“The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider’s web.”
Some artists like Picasso are legendary, while others languish in the shadows. The ones whose work is most highly valued are the ones who explore their environment and are able to display a variety of “colors” from their spectrum. Like artists, some bloggers` creations are successful, while others are lost to history. In order to be remarkable, could you pinpoint the essential colors or features a blog needs to meet?
What Makes a Blog Oustanding?
A noteworthy blog embodies four basic attributes: interior and exterior content, display of emotion, sense of community and transparency.
1) Interior and Exterior Content
In his article, Organic Writing and Digital Media: Seeds and Organs, Peter Rorabaugh points out that writing process is “organic”, and, as such, writers should tend to the content: “seeds” or ideas and “organs” or format. Blogs should share precise information, have a clear layout and a creative design. You can be original and develop an aesthetic multimodal design with hyperlinks, archives, tags, source material, among other elements.
2) Display of Emotion
Brian Carroll explains in chapter seven of his book, Writing for Digital Media, that blogs are “humanizing” pieces of writing. What gives them the human touch is the possibility to pour your heart and soul into your blog, be yourself. Writing authentically gives space to observe, imagine, create, inspire and make meaning of your surroundings.
3) Sense of Community
An effective blog is a canvas of emotions, where the blogger communicates with like-minded people and shares his understanding of the world. As Carroll suggests, an exceptional blog builds “trust” through conversational tone and constructs “community” through allowing readers engage and participate in the process of communication.
4) Transparency
“Reveal[ing] your identity”is vital, Carroll underlines. By providing background information about yourself, your qualification and contact information you establish credibility among readers. Moreover, keeping information and links up-to-date and citing credible sources are other ways to be trustworthy.
Blogs are not simply posts, they are rather carefully thought out forms of artistic expression, where people can effectively share up-to-date information on an online community. In order to create a successful blog you must craft valuable ideas, design an exciting layeout, display your feelings, invite readers to participate, build trust and remain transparent. An outstanding blog is the one in which the author resorts to a variety of tools, and shows his true colors.
Works Cited:
Carroll, B. (2010). Bloguito , Ergo sum: Treds in Personal Publishing. In Writing for Digital Media (First ed., pp. 148-165). New York: Routledge.
Rorabaugh, P. (2012). Organic Writing and Digital Media: Seeds and Organs. Hybrid Pedagogy.
