Pimp My Blog - Tips For Making Your Blog Standout
Entry posted by Spoony Bard
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I look at blogs on BZP. Some amaze me. Some bore me. Some just shouldn't exist.
However this isn't the case. First impressions are important on most cases, and a good looking blog will always attract readers
So from my experiance with blogs (on BZP and off BZP), I shall give you a guide to make your blog so pimped out, that you just might get some of those approval seals people throw around.
TITLE
The first thing people see on the community blog list is your title. Catchy titles are good. Pointing out the obvious is bad.
What I mean by that is don't title it "My Blog" or something similar. We know it is your blog, hence why we see it on the list. Be creative with naming your blog. Make it have meaning to it. If you don't like it, then you can always change it.
CONTENT BLOCKS
A good blog, IMO, always looks formal with all the content blocks on one side, not both. Entries don't look good when they are sandwiched between content blocks. This can cause some problems with comments as well, making them unreadable.
Content blocks are what make your blog standout a lot considering they contain vital stuff that make blogs colorful.
I shall use my blog as an exmpla for when talking about content blocks.
My content blocks are simple. They go in a certain order. They are nice.
Mine go like this:
- Personal Pic
- Stats (Personal info, and a pic to represent who I am)
- Nav Bar
Those first three are usually what blogs consist of. The Personal Pic block isn't vital, since you can have a pic in a Stats block, but I keep it anyways.
Usually under those first three, I have several other blocks that define who I am, such as the Factio Anima block, which contains lyrics to Pure Heart, the vocalization of Aerith's Theme (hence the pic of Aerith of Cloud. I am a huge fan of FFVII and Aerith, so I have this block.
Under this block is my gaming info, which at the moment is titled "DS Friend Codes". I have this here so people can find my codes easily. I even added my Pokemon Trainer card here as well.
Under that are my blog buddies (under works, need to add some blogs). I have this so people can see their blogs in my blog.
Under that is the Omi Club. Just a list of names so I can keep track of it.
Then I have my approvals. Approvals stand out too much and can sometimes draw attention away from your blog stuff. I keep these at the bottom.
And under those are those who commented and who is viewing, so I can keep track.
Images in content blocks should be a certain size. I make sure the width of my images is no more than 240 pixels. Cuz honestly, anything larger just looks messy, and this is why all members who make approval seals should make their seals under 240 pixels of width (not sure why they never noticed in the first place). Sometimes if the image is a bit bigger than 240, and there is no way to shrink it, then I must deal with it. My trainer card is a good example.
So basically content blocks are a way to express yourself. Here are some other blogs that have successfully pimped out their blogs (these are just examples):
Smeag's Blog (though he does the squishing, silly Smeag)
Content of blocks should be mature-ish. I see blocks, and all they contain is like a smiley face or some noob gibberish. I say to myself "that is a waste of a good block". Blocks shouldn't be noobish.
CONTENT OF ENTRIES
This is the big lebowski of the blog. Update us with what is happening in your life. Show us a story, a moc, a picture. Tell us some current events you feel strongly about. Don't waste entries with "i didn't know what to blog about" or some junk like that. Sure it is funny at first, but when done a lot, it just gets really annoying. And things like that are probably why people don't comment your blog.
However if you do have a formal blog, and feel you aren't standing out with entries, well fear not. Members may not know what to say about the entry, or may not be interested in the content of entry, or just have no idea what you are saying. But don't give up hope. You don't need amazing spelling to attract readers. My spelling sucks, so yeah.
I shall update this when I go crazy and think of more things to say.
-Omi
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