5 Steps to a Successful Blog Post
Browsing around online, I have come across many blogs and taken note of their unique writing styles and formats. Many of these blogs had horrible readability for a number of reasons other than design. This post sums up some of the easy steps I try to follow to ensure improved readability on my blog. These steps assume that your content is good. Granted if you follow all of these steps but have pointless content, you can’t expect much.
A Solid Introduction Paragraph
Whenever I have an idea for a post, the absolute first thing I concentrate on is the introduction paragraph. If I can’t get a good intro paragraph out the door, the post won’t get published. A successful introduction captures your readers’ attention and encourages them to continue reading. A great introduction also gives your readers something good to quote if they decide to link to your article, or even submit it to a social bookmarking site.
Speaking of paragraphs, breaking up your content into more digestible chunks can help with readability. However, you only want to be breaking things up into paragraphs where applicable: ie, not in the middle of explaining the specifications of your new computer.
Visual Elements
Whenever and wherever possible, I try to add a visual element within my posts to elaborate on the discussion at hand. It helps take out some of the guess work to comprehend what I’m saying. A screenshot of what something should look like, an image demonstrating a certain Photoshop technique, or an image of that new gadget add greatly to the value of your post. However, everything should be within reason — too many images can mangle your flow of content and be detrimental.
Structure
Now that you’re in the meat of the actual post, creating some structure to what you are going to be talking about is vital. By structure I mean methods of organizing your content into easily distinguishable sections. Things like headings to introduce new elements and bulleted lists can make a huge improvement in the readability of your posts. In addition, highlighting key pieces of your article through the use of bold type or emphasizing words through italics let your readers know where to focus and is handy for those skimming.
Using Line-Height and Font Sizes to Boost Readability
My absolute number one pet peeve of most blogs these days is the use of hard-to-read line-height attributes and font sizes. Some spacing between lines is a must. The CSS attribute line-height controls this aspect and can easily be added to stylesheet. It also helps if the font is larger than 10 pixels (point). If I get annoyed just trying to read your posts, chances are I won’t be coming back and will stay behind the safety of my RSS aggregator.
Links & Block Quotes
The last things to think about before publishing your post deal with adding links and using block quotes where relevant. Both can add context to each post and don’t require much effort on your part.
I’m gonna have to start practicing this. Good stuff, I dugg it: http://digg.com/software/5_Steps_to_a_Successful_Blog_Post
All good points, and ones I follow on my blog. Also, might want to add that you should keep the front page to teasers. Allows for a quicker view of what readers want to probe more in depth. For really important stuff I let it all hang out on the front.
Yeah Nick I totally agree with the teasers thing. It lets people get a grasp of the other posts on your frontpage, which is why killer intro paragraphs are a must.
Your line-height and font-size tip should go in its own separate post titled “5 steps to a successful blog layout”.
I’m curious Paul, by your line-height and font-size standards, would you consider my content to be a little on the unreadable side?
Ron I think yours is readable but a little bit extra line-height would be nice. I meant those sites where the two lines are almost touching.. I just can’t stand that.
Paul, I owe you big. First of all, tweaking my line-height has greatly enhance the readability of my text. I always liked the font-size but always felt the text was too squished. Now that I know about line-height (which I never knew before), the text looks great.
Second, I finally fixed that damn Safari text rendering bug! Apparently there was a CSS value I was overlooking that was in a stupid place. I found it when looking for a good place to put the line-height.
So, thanks for help (even though you really didn’t do anything). ;-)
So basically, format it so it’s easy to analyze and is visually appealing. Design is important.
Okay then I suppose this is all about design.. albeit the design of your content.
Great tips! These are all things that I, as a rookie blogger, have been trying to keep in mind; the solid intro and visual elements part are especially important as I try to blog about things people will want to read.
I think minimum line-height: 1.5em; is a good figure to start with.
Typetester can be handy if you want to test different type settings for your site.
