Writing Styles: Blog

Writing Styles: Blog

Blog:

What is a blog?  Web + log = BLOG

    A regularly updated website or web page, typically one run by an individual or small group that is written in an informal or conversational style.

1) Make it Pertinent

Relevance should be your number one priority when writing a blog post. Know your audience and gauge what will not only be appropriate, but pertinent. Find important information that's missing, and share your unique perspective.

2) Include Useful Information

It’s not enough that a blog post be relevant to a subject. It also needs to be useful and important information. Your blog should aim to help and educate its audience, offering something they can take away. People appreciate information they can do something with, and will return to your blog if you consistently offer posts that are not only relevant, but useful.

3) Make it Engaging

A blog post must be well written. And it’s not enough to have perfect grammar and spelling; it needs to be personal, interesting, and interactive. Try and let your personality shine through in your writing. Don’t be afraid to write in a conversational tone. Personal stories and anecdotes are a great way to make a blog post more engaging.

4) Spark Discussion

This goes along with engaging your reader. It is extremely important to generate as much conversation and discussion as possible in your blog. Great posts should generate discussion, so don’t forget to include your readers.

Ask for feedback, thoughts, opinions, or even just comments. Include a call to action at the end of article to garner a response. For example; "What do you think? Have you ever had a similar experience? I'd like to read some of your thoughts about it-please share."

5) Keep it Readable

Keep your thoughts succinct and to the point.
Bullets, lists, graphs and images are a great way to make sure your content is easy to read. Always preview your work before you publish, and make sure it’s easy to look over.

6) Appropriate Length

A blog post should be as long as it needs to be. By this, I mean that it should be as long as it takes for you to succinctly and clearly explain your idea, concept or thought. As long as you offer quality, pertinent information in a readable and engaging manner consistently your blog should do well, hopefully fostering a sense of online community along with helping build a personal connection with your readers.

7) Use pictures and colour

The use of pictures, graphics, images, colour (text; as long as it is readable), will always grab your readers.

Here are some examples of the Blog Style - the last example here is showing a layout created in WORD. Be sure to look at that one - it should give you some ideas. 

Look at the overal layout of what makes this a Blog.






























Note the components of the blog page:

2 Further examples of how the overal blog appears:

Using a WORD document, insert shapes and text boxes to create the "blog" appearance. Remember, the writing should be informal, conversational; BUT formal enough to be suitable for task (in otherwords, grammar, punctuation, sentence/paragraph structure, spelling: should be "perfect") 
Your "blog" entry should be "suitable for purpose" - meaning, it should LOOK LIKE a BLOG entry.