Five ways to spice up your Blog

Howdy, language learners!

Today, I am going to give a few hints and tips how to make your blog (posts) even more intriguing to read. I hope you can take something personally for you from here.

1. Content

When deciding on a topic to write about in your blog, you should choose something you are really interested in. Your readers will notice if you're not really into a topic. For example, if I wrote about soccer, people would immediately see that I am neither interested in that kind of sport nor do I know the rules of it. Seriously, I really don't know the rules. Knowing that guys are running after a football is enough information for me, haha!

Long story short: Try to choose a topic that you love to talk, read and write about! If you write about a topic you like, people will like to read your thoughts about it.

2. Length of Blog Posts

At first, I would like to mention a helpful acronym: KISS. No, we're not talking about kissing here, guys. I am talking about

K - keep
I - it
S - short (and)
S - simple

Personally, I like to read blogs that keep their posts interesting, but simple. Going too much into detail might show that you really are into a certain topic. Your reader, however, is more likely to glance over or even stop reading your text if you get lost in details. That's why you should keep your posts "short and simple". Mention everything that's necessary for the reader to understand what you're trying to say. This can be difficult sometimes, I know. But hey, we're all learners here, so let's give it our best shot!

3. Style and Register of Writing

The reader of your blog should see that you are talking to them. I'm, for example, always trying to say "you" instead of "one": "you shoud", "you could", etc. What's more is that asking questions will get your reader's attention and they are more likely to keep reading: "Have you ever tried these?", "Have you ever been to Barcelona?", "Have you ever heard of this website?" etc.

When we talk about register, it's absolutely important to adapt the register to the situation and the person you are talking to. I.e. when you are talking to your boss at work, you will use a rather formal register. Instead, when talking to a friend, you would use an informal way of speaking. Therefore, a neutral register would be appropriate in terms of blogging.

4. Add photos

"A picture is worth a thousand words." Of course, we should focus on writing here and not on adding nicely photoshopped pieces. Pictures are a crucial part of a blog post, though. When adding a photo or infographic to your blog post, people are more likely to read through your texts. It is a natural habit of human beings to concern oneself with a text when there are pictures included. Let's be honest, none of us is fond of reading a 600-page book without a single picture in it. That's just tedious. Pictures jazz up your blog posts, so try to add at least one or two! But: Don't overdo it!

5. Template

Try to find an eye-catching template that makes your blog special. Keep it simple though, your template should offer a clear view. What's more is that you shouldn't use kitschy or neon colors. I guess your readers won't be that grateful for suffering from an eyestrain after looking at your blog. Along with the proper choice of colors, try to use a font that is easily legible. You should know that serif fonts are only used for printed papers. Sans serif fonts, however, are used for texts written for e.g. the world wide web. It's easier for our eyes to read sans serif fonts on a screen.

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And now, it's my turn...

to tell you what I would like to improve about my blogging habits. Firstly, I would like to write a lot more and about different topics. My preceding blog posts dealt with my favourite TV-series, places I've been to, my job within the Red Cross and all that jazz. That's all well and good, but as I said, I'd like to tackle some other subject matters in this semester. Secondly, I tend to just list some points about a certain topic instead of writing a paragraph. Writing a paragraph is more beneficial when learning a language, I believe. I need to practice paragraph writing for our progess checks anyway.

All in all, I will try to spend more time on blogging, write about diverse topics and focus on writing paragraphs instead of just listing some words or phrases.