The Criteria Series: Five Things That Lend to a Sense of Transparency and Authenticity In a Weblog

The Canadian Weblog Awards are juried awards in which the finalists and winners are chosen using a specific set of ten criteria. The eighth instalment of our ten-part Criteria Series is about transparency and authenticity.

When we speak of transparency and authenticity, what we are really talking about is honesty with regard to purpose and personality, and I will be the first to admit that judging a weblog for its transparency and authenticity can be difficult. If a weblog is geared to help creative professionals write better copy, then its honesty about purpose is likely already apparent. If a weblog is a personal weblog about an individual’s life, it can be a lot less clear why that individual is blogging and whether they are presenting themselves or their material honestly.

This is not to say that we expect all weblogs to publish only true-to-real-life content. There is definitely room for outright fiction. What we do expect, though, is that we will know that we are reading fiction and not be deceived into believing that we are reading about real life events.

Weblogs, being both a public and social medium, entail a public relationship with their audience and its individual members, and, no matter what type of weblog is at hand, readers develop a relationship with the perceived author of the weblog’s content. We trust, unless otherwise noted, that the things about which we are reading have a strong basis in reality, and an author who is not honest about the state of their information breaches that trust.

Transparency and authenticity are not about a blogger’s obligation to their audience, although it can often be misconstrued that way. Transparency and authenticity are about grounding the veracity of your writing in trust, whether it be about how to find freelance work, the latest baseball news, or your new cat, Tootie.

Of course, a blogger’s transparency and authenticity can be difficult to ascertain, but a sense of transparency and authenticity is often felt clearly by a reader, and a blogger’s ability to ground their weblog in that sense is a skill worth noting. It establishes an author’s respect for both their readership and the material they are putting forth, which in turn lends credibility to their material.

Five Things That Lend to a Sense of Transparency and Authenticity In a Weblog

1. The blogger establishes their identity and/or purpose on the main page or through a link to an About page.
   This is often just an oversight, but if a blogger doesn’t tell you who they are, it can make people wonder if they don’t want you to know who they are.
2. The blogger supplies contact information and has open comments.
   The absence of an available way for the audience to communicate with the author can breed mistrust.
3. The blogger is able to show both their strengths and weaknesses in the public forum.
   If the blogger is unable to admit when they are wrong or their weblog only serves to tell you how right they are, it is hard to believe that they are who they portray themselves to be. It is also difficult to trust information from an author who will not admit to faults.
4. The language a blogger uses shows a unique voice.
   Language that sounds like it could come from anyone, such as that found in corporate copy, divorces the audience from its ability to relate to the blogger.
5. The blogger’s purpose for writing is clear.
   If it seems as though they are using the medium and their audience to serve an unstated agenda, it is less likely that readers will develop an ongoing relationship with the weblog.

   For instance — and here’s me being transparent! — I once followed a weblog for over a year that turned out to be a work of fiction and was never forthright about that fact. The person in whom I had invested myself and my time did not even exist, and I ended up distrusting the true author when she later spoke in her own voice. Do I read her books now? No, I do not.

When it comes to your weblog's appearance of transparency and authenticity, allow for communication through comments and/or e-mail, make your identity clear, let your humanity come through, use your own unique voice, and be clear about your weblog’s purpose. Not only will readers appreciate it, but they might actually stick around, and you’ll be able to communicate with more people more effectively.

What are your thoughts about transparency and authenticity?

The Criteria Series: Currency

The Canadian Weblog Awards are juried awards in which the finalists and winners are chosen using a specific set of ten criteria. The seventh instalment of our ten-part Criteria Series is about currency.

What is currency? Currency relates to both the timeliness of a weblog's content and the regularity with which the content is updated.

The currency of a weblog is important, because if its content is based on old news, or if its latest content is growing stale with no new updates, a weblog's ability to generate interest from both its present audience and its new readers will diminish.

