Blog Exercises: Making Lists

Got a list?

Today’s blog exercise is a technical one. We’re looking at making lists in your blog posts.

You would think that something like a bullet or numbered list would be simple. No discussion or training involved. Unfortunately, it isn’t as easy as you would think.

In the blog exercise on making a weekly link roundup, these could have been done in a list, but let’s go further with our lists.

There are many kinds of lists.

1. Bullet Lists: Automatically generated by using the <ul> HTML tag around list items (<li>), a bullet list is a simple unordered list. It may just be a list of words or sentences. It could be a list of titles or links to web pages or sites. It could be a defined list such as this, with a bold face introductory term to give the reader a clue as to what is to follow.
2. Numbered Lists: Numbered lists are automatically created with the <ol> HTML tag around list items (<li>), numbers identifying the ordered list. The numbers could count items or be the steps for instructions.
3. Heading Lists: Heading lists are lists created with HTML headings such as <h2>. These often feature numbers counting down the steps or items in the list, the numbers added manually. The specifics are in paragraphs, often with images, explaining the examples or steps involved in the process. The article is usually titled 12 Tips for Better Blogging or How to Repair Your Car in 6 Easy Steps.

From here, there are many variations on a theme. Some people use graphics to indicate the each number in the step order. Others get even more creative.

Your blog exercise today is to play around with lists.

Write an article feature the X number of steps in a process. Show your readers how to do something step-by-step.

Publish an article feature a list of items or links you recommend.

Take time to make your list correctly with proper HTML. Search engines love it and you will score better on their scorecards for the effort.

Remember to include a hat tip link back to this post to create a trackback, or leave a properly formed link in the comments so participants can check out your blog exercise task.

Would you like to join us and work on these Blog Exercises on your own site? This is a year-long challenge to help you flex your blogging muscles, and you may jump in at any time.

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Copyright Lorelle VanFossen.