5 Blogging Tips for Busy College Students

5 Blogging Tips for Busy College Students

Busy college students have multiple assignments to submit, essays to write, and exams to prepare for. Does this make you wonder why you even bothered to begin blogging in the first place?

Firstly, starting a blog in college is a great decision. Apart from improving your writing skills, it helps you form a strong network, build your personal brand, and push your creative boundaries while making money on the side.

It sure is difficult to manage a busy college schedule and run a blog… but it is not impossible! All you need to learn is how to manage your time effectively. If you do that, there is no stopping you from being productive in every aspect of your life!

Here are 5 tips to succeed as a blogger if you are an extremely busy college student.

Tip #1: Allocate Time to Blog

Sometimes, in spite of having the intentions to blog, it’s easy to get busy with college and ignore your blog in the process. In order to take blogging seriously, you need to set aside time specifically for doing tasks related to your blog.

From brainstorming ideas and curating content to scheduling and promoting it, blogging is a time-consuming process. However, if you give yourself 2 hours every day or devote a few hours every weekend to it, you are likely to make better progress.

Ultimately, having a schedule and organizing your tasks lets you be more disciplined and productive. That way, you don’t even feel guilty choosing one thing over the other.

Tip #2: Prioritize Wisely

While you have allocated blogging time, it’s important to prioritize wisely as well. After all, there is no denying that focusing on academics is of utmost importance and nothing should take precedence over that.

For instance, if you need an essay written now, you need to focus on your submissions rather than spending time on your blog.

So, be prepared for unexpected delays and tasks added to your to-do list. Plan your days accordingly and don’t lose focus of the bigger picture.

Tip #3: Maintain an Editorial Calendar

You might think you can hurriedly jot notes on your phone and schedule posts when you feel like it. This way of working is not only haphazard but can also affect the quality of your work.

Instead, why not maintain an editorial calendar? Doing this will let you streamline your thoughts and consistently post in a timely manner. Don’t be too hard on yourself by posting every day or every second day. Studies have shown that posting daily on your blog won’t work.

Determine the time you can allocate to blogging, decide on a posting schedule, and stick to it. Give yourself deadlines so you know you have to publish a post in the given time period. Read More

How to Use Content Upgrades to Build Your Email List (+ a Tutorial!)

How to Use Content Upgrades to Build Your Email List

 

Content upgrades. Lead magnets.

You’ve heard the terminology, but what do these things mean?

Today, I am going to share with you everything you need to know about content upgrades… including what they are (with samples), who uses them, where to put them, how to create them, and which plugins you can use for them.

I’m also going to give you a step-by-step tutorial on how to use Content Upgrades Pro on your website!

I’m an affiliate for this product and so all links to this plugin in this post are affiliate links. This means I will receive a small commission if you decide to buy this product. I USE THIS PRODUCT on Wording Well, and I LOVE IT!

Article Contents

The contents of this blog post include:

What is a CONTENT UPGRADE?
Samples of Content Upgrades
Who Uses Content Upgrades?
Where Should You Put Them?
How to Create a Content Upgrade (+ Some Tools to Use)
Which Plugins are the Best to Use for Content Upgrades?
How to Use Content Upgrades Pro on Your Site

What is a CONTENT UPGRADE?

Content upgrades are used in blog posts to help grow your email list. A content upgrade is also called a lead magnet (in the marketing world) and is simply some type of bonus content that you give to your readers (or site visitors) in exchange for their email address.

“What is an evergreen lead magnet?”

An evergreen lead magnet is a content upgrade is highly effective because it offers immediate value, can be used again and again, and will always be useful because it can be updated to ensure it’s the best and most up-to-date resource it can be.

Evergreen content upgrades are really good to create because they allow you to use them in multiple posts. This solves the problem of not having to always create a new upgrade for each post!

Instead, all you have to do is copy and paste your “offer” into your new blog post! Easy!

Samples of Content Upgrades

A checklist

A printable (which can be ANYTHING ranging from a checklist to a blog planner to a goals planner to a calendar, etc.)

Access to a recorded webinar or private video

Access to a private file or resource vault

An infographic (Read: The Ultimate Guide to Infographics (Includes 10 Tools + 5 Tutorials!))

