Please follow these guidelines when writing blog posts on our public website. Also see the Library Written Style Guide for more specific punctuation and wording guidelines.

Post frequency/length:

• Frequency:
  • Based on each blog’s service plan
• Length
  • sufficient to cover topic
  • shorter is always better – just enough to cover the content

Formatting:

• one space between sentences – not two!
• avoid ALL CAPS
• use a spell checker
• break post into small paragraphs rather than one large chunk of text
• Use subheads

Post titles:

• keep them short, snappy and descriptive
• capitalize the first word and proper nouns

Internal Post Structure:

• Bulleted lists are great
• Subheads are great – helps people quickly scan content
• Images that complement article tend to attract readers

Specific words – be consistent with these terms:

• email (all one word, all lowercase)
• website (all one word, all lowercase)
• webpage (all one word, all lowercase)
• web (lowercase)
• internet (lowercase “i”)
• Our library – first reference is “Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library.” Second reference is “the library.”

Summary of post

• Each post should have a summary – there are two ways to do this:
  • Create a summary paragraph in the summary box (this is best)
  • Leave the summary blank – the beginning of the post will automatically be used as the summary.

Tags

• Use at least 3 descriptive tags for each post
• Tags are usually keywords that are descriptive of the content of a post
• These should be different from a category. Ex – a post could be in the Books, Movies & Music section, and have tags like new books, fiction, new fiction, book recommendations, steampunk, robots, science fiction and Mars.

Links:

• For book titles
  • italicize book title
  • make the book title the link text
  • don’t include the URL with the book title
    • Do this: The Hobbit (where “The Hobbit” is the text used for the link)
    • Don’t do this: The Hobbit – http://catalog.tscpl.org/asdfhasdf/etc.htm (where “The Hobbit” is NOT the link text, but the URL is also used as the link text)

• Other links
  • When linking to webpages or blog posts, make the webpage title or the blog article title the link text
  • Refer to the link within a sentence, like this: “Topeka has a great library that everyone should visit.” (“great library” would be the link text used for our library’s URL)
  • Another example: don’t write “you can read the full report here” – using words like “here” or “click here” is generally bad practice. Instead, say “the charity released a report, which said…” (“a report” is the link text and is incorporated within the sentence). This type of internal link reads better.

Citing / Attribution

It’s important to give proper attribution to sources, even online. Here’s how to do it:

• Blog posts, newspaper articles, other websites
  • See the Links section above for linking
  • When you quote someone else’s text, make sure to link to the original source.
  • With the link to the original source reference the site. For example, say “Here’s a lovely article from the Topeka Capital Journal on the Topeka Ave. bridge project.” “Lovely article” links to the specific article, and “Topeka Capital Journal” links to the newspaper’s main site.

• Images
  • If using an image from flickr, photobucket, or some other photo sharing service, include some type of attribution/pointer back to the original photo at the end of the article (i.e., “photo courtesy of JimBob” – “JimBob” would link back to the original photo).
  • Use photos with a Creative Commons license when possible.

• Videos
  • Include some type of link/attribution/pointer back to the original video (i.e., link back to the YouTube video if you use a video from YouTube)

• How much of a quote can I do?
  • The U.S. Copyright Office FAQ on fair use (http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-fairuse.html) says this: “it is permissible to use limited portions of a work including quotes, for purposes such as commentary, criticism, news reporting, and scholarly reports. There are no legal rules permitting the use of a specific number of words, a certain number of musical notes, or percentage of a work.”
  • Don’t quote the whole thing!

Comments – what to do with them?

• respond
• thank them for their comment
• add something if possible – point to another similar book, a link on our site, etc.
• if it’s a question or criticism, answer it – or refer it to someone who can respond appropriately
• If the comment is negative, don’t repeat it! Respond without repeating the negative question/comment.
• In general, don’t edit the comment. If you think it needs to be edited, let David know (and he’ll make that decision).
• Delete if spam. For example, if you receive a comment like this: “I have checked that really there was great information regarding that. There was another also – http://healthbeautyproduct.blogspot.com/” it’s most likely a spam comment. Usually, spam comments include this type of stuff:
  • poor grammar (sounds like they don’t really know the language)
  • links to unrelated websites
• What to do if you don’t know what to do – ask David or Michael to read the comment.

Creating a “Voice”

• Write in a conversational tone:
• goal is to start conversations
• if you wouldn’t say it in conversation, don’t write it
• write “friendly” – just like we are at the desk!
• Use active voice. Example – don’t write “The tree was struck by lightning.” Instead, write “Lightning struck the tree.”
• Use inverted pyramid writing style
• Write in present tense when possible. Ex:
  • Don’t write “the book signing will be held next Tuesday
  • Instead, write “the book signing is next Tuesday”

How Can I Get a Conversation Started?

Here are a couple of ideas on getting conversations started on your blog.

• Write great content (always top priority)
• Take part in the conversation:
  • read blogs and Topeka-area newspapers that allow comments
  • read blogs in your area of expertise
  • leave comments on those blogs, linking to your post in the comment
  • also link to those blogs in your posts
• Focus your posts on goals:
• Before you write, answer this – “what do you want the reader to do?”
• Provide a call to action (ie., tell them what you want them to do)
• Ask for a response
• Point them to things (like books in our catalog)