||Build a Better Blog part 2||{The Goods inside

“Several years ago, a major fast food chain had a commercial where a little old lady looked inside her burger bun and yelled, ‘Where’s the beef?’.’ She was complaining about so little meat. Perhaps you’ve clicked on somebody’s blog and felt like yelling, “Where’s the meat?”

Welcome to the second post of my series on blogging advice. Today I’m writing about the content of your blog, the meat, the good stuff. Having strong content with a clear vision takes a blog from good to great and failing to deliver the meat leaves your reader feeling cheated.

Get a direction you want your blog to go and an underlying theme such as a food blog is the first step. Stick to your theme to give your readers some consistency. I know a lot of bloggers who look at other blogs for inspiration and ideas on what to write about. I always knew that I wanted to write about fashion, but along the way I have shared my favorite pie recipes, my new water bottle stickers and things in my life that are important. Writing about what you love and are passionate about will in the end make a better blog than sticking to a subject you aren't interested in.

It's hard to always think of things to write about. But be careful If you take something from a blog. You need to make sure that you are giving credit to whoever has done the work. Getting an editor is something that I know will raise your blog to a higher level. For a long time I didn’t have an editor and you could say I’m not the best of spellers. Now having an editor she has saved me from many embarrassing moments. They say your editor is you best friend because they also have you back and your mistakes. Try to make your writing strong and entertaining. Having a set time that you publish posts helps viewers know when to check back.

Try to make everything on your post centered and organized, when the post is random and hard to read, readers will get disinterested with the unprofessional vibe and won’t likely come back. Try to make all your pictures the same size and stick to one font. But make things interesting. If you have three main points you want to stress than start them off in bigger font, or a different color, just don't get carried away. Less is often more.

 

before: nothing is centered or organized, its hard to read and not easy on the eyes.

 

 

 

after: everything is centered and organized, the pictures are all the same size and it's much easier to read.

 

Pictures are something on a fashion, food or lifestyle blog that are very important. It's hard to adequately describe a flowy dress or a recipe for smoked salmon without pictures. As a reader of other blogs sometimes I don't even read what they have to say I just look at their pictures. If I do a collaboration with a photographer I get free awesome pictures for my blog and they get more faces in their portfolio. It’s a win win that I suggest. It doesn't have to be a professional “photographer”. Someone at your school who has been taking photographs and wants to practice will do. I also as many of you know, have a little brother, he takes lots of my pictures. Though they aren't all professional, it gets the job done and it's convenient. Let's take a moment and compare where my photography was 3 years ago and where it is today.

 

2012

 

2015

A good burger comes with two buns maybe lightly toasted maybe whole wheat, a juicy burger could be veggies, tofu, or beef some lettuce maybe cheese and tomatoes. Regardless of what’s in your burger it’s well-rounded and has lots of different components.