- Headline: make it short and to the point
- Write the post like a news story, with a lede and a nut graf above the fold.
- "the fold" in this case is WordPress's tag, which you should always use, 'cause who wants to see a whole wall of text?
- Use illustrative graphics. Put one above the fold, so that it shows up on the blog's index page and draws people in. All posts should at least have one graphic!
- What's a lede? A sentence or two that, again, draws people in. There are many different types of ledes in journalism; for the purpose of a blog, the lede + nut graf answer the who/what/when/where/why/how questions, so folks know if they should read on.
- Hyperlinks: Put links to any terms, content or concepts that you're referring to that aren't well-understood. Also make links to any other content you're referencing.
- This is probably on us, but we need to establish a consistent formatting for things like: code blocks, when to use fixed-width formatting (e.g. if you're naming a piece of Chef code like a resource, it should be fixed-width), etc. Code blocks have been traditionally all over the map, with some folks using IFRAMEs to gists, others using <pre><code> inline, etc.
- Establishing a style as to when different heading levels are to be used
- Always have someone copy edit your blog post before you go live, for grammar, style, spelling, voice, etc. We should decide, in advance, what the Chef blog's voice is, and who its target audience is.
- Tag your post with topic tags
- Make sure you have a bio and it's up-to-date because it renders at the bottom
- Make sure you set your gravatar