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Blogging Essay Samples

Type of paper: Essay

Topic: Literature , Journalism , Blogging , Audience , Media , Public Relations , News , Information

Published: 03/02/2020

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A blog is an informational or a site of discussion that is published and appears on the World Wide Web. A blog comprises posts, arranged in a chronological order. The word blog means to add or maintain content to a blog. An example of a blog is twitter. On the argument, “blogging and commentary on new stories provides a useful, narrative source of essential information”, one can barely oppose (Vivian, 2012). Many blogs are useful sources of information. The majority of the blogs are interactive and give an allowance of visitors to post comments and also text each other via GUI widgets that are on the blogs (Rowse 2012). In this sense, blogging is seen as a form of a Social Networking Service. Bloggers not only produce content to post on certain blogs, they help build social relations with other bloggers and readers. Some blogs provide commentaries on particular subjects, while others act as personal online diaries (Stone 2002). Typically, a blog brings together images, texts and links to other blogs. The fact that bloggers are able to comment on interactive formats is important as it also adds up as a source of information. On the second argument, “blogging is an annoying exercise and takes away from legitimate discourse regarding issues, and is typically riddled with bias”, there is a partial truth (Vivian, 2012). Many institutions see blogging as a mean of pushing information to the public directly. Other critics worry that bloggers neither respect the copyright, nor the role the mass media plays in presenting society with quality news. Blogging is not full of biases suggested by the second statement since one can decide what to post on a certain blog. Usually, a blog allows someone to vent their feelings by typing in the text where everyone can read what is going through one’s mind (Stone 2002). Of these, two statements, the second fails in expressing the demerits of blogging completely. Blogging is not annoying; on the contrary, it may be a way many people use to unwind when they are under stress. It may only be annoying since it may take long to post and update an entry on the blog (Vivian, 2012). The first statement is true since blogging is essential, especially when it comes to providing information. Employers can update their employees and even students can get help with their studies.

Print Media:

A number of issues like internal and external pressures affect the decisions a journalist makes on the stories to cover ways of interpreting certain issues and the emphasis to be placed on them (Cho 2012). It is these pressures that sometimes lead to unethical reporting, or bias. Journalists have to achieve relevance in the information they provide, and therefore, are forced to go for ways that apply news values that are attractive and can maintain an audience. Factors such as negativity, where people find bad information being more newsworthy than good information. Moreover, the fact that unexpected news has more impact than an event out of the ordinary makes news-gathering impose certain effects on the audience. The nature of certain pieces of news is an event that is beyond the control of a journalist. Journalists and editors, therefore are faced with the challenge of being the best in their code of ethics (Vivian, 2012). Researchers have suggested that the audience may interpret news as a risk signal. The news value of a story is determined by the amount of change it can cause and the relevance of the change for an individual or group. Certain factors as these, much as journalists would want to manage them affect news and the receptiveness of the news to an audience (Rowse 2012). Journalists are captives of the personal values and biases they bring to work. The value of a journalist is proven by their personal attributes and attitudes. Journalists have a responsibility to inform the crowd, and put to passion what they do. Journalism has many hurdles and is being said to come to a decline (Cho 2012). Journalists are naturally expected to be role models and to have good values. However, they are enslaved by these values at their work places. For example, a journalist may have to cover an investigative story that tackles a certain vice in society. It means that that journalist may have to use a fake identity to get through with the investigation and adapt into the lifestyle of that vice being investigated (Cho 2012). One journalist may find it easier to let go of his values and consider covering the story with more ease (Rowse 2012). Another may find it hard to let go of his values and let the story go. It may be inconveniencing since it may mean giving up one’s career as a journalist. On the other hand, if the career is kept, a journalist will feel that his values have been demeaned. Such a factor would qualify journalism to be a task since the values may enslave a journalist making them ineffective at their workplace (Vivian, 2012). There are concerns, however, that there is a need to work in journalism, research, as well as to apply stronger sociological reviews on the work journalists do (Rowse 2012).

References:

Cho, J. Blog, Inc. (2012) Blogging for Passion, Profit and to Create Community. San Francisco. Rowse, D. (2012) Pro Blogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income. John Wiley and Sons, New Jersey. Stone, B. (2002) Blogging: Genius Strategies for Instant Web Content. New Riders Publishing, Indianapolis. Vivian, J. (2012) The Media of Mass Communication. Allyn & Bacon, Incorporated, Boston,

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example of blog essay

How to Write a Good Blog Post: A Complete Step-by-Step Process

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You pull up a blank document, ready to write a blog post, but the white emptiness stares back. How do you begin?

We’ve all been there, staring into that vast white space, wondering where to start. I’ve felt that subtle anxiety too. Yet, with the right approach, that daunting task can turn into a delightful journey. With an established process, writing becomes less about filling the space and more about connecting deeply with your readers.

