Want to write a blog?

Want to write a blog?

Welcome! Here are a few basic tips to get you started:

1. Writing style guide: ANR’s writing style guide provides grammar, capitalization and other style guidelines for writing about ANR’s work for the public. You may also want to explore our other public relations resources.

Do: Bookmark the style guide, which is organized alphabetically, and get used to referring to it as you write or review your blog posts.

2. Consider your audience: How will readers find your blog? Where will your blog be shared, on which websites? What type of information will your readers be looking for?

Consider: What information should you include in your headline, first sentence and/or featured image to help readers know they might want to read your blog post?

3. Link guidelines: Make your links short and meaningful.

Do not: Spell URLs out as web addresses; instead hyperlink meaningful words that describe where the link will take the reader who clicks on it.

Do not: Rely on “click here.” Instead think of what verbs you want the reader to do other than clicking. If you can’t incorporate the link into a sentence, then phrases like “Read the full report” or “Sign up now” come in handy, but we’re sure you can think of more specific options for whatever it is you’re writing.

Do: Link faculty and staff names mentioned in your blog post to his/her entry in the UC ANR directory, if you think readers (especially reporters) might want to contact that expert for more info.

4. Sharing other blog posts: If you find a blog post or article that you would like to share with your readers—whether from another ANR blog, a newspaper or elsewhere—please feel free to share. But please do not copy and paste the blog post word for word. One good way to re-share a blog post is to write an introduction about your or your organization's perspective on the post (why you liked it, a local angle, an additional idea, a question you're thinking seriously about, etc.) and include quotes or block quotes from the post, with a link to the original source so readers can check out the rest of it for themselves.

Do: Give credit to original authors, photographers and/or publishers

Do: Provide additional context and/or your perspective

Do: Write what you do best and link to the rest. Provide a preview that is clearly marked as such (quotes or a section as a block quote) on your blog, but send readers to the original source whenever available for the entire piece.

5. Photos! Images help make blog posts interesting to readers. A minimum-sized photo of 210 pixels wide will help promote your blog post to readers within ANR's blog system, in the ANR Blog showcase.
    
6. Learn the ins and outs of your blog system. Some helpful things to learn would be changing your comment setting options, changing your byline options and learning ways to integrate your blog with your website. If you’re using the UC ANR blogging system and need some help, contact Alex Zangeneh-Azam. 

And remember: If you would like your blog post to reach a larger audience--and members of the news media in particular--please contact Pam Kan-Rice or send us a social media request.