Site Description

There will always be those moments when you realize something and can’t help but think “I wish I knew that years ago”. For me HackCollege.com is the perfect example. On this website you’ll learn tricks and shortcuts for making everything about college life easier. There is no topic overlooked and nothing is off limits.

Topics range from help planning and executing the perfect party to how to construct a loft bed to maximize space. Content is presented in traditional blog form (i.e. the written word) as well as through entertaining videos.

The site layout is very basic with content on the left and the navigation in the right sidebar. Nothing more is really necessary for the site to get its information across so the contributors wisely keep things simple. Because of this, it’s rather easy to find your way through all the archived content allowing the reader to read more and search less.

About HackCollege.com

HackCollege.com was founded in 2006 by Loyola Marymount University student Kelly Sutton. The about page describes his reason for doing so as an “unprecedented curmudgeonliness” (It’s OK, I had to look it up, too.)

Gradually, over the last few years, HackCollege has grown by adding new contributors and content. Most recently, the addition of HackCollege.co.uk has brought helpful college tips across the pond to our friends in England. Plenty of the content on both sites is useful interchangeably, so really the .uk version is just some more bonus HackCollege goodies.

What I Liked

The thing I like the most about HackCollege.com is the content never really extends into the “need to know” phase of college life. In fact, you’ll get along just fine if you never read a single thing the site puts out there. It didn’t quite exist when I was in school, so I’m the perfect example. I made it through OK. However, the great part is the things you’ll learn on the site just makes college better.

For instance, it’s not essential that you know how to build the perfect $100 bar, but man, life is so much better when you do. It’s the simple things in life that matter.

Another part of what they’re doing over at HackCollege that I really enjoy is providing a little variety while still sticking closely to their niche. An example is a recent post about how to handle a ticket. Now that information can pretty much apply to anyone, but when they put the old college spin on it, it suddenly applies to their blog and others find it useful as well.

I think the most important thing about HackCollege, that really helps with their success is the likeability of their contributors. Through the ‘About’ page you can find information and links to social networking profiles for each of them. After some quick browsing there and the reading through the blog, I’ve really come to appreciate their style and outlook. They’re serious (about their business) without taking themselves too seriously (they goof off quite a bit).

I don’t know about you, but I like learning through entertainment. If I can be entertained, and still be smarter when it’s over, then I’m happy. The guys and gals over at HackCollege have that formula perfected.

What I Didn’t Like

I’m being picky here, because in my opinion there really isn’t much wrong with this site. There are a couple of things I’d do to improve it, though. For starters, from a design standpoint, I’d like to see some sort of color contrast or another form of separation between the content and the sidebar. It’s not mandatory, but I think it would make things look a little cleaner.

Also, with site navigation in mind, I would prefer to have easier access to the different HackCollege pages. They are currently listed about halfway down the sidebar. There’s a lot of good stuff on them and I think they’d get more attention if they were available in the header or higher up the sidebar. Again, not really the worst thing in the world, but I needed to pick something, that’s what I’d change.

The Final Word

It’s not often when a website is so good at being entertaining and useful. I try it here, and realize it’s not always easy. The crew at HackCollege is very, very good at it. Every college student should have its resources as part of their college survival arsenal. I wish I did.

www.HackCollege.com

Site Description

For kids and parents alike, leaving home for college is an adjustment. There is plenty of growing up and maturing to do on the child’s part and some letting go has to happen on the parents’ end. It can be difficult. But thanks to DormMom.com parents can rest easy knowing that the essentials are taken care of for their child.

Dorm Mom is a website that provides services like grocery delivery, laundry, apartment cleaning and shipping and storage to busy college students. With a professional design and clear, concise copy, it’s simple to obtain all the information you need to decide which services you’re interested in. And just in case you still have questions a thorough FAQ is available.

Users can purchase services by registering an account on the site and picking the appropriate package. If you happen to have an issue a customer service phone number is available.

About Dorm Mom

Dorm Mom was founded in June 2006 in Buffalo, NY by a former Resident Assistant (RA) who had first-hand experience with some of the obstacles busy college students are face with. It has since grown into a business that services over 1,800 colleges nationwide.

What I Liked

I think the concept of offering such services to college students is brilliant for a couple reasons. First, many kids would rather not do these things and their parents know this. They also understand they need to be done and rather than be hundreds of miles away and worry, they’re willing to hire someone. Second, with the cost of college on the rise, the prices Dorm Mom charges is really a drop in the hat.

Which brings me to my next point. Weekly laundry costs around $300 per semester at the time of this writing, depending on which plan you’re on. What’s an extra couple grand tacked on to your already overwhelming student loans anyway? I look at it this way: Use the time you save to study, get better grades, land a high paying job, and pay the service off in no time.

