Writing A List Post Without Writing A List Post

by Eric Hamm on May 4, 2009
in blogging

(What does the picture have to do with writing list posts? Absolutely nothing…)

Many will agree that list posts are often times the most popular format as they enable the reader a quick skim without missing much of the core message. As blog readers, we may intend on reading through an entire post, but we certainly don’t want to have to actually read the thing before we determine if it’s the one we want to give our precious time to. With a list post we can glance at a few listed headings and make this determination without breaking a mental sweat. Too many 12px sized letters between these headings and we’re libel to just move on to our next possible post.

The problem is, many bloggers either don’t like writing conventional list posts or many blog readers don’t really enjoy reading them. So how can we maintain this skim-ability without confining our content to 1’s, 2’s, 3’s and so on?

Breaking Down Big Posts

I’ve been writing some pretty hefty posts over at Motivate Thyself. Some have pushed past 3,500 words. Yet if you were to pop over there and scroll through a few, you’d see that they are still quite easy to skim and decide if the content is worth the full read. I rarely go more than a few paragraphs without some kind of heading that introduces the next hundred and fifty words. I list my content without using bullets or numbers and while maintaining a more conventional writing style (most of the time).

As I write, I keep an eye out for chunks of content. If I’m starting a new paragraph and it seems to jump into its own unique thought or idea or section, I create a heading to start it off. This way, I not only give my readers clear guidelines to my longs posts, but I maintain a kind of listed structure that helps me maintain focus as I blaze through thousands of words.

Integrating A Conventional List

Many of my posts also have numbered or bulleted lists built in. Usually toward the end, acting as a kind of summary, I find this to be perfect for the application part of the post. It’s easy to knock out some great writing and share awesome insight, but then leave out the real meat. Most blog readers (depending on what they’re reading, of course) want to know what to do next. If they’ve read an awesome, thought provoking post, they want that last bite to be filled with some form of direction. A kind of, “Now do this, this and this…” kind of thing. Otherwise, they’re left feeling like, “In theory, that all made sense, but how do I apply it to my own life?”

Sticking To Your Own Unique Style

The bottom line is this: We all have our own unique voice to share with the world and no one can convey that style better that you can. Yet there are certain ways to write our thoughts that are most effective for the common blog reader. If we neglect either of these facts we risk weakening our reach. So by all means, find what works and then mold it into an easily edible morsel for visitors to comfortably enjoy.

Listing your thoughts is a tried and true method in the blogging community, but not all lists have to look the same. Find the structure that fits your style the best, while leaving bread crumbs for your readers along the way. Go too long without a breather and risk losing many of your readers as they grow tired of the uninterrupted information overload.

Eric

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Tags: blogging, list post, writing

Frugal Wordpress Theme And A Focus Shift For The Blueprint

by Eric Hamm on April 20, 2009
in Community

20 Comments

You may have noticed a slight difference in the look of The Blueprint. It was originally built from the framework of the Flexx theme from iThemes, but it’s now sporting a brand new core.

I recently finished creating my very first Wordpress theme called ‘frugal’. In its stock form it’s a super clean, minimalist Wordpress theme that has everything you need to properly showcase your blogs content and not a code snippet more. Since creating this theme I’ve gone ahead and rebuilt Motivate Thyself with it and now The Blueprint. (Dan Miranda of Command Your Time is running it in stock form)

The New Features

I tried to stick with the same general look. I didn’t necessarily want to redesign The Blueprint, just infuse frugal’s core code to see what happened. Here’s what has changed:

Guest Post Submit button: I’ll explain more about this later in this post, but there is now a clickable button in the header for guest post submissions.
Category Bar: Now, instead of the categories mixing in with the rest of the sidebar content, they sit right under the main navigation bar for easy access (this was a Flexx feature as well, we just never utilized it).
A Kind of Share-This space above the comments: By way of widget, I’ve added an easy way for readers to share, subscribe and follow, right above the comments.
MY FAVORITE! Threaded comments: Now we can reply directly in the comments instead of having to @ everybody. I’ve been using this on Motivate Thyself ever since I change over to frugal and I’ll never go back!

There are a few more minor differences. You’ll notice the main navbar is a bit different as well as other minor design changes.

What is the frugal Theme?

As I’ve already mentioned, this is my very first Wordpress theme creation and I’m quite proud of it. I’ve had great feedback thus far and look forward to seeing it on more an more blogs. It’s totally FREE and is the **shamelessly inserting anchor text** best free wordpress theme available!

frugal came about while I was looking for a theme to meet my Wordpress theme customization requirements. I needed something that could be the perfect clean slate theme to build off of. The problem was that there were either simple themes that were poorly built and had none of the features I deemed essential (threaded comments capable, attractive, custom avatar size and placement without having to add a plugin, clean code that validates, etc…) or full featured themes that required a complete stripping before they could be properly customized. So I built frugal to fill this need.

frugal is an excellent Wordpress theme in its stock form for anyone looking for a super light, fast, clean theme to do nothing more than make their content shine. But if you want to customize it, I’ve included a 29-page ebook that goes over both the basics of Wordpress theme design as well as how to specifically customize your frugal theme. And like I said, it’s all FREE! So be sure to check it out, download it, promote it if you like it and give me feedback so I can keep improving it!

