What makes a good Blog?

According to Marsh, Guth, & Short (2009), “Bog is short for Web log, an online personal essay” (p. 108). Blogs are used by Organizations, television stations, newspapers, people that want to share their opinion, or people that want to share something with the rest of the world. “Blogs actively invite written responses offering a Comments link to allow readers to agree, disagree or extend the discussion”, Marsh, Guth, & Short (2009, p. 108). So what makes a good blog?

First, a person needs to take into consideration the purpose, design, content, and audience. The purpose could be a hobby that interests like-minded individuals, and they want to share their experiences and maybe even the “how-to” part of it. The purpose than draws an audience of bloggers that will comment on the blog or share their works. The content of the blog is usually based around the purpose of the blog, but could also include links to other blogs or articles of interest. The audiences are the like-minded individuals that view the blog pages or people doing research for something.

Now, according to Martin (2012), there are seven elements to making a blog look great:

·         Structure – blatantly obvious for a first time visitor, people friendly

·         Balance- size, color, position, and the detail within it

·         Colors – colormatters.com has a wealth of information on meanings and visual effects on colors

·         Small details – the small details make the overall effect so make sure to review them, take notes while designing, and stay consistent

·         Clarity & Emphasis -  do not clutter the page, a smart tactic is too use a lot of white space and get to the gist of the points

·         Balances – bigger images balance smaller ones and vice versa; and like images mirror each other from one side to another

·         Remarkability & Functionality – remarkability is when there is something about the blog that makes it stick out about all others and functionality is the functions on the blog, like plug-ins that will connect a person to Facebook and Twitter or the comment box on the bottom of the page

As a person can tell a lot of effort, detail, and time can go into a blog. Every recommendation, piece of advice, or opinion should be well taken in order to make a great blog turn into an awesome blog. Stating that, the following paragraphs explain my critique of each classmate’s blog.

“Alana’s blog is spooky and she used very frightful colors that work excellent with each other” (COM 480, WK 4 DQ 1, Spriggs, T., 2012). “The red font reminded me of the color of blood, and the white complemented the black background” (COM 480, WK 4 DQ 1, Spriggs, T., 2012).  “The picture of used of her own with the sunset I thought was ok, but she is so graphic and vivid with her wonderful story-telling skills that I think it would be better to have a picture on that side of the blog that is a little spookier and eerie” (COM 480, WK 4 DQ 1, Spriggs, T., 2012).

“Carlota’s blog is warm and welcoming with the pink colors that are being used that eventually turn darker” (COM 480, WK 4 DQ 1, Spriggs, T., 2012). “I would play with different fonts for the title of the blog as the one that you are using seems to be too studious” (COM 480, WK 4 DQ 1, Spriggs, T., 2012). I did get some great ideas looking at this blog. “The little pictures that are placed on each separate article within the blog complemented each piece she wrote about” (COM 480, WK 4 DQ 1, Spriggs, T.). “Then, this is the second blog that has a personal profile, and I do not have one of my own” (COM 480, WK 4 DQ 1, Spriggs, T., 2012).

“Darlis’ blog looks very professional with a graphic template of books that mirror each other on both sides” (COM 480, WK 4 DQ 1, Spriggs, T., 2012). “The little pictures that are within the text of the blog are genius, and I could not have done a better job” (COM 480, WK 4 DQ 1, Spriggs, T., 2012). “The font that is used complements the professional look and feel of the blog” (COM 480, WK 4 DQ 1, Spriggs, T., 2012). “Unfortunately, I have no recommendations for this blog, but I do know I have some work to do of my own in comparison to everyone else’s blogs” (COM 480, WK 4 DQ 1, Spriggs, T., 2012).

In conclusion, according to Marsh, Guth, & Short (2009), “Bog is short for Web log, an online personal essay” (p. 108). Blogs are used by Organizations, television stations, newspapers, people that want to share their opinion, or people that want to share something with the rest of the world. “Blogs actively invite written responses offering a Comments link to allow readers to agree, disagree or extend the discussion”, Marsh, Guth, & Short (2009, p. 108). A great source for creating these blogs are Google Blogs as you can see. With time and patience you too can be a blogger.

References

Endinger, C. (2012). Carla’s Recipes. Retrieved from http://carlas640kitchen.blogspot.com/

Flite, D. (2012). Communication Studies. Retrieved from http://communicationbymsjackson.blogspot.com/

Marsh, C., Guth, D., & Short, B. (2009). Strategic Writing: Multimedia Writing for Public Relations, Advertising, and More. (2^nd edition). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.

Martin, Michael (26^th June). 7 Elements to make your Blog look great. Retrieved from http://www.problogdesign.com/design/7-elements-to-make-your-blog-look-great/

Wells, A. (2012). In the Depths of darkness. Retrieved from http://2twistedtales.blogspot.com/