Good Bloggin': A Review of 5 Blogs

The following blog, http://www.twistimage.com/blog/, by Mitch Joel, has a wisely used heading and design.  It is clear, organized well and not cluttered.  The color choices are attractive and make for easy reading.  It is not difficult to navigate this particular blog.  Joel’s purpose is clearly stated in the header and his blog posts are consistent with the topics listed in his heading.  The footer has a clear purpose although not creatively used as advised by recent blog trend experts. 

I also enjoyed the following blog at: http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/.  This blog by Grammar Girl is for the purpose of offering advice on improving your writing.  Although the blog includes other tips, the primary audience is those interested in improving their writing techniques so it remains pretty consistent.  The colors, organization and layout are attractive.

Media Matters for America is a blog found at the following link:  http://mediamatters.org/blog/.  It is laid out much like an online newspaper and its articles read similar to a newspaper as well.  Although I am not a fan of staring at a white screen for a long period of time the site is clean and organized.  The header and footer are well-utilized for the purpose of this blog site. 

The “Strategic Public Relations” blog by Kevin Dugen at http://prblog.typepad.com/ is interesting to look at.  It, at first glance, may seem busy but once reading the featured blog articles you realize that the large photos and graphics are related to the articles.  The articles are well-written and not too complex as far as the word choice, although the writer does appear to assume that his audience has a decent knowledge of the subjects discussed.  He does tend to go on rants about certain topics which shows passion, but it can make for less enjoyable reading.

“Communication Overtones,” at http://overtonecomm.blogspot.com/, is written by Kami Watson Huyse, a PR professional.  I enjoy this blog because she obviously has passion for what she writes.  I especially enjoyed her reason behind her blog title because it is unique, creative and personal.  The design of the blog page is clean although the color combination is not my favorite (greys and browns do not appeal to me).  It is a well-researched blog with a few great minds working behind it.  I appreciate the effort put in to this one.

What's In A Blog?

Although there aren’t many rules that blogs live by, the fact of the matter is, when and if you want someone to read your blog there are some guidelines and recommendations made by blogging experts that should be followed.  A blog should have a purpose.  For example, the purpose of a blog can be to inform, persuade, influence, advise or entertain.  It should be directed at an audience so that it remains consistent with its messages.  This takes starting with a goal and having focus. 

The design of a blog ranges from top to bottom, side to side and bar to bar.  From the heading to the footer, the side bar to the comments, organization, color scheme and style all play a significant role in a blogs readability, appeal and impact.  Color, font, font size, and layout will affect what stands out to the reader and what doesn’t.  Attention to such details will manage the focus and highlight what is important within a blog.

The content of a blog should be well-researched, well-organized, be without grammatical errors, and express the voice and unique style of the writer.  Blogging can be fun and when it comes to what you say or how you style, from my experience, less is more to start.  If you design and write with a purpose and are conscious of the design elements involved you can save yourself a great deal of re-design time further down the road.  Each piece of a blog should matter and if you remember this the end result is often more pleasing to the eye.