Blogs.IFAS is a strategic communications digital space that serves as a platform for UF/IFAS Extension, Teaching, and Research employees to directly post content to share with their clients and stakeholders. If you have not taken a tour of Blogs.IFAS, we encourage you to do so. We currently have more than 900 bloggers feeding content regularly into more than 100 blogs! Below you will find some helpful links:
UF/IFAS YouTube Channels
Visit our UF/IFAS YouTube Channel to discover videos you can include in your blog posts. If your unit plans to create video content and doesn't already have a YouTube account, please submit an account approval request and visit our Social Media Services page for more information and resources.
Adding Video Content to Your Blog
Viewing Analytics for Videos
You can check the completion rates of your videos to determine how successful they are using the Video Event Report in your unit's Blog D.A.D. Dashboard.
Recording & Editing Videos for a Blog
You may want to edit out the first few seconds of your video--perhaps you were getting your camera set up or you were giving attendees extra time to arrive for a live stream. Check out the following video tutorials for great ways to trim out unnecessary video content and help keep viewers engaged!
Featured images on blog posts must be 1650x470 pixels. Reach out to webteam@ifas.ufl.edu if you encounter any issues uploading your featured image.
A variety of photo-editing tools can be used to crop your photos to the required size, such as Adobe Photoshop, MS Paint, Pixlr, Canva and Gimp. Check out the following resources related to featured images.
A picture is worth a thousand words, but which images can you use without bumping into copyright laws or licensing restrictions? UF/IFAS Communications recommends using images taken by UF faculty and staff before any other source.
The UF/IFAS Photo Database holds thousands of images that can be searched and downloaded using a current UF/IFAS Gatorlink username and password. To get started with using the database, check out Downloading Featured Images from the UF/IFAS Photo Database.
Photos from sources outside the University may be used, provided all licensing restrictions for each image are followed. For more information about photo usage on Blogs.IFAS, check out our recommended resources below.
The tags you assign to your blog post will help search engines to better understand what your post is about.
For a list of commonly used tags and their importance, check out the UF/IFAS Blog Tag Lexicon.
The categories you assign to your blog post determine where your post is organized on the Blogs.IFAS main menu:
When publishing posts in more than one language on the same day, use featured images that are different from each other but share a similar theme (i.e. different images from the same photo shoot via UF/IFAS photo database). This allows them to stand out in blog feeds across UF/IFAS websites and lets readers know that the posts are related. See our Multi-Language Posts Guide for more on posts published in different languages.
To ensure your blog post appears in the En Español blog, tag your posts with "Espanol". Bloggers should include accent marks where possible on posts. To add special characters, follow the steps in the screenshot below when editing your posts.
Tag: Espanol
All Florida 4-H agents should include these categories and tags on their content to maximize post visibility:
To ensure your blog post appears in the Florida Master Naturalist blog, tag your post with the tag "Florida Master Naturalist Program" and/or "FMNP".
Tag: Florida Master Naturalist Program, FMNP
To ensure your blog post appears in the Master Gardener blog, all Master Gardeners should tag their posts with the tag "Master Gardener Volunteer". For bloggers with non-ufl.edu email addresses, the Master Gardener Coordinator will post their blogs on their behalf. New Master Gardener Coordinators can submit a Web Services Request to set up this access.
Tag: Master Gardener Volunteer
To ensure your blog post appears in the UF/IFAS Extension in the Panhandle Page, tag your post with the tag "Panhandle Agriculture", "Panhandle Outdoors", "Panhandle Gardening", "Panhandle 4-H", "Living Well in the Panhandle" , and/or Panhandle.
Tag: Panhandle, Panhandle Agriculture, Panhandle Outdoors, Panhandle Gardening, Panhandle 4-H, and Living Well in the Panhandle.
All Florida Sea Grant agents should include these categories and tags on their content to maximize post visibility:
For a step-by-step guide, please visit Getting Started on Blogs.IFAS.
Writing a blog series is a great way to break up content into easy-to-digest posts and get readers excited about upcoming content. Here are the ways to identify a post as part of a series.
Follow this guide: Create a Blog Series and Add to Your Author Profile.
A post that is part of a blog series will have one or all of the following:
*A series is required to have a unique tag to identify the series. Ensure your tag is unique enough to only capture your blog series. Reach out to webteam@ifas.ufl.edu for guidance on developing your series' tag.
