Blogging Best Practices (1): Opening and Post Body

Periodically I will lay out some important principles for academic blogging as we all learn to use this medium better. Not all practices in more general blogs apply to academic blogging, by the way.

The Post Opening

• Make it engaging
  Use a teaser of sorts -- a question, a quotation, an image, a video, a brief sentence that cuts to the heart of your point. People click away quickly online. Give them a reason to read on.
• Front load and page break
  Write like a journalist by front loading all the key information of your post, putting this "above the fold" (to use the newspaper metaphor) or before the jump break (which inserts the "read more" link). Not sure how to insert this? Check out Erin Hamson's instructions for breaking the page). 

The Post Body

• Break up text
  Visual appeal is very important, and nothing can discourage readers faster than just seeing a column of words. Break up the body of your blog by inserting media (but don't go crazy there; it can become distracting); by using subheadings; by using bulleted lists; and by inserting links.
• Link and reference
  Be certain to link to any sources that you use in preparing your post. This is very important. And while conventions have not settled regarding how to include references (such as in-text citations), it is a good idea generally to name sources that you use, since links can be broken. It's up to you whether to refer to sources by name within the text or at the end of your post. 
• Following good linking practices.
  Read my "Linking Well" post and my "Sharing Links Intelligently" post for best practices in making links.