What Makes a Good Blog?

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      Important Elements

      According to Strategic Writing: Multimedia Writing for 

Public Relations, Advertising and More, “The best way to write blogs is to read blogs – as many as possible” (Marsh, C., et al, 2009).   Perhaps if I spent more time reading blogs I would be having an easier time designing my own. I actually looked forward to this assignment so that I may benefit from the critiques of my classmates and better my own end product. From what I can tell the most important elements of blog design are purpose, design, content and audience. The blogger must zero in a purpose, create a design that is inviting for the reader, develop content that supports the purpose of the blog, and the number one element of all communication, knowing one’s audience.

       

My Comments

http://wordsworthamillion.blogspot.com/ where I liked Brien’s use of white space, which I intend to incorporate into my own blog. I noticed that Brien hand I shared a formatting problem when transferring the written word from Word to Blogger. Font style and size, as well as line spacing seems to sometimes shift magically and I have fought to end up with my intended look. I will remember to check the formatting each time I post to maintain design consistency.

           

 http://craigsgeeklife.blogspot.com where Craig’s use of color, and graphics such as videos make it interesting to visit. I am trying to figure out how to incorporate pictures and videos into my blogs but they keep showing up peripherally and not where I intended. I will be working on that extensively this week.

           

 http://onedivaspointofview.blogspot.com/ where Jeanine seems to be a blogging pro. Her use of color and design are exemplary. The colors are warm and inviting and compliment the title and the feel of the blog. The fonts, the text and box colors, and the spacing are so easy on the eyes and encourage one to read further. Your posts are interesting and entertaining to read, and are perfectly fine-tuned to your audience. I was also impressed that she included a reading list and inspired me to look into her recommended reading. 

 More Ideas

            There are also several ideas that others provided me in their critiques, which I will work to incorporate as well. I especially like the advice, “Using headings within your body of text helps to break up the lengthy, uninterrupted-page-of-text look” (Higbee, 2010). On his blog, Backlight, he also says, “Bold headings are great, too. This makes your posts look more structured, and also makes them easier and faster to read” (Higbee, 2010). 

            I hope that I will be able to make the most of this new knowledge and new ideas and create an online experience worthy of my intended audience.

   

References

Burroughs, J. (2012) Retrieved August 30, 2012 via http://onedivaspointofview.blogspot.com/ 

Cameron, G. T., Wilcox, D. L., Reber, B. H., & Shin, J. (2008). Public relations today: Managing competition and conflict. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Higbee, T. (2010, December 17). 26 Blog Design Tips for Non-Techies and Non-Designers. Retrieved August 30, 2012 via:  

 http://thebacklight.com/blog-design-tips-for-non-designers/

Lifton, C. (2012) Retrieved August 30, 2012 via http://craigsgeeklife.blogspot.com

Marsh, C. et al (2009). Strategic Writing Multimedia Writing for Public Relations, Advertising and More. (2^nd ed.). Boston, MA. Pearson A and B.

Redmon, B. (2012) Retrieved August 30, 2012 via http://wordsworthamillion.blogspot.com/