Starting a blog in college could be one of the best decisions you make. It can be an avenue for steering your life to the next level. For example, you can learn how to research and present your thoughts logically. These are skills you will require even during your college life. You’ll polish your writing skills, which will come in handy when doing essays, research papers, and other academic tasks.
Also, blogging is a great way to build a robust network. Through your blog, people can know who you are and what you stand for. If you’re starting a blog that’s related to the course you’re studying, it could be an opportunity for you to demonstrate what you know to potential employers. As a result, it can make it easier for you to land employment opportunities after graduation.
Still, you can make money through the blog – you can turn your blog into a platform where you sell your services. For instance, you can become an online finance coach if your blog is in this line. Other benefits you can accrue from blogging include:
- Global reach.
- You can nurture your entrepreneurship spirit.
- You can develop marketing skills.
However, you should know that running a blog when in school isn’t going to be an easy task. It could be challenging, especially if you pick the wrong blogging niche. Besides, you may be too busy handling academic work, which means you may pay little attention to your blog. So, how do you run a blog successfully as a collegian? Here are effective tips for you.
Pick a Manageable Niche
When you want to write a perfect essay like those crafted by professional writers at an essay writing service, the starting point is selecting a manageable topic. The same concept applies to blogging; you have to pick a manageable niche. The worst mistake to make is to start blogging on a topic because everyone else is doing it. If you pick a niche you are struggling to handle, you may not deliver excellent content, and your blog will take a long time to pick up. Besides, you may not have the motivation to continue amidst the challenges and might quit.
The first step in running a successful blog is to pick a niche you are sure you can handle. For example, it should be an area you’re passionate about, and you have enough knowledge on. If you’re a fitness enthusiast, for instance, you can consider blogging about fitness. Moreover, a good niche should be an area people are interested in – you need an audience to grow your blog.
In some cases, you may have more than one niche in mind. You should assess them carefully before you pick the one you want to work on. Examples of the top niches you can consider include the following.
Health and Fitness
People are concerned about their fitness and their overall health. Therefore, they are always on the lookout for the best fitness routine, how to keep their fitness gains, diet tips, and other health advice. If you’re an expert in health and fitness, and you’re sure you can guide people on these important issues, you can start a health and fitness. Health and fitness are areas that will always attract interest, meaning that you will run your blog for a long time.
Fashion and Beauty
People want to look good; they want to dress well and look stunning. Also, people want accessories to add to their clothes to have a classy look. Thus, a good blog on fashion will always attract an audience. Depending on your area of interest, you can go for the sub-niches in fashion and beauty, such as men, women, youth, or teen fashion.
Personal Finance
Money management is one of the most serious topics today. People want to know how they can save money, invest, manage debts, and better their lives. Thus, blogging on how to help people navigate issues of finance will never go out of fashion. What’s more, personal finance has many areas of focus, meaning you can never lack something for your audience.
Mental Health
Many people are struggling with mental health issues such as stress, depression, and anxiety. They are looking for safe spaces with adequate information on how to cope. If you’re studying a mental health-related course, you can use it as an opportunity to demonstrate what you know. You can then later turn the blog into a space for therapy sessions after obtaining your certifications – it may take time, but you’ll not be starting from scratch.
The above are just a few of the niches you can go for. There are still many other options, such as lifestyle, gaming, and technology. Also, you can begin your unique niche that you feel your audience will be interested in. The advantage of a unique niche is you will not face stiff competition from other established bloggers.
Manage Your Time Properly
One of the challenges you’ll face as a student blogger is the feeling that you have limited time. For instance, you’ll still have to attend your lectures and complete your assignments even as you blog. Assignments come with strict deadlines. So, you may neglect your blog if you don’t know how to manage your time.
The trick is to create a schedule that allows you to give your blog adequate attention. For example, you can create enough content for your blog on weekends. You can then post your content one after the other in the upcoming week if you’ll be busy with schoolwork.
Create Useful Content for Your Audience
The ultimate goal of starting a blog is to have an audience you can engage with. This audience will only be present if you have the type of content it wants. So, you should create interesting and useful content at all times. Some strategies that can help you create content that retains your audience include the following.
Ensure the Content Is Relevant
Imagine visiting a finance blog only for you to find fashion content. You’ll likely not return to that blog if you are not interested in fashion topics. That’s what your audience will do with irrelevant content on your blog. Ensure you present content on topics readers are currently interested in.
Research Extensively
Shallow content won’t keep readers engaged. So, you’ll lose subscribers if that’s what you have on your blog website. You should research extensively and discuss your topics exhaustively if you want to get your audience’s attention. Incorporate unique content – don’t just repeat what is already in other blogs in your niche.
Post Different Types of Content
Your audience wants content in different formats – only presenting written content may not cut it. So, have different types of content on your blog. For instance, you can incorporate audio, photo, and video content into the blog. While at it, keep it relevant and engaging.
Create an Excellent Blog Website
Before your audience begins to read/watch/listen to content on your website, ensure the site gives the best impression of your blog. Here are some characteristics that make a blogging website perfect for the audience.
Relevance and Visually Appealing
Let the outlook of your blog tell people what it’s about – begin with the blog’s graphics. For instance, a finance blog website should look professional – it makes it easy for the audience to trust what you tell them.
Quick Loading
No one wants to wait for a long time for a blog continent to load. So, you should ensure the blog pages load fast. Besides, ensure the website is responsive on different devices. The goal is to have as many people as possible accessing the blog.
Promote Your Blog
You may have the best content on your blog. While that’s a step in the right direction, it’s not enough. You should also promote your blog to ensure your target audience knows about it. They can then recommend it to their friends and family, which helps your blog grow.
The first platform for effective promotion of your blog is social media. You can share your posts on your social channels, profile, page, and relevant groups. Your college friends can also help by sharing the content on different social media platforms where people who are interested in your blog content are active.
Also, you can network with other bloggers in your chosen area. They can share your content on their blogs as links. With time, you can build a huge audience and monetize your blog.
Final Act
Running a blog while in college is an excellent way to develop writing skills, network, and earn an income. But it isn’t going to be easy without the right approach. The top strategies that can help you attain success include picking the right niche, managing your time properly, incorporating excellent content, and creating a good blog website. Moreover, you should market the blog extensively to gain more subscribers and speed up its growth.
