Blog development plan
Concept: I plan to differentiate my blog with more focused coverage of a topic. Perhaps devoting a week to posting information relevant to a specific issue.
For example, Chimpanzee week could include the following posts
1) The latest published news or research - also how I would pick the topic and keep it newsworthy
2) A background lesson on a scientific principle related to the article or research
3) Conservation efforts or featured work of an organization relevant to the topic
4) Explanation of a unique behavior
5) Explanation of biology and how it relates to the behavior or featured research
6) Interview with researcher or other expert, preferably video
7) Guest blogger, and expert in a field related to the week’s topic
Each post could stand on its own, and taken together, give an perspective on complicated subject matter. One of the most popular posts on the website was original content on the monk parakeets living in Hyde Park. I would do more original reporting and mix that with the stories from other sources.
There are plenty of sites devoted to issues on a specific animal or issue. My site is unique in that is not about the animals specifically, but about the science - with an emphasis on behavior and biology as it relates to animals. There will also be as strong component of what animal behavior and biology research can tell us about ourselves.
I think that the weekly topics will keep readers coming back in several ways:
- Daily - to keep up on each post related to the topic of the week
- Weekly - if they are not interested in one topic, they could be interested in the next week’s subject or looking back at posting from previous weeks
- For the expert interviews each week
- For the science lesson each week
- As a one stop shop for what is new from journals or other sources without having to go to each one. I plan to provide a quick brief and links to newly published articles unrelated to the topic of the week.
Format:
Based on suggestions from visitors, I would continue including excerpts from articles to give a general idea of the research findings and providing a link so they can read the article in its entirety if they are interested.
I would make the site easier to navigate and provide a more complete representation of the topics and related tag words. I would consider using a tabular format of major topics at the top of the page. Clicking on a specific topic tabs (neuroscience) would produce subtabs of content related to the larger idea (learning) to accommodate one visitors suggestion…
“Specifically, I wanted to see a list of animals so I could choose which one I was interested in. Eventually I saw there was one for bird, but that was like the 3rd or 4thtime I looked at the list. AND, when I clicked on it, I didn’t see any of the stuff about ravens that I found in the previous entries section. Maybe lists within lists could be done somehow too so you can click primates, and have a submenu appear listing chimps, bonobos, gorillas, monkeys, etc,”
Supplemental info:
I would have subscriptions to all the major journals, so that I could access all the latest research which would allow me to present a more complete analysis and include supporting data relevant to the subject of the week. I would link to the following journals and recommend articles that I would was not able to post about:
Animal Cognition, AnimalBehavior, Journal of Animal Ecology, Biodiversity and Conservation, Conservation Biology, Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, Journal of Ethology, Brain, Behavior and Evolution, Journal of Experimental Pscychology, Journal of Comparative Physiology, Science and Nature.
Increasing readership and loyalty:
I would encourage readership through sites like Digg and del.icio.us. The Digg Web site says, “ When submitting content to Digg, please link directly to the originating source of that content. Blog posts are fine, as long as they’re not plagiarized and don’t just summarize the content….This includes embedded videos hosted elsewhere that don’t provide a related story.” So I would make sure to provide original content, interviews, etc. to enhance the original source content.
I would also pursue readers through social networkslike Facebook. There are biology students and veterinary students who would probably be interested in an animal biology blog, and there is a group called, “Vet students of the world unite.” There are also groups devoted to specific animals, like “Tapirs are seriously under-appreciated.”
The guest blogger would encourage interactivity and differentiate my blog from other sources for animal behavior and biology news.
Having a gallery for people to post animal photos would add another dimension of interest to readers. This could encourage a sense of community if the readers also feel like contributors to the site.
A book reviewpage would could also serve this purpose and allow people to expand upon a specific topic they are particularly interested in. If they are captivated by “bonobo week” for example, they could use the book review pages to find a book on bonobos that is recommended by other readers.
I would consider the blog a successful enterprise if I had a large readership of people who considered the site an authoritative source for information on issues of animal behavior, biology and conservation. If people left the site feeling like they had a sophisticated understanding of a complicated issue, I would be very happy.
| Community assignment home | Who is in this community? | What are their content interests? | How do they communicate? | Blog development plan |
Leave a Reply