Comments on: How to Polish Posts: Individual Blog Post Design

By: audrey

audrey — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 15:14:16 +0000

Thanks for the tips. I don’t really have a blog but I think this applies to anyone who writes web content. Articles also need some polishing from time to time, I think.

By: gendut

gendut — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 02:59:42 +0000

refreshing old articles to be shining…and getting amazing result, very good idea……

By: Vintage Mommy

Vintage Mommy — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 19:37:17 +0000

I think a lot of printed media is going the way of “small bites”; I attribute this to the number of people who are reading magazines on stairstep and other cardio machines where it’s hard to concentrate on anything too visually dense.

I appreciate subheads, short paragraphs and a bit of color or an image.

By: bagus

bagus — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 06:50:17 +0000

“a picture is worth a thousand words”
I always use picture when I have bad mood in writing.
Picture sure is draw the visitors attention. It also can cover my bad writing quality lol
thanks for the other tips of polishing blog posts

By: sandnsun

sandnsun — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 01:51:39 +0000

Great tips on posting and polishing the blog. I think presentation is as important as the contents. As per one of your points, first impression is the last impression.

By: Angel Cuala

Angel Cuala — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 22:43:24 +0000

This is what I have been trying to do on every post I publish. I provide at least 4 sub headings with at around 100 words per heading that makes each article close to 500 words.

I also spend around 30 minutes looking for a picture that would add sauce to the topic.

Lastly, I provide a quote at the end of each post which I think adds inspiration to the readers. Most of the time, my commentators admits that they love it.

My problem now is consistency and I feel I am running out of good posts. Ideas are overflowing in my mind but I am afraid I may not make my next posts better than the recent ones.

I hope one time, you can give me some tips on how to re-post an old post and make it better.

Thanks!

By: Anemone

Anemone — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:04:02 +0000

Heh, I was just going to write a post on visual design elements assisting in comprehension and the attractiveness of a post … beat me to it. (This time!)

– Heidi

By: Syed Balkhi

Syed Balkhi — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 16:17:22 +0000

This is a technique that works on daily basis. I have done it on my blog as well. And it works like charm. The only thing I worry about is duplicate content, so instead of copying and pasting the article, I rewrite it but in a better way. Update with latest insights.

By: john

john — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:39:38 +0000

It isn’t clear to me if after you have polished your post and republished it as new whether you delete the old post or not? I would assume you wouldn’t, but that you maybe would include a link to the “updated” article?

By: BloggerNewbie

BloggerNewbie — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 11:23:19 +0000

Every time I read one of your posts, not only do I get a ton of help but I get a ton of spin off ideas to post about on my own blog. So many ideas, so little time!

By: Chris K. Haley

Chris K. Haley — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 09:51:45 +0000

Darren, thanks for another great article. Your blog is the most useful one that I read.

I’ve found that varying the image locations in different posts works well. I try to alternate between left and right aligned images between consecutive posts to bring visual balance.

By: Dedushka

Dedushka — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 09:00:10 +0000

It’s useful, thanks! Space and images are critically important things.

By: Andre Thomas

Andre Thomas — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 06:48:24 +0000

These are great advice on how to increase readability. (Is that even a word?)

By: impNERD

impNERD — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 03:36:38 +0000

Great article. I definitely agree on this, but sometimes I have a hard time bringing myself to finding images or formating the text in a way that is readable.

By: LittleRoom

LittleRoom — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 23:01:01 +0000

Ooh, this is interesting. I’ve recently made a decision not to use images in my posts, mostly because I know myself! I could very easily spend hours hunting down the perfect picture (I love a good diversion and there’s no sense in trying to fight it) so I’m just not going there.

I do use all the other polishing techniques you mention so hopefully my tender new blog won’t be sent to the ugly corner after all!

By: Sire

Sire — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 22:43:40 +0000

@SEO Genius. I use the Zemanta wordpress plugin, something that I picked up from one of Darren's previous posts. It doesn't always come up with the right image, but when it does it's pretty well spot on.

By: SEO Genius

SEO Genius — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 22:24:07 +0000

Great tips but where the heck do i find images for my site’s articles?

I always struggle to find images which are free and relevant do you have any recommendations.

Thanks

By: Michael Martin

Michael Martin — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 22:20:16 +0000

I like how you made the “The result was amazing!” line stand out. That was a cool trick. It’s got me thinking about how to do something similar with my own posts.

And thanks for the link! :)

By: Steven Snell

Steven Snell — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 22:16:00 +0000

Thanks for the link Darren. Formatting is definitely important. I know it impacts me as a reader when I’m on other blogs. I think most of us get in the habit of publishing before we’ve given enough thought to the readability and formatting.

By: Mike Nichols

Mike Nichols — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 20:08:39 +0000

I have recently converted my blog to the Thesis theme, which allows easy formatting of posts to draw more attention.

I use section headers, pullquotes and framed images to draw the reader’s eye to important information.

Since I started doing this, readership has increased two-fold and time on the page has tripled.

My blog has the good fortune of having a long tail, so I’m going bag and polishing up my old posts, too.

Thanks for another important article, Darren!