Good Example Of Gfi Blog: Content Review Argumentative Essay
GFI is an IT solution provider for businesses. The company's website provides a wide range of products from e-mail and messaging, network and security solutions, to virtual business management applications such as GFI Events Manager, GFI Archiver and GFI FaxMaker Online (GFI). GFI's website is notably simple, presentable and informative. Content and layout both contribute to website's character. The website incorporates different sections each contributing to content's as well as layout's overall presentability. Of particular interest is GFI's blogging section (GFI Blog). Blog content and layout is fairly straightforward. Contributions are listed chronologically, condensed and well archived. Six expert bloggers contribute to GFI Blog. Given content organization and layout design, GFI's blogging section is explored in order to appraise major rhetorical features.
GFI Blog is fairly simple and straightforward: content is split into dated posts arranged from most to least recent ones. Next to each leading statement for each post is a thumbnail summing up blog post visually. Post information contains: date, heading, author, rating and a leading statement. Featured posts are separate and are placed at top of page. GFI Blog's right column displays recent GFI product statistics. Further below is a "giveaway" e-guide. Further below still is GFI's social network's, i.e. Facebook and Twitter, feeds. Tapped browsing for content / sections and bloggers (authors) is made available under "Blogroll" and "Bloggers". Most read and popular posts fall under "Top posts". A search functionality is available at GFI Blog Home's upper right hand corner.
Given GFI's main customers are businesses, GFI Blog's content is largely out of an outsider's reach. Unsurprisingly, GFI Blog does not seem to generate much feedback, commonality in almost all niche IT industries. This is manifest in almost zero comments, very few voting actions, let alone social networking actions via Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, etc. Indeed, speaking of employed rhetorical devices – logos, pathos and ethos – logos and ethos are used far more extensively than pathos. Typical of industry insiders / experts, users usually interact and exchange feedback on external platforms rather than on corporate websites, which are used mainly as a means of product and/or service presentation. Therefore, posts on GFI Blog are not meant mainly to engage platform users extensively as to raise issues of interest pursued usually elsewhere.
For logos, for example, reason is driven mainly from posts in writing, rather than from visual effects. By addressing, mainly, industry experts and/or insiders, arguments are driven home straightforwardly, clearly and succinctly. For ethos, credibility is derived from bloggers' authority as industry experts. There is no explicit sign of pathos application.
Appealing to all devices, moreover, is hardly executed using visual effects. Given simplicity of design and absence of real images, GFI Blog presentation depends primarily on written content. That given, full exploration of content by, for example, an expand / collapse functionality is lacking. Users appear to need to sift through Blog full content, post by post – or possibly by search functionality if tipped on content – in order to identify singular posts.
Overall, GFI Blog remains an insider's blog. Given GFI's stated vision of "Be the recognized software leader for IT admins and businesses" GFI is a decidedly B2B enterprise which caters for upstream – as opposed to downstream – customers. This justifies GFI's as well as GFI Blog's sharp-and-clear content which is mostly written and is barely supported by color-rich, design-intensive visual content. Of particular note, video content is almost completely absent save for a Home video by Alan, a GFI customer. Still, GFI Blog – as well as GFI overall – remains very browsable, fairly simple in design and layout and very straightforward in message.
In conclusion, GFI Blog is platform GFI maintains for posts intended to engage customer base, existing and potential, in a very straightforward way. Tapping into logos extensively and relying on bloggers' expertise, GFI Blog addresses users / visitors by employing straightforward, reason-based arguments in posts. Discarding extensive visual effects, GFI Blog is informative and descriptive in nature addressing industry insiders / experts rather than a broad base of non-specialist users. If anything, GFI Blog could source feeds from customers in order to enrich content and add value and credibility. Probably video content would not suit GFI Blog. However, GFI user experience should be further enhanced by integrating and optimizing for content which should, ideally, enhance website traffic and generates revenue.
Works Cited
GFI. GFI, n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2015.
GFI Blog. GFI, n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2015.
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