How Keep Your Weblog Current

1. If you write a weblog based on news — whether it be entertainment, sports, or the latest in politics — write about stories that are happening now rather than several days ago.
If the news is older than the last couple of days, it has likely been fairly fully covered elsewhere. Unless you have a truly fresh perspective, it is probably time to move on.

2. Update your weblog at least once a week, if not more.
Interest in your weblog wanes in direct proportion to the age of your latest content. If you want an audience that will keep coming back, create content regularly that will keep them coming back.

See? It's easy to keep your weblog current. Write about timely affairs if you write about current affairs, update regularly, and — BAM — you've got currency.

Are there any other things to take into account with weblog currency I might have missed out on?

The Criteria Series: 7 Tips for Writing Clear and Intelligible Weblog Content

The Canadian Weblog Awards, unlike most weblog awards out there, are not decided by popular vote. The Canadian Weblog Awards finalists and winners will instead be chosen by a select jury using a specific set of ten criteria. If you have been following along with our ten-part Criteria Series, the first five criteria have already been discussed, which brings us to our sixth instalment in the series, Intelligibility and Clarity.

It seems an obvious point that a weblog, if it is at all interested in its audience, should have content that is understandable to the reader. It also seems an obvious point that following the rules of spelling and grammar is a pretty good idea. Surprisingly, though, this is not so obvious to everyone who has access to the internet if the sheer number of weblogs that ignore the basic rules of style are any indication.

Making the effort to create coherent content shows a certain respect for both your material and the audience that you invite to read it. People believe what you show them, and if you show them haphazard material rife with mistakes and lacking in any clear message, that is the lens they will view you through, too.

Whether you are writing for present or future employers, family and friends, or your own personal internet following, the care you extend to creating intelligible and clear writing speaks volumes about you, your abilities, and your investment in your website. What does your content say about you?

7 Tips for Writing Clear and Intelligible Weblog Content

1. Make your opinions and ideas clear.
Make sure that your opinion or idea is stated clearly and succinctly within a 1- to 3-sentence block so that it is not left up to the reader to tease out what your opinion or idea might be. If it's important enough to write about and publish to the internet, it's important enough to be stated outright.

Being unsuccinct makes it appear as though you are unclear about and lack conviction in your own ideas. Displaying a clarity of purpose lends credibility to your writing and provides an anchor to engage your readers.

2. Use plain and concise language.
There is a tendency with writers on the internet to go on and on, and I am going to be frank here: most long entries, even if they are well-written, become boring drone-fests. Once you pass 500 or 1000 words, your readers will start dropping off in droves.

Entries are best kept short and sweet, but how do you cut down on extraneous content?

Cut out half your words. You do not need to wax rhapsodic about most things. Rather than cement your point, dramatic language can make a reader question the actual validity of your viewpoint. Teh dramaz can be boring if your flowery language forces your writing into hitting one note and one note only. Leave some space for your readers to breathe!

One way to simplify your language is to cut out the majority of your adjectives and adverbs. Overuse of adjectives and adverbs is a sign that you are being lazy with your nouns and verbs.

One of the things about reading that is so fantastic is how an an author's words can fire up your imagination as you create the world within their writing in your mind. Over-description cancels that kind of reader engagement by taking away the reader's role in the interplay between them and your writing.

3. Stay on topic.
Remove anything that does not usefully relate to your topic. If you find yourself rambling on in some kind of Shakespearean aside, that material may be better served by publishing it as its own entry. Do not allow less related ideas to detract from the main point.

4. Add depth to your entries.
Add some meat to the matter. Re-read your post and ask yourself if you are just skimming along the surface. Do you have something more to say that will add depth to your piece?

If you have written a piece exhorting your readers to support a local animal shelter, don't leave out your personal story about the dog that saved you from drowning when you were a child. Adding meatier material to your entries will not only add depth to your posts but will also deepen your readers' understanding of what you are saying.

5. Make your weblog entries easy to scan.
Split your material up into shorter paragraphs, and use lists when possible. Shorter paragraphs and lists are easier for the eyes to scan on a computer screen.