A list of tools or resources related to your blog post topic

A recording of written content

A fill-in-the-blank sheet

A PDF of your article

A worksheet

Bonus content not included in the original article

Plus… other things I’ve not listed here! (I’m sure you can think of SOME KIND OF BONUS to give away!) Read More

What DO You Do When Someone STEALS Your CONTENT?

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN SOMEONE STEALS YOUR CONTENT?

It happens. People steal content from you. They impersonate you. They re-post your content… and not always in a good way. Sometimes they even pretend to be you. That’s the WORST!

When you become successful online, things like this are bound to happen!

Here is my true story about what happened to me in January and February 2019 and what I did about it. 

You can follow the same steps that I did, if something like this ever happens to you.

I will also give you a few other tips on what else you can do, to both protect yourself and also what to watch out for… because dealing with this stuff is a real PAIN!

In this article:

1: HOW I FOUND OUT SOMEONE WAS STEALING MY STUFF

2: WHAT DID I DO?

3: THE ADVICE I RECEIVED

4: FILING WITH GOOGLE

5: MONITORING THE SITE WHERE THE STOLEN CONTENT WAS FOUND

6: MORE STOLEN CONTENT!

7: WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN SOMEONE STEALS YOUR CONTENT?

8: OTHER ACTIONS TO DO WHEN FIND YOUR CONTENT HAS BEEN STOLEN

9: GET DMCA PROTECTED

10: DISCOVERING THE STOLEN CONTENT WAS REMOVED

111: STOLEN CONTENT IS AKIN TO PLAGIARISM

12: LET MY EXPERIENCES BE A LESSON TO YOU

1: HOW I FOUND OUT SOMEONE WAS STEALING MY STUFF

While replying to comments on my author site, I noticed that someone linked to me.

How?

I have things set up so that I must approve all comments and pingbacks.

I saw the following pingback:

Comment pingback notification

Naturally, I visited that page.

When I checked out the article at http://find-jobs-online.info/diversify-your-self-as-a-freelancer-and-earn-extra.html, I was appalled to discover someone was impersonating me!

I did not write that article!

That person also stole a bunch of my images to use in that post!

They really “looked” like they were ME!

However, the article was/is POORLY WRITTEN, and anyone who knows me KNOWS that I don’t write like that!

I WAS FURIOUS to make such a discovery!

Now, I know backlinks are important and I generally LOVE it when I find out that people have linked to my sites. But getting them this way is NOT good!

I also know that there are ways of finding out who owns a site (or, at least, who registered it or where it was registered). I’ve learned a thing or two in the last six years of blogging! (wink, wink)

I also know that you can report sites and articles wherein your content is stolen. I wasn’t exactly sure how to do this, so I had to do some investigating and research.

2: WHAT DID I DO?

First, I dealt with my anger. I was outraged! I then took screenshots of the entire article (as proof).

Secondly, I decide to deal with the site owner directly and see if I could resolve the problem. Read More

3 Reasons Why Posting Daily On Your Blog Won’t Work

3 Reasons Why Posting Daily On Your Blog Won’t Work

Regular posting is an essential aspect of blogging and experienced bloggers are well aware of that, but the term “regular posting” varies widely in definition, depending on the blog’s popularity, size, scope, nature, etc. In general, it is ineffective to post each day if you have a small blog or are a new blogger who doesn’t know these 5 things.

Here are the 3 reasons why posting daily is not good for your blog:

Reason #1: Limited Attention Time for Each Post

When you post every day (and multiple times a day at that), you are not giving enough time for each one of your posts to get the attention it deserves, and that holds true for your social media shares as well. When a new subscriber or a visitor chances upon your blog or Facebook page only to see that you hardly have any comments or reactions on your last few posts, you will not make the right impression. If your blog is relatively new and small, you don’t want to divide the attention of your target audience with too many posts. Instead, you should be looking to make sure that each of your posts, few as they may be, gets the limelight it needs to gather views, reactions, comments, and shares.