Dive into the steps in this post and uncover the secrets to crafting a blog post that truly engages and resonates with your audience.

Table of Contents

How long does it take to write a great blog post?

Step 1: identify your topic, original research, topical research, competitive research, how-to guide, feature article, product review or comparison, link/article roundup, expert roundup, step 4: create an outline, introduction, body content, step 6: pen a headline, step 7: edit and proofread your content, step 8: add your meta data, step 9: publish your post, it’s all about practice.

As you get into writing blog posts, you might wonder how long you should take to write a good one. Are you taking too long? Should you spend more time?

Orbit Media Studios found that bloggers take an average of four hours and one minute to complete a blog post in their 2022 survey . For reference, these folks wrote an average of 1,416 words per blog post.

example of blog essay

But think of this number as an estimate. It takes everyone a different amount of time to write a blog post based on factors like:

  • Personal writing speed: All bloggers write at a different pace, and they’re all valid.
  • Subject matter knowledge : It’s faster to write about a subject you know over one you don’t.
  • Topic complexity: Most people will need more time to write about piezoelectric ceramics than how to blow a bubble with gum.
  • Research requirements : It’ll take longer to put together a blog post that weaves together original interviews than one with a few online sources.

Plus, Orbit Media Studios discovered that bloggers who spend more time on their blog posts get more success. Thirty-three percent of respondents who spent six or more hours per blog post reported “strong results.” Compare that number to the 22% benchmark.

You’ll see that the first steps to writing a blog post involve careful preparation. Start by choosing a topic to write about.

Get as specific as possible when you pick your subject. Specificity lets you differentiate your content from blog posts on similar topics and helps you cover an idea in-depth. Let’s say you want to write about how to cook a steak — you could narrow that down to how to cook a T-bone steak on a grill.

After you decide on a topic, establish the angle you want to take. Going back to our example of how to cook a T-bone steak on a grill, you could come from a scientific angle. For your blog post, you could consult a scientist on why certain techniques make a better steak.

Step 2: Do your research

Now that you know what you want to write about, you can research your topic . Blog post research falls into three categories:

Original research comes from data you generate yourself by consulting other people. Not every blog post needs to have original research to have high-quality content, but it can contribute to truly unique writing.

Try these tactics to get one-of-a-kind sources for your post:

  • Surveys: Use a free tool like SurveyMonkey or Google Forms to ask people questions on a large scale. Find people who know about your topic at your organization, subscribed to your mailing list on the subject, or in an online community.
  • Polls: Polls work well for asking a broad audience a single question. Many social media and communication apps have built-in poll features, such as Twitter and Slack.
  • Interviews: Ask experts on your subject for an interview over email, on a video call, or in person. Reach out to your colleagues and network to see if they know anyone. You can also use a service like Help a Reporter Out to get expert quotes.

example of blog essay

Topical research is the research you conduct around the internet. Use your preferred search engine to find online sources with these traits:

  • Authoritative: The author or website should have plenty of experience or credentials on the topic. When applicable, they should use solid research to back up their claims.
  • Recent: Aim for resources written three or fewer years ago when possible.
  • Helpful: When your reader clicks through to your source, they should get value out of it and understand how it connects to your article.

This type of research often flies under the radar for newer blog post writers. Competitive research involves evaluating other articles on your subject. By understanding the other content out there on your topic, you can find ways to improve upon it.

Don’t just look for what ideas the other blog posts include. Instead, think about what they’re missing. Maybe they don’t cover a point you feel is important, or you could format your content more clearly than them.

Step 3: Choose the type of blog post you’ll write

With knowledge of your topic on hand, it’s time to decide how you’ll present it. Some popular blog post genres include:

List blog posts organize information into a list with headings naming each item. They often come in the form of numbered lists with a title featuring the number of items, such as “5 Ways to Fold a Towel.”

example of blog essay

When you write a list blog post, you don’t have to make your list the only content. HelpScout’s 13 Best Practices for Improving Online Customer Service introduces online customer service, then digs into its items.

A checklist blog post provides a checklist for readers to follow to perform a task.

example of blog essay

These posts often provide a simplified checklist to follow and then provide more details for each item, like our blog post checklist .

A how-to guide walks the reader through the steps it takes to perform an action.

example of blog essay

These blog posts rely heavily on lists and images to help readers understand each part of the process. Melly Sews’s how-to guide to sewing a flat-felled seam uses both.

An interview blog post showcases an interview the author has with someone who has insights to share about the article topic.

example of blog essay

You can go about one of these blog posts in two ways. Either list out your questions and answers in a Q&A format or use your interview answers to tell a story. Notion did the latter in Three-time YC founder and first-time mom finds flow in Notion .

