Make Blog Posts Focused and Engaging

As mentioned in the general guidelines, use a meaningful title and stay within a reasonable length (300-400 words for this blog, initially).

Create Posts with Focus

• Title
• Use a specific title to give you and your readers focus
• Topic
• Have a topic and stick to it. Don't ramble or just list loosely connected observations. Don't be too general (Don't take on "women's rights" in 300-400 words). Make your topic something more specific than the general historical period or theme under consideration. Don't have "the printing press" as your topic or title. Bring in an aspect of this (like paper).
• Avoid listing, or merely summarizing secondary sources. 
• Make a claim. 
• Not every blog post needs to have a thesis statement or be persuasive, but a good claim gives focus (and also builds interest). A blog post title can actually be a claim, drawing in readers.
• Length
• Keep both your paragraphs and overall length modest in size. (I ask students to start with a 300-400 word range. Posts can be focused and engaging that are longer, eventually.)
• Initial Media
• Use a picture or other embedded media very early in your post to tip off your reader as to the topic and the tone of your post. 
• Arrangement
• Front load your main point and topic. Expect readers to be skimming and give those people something clear to take away, even if they only spend 10 seconds on your post.

Create Engaging Posts

• Make a claimAgain, not every post needs to make a claim. But claims are very powerful for engaging readers. Consider making claims of these types:
• Definition claim (saying something is, or is not, or is better understood in different terms: "'Enlightenment' is really a label for 'Liberalism'")
• Policy claim (saying "should": "We should reorganize intellectual history by prioritizing women")
• Cause/Effect claim (either claiming something was a cause or a result of something else): "The first world war was the direct result of 19th century nationalism."
• Comparison claim: "While Spanish and Portuguese exploration both had enormous economic consequences, the slave trading by the Portuguese was more important."
• Evaluation claim (referring to how something meets a specific standard or not): "Although Renaissance visual art was more realistic, medieval art was better at preserving and conveying cultural values through its symbolism."
• Make it currentAlthough the history component is critical, often the best way into the past is by way of something of current concern -- especially if the stakes are made clear.
• Open interestingly. 
• Begin with a question or with a quotation that helps set up the topic and tone for your post. [Example post beginning with a quotation]
• Begin with a response / link to someone else's content (another post, a book review, any online content).
• Dare to DisagreeChallenge the way the past has been divided up, thematically arranged, or otherwise characterized. Be civil, but dare to swim upstream from traditional views, or the consensus. Help readers see the old in a new way. Don't be contrary. Invite a closer look.
• Provoke interest via visual design.
  Use an image that catches attention. Design your post visually so that subheadings, or bulleted lists, or image captions, or block quotations, or even hyperlinks catch attention. CAUTION: Don't overdo this, or it will backfire. 
• Tell a story.
  People respond to narratives and anecdotes. They can draw you in. Stories can come from both history and from your personal life--or from fiction. Just be sure you balance storytelling with the other components needed in the post.