Here is a summary of the knowledge I have gained from my research and the review of other professional blogs regarding the guidelines of purpose, design, content and audience in blog creation.
Purpose and Audience
Defining the purpose of the blog and identifying the audience for the blog are the first steps in launching a successful site. A blog can be created to inform, to persuade or simply to share a hobby or interest.
Based on the purpose of the blog, the audience for the site can be identified. Generally speaking, the purpose of the blog defines who the targeted audiences are. Once the purpose and the audience are identified, the site needs to be tailored to meet the readers’ needs adequately. For instance, if the targeted audiences are multicultural or if they have known disabilities, the site can be tailored to meet their needs by such means as having multilingual links and built-in short cuts.
Design
User-friendliness should be the driving element in the design of the site. The site needs to be easy to navigate. Simple backgrounds with contrasting text help in making the site easy to read on the eyes. Text should be single –spaced with extra spaces between paragraphs. The visual design should be consistent in all the pages. Visual consistency can be accomplished by making the header, footer, the background, typography the same on every page. Unnecessary graphics should be minimized to give the site a polished and uncluttered look.
Content
Content should be brief and easy to understand. Chunking (splitting content into groups) is highly recommended. This can be done by using frequent headings and lists and grouping like items together.
Content should be also get updated frequently to encourage frequent visits from the targeted audience. Responding to visitor’s comments is also recommended to encourage interaction and interest.
Hi Fikre,
ReplyDeleteI am impressed by the overall layout of the blog. I truly believe that in most situations less amounts to more, which means the simplicity of something can be most effective. I like the green that you chose as the background color, but I think when drawing attention to your references, you should use another color that can be easily read. What you have there now is a little bit of a strain on the eyes to read. Content looks good. Design is also good, but maybe you can add some graphics to give it some life. Great job, so far!
Good luck with finalizing!
Sheryl-Ann