If you give the reader frequent paragraph breaks, their eyes can more easily track from one paragraph to the next, which also makes it easier to digest your content. It is not hard for a reader to lose their way when muddling through an endless block of text, and that can turn into them giving up and clicking away before they've even finished your article.

6. Test your entry with the five Ws and the optional H.
Remember that your audience does not have access to your experiences or the origins of your ideas. Because you are likely already familiar with your topic, it can be easy to assume that the audience knows more than they actually do. It is best to assume that your readers need to be brought up to speed.

One way to make sure that you are being clear about your topic is to employ the old reporter's tool — the five Ws and the optional H (who, what, when, where, why, and how) — to test your piece. If your weblog entry offers up the answers easily without making you have to hunt them down in the middle of long paragraphs, you are probably on the right track.

7. Edit, edit, edit, and then edit some more.
I cannot stress enough how important it is to read and re-read your content to check for coherency, clarity, spelling, and grammar. Because you generally already know what you are trying to get across and might rush through the writing process, it is easy to leave out words accidentally, stumble along with clumsy grammar, neglect to spell check, or even leave out the underpinnings of the point of your entry.

Make it a habit to slow down and take the time to do at least some of the following:

Put your article aside for at least half an hour before editing it for content and errors. You will have a clearer perspective once some time has passed.

Check your piece for spelling and grammar errors. Even minor errors can be barriers to reader engagement. Also, and very importantly, basic errors in spelling and grammar immediately signal to the reader that you did not pay due care and attention to your entry, which can call into question how much you care about a topic and how much your viewpoint and research can be trusted.

Copy and paste the text of your entry into a different application and re-read it there. Strange but true, taking your entry from your weblog platform to Word or to Google Docs or what have you sheds new light on what you've written. I've often thought I was through editing a piece until I re-read it in a new application only to find out that I was only half done.

If you are not sure whether your ideas have been made clear and all your errors have been caught, have another person read your piece before publishing it. A second set of eyes can offer a fresh perspective.

7 Tips for Writing Clear and Intelligible Weblog Entries, In Brief

1. Make your opinions and ideas clear.
2. Use plain and concise language.
3. Stay on topic.
4. Add depth to your entries.
5. Make your weblog entries easy to scan.
6. Test your entry with the five Ws and the optional H.
7. Edit, edit, edit, and then edit some more.

If you respect your content and understand that your content is the lens through which people view and come to know you on the internet, then you know how much clarity and intelligibility matter. Clarity and intelligibility in your weblog content will allow you to share your ideas and opinions much more effectively with a broader audience, and they will help you to maintain and grow a larger readership. The work you put into crafting good content will make all the difference to you, your website, your readers, and your present and future employers.

What are your thoughts about intelligibility and clarity in weblog content? Do you have any more tips for increasing these important aspects of good weblog writing?

The Criteria Series: Originality

The Canadian Weblog Awards have a clear set of ten criteria by which all nominees in juried categories will be appraised. Our ten-part Criteria Series, as part of our crusade for better Canadian blogging, highlights each of the these criterion. This, the fifth instalment, is about the first criterion with regard to weblog content: originality.

If you have spent much time reading weblogs within any particular genre, you have likely noticed that most of them tend to parrot the same information or rehash the same topics already covered by others within the group. If you are searching for particular content on a subject, any one weblog can seem as worthwhile to read as any other after you have spent enough time scrolling through Google searches.

The few weblogs that manage to stand out from the pack in the heavily populated world of weblogs do so because they display original ideas and original content. Does yours?

3 Factors That Contribute to
the Creation of Original Content

1. Ask yourself what differentiates your weblog from others of its kind and use that difference to your advantage.

The answer to that question will often be YOU. You are the greatest differentiating factor when it comes to your weblog. If you allow your unique perspective and experiences to enter into your blogging style, your content will have a much greater chance of rising above the rabble of people parroting the same subject matter.

Tell your readers why a topic matters. Including thoughtful commentary about the difference Skype has made in maintaining your family ties alongside your explanation of the application will make all the difference.

