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Quick!  Visualize:

Are you ready?  Are you anxious?  Can you guess what I’m about to write?

Smoke Signals!  In a Tornado!

Are you seeing them in your mind yet?

Are they effective?

Or are they immediately dissolved by the raging winds that physical hit them the instant they’re released?

Tell me now…is the information you offer in your blog  presented the same way?

Hmmmmm?  Well if so….

Welcome back to Day 2 of Managing your Blog Readers’ expectation!

So glad you could return!  Yesterday, we discussed what quality means to your blog readership.  "Quality" to you isn’t as important as "quality" to them, ie, consistently delivering to them what they expect and desire.

Today, I’d like to talk about information.  More specifically, the presentation of information.

When readers come to visit your blog, ideally they want:

• To learn
• To be entertained
• To be intrigued
• To be left alone in gosh-darned peace to read

Whoops, wait a sec there - carefully re-read that last point!

• To be left alone in gosh-darned peace to read

Peace.   Peace?  I can hear the question formulating in your mind….

Oh, you mean the reader shouldn’t have interruptions like the door-to-door marching band fund raisers or the telemarketer’s calls of "A wealthy foreign dignitary died and wants to leave you 3.84 beeyon dollars and all we need is your SSN and bank routing ID to give you 23 cents!" or….

 Nope, I don’t mean that at all.  I mean:

• The reader’s experience shouldn’t be smashed to smithereens by unexpected visual, audio, etc. unmitigated hell.

Consider, dauntless reader, the following 3 critical points:

• The visual aspect of your blog layout
• The grammatical aspect of your blog post
• The audio component of your blog post

Let’s go over them one by one.

The visual aspect of your blog layout

When a reader clicks on your blog post, is it pleasantly simple to peruse your entire article?  

• Are the letters clear, or do you have a very busy background?
• Is there enough whitespace to visually determine where the article IS and where your blog design RESUMES?
• Do your graphics enhance your blog, or do they glitter or blink or spin or consume the reader or…..?

There are many great resources for finding/developing a blog layout that lends itself to the viewer, including:

• TypePad Introduces Blog Design For Dummies
• Blog Tutorial - Tips For Blog Templates & Blog Design In Photoshop
• 50 More Beautiful Blogger Templates
• I Heart Blogs
• 10 Principles Of Effective Web Design

Next, let’s dive into:

The grammatical aspect of your blog post

Do you know:

• How to use paragraph breaks?
• When to use "your" and "you’re"?
• How to spell "misspell"?

You should always take advantage of spell checking and ideally, base grammar review as well.  While reading:

• You’re coffee must be getting cold

might not freeze off the teenage market, it’s a slight given that adults who possess more education than a styrofoam cup will notice (and react negatively to boot).

Some useful grammar resources that will benefit you include:

• The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
• Grammar Girl
• Warning - Microsoft did not invent grammar!
• Blog Struggles: When Spelling, Grammar, and Punctuation Interferes With Your Blogging

and finally, let’s enjoy:

The audio component of your blog post

THERE SHOULDN’T BE ONE!

No no, let me amend that..there shouldn’t be one that’s AUTOMATIC and IMPOSSIBLE TO TURN OFF!

Nothing is more irritating than being drawn into a magnificent essay and really delving into the information at hand…only to be rocketed out of your chair when 9 Inch Nails lyrics come crashing through your innocent speakers.

In other words, podcasts are great!  Music clips are terrific!  Videos are divine!  IF and ONLY IF…the viewer can control how and when they are played.

Here’s some tips about including audio components in your blog:

• How to podcast
• How To Add Podcast Audio To Blog Posts
• Lossless Audio Blog (advanced)
• 7 Ideas for Adding Audio to Your Website
• Slidecasting - add audio on slideshare

These three simple considerations (visual, grammatical and audio) of your blog all combine to one huge

• Blog Reading Experience

Remember, you want the experience to be positive, enjoyable, and ideally so memorable, people will tell their friends about it to boot.  It only makes sense.

Thus let’s draw Day 2 of "Viva the Easter Broccoli Bunny!  Managing your blog readers’ expectations" to a close - hope you enjoyed the tutorial!  And do feel free to twitter about it as well. 

ThankYouVeryMuch!

Owlbert

#BEGIN highlights of this blog writing post:

Beginners blogging tips: Don’t confuse your visitors with un-necessary sights and sounds.

Intermediate and/or Advanced blogging tips:  Blend every component of your blog posting to enthrall your readers and compel them to tell their friends about you.

#END highlights of this blog writing post

ps - speaking about Grammar, enjoy a trip down memory lane:

pps - and speaking about, well, grammar:

Please click here to continue your search.

Related posts:

1. Viva the Easter Broccoli Bunny! Managing your blog fans’ expectations - Day 1 of 5
2. Viva the Easter Broccoli Bunny - Day 5 of 5, Critical Blog Post Check List
3. Viva the Easter Broccoli Bunny! Gaining the Edge and Managing your blog audience’s expectations - Day 3 of 5
4. Prevent the Mega Tunnel of Doom from devouring your blog visitors
5. Viva the Easter Broccoli Bunny! Gaining the Edge and Managing your blog audience’s expectations - Day 4 of 5

(By the way, if you have any questions about the topics in this posting "Viva the Easter Broccoli Bunny! Managing your blog readers’ expectations - Day 2 of 5", do comment below - I'll try to clarify any issues).

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