True story - it gets better though!
Okay. I am staring at this blank page, hoping some words and ideas will fall from the sky and into my blocked mind. I hate when that happens! Does this happen to you too? All I can think of during gathering my thoughts is: why is it so hard for me to post regularly? How do other students manage to post so much, while I was and still am struggling with it all the time? Aren't blogs supposed to be just about the author's interests, and what he/she has to say and wants to publish? Personally I do not like my creative choices to be taken away. Therefore, I am not exactly pleased about the given tasks. I believe it takes away the fun and motivation to put in some effort in any piece of writing. Anyway, blogs are known for their casual writing and unpredictable subject material, right? Yet the best blogs have shown that — regardless of punctuation and spelling — even beginners can be entertaining enough to attract a broad audience. The secret of it lies in one him-/herself, meaning you may not even be aware that you are capable of writing something solid and longer than an e-mail to a friend, which is cherry-on-top low register. So here is what I think are the most important features a blog should hold.
1. VISUAL APPEARANCE
Surprise, surprise. I dare to say that it is the most important feature, hence the first figure. All humans are visual creatures, so if your blog does not look appealing to the reader or visitor they will probably not even bother to read what you wrote. Also, the appearance of text structure is key for clearness on a website. But don’t go overboard on colours; it’s usually more distracting than embellishing!
2. PROPER GRAMMAR
Gosh! That's sometimes a pretty delicate subject on the Internet. Basically, to avoid grammar mistakes you should know at least some basic writing and grammar rules. It really does not look good if the reader can see misspelled words or horrible sentence structure just by going over your text. Put in some effort and use grammarly.com e.g. to be sure that everything is correct.
3.CONCISENESS
“A lot of information reaches the eye, but much is lost by the time it reaches the brain”. That states that what you have to say should be concise and evident. If you want to write a review, for example, it is fine if the blog post is longer than say 500-800 words. Your blog will also be more clearly arranged if you use helpful symbols like bullet points or letters to display your thoughts.
“A lot of information reaches the eye, but much is lost by the time it reaches the brain”. That states that what you have to say should be concise and evident. If you want to write a review, for example, it is fine if the blog post is longer than say 500-800 words. Your blog will also be more clearly arranged if you use helpful symbols like bullet points or letters to display your thoughts.
4. DO NOT SPAM YOUR BLOG…
…with posts that look like Facebook posts. No one really wants to know every detail about your everyday life and it really does not make a good blog. Do not post about what you ate or how you spent your Sunday with a hangover from last night out - unless you are a celebrity. :D Just kidding - not even then.
5. CONTENT
Instead of spamming your blog and the internet, I would suggest writing about what moves you. Are you upset about unfair working conditions in India? Then by all means write about it. Is it going to start up controversy? Maybe it is. However, you are not writing to stir up controversy – you are writing because it is something you are passionate about. But don’t spark controversy for the sake of sparking controversy.
These are three of the blogs from WS13 that I thought were good:
· -http://aboutlizi.blogspot.co.at/ This is the one and only blog I was attracted to visually, and I like what she offers her audience in terms of topics. She has a personal writing style, so the reader can feel her.
· -http://sarahleins-english-world.blogspot.co.at/ Sarah has such great topics, I must say! I can relate to her posts the most, because she chooses topics that I would too. Plus, I like when people are not shy to criticise our society.
· -http://itsjosephasblog.blogspot.co.at/ Josepha writes in a kind of style I can relate to. It is the kind of story-telling-style that I like to read in blogs, you know. She gives that something that makes her posts feel like it is the time again to listen to a story or read a book.
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