Post on 01-Nov-2014
description
Blogging 101
Blogging Effectively
• A Blog’s Look & Feel• Best Practices: Writing a Blog
Post• Best Practices: Using
Multimedia
A Blog’s Look & Feel
Glossary of Blog TermsTerm Definition
Blog
(n) a blog is defined by its format: a series of entries posted to a single page in reverse-chronological order. Blogs generally represent the personality of the author or reflect the purpose of the website that hosts the blog.
(v) to maintain or add content to a blog
Post (n) An individual blog entry
Blogger A person who blogs
Blogroll A list of other blogs that a blogger recommends by providing links to them (usually in a sidebar list).
(RSS) Feed
Really Simple Syndication is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated content such as blog entries, news headlines or podcasts. An RSS Feed is a file containing a blog’s latest posts. It is read by an RSS aggregator/reader and shows at once when a blog has been updated
Tag Free-form index of terms that classify blog posts by topic structure
Comments Replies from readers of an individual post
Header
Main navigation & search
SidebarSubscription options,
featured content, Social Media &
blogroll links
Main ContentPosts, Pages, etc
FooterRepeat subscription options & links
The Anatomy of a Blog
The Anatomy of a Blog
Tags
Subscription options &
social media links
Post
Best Practices: Writing a Blog
Post
A Successful Blog Posto Provides relevant, useful and valuable information
• The audience is our customer base. Picture yourself in their shoes and take their perspective
o Uses clear, concise and interesting headlines so readers know what they’re getting (or are intrigued)
o Is typically more casual & conversational than other forms of writing. Use a personal voice.
o Is easy to skim
o Is well-written. Spellcheck. Fact-check. Proofread.
o Incorporates visual content to liven things up
The Introduction• When writing the introduction, here are some
ideas for how to begin your posto Pose a Question
o Open with a Quote
o Provide a Personal and Powerful Story
o Quote an Enticing Fact or Statistic
o Create Context, provide background
o Use Analogies
Writing for the Skimmer
• Break up your post into bite-sized sections using:o Italics
o Call out box or block quote
o Short paragraphs
o Bullet points
o A short numbered list
Linking• Hyperlinking in
Postso Link to content that
is referred to in post
o List additional resources at the end of an article
o Hyperlinks increase Search Engine optimization and provides the reader with further research
Comments
• Ask for and respond to comments:o Make a point to invite our
readers to share their opinions in your comments on every post
o Acknowledge their comments, even when their viewpoint differs from your own.
Best Practices:
Using Multimedia
Embedding Multimedia: Images
Images break up text heavy post and provides visual relief.
o Images don't have to include just photos
o You can use screenshots, diagrams, charts, graphs, illustrations, and more
Best Practices:o Use a maximum of 2-3
images per posto Include a link to any
online images in your post or send the source file to Social Media Manager
Embedding Multimedia: Video
Why to consider video:o Video adds visual and audio
interest to text-heavy web pages
o Video can often be more compelling
Best Practices:o Keep video to 2 minutes or lesso If you are writing your post in
html, cut and paste the embed code from a video streaming site in to the post
o If your are writing your post in a word processor, just include a link to the webpage