Good blog

We were asked to write about what, to us, is a good blog a while ago in class. I've kind of been trying to put off doing this task as long as possible, because I find it rather difficult to pinpoint exactly what makes me like a blog. Frankly, I don't think it's possible for me to describe THE good blog. There are so many things to consider, so many different possibilities of how to design or structure your blog, that, thrown together, can either work perfectly well or not at all. Plus, the elements of a good blog not only depend on individual taste, but, at least in my case, also on the mood of the reader. Which is why I am not able to create any sort of guideline on how to set up a good blog, but I will still try to give you a brief overview of what I generally like and dislike on a blog.

Layout

The first thing I notice on a blog is - obviously - its layout. For me personally, structure and clarity are really important. Colourful, sparkly backgrounds, pretty, curved fonts and lots of animations may appeal to some people, but most of the time I find them a bit annoying. If I open a page and I'm immediately blinded by flashy images I am usually more likely to just close it again and move on to a different blog than to further explore the content, as good as it might be. Which doesn't mean I need blogs to be impeccably neat and boring, and lack personality. I'm just not the biggest fan of visual overload, is all.

Content

I don't know what kind of content a blog is supposed to have for me to deem it good. It depends on my mood on what I'm looking for, I suppose... My favourite blogs tend to be those who feature various different (some might say random) topics. With those you never know what to expect, which kind of keeps them interesting, I guess.

Music

I'm not entirely sure if every type of blog has this feature, but on some blogs it is possible to make a playlist and have music play in the background. Now that can be nice and interesting, even helpful, since you might come across songs you quite like and wouldn't normally have listened to. Most of the time I just turn it off, though. Especially if the playlist in question only includes five songs that are played over and over again. Kind of gets repetitive after a while.

Pictures

Pictures are a good way to make a blog more appealing to readers. They can, for example, make long blog entries seem shorter and more interesting. Readers might sometimes be scared off by too long passages of text, because they are too lazy to read them (unless they are really interested in the topics said passages are about...).

Pictures can also help the author of the blog get their point across. A lot of the time what you are trying to say is summed up infinitely better by a simple picture than by lengthy explanations on your part. Often a picture really is worth a thousand words...

Subheadings

Subheadings have a similar effect as pictures. They make especially long posts more appealing and easier to read, help readers find the parts of the blog they are particularly interested in and help you structure your post in a clearer, more comprehensible way.

All of that said, the most important thing about blogs and blogging (if it is a personal blog and not some sort of professional one, at least) is, of course, that you do it for yourself. If you like to adorn your blog with all things colourful, glittery and flashy - by all means, do! If you like having music play in the background - go ahead! If the one and only thing you want to post on your blog is knock-knock jokes - nobody's stopping you! Create your blog whichever way you like! You're the one who creates the blog, so you and your personality are its essence, the thing that makes your blog unique. I like to look at blogs at some sort of shared diaries. A form of expressing oneself. And everybody has their own way of expressing themselves after all...