CHAPTER EIGHT

BLOGGING

Blogging is a great way to showcase your interest in a career area. It can also be about any topic that you’re really interested in, and it doesn’t have to be career focused. The mere act of regularly sharing well-crafted blog posts is an excellent way of showing how you consistently manage an extracurricular project. Blogging takes thought and time, and it requires a range of highly transferable skills, including writing, design and, if you work hard to successfully promote your blog, social media marketing. It also displays a level of confidence, as it can be hard to put yourself out there online and express your world view. BLOGGING Topics you might consider blogging about include the ones listed here: YOUR VIEW OF LOCAL OR INTERNATIONAL CURRENT AFFAIRS REVIEWS OF BOOKS YOU READ STUDENT LIFE YOUR TRAVELS

WRITE IN YOUR OWN STYLE Your personal perspective is what makes your blog interesting. Remember that the key thing to keep in mind when blogging to enhance your online brand is to create content that reflects your interests, skills, career values and personality. Your blog doesn’t have to be the most original, unique or popular for these purposes. It just needs to provide evidence to any employer who reads it that you are genuinely interested in a topic, that you have good writing skills and that you have the drive to keep a side project like a blog up to date while balancing your other commitments. Try to use graphics, images or videos that complement your words and make your blog appealing to readers. You can upload your own images or share images from other sites. Flickr.com’s “Creative Commons” filter is where you can find images that photographers allow others to use. There are different levels of permission to share these images,, so always check these. Wherever you find the images you want to use, make sure to credit the source. WORDS AND PICTURES Blogging is about creating content. Keep in mind the online brand you want to create for yourself – academic, professional, creative, thoughtful – and strive to deliver content that closely aligns both with you as a potential employee, as well as with the companies you want to work for. CONTENT IS KING WHAT CONTENT DO TARGET EMPLOYERS CREATE? WHAT WOULD IMPRESS THEM?

Engaging content is content that actively invites readers to participate, respond, think or otherwise become engaged with what you’ve written. A current news story followed by your reactions and an invitation to readers to share their views; a post in which you present three alternative book covers or layouts or fashion designs, and invite readers to “vote” for their favourite; or a Q&A – these can all make your blog more accessible and interesting to readers. ENGAGE YOUR READERS

You could include a keyword so it’s easily found, or you could go for something more creative or playful that reflects your personality and your subject. Whatever name you choose for your blog, keep it short; people are more likely to remember a simple, brief name than something long and complicated. When you have a name or two in mind, put them into a search engine to check that they’re not already taken. YOUR BLOG NAME

You can choose to set up a blog for free by having it hosted on the main blogging platforms like Wordpress or Blogger. There are a number of limitations that come with a free hosted blog. When you choose your blog name, the hosting service’s name will be included in your blog title, for example “yourblog.wordpress.com”. The other issue is that you won’t actually have any rights over the name of your blog, called your blog domain, so technically your blog could be shut down or the name could be reassigned to someone else, and this would be outside of your control. Your access to different design themes will be limited, and there is also a limit on the amount of space you can use, which means you won’t be able to post an unlimited number of large files such as photographs or videos. If you don’t want to include a lot of images and don’t mind not having a lot of customisation options available, a free blog can work for your purposes. FREE BLOG OR PAID?

You can buy the domain name you want on websites which register domain names, such as GoDaddy, Namecheap or Gandi. You will then own that domain name for the term of the contract – this usually lasts a year and can then be renewed. You will also have a much larger range of free design themes to choose from make your blog look the way you want it to appear. You will also get access to more customisation elements such as plug-ins which can make your blog more user-friendly. In addition to paying for your domain name, you’ll have to pay a website to host your blog. This usually involves a small monthly fee. Some hosting sites offer free domain name registration when you pay for hosting. Once you have bought your domain and set up an account with a hosting site, you can then download Wordpress’s software onto your blog and take advantage of all the features it offers to personalise your blog. FREE BLOG OR PAID?

PLAN YOUR CONTENT Writing a content calendar, where you map out what you want to post about week by week, can help you stay on top of your posts and provide inspiration. A content calendar for your first few posts could look something like this: SAMPLE BLOG SCHEDULE | BLOG TITLE: WORKING LANGUAGE: A BLOG ABOUT CAREERS WITH LANGUAGES WEEK 1 Welcome post Outline who I am and blog themes WEEK 2 “Who’s hiring?” A post about graduate roles where language skills are a job requirement WEEK 3 “Top ten sites for your multilingual job search” A well researched list of local and international web pages that advertise vacancies for linguists WEEK 4 “My linguist life”: Introducing “My linguist life” series, monthly interview carried out with someone working in a career with languages

YOUR POSTS YOUR FIRST POST SHOULD SET THE SCENE Tell readers who you are, why you’re writing about your chosen topic and what your plans are for the blog. Consider drafting a few posts before you even set up your blog, to see if you enjoy the process and if you have enough to say. If you’re feeling nervous about posting, you could always get a friend or two to cast an eye over your post before you hit ”Publish”. Let your network know that you are writing. Share a status update about it on Facebook, and include a “call to action”. In other words, don’t just say, “Here’s my blog”; say something like, “Here’s my new blog about x. Check it out and share it with your friends”. You could go a step further and set up a Facebook page specifically for your blog, with the same name.

Share your blog posts regularly on your other social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Only share on LinkedIn if the blog is related to a professional sector you are actively targeting. As you grow your own blog, you can make a habit of regularly visiting other blogs in your field of interest, and explore these also. Find a handful you like – less is more, in this case – and comment regularly on posts that genuinely interest or excite you. Become a regular presence and that blogger and their followers might become interested in your blog as well. Tweet links to your blog posts, and consider listing your blog name in your signature if your blog is professionally focused. YOUR POSTS