Online writing has changed the way in which we consider to be a successful piece of writing. In order to make a good blog, the online writer needs to contain not only good material but has to be visually appealing to reader as well.
Design and Theme
I like my blogs to dress to impress. Lance Hosey argues in his article, “Why We Love Beautiful Things”, that in our subconscious we are drawn to beauty, as noted in his reference to the “golden ratio” (Hosey). Personally, I look for blogs that contain eye-catching design accompanied with exciting titles. Going along with design, I enjoy blogs that stick to a theme and are not over the top. One of the blogs I read is the Art of Manliness which provides gentleman lifestyle tips about being a manly man. The overall style of this blogs is simple yet classy, which fits perfectly with the theme and title of the blog.
Setting the Tone
Though design is what visually draws you in, the tone of the blogs is what holds the reader, and thus is equally or more important. Being that I read many sports and college humor blogs, Bleacher Report or Brobible , I have noticed that I hooked by proper use of tone in blogs. If I am reading a post about how my favorite team won last week, I expect there to be CAPITAL LETTERS, expletives, and many exclamation points when discussing the big win. Like Morris stated in his article, “Not that the writing inspires action, or comes out of action, or responds to action. But that the words themselves are active,” (Morris). Blogs that can successfully understand their audience and deliver information with proper tone and clarity are the most appealing for me.
Good Title, Good Info, Good Blog
Though design and tone are essential for success in the blogosphere, when I scroll through blogs, the writing itself needs to deliver. If I am reading a sports blog that breaks news which turns out to be false, I find it hard to trust in that blog again. Similarly, if I am reading a recipe from Budgetbytes, I do not expect the instructions to be overly difficult to follow or the ingredients to expensive. Being a science minded person has a noticeable effect on the way that I read and what I expect out of a blog based on its title. In scientific papers, reading solely the title of a paper should give you a definite clue as to what paper is going to cover. I treat my blogs in the same way, in that when skimming articles, I look for interesting titles that give me a taste for what the whole article will cover.