addition to my blog reviews. Turnip's site has a great sense of community. 20 or 30 comments is not unheard of. Turnip engages his readers with sharp writing, and gives them a reason to comment. This is one blogger who knows what he's doing and just keeps on doing it.
Turnip also does a fine job of interacting with other members on other sites, such as the Entrecard Forums, a place where he is usually just around the corner with some advice or an amusing anecdote. His image is one of the most recognised on the whole of Entrecard. I'm sure this is why a lot of people go to his site and comment on it.
Focus
Although I liked it before the social networking focus came into play, I think Turnip of Power is a lot better than it used to be. The focus has a wider reach than "All things to almonds" (what was that about anyway?), and although social networking sites are really popular, it's a niche I haven't seen a lot of blogs covering. It's a surprisingly untapped niche considering its popularity.
Then again, I guess people who use social networking sites probably spend more time using them than reading about them. Still, Turnip's posts are good for the newcomer and the seasoned pros alike. Hang on, that sounds like another site I know...
Design
Unfortunately, Turnip's design leaves a lot to be desired. Although I've recently decided that two sidebars are better than one, I prefer them both on the same side. Turnip's content column is quite narrow and it feels a bit "boxed in". Furthermore, while the overall number of ads is not huge, it does feel like there is a lot at the top of the page.
The "Turnipofpower" text, the Turnip image in the corner, the "Add me!" buttons, the navigation links along the top, the search button, the header text... it all seems a bit haphazard and lacks a unified look and feel.
I think Turnip should consider revamping his design, perhaps adding one extra colour, but mostly getting some consistency with his fonts and logos.
Summary
I'm very impressed with the content. I would love to see Turnip of Power with a new look. The feed issue would be a nice to have, too. Overall, this site is well worth a read if you haven't seen it already.
Did you like this post? Subscribe today!
Tags: blog reviews, turnip of power
Posted by Ben on August 07, 2008 17:55 / Edited: August 07, 2008 18:36
Comments
I adore this site and check it daily
Whenever I visit Turnip's site always reminds me of money. Because there are so many ads I feel like he gets lost in them. I repeatedly visit a person's blog like I would a friend, to get a dose of that person and because of all the ads I feel like I'm having a cup of tea with someone who only turns the volume up when the ads come on TV. lol Having said that, I still have a fondness for Turnip and his wisdom.
Ben, good luck with getting him to give a full feed... I have a feeling his whole point is to get you to click (since he has so many ads up on the site, it'd be pointless to have just subscribers).
loved your interview on turnip. and the photo? priceless.
Yet again you seem to have got the review just right. Well balanced and you included both the positives and negatives. The fact that you offer some constructive advice with the review is very nice to see.
PS. I enjoyed Turnip's interview with yourself.
Ben, thanks for the honest review. I had no idea about the feed thing. I set it up 10 months ago and hadn't thought about it since. I've gone ahead and changed it to full feed.
As for the search box, I went ahead and changed that as well. The green button is now gone.
You realize my theme is based on the Talian theme? Compare mine to the original Talian and you will barely recognize it. Nothing else like it on the net. It uses the maximum amount of room that can be viewed on a 1024x768 monitor displaying the entire page without causing scrollbars to appear.
As for the ads, I do a lot of testing for reviews on ad managers, ad networks, ad location, split testing of ads. The day before you wrote this I had actually removed 3 ads and 1 other piece of sidebar clutter. I know ads may suck, and that they have never worked for you. I actually get 50 to 100 clicks a week. There is a fine line between being "in your face" and telling the reader "click this ad".
When I tried a more subdued approach to the ads I received almost zero clicks. I'd rather have zero ads than run than run them below the fold. It's a waste of space and just ads to load time if they aren't seen at the top of the page. Every ad there is there for a reason.
As you have said, my site isn't the same as every other site on the net. I try to interact with my readers, answer questions, help them when I can. You can't expect my site to simply look like an imitation of johnchow's site because we are both in the internet marketing niche. But I have taken your advice where possible. I also plan to continue changing things around as I have time. Now I wish someone had told me about the feed thing sooner.
Thanks again for the great review!
Thanks for the positive feedback, everyone. :)
Turnip, happy to oblige, thanks for changing the feed - I guess it doesn't actually update until the next post goes up.
As for the rest, I do think you can improve the design without sacrificing any of the ads. The first thing I'd do is amalgamate the Turnip image, the title/tagline at the top, and the Turnipofpower banner at the top of the page content and just have one banner with all of that combined. i.e. only have the site title on the page once. That would allow your content to go up the page a bit.
I tried removing the green/orange banner and my site looked horrible. It's actually one of my favorite parts of the site. The white turnip logo is also essential to the site, and requires a black background. I also like the site letters in white on a black background. For now I will leave it.
I removed even more clutter tonight, and have one more change planned. I need to hear from the plugin author on how to make the plugin output appear on a single line rather than space every other line.
I ignored Turnips site for awhile cause I don't have a lot of interest in all those make money/ seo type of blogs. But over time and reading a post here and there (mainly due to returning drops on my blogs from Turnip) I have come to the point where it is one of the EC blogs I do visit regularly. I'm still not cutting edge on the MM thing but I do think Turnip has something to say about it all and I find he says it well.
I quite like Turnip's site and used to read it more often. I'm glad to read he's decided to allow full feeds as his was one that got purged from my feedreader because of the partial feeds. And I just tend not to get around to those who are not in my feedreader (which currently has 448 unread posts lol).
Turnip's site is a must-visit one for me. I've benefited greatly from his information on so many different subjects that I've lost count now.
I have to agree with you 100% though about the design of it. His content does try to get lost in all those "above the fold" ads although he's done an exemplary job of making them all load quickly.
I enjoyed your interview with him -- gave me a whole other side of you that rounds out your personality perfectly.
ê¿ê