Add Project Key Words

How to Become a Blogger: A 5 Step Action Plan

The answer to "how to become a blogger" boils down to one word: Passion. 

Whenever students ask us about how to stand out in the application process, it always comes back to passion. Identifying your passion, displaying your passion through concrete achievements, and speaking passionately about your passion are all key parts of putting together a successful application. Finding your passion in high school should start early. You want to give yourself time to explore, try new things, and figure out what it is that you love to do!

But once you understand what it is you’re passionate about, you should ask yourself how you can show that on an application. Starting a blog is a tangible way to show what you’re passionate about and to spread it to the the community around you. You can even include a link to the website in your college application!

So, if you want to know how to become a blogger in high school, read through this 5 step action plan before you begin.

Step One: Topic

Choosing a topic for your blog is the most crucial step. Again, picking a topic that you’re passionate about is extremely important. Imagine having to write about a topic that you don’t find interesting - every. single. week. It’s not sustainable, especially with a busy high school schedule.

The most effective blogs cater to a specific area. Find your niche. Depending on your grade level, your blog may focus on interest exploration, or you may create a blog for a single passion or academic pursuit.

As you’re deciding what you want to write about, ask yourself the following questions:

•      Do I want to create a blog focused on an academic interest or outside passion?
•      What other sites cover this general topic?
•      Could I make my topic more specific?
•      How would my blog be different?
•      What form will my content take?
•      Will I be the only one writing, or will I collaborate with others?
•      Who is my target audience?

General rule of thumb: You don’t want your topic to be too broad or else it will get lost in the deep, dark depths of the internet. Looking to start a film blog? Consider writing posts comparing original films to their remakes, or maybe start a platform discussing psychology in films, or focus on a genre like musicals or westerns.

Step one for “how to become a blogger”: Decide on a unique topic that is personal to you!

Step Two: Design

Once you have your topic picked out, it’s time to create the blog.

WordPress is one of the biggest blogging platforms in the world, with countless plugins and add-ons and almost infinite ways to lay out your blog. Other websites you can use are Blogger and Tumblr.

Ideally, you should choose something that looks professional and is easy to customize. WordPress has a feature that allows you to change themes with just a few clicks. That way, if you start getting tired of your current blog template, you can switch to another one without losing any content or images.

Your blog should be easy to navigate if you want people to stick around. If it’s tricky to move around it, people won’t stay. Some major things to focus on are:

• Navigation: is your blog user-friend?
• Readability: make sure your text is easy-to-read.
• Visuals: are your graphics and images engaging (as well as free-use)?

Step Three: Content

This one is obvious. To create a successful blog, you need to actually write the content! You should set parameters for yourself, so that you follow the same pattern for all of your content. Some ideas you could follow are:

• Write a minimum of 500 words per post
• Every post must include at least one image
• Link to 2-3 other sites in every blog

As you think about what your content should look at, take this blog as an example! It is separated into five clear sections; most sections include bullet-point examples; relevant or related content is linked as an additional resource for the reader; and the overall blog is easy to navigate.

While your content should be easy to read, it should also be academically engaging! What is your unique perspective or angle on a particular topic? If you’re writing the “Psychology in Film” blog from our example earlier, maybe one of your posts can focus on your personal interpretation of Norman Bates’ character in Psycho or maybe you can write a post comparing an academic psych study to a specific film.

The goal with your content is to be: 1) Easy to read; and 2) Original.

Step Four: Distribution

“Marketing” your blog is extremely important. This is what takes your blog from being something that exists just for you, to being something that exists in the public world.

Social media is one of the best channels to spread the word. Share on your blogs on Facebook or Twitter pages, and ask your friends and family to share your blog posts as well. If you see other blogs that are related to your topic, you can reach out and ask to write a post for their site, and offer to have them write a guest post on your blog as well. Engaging in the community around your topic is a great approach to take!

Think creatively about how you can get more views on your blog. Are there people you can email? Are there professors or professionals that you could interview for an article? Would these people share your blog?

The more in-depth and robust and public your site is, the more impressive it will be to an admissions officer!

Step Five: Maintain!

The final step for learning how to become a blogger! What’s the worst blog you could ever start? One that you’ve forgotten about…

Set yourself a schedule to make sure that you maintain your blog. Update your design and images, write content regularly, and continue to build a following. If you eventually choose to include your blog in your college applications, an admissions officer will be able to see if you wrote all of your posts in the past few weeks, or if you have built this site over the course of months or years.

The answer to "how to become a blogger": create frequent posts about a unique topic that genuinely interests you. And because this all takes time to build, design, and maintain, the time to get started is now! Good luck!