The prices are easy to find on Dorm Mom, which you might think is no big deal. But for anyone that’s ever tried to budget for something like web design or another similar service, you know that not having a cost in front of you can be pretty frustrating. Having them right there saves you time looking around and helps you quickly get past the decision of whether something they offer is at a price you can afford.

As I mentioned above, things are very easy to find on this site, and each service has its own description and FAQ, so it’s unlikely you’ll have any questions after reading through the content.

Some other cool aspects that may go unnoticed are the little things like free shipping on grocery orders over $25 (if they qualify for Amazon Super Saver), and the ability to select your preferred detergent for the laundry services. Also, the “cancel anytime” feature is huge for those that buy the semester-long plan and have a change of heart midway through. The remaining portion of the fee is even refunded in the event of a cancellation. How’s that for customer service?

What I Didn’t Like

Despite the ease of site navigation and the excellent availability of key information, Dorm Mom still kind of leaves something to be desired from a design standpoint. For instance, the logo is a bit cheesy, like some kind of cleaning product on an infomercial. I’d also like to see them clean up the links on the ‘About Us’ page. Many of them are broken or don’t have existing pages with that information. Either way it’s confusing and frustrating when they don’t work.

From a moral standpoint, I have some reservations about the nature of the business. I think it’s an excellent concept and I’m not surprised people are willing to pay for the services. But as someone hoping that humans continue to evolve and grow, I have a certain reservation about the idea of letting college students off the hook. This is the time in their life when they are supposed to learn responsibility and hiring Dorm Mom is the exact opposite. Rather than figuring out real-life things like time management and taking care of themselves, Dorm Mom’s services bail them out.

With that said, I still think Dorm Mom is an excellent service, with a brilliant concept, which in simple terms is to take advantage of the desire parents have to forever take care of their babies. Even if the baby is twenty years old.

The Final Word

I really like the idea of filling a need like helping college students. I think it’s easy for a person to get overwhelmed when so much of their life changes at once, so I’m not opposed to Dorm Mom. If you can enjoy Dorm Mom in moderation, without taking it for granted, then by all means, sign up today. However, I think that you haven’t really experienced college until you’ve studied in a laundry mat until 3:30 in the morning for a test the next day. That’s where the true learning and growing comes from, not physics lab.

www.DormMom.com

There will (hopefully) be some other posts of interest to non-college students mixed in next week as well, so check in even if you’re not going back to college, because you never know when I might bring you that life-changing website. Or at least a good Timekiller. Even if I can’t find the time to do anything more than the college series, give some of the sites a chance because the great thing about most of them is they can be helpful to non-students also.

Now that I’ve whetted your appetite, try to control your excitement until tomorrow when I’ll bring you Part I.

Update: The links to the posts for the ‘Going Back to College Series’ can be found below.

Most recently while I was poking around on Daily Blog Tips, I came across links to their network of sites, which I’ve dubbed “The Daily Tips Network” (DTN) because I don’t believe they’ve got any other name for it. There are three sites in the DTN, the previously mentioned Daily Blog Tips, a grammar/writing guide called Daily Writing Tips and the internet scoop site called Daily Bits.

Below you can read about each of them in more detail. There are screenshots and links as well.

Daily Blog Tips

I’m not even really sure when or how I first ended up on Daily Blog Tips, but ever since the first time I was there I’ve continued to end up on the site, either through links from other blogs or through the search engines. Now I go back on my own regularly.

One of the reasons I kept finding myself on Daily Blog Tips is it’s WordPress resources. WordPress is a popular blogging platform and Daily Blog Tips has some excellent WordPress themes that you can download for free. Daily Blog Tips also has links to some helpful WordPress plugins as well. The bottom line is if you’re a WordPress user, you’ve either already come across Daily Blog Tips or you probably should give it a look.

Daily Blog Tips isn’t only for WordPress users, though. There are tons of articles on all different blogging topics from monetization to driving traffic to content creation. In fact, if you have a website (blog or not) you should be able to find some useful information. If you haven’t gone to Daily Blog Tips already, go there now. Go ahead. I’ll wait.

(Cue elevator music.)

Oh, good. You’re back. The second site in the Daily Tips Network is next.

Daily Writing Tips

Nowadays the internet makes it easy for just about anyone to start a website and post their thoughts to the web. This is fine, great really, except many people lack writing skills. Unfortunately, grammatical errors can affect the writer’s ability to earn respect from his or her readers. To fix this problem the web needs sites that re-teach English. Enter Daily Writing Tips.

Daily Writing Tips explores different areas of writing from grammar to punctuation to spelling. There are already hundreds of posts touching on very specific examples. For instance, in the Grammar Category you can read articles that explain when to use “a” vs “an” or whether you should use “its” or “it’s”. Good reads, and informative too.

