Thursday 29 March 2012

How to market your student blog.

Girl lying of a sofa typing on her laptop
courtesy of xdevice 


Since I started this blog in February it has not received as much attention as I wanted. I couldn't understand what I was doing wrong, I have been writing new posts every week and have tried to make it an interesting blog for people to visit. However, I have discovered that I may not be receiving as many views and comments as I had initially hoped because I have not effectively marketed my blog. What is the point of updating your blog every week if no one is going to read it?

If you want your blog to be a success, it is important you make your blog accessible to both human internet users and also to search engines. There are many things you can do to get people to visit your blog and encourage them to come back again and tell their friends. Now i have realised where I have been going wrong, I have made several changes to my blog in an attempt to boost my viewings and followers. I have created this guide on how to market your student blog to help you make your site well known and successful so all the hours you spend updating your blog are not for nothing.

Update your blog.
There is no point starting a blog if you are never going to update it!

  • Make sure you write posts regularly to keep your readers interested and coming back for more. 
  • Make your posts easy to read and interesting and encourage your readers to comment. 
  • Don't be afraid to be controversial, this will get people talking about your blog and they are more likely to leave you comments and tell their friends about you.

Make it search engine friendly.
google logo






Around 50% of visitors to websites come via Google so it is important you make your blog search engine friendly. 

  • Try and include lots of key words in your posts so it is easy for Google to find you. For example, if you are writing a post about student nightlife in Swansea, try and include key words like 'Swansea' and 'student nightlife' in your headline as these are the words people are likely to type into Google. If you want some more tips on writing effective headlines click here
  • Remember, Google can't read images so make sure you use alt text, this will allow search engines to know what your pictures are of. 
  • It is also important to link to other websites in your blog posts. Linking to other websites will provide your readers with more information and will also make your blog more search engine friendly. The more search engine friendly your blog, the more visitors you are likely to get. 



Share it with your friends.
One of the easiest ways to build up a following for your blog is to tell your friends and family about it. If you are part of a society at uni then why not tell everyone about your blog or maybe print out some cards with your blog address on and hand them out during socials? If you are writing a blog about student life then all your uni friends will be able to relate to what you are saying and are more likely to comment. Tell your Mum and Dad about your blog and your Nan too! The more followers the better!


Share it with the world.
As well as letting all your friends and family know about your blog, share your blog with all your online friends too. 

  • Use social networking sites to advertise your blog. 
  • Share your URL with your Facebook friends and add your blog to your Twitter profile. It is really easy to share your blog on social networking sites and once you share it with your friends they can share it with theirs and before you know it more and more people will be checking out your blog. 
  • Blogger allows you to add gadgets to your blog which allow readers to easily share your posts with their Facebook and Twitter friends.



Follow other blogs in your subject area.
animated people talking with speach bubbles
courtesy of stylingyou.
Start reading other blogs in your subject area and leave them comments. If you start to make yourself known to other bloggers then this can encourage more people to visit your site and leave you comments. 

  • When you comment on other peoples posts, leave a link to your own blog so it is easy for them to find. 
  • By participating in other peoples blogs you are making yourself known in the blogging community and this will hopefully result in more people visiting your blog. 
  • If you are writing a student blog then why not have a look at my post 'My top 5 student blogs', start commenting on these pages and hopefully they will start participating in your blog in return.



Encourage people to keep coming back.
Once a person has visited your blog you need to make sure they come back again and again. 

  • The best way to get people actively following your blog is to add a subscribe button to your page, this will allow followers to receive emails every time you update your blog.
  • Write really interesting and engaging posts and make the most of multimedia, this will encourage people to keep coming back.
  • Pay attention to your stats, if one post has way more views than another then you know to write more posts on that particular subject or in that specific style. 



I love blogging
courtesy of bloglinkadvertising.

Still want more advice? Have a look at these websites -
25 tips for marketing your blog.
How to write SEO optimized headlines for your blog.
21 tactics to increase blog traffic.


I hope you have found this guide on how to market your student blog useful. If you have any other tips on making your blog a success then share them in the comments section. 



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