How to Start a Student Blog in College
By Linda Anderson
College is going to be one of the most exciting periods in your life and sharing your experience with others can help create a community between students everywhere. More and more students turn to blogging to share their college experience, give or get advice about particular fields of interest. Starting an online blog can have tremendous benefits for both your social and academic life. Plus, it can easily turn into a source of income if your content is relevant and your visitors number grow. Below are some tips to help you get started with documenting your college experience online.
Pick You Blog Name and Decide on Your Content
Before anything else, you should decide on your blog name. Think of what your content is going to be about and choose a name that is simple, yet eye-catching and related to your content. If you don’t have any ideas, it can be as simple as your name or nickname. Keep in mind that your blog name is how people will remember your website, so make sure it represents you. When choosing your content, think about the things you like to talk about the most. Is it going to be a blog about student life in general, about how you are preparing for a certain job or simply about the everyday life of a young adult? When you have your main topic decided, it will be easier to understand your readers and deliver quality content for them.
Come Up with Something New
In order for your blog to have success, you will need to come up with something new or interesting for your readers. Think about your own experience and start from there. If you are in your last years in college, think about what you wished you knew when you were a freshman. How to come with homesickness, effective study tips for exams, activities students can get involved in are all good topics for the first posts. If your college has lots of foreign students, try writing a few posts in their main language also. You can either accept guest posts from them, or look online for translation services. This will gain you more foreign visitors and help spread the word about your blog.
Keep a Posting Schedule
While in the beginning it is ok to write whenever you get the time, after a while it is recommended you start working out a schedule to keep your readers interested. Posting at least four times a week is the best way to make sure your readers check your website constantly. If you have some sort of theme for your posts, try uploading on the same day every week. For example, if you like to post about social activities, schedule a day at the end of the week to post about what happened on campus that week and what are the upcoming events of the next week.
Promote Your Blog
There is no point in going to the trouble of setting up a blog is nobody is going to hear about it. Use social media to promote your blog, by linking it to your accounts. Ask people to share your posts or contact other bloggers for collaborations. There are multiple tools that can help you attract visitors and increase traffic, so take some time to do your research and take advantage of them.
By line for Linda Anderson
I’m a writer and musician residing in Boise, ID in the United States, although I spent a small amount of time (about three years) living in the UK growing up, due to my father’s occupation. I graduated from the College of Idaho with a bachelor’s degree in Business and a focus in marketing in 2014.
