Excellent Blog vs. Just a Blog

[Cricket]

This is an ongoing thread and one that I want to keep going, as we collect everyone's thoughts on it.

[vhinz316]

Excellent blog = You're earning at the same time you're sharing your thoughts, ideas, etc.

Just a Blog = You just write what you feel, what you want to express.Cheers

[Waqyum]

A blog with useful and unique content which gets updated regularly.

[Dylan55]

Of course I go for excellent blog in which you can write up more original content blog about it.

[Harold Whisker]

I think it's a combination of good, memorable, useful content packed in a layout/theme/design that makes for an attractive site/ theme-fitting layout that fits the blog's theme.

[Allen Farlow]

One thing I really don't like is going to a blog and having to sit there figuring out where everything is.

I don't care where it is, if I go to McDonalds I know I can order the exact same thing as I could at a McDonalds 1,000 miles away. I know what I can expect.

So often I see blogs that make it difficult for the reader to navigate. That's a mistake. Make it easy for us, please! I don't need a huge jumble of different things, I just want to see a bit of a blurb about a post and a link to click on to read the entire post. Please don't make me have to think! I see so many blogs that are so crowded with different stuff there's barely any open space!

And if you are going to put a teaser blog post headline up there, don't mislead me. Make sure the headline is true to the blog post. A headline like this: Angelina Jolie Caught With Drugs! should not link to a post about how someone spotted her buying a bottle of aspirin one night. That is completely misleading and I really hate people wasting my time. I will not return to your blog nor suggest it to anyone else. I'll more likely tell them to avoid your blog!

Colors and designs that are pleasing to the eye are nice. I don't need fancy graphics or animations. That stuff just interrupts my experience with your blog.

Most important, though, would be content. If I gain nothing from your content why would you expect I would return?

Take it for what it's worth.

Allen

[Harold Whisker]

That's another point - good navigation. You just don't want to spend time figuring out where to go on a site.

[Harold Whisker]

Good navigation, which is part of the user experience, is just as important as useful, concise, to the point, up to date, readable content.

[yuri21]

It's not just the content but how the writer relates to the readers. Please save the "academic/professor" tone for other types of writings!

What I like: your effort at explaining things to me. Make it simple, make it clear. Do not throw in technical jargon and lengthy words without any explanation. Also, I want to be able to read your text, so no tiny font sizes please.

What doesn't matter: who cares if your English is not perfect? So is mine when I'm tired and incapable of holding a conversation.

Other things I look for: ability to navigate your site, ads must blend in and must not overlap with the content(as in cover or block it or break your site), I dislike sites with very strong and bright, glaring colors(very bright orange, bright red) as they make me physically sick, etc.

[Harold Whisker]

Good point, writers on sites should avoid using long sentences and jargon. Reading online is not the same as it is when reading on print. We have a shorter attention span.

[vishnunuk]

Only One Blog for a person fully dedicated in posting contents n 100$ orginal contents ........... is sucess blog ,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[effdate]

Here are my reasons.
Content are updated daily
There's always something interesting for you to go back and read again
Unfinished topic which continues for another day with another blog post

[DocC]

For me, the writing style must be natural and easy-flowing. Stiff, jargon-loaded, are-you-impressed-with-my-vocabulary posts are a turn-off, and I won't be back.

A blogger that offers a little view of them in each post, is more enjoyable. http://www.Familyhack.com is a great example... you get to know the names of all the family members and pets, yet every post is something worthwhile and interesting, not just fluff. One of my favorites!

I think blogs that only post weekly tend to fall by the wayside very soon. Daily is best, every two days is nearly as good, but three or more days between posts, and I think you'll see your followers evaporate pretty quickly. The important thing is, be consistent! If folks get used to a daily post, and then you suddenly drop off to two or three times a week, I think your readership is going to dwindle.

Open up for some interaction. Try to get people involved enough to comment, and then RESPOND to them! Make them feel as though you noticed and appreciated their input.

[BootDude]

When I come across a blog that I feel is "more than just a blog", I find that it has information that I really want to read about, it entertains, and it's got a unique feel to it. "Just a blog" to me is a blog that offers basic content that can be found elsewhere or that doesn't too much effort into creating.

[PurpleCrow]

I know exactly what you mean, I hope that mine will one day become an excellent blog, one of those that just has something about them. For now though, I am filling it with basic content, mainly for my own learning purposes I have to admit.

[mailborap]

Originally Posted by Cricket

Think about those blogs that you most enjoy reading and tend to visit over and over again...

What do you feel sets them apart from those that you never return to again? What makes a blog excellent? What makes it just a blog?

To make me a repeat visitor, naturally the blog has to prove how much useful it is to me..
So blog content is the first thing.
But if those contents are ill-placed or hard to navigate, than that would reduce my wish to go back to the blog again..

[WebshoppeSolutions]

Meat and potatoes, black and white, straight forward, and to the point ... I visit blogs that would either instruct or inform.

Frillies, fancies, and the life of Fluffy, the family cat, is fine for most, but those kinds of things bore me to tears.

I don't mind if there are posts that contain snippets of other articles for reference or for reading, just as long as the blog owner kicks his two cents in with his own writing too.

In my blogging world, advancement in the industry is the name of the game .. Any blog that instructs or otherwise informs it's visitors as to the nature of the industry they are in, can be considered excellent blogs.

[takydine]

it depends
if it is a personal blog or a friends blog, i would like it to have an artistic design and simple english funny statement
if it is a business blog, it should be strict with less ads and more quality content

[Anca]

I totally agree that "CONTENT is the king", but if the design is not appealing I will not get to that content. I like clean blogs with not too many images, with regular posting and admins that reply to your comments.

[Leonardo]

what we write must be informative as also there are many blogs and much of them have great content so its imp. to give your blogs some visual effects too,thus it makes people to come towards your blog.