Purpose, Design, Content and Audience

I was driving around the other day, doing horribly mundane tasks in unbearable heat, and when I looked at my dashboard the outside temp read 119°. Something about the number appealed to me, and stuck in my mind, although knowing the temperature certainly made me feel worse.

I have never written a Blog before, and frankly the thought of it is both frightening and exhilarating. Creating a professional Blog is not going to be as easy for me as I anticipated. In fact I have had a pretty difficult time so far.I am very much reminded of using a VCR for the first time. Learning to connect it to the television, learning to find the extra channel (3 or 4) on which to view the movie, and the dreaded learning how to set the VCR to record a program, were all difficult at first until they eventually became second nature. I hope Blogging will prove to be the same.

The guidelines for creating a Blog are purpose, design, content and audience. These are the key elements necessary to develop a successful Blog.

I was surprised that audience came last, because the number one element for all types of communications, according to every communications textbook I’ve encountered is “know your audience.” Knowing your audience allows you to frame your communication to meet the needs of the intended receiver.

The purpose of a Blog would be to inform. “Messages generally take one or more of three forms: to inform, to persuade, or to take action” (Roebuck, 2006, Page 10). I think another purpose it to entertain. If it is a technical or scientific Blog it might be slightly less entertaining, but not necessarily. I think it is possible to be entertaining regardless of topic.

Design is all about the aesthetic. Design needs to be enticing to draw in the reader. It needs to be easy to navigate and user-friendly.

Content is important because it is the main entrée. It is for what the reader will stay once they are enticed. You can attract them with design but if the content isn’t there you won’t keep them.

Successful logs have four things in common. These are the key elements of purpose, design, content and audience. These are all necessary elements that drive traffic to the site and will develop a following. And while being followed by strangers in real life is generally not a good thing, it is what people yearn for in cyber reality.

I hope that my Blog will be informative and entertaining... for your sake as well as mine.

Reference:

Roebuck, D.B. (2006). Improving business communications skills (4^th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.