Reason #2: It is More Important to Figure Out the Ideal Word Count

Figuring out the right word count for each piece is far more important than being concerned about posting content frequently. When you concentrate on the quality of each post that you make, you won’t need to post new content all the time because quality beats quantity all the way. On the other hand, when you are trying to write too many blog posts within a short time, some compromise to the overall quality and/or comprehensiveness of each post is unavoidable.

Make your posts longer, more informative and interesting enough to catch the attention of your target crowd, and to hold it for a longer period of time. However, do keep in mind that too much fluff is never appreciated, and even smaller, 200-word posts have their own place on a blog. To have an exact idea about how to deduce which post needs how many words, checking out The Guerrilla’s guide on ideal blog post length is recommended.

Reason #3: Too Many Posts Do Not Give Your Readers Enough Time to Read All of Them

If you are posting too often, it is likely that most of your readers will miss at least some of your posts. Each of those unread posts is, for all intents and purposes, a lost opportunity to bond with your readers, as well as an effort in futility. Over time, this loss of bonding will lead to loss of subscribers and followers, as they may feel overwhelmed and unconnected.

This is not to say that you shouldn’t post regularly, of course, because many blogs do benefit heavily from that practice. It just means that posting a bit less frequently and allowing each article to get the maximum exposure that it possibly can is more useful, before making the next post on your blog or social media channel.

Your Turn:

How often do you post? Do you have a posting schedule?

Share your experiences in the comments!

9 Reasons Why Making Friends with Clients is Important

Why Making Friends with Clients is Important

Making friends with clients is important, despite what “they” say about not mixing business with pleasure!

In fact, there are many benefits to establishing good relationships with other bloggers, authors, writers, freelancers, and business owners online.

Not only will they help you share your posts with their audiences, but they will help you out in other ways, too.

A perfect example of this happened in the summer (a few months ago, in 2018) after I took almost three months off, almost ran out of money, and had one of my client-friends come to my rescue.

Why I Ran Out of Money

I had been living off my savings for the month of June, July, and August.

I decided to take the summer off (for me, summer is July and August, as I live in Canada, in a city where it is winter for most of the year).

I made this decision at the beginning of June, when I got out of the hospital. I went to the emergency room on May 29th, 2018, because I was having trouble breathing. This event actually marked my second near-death experience. (I nearly died in August 2012, when my appendix burst.)

The cause of my shortness of breath was due to having blood clots in my lungs. I was in the hospital from May 29th until June 4th. I was put on blood thinners and had many follow-up appointments with my doctors.

I was also put on a new medication on June 19th. Then I contracted a stomach bug on June 26th. I had an upset stomach and a sore back for two weeks. I thought these were side effects of my new medication, so I spoke to my doctor and he advised me to stop taking it.

When I didn’t get better right away, I knew it was something else that was making me sick. It wasn’t until the second week of July that I really started feeling good again.

Because I was feeling so great, I decided to start taking that new medication again, which I did, on August 1st, after consulting with my doctor. For the most part, I am okay now, and my body has adjusted to the new medication, which is actually a cholesterol pill.

I still had to keep up with my appointments to get my blood checked because of the blood thinners I am on. In fact, I am still being monitored to this day, and will be for months to come.

When August rolled around, however, I noticed that my bank account balances were dwindling. I started to panic. I have not been broke for a very long time (years, actually) and I didn’t want to be broke again! I was down to my last $150 and knew I needed at least three times that amount to make it through the month!

I also have not had to make a budget in a very long time, either. I simply pay my bills when they come in, buy groceries whenever I need them, and go out when I feel like it, without having to worry about money, because there’s always money in the bank!

I have worked very hard for this freedom, and I have enjoyed it for years. 

That is one of the 12 benefits of being a freelance editor!

But, when I got sick and decided to take the summer off, I didn’t take the time to see if I could actually afford it. I did not draw up a budget. I simply thought my funds would last me until September, which is when I had my next editing gig booked for!

When I almost ran out of money, I didn’t know what to do.

In the past, when I was a prostitute, anytime I needed money, I would simply go out and stand on the street and sell myself. Those days are long gone. I stopped doing that years ago! (FYI, I’m much happier now, and most of my happiness stems from using positive affirmations.)

So what was I going to do to get through August? Read More