Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Blogging 101

Today, blogging has become a part of every aspect of life. Almost every corporation is using blogs in some way; journalists are competing with bloggers or becoming them; and millions of people around the world use blogs as some sort of personal communication tool.

As I see it, if you are going to blog there should be some purpose behind it so that you are proud in what you are publishing to the cyber world because anyone can look at it. Does the author provide information about themselves giving them credibility and ownership of the theme of their blog? I think that another important aspect is referencing information of credible sources on the topic so the opinions of the blogger are backed up making the blogger more reliable. 

I think that another important aspect of blogging is the visual appeal. There has to be some design element so that the blog is instantly appealing. It is best to use multi-media to keep readers engaged, because let's face it reading isn't always appealing. Pictures, video and audio are all important components of blogging. This gives bloggers the opportunity to be creative and give a different spin on what they are trying to communicate. 

Lastly, the blogger must be responsible and regularly post otherwise the target audience will lose interest and not come back. It's like stars and their fans, eventually fans lose interest if they aren't in the spotlight anymore. They will do interviews, attend functions, and will communicate on any medium they can to stay connected to fans. Same goes for bloggers, keeping readers entertained and engaged is important if you want to capitalize on the opportunities as a blogger because now a days many people make a living out of it. 

Til' next time!


2 comments:

Mei Fang said...

Marissa, thanks for your well thought out input on this topic. I appreciate it. I am also glad that you mentioned visual appeal is an important element in successful blogging.

I hope you will find a lot of things to discuss in your blog to keep readers engaged as you mentioned. I assume this blog is about undecided voters, right?

Mei

Mei Fang said...

Dear Marissa,

I am so disappointed to find entering my comments to the same place as I entered the last one.

If you are having difficulty please let me know. November is your last stretch. I can't begin to advise you, like I do to the others, unless I see some evidence of blogging.

mf