How do we make a "good blog"?
Through the readings for this week in Cole/Mehraban and Scott's books, I have discovered techniques that can make my page unique. I have learned it is very important to add your personality to the page. This week, I chose a background and header photo for my blog that expresses my style. I chose a neutral color that complimented my header photo. The photo I chose for my header is one of my favorite photos. It is the "Lennon Wall" in Prague, Czech Republic. It is a wall that has been filled with John Lennon inspired graffiti and pieces of lyrics from Beatles songs. I chose this photo because it is beautiful, one of my favorites, and a place I would really like to visit one day. I felt this really added character to my page, and according to Web Design resource 13-8 (http://mashable.com/2010/01/14/custom-twitter-youtube-myspace-backgrounds/) it is important to create custom backgrounds, and coloring in your blog. I changed my header to red and the links to my favorite shade of blue. I also found a YouTube clip explaining how to create your "niche" for your blog. I chose to write about my favorite topic: Entertainment. The readings in The New Rules of Marketing & PR under section “What Should You Blog About” also helped me realize what I should blog about (p.238, Scott). I chose this because I am interested in this topic, and blogging about what you are passionate about is an important aspect.
Here is the YouTube clip:
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I learned through my reading how to create a blog that looks good, and how to promote my blog. Web Design resource 13-21 informed me that Google has many products to help build a website. I used that as a reference, and then attached my blog to my Google Plus account to start promoting and building it. I attached my blog information to my Twitter account, and liked my blog post on Facebook. I added a widget section labeled “social media links” and added my Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn account so that users can see all my different social media sites. I enabled “shareaholic” to help promote my blog as well. This way, users can share my blog on their own Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Plus accounts. I requested friends through my blog, and commented on others.
You can see the changes I made here: http://khansar1.newmediadl.com/