How to write a good blog post (old version)

Please note that there is an updated version of this blog post at

https://howshouldiblog.blogspot.com/2020/11/how-to-write-good-blog-post-updated.html

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We are not the first people wondering what makes a good blog post. I tried to sum up here the things I've learned through the years.

Quality is more important than quantity

To begin with, you might ask yourself what type of blog post you would rather read. People tend to read things that are worth their time. We want useful, moving, noteworthy, unique, relevant, inspiring and well thought out content. We want to read or view things that help us to improve some aspect of our lives.

Shorter posts are also best for generating discussion but need to be at least 250 words long to be searched by the search engines. Gunnel claims that 400-600 words long is a good length. The reason I'm referring to him is that his thoughts line up well with ours, your activity posts should be around that length too. If you choose to embed them (presentation or videos) the length requirement is 2-3 minutes.

Remember to acknowledge your sources

Bear in mind the people who are the subject of your discussion as well as the intended audience. These posts are about you, but you might be referring to people close to you. Remember to ask their permission.

This is your chance to create some meaningful content on the internet. When you keep your readers in mind, you should help them to see which parts are your own ideas and which are someone else's. Also help them to find more information about your sources by acknowledging them accordingly.

Make you posts scannable

Since we scan through the content, editing is essential. By we I mean us humans, but Search Engine bots are scanning through your content too. And they have been taught to respect the same things as we humans do. If you are not yet familiar how search engines work, I would suggest you read this article by Google. After that, you might for example realise how important proper linking is.

Goins suggests that sticking to a topic, and having clear titles and subheadings should help too. Writing an easily scannable article means you write for your readers, not just for yourself. Also bear in mind the possibility that your readers might be using mobile devices or screen reading software.

Be academic enough

Goins thinks that bloggers should write as they speak. In his opinion, blogging is about community, and therefore, different from a doctoral thesis or a newspaper article. I do agree that there needs to be a conversational flow to your content, but I want to remind you that these blog posts will be part of your Level 8 assessments.

As you might have noticed I haven't been sticking to APA referencing in detail, but my referencing is clear enough, isn't it? And yes, I have three sources in this post. Maybe a few more wouldn't hurt. But coming back to where I began - focus on quality and, most importantly, enjoy sharing your own learning journey with the world.

If you choose so, you can also add the references to the end: 

References

Goins, J.(2015). How to Write Scannable Content for Your Blog. Retrieved from http://goinswriter.com/write-scannable-content/

Gunnel's, S. (2015). The Secrets of Blog Post Length. About.com Tech. Retrieved from http://weblogs.about.com/od/writingablog/qt/The-Secrets-Of-Blog-Post-Length.htm

Support.google.com. (2016). How Google Search Works - Search Console Help. Retrieved from https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/70897?hl=en

UPDATE 6/5/2016: Naturally we learn and make mistakes, we are humans. Instead of editing our old posts, we should comment them or make new ones. If you do make changes to your post, a good practice is to have a change log (like this) at the end of the post. Keep in mind that you most definitely shouldn't edit your posts as a response to comments - instead you should add your own counter-comments. That is the essence of blogging!