Most of these things I know - if not very well. However the only good ones are because I felt like doing them well - and not because I didn’t know how. It takes a non-lazy attitude to write a good blog post :)
There’s no visual element in this post! There are also no links or block quotes! *gasp*
I’m sorry. I just couldn’t resist. ;)
Basically, don’t make your site look like some 14-year-old’s newest MySpace creation.
Nice list. I definately agree with the part of visual elements. You can nearly always find something to enhance a post visually and it just helps to make it more interesting and convey the subject better.
There are also the common steps we take for granted - spelling, grammar, extreme use of buzzwords, etc.
wow, thanks for stating what should have been obvious to me. I’m a big one for unambiguous first paragraphs, and I seem to get more response for decent first paragraphed posts.
I don’t like too much space between the lines- double spacing is almost like trapped white-space (a layout no-no) but I’ve gone with 1.3 spacing, and it does reduce the chaotic nature of the text.
Thanks for the timely reminders!
Great tips Paul, especially on structure. In my opinon that is the most important aspect of writing, as it is important to organise information an a clear and logical manner, so that the reader can absorb what is in front of them, even if they are skim reading.
Another important issue people sometimes miss is writing in plain english! The plain english campaign have a lot of useful information to help tackle complex subjects in a way that will help anyone understand.
Would you like to say something about my blog?
In a nutshell - the red is too strong, way too many links, no hierarchy with different types of content, low contrast and hard to read text.
hi!
i’m new to the world of blogging - in fact this is my first blog ever. So HI! to all u millions of bloggers out there.
I totally agree with your views on making blogs more interesting with the tips u have to offer. formatting a text works great - i’ve been using it all my life to create an impression with my writing where others have failed to make an impact.
next time i’ll tell you a few tips on formatting which are easy to follow and will make for great writing skills.
best wishes,
jasdeep.
hey Paul, how about when you would suggest some sites/some stuffs to check out(just a mini post)? Would that deserve some screenshots of the site like that? Sometimes I explained briefly but clearly in the post what the site is about but many times people won’t just get over this link because they didn’t exactly knew what it was or how cool it was(the site/thing I’m talking about-think that’s why visual elements is so important). The post was a Crispy Bits(mini) so that’s why I thought that it would not deserve screenshots? But if screenshots, some sites may have many cool sections and putting the image of the main page(which sometimes don’t have anything) might not suggest much about every cool stuffs there? What would ya advise me?
Good posts indeed
Hello Paul. I’ve tried to follow your 5 steps to successful blog post and I’ve written a post, could you please take a look at it please if that’s the way to it :
http://blogosquare.blog.mu/2006/09/02/could-blogger-beat-wordpress/
Thanks very much in advance ;)
Good tips, especially the intro paragraph tip. I disagree your tip on teasers unless the post is especially long. I hate teasers. Scrolling and scanning is easier when the entire post is on one page.
This bloke has written an excellent series called “Bloke’s Tips for a Successful Blog”
Some good advice. If you get the chance to review the design of my blog I would appreciate any feedback.
excellent! i have started my new blog and was looking for tips like these. i read others comments, but guys, many of his ideas are subjective.highlight the good advice he has given. Check out agent011.blogspot.com which is my blog and give me advice on how to improve design, and how to make the blog popular. search optimisation or word of mouth? which is better?
photo
D
Wow!!! Good job. Could I take some of yours triks to build my own site?h
I have your site for its useful and funny content and simple design.
Me and my friend are new to blogging…we started this just about a month and a half ago..and I appreciate all your tips..
Is my lightbulb getting brighter? I don’t know..but I hope so…LOL
Thanks
Very cool design! Useful information. Go on!
Thanks so very much for taking your time to create this very useful and informative site. I have learned a lot from your site. Thanks!!d
I’ve come across many different blogs that describe various ways to optimize, or improve your blog. However, I’ve come to the conclusion that your post has been the most helpful!
Thank you!
Alex