How do readers perceive blog credibility & how do you build credibility through content ideas?

Source credibility is defined as the ability of the speaker affect the persuasiveness of a communication and message (Johnson & Kaye 2008, p. 3). Highly credible sources influence the receiver’s attitudes and behaviours better than less credible ones. According to Johnson & Kaye in blog tricks (2008), the credibility of a blog is sometimes depends on its context. For instance, a war blog featured a variety of news or ran stories that were not covered on the traditional news has higher credibility because the author of the blog who posted the news are often people who witnessed or involved in the war (Hastings, 2003; Johnson & Kaye, 2006; Johnson & Kaye, 2004). However, there are some readers may think that traditional media journalists who have more training and access to the news have higher credibility in the sense of writing blog and reporting news.

Even the professional writers may get stuck in writing sometimes, but they are always able to produce great content on a regular basis. What are the reasons behind? There are many ways to make the blog content sounds compelling, one of the ideas is to have group brainstorming, when you are lacked of inspiration always reach out to someone for ideas be them your blogger friends, classmates or anyone that can inspire you and get you going (Clark n.d.). Since blogging is a two-ways communication, you can always seek for opinions from your readers . Feedback from readers can be valuable, as they know best on what they want and expect to read from your blog. (Clark n.d.). Writing a review for products can create a salience for your blog, you can always share with your readers about the reasons that why u like and dislike about the products and whether you would recommend it. The review of the product must be truthful to gain your readers’ trust (Clark n.d.).

 Reference lists

Clark, B n.d., ‘22 Ways to Create Compelling Content When You Don’t Have a Clue [Infographic]’, Copyblogger, blog posting, viewed 14 April 2013, < http://www.copyblogger.com/create-content-infographic/>. 

Hastings, M 2003, Bloggers over Baghdad, Newsweek, vol 141, pp. 48­49.

Johnson, TJ & Kaye, BK 2008, Can You Teach a New Blog Old Tricks: How Blog Users Judge Credibility of Different Types of Blogs for Information About the Iraq War, viewed 14 April 2013, < http://www.jou.ufl.edu/faculty/mmcadams/papers/Johnson_Kaye_2008.pdf>.

Johnson, TJ & Kaye, BK 2004, ‘Weblogs as a source of information about the 2003 Iraq War’, Global media goes to war: Role of news and entertainment media during the 2003 Iraq War, Ralph Berenger edition,  pp. 291­301.

Johnson, TJ & Kaye, BK 2006, ‘Blog day afternoon: Are blogs stealing audiences away  from  traditional media sources?’, Cybermedia go to war, Ralph Berenger edition, Spokane, WA: Marquette Books, pp. 316­333.