Creating a Blog Post - The Basics

 

What is a Blog Post?

You already know what a blog post is.  You see them every day when you search the Internet.  Some posts are by professionals, and some are by average people wanting to express their ideas on a subject.  Conduct a search online about a topic of interest, and you will find blog posts to help you learn more about that topic.

The Focus of a Blog Post

While blog posts can focus on many types of writing, the most common—and most read—are blog posts that inform, encourage, educate, and send the audience away with a Call to Action (CTA). For Paper 3, you will need to create a blog post that identifies an issue, proposes solutions to the issue, and indicates why this issue is meaningful. As you will see in the section below, the issue does not have to be earth shattering.  Afterall, my example below is about comfortable dog harnesses for your pets. However, it should be an issue that others notice and would like to resolve for themselves.

Image 1 Click the image to watch the video from Trainer Tips.

How do you Write a Blog Post?

To begin with, you need 10 things: 

1.     A problem to solve.

What problem have you noticed in the world?  For example: People make dog clothes and harnesses for cuteness and not for comfort and ease. All the dog harnesses you buy for your dog rub her bald, don’t work with her sweaters, and are hard to get on.

 

2.     Solutions to the problem.

What can you suggest that will solve this issue? For example: is there a particular company that makes easy on/off harnesses and clothes for pets?  Do you have a pattern you could share in the blog to encourage people to begin making their own harnesses, harness covers, or harness-friendly dog clothes?

Image 2: Missing Caption and Citation

3.     An image. 

What image could you choose that will attract a reader?  If you have a few to use for different stages in your post, what could they be? For example: a picture of a dog scratching at his harness.  A picture of a bald spot on a dog’s back from a harness rubbing.  A picture of a padded harness for soft contact to the dog.  A picture of a hand drawn sketch of a fuzzy fabric tube to create at home and wrap around your current dog harness straps to soften the rubbing on your pet. Be sure to properly credit the images. To cross reference them, see this video.

Image 3: Pink Hawaiian

4.     Color. 

Be sure to include color and bold usage when creating the blog headers, labels, and main points.  See how I adjusted the main points for each of these criteria in bold and blue?  Give that a try in your post. When you transition to a new point in the blog, add a subheader in a larger font and color.  This will help grab readers and make it more engaging than the standard black font.

 

5.     Credible source quote(s).

Find research that could be used in your post to lend credibility to your assertions.  You could look up statistics about how many people think this is a problem.  You could look up the history of the item (such as when the first dog harness was sold) and give the audience a brief history lesson to let them know how long the items has been in use before you explain how to make it better. You can include insights into how harnesses are better than collars and why one might work better than another.  You should include 1-2 sourced ideas—properly integrated—into your paragraphs to show that you know what you are talking about.  This also makes it so that the person feels as if there is more than just your opinion in the piece.

 

6.     Resource Buttons and Video. 

Part of a blog post is making it possible to share your ideas with others in different platforms.  This can include Twitter, Facebook, and even YouTube. Most bloggers have a YouTube channel as well.  One strategy is to create a blog post and then create a YouTube video on the same thing.  One is a blog post, and one is a Vlog.  If you make a video about your blog post, be sure to link the YouTube video to the page so that you can direct traffic there as well.  If you do not have a YouTube video, you can insert a video that relates to your topic for your audience to watch and learn more. (See above.) However, at the top of the blog post, near your name, date, and title, you will want to include print, share, tweet, or any resource buttons to help your readers to save or share the post. This makes it so that your audience can connect your content to outside platforms. The goal is exposure.

 

7.     Outside site links.

You will need to include hyperlinks in the blog post to get your audience to learn more about the subject or retailers by clicking on the links to outside resources.  These links can be to related blog post articles you have written, or they can be to another blog post, vet article, or an Amazon or Walmart link that you can suggest the audience visit for more ideas, information, or products. If you look back at item #5, you will see that I integrated two outside resources into the paragraph content without quoting from them or directly pointing the audience to read the content.  This type of linkage gives an audience the chance to learn more about a subject later without slowing down in your blog post now.

 

8.     A tweet. 

Research tweets about pets or dog discomfort from harnesses.  Use the tweet as an attractive quote in the middle of your post.  Add a link to Twitter for readers to tweet their ideas or to share your post.