2. Don't let your weblog fall into the Me-Too Trap.

Many weblogs tend to fall into the trap of being little more than echo chambers for content already found elsewhere. The internet has enough bloggers and commenters jumping up to shout "Me, too!" without your help.

But I find inspiration from other weblogs! you say. My writing/art/podcasts are often fuelled by other bloggers!

Of course some of your work will be informed by other weblogs and other bloggers. Inspiration from other online content is a given, but it is not a threat to your originality as long as you strive to create something new from that inspiration rather than to simply mirror what you have read and seen. Interesting and engaging content does more than simply reiterate existing material from other weblogs; it adds to that material by offering further research and material and/or personal insights and experience.

If you want to write about your outrage over the fact that serial child killer Clifford Olson is collecting a federal pension while behind bars, but fifteen other bloggers have already written similar articles about their outrage, take some time to look at why you want to write that article, where your desire's roots lie, and maybe do a little extra research into the story's background. The article you write will gain a depth and perspective that the other fifteen parrots will be unable to compete with.

3. Write what you are passionate about.

If you are writing a weblog entry about Search Engine Optimization, but your readers get the feeling that you'd rather be fishing, then they will feel like they'd rather be fishing, too. You will find that when you lack passion about a topic, you will devolve to parroting information farmed from someone else.

It is difficult to be thought-provoking when even your own thoughts aren't being provoked by the subject matter. Write what you love, and your energy will come through.

CHEAT SHEET:
3 Factors That Contribute to the Creation of Original Content

1. Ask yourself what differentiates your weblog from others of its kind and use that difference to your advantage.
2. Don't let your weblog fall into the Me-Too Trap.
3. Write what you are passionate about.

The weblogs that keep readers coming back again and again are ones that do not simply follow the herd but originate and interpret meaningful content from a unique perspective.

Taking the extra time to generate original content and offer a fresh perspective will not only bring readers back for more of what they can't find elsewhere, but it will also keep you engaged, and the more you enjoy creating your content, the better you'll be at it.

What are your thoughts on originality and blogging? How much does originality matter to you? Are there other ways to ensure that your content is original?

The Criteria Series: 12 Factors In the Creation of an Aesthetically Pleasing Weblog

The fourth instalment in our ten-part Canadian Weblog Awards Criteria Series is about the importance of weblog aesthetics. 40% of the jury's criteria for judging each weblog in the Canadian Weblog Awards is design-related, and the aesthetics element plays an incredibly important role in the life your weblog.

I have been asked why I have placed an emphasis on aesthetics specifically. Not everyone is a designer, and, if content is king, why demand that weblogs in the Canadian Weblog Awards be pleasing to the eye? I agree, in part. Content is king, but I would also argue that the appearance of your weblog is part of its content, and it directly influences how readers will approach your content.

The appearance of a weblog acts as an invitation to its main content, and the success of a weblog often relies on the execution of that invitation. Your weblog's design is the first thing any new audience member sees. It is the first impression your weblog makes, and it can make the difference between someone engaging with your content or passing it by without a second look.

An important question to ask yourself is whether or not your website offers an accurate description of its content and has an appearance that is pleasing to look at. Is it a terrifying mess of animated gif images? Does it have automatic sound that plays upon loading the website and a background so insane that it interferes with the navigation? Does everything on the page look like it's yelling at you? Is your website about loving Jesus but looks like it's about gay pride?

When you look at your weblog critically, does it really say what you want it to say, and does it invite the reader in? The following twelve points are helpful guidelines to creating a space that is both appealing and effective.

12 Factors In the Creation of
an Aesthetically Pleasing Weblog

1. Repeat this mantra: simplicity, simplicity, simplicity. The website design should remain simple and uncluttered enough that it does not distract the reader from the main content. Widgets, images, etc. that are extraneous to the main content should be removed in order to help the reader understand where your focus lies.

