If You Want to Try Blogging – Beginner's First Look at a Treasure Blog

Hi! 💖Are you trying blogging for the first time and don't have a clue? Or have you crossed the threshold of the first exploration but are still struggling to find a breakthrough? Then join me in exploring great examples of blogging! Today we are viewing Nik Peachey's Learning Technology Blog. I'm sure the following will inspire you!

 

Organization and Layout

Nik's blog has a black background, and you can see that he focuses on highlighting the content without unnecessary decorations. The overall page is very clean, divided into modules but not cluttered and structured. The menu bar at the top and the gadgets on the right keep the page rich and focused. In addition to the blog's posts, the blogger's publications and the classroom app he has developed are also the main focus of his blog, as can be seen from the menu bar.

 

Content and Features

The main content of the blog is, as the title of the blog suggests, an introduction to learning technologies, particularly in relation to the teaching of English. Each post is tagged with significant keywords, and the title is very directional. This makes it easier and faster for readers to find the content they are looking for. What surprised me most was that almost every post ended with links to some related article. Readers interested in the post can easily access more resources, which is both convenient and thoughtful.

 

Ease of Use and Navigation

I found some flaws in the navigation and ease of use. The list of posts might be of interest to first-time visitors, but this feature is not displayed in the top menu bar and requires the reader to scroll down to the end of the latest posts or the bottom of the right-hand column to access previous posts. Although this is easy to find once you are familiar with the layout, it is not user-friendly for first-time readers and can be overwhelming and disorienting when visiting the home page.

 

Target Audience

The audience for the blog is listed under the title 'For English Language Teachers'. Nik shares a number of useful classroom technology tools. In the comments section of his early blogs, many teachers were inspired or helped by the blog. They were active in discussing and commenting on the content of the blog and expressing appreciation, encouragement, and thanks. Updates were also frequent in the early days. Unfortunately, however, the number of blogs seems to have dropped massively in recent years, with only one or two posts per year and no comments below the posts, the latest one being from last March. Perhaps it can be assumed that the blogger has a new focus or has embarked on a new module and has no time to update and maintain the blog's posts.

 

Summary

In short, despite some minor flaws, Nik's blog is still a remarkable example and a great inspiration to me as a whole. I am particularly impressed by the linking of posts-related content, which requires a lot of reading and writing to achieve.

Finally, here's a YouTube clip about blogging to help those of you who are still confused about creating a blog get started, and I look forward to growing with you as a newbie blogger! 💖