Blogs were an early feature of what was once known as the world wide web, but with the rise of social media, it seemed that they might fade into obsolescence. You can’t keep a good idea down, though, and in recent years, the old school practice of blogging has blossomed again. For many blog readers, there’s something refreshing about reading a longer developed piece by a single author rather than scrolling through the staccato cacophony of social media. If you’re a student who wants to build a readership for your blog, there are a number of ways to do that.
Write What You Know
It’s a common piece of writing advice, one that’s often disputed, but when it comes to blogging, it really does hold true. Everyone has expertise in at least one area and a unique perspective, and sharing that with your readers can be the key to success. Students can write about various aspects of college life, such as how to pay for college. You can use your own experience as a springboard on how to lower student loan payments and many other topics, as paying for tuition is difficult and not everyone may know all of the available outlets to utilize. There are private student loans, as well as scholarships, grants, and other financial assistance that can help ease the financial burden.
Use Social Media
Social media can still be effective in conjunction with your blog. There are enough platforms now that you can pick and choose which ones you are on, and you can use the ones that you like best to drive traffic to your site. Ideally, you should use them for more than just links to your latest post. Engaging with your potential audience will make them more likely to check out what you are writing in long form.
Create a Community
One thing social media did was draw a lot of interaction away from blogs and forums and onto their platforms. However, that doesn’t mean that it is impossible to create a community on blogs today, and you can still do that with a comments section. There are a few caveats to keep in mind. You will almost certainly need to do some moderation, so decide on your moderation policy ahead of time instead of trying to do so on the fly. This will help make sure that you are consistent and that you are able to concretely explain what kinds of violations will get posts deleted. In your posts, try to include questions that will encourage people to engage. You might ask others to share information on how they got their internships or for funny roommate stories.
Provide Solid Content
Content is still king. When you sit down to write a post, ask yourself a few questions. What is the core idea of your post? What information are you including that will help your reader? Have you fleshed out the idea enough? Your reader could be on a million other sites right now; what value are you adding to their life? After you finish writing, be sure to proofread your post and correct any spelling and grammar errors, which can make your efforts look amateurish.
