7 Reasons Why You Should Start a Blog in College

By Meghen Jones

When you think of actively beginning and maintaining a blog, your first thoughts might overwhelm you: the endless amount of writing and rewriting, the expected weekly or even daily updates, and of course, the challenge of building an engaged audience that’s uniquely yours. You just have to question if it’s really worth all that trouble.

Yeah, reading blogs can be entertaining, but it’s a hobby that often seems inaccessible. But, we all know that while reading through one of your favorite blogs—whether it be cuisine, fashion, or entertainment-oriented—it’s crossed your mind, “Hey, maybe I can do this, too.” Like any other hobby, blogging requires time, effort, and work. Plus, what if you’re unsure of what to write about, or where to even begin? Well, before you start contemplating your blogging workflow, you must consider all the benefits of starting a blog in college.

And, luckily enough for you, uCribs is here to help! Being as a college student—with your unique perspective of the world—it’s one of the timeliest points in your life to begin your blogging journey.

Expand Your Network

As a college student, a majority of your time is spent securing relevant internships, shadowing professionals who currently work in your desired field, and booking side gigs that will highlight talents and know-how on your resume. Admittedly, the struggle can real when you feel as if you’re unable to get your foot in the door while you’re watching those around you succeed.

But, what sets apart those who enjoy such success? Well, college is a time where you build future connections, whether it’d be with your peers, professors, or university administrators. Of course, you can also do this through work studies as mentioned above, but what about an alternative method? That’s right—starting your very own blog! Starting a blog introduces you to a world of people, who work in a variety of backgrounds—whether it’d be web development, graphic design, or content creators— that all come together to showcase their craft.

Not only will your blog introduce you to new innovators and creators, but it will also make you stand out amongst your competition, convincing future employers that you are both project and team-oriented. It’s really a win-win no matter if you decide to go the traditional career path or eventually plan to generate revenue from your blog.

Boost Your Technical Skills

How many times have you found yourself trying to understand website functionality or user design? I mean, we’ve all dabbled in a little HTML one way or the other—like, c’mon it’s only the 21st century. But, with all the coding languages from C++ to JavaScript, it can get a little overwhelming even if you’re a computer science major.

Fortunately, beginning an online blog expands your technical skillset in areas you would have never imagined. Just think about it this way, whenever you want to come up with your own graphics, what do you need? Photoshop. And, if you need to change up your blog’s design what do use? The CSS.

See what we mean? It’s inevitable to learn the technical side of things while running a blog. Not only do you get the chance to advance your knowledge and better your overall blog aesthetic, but you can also add these skills to your resume when it comes time to join the job hunt.

Improve Your Writing Skills

You’ve probably heard all about the importance of reading and writing fundamentals throughout the duration of your time spent in school. Sometimes you might feel more proficient at one as opposed to the other. For example, while some may have a sharp and critical eye for reading content, it may feel almost impossible to write their own, or vice versa.

But, the good news is that researching, writing, and revising blog posts is the ideal practice to perfect these skills. It can sound very time consuming when you have numerous papers to write for English, a complex history exam to study for, and, not to mention, your millions of other responsibilities to maintain on a day-to-day basis. However, the skills you acquire in the long-run make the time spent well worth it. By setting aside some time each day, as any professional writer does, you can improve your writing skills with one of the most time-proven tactics: practice.

Provide Helpful Advice

At one point or another, we all reach the moment in our overly complicated college lives where we desperately need advice, but your friends are nowhere to be found on campus, and your parents are possibly hours away. Nothing is worse than isolation when all you need is a shoulder to lean on. And if you really think about it, what’s the next step you take when caught in a binding life situation? Googling solutions like you are right now, right?

With all of the advice you’ve accumulated on topics, ranging from ways to prepare for that stressful midterm to how to deal with a terrible breakup, you’ve probably become the go-to advice giver among your group of friends. So, there’s no need to underestimate yourself when things in life get a little complicated—like they often do in this “game” of life! In fact, you might be taking yourself for granted in not realizing the knowledge, and in turn, the advice you can offer to your very own online audience.

So, isn’t it about time that you shared your knowledge with others? There’s no telling who you might affect in the long-run; little do you know, you could be helping someone when they need it most. And if we’re being honest, it’s such a warm and fuzzy feeling when someone reaches out to thank you after reading an insightful blog post you wrote!

Share Your Experiences

Providing helpful advice goes hand-in-hand with sharing your experiences. Whether you choose to blog, vlog, or livestream, likable online content ultimately boils down to transparency. Blogging has come a long way in the past two decades, but one thing remains: it’s all about expressing yourself. Plus, reading a blog just wouldn’t feel right if the author decided to clam up.

Everyone has a story to tell, but not everyone realizes that their story is just waiting to be told—especially when you’re a college student who is currently racking up some of their best life experiences such late night study sessions, epic fraternity and sorority parties, and, of course those proud moments of your achievements and other milestones. Whether the topic is happy as one of the previously mentioned or a bit more glum, you will likely touch someone out there on the World Wide Web that is going through a similar situation.

Reveal Your Ideas

Are you one of those people that have a long list of ideas with no one to share them with? It’s like your brain is exploding with crafty do-it-yourself hacks, delicious recipes tips that grandma would for sure approve of, and ways to turn your day outfit into a stylish night out fashion statement—ya know, since you’re balling on a student budget. That last part was sarcasm if you didn’t catch it.

It’s hard not to hoard all your best know-how to yourself, but also consider the alternative. Generally speaking, if the shoe was on the other foot, you would probably want to know all of the tricks of the trade—whatever that trade might be— too.

The best part about creating a blog is that you can share all of your ideas in one place, so they’re centrally located for your use as well as your audience! Plus, everyone loves a good archive—we have all caught ourselves scrolling months backward on our favorite blogs. And the best part of keeping your ideas organized is that you can refer back to them later and expound upon them any way you please—it’s a great way to keep your content flowing to your blog channel.

Grow Your Resume

As a college student, there’s never a dull moment. Whether we are involving ourselves in an in-depth class discussion, attending a meeting for one of our extracurricular activities, or preparing for a group presentation at the end of the semester, we are always competing against one another for the spotlight, searching for what truly makes us stand out from the crowd. Welcome to adulthood. In the job world, potential employers are always comparing and contrasting student resumes, and the worst part is that you’re completely aware of that fact.

However, it’s fair to keep this in mind as you consider embarking on your new creative journey: blogging is a full-time job. You may be wondering how writing blogs qualifies as a job, but we think we’ve perfectly surmised it for you throughout this piece. Whether you post every day or every other week, you— as a blogger— are working endlessly to meet deadlines and to keep an audience engaged, whether you decide that’s through written posts, visual elements, or video.

Running a blog takes a lot of work, and it encompasses many various fields of desirable skills that job recruiters and hiring managers are seeking—plus, it just makes you look so dang dedicated and creative to boot!  Once you add your blogging experience to your resume aside all of your other accomplishments, we believe that you will look super qualified—like the ideal polished candidate, in fact!

From sharing significant milestones to new interests or ideas, there are so many reasons why starting a blog in college is important. Not only does it provide you with a time capsule to your profound educational experiences, but it also grants you with many skills you wouldn’t otherwise acquire—all while making your resume shine! With uCribs’ 7 Reasons Why You Should Start a Blog in College, the sky is the limit when it comes to letting your creative juices flow.

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