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

Some Resources for You (#6)

Wording Well's business card image
I’m too lazy too busy editing to put a lot of time into blogging these days.

But you are still on my mind… and that is why I have compiled this list of resources for you. 🙂

I am doing this from time to time. I’ve already published:

Some Resources for You (#1)

– Some Resources for You (#2)

– Some Resources for You (#3)

Some Resources for You (#4)

Some Resources for You (#5)

For Bloggers

How To Make Money Blogging – For Real!

For Freelancers

How to Maximize Your Marketing Power as a Budding Freelance Writer

For Authors

Self-Care for Authors While Writing and Launching a Self-Published Book

For Writers of all Kinds!

How to Declutter Your Writing Ideas and Finish More Projects

For Business Owners (Solopreneurs and Entrepreneurs)

60 Blog Post Ideas For Entrepreneurs, Marketers, and Businesses

Additional Resources (for Success)

16 Quick Tips To Enhance Your Mindset, Focus, and Productivity

FREE STUFF

All of these resources are fantastic!

Plus… as my way of thanking you for being a reader of Wording Well, I want to give you some free stuff. Find my freebies on my Resource Kit page!

Plus, there are many more (and I mean MANY MORE)  Resources for Writers, Authors, and Freelancers) here as well!

Enjoy… and let me know what you want MORE of… in the comments!

Some Resources for You (#5)

Wording Well's business card image
I’m too lazy too busy editing to put a lot of time into blogging these days.

But you are still on my mind… and that is why I have compiled this list of resources for you. 🙂

I am doing this from time to time. I’ve already published:

Some Resources for You (#1)

– Some Resources for You (#2)

– Some Resources for You (#3)

– Some Resources for You (#4)

For Bloggers

How to Write a Blog Post – The Ultimate Guide

For Freelancers

How to Cold-Pitch Freelance Writing Clients — This one is from Leaving Work Behind and it outlines the three main steps to cold-pitching.

For Authors

How to Market a Book Using Facebook

For Writers of all Kinds!

25 Writing Tips From Famous Writers

For Business Owners (Solopreneurs and Entrepreneurs)

How to Achieve Entrepreneurial Excellence – 3 Ways

Additional Resources (for Success)

How to Achieve a Good Work-Life Balance (+ a FREE Workbook/Planner)

FREE STUFF

All of these resources are fantastic!

Plus… as my way of thanking you for being a reader of Wording Well, I want to give you some free stuff. Find my freebies on my Resource Kit page!

Plus, there are many more (and I mean MANY MORE)  Resources for Writers, Authors, and Freelancers) here as well!

Enjoy… and let me know what you want MORE of… in the comments!

Plagiarism (VS Fair Use): What Bloggers and Writers Need to Know

Plagiarism (VS Fair Use): What Bloggers Need to Know When Creating Content

Why is plagiarism so bad?

Many people copy others, in both real life, and online.

They wear the same clothes. They buy the same things. It is natural to want to have the same item as another person. That is why companies make items in bulk. That is why clothing manufacturers make the same shirt, dress, or pair of pants in the same color and in different sizes.

Copying others in this manner is not a crime. (It might be deemed as a fashion crime in some pretentious circles, but it’s not against the law!)

However, when it comes to online content, copying others is a serious crime.

This type of copying is called PLAGIARISM, and it is a violation of copyright law.

There are solutions to avoiding plagiarism and its consequences and penalties, and today we are going to look at these solutions.

We are also going to answer the following questions:

What is plagiarism?

What is fair use?

What should you do if your content has been plagiarized?

How can bloggers and freelancers avoid plagiarism and its penalties?

How can bloggers create content for their blogs that rivals the content of their competitors?

How can bloggers create content that is similar to their competitors and ranks well?

By the end of this article, you will have all the answers and be able to create unique content that will not be considered to be plagiarized.

Plagiarism VS. Fair Use

What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism has several definitions.

It occurs when you copy someone else’s words and pass them off as your own.

It occurs when you cite someone’s words and don’t give the owner proper credit or attribution.

Plagiarism is against the law and is a serious offense. There are also several types of plagiarism, which will discuss momentarily.

Plagiarism is only stealing if you don’t give credit to the original source OR if what you are sharing does not fall under the rules for fair use.

What is Fair Use?

Fair use, on the other hand, according to copyright law, allows you to use someone’s words and ideas freely, without permission from the copyright owner.

Fair use, according to this article, is “a copyright principle based on the belief that the public is entitled to freely use portions of copyrighted materials for purposes of commentary and criticism.”

At this point, I want to point out to you that EVEN THOUGH I COPIED THIS SENTENCE, I didn’t try to pass it off as my own. Instead, I provided a link to the article (the source) where I found it.

If I didn’t, I would have been guilty of plagiarism.

Read More

17 of the Best Websites to Bring Back Your Writing Inspiration

17 of the Best Websites to Bring Back Your Writing Inspiration

Do you ever need some writing inspiration?

I bet you DO!

As bloggers, writers, and freelancers, we all need writing inspiration at some point.

Many websites exist that can help bring back your writing inspiration and your creativity.

So do many tools, including the ones found in these posts:

8 Great Writing Tools to Keep You Motivated to Write

9 Tools that No Serious Online Writer Should Be Without

Some FUN Writing Tools to Get You In the #writing Mood

Today’s guest, Rachel, will share 17 of the best websites to you to help you stay inspired and get your writing inspiration back.

Do YOU Need Some Writing Inspiration?

Do you want or need to write, but are feeling less than inspired?

I’ve been there plenty of times.

You get rid of all the distractions, tidy up your desk, focus on the job at hand and… nothing. You have writer’s block. You don’t know what to do.

The solution: check out some of these websites dedicated to writers and writing to get re-inspired.

(An alternate solution is to hire a freelance writer to help you!)

via GIPHY

1. The Story Starter

The reason why you may lose your writing inspiration is because you are writing about the same stuff over and over again, and never venturing outside your niche. The Story Starter will enable you to do that, by generating a random sentence that will become the starter for your new story. It’s an incredibly fun exercise, as it’s always able to come up with interesting story starters.

“There is always, always, always something to write about.”

― Rob Bignell, Writing Affirmations: A Collection of Positive Messages to Inspire Writers

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