As a beginning blogger, I have come to learn a few things overall about blogging. While I did use some authoritative content to discover this, much of what I have learned came from viewing my peers’ blogs and relaying my opinion. Of course, ProBlogger appears to be the most authoritative blog-designing blog out there, so I picked up a few tidbits from them as well. It never hurts to study the techniques of the professionals!
One classmate of mine appeared to have worked very hard on her blog. With all her hard work, she missed a few key elements of blogging that, were I a professional looking to hire, would make me look elsewhere. Certain elements take precedence in blogging. I chose to pick on this particular classmate because I had the most suggestions to make on her blog. Hard as she must have worked, she made a classic blunder, according to Flaxman (2011). She posted first drafts.
We have all done it. We have posted angry rants in our Facebook Notes. We have put up sloppy poetry or prose in our personal blogs. Perhaps we have even thrown up our first instincts on our personal websites. Our professional blogs, in contrast, need to be treated with all the care and respect we would give our final term paper. We have to consider that this is not just the grade here. These blogs can be used in the future to showcase our work as communications studies majors. They can help us get those coveted jobs we have studied so long and hard to get! Flaxman (2011) states the entire writing process, just as we do with our papers, needs to be followed for our blog posts.
Another classmate showed me something that I only now notice, after much careful research. Her initial post was an assigned class posting. As Flaxman (2011) mentions, there’s no “proverbial welcome mat.” Her “About Me” section mentions her goals for the blog, but few readers are going to click through to that section. It is another page, outside the realm of the blog itself. This classmate probably needed to first blog about her purpose, personality, or plans for the use of the blog. Of course, it is too late for this, so I have chosen not to mention it. She still has the opportunity to blog about these items, to “display [her] personality” (Flaxman, 2011).
Something I noticed on many of my fellow classmates blogs is that they chose not to include images in their posts. I used images in my own posts because I have seen professional bloggers do this. Images break up monotonous text. Regardless of how interesting the text may be, staring at a computer screen takes concentration. Line after line of text with no visual break can be hard on the eyes, and the brain. Pictures attract the eyes. Visuals stimulate the interest (Flaxman, 2011).
Rowse (2008) provides a list of criteria for an effective blog post. I adapted his list into a rubric for my classmates as I critiqued their blogs. Something I noted in one of my classmates posts was that she neglected to cite the sources she used at the bottom of the post. It was clear she used sources, because she did cite them within the text of the post, but I had no way to find the sources should I want to check their accuracy. This falls under Rowse’s believability suggestion (Rowse, 2008). The post is not written by an authority in the field of communications, it is written by a college student. Granted, that student may have learned plenty from her years of school, but where did she get that information from? Citing of her sources goes to her credibility as a writer.
Something that I have learned from my years of writing college papers is that white space is essential to a good layout. It makes the document “skimmable” by busy professionals who may not have the time to read the entire thing. Some of my classmates were adept at spacing the text within their posts at the right moment in their context. It became clear, “here is breathing room: take a breath, continue.” Rowse (2008) points out the necessity of a clear, “skimmable” layout. One of my classmates posted a single-spaced post in relatively small text with very little space between paragraphs. I loved the post. It was interesting and held a lot of well-thought-out information. I hated reading it. I considered that, if I hated reading it so much, so would a potential employer or colleague. They may simply move on, losing out on the good information she had to share.
I have not cited my classmates’ blogs in-text because I do not feel it is necessary to point them out individually. Mistakes can be made by anyone, and I am certain there are blogs floating around out there on the internet that make my classmates’ mistakes look minor. In addition, once those mistakes are fixed, having been pointed out by a round of critiquing, my citations will be no longer relevant. I have listed their blog addresses as references. What makes a good blog? I cannot answer with authority. I can, however, point out with some certainty what does not make a good blog, and help to fix it.
Easley, F. (2011). Adventures of a Guerilla Fundraiser. Retrieved March 17, 2011 from http://adventuresinguerillafundraising.blogspot.com/
Flaxman, S. (2011). Eliminate 21 reputation-crushing writing mistakes from your blog. Retrieved March 21, 2011 from http://www.problogger.net/archives/2011/02/26/eliminate-21-reputation-crushing-writing-mistakes-from-your-blog/
Loomis, L. (2011). Aims of the Admin. Retrieved March 17, 2011 from http://AdminAims.blogspot.com
Marchbanks, D. (2011). Communication in the 21st Century. Retrieved March 17, 2011 from http://comm21century.blogspot.com
Rowse, D. (2008). Nine signs of an effective blog post. Retrieved March 15, 2011 from http://www.problogger.net/archives/2008/07/10/nine-signs-of-an-effective-blog-po