I'd like to revisit the topic while expanding the scope of my dismay to include general page layout. In other words: the ways we forget to try to make our post 'body' stand out.
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I can't tell you how many writers' websites I've visited where the body of the post — the story I've presumably come to read — isn't visible without scrolling down. This is on the actual post page, where you have arrived from clicking a link to the post, not the blog main page.
Imagine a newspaper (remember those?) where no actual news content was above the fold. Other than the day after the second coming, that is. A newspaper man could tell you why reporters fight to get their content above the fold. I'll hazard a guess: because it's more likely to get your attention there.
I'm currently looking at a post — linked from a prompt site — where I had to scroll three screens' worth of real estate down to see the first line of a story that is less than one screen long. Above it were a) a gorgeous header b) the story title b) four lines of tags c) an image whose relevance to the story I don't know because I haven't read the story yet (turns out to be a prompt image) d) a 'tag line' for the story e) the title again, only smaller, and the author's name f) three small logos, arranged vertically, of three separate prompt sites whose challenges the story is a response to g) the complete text of one of the prompt challenges' rules, only it's widely spaced so it takes up three times as much room as it needs to (not that it needs to be there at all) h) still another image whose relevance to the story I don't know because I haven't read the story yet (turns out to apparently be an author-chosen illustration) i) a stock photo credit for the above image j) links to previous appearances by the main characters of the story I haven't read yet and k) an horizontal rule.
This may seem like an extreme example but it's not. It has a lot of company. Did you make it all the way through that list? Do you wonder why you should have to make it through all of those things to get to the story?
Personally I would say that the only thing that should appear between the links bar under the website header and the body of the post is b) the story title. Everything else is either unnecessary or should appear somewhere else on the page or under the post rather than above it. All the information from the prompt site is either already known to the reader, their having come from the prompt site; or irrelevant to the reader, as they haven't come from the prompt site and don't need to see how the sausages are made. Your name should only appear (as a byline) if other people also post to that blog and you need to differentiate your posts from others'. Otherwise, it should go on the header or on a sidebar as part of a 'profile'. Tags belong below the post body, not between the post title and the post body.
If you really want to include an image you chose, go for it. Make it small and clickable for a bigger version. I don't know what to tell you about using multiple images from multiple prompt sites. A gallery or slideshow format maybe? Just remember that they should be secondary to your actual content. They should accompany it, rather than displace it.
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Let's talk about headers. I love a good header and header image. They don't, however, need to take up two-thirds of the screen. I'm looking at a second site where the huge header image and the large blog title and blog tag line are separate, leaving only the bottom third of the screen for the post title and the beginning of the post body. Result: I see only the first two lines of the story. If the header image contained the blog title and tag line, the whole thing would only take up one-third of the screen instead of two-thirds.
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You don't need to embolden the word you were asked to include in the prompt. The people who came from the prompt site know what the word is, and the people who didn't shouldn't care. All it does in either case is get their heads out of the story and into, (in the former case) "Hey, there's this week's word!" or (in the latter case) "Hey, why is that one word in bold type?" Let people read your story as a story rather than as a technical exercise. See above re: leaving the prompt rules out of the body of your post.
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Please, please pay attention to the separation of paragraphs. Either indent the first line of your paragraph or add a blank line between them. You may be able to set your editor or your website to do one of these things automatically.
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If your entire story is in italics, or worse, italics and bold type, you then can't use italics for emphasis (which by now you realize I clearly do way too much when writing non-fiction). You can't use it for anything else, for that matter. If you need something to set your story apart from other text in the body of your post (which, again, probably shouldn't really be there in the first place), put that other text in italics. A good example of text that probably should be in the post but might be best set apart by putting it in italics: an author's note.
As for bold type: save it for titles and subtitles and 'special effects' (writing a story where you've already got regular dialogue [plain] and telepathy [italics], and you need to add a robot's shouty voice? Bold! Available at a ctrl key near you.)
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Don't include hyperlinks in the body of a fiction story. You don't want your readers clicking away from your story mid-read. You don't even want them pausing to open new tabs for later. Also, it makes it look like a non-fiction article. If there's something you need to link to for the reader's edification (previous installments, etc) it should be done as part of an author's note. Give them that information when you're not in the middle of trying to immerse them in your world.
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I hope that this is helpful to the reader. It's meant as a wake-up call to help writers on the web to get out of their own way when it comes to their blogs/websites. I hope no one is offended at how strenuously I make my argument: it's done out of a sincere wish to help good writers get read.
To sum up: the reader shouldn't have to go hunting for your story, or pick it out of the clutter like it's in a police lineup. You want them to read your story. It's why they came.
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