The Who , What , Where , When and Why of Excellent Blog WritingBLOGGINGBy Lori Soard , First year journalism students learn about the five Ws ( Who , What , Where , When and Why ) . Although you may have no intention of becoming a professional journalist , if you ’ re going to write articles for your blog , then using the Five Ws is a smart habit to get into . The last thing you want a reader to do is to walk away from your blog post scratching his head and wondering why you didn ’ t completely cover the topic . While the Five Ws may be a bit of a cliche from old - time journalism standards , it is a good place to start . Will every single article you write lend itself to the Five ? Not likely . However , running through them may spark another idea for another angle on the story that you hadn ’ t thought of at first . Breaking Down the W ’ sOld Dominion University provides a chart the is very helpful when going through the Five Ws that you might find helpful . Here are some questions you can ask as you move through each point . Who : Who is this story about ? Who is the target reader ? What : What is the main idea of the story ? What is going on ? What actions did the person defined above take ? Where : Where is the story located ? Where is the person from ? Where did the event occur ? Where can the information be used ? When : When did this all take place ? When can this information be used ? When will the event occur or did it occur ? Why : Why are you writing about this topic ? Why should the reader care ? WhoIf you were simply to answer each question posed above , it wouldn ’ t make for a very long article , would it ? In fact , you might even be able to answer all the questions in a single sentence . Instead , you must expand on each point , covering it from all the angles . You want the reader to walk away feeling as though she thoroughly knows the topic and not as if she still has questions that need to be answered . When you are answering the question of who this post is about , you ’ ll want to dig deeper and cover questions such as : How old is the person ? Where does this person live ? Are there any personal facts that pertain to the story ? Who else was involved in the incident ? What is the person ’ s career ? What is his name ? What is his job title ? WhatWhat is the main idea of this story ? If you were going to tell me in a single sentence what your article is about , what would you say ? Are you : Arguing a point ? Explaining how to do something ? Reviewing or critiquing something ? Describing something ? WhereWhere did the story take place or where could it take place ? Dig deep here . since you are covering a location , you ’ ll want to go into as much detail as you possibly can . Show the reader instead of just telling her . For example , instead of writing that it was a hot day , write that the person ’ s hair stuck to the back of her neck from the sweat trickling down from her scalp . Let the reader know that the air was hot and sticky . If you can show the reader , you will pull her into your article and keep her there . What does the place look like ? What is it called ? Are there any smells ? What are the sounds ? Are there any little known facts that the reader will find interesting about this place ? WhenWhen did the story take place or when will the event happen ? So often any more , I see a great article about an upcoming conference or event and not once in the article does the writer mention the date or time . Pay attention to these details and your blog posts will stand out as solidly researched pieces of writing . What is the date ? What is the time ? What goes on around the same time ? Is it a specific season ? Is the whether ideal for this event at that time ? WhyWhy are you covering this topic ? While you might not come right out and tell the reader the reason you wrote an article , it is important to know your specific reasons for writing about a topic . You also may want to ask why a certain individual did something . While you can ’ t live inside someone else ’ s head , you can surmise the reasons behind a person ’ s actions . Just make sure that you tell the reader this is your analysis . This can be a good opportunity to get readers talking about your posts . What About How ? Some journalists also pose the question “ how ? ” This is somethings called the Five Ws and an H , or Who What Where When Why and How ? How is inserted throughout your other questions . For example , let ’ s say that you run a website about concerts coming to your local town . You ’ re interviewing someone who books shows about an upcoming concert . You might ask when the show starts as part of your “ when ” questions and then follow up with : “ How long is the show ? ” This is an important question that helps to fill in the blanks . It should stem from the natural ebb and flow fo the interview . “ How ? ” can also be used to help explain complicated processes to the reader . A Case StudyPhoto Credit : Crowfly ViennaLet ’ s take a look at an age - old story that most people know so you can see how the Five Ws work . We ’ re going to look at the story of Little Red Riding Hood . Just in case you ’ ve not heard this story , basically it is about a young girl whose grandmother is ill . She takes off through the forest to see her grandmother . The little girl wears a red riding cape with a hood . However , before she arrives at Grandma ’ s house , the big bad wolf shows up and takes the place of her grandmother . His goal ? To eat Red , or so the original story goes . But , what is the wolf ’ s side ? So , let ’ s say you are writing an article and you are interviewing the wolf . Before you ever begin the interview , you are going to ask the Five Ws to help you prepare . Who is this story about ? Who is the wolf ? Who is grandma ? Who is Red ? What happens to the grandmother ? What does the wolf do ? What does Red do ? Where does the story take place ? Where is the wolf when Red arrives ? Where did Grandma go ? When does Red arrive at her grandmother ’ s house ? When did the wolf get there ? When did Grandma grow ill ? Why does the wolf want to eat Red ? Why does the grandmother let the wolf in ? Why doesn ’ t Red realize it is a wolf and not her grandma ? Now , you are ready to interview the wolf . As you go through the questions above , you might come up with a new take on this story . Something like this : In an exclusive interview with Mr . Big Bad Wolf , it was discovered that there is more to the story of Little Red Riding Hood than was first thought . In the spring of 1659 , the wolf stated that Red and some of her friends started a forest fire which ultimately caused his family to flee from their safe den . In the process , Mr . Wolf ’ s wife and three children were killed . “ It wasn ’ t the first time that Red and her hoodlum friends caused trouble for us forest animals , but her actions that day were the same thing as murder . I vowed to get revenge . ” However , it wasn ’ t until the fall of 1960 , when Red ’ s grandmother grew ill that Mr . Wolf saw his chance to avenge his family . According to Mr . Wolf , he knew that Red liked to take a particular path through the forest to her grandmother ’ s house . He ’ d been watching her for six months before the day of the attack . He also knew she would have a basket of baked goods and where her grandmother lived . When he saw red on her regular path to Grandma ’ s house , he took a shortcut through the woods . The grandmother loved woodland creatures and happily opened the door to the wolf , but he quickly tied her up , stole one of her nighties and caps and placed himself under her bed covers . He knew that he couldn ’ t hide his tail , but he hoped Red wouldn ’ t notice his long snout . “ I waited about ten minutes before she arrived and I told her to come a little closer so I could see her better , because I knew her grandmother had poor vision . Everyone in Red ’ s family does . ” When Red moved closer to the bed , she realized that the wolf was not her grandmother . She screamed and called for the woodsman she ’ d seen on her way in and he chased the wolf away . “ I wasn ’ t going to even hurt her , ” Mr . Wolf said . “ I was just going to scare her and steal her treats to get back at her a little . I mean , I ’ m not a monster . I know she ’ s just a little kid , but I wanted some revenge . ” The wolf is spending five years in lock up for attempted snatching of the elderly woman ’ s treats . Do you see how asking the questions helps flesh out your story and engage the reader ? While you might not use every single W question every time , having them there as a guide can help you , particularly when you are interviewing people . Finally , keep in mind that a picture is truly worth a thousand words . How much more powerful does the story above become when you add a picture of Mr . Wolf with his now deceased wife and children ? Look at every angle , look at every W , and before you know it you ’ ll be blogging like a professional journalist .