Aug 15, 2012 / Posts We Loved

What Makes a Post Freshly Press-able? A Recipe For Attention

Every day, 19 WordPressers are featured on the Freshly Pressed section of WordPress.com. And every day, many more wonder, “What do I have to do to get Freshly Pressed?”

Well, it’s time to reveal what the folks who push the launch button are thinking. Each week, a member of our editorial team will do a close-up on one post and why we thought it was Press-worthy. We hope we can provide insight into the process and give you tips and tools to make your blog the best it can be.
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Yesterday on Freshly Pressed we ran this recipe for Brussels Sprouts with Pistachios and Lemon, from Jen and her blog Lattes and Leggings. We love to read food blogs and we browse dozens each week. Here is why this one made the cut:

The recipe was unique and interesting.

The brussels sprout is one of those vegetables that is mostly hated and only loved by a dedicated few. It has some of the same traits as cabbage: swampy green, easily made mushy, and a tendency toward a sulfurous taste. But Jen made it look and sound delicious, instilling a brightness and freshness when paired with the other ingredients.

Generally when it comes to recipes, we look for something that stands out, using foods we don’t often see or in ways that are not typical. It can be about foods that are healthy and make eating right easy, or on the other hand, dishes that are so decadent and rich that our eyes get hungry just looking at them. Of course, it takes more than the food to catch our eye, as the next item shows.

It got personal.

Jen gave us more than a look at a recipe. She gave a look into her life. She talked about the Met, finding restaurants, and anecdotes about Italy. She just shares herself:

We stumbled upon Cotta Osteria in the Upper West Side. I’ve walked past it a million times, but never thought to try it. As soon as I walked in the door I knew this was going to become my new favorite wine bar.

She tells a tale, which leads to her love of brussels sprouts, which segues into the actual veggie recipe. It is wonderfully done and an enticing read. I plan to actually try making this myself later this week. With extra lemon.

The images were large and colorful.

Images help to break up text and make an article easier to read. With posts about food and eating it can be especially crucial: The visual of a prepared dish is important to enticing the reader, to make them imagine both the flavors and the experience of devouring it. And for a recipe, images illustrating each step help the readability of the post.

Jen also used large photos so a reader can easily see the details and not have to stop and squint to make things out. The ability to click through the images to even larger versions is also a wonderful feature. Of course, the design that Jen’s blog uses allows images of such large size.

Overall, the post was easy to read and so you just enjoy the content itself–the lines and photos of the food.

So what did you think of this pick? Of this recipe?

For more on our Freshly Pressed content, check out last week’s Freshly Press-able post, the roundup of July’s top 10 posts, or read So You Want to Be Freshly Pressed?

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  1. I enjoy the FP section as it helps bring to our attention in this large community of posts those which the “FP board” feel are worthy of a share. I personally do not post anything with the intent of being FP..I post what I feel is relevant in some form or fashion whether it be humorous, educational or some stupid thing I wrote about. If I may make a suggestion though, many of the FP posts do end up in the “one-hit wonder folder” and the FP blogger goes from stardom to nothing.. Perhaps when making your selections ( not all, but say 50%) you look at the blogs track record and the things they have been posting, ..Is this a blog that many people will want to read again & again. I want to follow a blog on more than their “one hit wonder” post 🙂

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  2. I am not quite sure how the WordPress system works. What shall I do to see all the most recent posts? I tried to find out, having launched my blog a few days ago, but it seems that this option is not being offered here. Or I just cannot navigate properly.
    Anyway, my most recent post was on the Battle of Warsaw (1920) and its 92nd anniversary celebrated in Poland. Historians believe that it was one of the three most important battles in the twentieth century. In fact, it belongs to the milestones of the world’s history.

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    1. If you click on the “Reader” tab on the WordPress.com home page, you can search all posts by topic and they’ll appear in chronological order. Happy hunting!

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      2. so THAT’s where “it” is… the READER tab. i guess i just need to be smact in the hed with something to find it (i’ve been searching for the “search by tag and topic” feature and will rush off to use it … now!
        (thanx!)

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      3. i’m having a heckuva time finding the wordpress-wide “search for” function or app or whatever. i clicked on “reader” and nothing happens. i just tried “popular tags and” (whatever it’s called) and again, nada.
        is “reader” the only drop-down/tab to search thru-out WP for subjects and tags and such? what do you recommend?

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    2. @betunda, when you’re in the Reader, there’s a list of topics running down the left side of the page. At the end of that list is a space where you search for any topic you’d like.

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  3. I think this section is well done in giving an insight as to what is a successful “Freshly Pressed Selection.” The tips and observations daily along the way are also well done. After five years with WordPress, I must work harder to bring my poetry hobby to the attention of more people. Only by being aware of the many factors that attract the attention of the WordPress family will that be accomplished.

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  4. I have no issues about pictures, but sometimes a thousand words without pictures can have meaning too. That gets underlooked now, in my opinion. I feel that this country and the world is lacking in Proper (American) English, and going into the “Temple Grandin” route of using pictures as words. I feel that’s inappropriate, we cannot make everyone “autistic” and it should be shunned upon. I feel that people are being dumbed down and writing improperly (or not writing much at all) is an utter shame.

