What's Most Important For Writing A Good Blog?

A little while ago, my buddy Cyrekt made a poll asking people what they thought was most important for making a good blog. He gave us five choices: originality, presentation, research, logical arguments, and writing style. Today I'm going to take a look at each one of them, and explain why I voted for [beep]. You'll find out what that is soon enough.

Let's begin.

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Table of contents

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Originality

Presentation

Research

Logical arguments

Writing style

Conclusion

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Originality

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Bobberflobber already made a blog about originality and why it doesn't really matter, so Imma keep this part brief.

ha, no I'm not

This option is currently winning the poll, with over 30% of the total votes. So I guess this is an unpopular opinion? Blog originality isn't actually that big a deal, and not because we're running out of ideas, because that's not the case at all. I saw one guy say that there are only 300 different blogs you can write and after that, Smash Amino is dead. Not. Even. Close. Original ideas are brainstormed and brought to reality all the time, and while they're amazing to see, you can cover a topic many people have talked about before and still make a great blog out of it.

People make tier list series all the time, and some of them still do get featured nowadays. While the idea isn't original, you can still make good blogs out of it by going in-depth enough to explain your placements. At the same time though, original ideas for blogs are generally really well received and more likely to get featured. So while you don't need an original idea, they are really nice to see. That's part of the reason I got featured for the first time, because, from what I could tell, nobody else had talked about knockback in a blog before. (Shap has made a knockback blog since then, but.)

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Presentation

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This category is rather broad. It spans from good grammar to section headers to images and more. Personally, I think presentation is an important factor for more reasons than one.

Let's start with images. Now I'm not necessarily talking about fancy TPLs or over the top edits, just images in general. I'll get the elephant in the room out of the way first.

someone get the forklift

No pictures equals no feature. Unless it's a Pikachu quiz (what a weird night for the featured feed that was) or something along those lines, you need pictures in your blog to get featured. Why? Because pictures make blogs easier to read. Which would you prefer? A 1-paragraph long blog but that one paragraph is 2,500 words long and it wasn't split into sections and didn't have any images? Or a 2,500-word blog with 10 sections, each complete with images and headers? Let's be real here; the former is kind of an eyesore.

Total number of semicolons I've used on Smash Amino: 4

While section headers aren't as much of a necessity, they're definitely nice to have. It makes it easy to see what sections are coming up at a glance. (I mean, tables of contents do too, but still.) Bold and centered text is just more noticeable than text that isn't. Simple as that.

A table of contents is another way for people to see what's to come in a blog. The only real difference is they can see all the sections at once and they see it before the actual meat of the blog. While you definitely don't need a table of contents, a lot of people will appreciate them.

You could make a revolutionary blog with amazing points and arguments, but at the end of the day, if it looks ugly, no one is gonna wanna read it. Which is part of the reason some people put tons of effort into TPLs and edits for blogs. I don't though. I just add some text and slap the pastel filter on everything. But hey, it works I guess. This was my vote in Cyrekt's poll, because no one is gonna wanna read an eyesore of a blog.

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Research

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This one really depends on what type of blog you want to write. If you're doing a math blog, but you don't know the formulas by heart (see: my knockback blog), for example, you're definitely gonna want to look those up and apply them to your blog. Another example of a blog that would require some research would be a tier list blog. Tier lists, while subjective, should have logical reasons behind each character placement. That way, people can see your train of thought and why you placed the character where you did.

Let's say I wanted to argue that Cloud isn't top 10. (I do think he's top 10, but let's just say I don't for this example.) When explaining why in a tier list blog, I could cite things like his recovery, his untechable up B, and his large hurtbox and above average fall speed making it easier to combo him. He also loses pretty hard to Bayonetta, which is becoming an increasingly important matchup to learn.

While people may still not agree with you after you present these points, it's better for you to provide an argument instead of just saying he's not that good because you said so and moving on. A well-researched blog is more likely to have points like this. What are the odds that you accidentally discovered Cloud's untechable up B on your own? Pretty slim. The internet is your friend, since almost everything about the game that has been discovered has been showcased there. Use this to your advantage to learn the pros and cons of every character, as well as a ton of other things about the game. And keep in mind that people tend to respect opinions with facts to back them up.

On the other side of the coin, there are the types of blogs that don't need as much research. For example, most of us know what teching is, how to perform it, and its applications. As a result, it's more likely that you wouldn't have to do as much research for a guide on teching. You can more than likely write an entire blog on teching without needing to consult outside sources too much.

While research is definitely important for many types of blogs, it's not as much so for others. As a result, I don't think research is the MOST important for writing a good blog.

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Logical Arguments

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Let's go back to the tier list example from before. Which do you prefer to see? A level 6 making an atrocious tier list with awful explanations for why they put certain characters in certain places, or someone who makes an atrocious tier list but actually has logical reasons for why characters are placed where they are? Probably the latter, right? Unless you like collecting them I guess.

Hi Troupple. :wave:

Maybe someone put Olimar a bit lower than average since he mostly lacks tournament results outside of Dabuz, who only uses him as a secondary, and Shuton, who doesn't come to America for majors often. Not only is the character rare in tournaments, but part of the reason people lose to Olimars in the first place is, well, because no one plays him. Since no one plays him, people don't know the matchup, making it harder for you to succeed against him. Matchup inexperience is also part of the reason ZeRo has lost to Prince Ramen and Brood in the past.

Again, I don't think Olimar is low tier. I think he's right around the middle of the pack. The mid-mid tier if you will.

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Writing Style

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There are definitely a wide variety of writing styles here on Smash Amino, as well as just about anywhere you look. For this app, you have people who keep a more serious tone with their blogs, and others litter their blogs with a sprinkle of humor. Some people add a ton of information to their blogs, and others don't. And all of those are perfectly fine. It's up to you to figure out what works best for you.

While you should definitely develop your own writing style over time, I don't think it's the most important when it comes to writing a good blog. You could crank out blogs like a robot for all I care, but if you make good points and it's written well, then that's perfectly fine. If you ask me, I would say writing style is fourth most important behind presentation, logical arguments, and research, in that order.

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Conclusion

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So yes, I do think presentation edges out research and logical arguments by a little bit. As one can plainly see from the results of the poll so far, a lot of people likely disagree, so feel free to leave a comment telling me why you agree or disagree with me. Shoutouts to Cyrekt for the awesome polls as of late. This is Matt, g off.