Sofia’s Life For The Day

First Impressions 

The first thing I notice upon arriving at her site is the appealing colour scheme and simplistic design that she has chosen. The white, black, and red all contrast with each other nicely, and gives the site a crisp feel. 

I also liked being greeted with the photo wall. The photos immediately intrigued me and helped set a vibe for what to expect in the posts and across the site. However, I wish the photos were interactive, as I immediately tried to click on a photo, thinking it was going to redirect me to the related post. This would be a cool feature to include if possible! 

One area that Sofia could improve upon going forward is navigation. Having both a “PUB101” and a “Blog” category may be confusing for readers to locate the exact content they are looking for. 

Marketability 

Due to the nature of Sofia’s content, I see strong potential for engagement and the development of a “public of [her] own” (Boyd, 2014) on her site. A community could be cultivated on the site, where readers are not only able to find new spots from Sofia, but also from one another; through use of comment sections or the addition of a shared wall. 

Therefore, I’d say Sofia’s site is incredibly marketable! She established a strong digital persona, with content that serves a specific niche – individuals in the lower mainland looking for new eats to try out. 

Additionally, as mentioned previously, Sofia’s site has great potential to build a community. This can result in an increased number of users visiting and engaging with the site. These contributions can help cultivate a strong brand image for the site. 

Both a strong brand and high engagement are enticing to advertisers; therefore, increasing Sofia’s marketability. 

But it seems like Sofia is actually one step ahead of me! When visiting Sofia’s site, she had an advertisement along the bottom of the page. Moreover, when I went to check out one of her categories, a pop-up ad appeared. 

This was great to see, as we have recently learned all about Google Analytics, AdSense, and SEO in class. I’m curious to know if Sofia has dived into her Google Analytics data at all, and how she has leveraged it so far; however, for now it looks like she is doing a great job with it!

Learning 

Another thing I appreciate about Sofia’s site is that it appears to be a true digital garden. There are clear indicators of growth and change (Basu, 2020) as the semester has gone on, and she has learned new skills in web development and design. 

Moreover, her digital self is strengthened as she goes on and posts more of her “adventures”!

I greatly enjoyed exploring Sofia’s site, and I’m excited to see where she goes next. As someone who can never decide where she wants to eat, I’ll definitely be coming back for her suggestions!