At times, the Internet acts as a trap that allows us to aimlessly scroll our lives away. But what gets our attention? How do we end up on pages about how to spice up our wardrobe when initially starting on a blog about last nights Giants game?
The answer is, a well thought out and designed page that is interactive, multimodal, personalized, and creates a sense of community.
With such a fast paced society that encourages having some sort of screen within reach at all times, it is crucial for a blog to be “good” to have someone stay on it.
First, a good blog is a blog that someone will go to. This requires having a catchy title, something this grabs the attention of the reader. It also has to be well designed. Naturally, we are attracted to beautiful things. As Lance Hosey states, we literally reach for beautiful things as attractive products trigger the part of the brain that governs hand movement. A well-designed blog is one that is neat, has good use of colors, and is not too long in length.
Quick video on how to spice up your blog if your a newbie:
[youtube_sc url=”https://youtu.be/KAOpo10Xaak”]
Second, a good blog contains organic writing. It doesn’t have to be as linear as an essay. As Pete Rorabaugh states in his article, writing is organic and “permits a clearer view into the pulpy, fleshy process of giving linguistic, visual, and electronic architecture to our ideas.” There can be words that pop out, don’t fit perfectly in the structure of the writing, and can be fun and free flowing. It’s your blog, make it fun and easy to read rather than the formal writing drilled in your head from previous classes.
Third, the blog has to be interactive and multimodal. As Sean Michael Morris states, “words themselves are active. They move, slither, creep, sprint, and outpace us. Digital words have lives of their own.” A good blog not only has active words as its online, but also should have videos, links, photos, that not only grasp the reader but also lead them to click on more links to get them more and more invested in the blog and the internet itself.
Finally, if the blog builds some sort of community and allows followers to communicate and congregate – then its made it. As Carroll states, a blog is a place of community that makes the blog and writing have value and an even larger voice. A good blog is one that allows all those voices to be heard and unite.