Reach out to webteam@ifas.ufl.edu to ensure our series appear on your Author Bio Page!
Yes! The Delay Publish option can be a great way to manage when your posts are published. You may want to use this option when you have several posts ready at once, but you don’t want to publish them at the same time. It is a best practice to publish only one post in a day: this will allow your content to be displayed in multiple email digest alerts, giving readers additional opportunities to find your posts. You may want to delay publishing for another reason. Follow these steps to Delay Publishing a Blog Post.
Have you ever struggled to come up with topics for your blog posts? Try out these...
Top 5 Blog Brainstorming Questions
For more tips on what to blog about and which blog formats perform better than others, check out this blog post or this guide: What to Blog About.
For more ideas for your blog, check out the Blog Events Calendar, also at the bottom of this page!
Bloggers who meet blogging basics criteria under Blogs.IFAS:
Write about their expertise or discipline.
Complete their author profile.
*Publish posts.
Label posts with tags and categories (The Blog Tag Lexicon lists commonly used tags that you can assign your posts.).
Resize and/or crop images, which includes meeting the size requirement for featured images (1650x470 pixels).
Follow these best practices to ensure your content stands out and attracts high engagement.
Choose a trending topic or an interesting topic that few people have heard about. (See the Search Console report in your unit blog's D.A.D. Dashboard.)
Use language that is conversational but still informative.
Break up text into smaller paragraphs.
Add headings to create sections within long posts, which organizes the content and provides a better reading experience.
Add images throughout the text to create interest.
Include a caption + credit line under each image used in the body of the post (For featured images, add a credit line only in the bottom of the post).
Label posts with the correct tags and categories, which helps with ranking in search engines and makes it easier for people to find your content.
Share posts via social media, newsletter, etc.
Having an author profile can boost your readership and let readers know a little about you. Here are our recommendations for a great author profile, including how to format your email to avoid spam.
Author profiles should:
Be complete sentences
Be in the third person
(optional) End with preferred contact information
Email, formatted: name [at] ufl [dot] edu or
Social media handles
Include a profile photo or avatar
If you have a blog series, it will display below your blog posts. Reach out to webteam@ifas.ufl.edu for more information on developing a unique blog series tag and displaying your blog series on your Author Bio Page.
You can edit your profile by clicking on your username in the upper-right corner when you are logged in to WordPress. Biographical Info is your profile and your Avatar is your profile image.
To learn more about web and blog accessibility, please review our Blogs.IFAS Accessibility Cheat Sheet.
Key Points to Consider
All images that you upload to Blogs.IFAS should include an alternative text (alt text). It is crucial to include descriptive alt text for all images, as this is how screen readers convey an image's content to visually impaired people. Alt text also helps search engines index your images, improving discoverability and SEO.
All bloggers should utilize headings to keep posts organized. Screen readers use these headings to navigate the page, helping users determine which section to read.
All PDFs embedded in a blog post must be ADA-compliant. Check out this blog to learn about Getting Started with Making PDFs ADA compliant. If you still need assistance with PDF accessibility, please contact the UF/IFAS Graphic Design team.
An Event Story allows bloggers to share a past experience to promote an upcoming event. With the Event Story feature, bloggers can reach a wider audience through its automatic dissemination to multiple platforms and websites. Please review our resources for more information on using the Event Story feature.
After you write a blog post, we encourage you to promote it on your social media accounts and our Social Media Best Practices are here to help! These resources offer simple, effective strategies for amplifying your content, from choosing the best hashtags to tagging the right UF/IFAS accounts to extend your reach.
By using these best practices, you will be able to:
Tag the correct UF/IFAS accounts to make content more visible
Choose hashtags that increase reach and encourage engagement
Help internal and external communicators discover and share your posts
For more information about UF/IFAS social media, please visit our Social Media Services page.
Blog commenting can be a great way to engage with readers. Bloggers may also choose to engage with their audience via social media, email newsletters, classes, etc. Comments can be turned on/off for each blog post. To learn more, please review our guide on Moderating Comments on Blog.IFAS Posts.
Communications support hourly rate: $28.10
While most of our services are free of charge, if you are budgeting for a sponsored project with a communications component and you need assistance estimating the number of hours required for your project, please submit a request at the link above.
