The Basic Posting Formats
Amy Gahran, editor of Contentious, has now finished her basic posting formats series. It's a great resource for anyone starting a blog - or for those who wants to develop their blog writing style.
You will find these seven formats described:
- Link-only
- Link blurb
- Brief remark
- List
- Short article
- Long article
- Series postings
For business purposes I think we mostly find posts in formats 3, 5 and 6. And that is logical. Most corporate bloggers, at least according to my experience, are looking for a conversation with customers, competitors or employees, they see the blog as a way of establishing themselves as strong voices in an industry. For that purpose a Link-only post or a Link blurb just isn't very effective. A random post in those formats, certainly, but not as the main content type of the blog.
I guess this post is a somewhere between Link blurb and Brief remark. Amy also emphasizes that "these types represent points along a spectrum. A specific posting might blend aspects of two or more formats." Make sure to read her series - you will be more aware what you are doing, and for a writer that's the first crucial step to better results.