What a good blog looks like

Hello readers :)

To give you an overview and so that you can skip to the topics you find more interesting I will list a "table of contents" right after. Thereby you can skip parts you might not be interested in and since this is going to be a VERY long post, I recommend scrolling through and read what catches you the most.

Table of contents

1. Introduction
2. Type of Blog
3. Consistency of blogging
4. Consistency of writing
5. Design
6. Variation and choice of topics
7. Language 
8. Emotions
9. Closing words & summary

Instruction

I have been given the task to take a look on a few blogs which were <good> from last semesters and then analyse them and explain the parts which were successfully done by that person and which I could also make use of.

What is a blog?

A blog, also called Weblog, is a website on the internet which is a (mostly) public journal or diary, in which the so-called Web-logger, short Blogger, posts  most of the time short articles about the daily life, specific topics such as news, travelling, food, art etc. or simply a bit of all of these in a regular appearing time.

After reading several articles from other bloggers and their stories I thought that Blogging can be categorized into simple points: 

• Type of Blog
• Consistency of Blogging
• Consistency of Writing
• Design
• Variation and choice of topics
• Language 
• and most importantly Emotions

Type of Blog

First of all, to set up a good blog basis, a blogger needs to find a good blog type. This means, the blogger has to choose a specific direction he wants to write about. If a blogger, for example, writes about the daily life, then he's not likely going to write about philosophical articles about how an earthquake is produced and what he thinks of it. 

If you want to be a half way successful blogger, you should choose a blogging

route you want to go for. What do you want to write about? What are your interests and what do you care about the most? Does your topics sound appealing to your readers and catch their interest? What is your intention, in other words, what do you want to reach with your posts? 

If you are more likely to be a philosophical blogger, then ask yourself; Do I share opinions with other people and can I actively implement them in my posts? Can I give examples of situations happened in the news, daily life, documentaries, which might be worth mentioning?

Once decided, you should plan how often, how much and how detailed you are going to write. This makes it easier for blogger and reader. For example, if you blog about travelling and you travel for a longer time, then its more likely going to be "every one to two months I write one post over one place" - Blog. This makes it easier for a blogger in 2 things; the post can be detailed AND long. 

If you are going to go for a "reviewers blog type", then of course it is expected that the person will blog frequently but short about 1 topic.

Consistency of blogging

A blogger should have a consistent, in other words, regular time of writing and posting their articles. When a blogger has intentionally blogged for a specific amount of time, it is expected from readers that the posts appear frequently and in a consistent period of time. This means, that when a blogger and writer has a regular publishing date(s) every week, people will more likely be hooked and come back to their blog.

People are interested even more in the bloggers thoughts when the articles appear in a consistent way, because they can come back and say "Oh I loved this article. This blogger seems to have a regular posting date. I'll have a look again next week to see what else has been posted in the meantime." 

Consistency of writing

Most importantly the writing is what counts in a blog. Having a blogger going off-topic during their writing is the worst he can do. A blogger has to be consistent when writing an article. Imagine a blogger talking about Venice. Sightseeing, holiday, enjoyment, the food and then he writes about how great the beach of Costa Rica was on his last trip. I mean, yes, of course the beach is nice there and it might belong to the topic travelling, but it does not belong to actual topic.

Design

The worst a blogger can do is by not having a perfectly set up blog appearance. Imagine how awful it must be to read an article on white with light yellow font, or a font that is so abstract you cannot even figure out what letters they are. It is also important that the choices you make in design will reflect your type of blog. 

Preferably I would always suggest smooth colours, blending into each other that can be combined such as beige background with black or light grey font and rosé coloured headings and eventually a tint of green for the subheadings. As a background picture there should of course pop up some flowers and decal. This combination would make a good look for a florist blogger, don't you think? Image a florist using black background colour and a background picture with air balloons and the paragraphs are tinted in rainbow colours while the articles he posted is about flower. This does not fit. It actually reminds more of a child's birthday party.