2. A major component of simplicity is white space. Do not be afraid of white space. White space, the blank space between elements, is as important as any of the other design elements, if not more important, because it not only helps to frame the space, but it also reduces the cognitive load for your readers by giving their eyes a place to rest. It is a primary design element that is all too often overlooked.

3. The different elements' positions, colours, contrast, and sizes on the page should show the reader's eyes where to go. Think of it as creating a map that guides the reader's eye through your website.

4. Create a masthead, or have a masthead created for you, that you can trust to make a memorable and positive first impression.

5. The background should remain in the background and not overtake other elements of the design.

6. The text font should be large enough to be easy to read but not so large that you feel as though you are looking at a grade one reader.

7. The text should be a colour that is in sharp contrast to the background colour for easy readability.

8. Your navigation system should be easy to find and use, and it should be consistent from page to page within your weblog.

9. Post titles should stand out from the main content so that they can be scanned easily.

10. The width of the main content should be narrower than it is in a trade paperback so that it is easy to scan from line to line.

11. The link colours, if they are different than the default blue, should be coordinated with the weblog template's colour palette.

12. Separate pages within the weblog, if they differ in design from each other, should each bear repetitive design elements so that it is apparent they belong to the same website and allow the reader to have a consistent experience.

Useful testing tools:

Color Contrast Check Tool — "The Colour Contrast Check Tool allows to specify a foreground and a background colour and determine if they provide enough of a contrast 'when viewed by someone having color deficits or when viewed on a black and white screen.'"

Crazy Egg — "Crazy Egg’s Confetti and Heatmap features are simple and affordable heat mapping tools that allow you to visually understand user behavior."

Colour Blindness Checker — Upload a screenshot (1K or smaller) of your website and see how it appears to people with different forms of colour blindness.

By designing a weblog that is both unique to you and visually appealing, or by having one designed for you (we can't all be designers), you create not only an attractive space to host your content but also a space that complements what your weblog is about and invites your readers in for more.

What elements of website design are important to you when you visit other weblogs? What elements attract or repel you? Do you have any more advice for creating an aesthetically pleasing website?

The Criteria Series: Interactivity

Welcome to the third article in the ten-part Canadian Weblog Awards Criteria Series. The Canadian Weblog Awards, as a juried competition, have specific criteria set by which to judge the nominations, and this series aims to cover each criterion with an eye to learning how to create and maintain quality weblogs. This third article covers interactivity.

What do we mean when we look at interactivity? Anything on your weblog that interacts with your readers falls into this category, whether it be audio, video, your comments section, or the availability of author contact information. Interactivity is important when it comes to developing a relationship with your audience, and it is important that, whatever interactivity your weblog does possess, it is effective and functional.

Before we get into effectiveness and functionality, though, let's take a look at the importance of having interactive elements in your weblog. Some would argue that they are not necessary in a weblog and that whether the author(s) wants to communicate directly with their audience or not is up to the author(s). I would agree with that, because there is no one right way to do things, but I would argue that interactive elements build a better weblog 100% of the time.

To be clear, this point in the Canadian Weblog Awards criteria exists because we view at least a minimal level of reader interactivity as important to the quality of a weblog. A complete absence of interactive elements is disengaging. A reader cannot comment on material without comments or contact the author without an email address, and in this age of social media, it only comes off as unfriendly to remove these interactive elements altogether.

Now, on to effectiveness and functionality...

I feel like this one is so obvious that it barely needs discussing, especially since we covered functionality in the last installment of the Criteria Series, but broken commenting systems and audio and video players and whatnot litter weblogs across the internet, and it's crazy-making. Just this morning, I came across two weblogs whose comments "submit" buttons were non-functional. I was invited to listen to a particular audio file while reading a post yesterday, but it wouldn't play. Broken interactive elements are akin to inviting someone in only to push them back out again.

How do you remedy this? Regularly go through your main weblog page and use each of its elements. Do your widgets in the sidebar (for example: Twitter, reader polls, etc.) do what they are supposed to do? If not, install the proper, functioning code, or remove them. Does the video you've installed play? If not, install the proper, functioning code, or remove it. Do your comments work? If not, install the proper, functioning code, or remove them.

