Goal of the day: 395 words. Written: 464.
Living Psychology. This is both the name of the blog and its description.
This self-help text journal created by psychologist Lina Vėželienė and her family caught my eye two or three years ago, when it was shared, still quite fresh, by the then famous Esoteric Ilse Butkutė.
Since that day, it has always caught my eye. Not completely, because I don't want to read all the articles (or even all the way through), but it does.
Like a cold winter morning. You feel the effect on you, but you don't understand what effect.
Technical information on Living Psychology:
- The blog runs on WordPress CMS.
- The content is mainly based on text and sparse illustrations, I couldn't find any video or audio recordings, smart polls or anything like that.
- I have an email subscription, but for some reason I don't get emails...? I'm not sure if this has anything to do with the fact that Lina hasn't replied to my emails for three years. Maybe the subscription is just for beauty.
- The use of share buttons is unimaginative but clearly effective. There is no shortage of articles being shared, and obviously for good reason.
- Comments based on Disqus. However, despite its unusualness for a Lithuanian visitor, there are comments. I believe there would be even more if a different system were chosen.
- The on-page SEO is pretty mediocre. Doman authority is only 15/100, Page authority is also low: 27/100. Only a few inbound links.
- The page is translated into Russian in parallel. Which, I guess, is a lot of fun for Russian speakers. I suspect that this language was chosen instead of English because of the better opportunities to use this audience in practice - after all, Lina Vėželienė is not a 20-year-old psychologist, she lives in Vilnius, judging by the articles, and here the Russian-speaking audience is very close.
Blog style
What I liked and liked about Lina's texts is their length. They are GIGANTIC. And I like gigantic texts, I'm compensating for something *kosteli kosteli*. Or not compensating - I just like to read, it's much more fun than watching. 🙂
Her texts are long, written in a rather complex way and expanding each topic to something more than it should be.
Perhaps the part I dislike the most is that Lina avoids research or the use of any online references. This is not bad in terms of content, but it is strange. When I read her texts online.
So it pays off with links to rare and, for me personally, unheard of topics, quotes and sayings that are truly exceptional for the Lithuanian infosphere. Often the text is punctuated with lines of dialogues, conversations with Lina's clients.
There are few illustrations. The illustrations themselves are not exceptional and were created specifically for this blog (compared to Boatman(.lt) and Protoarchitect(.lt)who create them for themselves), but each time they are adapted quite appropriately to the topic.
The design of the text is, I would say, simple. To my eyes, the double-edged text is a means of slowly killing the reader, but, well, what the heck, so be it. 🙂
And briefly?
It is one of the most distinctive and, despite its minor flaws, most enjoyable blogs to read in Lithuania. Written by a professional ~50-year-old (?) psychologist, aimed at a female audience, it is full of text and helpful thoughts.
I have been following the blog since its inception and have no regrets. I just hope that the email subscription will finally start working. 😉
Overall: 3-4/5 clouds.
Do I recommend a visit? If you're not afraid to lose sight of the world and have the time, yes. If you want easier to read and better written content, try visiting without expecting it.
That's all!
Drinking morning tea,
Daniel