How to write great blog posts

Writing great blog posts is a skill that can be acquired quickly.

With these few simple rules, you will learn to create content that people love reading.

Use sections and headers

Divide your text in sections, and give each section a Heading 2 big title.

Even better, divide sections in subsections, giving them Heading 3 smaller title!

Use short sentences and paragraphs

Keep it simple. Sentences should have less than 20 words, and paragraphs, less than 5 sentences.

The space between paragraphs makes your text easier to parse and read.

Use a descriptive title and introduction

A good title concisely summarises your article topic and its content.
The introduction is also important as it is shown on your profile, the blog community page, and possibly the homepage.
Having both those set right is paramount for your blog to be a success!

Note that "clickbait" titles are forbidden, and will result in decreased visibility for your blog.

Pick a beautiful main image

The main post image is very important: it shows on blog post lists. Make your post distinctive, but avoid copyrighted images. If not, we may have to delete your post.

It is safe to use images from the following websites: unsplash.com, creativecommons.org, pixabay.com, pexels.com, piqsels.com, freeimages.com. Before using an image, ensure to check its licensing as it may have certain requirements or restrictions. Commonly, these can include creator attribution, or preventing derivative works.

Don't necessarily look for something chess related. You can take a poetic, metaphoric approach to your image search. Start from a chess term you're talking about and use it outside of its chess context.

You can also use images that you made yourself, pictures you took, screenshots of Lichess... anything that is not copyrighted by someone else.

Be mindful of how your image will fit with the generally sober Lichess design, and avoid the following pitfalls to make sure your blog post visibility is not decreased:

• Avoid using highly saturated colours, especially for the background
• Avoid using suggestive images
• Avoid images that could be understood as an endorsement from someone who was not involved
• Avoid degrading photomontage
• Avoid using pictures of children that can be identified, if their legal guardians have not agreed to

As a good rule of thumb, ask yourself if your image could be used as a trendy YouTube thumbnail. If the answer is yes, it is not a good fit on Lichess.

Embed chess material

Nothing better than a chess board to illustrate your chess posts.

Lichess game

To embed a Lichess game, just paste the URL of the game. On the blog post page, it will be replaced with an interactive board and movelist. Example:

.

If the game URL contains a move number anchor at the end, like #41 , the board will show that move. Example:

Lichess study

To embed a Lichess study, just paste the URL of the study. On the blog post page, it will be replaced with an interactive board and movelist. Example:

.

To embed a specific chapter of a study, get the chapter URL from the Share tab under the study board:

Check the "Start at" box to make the board show a specific move of the chapter.

Now, just paste the chapter URL in your blog post!

Arbitrary chess position

To show an arbitrary position, create a study and follow the steps above! Your study can have several chapters, one for each position you need.

Embed more images

You can add more images to your post by clicking the image button of the editor, and entering an image URL.

It is safe to use images from the following websites: unsplash.com, creativecommons.org, pixabay.com, pexels.com, piqsels.com, freeimages.com. To use an image of your own, or a screenshot, you could upload it to postimages.org, then use the "Direct link" URL.

Here are some tips when embedding images in your text:

• Leave a blank line above the image to center it.
• The text immediately below the image will be its legend.
• Leave a blank line under the legend to return to normal text.

Follow the blog etiquette

Please read our rules about creating content on Lichess.

Happy writing!