    I like art, I do art, I make things, but I don’t get too over my head, I don’t have that uber fancy snobbery “artsy” attitude. With that said, I do believe writing is an important skill and when you have oversized JPEGs and hard to read fonts (or much text content to begin with), that’s the problem I have.

    We need to speak more proper and Effective American English to go along with large JPEGs.

    Please take this humble blurb into consideration to celebrate all bloggers on the WordPress ecosystem.

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    1. it is my belief we are in an information overload era, one that will take perhaps a generation before it sees any light. in the meantime, we will continue on and assume the world keeps spinning, God willing of course.

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    2. i agree with Steven — and i also assume he infers that a blog w/o pix is somewhat DOOMED to not get FP – noticed. an interesting exception was a recent FP (95% or more WORDS !) by a fellow (i assume it’s a ‘fellow’) writing about black holes ‘n such.
      so, i’ve been somewhat brainwarsht by WP into ‘fleshing’ out my entries w/pix.
      Gawwedwilling, the info-overload era (thanx SBar) will run whatever course, and

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    3. The stereotypical description I wrote earlier, I can attest that I, myself have a form of autism, and I think pictures vs words is really causing a literacy and communication issues for most of the younger generation. My only few strengths besides technology is (American) English writing and art. I feel if people can read, they can learn things, have entertainment and maybe write things too. But that can only be done if there’s enough words to complete a story, opinions or perspectives. I understand that some people function better “visually”, however we cannot handicap everything.

      The blogs I publish do include images, but I keep them within reasonable sizes and when necessary. Sometimes substance is more important than style with some blogs out there.

      I do appreciate this post, now I understand the ins and outs of how peoples posts get onto the frontpage.

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  6. The article does present insight into getting FP. However, it seems reasonable to conclude that WP is attempting to maintain or improve overall quality and content, which is entirely commendable.

    As another reply noted that 99% will not get FP and selection may be biased in some ways, it reminded me of the story [the Island] Every week, a “lottery” is taken out, and the winner gets to go to the island. However, Lincoln begins to have some problems and doubts, which lead him to discover a sinister truth.

    However, nothing I know to be sinister here at WP. It appears that UNLIKE in the Island everyone will eventually get picked, the inverse is true here.

    My thanks to WP for creating the platform for me to blog.

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    1. We know that not everyone will like every post that gets Freshly Pressed, but we strive to highlight a variety of voices and stand behind our choices. And we welcome any and all feedback, on Freshly Pressed or any other WordPress feature.

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  10. FOOD!!!! FOOD!!!! It takes FOOD and pictures of FOOD to get freshly pressed. THAT’S what you guys at WordPress get all excited about! FOOD!!! Yeah……well wait till all of you are sooooooooooo fat that you’ll begin to hate food and start freshly pressing other blogs….um…..like mine for instance.

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  11. Yes, images play powerful role in blogs if they`re utilized properly. If an image can portray summary of a feature, then definitely its winning.

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  14. Hi. I’m fairly new to blogging. Please give my blog some love. It needs some serious attention. It’s very lonely as it’s had very few visits and could benefit from a pick me up. Hell, I’ll get excited if even one new person looks at it today…lol. And if you like it, please comment 🙂 That would be the icing on the cake. Thanks for your time 🙂

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  15. One thing that I noticed about the Freshly pressed posts is that you never have any ones that have bad pictures on them (ie: camera phone, noisy, etc) I try to take appetizing pictures, but can it be done with a camera phone?

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      1. Cool, good to know, I don’t have a fancy SLR, so I take all my foodie-wanna be pictures with my phone. I try to get as nice as possible but sometimes the noise distracts. Probably user error! 🙂

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  17. Golly I love brussel sprouts and Golly I love pictures about brussel sprouts and original recipes about brussel sprouts!!!!!!!!! Not just the same old standbys that everybody blogs about like tuna and brussel sprouts or Hamburger Brussel Sprouts Helper or Mac and Brussel sprouts . . .please I can’t even think about eating another mac and brussel sprout’s ever again! I’m sick to death of those old tired brussel sprout recipes with their small not very colorful pictures depicting small not very colorful pictures of brussel sprouts.Thank you freshly pressed! You Rock!

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  19. It seems as though the Freshly Pressed blogs are picked a bit randomly to me. I really have not seen many that have been feature that I enjoy at all. Not to say they are not written nicely or that the pictures are not lovely, but it seems like there are lots of photography blogs and art blogs chosen. The pics are not diverse in my opinion. I do love the WordPress community as a whole.

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  21. Mendengar khabar berita
    demikian dan melihat acara di
    TV,saya sebagai Ikhwan
    Attijany merasa tidak menerima
    dengan provokasi atau
    kerusuhan yang sengaja di
    buat untuk memfitnah dan
    menghancurkan juga
    menyesatkan oleh Si Sumarna
    tersebut bahwa wajib si
    sumarna harus bertanggung
    jawab dan harus di buru.
    Karena ajaran tijaniyahnya
    yang palsu untuk menyesatkan
    ihkwan tijany yang benar. Ini
    sangat berbahaya sekali si
    sumarna telah mencoreng
    guru-guru atau Muqodam-
    muqodan seluruh dunia. Karna
    Ajaran Thoriqoh tijany yang
    benar ialah bukan mengajarkan
    tidak sholat. Jelas bahwa si
    sumarna jiwanya telah
    bersekutu dengan syetan dan
    ini harus di buru dan di Hukum.

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