Share Your Voice!

Now for the focus shift for The Blueprint. Sean and I have talked a lot about what direction we want to take The Blueprint and with the recent introduction of the best copywriting blog in existence I felt is was time to make a decision and move forward with the adjustments. So here goes…

Most of us are bloggers, right? And we all, at some point or another, have great ideas to share about this very subject. But few of us have an established venue to share our great blogging insights. Sean and I would like The Blueprint to be that place.

So what we’re doing is offering an open door to submit post ideas. We want you to be able to take that blogging idea or tip or whatever you think needs to be aired out, and share it with our readers.

Open Debates

One of the things that we have enjoyed at BB is the willingness for this community to hash it out in the comments. Tired of the ‘bland posts/pats on the back’ kind of content, we’re looking for ideas that will shake things up. We want bloggers who are willing to put themselves out there a bit. Not all posts should be agreeable and frankly it’s the agreeable ones that are often the most boring. Let’s learn from heated discussions and brutal debates (tactful, respectful, brutal debates ), and make The Blueprint an exciting venue to chat up blogging, while sharpening our online presence.

To submit a guest post request or just learn a bit more, go to our guest posting page.

Question (I’m totally stealing this from Collective Inkwell’s last post): What kinds of posts do you find most interesting to read AND which ones seem to invite the best conversations in the comments?

Eric

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Tags: frugal wordpress theme, guest posting

The Basics of Web Design

by Eric Hamm on April 10, 2009
in Design

5 Comments

Image courtesy of dullhunk

As you probably already know, a blog theme is just another website template. Pages of code that sit on web servers and tell browsers what to put on their pages, these themes are nothing but plain old websites. Learning about web design is leaning about blog theme design. So here are a few tips about what a solid site should do to make the most of its online real estate.

Framework:

First and foremost, a website design is just a kind of framework for the content it presents in its boundaries. From the header where the logo/title sits, to the navigation bar that is attached in some way, shape or form to any sidebars, feature sections and the final footer to close the circuit. All of this, surrounding the main content area where you’re focused voice is present. This framework is the glue that holds your website together.

Starting with the header: An effective header is one that is just the right size to make visible your name-brand, but not too much to burst your readers personal bubble. It should fallow the theme of the rest of the site, but carry just enough difference that it stands out and draws those new eyes into itself. You want a new visitor to be drawn to it, but not so much that they can’t look away.

The navigation bar: I personally believe that this is the most important part of the framework. Acting as a kind of anchor, the navigation bar (or navbar for short) becomes the boundary between your header and the rest of your content (this assumes it’s on top and not on the side, but that’s an assumption I’m going to make in this handbook). It holds the keys to each page on your website and allows instant access, no matter where you go. The header is important, but without the navbar, it would feel naked and out of place.

The key to an effective navbar is simple. Use JUST the necessary amount of pages to it and it will do its job. Too many and they become lost in themselves, doing nothing more than confusing your short attention spanned reader.

Sidebar: The sidebar is your sub-content area. Kind of a mix between the navbar and your main content area, the sidebar both caries access to other locations as well as house content you want readily available with just the slightest glance.

A solid sidebar is one that is JUST big enough to house your necessary links, buttons, forms and images. Keep it simple, but not bland. You want to draw your readers eye, but not distract from your main content.

Speaking of your main content area: This should be the largest piece of land on your website, housing the focus and point of your pages. White or light background is ideal, with dark colored text. Clean is always good and the rest is up to your own grammatical skills.

The footer: The final piece to the puzzle, the footer closes the loop to keep the circuit circling. There are two kinds of effective footers and both are about as opposite as they come…

One is the simple cut off point. This should be almost invisible, but just enough to house the credits and bounce your readers eye back up to the top. The second kind is one that houses much more than the credits. Used as a feature section, this kind of footer is almost a kind of bottom sidebar. A great place to put some ‘bonus’ links for your readers to feast on, this can be a solid way to extent your website just a bit further. Just be careful not to over do it. Too much clutter in the basement of your site and you’ll lose your visitors in the mess of pictures, links and who knows what else.

So keep it clean either way and try and stick to the JUST ENOUGH rule.

Feel:

The feel of your website should be just what it needs to be to draw your reader in. If it’s a news site, it should fee informational. If it’s about art, it should feel creative. Whatever your content is trying to convey, your website should back this up with the right layout.

But don’t mix this up with the idea that the framework should be decked out. The fact is, what you put INSIDE your layout should determine the look and feel, not so much everything else. I mean sure, it doesn’t hurt to have a unique, attractive custom logo and the colors DO make a difference, but the words and images that fill the insides, those are what will solidify your message. The framework should be just that…a FRAME. Just like too much picture frame can take away from the picture, so too can your over-the-top web design distract from the content inside.

Keeping people coming back:

The fact is, a new visitor isn’t your bread and butter. It’s only when that person re-appears at a later time that you know you’ve done something right. No amount of theme customization will be enough to ensure the masses will come back, time and time again. It’s up to YOU to fill the walls of your website with words and images that inspire a return. Successful online activity may start with a solid frame, but this quickly transitions to its rightful place, in the hands of your voice.

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