The Thinking Blog: Is That Really Ilker Yoldas?
Published March 9th, 2007 in blogging, blogs, graphics, networking, pictures, reviews, social networking sites, writingIlker Yoldas is a new friend I met through MyBlogLog.com and she’s having a contest on her blog. If you’ll review her site on your own blog, you get a chance to win a blog makeover or free favicon design. I’m always interested in checking out new blogs and I’m sure FreshBlogger could use a new look, so this post will serve as my entry.
Okay, let’s start with some brutal honesty. MyBlogLog allows you to post a picture that follows you around to all the other MyBlogLog blogs you visit. You get to see the picture of some of the people who’ve visited your blog. That is, if they’re brave enough to post their picture on MyBlogLog (see my scary picture? If I did it, so can you!).
With that said, most people clicked on the link to Ilker Yoldas because her MyBlogLog picture is, well, hot. See if you don’t agree. Now, I’m making the assumption that this is her rather than a picture taken from the internet somewhere, but, regardless, it serves the purpose of attracting readers from the beginning.
The hot picture isn’t the only attraction, though. When you get to Ilker’s blog, the first thing you’ll notice is the cool header image. I found the little alien thinker with the flames shooting out of it’s head to be intriguing and just plain cool. Some day, I’ve got to figure out how to really use PhotoShop (or The Gimp!).
Pretty graphics are far from the only draw. This isn’t some silly MySpace page. The posts are clever, funny, and informative as well. The title of the blog is “The Thinking Blog: Fuel by Ilker Yoldas” and it’s appropriately named. Today’s article is a great example: How To Create PDF Without Software.
I was just talking with someone at work yesterday regarding the ability to print to PDF from the web. In my day job, I’ve developed a tax form that is available for our students to access and print from the web. The issue has been brought up that it’s somewhat difficult for them to save the file and forward by email to their accountant.
I was lamenting that MS Windows has no built-in functionality to print to PDF like OS X and the proprietary print to file option that comes with Windows just isn’t sufficient due to it’s not being based on a recognized standard. Ilker’s article comes at a good time and contains useful, insightful information that’s giving me some great ideas to resolve this issue.
This is only one example of the great stuff that’s available on The Thinking Blog. There are a variety of subjects addressed and the blog is very active. Check it out today and let her know who sent you!
14 Responses to “The Thinking Blog: Is That Really Ilker Yoldas?”
- 1 Pingback on Mar 31st, 2007 at 1:42 am
- 2 Pingback on Apr 2nd, 2007 at 9:06 pm
I WARNED you that MyBlogLog is addictive! You didn’t listen to me!!!
That’s a pretty nice contest. I don’t know if I can write a kick-ass review to go for the win, but I sure could use a professional re-design. I may have to hunker down and get to work on this one.
Nice catch - thank you for the link.
Wendy, you were right! I’m having trouble keeping up with things as it is and now I’m really falling behind. It’s definitely fun, though.
Hey Leroy, I agree that it’s a cool contest. Hopefully, my review doesn’t sound like it was written by a horny teenager (isn’t there one inside all of us guys, though?). I’m sure you can do better!
Hi Lists (if that IS your real name!). Ilker’s blog is really great and there’s a ton of useful information there, too. Her style is unique and funny while still being accessible for the average reader. I’ve added her feed to my list of must reads. Thanks for commenting!
Hah, I think it’s ok to sound like a horny teenager sometimes. It shows that you’re being honest - we all have it in us, it’s just that most of us pretend not to. Kudos for the honesty.
Thanks, Leroy. I guess my inner horny teenager needed validation. I feel better now!
If you read The Thinking Blog, which is good by the way…you will find that the avatar of the pretty girl with the red flower is not a photo of “Ilker”.
Heck, you cannot even be sure if Ilker is a girl. I did a search on the name. In Turkish it means “First Man”, or “Strong Man”.
Pretty crazy…also if you read the blogger “About”, you will see Turkey listed as the location.
Go figure. Ilker has some good linkbait contests going though, and this person is definitely a good designer and even better marketer. Hey, we all want traffic, and Ilker seems to be a master at creating interest in this blog.
Hey digitalnomad. Yeah, I dug a bit deeper into The Thinking Blog after the post and you’re right about the picture. The girl is still hot, though, and I still think it attracted some extra clicks. I totally agree about the quality of the blog, too. Ilker has a great style and interesting, informative posts. The contests and creative linkbaiting are terrific, too, and I expect we’ll see Ilker becoming pretty famous. Thanks for posting.
Your new design looks wonderful, congratulations.
seen your previous site ..lucky man.
the new looks are great congrats man
Thanks Jennifer and Shashank! I really like the new design, too.