Get Connected BLOGGING TIPS

Get Connected

BLOGGING TIPS

1

Write what you know, but don’t worry about knowing everything!

In your day-to-day work as an activist, student, or maternal health professional, you will run into topics that make great blog posts as soon as you start thinking about it. Report on your experiences, including the events you attend and the work you do; interview your peers, teachers, and leaders you admire about their experiences; and discuss news, policies, and research in the field and what they mean for your work.

2 Have a goal. What are you trying to accomplish with each blog post? For example, you cannot end maternal mortality with one blog post, but you might be able to convince a skeptical reader that maternal mortality can be eradicated.

3 know your audience. While you may not know exactly who is reading your blog, assume that you are communicating with a variety of readers—some who agree with you, some who do not. But mostly, you’re communicating with readers who want to learn something new.

• Start with the basics: Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?

• Write in a conversational tone, using language that everyone can understand—avoid jargon and abbreviations, and provide definitions of technical terms (feel free to use the definitions in the glossary, Appendix A).

• Make it your own—write in the first-person in present tense, and share your opinion—whether you are writing because you are excited, frustrated, or confused. Make sure your readers know what inspired you to write this post.

• Post often! Your readers are much more likely to become—and stay—engaged if you publish new posts frequently.

4 Make it visually appealing. Effective, compelling blog posts are more than words on a page.

• Use pictures, photographs, and other illustrations, to make your post distinctive and compelling. Flickr.com is a great resource for photos. Search through their creative commons database and follow photographers whose photos you like.

• keep it short. Most blog posts should be 500 words or less. Of course, there is room for longer posts, but when you start out, stay concise.

• Use paragraphs, headlines, and sub-headings to break up text and organize your points.

• Highlight main points—feel free to use bold or italicize text to highlight a few main points.

5 keep conversations going.

• When you read or learn about an interesting finding, news story, or new project, use your blog to link to it! It is a great service for your readers, and it might lead to new links—and readers—to your blog.

• After you publish your post, make sure to check back for comments and reply in the comment section below.

TIP

Blogging Safety Tips

Privacy – only provide as much personal information on your blog as you want the world to know

Professionalism – Assume what you publish is permanent, and accept that some of your readers and commentators may disagree with your opinions

Caution – Spammers often pose as commentators so monitor your posts often