Class Activity about Blogging
A poll was conducted using a Mentimeter to know the number of people in the class that have blogged before and just a small number of the class answer was "Yes". This was a bit of a surprise as i have always been someone that has been used to blogging though, I seldom do. The poll software used showed only a few numbers of people had created a blog post before as i would have assumed the opposite would be the answer, this is one of the reasons professions like data analytics have become hot in the job market today as they give good insights to actual market data and not just assumptions.
What makes a compelling blog post?
Everyone is an expert at something, and award-winning journalist and writing coach, Starshine Rosell, suggest in her tutorial video on writing on compelling blogpost on LinkedIn, that whatever you are knowledgeable about is what you should be writing about, write about why and how, also as a marketing strategy, you can reference a hot topic of the day which can help attract traffic to your blog post and make it interesting.
A beautifully written and interesting blogpost should not bore readers as Rosell said in her video tutorial, a compelling blogpost must serve readers, move readers to act after reading, make them laugh, cry, change their minds or believes of a topic in other words, it should be educative, entertaining, emotional etc. The use of beautiful and meaningful images, bullets, short paragraphs to buttress your points in a blog post can make the post more visually appealing to readers.
According to Rosell, the average person reads about 150 - 300 words per minute, therefore it takes about five minutes to read 450 - 1000 words, and if you want your blog post to rank highly in search engines like Google it is advisable to write more lengthy post. Having a thick skin helps in writing without really thinking too much about what will be said in the comment section of the blog though, it is good to also be thoughtful and fair when writing, especially about delicate topics in the society.
It is good practice to have some form of "call to action" when ending a blog post as it motivates the reader to act on what has been read say Rosell.
Why you should blog
Consuming without creating is not always good. Writing can be seen as a form of creation, and this can also be good for the mind. Have you ever tried explaining something to someone before and in the process, you realize you also just learnt something new or got better clarity in doing so? If so, same thing can happen when you blog about your field of expertise. You are not just writing to educate or entertain people, but you are also educating yourself and getting better at your field of expertise.
Try creating a blog post today and feel free to share your experiences.
References
Starshine Rosell (2018, October, 1) Writing a compelling blog post: Next steps. [online video] Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/writing-a-compelling-blog-post/next-steps?u=71337938 [Accessed 3/28/2021]
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