Overhead of hands on MacBook with blog page open and various items on desk

How to Start Your Own Blog in High School

A blog is a great outlet to express yourself and publish your writing. Here’s how to start your own personal site and how it could benefit your college apps.

Looking for a creative extracurricular activity? Starting a blog is the perfect way for you to express yourself as a person and share what you’re passionate about. Whether it covers news, science, fashion, a controversial issue, or something else, a blog can give your readers—as well as college admission committees—a bird’s eye view of who you are as a person. If you’ve decided to start your own blog, you may be wondering where to even start. Here’s a quick guide to help get your blog up and running.

Choosing a topic and platform

First, you must decide what you want your blog to be about. Think about what interests you. What can you talk about for hours on end? Remember, a blog is something you can use to express who you are, which means you want to choose a topic you can passionately write about. This makes it even more fun when you’re writing too; you don’t want your blog posts to be a worrisome and disheartening task to complete. You should look forward to writing! Once you choose your topic, start thinking about some publishing and creative platforms you can use. Wix, Wordpress, and Blogger are a few good examples of free places to create and/or host your blog. Canva is another fun creative platform you can use; try using their website templates to publish your blog and make it more attractive with logos, fonts, and custom images and graphics.

Related: 3 Easy Ways to Pursue Your Passions in High School

Scheduling and promoting your blog

Starting a blog can take up a lot of your time. It can be hard to keep up with if you don’t create a schedule, especially with school and things like homework and extracurriculars. A schedule is an important component to maintaining a blog if you’re in high school, college, or any other part of your life. Making and following a schedule will also help you post consistently. If you’re inconsistent with the days or times that you post or if you procrastinate, it can cause you to have fewer readers, as they won’t know when there will be something new to read.

Promotion is another vital part of having your own blog. If you don’t promote your site, you won’t have any readers. After working hard to create something that you’re proud of, you want people to see it! There are many ways to promote your blog. Try hanging up fliers if your school allows it. You can also promote your site through social media by sharing new blog posts and reminding your followers every time you post.

How your blog can help (or hurt) your college applications

Having a blog can affect your college applications in a good or bad way—something that may encourage or discourage you from creating your own. Your blog is a reflection of yourself and shows what you’re passionate about. College admission officers may look at your blog and be very intrigued; it can give them a glimpse of who you are outside of grades and test scores. Creating a blog and consistently updating it also shows great worth ethic; they’ll see this is something you’re really interested in and committed to. It can also help with whatever field you hope to pursue; for example, a blog can help prospective Journalism majors become stronger writers and showcase your talent as a writer. You’ll also learn skills that are needed for any job or career, like personal responsibility and time management. However, a blog may hurt your college applications depending on what you write about. For more controversial topics, colleges may not particularly like what you have to say. It may even change whether you’re accepted or not, so always think before you post.

Related: Writing Habits to Kick Before Going to College

Creating a blog is a great idea if you can commit to it. It can be your outlet to express yourself with anything you may be interested in. Maintaining your blog can sometimes be stressful, so it’s important to create a schedule in order to be consistent with your writing. If you choose a topic that’s interesting to you, you’ll look forward to writing and have lots of fun. Sharing what interests you may even help you find a group of like-minded people who have the same likes and dislikes, ultimately leading you to your very own community. Just remember that anything you put on the internet never really goes away, so be smart about what you post and always keep your future in mind.

Did you know your writing could also help you win money for college? Find essay contests and other opportunities using our Scholarship Search tool!

Like what you’re reading?

Join the CollegeXpress community! Create a free account and we’ll notify you about new articles, scholarship deadlines, and more.

Join Now

Tags:

About Tyron Martin Jr.

Tyron Martin Jr.

My name is Tyron Martin Jr. and I'm a freshman at Hahnville High School. I'm a part of band and the Robotics Club. I also have my own personal blog called Young Liberals.

 

Join our community of
over 5 million students!

CollegeXpress has everything you need to simplify your college search, get connected to schools, and find your perfect fit.

Join CollegeXpress
Ruth Aguilar

Ruth Aguilar

High School Class of 2021

CollegeXpress helped me by providing me with many scholarship opportunities and information about universities I want to attend. What I love about CollgeXpress is how it provides a variety of information, and as the first child attending a university next year, it has been very essential and helpful. I’m so grateful for this because the information provided by CollegeXpress has also helped me see that there are so many college opportunities, and it always informs me by email. In other words, CollegeXpress has been like a guide for me as a future college student.

Joan Franklin

Joan Franklin

Counselor

I love this website and have been using it for years with my students. I originally bought products through Wintergreen Orchard House and appreciated having key facts at my fingertips when advising students. Your site is easy to access and offers a wide array of topics I need as a busy college counselor.

Ida Akoto-Wiafe

Ida Akoto-Wiafe

High School Class of 2022

I wanted a school that wasn't too far away from home and could provide me with a full-ride scholarship. CollegeXpress helped me put into perspective the money I had to pay to attend those schools, which ultimately drove me to choose to attend a community college first to get used to being in college before transferring to the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor, one of the colleges I was able to research further on CollegeXpress.

Carlie Cadet

Carlie Cadet

High School Class of 2019

CollegeXpress has helped me learn about an abundance of scholarships available to me and my situation. I was able to do research for colleges in my best interest with your website. I've had multiple colleges email me and offer me multiple scholarships and things of that nature because of this website! Thank you so much for uploading scholarships I didn’t even know existed, even if my life took a huge turn and I wasn’t able to go to college straight out of high school. CollegeXpress helped me a lot in high school to be even more motivated to get into my dream college (which I did, by the way). I'm looking forward to using the materials CollegeXpress has kindly provided me for free to look for scholarships to help pay for college.

Ana Sophia Garcia-Cubas Assemat

Ana Sophia Garcia-Cubas Assemat

$10,000 Scholarship Winner, 2020

CollegeXpress has been an instrumental resource for my scholarship search and has given me the opportunity to try my best so I can graduate from college debt-free.

College Matches
X

Colleges You May Be Interested In

Seton Hall University

South Orange, NJ

Stevenson University

Stevenson, MD

University of Portland

Portland, OR