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Oct 1, 2014

Blogging 101: Try a New Posting Style

Today’s assignment: build your storyteller’s toolbox by publishing a post in another format or a style you’ve never used before.

Welcome to Blogging U! This course isn't currently active, but you can learn more about what we offer and register for upcoming courses on the BU home page.

When we think of a blog post, many of us think of a few paragraphs of text. A blog post can be anything, though: a quote, a small gallery of photos, a song or video, some brief text, or any combination.

Today’s assignment: build your storyteller’s toolbox by publishing a post in another format or a style you’ve never used before.

Why?

  • Understanding the breadth of tools available to you as a blogger helps you tell your story more effectively.
  • Adding variety to your blog keeps readers (and you!) interested to see what will come next.

When you wrote to your Dream Reader, we loved seeing you explore new ways to express yourselves, from photos to poetry to Q&As. Now, let’s continue to push the boundaries to see what we can learn by trying a new post format or another new style.

Not sure if your theme supports Post Formats? Here’s a complete list of WordPress.com themes that support Post Formats.

Some of you are using themes that support Post Formats. Post Formats are a way to display different types of posts — text, images, galleries, videos, quotes, links, audio, chat, status, and short snippets called “asides” — with unique formatting to add fun, distinguishing touches. It doesn’t require any coding or graphic design expertise. Your theme does all the work based on the format you choose.

Depending on your theme, a post format might be obvious and bold, or just have a subtle touch or two. For examples of how different themes interpret Post Formats, take a peek at how they display in the Elemin, Writr, Twenty Thirteen, and Flounder themes.

If you’ve never used Post Formats before, this explanation will tell you everything you need to know.

Although choosing a Post Format will add its design to your post, it doesn’t limit your content — you can put text in an image post, an audio embed in a quote, or a gallery with your status.

If your theme doesn’t support Post Formats or you’d rather not use them, write a post in a new-to-you style.

  • If you normally post longer pieces, try a one-sentence aside, or embed a video with a short comment.
  • If you’re a photoblogger, post a link or embed an audio file, or try simply writing a story to accompany your photo and give it more context.
  • If you normally post shorter musings, try something longer form, or try putting together a photo essay.

The more communication tools you’re comfortable with, the more ways you have to get your point across.

You can also interpret this assignment more broadly, and just try something new. Write a poem. Try some short fiction. Give phoneography a try. Post something that’s outside your usual posting M.O. — it’s a great way to stretch yourself as a blogger and generate new ideas.

We look forward to seeing you shake things up today! If you’re unsure, find support in The Commons.

 

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  2. Sounds good.
    Made a short post, acompanied by a link to a cartoon.

    The post is in Portuguese, but the cartoon story is in English.
    Hope you pass by!

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  4. Love this exercise, haven’t had the courage to post in a different style yet, still working up the courage and knowledge to post in audio format (podcast style). Anyone know any themes that are best suited for this format?

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    1. This chart summarizes the types of Post Formats on certain themes in the Theme Showcase.

      There are also themes made especially for audio and music, like Soundcheck (a premium theme), though I don’t think that’s what you need.

      Ultimately, though, I think audio can be displayed on any theme — I personally used to record my older blog posts on Soundcloud, and then embedding that file into my post. It worked pretty well, it was free, and it didn’t require I change my theme 🙂

      Have fun!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  5. Late posting so I didn’t fully commit to a new theme but I plan too. I did however commit to a new format, inspired by the hemes for shorter posts. My blogs lately have been SO wordy so I took a recurring feature I do and made my “WWW” post to mostly speak for itself. I tried to let the images and quotes do the talking instead of commenting on them as I have been.

    http://somealphabetsoup.wordpress.com/2014/10/01/womans-words-wednesday-battling-the-breast-bomb/

    My next goal is to be happy with just a picture or just an aside, because I get inspired to do them all the time but brevity isn’t my strength (clearly) and I worry I should say or explain more.

    Love the feedback. Love reading your posts.

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  6. When I started my blog a few weeks ago it was a huge leap outside of my comfort zone. Posting in a new format will take me even farther from center, and I look forward to it. I just posted a piece today that I want to stay front and center for now, but I will work on this next time around!

    http://fillyourownglass.wordpress.com/2014/10/01/baby-girl-you-look-fine/

    Thank you for all of your hard work in expanding our blogging knowledge!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  9. Yaay!! I did my first short post and I put pictures. I think I enjoy using pictures haha. Just expressed my fondness for my favorite band. 🙂

    boigrowingup.wordpress.com

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      1. Thank you! I don’t know what that beginning quote watermark is..I can’t get rid of it now. I chose the “quote” post format and it put it in there. I think it’s just meant to be an image but now it looks odd. Anyway, I made the picture bigger. Thank you again for your valued feedback!

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  13. Well, I learned something new! Phoneography is a thing! I don’t have a phone, but all my photos come from my iPad. Plugging in and downloading photos from a real camera is a major barrier for me and something I never do. With 2 kids underfoot, there’s no time for that. So I snap and go!

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  16. Ok, so I tried something different for once. The old blogs I had usually contain a whole long narrative of my daily life, but now I am focusing more on certain moments that I think is worth delve into about. And hence, the several quotations.

    Please, please look into my posts and give me suggestions to how I can improve my writing!

    Cheers!

    http://www.deepmarvel.wordpress.com

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  18. Hi all, as today’s assignment I have decided to post the link to an old post of mine here, as I think I need some help with it. It is in an unusual format (for me!), as the way I did it was sharing a link which I then expanded to an article. The title of the post took the name of the link I shared, regardless of my own title – which I was surprised at. It has now disappeared entirely – really weird! If any of you are experienced in this types of posts, maybe you can give me an idea where I am going wrong?? Anyway, it is a post I did for fun, so enjoy (I hope)!

    http://notanothertallblog.com/2014/05/24/tallest-actors-in-hollywood/

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  21. My newest post was more personal than any of the previous ones. While all my posts consists of some deep thought or opinion that I hold, this new one contained my plans for the future. Hopeful plans for the future that is. I also chose to embed a video and a link to shake things up even more.

    Overall, I’m pretty pleased with the turn out of the post.

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