Washblog || WRITER'S PAGE

WRITER'S PAGE

--READERSHIP FOR YOUR STORY
--WRITER'S CHECKLIST: ETHICS, READABILITY, ETC.
--MINI HTML CHEATSHEET
--FRONT-PAGE STORY -- OR DIARY?

The quest for readership on blogs is a constructive political act. Stories and comments that get read provide information that traditional media ignore, improve the overall usefulness of the blogosphere (which benefits the progressive blogosphere in general), build synergy and connections among people working various issues and causes, and provide a place for people to practice democracy.

This page is a draft of guidelines for writers. It's a first attempt to describe factors that draw readership (and that make for better stories). Not all suggestions will work with every story. The ability of a story to draw readership also depends on the drawing power of the site itself (though that drawing power is largely determined by the value of the sites's overall content). Excellence and readership tend to go together, but not always. The point is to get the good writing flowing -- and match up stories and readers so that great stories don't go unread.

READERSHIP

RELEVANCE, VALUE, TIMELINESS
Some relevance factors: new information relating to current events, controversies, campaigns, new research, policies, people, trends, etc. First-hand accounts of events, quotes, breaking news, interviews -- unique factual information, links to good resources.
Research has shown that readers tend to scan web pages in an F-shape -- the first two lines, then down the left-hand side of the page and to the end. So try to get your most relevant content in that "F"....You have probably a fraction of a second to initially catch the reader's eye.
Another dimension of timeliness is the strategic decision of what time of day and what day of the week to post your story. Weekday mornings and weekday evenings between 6PM and 10PM tend to have more readership than other times. Current events -- such as an election or a big story -- affect readership, as well.

Washblog's site meter showing visits and page reads between 1/15/07 and 2/15/07. A pattern of lower readership on weekends and higher readership on Monday mornings is visible
PROVOCATIVE & CONTROVERSIAL CONTENT
Controversial topics -- especially when related to Washington state -- and your original analysis and strong opinion -- attract readership. Avoid general theorizing and pontificating -- anchor things to the specific. Support opinion with facts or reasoning. Be honest about what you think -- i.e, call a lie a lie if you can show that it is. Avoid questioning or denying the humanity and worth of other people. Avoid defeatist or conspiracy writing. The more controversial you are, the more likely you'll be challenged.
READABILITY
Formatting is easy on the eye and the content is organized well, spelled ok, and expressed with the reader in mind. Make the top part of the story short and informative.
In general, you want to provide as many clues for the reader as you can that you've organized your story so they can benefit without undue hassle.
Make your sentences short if you can. Break up long sections of text with headings or images. Put things in blockquotes or bulleted lists. You'll find an HTML "cheatsheet" on the Washblog Writer's Checklist that is linked to Washblog's FAQ page.
DETAILS, LOCAL INTEREST & HUMAN INTEREST
Attention is attracted to more specific info. Name the city, name the person (check your ethics), describe the impact of the policy or event or trend. Give a little story or example that relates the trend or issue to real-life impacts. Provide dates or years. Provide images, when possible.
CREDIBILITY, AUTHENTICITY, TRUST
Early on in a story people will form an opinion of the author. Over time, writers build reputations. Stories that are positive; that are seen to be fair and reasonable; that are written for the benefit of the reader -- even if they are also supporting a party or cause, and that include the personality of the writer, are more readable. Overblown rhetoric can be a turnoff.
Check your facts, verify quotes and statements, and print corrections quickly when you make a mistake.
ADVERTISING, NETWORKING, LINKING
If you have a story that you think people will benefit from reading, let them know. If you're at an event to write about it, let people there know. Get their contact information and send them the story when it's published. If you mention a person or organization, send them an email and tell them how to find the story. Invite them to comment on the site. You can even arrange for a conversation where several commenters come on at once. If you go to an in-person event shortly after posting a story -- advertise it there. Cross-post your story to other sites like DailyKos or an Indymedia site.
READERS' COMMENTS
Posts with more comments get more readers. Comments on a story can be the best, most informative part. If you are going to post a story that you have put a lot of time into writing and/or would be improved by community input, consider asking for comments in advance. Try to join in on the conversation and respond to comments that your readers post.
THE LARGER CONTEXT
Link and reference to people and organizations that others should know about. If you learn about something from another blog or site or article, say so and provide a link. Before you delve into a topic, see if other bloggers have posted on it and link to them.
FOLLOW-UP, CONSISTENCY, TEAM-WORK
The better the writing from each contributor, the more audience the site itself will attract. Following up on stories -- and providing ongoing content on issues -- helps build a return audience.
GOOGLE AND OTHER SEARCH ENGINES
Much of Washblog's readership, perhaps a quarter, comes from Google and other search engines. Descriptive terms toward the top of your piece and clear writing get better search engine results. High quality hyperlinks -- links that lead to credible pages such as research institutes, established non-profit organizations, academic sites, and well-maintained blogs -- also increase the likelihood of high search-engine rankings and cross-postings from other organizations.