Use pictures as well but not too many to catch the readers attraction the most. Pictures have the function to underline the text, not overtake it. 

Variations and choices of topics

If a blogger is choosing a more daily type of blog, it might get boring for the readers in a while to always just read about what happened on the bus, the street, in school or in the restaurant. "Oh, there was an elder lady coming into the bus an nobody offered their seat. Some kids also were playing around with the handles so the bus driver complained to them. The bus was full and a young man couldn't get out in time because people blocked of the door. And oh, if i not mentioned yet, the ticket machine was broken."

If you talk explicit about that one day when the whole bus routine did not work out, write about how you offered the seat to the elder lady and how you eventually told the children to behave better and they might get hurt and how you told the people that they should step out of the bus for a second so people can get to their destination and how you was so kind to tell the bus driver that the ticket machine was broken. 

Let your actions of your daily life influence your posts and articles. This will not just make people think you're a good person, it will also help people realise that environment can be influenced and made better by being helpful. This will give your posts meaning and tell the readers your story.

Language

Two other important aspects are in which language you write and what audience you want to write for. A travel blogger who has been to Japan, Italy, Russia and the USA will more likely write his articles in English than in any other language, due to the language being accessible for everyone and it is easier to follow a blogger who travels a lot in English than in a language barely anyone knows. Since he has been to a lot of places it would just make sense in my opinion.

The way you write for your audience is of important manner. Let's have an example of a technic-interested blogger who writes a lot of computers. It would feel so weird for the reader to read a formal written article about engineering when you have no clue what he is talking about. Of course if he writes for an audience that are also technic-freaks then it would fit, because they know what he is talking about but what if he wants to tutor people out there how all the part of computers work. It would be strongly recommended to write in a contemporary, modern way of writing. This will reach the audience better and make them understand everything as clear as possible. 

Therefore "Slang" is also an important factor. If a travel-blogger is writing about several different places, he will probably intentionally avoid slang words which might not be known by everyone to transmit his feelings and emotions better towards his audience that which he had when he was having his stay in one place. This leads to my next headline.

Additionally I also want to point out how important it is to check your words. Is their spelling correct? Does the word explain exactly what I want to say about my topic? Checking up words is important. 

Don't use too complicated and high-classed words that are far-fetched and not fitting your writing. It is more important that you write in a personal way for the readers. It gives the posts and articles more personality and make the reader not forced to think too hard.

Emotions

In the end, emotions are what people like. Adjectives is the mysterious word to achieve emotions. Everyone wants to describe and achieve specific feelings for the readers to have. Sometimes more and sometime less. Bloggers mostly tend to write in a way the reader receive a specific feeling of the situation the blogger experienced and understand the Bloggers' point of few. 

What does a blogger want to achieve when he writes about a story that was so tragic to him and very meaningful to his life? He wants to write a moving story about it. What does he want to achieve when he writes about how amazed he was by the last place he visited? Then of course he will more likely choose words such as thrilling, breathtaking, overwhelming, stunning, etc.

Using a variety of adjectives which explain the writers' point of view better is the key to successfully transmit feelings.

Closing words & summary

After a long time I have spent on this topic I finally want to conclude it. If you managed to read the whole post without falling asleep on your keyboard I would be very pleased. I hope I described my point of view about this topic as best as I could to give you some key points about how a good blog should look like. Maybe it will help you AND me, now all the essential parts are listed, to make your and my blog better. I will try my hardest to do so. But most of all, enjoy blogging!

As a short summary, I will summarise and list the most important points I interpreted through this post. 

• Choose your type of blog and stick to it.
• Consistant blogging and writing will attract more people.
• A nice design and a few pictures will catch the readers' eye, keep him hooked and spice up the text.
• Do not bore yourself and the reader by "mentioning" parts of your story and always talking about the same things. Use actions from yourself and let them influence the story.
• Make clear what audience you want to write for. Use widely known and clear vocabulary.
• Implement emotions to your text and make it come alive.

I wish you all good luck and success with blogging. Let creativity be with you!