2. Branding: 20 per cent
How well the blogger presents a personality that can be associated with his or her posts. After the third post, do you know why you read the blogger? What to expect in terms of tone and content? In what areas you trust the blogger’s expertise? Would you go out of your way to read a post simply because it’s by that blogger?
3. Relevance: 20 per cent
There’s more than one metric for relevance. Sticking to the periodic theme is only one (and I’d argue not the most important). Newsworthiness is a form of relevance; practical applicability is a form of relevance; general interest to our core audience os a form of relevance.
4. Community-Building: 20 per cent
Does the blogger engage with the rest of the Blogging Idol community, offering support, debate, relevant background to others’ posts? Does the blogger engage the reading community at large, respond to comments, integrate reader feedback in future posts? (The blogger with the highest score in this category wins the Community-Building Award.)
5. Consistency: 10 per cent
How regularly does the blogger post? (This is given less weight than the above criteria because it’s also an element of branding, editorial quality and community-building.)
Traditionally our king of criteria, it’s been given less weight this year because, with the techniques available to drive traffic that’s not necessarily from our target audience, it’s not as significant a metric of overall quality. (Also, it’s an element of branding, editorial quality and community-building.)
