I have referred to, in my video above, the example below and I will also refer to this example in more detail in how I created this blog post.
http://www.ggs.co.uk/large-format-printing/wallpaper-graphics-nnuh/
Now, in more detail...
I produced my blog to go on the GGS website. This is a responsive site and so when inserting images and choosing font sizes I had to keep this in mind. The types of platform I had to consider were computer, tablet and mobile, as these are the main devices which our website is viewed on.
In order to achieve the above result when it came to inserting images, I had to change the width of the image into a percentage instead of a fixed pixel width. The higher the percentage, the greater the width of the image, but by giving it a percentage value this is applied across different platforms. A percentage of 80% will take up 80% of the page width, and the image will rescale to fit on smaller mobile screens and tablets at that same ratio.
The text which I used throughout the blog was in a simple font supported by all platforms. I made sure that the text size was consistent to previous blogs and checked it on other platforms such as mobile to make sure that the text displayed at a correct format.
In the blog I also used hyperlinks (B) which were formatted in GGS branded pink. They stood out amongst the rest of the text and attracted attention. By using hyperlinks this enhances the content and makes the blog more searchable in Google rankings.
The blog exists on Wordpress, an online system which we used to manage our website. It also exists on our FTP server which is the coded storage system that you can access using programmes such as FireZilla. The blog is stored in both of these places as different formats, and it also exists as a Word Document on my Mac Computer.
Accessing the blog can be done by logging into Wordpress which is a lot more visual than FireZilla. I have a user account and password to access this, but | can also access the FTP server with the FTP host, user and password. To access the GGS server, I also had to make sure that my computer IP address had permission to do so by contacting our server host. Which in this case was Heart.Using Wordpress as a means of creating and uploading blogs meant that I could preview the blog before it gets uploaded. This is particularly useful if I want to check image sizes and the responsiveness of them.
The target audience (TA) for GGS falls under the following qualities:
1. Business owner or an employee with a marketing role
2. Generally aged between 25-55
3. Could be male or female
4. Any type of business
The literary writing style for GGS blogs falls under the informative and persuasive categories. The text is usually written to inform the audience about recent work we have completed and is naturally persuasive as it is attempting to convince the audience that our services are good. The persuasive techniques are quite subtle. One of the hyperlinks which I have used is a link to the GGS exhibition page of the site which is directly the section that the blog is talking about. It's a quick way for the audience to navigate to a page where they can buy something.
Thus the purpose of GGS blogs are to inform and to entertain, as we try and present the information in an interesting and lighthearted way that applies to the wide age range of our TA.
It is important when producing copy for any type of marketing that it is kept consistent, therefore we make sure that our writing style is the same throughout. Whether it be on our website, social sites or blogs, we have a light-hearted creative style that captures what we do as a company (C). Copy is therefore prepared by having a topic and list of points that should be mentioned, and then the style and formatting is introduced to keep the style consistent across platforms.
Proof reading should always be completed when any text has been written, firstly by the writer, to check for any basic mistakes they may have made, such as typos, and then checked again by a second person. It is easy to make a mistake and never change it because your brain will automatically correct text as it reads it, that is why a second person should always be called for when proof-reading text.
A spell check can also be applied digitally to the text, this will check for any spelling mistakes or incorrect grammar. But when using spell checkers, you should remember that it should be set to International English and not American English. Spellings will vary between the two and having it set up properly before using a spell check will save time correcting it later.
If we look at point D on my blog image above, you can see that the paragraph structure is short and the text is separated by images. This is so the audience will not have to absorb too much information at once, it is broken up and allows for better comprehension after. I have used complex sentences, but made sure that they were not too long so to get confusing. I have made it easy to navigate to other pages by including hyperlinks, including links to social sites where the audience can share the blog if they liked. The font is consistent to other blogs, and the pink text is representative of the brand.
When writing a blog, choosing a keyword for it can be difficult. Put your mind in the shoes of someone who is looking for the service you are writing about, and what they might search for on the internet. For this blog, I chose wallpaper graphics. After you have chosen a keyword, you must then make sure that it is reinforced throughout the blog. So it should be included in the meta description, the page title, the page link and in the content also. You should also assign meta tags to the blog so that it is obvious what the particular post is about. The keyword throughout the text should be naturally occurring, in the past Google spiders (as they are referred to), have simply looked for keywords that occur repeatedly throughout the text, and given that page a top search position. Now, keyword Google have keyword realised that keyword web designers could keyword write a keyword page with every keyword other word being keyword the keyword and it would keyword work perfectly keyword well. Obviously this doesn't make for very good content. Keywords should appear in the text naturally, just enough times to give an idea of the subject.
The visit statistics of a page will give an idea of how successful the post was, whether it appeared high in rankings, the source of page visits and to some extent information about the people who visited the page.
In the blog I followed the basic writing conventions, using correct grammar and spelling, using no jargon and keeping text simple and easy to read. As we are a small company with less than 20 employees we do not have an editorial policy, anyone that has an idea for a blog post can approach one or all of the directors and the idea will either be rejected or accepted. Any blogs that we create will also follow the house style and the conventions of those before it, and the use of formatting tools such as font size and colour (B) help to achieve this common style.
Good content should be accompanied by rich media to assist the text. In the blog I have used images (A) to illustrate and confirm what I am saying, not only that but I have also used hyperlinks such as (E) to assist the text and back up information.
When uploading images to Wordpress you can add certain information to that image. Each image can have a title, a short description and alt text. By adding these to the image you are giving the image more context and when you come back to it at a later date it is helpful to know what the image was actually taken for. By adding alt text this also works similarly to a keyword, it makes the image more searchable.
Hyperlinks can be added to a word. In Word press you have the option to choose what the text reads, where the link goes and can even give the link a title that when you hover over the word the text will appear. In standard format 'http://' will appear at the beginning of a link. It makes it more accurate as a link and is less likely to fail later on. You should always test links that you have pasted into a blog post just to make sure that they are all working correctly.
Metadata is used mainly for SEO purposes, it is a summary or a description of the content and should include keywords that are relevant to the text. You can also use metatags here as these will relate specifically to the subject you are referring to.
Proof reading should also be completed to check not only for text errors but for online errors too. This is where you can check that links are working, the images and text are displaying as they should and that the blog works on multiple platforms. After this has been tested by yourself and also by another person, any mistakes or errors are recorded and then given to the person responsible to be rectified.
In the above blog I have used a figure about the costs of the new hospital ward (F), before entering this information I had to check that it was correct. I did this by going onto the Norfolk & Norwich site and checking that the figure listed here was correct, if any source should be reliable it should have been the hospital post about this unit. Whenever you are checking data you should consider the source that you are using to make sure that it is reliable. Websites like Wikipedia are questionable when it comes to accuracy as it's information that comes from any person with an account rather than a reliable source. By publishing information that is incorrect, especially if you are linking to that company's website, can have a negative effect on your company. It doesn't make the business look very credible if they are posting up the wrong information. If information is not available online then you should always check with senior personnel to check it is definitely correct. You should also check that it is acceptable to use that information as if it is not online, it may not be for a reason!
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