True Cuddles Website Review (By Request)

First of all, I want to make it clear that True Cuddles has asked me to write a review about their blog along with several other Canadian mommy bloggers I presume.  With that said, they also asked for the good, bad, and ugly in hopes of making their website even better and I totally respect that.  I am a fairly diplomatic sort though so I can't see things getting too ugly here.  Also, I just submitted my very first academic book review for my Education Master's class so diplomatic it must be! 

I don't profess to be an expert in the field and you can't be overly critical when you're a newbie to something and I definitely consider myself new to being a mom with my oldest child only being 2 years old.  I also consider myself fairly new to the mommy blogging world.  The one area I do have some knowledge is marketing so, at the very least, I can make some constructive criticisms utilizing my minor in commerce which included plenty of marketing classes.

With all that in mind, here's my point form analysis of the good, the bad, and the ugly as requested!

The Good:

• It's Canadian and I love that!
• Features lovely Canadian Moms venturing out into the business world.
• Friendly and courteous owners who would love to do a giveaway on my blog someday I'm sure  :-)
• Lots of giveaways
• Great deals once a week for the Cuddle of the Week
• Attractive logo and website colours that complement each other
• Paypal for deals instead of just credit card options
• Excellent products and companies featured for deals and promotional giveaways

The Bad:

• Even though I love the different parts of the website, it's almost like it's having an identity crisis for such a large site.  It's okay for me to post about anything and everything on my little blog but a large site should be focused.  Are you a deals site?  A review and giveaway site?  A mommy info site?  
• If it is a deals site, I want to see more than one deal a week.  I think this keeps people checking regularly.  If there's only one deal a week, it's hard for people to remember to even check especially in what is becoming a rather saturated market of daily deal sites including other Canadian ones.
• Not enough posts in general.  For example, there must be more amazing mommies out there to feature on a more regular basis.  I'm positive there are because I have found several in the few short months since I've started my blog.  If there were even one Mom per week featured, I'd be much more likely to check back and read that amazing woman's story.
• While the font colours complement each other well, some of the lighter coloured text is actually quite difficult to read for my aging eyes.

The Ugly:

• I mentioned it before but the plethora of flashing ads is really too much.  Ad space should not take up half the page when one looks at a website.  There must be a more organized and professional way to showcase all the lovely sponsors supporting the website.   It also really detracts from the other content on the site and makes it hard to focus.

There's my review and I tried to be diplomatic but I also wanted to be honest and point out the shortcomings of a website that I think could use some improvements, and consequently, become even more popular than it already is.  Good luck with the changes and I can't wait to see the new website!

Trudy