College kids are weird. I can vouch for this because I’m a college kid and I’m super weird. Mind you, they’re incredible and can do incredible things, but they are SO WEIRD. Why? It’s the first time they’re on their own and get to do whatever they want: watch TV all day, drink until their livers hate them, stay up for 76 hours straight, and other random stuff. I’ve seen college kids build entire companies and I’ve also seen college kids break into the football field at two in the morning so they could have a light saber battle the week before finals. It varies.

College students also become a lot more vocal once they set foot on campus. For the first 18 years of their lives, they only know their town’s opinions and interpretations of the outside world. College is the start of cultural expansion for many and are no longer shielded from media content and activist programs. It’s the first time they really begin to formulate opinions and have an open dialogue with other curious minds.

They share opinions in tons of different ways. As a weird college student, I have found my favorite method of sharing opinions is face to face. When that option isn’t available, my second favorite option is through my blog, and I’m not alone in that respect. The blogging sphere is continuously increasing and filling with more student bloggers every day. As a college blogger for the last few months, I’ve learned a lot. I have a small, semi-regular audience and my blogger voice is developing (well, I hope so. What do you think?). I’ve made lots of mistakes along the way as well: irregular posts, too large of a website, etc. Tons of people are gaining an interest in the blogging world. If starting a blog is something you’re interested in doing, here are five tips to help you out:

 

Figure out how serious you are about blogging.

I definitely recommend doing a mini trial run. Start by typing a couple of posts and if you like what you’re doing, then go ahead and put in the work to make a website. If you don’t, then nothing is lost! If you’re not having fun, don’t do it! There’s no point torturing yourself. Go do something you enjoy (like reading My Bright Corner).

 

If you’re serious, invest in a domain

So you do like writing articles? Perfect! Welcome to the community! If you’d like to keep your articles all in one place and have a fully functioning website, you should invest in a domain and find a content management system. There are lots of different options but my personal favorite is WordPress.

 

Plan Ahead

Let’s be real: you’re a busy college student. You have stuff to do. Be realistic about how often you’ll be able to post and make sure you incorporate writing time into your weekly schedule. If you don’t, you won’t write and you’ll website will fizzle out.

I am the world’s biggest procrastinator. I have set a goal for myself to write three blog posts a month and if I don’t set a goal date, I will wait until the end of month to post anything. By planning ahead, I can stay on track for writing my blog posts and not feel stressed out later.

 

Rough Drafts are a Beautiful Thing

If I’ve said this before, I’ll say it again: I LOVE ROUGH DRAFTS. A blog post isn’t a last minute paper for that gen. Ed. class you barely attend. This is your work that you enjoy doing in your free time. You should want to try to make it look as nice as you can and a rough draft or two can help with that.

 

Create a Blog that Works for YOU and KEEP GOING.

The most popular types of blogs may not be what you want to write about. Don’t feel pressured to create a blog with popular content because that’s what everyone else is doing. Create a blog with content that you love and you like writing about.

Also, you may feel a lot of anxiety when you go to share your work for a variety of reasons: fear of negative response, that it’s not your best, etc. If it’s out of your control, don’t stress. You’re a new blogger and you’re learning. The most important thing is that you’re happy doing what you’re doing. Whether one person reads it or a million, a blog that makes YOU, the writer, happy is what should be at the top of your priority list.

 

So welcome new bloggers! Happy typing!

 

Until Next Time,
Dana