What Makes A Good Blog?

Blog is the newest way for people to share their life, thoughts, and ideas with the world. Many companies use blogging as a way to promote their goods and services. Others use blogging as a networking tool. Building a successful blog is not as easy as most people would think. There are many steps to creating a blog. It is just not about creating and designing a great blog, but the content of the blog has to be just as great as the design of the blog. There are components and elements to designing and developing a successful blog.

The first step to creating a blog is to determine the hosting site of your blog.  There are several blog hosting sites available. Wordpress, Blogger, Tumblr are examples of free hosting sites for blogging. Host websites such as Squarespace and Wix are paid host sites. Depending on the purpose and content of your blog, choosing the right hosting site will make a big difference. For example, if your blogging is more towards photography and artwork, Tumblr would be more appropriate and if your blog is more for business then Squarespace would be appropriate (Narayan, 2015).

 

 

“People need a reason to visit your blog, and if you are not writing about anything in particular, it will not attract much of an audience.” (Williams, 2014. p. 24). The topic of the blog is what brings readers to it. The topic of your blog will also help you determine your audience. Knowledge of the target audience will help the blogger in how he or she communicates with their readers. The audience will also determine how often to post and when to post. For example, if a blogger chooses to have a fashion blog, their readers will be expecting daily posts during fashion week. If there isn't anything on there, readers will look to other blogs. 

The design of the blog would need to coincide with the topic in which the blogger has chosen to write about. The design of the blog should also be a reflection of the blogger's personality. When designing the blog, bloggers need to be creative so that their blog will stand out from others. This is where it would work in a blogger’s favor to self host. Self-hosted blogs allows more flexibility and more customization (Williams, 2014). If the blogger chooses an image for their background, they need to ensure that their text will not get lost against the background image. When looking at Ms. Mika’s blog, the background image is of a room with pictures and a television. Because of the many colors in her background image, she chose white as her text color (Esquibel, 2015).

When writing a blog post, bloggers need to keep their language simple. They should not try to use big words nor should their posts be lengthy. Posts should be long enough to inform the reader but not wordy. Bloggers should write as if they are talking to the reader. Laura’s blog posts are informative without being wordy and she utilizes graphics to break up the text so the reader has a break in between reading. She also writes her entries as if she is talking to her reader, she often uses “you” and “your” in her posts (Mattoon, 2015). By writing the blog as if they blogger is speaking to the reader, it keeps the reader engaged.

Images, pictures, and graphics are able to catch readers’ eyes. Using images that match what the topic of the blog posting can help set the tone and help emphasize a point the blogger is trying to get across (Williams, 2014). Bloggers need to keep in mind that images are subject to copy right. Bloggers need to make sure they have permission before they use the picture on their blog. There are stock images that they can use but not all stock images are free. Websites such as, iStockphoto and Shutterstock allows bloggers to access a library of images that they can purchase with credits or pay a subscription to be able to access the library.

These are all components and elements that are required to designing an effective blog. I can see where lacking any of these components can easily make my blog less interesting to readers. Without having thought through a topic of choice of a blog, readers will not know what to expect. Without a great design, I could either lose readers because my blog isn’t catchy enough or if it is too busy, it would be too distracting for readers. Readers do not want to visit a blog that uses complicated language, so it is important that I keep the words I use to simple everyday language. I also need to keep in mind that my posts should not be lengthy and I should write my blog posts as if I am talking to the reader. Right now, my blog posts are not directed to the readers. That is definitely something I can change about my posts.

References

Esquibel, M. (2015) Ms. Mika’s Blog [Web log]. Retrieved from http://msmikaesq.blogspot.com/

Mattoon, L. (2015). Communicating about Communications [Web log]. Retrieved from http://lauracom480.blogspot.com/

Narayan, G. (2015). The Best Places to Start A Blog (Updated 2015 Edition) – Dear Blogger. Retrieved from http://www.dearblogger.org/blogger-or-wordpress-better

Williams, R.N. (2014). How to Blog Made Easy. London, United Kingdom: Flame Tree Publishing.