The Sandbox

Joshua Goikhman, Nadir Roberts, Jessica Rech

4 Tips That Will Make You a Better Blogger

Create a Captivating Headline

If you look at the title of this blog, you’ll see that it follows a common formula for blog headlines. That formula is: number/trigger word + adjective + keyword + promise. Now, not every great blog headline needs to follow this formula to the ‘t.’ This blog headline follows the number/trigger word, keyword, and promise aspects of this formula. A good headline provides a good sense of what readers will find when they read the blog as well as a ‘promise’ or descriptor of what the reader will get out of reading the blog. This promise should be, well, promising, so that the reader feels as though they will receive positive feedback from the blog. This blog title starts of with “4 Tips,” immediately indicating that this blog will come in handy for those seeking advice. This aspect brings in the number/trigger word section of the formula all at once. The ‘tips’ in this title, as well as ‘better blogger,’ act as keywords so that the reader can get a good sense of what specific content they will be reading about. Finally, the phrase “Will Make You a Better Blogger” is a promise. When reading this, the reader will feel sure that they will come out of reading this blog with better blogging skills. Overall, a good, captivating headline will provide the reader will proper information about the blog as well as incentive to want to read the blog.

Design a Comprehensive Layout

Having a good layout on your blog can either help or hinder your outreach to your readers. If a layout is jumbled, or doesn’t flow properly, it can throw the reader off and distract them. Navigating through a website and blog should be made as simple as possible, and colours should be chosen with care. A serious note to remember is that a blog is a way to communicate your ideas to your audience and fans, knowing this, it’s a two way street. Both the blogger and reader have to look at the same page, so make sure that it’s a neutral, or complementary scheme. A way to familiarise yourself with this is to gain a basic understanding of colour psychology. Colour psychology is simply the way in which humans perceive and interpret colours. In addition to colour, another tip is to limit the number of fonts you use, and they have to be legible.

Use Descriptive Language

If you want to write a good blog, you should make sure you can write a good anything first! Bloggers may find themselves dealing with the same challenges that many of their contemporary journalists face: discovering their personal style. Although blogs can be written about a wide array of topics, they often deal with reacting or reporting an existing non-fiction story. This means that many bloggers can fall into the trap of using uninvolved or plain language or feeling that they have little room to exercise their creative abilities in the piece. The key to avoiding this is Revision. All of the best writing you can do happens when you look back and edit what you’ve already written.

Pursue Interesting Content

There’s already more writing online than anyone could hope to follow in a lifetime. To make your blog stand out, your content has to grab the attention of those that come across it. So make sure as you start your piece that the story you’re pursuing falls into the subsection of content which is both interesting to you and to readers. If you’re interested in the topic, you’ll be more passionate and diligent in your output, which will come through in your writing. And if your readers are interested in the topic, they’ll be more likely to share and join in the conversation your blog is creating. Remember: you’re writing for others to read.