One of the coolest parts of the site is the Daily Writing Tips Tests. There are only a few listed right now, but they’re a fun way to gauge where you are with your writing skills. See how well you do. Go ahead, do it now. I’ll still be here.

(pick up the Muzak)

Ok, now that you’re finished let’s move on to the third and final site of the DTN.

Daily Bits

Daily Bits is a site that discusses the trends and news of the tech side of the internet. With updates on what the major players like Google, WordPress, and Facebook are up to, Daily Bits is a dependable source for keeping tabs on the state of the web.

I like how well the site has its finger on the pulse of what’s happening on the internet. Most of the posts are relevant and timely, and even though the topic is directed towards a moderate to advanced reader, the writing style is conversational and easy to understand.

The best way to explain Daily Bits, without actually going there and seeing for yourself (which you can do in just a moment), is to share the site’s self explanation – “your daily dose of internet and technology!”.

Ok, now you can take a look at Daily Bits.

The Daily Tips Network Wrapup

I hope you’ve gotten some use from my recommendation of the DTN. I think Daniel Scocco, the editor/author/developer of the DTN sites, has done an excellent job creating this network. As I mentioned before, the sites are all the perfect amount of similar but different to stand alone yet compliment each other in a way that makes them all better.

If you’re interested in hearing more, you can follow Daniel on Twitter or go to any or all of the DTN sites and subscribe to his RSS or mailing list.

**Disclaimer**
I know I made a little point about bad grammar/spelling/punctuation in bloggers when discussing Daily Writing Tips, however, I make no claims that my writing is anywhere close to perfect.

In fact, I’d be willing to bet that even after two proofreads there will be anywhere from one to many mistakes in this post alone not to mention the rest of this site.

I guess what I’m saying is please feel free to point out any typos you might find, but keep it constructive. Even John McEnroe knows everyone makes mistakes.

SITE DESCRIPTION

Boasting a content-rich site of thousands of professionally produced how-to videos, VideoJug.com is a great place to look whenever you’d like to know more about almost anything.

VideoJug is broken down into a variety of categories, and then presents a number of videos addressing questions and concerns within these categories. With topics ranging from How to Tie a Tie to How to Keep Your Children Safe on the Internet, to How to Eat Sushi, VideoJug has answers for just about all your questions.

In addition to the video, which is capable of being downloaded to your IPod, PSP, or cell phone, each listing has the process written out step by step, which can come in handy if you’re at work or need the volume turned down for another reason.

Not to be confused with web giant YouTube, VideoJug is much more educationally geared and the video quality is top-notch. Although the niches are a bit different, VideoJug appears to have what it takes to hold its own with the big boys.

VideoJug survives on advertising revenues, which has its positives and negatives. Users are otherwise provided use of the website free of charge, and even have the chance to win money if their user-submitted video is chosen for use on the site.

ABOUT VIDEOJUG.COM

Well represented worldwide, VideoJug has offices in London, Los Angeles, and Spain. Its home office is England, though they’ve developed tailored pages or editions for their different markets. Each edition offers videos tailored to that particular audience.

VideoJug strives to be “the definitive source for credible answers and wisdom for every conceivable aspect of human life.” More information regarding the business side of VideoJug can be found on their about page.

WHAT WE LIKED

Pretty much everything. It’s no secret that the web seems to be moving towards video based content at a very fast speed. With that in mind, VideoJug has set themselves up with a very strong information medium. Essentially what they’ve done is combine the best parts of About.com and YouTube.com into one website. A very smart move in our opinion.

The vast number of videos offered on the site, combined with the accuracy of the content (from our limited experience with the site) as well as the excellent production quality equals very little to criticize about VideoJug.

If there’s something specific you’d like to know more about, chances are you’ll find it, broken down with complete accuracy and sound advice.

To be clear, all this talk about how professional the site’s content is, doesn’t mean they don’t have a sense of humor as well. We found some very funny videos under some very funny topics. Want proof? Check out this video.

WHAT WE DIDN’T LIKE

There was very little to dislike about VideoJug. However, no website is ever perfect, so we found a couple things to be knit-picky about.

First, many of the videos professionally produced by VideoJug have voice overs done by people with British accents. Although there is nothing wrong with that, there are times when American listeners may have a hard time hearing or understanding parts. When you change editions, the content topics change, but not the production.

Second, they have so much content and information on the site, it can be a bit confusing. Everything is neatly organized, but the site feels a bit cramped to us. A bit more white space and spacing may make VideoJug easier on the eyes.

FINAL WORD

You definitely need to check this one out.

www.VideoJug.com