Blogging for many students is a fantastic hobby. It’s a brilliant way to catalogue your experiences, to share ideas and information, to meet new friends, make important contacts for the future, and to learn new skills such as web design and marketing. For some, blogging is also a great way to make extra cash. You might just make a little extra spending money, but for those that take it more seriously, and put in a lot of time and effort, blogging can earn a full-time income. Here are some great tips to help your student blog stand out from the rest.
Post Quality Content
Content is the most important thing about your blog. It needs to be accurate, informative and interesting. Use attention grabbing titles. Readers like lists, numbers and offers of help. Then, make sure your posts fulfil the promise of your title. Next, you need to be offering something other blogs don’t. Use your own experiences, and make it personal. If your blog is about your masters in social work online, include information about the course, career prospects, field placements and your own experiences.
Post Often
Try to post regularly, without giving up your study time. If viewers enjoy your blog, they will keep on coming back for more. If they don’t see anything new for a while, they’ll stop checking.
Engage with Your Readers
Firstly, let them see the real you. Have a fantastic, honest, ‘about me’ section. Then, engage with people on social media. Speak to them, answer their questions, and offer advice where you can. Try to reply to comments on your blog. Nothing will encourage people to come back more than feeling like there is a real relationship between writer and reader. A good way to get people commenting is to end your post with a call to action. Ask a question, ask their opinions or advice, get them talking.
Design
A successful blog is about so much more than writing. Your designs and graphics are equally important. Use large, high quality photographs in your posts, as this is much more appealing than a page full of text. Create infographics using canva. Design a logo and colorful header for your homepage, and use the same color scheme throughout. Make sure your fonts are easy to read and you keep plenty of white space.
Social Media
Having a logo and color scheme will help you to create a brand. To make this brand recognizable, use your logo across allof your social media platforms. Become an active user, as engaging and speaking to others is a much better way of driving traffic to your blog than merely sharing your blog posts.
Whatever happens, remember blogging is supposed to be fun. If you stop enjoying it, remind yourself of why you started. Also, remember never to give your blog that much time that you neglect your studies. If you are studying an intense course such as an online masters in social work, you need to make sure this is your priority.
