When you set up a new blog it can be easy to have your posts go in any variety of different directions. If your materials are widely different then this could cause no problems, but if you are presenting consistent information then this could present a problem. Mainly the problem of confusing your readers. Let us suppose that you have 3 reviewers writing on the site.
The first ones reviews are written this way:
* Title
* Star ranking: Scale of 1 to 5
* Review body
* Review summary
The second ones reviews are written this way:
* Title
* Review summary
* Review body
* Video/screen shots
The third ones reviews are written this way:
* Title
* Review body
* Review summary
* Star rating: Scale of 1 to 10
Each is a valid review format, and no doubt each reviewer choose what seemed like the most logical layout. Readers however will be confused when 4 games have a 5 rating and one gets a glowing review and the other only gets a so-so review. They may also tend to wonder why some reviews have a graphic element and others do not, or why that helpful summary at the beginning of the last review is now the bottom of this one.
So, we’ve established that, to some degree, consistency is a desirable trait, we have to figure out how to achieve it.
You could apply a default template. Sites like Blogger, but that could be a bit cumbersome when you want to do a non-review post.
No, it would be best, for flexibility, to set a policy, distributed to all of your writers defining:
* Elements to be included
* Order of elements
* Any rating scales to be used
* Format, spacing, font
* Image use policy & sizing
* Linking policies
Consider it.
