Marie winning the best Health and Wellness blog award, Blog Awards Ireland, 2012
‘Tis the season of blog awards – at least here in Ireland it is, with this week’s annoucement of the nominees in the Bord Gais Energy Social Media Awards (we are delighted that Write on Track has been nominated in the best business blog category). Blog award time is the perfect opportunity to review your blog and see if you are on track with your blogging strategy. Is there room for improvement? Even if you are a blogging newbie and feel you have a distance to go before you are blog award-ready, seeing what the best out there can do can act as a great learning tool for you as you work at improving your blogging efforts.
So this week’s #BlogChatIE is all about spring-cleaning your blog and getting your blog award-ready. Do you need to freshen up your blog design or layout? Throw out any unused or outdated blog items (plugins, categories, tags, sidebar widgets etc.)? Are there are any broken links to be fixed? Set aside some time to cast a critical eye over your blog and view it as a blog awards judge might.
To help you here are the topics we will be covering in this week’s #BlogChatIE (inspired by the judging criteria in Blog Awards Ireland).
T1 What design elements can you incorporate into your blog to make it more attractive?
T2 What makes a good “About”? Does yours need improving?
T3 Are your photographs/images of good quality? Are they attributed to their source?
T4 Have you incorporated effective calls to action?
T5 Do you engage with your readers by responding to comments and asking questions?
So why not join us this Thursday 25 April at 9 pm GMT for our discussion on getting your blog award-ready. Even if you are not quite ready to enter your blog for an award just yet, you can still benefit from the advice shared by other bloggers during the chat.
Sign up now for #BlogChatIE via our Facebook page
About #BlogChatIE
#BlogChatIE is a fortnightly chat which takes place on Twitter at 9 pm GMT every second Thursday.
- If you are new to the chat, catch up here
- Learn how to take part in a Twitter Chat
- Check the world clock to see what time #BlogChatIE takes place in your particular time zone.
Marie Ennis-O’Connor BA, MIAPR, holds an Honours degree in History from University College Dublin. She is a graduate of the Irish Academy of Public Relations and has worked in a variety of PR roles over the past 12 years. Marie is editor of several award-winning blogs ranging from life sciences to health to business. She is a panel member of the newly established Bloggers International and is a regular contributor to Health Works Collective, an online community for thought leaders in international healthcare. She is a featured blogger on Webicina, an online service that provides curated medical social media resources in over 80 medical topics and over 17 languages, and has been awarded a top blogger accolade by Empowered Doctor.com and most inspiring writer by WegoHealth. Marie is also in demand as a trainer in social media marketing and travels the country teaching small business owners how to get online and maximise their online presence.
