Judging Criteria
Blogs have become very popular in the past couple of years because
they gave individuals a voice on the Internet. You no longer have to be a
hotshot publisher, an ace reporter or a sought-after columnist to get
your thoughts read. You can have a free account with a blog host and
post your thoughts online anytime you want.
However, having a great blog is not easy pickings. There are a few
things that separate a great blog from a good blog, and also a good blog
from one that's downright rubbish. There are tens of millions of blogs
out there, so it's great to have an excellent blog that stands out!
It takes a good combination of content and design to make a good
blog. Add to that a dash of personality and a good sprinkling of
passion, and you might just have what it takes to have a great blog. And
here, we reward well-written, well-designed blogs that are created and
maintained with passion and personality.
Visual Aesthetics
Content is king. But design is queen. You could write the most
gripping articles on your blog, but if your site is too disorganized or
simply too drab, then people might find you uninteresting. But if your
blog design is too loud and too jampacked, then you would just end up
giving your readers a headache.
We judge visual aesthetics by the ability of a blog's design elements
to blend in harmony with one another, from the site layout to the color
scheme, to the fonts used. You can go for a minimalist look, or prefer
colorful artistic renditions, but what's important is that your blog is
pleasing to the eye. Also, we give a plus for originality in design!
User Friendliness
You can have the most beautiful-looking blog with the most
outstanding writings, but if your site is difficult to use and navigate,
no one would bother to return and read up on what you have to say. User
friendliness and usability are important design considerations in
determining a great blog.
First, your site should be readable. The font size should be large
enough and the contrast level high enough so your readers would not have
to go looking for magnifying glasses or to squint in order to read your
copy. Then, your blog should be navigable. Readers should not have a
hard time going around your blog, it would be great to have the
convenience of one-click links to your homepage, archives, links, and
profile. And for the love of blogging, please refrain from incorporating
those snazzy animations and multimedia files, because they only slow up
loading of your blog, and not everyone can load them up. You would only
end up frustrating your readers.
We judge user friendliness by a blog's being readable, navigable,
usable, and by how easily your site loads up on the web browser. Help us
explore your blog better!
Reading Enjoyment
Content is king. One primary motivation for reading a blog is great
content. A good blog should have interesting information that comes in a
well-written package. Whether you're talking about your life story or
news on business matters, or any topic at all, your blog should be
gripping enough to keep your readers coming back.
Another important aspect of blogs is feedback. Eliciting a lively
conversation is as important as writing the original blog posting
itself. Blogs have commenting features for a reason, and that's to give
readers a venue to voice out their own thoughts in response to what you
write.
Also important are the voice and tone of your blog. Writings on a
blog should not sound stiff and cold, because it should primarily be
written with a personal touch, or it wouldn't be a blog at all!
We judge reading enjoyment according to the quality of a blog
author's writings, and whether his/her articles are interesting enough
to merit a good discussion by readers.
Useful Info
There are tens of millions of blogs out there, and most of them just
echo each other. Many bloggers are fond of quoting (and mis-quoting)
other news sources and even other blogs. What makes one a good blogger
is the ability to present or link to useful information on one's blog.
What makes someone a great blogger is the ability to put up information
that is both useful and original.
We judge usefulness of information based on how a blogger can point
out great stuff elsewhere (i.e. through links) and how a blogger can
synthesize these bits of information gathered from other sources.
Originality is definitely a plus. And don't skimp on introducing
yourself,if we find a blogger's life story or profile interesting
enough, then this is definitely a big plus!
Overall Experience
Synergy means that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
The same goes for blogs. Based on the above factors - reading enjoyment,
visual aesthetics, user friendliness, and useful info - we can now
determine whether a blog is great, good, or just another blog out of
millions, with no impressive quality at all.
We judge overall experience by how enjoyable, interesting, and
read-worthy we think a blog is. And we list blogs with great content,
design, usability and interesting info that we think are deserving of
being bookmarked and oft revisited.