First off, I want to welcome everyone who’s coming to this site for the first time. Traffic doubled last week, and by this week, it has quadrupled. So if this is your first time here, welcome. You can take a look through some old posts as well as the front page features by using the category links on the right (this way you can get to topics that interest you right away). And of course, thanks for stopping by to read!

So, to celebrate this huge increase in traffic, I thought I would thank one my favourite sites by featuring it. Today’s featured site is North x East, which is home to my good friend Collis, who was one of the first bloggers I swapped blogroll links with (considering the huge success of North x East, I think it was a great trade!). As usual, I just want to say up front that I don’t get reimbursed in any way for these reviews — they’re just sites I really like.

What I like the most.

North x East provides knowledge and advice on setting up, promoting and succeeding in the online business world. What I find is the big differentiator on Collis’ blog, however, is the almost subconscious focus on innovation.

While bloggers like John Chow often focus on the financial side of blogging, North x East focuses more on establishing successful business models for web startups. North x East also isn’t afraid of dishing out the dirt on things like making your blog seem more established so you don’t scare new readers away. And Collis’ comprehensive guide to starting your freelance career is must-read material for anyone even thinking about starting to do freelance work.

Since my own site is all about knowledge sharing, I really enjoy sites that take a particular field and build a repository of first-hand knowledge and experience a novice can draw on. Collis’ knowledge of doing business on the web comes across brilliantly in his writing — there’s always something new to learn at North x East.

What I would change.

Collis talks quite a bit about other projects he has going on within the pages of North x East — and these other projects are a great source of learning for readers of his site. I would love to see a page that collects some of the projects Collis has going on — which would provide both a great promotional vehicle for those projects, as well as giving us the inside take on how those projects are going.

I’d love to provide more ideas for changes to North x East, but this is truly one of those sites that is doing just about everything right — and has build the readership to prove it.

Want to read more featured sites? Check out my review of The Paper Bull and the JibberJobber blog.