 

9.     A comment section. 

Create a section at the bottom for the audience to provide feedback on your ideas and to engage with one another.  Before the Comments Section, be sure to ask the audience a specific question for them to respond to.  By asking a question, you take some of the guesswork out of it for your audience.  They may want to comment, but often, people get writer’s block when they think the world will see their comment. 

Provide a question like: So what do you think?  Have you ever modified a dog harness to make it more comfortable for your pet?  What has been the best dog harness you have ever purchased for your fur baby?  Post it in the comment section below.

 

10. A Resources section. 

Create a section that indicates all of the resources your used, cited, and linked to in the blog post.  Any outside links to resources or usage of quotes, tweets, or statistics should be listed in this section and correspond to the content in the actual blog. This will be used for students needing to dig deeper into your topic, or to double-check the validity of content you used.  This type of section may seem unnecessary.  After all, this is a blog, not an academic paper, right?  Wrong.  You are still publishing your ideas to the world, and you have used resources that developed your writing into more than a journal entry.  Therefore, you need to properly cite and credit anything used in your blog.  It is this usage that will strengthen your writing and lend credibility to you as an independent writer. Be sure to provide proper credit in your images and figures and then link them in the References section.

 

One final note.  As you work on a title for your post, look at what you have already created.  Is there a certain number of steps or suggestions you have made to the audience?  In this handout, I came up with 10 things you should include in your blog post.  While it could have contained any number of suggestions, ten is the highest number you should include in your blog.  More than that and your audience might become overwhelmed.  In general, if you can stay around 5 suggestions or bullet-pointed ideas, that would be best.  See my title?  10 Things to Include in a Blog Post.  It is clear.  It indicates exactly what the audience will get: 10 items that they need to include when writing a blog post.  Try to come up with a number for your title, and then go back through your writing to refine the content to that numerical parameter.  It will greatly help you organize your overall content! It will also pull your audience in to read your writing!

Wrap Up

As you create your blog, keep in mind to be consistent throughout: colors, size of images, organization of content.  A blog is supposed to not only inform an audience, but it is supposed to keep its attention.  Include images, colors, different—but consistent—size fonts for section titles, an embedded video, links to other items on the web (articles, books, items to purchase), and always include a way for your audience to get involved by subscribing, commenting, or becoming active in some way.  

Always properly cite the content you integrate into your post.   If you look at the picture above of the dog whose harness rubbed his fur off—you will see the raw area in green—you will see that it is missing the reference citation to link it to a resource in the resources section below.  Anytime you use an image, you need to include an image label and add a word or two so that the audience knows what resource it is linked to at the bottom of the post.

Take some time to really pick apart blog posts that you find on the Internet.  Learn from them.  Identify which ones seem too crowded, busy, or bland.  Look for ones that are highly trafficked, and try to emulate those styles.  Above all, have fun! 

 

Resources

Faricelli, Adrienne. “Dog Collars versus Harnesses: A Vet's Opinion.” Dog Discoveries, 2 Dec. 2020, https://dogdiscoveries.com/uncategorized/dog-collars-versus-harnesses.

“Pink Hawaiian Floral Dog Harness Dress with Matching Leash.” Baxterboo.com, https://www.baxterboo.com/l.cfm/dog-harnesses/.

Rodgers, Linda. “How Do No-Pull Dog Harnesses Work?” PetMD, 11 Oct. 2018, https://www.petmd.com/dog/care/how-do-no-pull-dog-harnesses-work.

“Trainer Tips: How to Desensitize Your Dog to Their Harness.” YouTube, 21 Apr. 2017, https://youtu.be/Tn5b8u1YS_g.

 

Suggested Websites to Examine

Belin, Adela. “How to Organize a Blog Post and Structure It Well.” Adela Belin - Blogging, 17 May 2021, https://adelabelin.com/blog/how-to-organize-a-blog-post-and-structure-it-well.

Emmons, Abbie. “How to Plot a Story for Writers Who Hate Plotting.” Abbie Emmons: Make Your Story Matter, 12 Apr. 2021, https://www.abbiee.com/.

Rane, Zulie. “Afraid to Hit the Publish Button? Read These Five Tips.” Zulie Writes, Zulie Writes, 22 Aug. 2022, https://www.zuliewrites.com/blog/afraid-to-hit-the-publish-button-read-this.