How to Become a Student Blogger

Setting up a blog is easy — anyone can do it. It’s a great way to share your experiences with other students or develop your writing skills to create a portfolio you can show employers when you graduate. Since becoming a student blogger will require a significant time commitment, it’s important to set up your blog the right way to increase your chances of success.

1. Find Somewhere to Build and Host Your Blog

Begin by thinking about how you’ll set up your blog. One option is to use a content management system (CMS), the most popular of which is WordPress. The other option is to use a website builder like Squarespace, which allows you to create a website using drag-and-drop tools. There’s no need to have coding skills for either, although you will have more control over the design if you choose WordPress.

With a website builder, you receive web hosting automatically, for which you’ll pay annually or monthly. If you choose WordPress, you’ll need to search for your own web hosting — you may be able to find a free or discounted plan for students.

2. Decide What You’ll Blog About

Next, figure out what topics you’ll cover on your blog. To decide this, it can help to think about your goals or the purpose for setting up a blog. For example, perhaps you want to use the opportunity to reach people who could prove to be useful connections, to promote an organization at your university, or to demonstrate what skills and knowledge you’ve acquired.

Consider who your audience will be and what kind of content they’ll find interesting. It’s crucial that you are qualified to write the content (meaning you must know what you’re talking about) and that you’ll enjoy writing it — otherwise, you may give up after just a few weeks. Finally, check if there are already blogs out there covering the same niche. This could be an indication that a potential audience exists, although you will need to think of how to find a unique angle for your own blog.

3. Give Your Blog a Catchy Name

Once you’ve decided what you’ll be blogging about, you can come up with a name for your blog. You’ll need to check that the domain doesn’t already exist and that the name you want isn’t too similar to that of other blogs. For this reason, you may need to spend time brainstorming ideas. When you’ve found the perfect name, register it through a domain name registrar or with your web host or website builder.
4. Focus on the Design

The design of your blog needs to reflect your niche. There are plenty of free themes to choose from, no matter if you’re using WordPress or a website builder, although you can pay for a theme if you want something specific. Themes influence the colour palette, overall aesthetics, and layout. To pick the right theme for you, consider whether your blog will feature many images or if it will be mostly text.

Next, choose the number of pages you want for your blog. You can add blog posts straight to the home page, but it’s still worth having an “About” page where you can talk about the purpose of your blog and give some background information about you. You may also like a “Contact” page to give people a way to reach you. For instance, your audience may offer to write guest blogs or want more information about a topic.

5. Publish Content

With your blog set up, it’s time to start writing posts. You can reach more people by researching what keywords your audience is using to find content like yours. After you’ve published a post, promote it on social media.

You’ll need to have somewhere you can focus on writing on your blog posts — such as your own room in an apartment with fast internet. For Ottawa off-campus housing, there’s 1Eleven. Book a video tour to check out all the great amenities and see why you’d love living here.