A feature article brings together original research and interviews to explore a subject. Since features often involve interviews, they can overlap with interview blog posts.

example of blog essay

Some blogs take a feature-first approach to posting, such as Microsoft’s Unlocked blog. One example of one of their features is Can an alphabet save a culture?

In the context of blog posts, an essay presents the author’s argument or opinion. The writer uses research and evidence to back up their points.

example of blog essay

Media Strategies Aren’t as Crazy as They Seem from the Animalz blog features real-life examples that back up a unique perspective.

News posts share news from your community or company.

example of blog essay

On business blogs, a lot of news posts relate to company and product updates, like SparkToro Now Has 50% More Podcasts from SparkToro.

A case study tells a success story about a product or service. It generally focuses on one event or customer.

example of blog essay

This type of blog post requires original interviews with the customer involved so you can get their perspective on your work. With some products, you can share the results of how you helped the customer. Take Buffer, a social media scheduling tool, sharing posts from its customer in this case study as an example.

Product reviews and comparisons evaluate the usefulness of products for the reader. Reviews focus on a single product, while comparisons compare the features of multiple products.

example of blog essay

Some of these product posts come in the form of a list ranking the best products in a category, like Zapier’s email newsletter software roundup .

Link and article roundups bring together links to online resources or articles on a specific subject.

example of blog essay

Some of these roundups are more purchase-focused, such as Good On You’s roundup of eco-friendly fashion deals .

Expert roundup blog posts present opinions on a topic from multiple subject matter experts.

example of blog essay

This format can overlap with other formats, like in Databox’s blog posts that synthesize expert opinions into lists. The Heroes of Business Transparency is one example.

Many people skip or rush through this step even though it’s just as important as the actual writing. A detailed blog post outline gives your article structure and lets you evaluate your overall argument before you write out the full post.

It also helps combat writer’s block. At the outline stage, you only have to get a basic idea down, taking off the pressure of writing a complete idea. Then, when you get to the writing stage, you’ll have your outline to reference when you don’t know what sentence to write next.

Follow these steps to write an outline:

  • List each section and subsection of your blog post. Each section could cover a list item, a point in your argument, a step in a process, etc.
  • Add up to three main points per section. Here’s where you’ll start forming the ideas you’ll cover. As you practice making outlines, you might find it helpful to get even more detailed at this stage.
  • Include any links and examples you want to include for your points. Place your sources where you plan to reference them so you can add them easily in the writing stage.

Here’s a hypothetical outline for a blog post by my cat on why I should feed her a second dinner:

example of blog essay

You can go more in-depth with your points in your outline, but here’s how the formatting should look.

I recommend writing your outline in a separate document and copying any headers and links over to your draft document. It can be tempting to write your outline and fill out your draft from there, but your document will get disorganized quickly with this approach.

Step 5: Write your post

Onto the writing itself!

Make sure to follow web writing best practices when you write your content.

People read 25% slower onscreen, and they skim rather than read. Web text should be short, scannable, and structured as linked, topical pages. Nielsen Norman Group

Shortening or “chunking” your content helps readers skim, so try to keep your sentences to 25 words or fewer and paragraphs to three sentences or fewer. Make sure to follow the style guide for your blog if you have one as well.

A blog post consists of three main sections that require different approaches:

Integrate your blog post’s angle and an emotional hook into your introduction. This technique establishes what makes your post unique from the start and draws in the reader.

example of blog essay

For example, in this blog post, I’m trying to provide a comprehensive process so you never feel lost when writing. I explained that angle in the second paragraph of my intro.

As for the emotional hook, try putting yourself in the reader’s shoes or telling a story. I used the example of staring at a blank page wondering what to do next because I’ve been there and know others have, too.

You could also use the Animalz technique of using an unexpected hook and referencing it throughout your blog post. This method takes practice and careful thought, but that hard work really pays off.

Whichever hook you use, keep your introduction concise — about three paragraphs or fewer. An intro that goes on too long can lose the reader’s interest.

A quick side note: You don’t have to write your introduction first if it comes easier to you after you write the rest of your post. Mark it for later and revisit it when you have more context to work with.

Your body content consists of all the words between the introduction and conclusion.

As you write this part of your post, try to cover all the information important for your reader to know. If you have a word limit to stay within, consider linking out to resources on complicated sub-topics.

Speaking of linking, include links to other posts on your blog and trusted sources throughout your body content. Search engines prioritize websites that link relevant pages to each other. Plus, it works as a way to cite your sources when you use outside information.

Just make sure that any site you link to is relevant to your post. Adding links for linking’s sake will make it harder to establish authority and search engine performance.

Lastly, make sure your writing is crisp, clear, and concise by keeping paragraphs three sentences or less, and each sentence 25 words or less .

