To celebrate ‘Blogger Day’, I wanted to share with you my top 5 tips for starting a blog or even just writing articles about some of your favourite topics!
1. Understand the basics, what types of articles are there?
- Listicles – like this one, or Owen’s ‘Top 5’ series on TV shows and books
- Interviews – like Rachel’s interview with Malene here
- Guest articles – some of our content is written by guests, either from BGU contributors or guest editors
- News articles – like Natalie’s article on unrelated COVID-19 news
2. Choose a topic that you’re passionate about
For an article to retain the audience’s attention, it needs to be interesting. As a reader, it can be obvious if a blogger is writing about a topic that doesn’t particularly interest them. This is why it’s important that you choose to write about a subject, event, product, etc. that you enjoy!
3. Don’t make articles too long or word-y
To retain the readers attention, make sure it’s not too long. Here, at Student Life, we generally stick to 500ish words with a good balance of paragraphs and images. Also, a good balance of splitting up topics with headings and differentiating segments so it isn’t just a strict block of words.
4. Snappy titles
The title is usually the first thing that the reader will see, so they’ve got to be quick, snappy and interesting. Try and make it less than 10 words if possible, and get straight to the point with it.
5. Triple check, read and re-read
Once you’ve finished writing your article, read and then re-read it to make sure there are no mistakes. This can include grammar, blog technicalities (I recommend constantly checking a preview of the published article to make sure everything looks neat), as well as the general layout and making sure it reads smoothly.
So if you’re interested in giving blogging a go, why not try creating your own blog on sites like WordPress, Wix, Blogger, Weebly or even LinkedIn. Additionally, if you’re a current UoL student, you can also apply to write for us! Just send us a message on our social medias (@UoLStudentLife on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok) to enquire.
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