WRITER'S CHECKLIST: ETHICS, READABILITY, ETC.

Check your facts.
Check ethics. The Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics is a good standard. There are some differences for bloggers who, unlike journalists, for example, do not need to aspire to objectivity.
Check readability. Some factors:
- Short story tops
- Consistent and "tight" formatting (avoid extra space)
- Attention to spelling
- Spelling out abbreviations, defining specialized terms
- Giving context at the beginning - who, what, when, where and importance
- Variety in the length of sentences and paragraphs - with a good number of shorter ones
- Concrete examples/ stories / quotes - real people, places, and things
- Elements that break up large sections of text, such as images, blockquotes, section titles, etc.
If you are an editor or featured writer, decide whether this post would be better as a front page or a diary (see below)
Consider if the title and first few lines will be likely to bring outside readers in.
- Titles: Avoid abbreviations except for the most common ones (WA, USA, etc.), and try to make your title descriptive of the story content. Here's a good article on titles from Politics and Technology: Headlines are critical content.
- Opening sentence: Orient the reader to time/place/issue. Try to get some aspect of your most important message in the first line or two
Provide hyperlinks or contact information on local and state organizations whenever possible.
If you write about a state or local organization or public figure, send a link to your article to that organization and invite them to come comment.
When you do a post that you think might be interesting to people or groups you know, send out an email with a link.
Finally, keep the top part of your post short (generally no more than three medium-sized paragraphs), and keep images no wider than 550px (wider than that distorts the page).

MINI HTML CHEATSHEET
When you post, there's a little drop-down box that allows you to choose html, text, or automatic. Choosing the "automatic" option will insert html coding for you. If you want to to do html editing, change the option to html.
To make a hyperlink or "hotlink" to another page:
<a href = "http://www.theurlyouwannalinkto"> the text you provide to describe the link</a>
To put a section of text into a box
This is often used to put a quoted section of text. It can also help organize the page for better readability. The Contents section of this page is in a blockquote
<blockquote> quoted section
</blockquote>
To put a blank line or extra paragraph break between paragraphs
  
To make a nice long line across the page
Each section heading on this page is between two of these lines
<hr>
To post an image
<img width = "300 px" src = "put the url/location of the image in quotes�>
Note: [width = "300 px"] specifies the number of pixels across for the image. You can leave this code out entirely or play around with it. Sometimes it's necessary, as images wider than about 450 px, will distort the site.
To create a bulleted or numbered list
<ul>
<li>list item #1</li>
<li>list item #2</li>
</ul>
"ul" stands for unordered list and will give you bullets. If you use "ol" instead, you'll get an "ordered" list -- in other words, numbers. You can use as many li's as you want.
To embed a Youtube video
Cut and paste the code provided on YouTube into the Washblog post
To change the font:
 Text goes here -- from full page to just a few words
Most common reason to change font is to put a caption in small letters below an image. The size and font provided here as examples work well for this purpose
To "bold" a section of text
 Bold text here
To italicize a section of text:
 Italicized text here
To place text on a new line without inserting a blank line below
 
Learning more
Doing a Google search with the words, "html tutorial" and the action you want to perform (for example, create a table), will lead you through many questions.

FRONT-PAGE STORY OR DIARY?
All stories start out as diaries. Once you "submit" your diary, you can change its status -- if you are a front page writer -- so that your story shows up on the front page. Enter back into your story, click on "Edit Story". Scroll down to the bottom and, click on the little arrow on the right-hand side of the drop down menu box that says: "Only Display Within Section". Change that option to "Always Display." Voila!These are guidelines, rather than rules. How you�re feeling and considerations like what is already up on the front page, will come into play. The goal is a Washington-centered front page with good writing, enticing titles, visually interesting, and lots of original ideas and content � and a diary section that is almost completely open to anything.

FACTORS WEIGHING IN FAVOR OF FRONT-PAGING
Probably, two or more of these should be present to front page in most cases.
Washington-specific topics � connected with WA events, issues, organizations or people (links, examples, images, and quotes are great).
Political, civic, progressive
Timely � a hot topic that connects to current concerns
Original: your own research, ideas, analysis, photos, reports, eyewitness accounts
Well-written � clear, fact-checked, with an intent to communicate.

Constructive, empowering . This doesn�t rule out criticism, satire, or anger.
FACTORS WEIGHING IN FAVOR OF MAKING A POST INTO A DIARY
Little original content (event announcements without any analysis; quick mentions of someone else's blog content without your own analysis, etc.)

National issues, general issues, or general opinion that is not "anchored" to specific Washington people, places, events, organizations, issues, etc.
Non-political subjects

"Rushed" Diaries are good for putting things up really quickly. As long as your facts are checked and you�re not libeling anyone, etc., you�re probably good to go on a diary.

Photo courtesy of photographer/thankyoult.org
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