The Fundamentals of a Blog: Purpose, Design, Content and Audience

The Fundamentals of a Blog: Purpose, Design, Content and Audience
Rationale is defined as “the fundamental reason, logic, basis or grounds to account for something.” (dictionary.com) The rationale or main reason for someone to create a blog is “to express yourself and tell stories. Write to share links and pictures and recipes and prayers and travel tips and love poems, etc.” (Zuiker, 2004) The possibilities are as endless as the imagination of the author. Weblogs, or blogs, have become one of the fastest and most dynamic feature of the information age and an essential element of the internet.

The purpose behind why someone would create a blog can stem from their personal or professional perspective on any given topic. For example, a new mom in Orlando, Florida wanted to stay home to raise her family and started blogging about pregnancy and parenting. Now she is not only a stay at home mom, but also a businessperson that acts as a liaison between local and national brands and bloggers. Melanie Edwards founded ModernMami.com in 2006, six months after her daughter was born. “I soon found out it wasn't as easy as others made it seem but also found a great community of women and mothers, with whom I was able to connect, learn from and share my experiences.” (Lundy, 2010) A blogger can reach far beyond their own local community, to virtually all over the world. An additional purpose to blogging is to receive comments on your posts and entries. This can carry the blog in many different directions and create access to a variety of websites. In addition, more than one post can be linked together when one person writes about another person’s blog entry. By filtering through the journal entries, you can discover many new and exciting websites you may not have even known existed. This also allows access to hundreds of fascinating archived posts. Due to the
special components and elements of blogs, the possibilities are endless for an inexpensive and simple way to reach millions of readers.
The content of blog entries is the subject matter being discussed. For instance, I created a blog for this class that contains entries of essays and papers that I have written. Since my major is studying about communications, I am designing my blog around this theme. Included are some personal history tidbits about myself in my profile. A personal blog can allow me to express my own unique interests and style and be an extension of who I am and how I see myself, and the world around me. Not all contents of blogs will agree with everyone. According to Melanie Edwards, “blogging in general presents challenges when you consider that putting aspects of your personal life or opinions on the web for the public to see provides an outlet for you to receive both positive and negative feedback. You have to be prepared to deal with the good and the bad.” (Lundy, 2010)
What makes a great blog are not only the posts and entries of interesting topics, but also the design. This can be based on the theme of your posts as well as your own personal style. Blogs associated with a business or corporation will be more generic, straightforward, and easy to follow and navigate. However, an individual that creates a blog can make it as interesting and detailed as they choose. Like the latest commercial for Lowry’s seasonings, “What’s Your Flavor?” Adding some pictures that expresses your theme and topic is a great way to start. Next is to include some direct quotes from others that have something interesting to say about your topic. It is a great way to connect with people and get them to scan the highlights of your blog. Access to video’s and recordings add an auditory component so that people not only
read what you have written but can hear about it too. The more outlets to the senses, the better for the audience, as not everyone learns or comprehends information in the same fashion. The plan is to make your blog as visually appealing to the reader.
The audience for your blog can be big or small, depending on your topic and the number of followers that you have. The idea is to start scanning the entries until you find something that interests you. I agree with Melanie Edwards in that not all subjects and topics will be worth your time and effort. “I find that reading blogs and articles that focus on social media tools and tactics, helps me learn about the latest trends and initiatives. Experimenting with each tool can provide you with a better sense of whether or not that tool will be beneficial to you and your goals. Not all social media tools are for everyone, so it's important to decide which are valuable to your efforts.” (Lundy, 2010)
By keeping the purpose, design, content and audience in mind, creating a blog can be a fun and exciting exercise and a way to express yourself and broadcast your thoughts and ideas to people all over the world. With the advent of the internet and the seemingly endless potential of its capacity, the creation of web logs took off like wildfire. In fact, just ten years after the first journal entry was posted, in December 2004, “Merriam Webster declares “blog” the word of the year.” (Thompson, 2006)




References
Dictionary.com from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/rationale
Lundy, S. (2010) Blogging For a Living. Orlando Sentinel. Orlando. 08/02/10 pg M3. Retrieved August 16, 2010 from Proquest.
Thompson, C. (2006) The Early Years. A Timeline of the History of Blogging. Retrieved August 9, 2010 from http://nymag.com/news/media
Zuiker, A. (2004) Blogging 101-An Introduction to Reading and Writing a Weblog. Retrieved August 9, 2010 from http://unc.edu