Creating a new blog sounds easy, right? But you still haven’t started. Sort of like that New Years resolution you promised yourself to keep and never got around to.
Most New Year’s resolutions don’t work because we don’t take the time to establish guidelines to follow to reach our goal. To avoid failing at this whole blog thing, let’s talk about four guidelines to consider while creating a blog post.
Tell a Story
Not only does a story captured the reader’s attention, it creates a more memorable experience for the reader. There are several ways you can incorporate a story into your blog. For instance, I captured your attention by comparing starting a blog to starting a New Year’s resolution. It’s a familiar story that nearly everyone has experienced. The reader can identify with that familiar story and have a stronger connection to the content of the blog.
In What Star Wars Can Teach About Talent Management, they draw meaning from a well known film series to better understand talent management. A common formula I have seen across blogs is to begin with telling the familiar story, then go deeper into what it actually means in relation to the rest of the blogs content.
A story doesn’t always have to be a familiar story. Although, if it’s not relatable, it should at least be interesting. Michelle Johnson shares her personal story on her relationship to perfectionism. The reader may not be a perfectionist themselves but this makes the reading all that more intriguing. If the reader doesn’t identify with her story of perfectionism, they now have a story to at least understand the perspective of the author. Whether your story is building a connection with the force or telling a personal experience, think of the story as building a bridge between the writer and the reader.
Personable Tone
Having a personable tone goes hand in hand with telling a story. Picture yourself telling your best friend about how excited you are to start your New Year’s resolution; about how you were going to wear your new workout clothes you got from Christmas. And, wait for it… you just bought protein and a shaker bottle because that’s what fit people do! You wouldn’t keep a formal persona. You would be excited and engaging. You would use personal language to like, “I” and“you” .
Using a personable tone makes you more relatable to the audience. Rather than seeming like you’re on a higher level than them, the audience should feel a personal connection solely through the content you’re putting out. Throughout your posts, you should develop a personal style that is a reflection of yourself. The most authentic way to do this is to write like you would talk to a friend.
Structure Your Post
You need to have a logical flow within the structure of your blog. There is not a one answer fits all. The structure of the blog post is dependent on the content of the post. Maybe you want to provide an ethical list of where to find free photos. You would establish the context of why it is important and go on to display the sources in a list of sections. In this case, separating each piece of advice into takeaway sections is appropriate and expected for easy advice implementation.
You should consider which structure will best complement the content of the post. For instance, if you are doing an analysis or telling more of a personal story that has built a relationship between the writer and the reader, using a list of takeaways may feel a bit odd. In this case, you would go for more of a narrative style. Thus, just organizing your points into paragraphs.
Support Your Arguments
While it is best to be personable and relatable, you still need to be credible. Whatever niche your blog is, you can build credibility for your arguments with the support of outside sources. Doing so makes your work more respectable. Essentially, we want to avoid claiming truths like you would in your diary, with no support. Like choosing your structure, you should consider which style works best for the content of the blog.
If the piece is relatively a short read, it may be best to provide in-text citations for easy access to the context. This style may be to distracting for a deeper analysis or your own liking so go for basis MLA citations at the bottom.
Your pictures should also be cited and hyperlinked to their source. Like this picture above. Not only is it ethical, it adds to your credibility so, at the very least do it for yourself.
Happy New Blog!
DIGITAL CATHARSIS 