What Makes a Good Blog?
There are
many ways for people to express themselves.
Many choose to express their ideas through various mediums such as art,
music, photography, and even writing.
Today, thanks to advancements in internet technology, there is a new way
that so many people are choosing to share their ideas with the world; the web
log or blog as it is most often referred to.
According to Blogger.com, “A blog is a personal diary. A daily pulpit. A collaborative space. A political soapbox. A breaking-news outlet. A collection of links. Your own private thoughts. Memos to the world. Your blog is whatever you want it to be.
There are millions of them, in all shapes and sizes, and there are no real
rules.” (Blogger.com, 2012)
It used to be that creating a website
or blog was only for professionals or people with certain skills. However, due to the many advancements in the
internet and technology, these feats are now a possibility for anyone and
everyone. For those with a desire to
express themselves, creating a blog can be a fantastic way to share their
interests or passions with others. However,
while anyone can create a blog, there are some general guidelines to follow in
order to create a successful blog. According
to Michael Martin’s article “Seven Elements to Make Your Blog Look Great”, there
are certain general guidelines for content, color, structure, balance, and
functionality that will help the author catch and keep the audience’s attention
and hopefully have them return to the blog.
(Martin, 2012)
Using the
blog guidelines, students were able to review and provide constructive
criticisms of each other’s blogs. The
blogs that I reviewed were: The
Expert Witness Communicator by William Gulya: http://the-expert-witness.blogspot.com;
400 Years by William K: http://willsarchives.blogspot.com/;
and The Power of Positivity by Martha Sanchez: http://mlspositivity.blogspot.com/.
The URL for my blog named Communication Today is http://lilgunny.blogspot.com/.
On the Expert Witness Communicator blog, my recommendations were to spread the
content around the page for a little bit better balance. The author had the
current post in the center of the page and then all other content was off to
the right of the page only. According to
Martin’s article, he states that the weight of the different areas on the page
should be equal. If they are not, the
page will look unbalanced, causing the viewer’s eyes to focus only on one
portion of the page. (Martin, 2012)
For the 400 Years blog I recommended a
few suggestions to help improve the blog. The purpose of the blog was not
quite clear from the title. I recommended either giving the blog a new
name or expounding on why it has its current name. I also suggested including
more content on the blog such as some of the written works from this or past
courses since there was almost no content on the blog. Finally, I
recommended adding more information to the author profile and a nice picture in
the header to add some flair to the design. The Power of Positivity was the last blog I
reviewed. This blog had a very fitting
and soothing background photo. The sky and ocean scene in the background
really puts the reader at ease and makes them want to continue reading. Having content such as a soothing or
aesthetically pleasing photo is very helpful to creating a successful blog that
will have readers want to come back for more. My suggestion for the
blog was to possibly add some tabs up top or on the side to take the reader to
other parts of the blog like a section for links to sites that correspond with the
blog, or a link to books that the author enjoyed pertaining to communication
and positive thinking.
Helping
other students improve their blogs by providing them with constructive
criticism will also be very helpful to me in improving my blog as well. Providing constructive feedback for other
students allowed me to stop and look at what guidelines I could incorporate
into my blog to improve it. For instance,
my current header photo is not really related to the content of the
professional communications blog so I will find a more content appropriate
photo to include in the header. I would
also like to include a more professional looking profile photo to fit the
content of the blog. Finally, while I
love the current color scheme of my blog, I have been considering a change of
color scheme to something more muted to make the blog feel and look more
professional. Another option that was
recommended by another student is to keep the current color scheme but fill in
the extra pink space with content to provide more balance to the blog.
Creating a
blog can be a great way to share one’s ideas and feelings with the world or
with a specific audience. A blog can be
whatever the author wants it to be; either a news source, a discussion forum,
or simply an online diary for the author to share ideas. With the use of some
simple guidelines for content, balance, structure and functionality, the author
can be sure to create a page that will catch and maintain the attention of
their desired audience.
References
Blogger.com.
(2012) Retrieved June 11, 2012 from: http://www.blogger.com/tour_start.g
Gulya, W.
(2012). The Expert Witness Communicator.
Retrieved June 11, 2012 from:
Kincheloe, W. (2012). 400 Years.
Retrieved June 11, 2012 from: http://willsarchives.blogspot.com/
Martin, M. (2008).
7 Elements to make your blog look
good. Retrieved May 21, 2012
Sanchez,
M. (2012). The Power of Positivity. Retrieved June 11, 2012 from:
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