Things to keep an eye out for when you test drive your weblog for interactivity:

Do you have a link to author contact information such as e-mail?

Do you have a comments section that is quick and easy for even first-time readers to use?

What is the state of your widgets? Are they functioning properly and appearing as you want them to on the page?

Do your video and audio components actually relay video and audio?

It is easy to let these things go, because you rarely use all of your weblog's elements the way a reader would, so it is good to take some time every once in a while to test drive your site from the position of your audience. You might be surprised how you're presenting yourself to your readers.

Remember that your weblog speaks for you in a place where you cannot physically represent yourself, and that it speaks best for you when it not only has interactive elements to facilitate communication with your audience but also has interactive parts that function well for the readers they are speaking to.

The Criteria Series: Keep Your Weblog Functional

In an effort to help you keep your weblog awesome, this is our second article in the Criteria Series here at the Canadian Weblog Awards. This is an important article, because it is about the second point in the Design component of our judging criteria: functionality.

Functionality relates directly to our first Design criterion, usability and accessibility, so take a look at that first article in our Criteria Series if you missed out.

What do we mean by functionality?

When we look at a weblog for functionality, we are looking to see that all of its components are functional. Functionality refers to all working parts of your website but specifically to the following components/factors:

weblog load times

widgets (flash, javascript, etc.)

HTML/CSS that works across different browsers

commenting system

links

This seems like a no-brainer that it is best if all of a weblog's parts work, but it is common to come across weblogs with parts that are broken, and it can create a frustrating reader experience.

Why is functionality so important?

If you have broken elements in your sidebar like broken mp3 players or a Twitter widget, the impression is that you don't care much about your weblog or your readers' experience of it. It is a little like inviting guests over and then not bothering to move stray clutter off the couch.

If the broken element is something integral to the user experience such as comments, it can feel like a bit of an affront to a reader. It is not uncommon for someone to try to leave a comment on a weblog only to be confronted with an error page or a broken publish button. Readers have been invited to participate in a conversation only to be denied, usually at the last minute after the reader has already taken the time to type up their comment.

The worst offender with regard to functionality is having faulty CSS and HTML code in the basic design of your website so that it does not even render properly in some browsers. This can, in some cases, deny a reader access to your weblog altogether.

Just as in offline life, appearance and social engagement do matter, and, generally, weblogs are a social experience. We share of our knowledge and lives and invite engagement with our readers through the interactive components our websites.

By making sure that the interactive pieces of your weblog are functional and by removing the broken bits that can clutter up your template, you communicate volumes to your readers not only about your level of care for your website but also your level of care for your audience without having even written a word.

A good question to ask yourself is this: Why invite people to my website if they can't even use the stuff I've stuck on it?

How can you improve the functionality of your weblog?

Occasionally, when a browser releases a new version or the website that supports your widgets or forms updates their code, your website can lose some functionality. One way to test this is to open up your weblog within several different browsers and manually go through each of your weblog's components, including things like e-mail forms and external links, to see if they function well in each browser. Replace any broken code with fresh code from the widget or form's host, or, if it can't be fixed, deleted the broken component.

There are a variety of web test tools that you can use to test your website's load times, validate your HTML, and check for broken links. Use these tools, or have your website designer use them, or find someone who knows how to use them and is willing to help you increase your weblog functionality, because it will make all the difference when it comes to making an impression on the web.

Also, no one knows your site like your readers, so don't be afraid to ask them about their user experience with regard to different components of your weblog. If you ask, they will tell you if something isn't working for them, and theirs is the most valuable opinion of all.

In conclusion:

When you have a public website, it invites an audience and some level of social interaction. Let that invite be an invitation to a welcoming experience for your readers, one that greets them the way you would like to be greeted.

In other words, clean up the place a bit (see: fix or delete broken elements) and maybe make a pot of coffee (see: ensure working comments and contact forms). Your readers might just decide to stick around for a while, and you'll probably enjoy the company.