Professional Blog | Assignment Overview

Write a blog with three posts about a business issue of interest to you and that provides content that is valuable to others. You should develop the blog with a specific audience in mind and provide original, insightful entries. Ask yourself: Who am I communicating to? Who is my audience and write with that audience in mind. Also, you should develop your blog with your own career interests and desired online reputation in mind.

Each entry should be roughly 350 to 500 words, and should have 3-4 paragraphs with paragraphs each having 4-7 sentences.

Your first blog post should welcome readers, introduce yourself and provide an overview of what to expect from your blog. Your second and third blog posts are to be on certain topics that you devise (and that are meaningful to you). Think of a blog name that will interest readers (come up with an attention-grabber) and also try to come up with similar engaging and descriptive titles for your blog posts.

In the past most students use Blogger (easiest) or WordPress (more complicated but more customization options).

Here are some helpful links for setting up a Blogger account:

https://www.wikihow.tech/Start-a-Blog-on-Blogger (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

https://support.google.com/blogger/answer/1623800?hl=en (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Creating-a-Blog-using-Bloggercom/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Most students use Blogger and find it very easy to use. Note you will have to use a Google Account to login to Blogger and it will not work with your SMC Google account. If you do not have one you can obtain a Google account easily and it’s free.

You can create a Google account here: https://accounts.google.com/signup/v2/webcreateaccount?hl=en&flowName=GlifWebSignIn&flowEntry=SignUp (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Assignment Submission

Your primary deliverable should be a web link of the blog with three posts; I will evaluate you based on your website. You will take all three blog posts and insert them into a Word or PDF file (Not Pages) and upload the file on this assignment page. At the top of the document you submit with your blog posts, include the web address of your blog site.

Examples of Great Blog Sites and Posts and Some Advice:
https://makeawebsitehub.com/examples-of-blogs/Links to an external site.

https://www.michaeldpollock.com/open-your-blog-post/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-start-a-blog (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertadams/2017/03/02/top-income-earning-blogs/#3a2602f72377 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

https://www.sparringmind.com/successful-blogs/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

6 Essential Elements of a Blog Post

1. A title that grabs the reader’s attention
2. Exploration of news ideas and content
3. Content that is useful to others, not just the author
4. Accessible style and form
5. Text that is easy to read and formatted
6. Text that is written in a “human” voice (avoid academic-ese)

Grading
The following elements will be considered in your assignment evaluation:
-Writing Mechanics (sentence structure, grammar, etc.)
-Use of images
-Professionalism
-Analysis/explanation
-Clarity and focus
-In-depth engagement with the topic
-Written in appropriate style and tone for audience
-Page layout

Our Textbook on Blogging
Increasingly, business professionals have opportunities to build personal brands with social media tools. One of the best ways of establishing thought leadership is to create blog posts that focus on areas of expertise or interests. Many professionals create their own blogs (many free platforms exist such as WordPress and Google’s Blogger). Other professionals post their entries on well-known social networking platforms such as LinkedIn. While you can distinguish yourself on these external platforms, you can also write blog posts on enterprise social networking platforms that help give you a reputation of expertise within your organization.

Typically, you can employ several strategies on your own professional blogs. First, develop a theme that readers easily recognize and that captures your areas of expertise or interests. Second, make sure your blog posts maintain a professional, fun, and helpful tone. Third, make sure your content is accurate. You can quickly gain a reputation as an expert with strong posts yet gain a reputation as a novice if there are obvious mistakes in your content. Most blog writers enhance their credibility by providing hyperlinks to their source or reference material. This helps readers make judgments about the quality of your posts. Also, make sure your content is interesting and front-loaded. You’ve got only 5 to 15 seconds to draw your readers in, so make sure you capture their interest immediately. Finally, stay responsive to your readers’ comments. You can often learn what your readers are looking for by sifting through comments. Since so many styles exist for professional blogs, you should read the blogs of popular business and management bloggers to figure out some options that might work for you.