Here’s an example of a well-structured post’s body content.

example of blog essay

Time for the grand finale. You have multiple ways to go about writing a conclusion, such as:

  • A summary: Summarize the key points you covered in your post.
  • A takeaway: Provide a takeaway from the ideas you presented in your post. You could go back to the angle you established at the beginning, for example.
  • A redirection: Connect your blog post to another post on your blog and direct your reader there for further reading.
  • A bonus tip: Offer one final tip for the reader to use as they apply the knowledge in your post.

When it feels appropriate, you can also add a call to action to subscribe to your newsletter, try your product, or perform another transactional action. Connect your call to action back to the rest of your conclusion so it doesn’t feel pigeonholed.

After you finish writing your first draft, give it a headline . You can write the headline before your post if you like — there’s no hard and fast rule. For this blog post, we’re writing the headline after the content so you have your draft on hand to inspire your headline.

Follow these steps to craft a top-notch headline for your article:

  • If you write blog posts with search engine optimization (SEO) in mind, grab the top keyword for your article. This keyword should have a direct relation to your subject.
  • Write down 25 versions of your headline to give yourself plenty of choices to consider. Make sure your keyword feels like a natural part of each headline if you include it.
  • Narrow those 25 options to your five favorites.
  • Choose a “winner” from your five finalists.

CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer Studio can help you identify what headlines will hook readers and work for SEO. It has a Google Chrome extension and WordPress plugin. If you don’t have a plan that supports plugins, the extension provides a prompt alongside your WordPress headline.

example of blog essay

Every blog post needs editing to shine, no matter how talented the writer is. Give your content plenty of this TLC to create quality results.

Start with a basic spelling and grammar check using your word processor’s tools. Then, you can use a tool like Grammarly or Hemingway for more in-depth fixes. While Grammarly performs an advanced spelling and grammar scan, Hemingway checks sentence structure, like so:

example of blog essay

After you perform these checks, you should still read through your writing manually. Your human eyes will catch mistakes the computer misses. Plus, your editing should focus as much on the quality of your ideas as it does on your spelling and grammar.

We provided some tips to make the manual editing and proofreading process easier in an earlier WordPress blog post. I also suggest asking yourself these questions as you go through your content:

  • Do my logic and arguments make sense?
  • Did I use my SEO keywords? Did I insert them naturally?
  • Do I notice any words being used frequently that I can mix up with adjectives?
  • Did I vary my sentence structure for more dynamic reading?
  • Will my blog post be readable for my average reader?
  • Did I follow my blog’s style throughout the post?

Your blog post’s title tag, meta description, and URL all influence how people find and understand it.

The title tag and meta description are the title and description you see for a page in search results. By default, WordPress uses your headline as the title tag and your excerpt as the meta description. But, if they aren’t the proper length for search results, they can get cut off.

It’s best practice to write a separate title tag and meta description so you know they’ll look good. In WordPress, you can edit this data by changing your post’s code or using a plugin .

Yoast and All in One SEO are two popular plugin options. These plugins add a box below your content in the WordPress editor where you can manage your title tag and meta description. They also guide you through writing those search specs well.

example of blog essay

Your URL slug is the unique string of words that appears at the end of your URL.

For example, this blog post’s URL is:

example of blog essay

Its slug is:

example of blog essay

That’s the part of the URL that’s different for each blog post.

WordPress pulls your URL slug from your headline, but that slug usually isn’t optimized for search results. According to Ahrefs , a good slug follows keywords and summarizes the essence of the blog post.

No need for a plugin or fancy coding to edit your URL slug. Go to the Block tab in the right-hand menu, then edit your URL using the URL option. Save your draft or update your blog post to save your new slug.

example of blog essay

Now that you have your meta data set up, you can finalize your content for publishing. Copy and paste your blog post from your word processor to your WordPress post. The formatting will carry over to the block editor.

Or, you may have written your blog post within the blog post editor. I generally don’t recommend this approach in case you accidentally click “Publish,” but I know some writers get by just fine doing it. You do you.

If you paste your content from a Google Doc or another online text editor, go through your post and re-upload your images from your computer. The images you paste from another source are kept on your editor’s website, and you’ll want them on your WordPress site for safekeeping.

Once you establish a solid process for writing your blog posts, the next step to mastery is practice. As you adjust your system to your workflow, you’ll know what to do next instead of hoping words will magically appear on your blank page. And we’ll be with you as you practice. Just use this guide to help keep you on track.

example of blog essay

Pair your airtight writing process with a good topic generation system , and you’ll become an unstoppable blogger. We can’t wait to see what you write!

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About the author, melissa king.

Melissa King writes actionable blog posts about content, marketing, and productivity for tech companies. Find more of her work at melissakingfreelance.com.

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Blogging Your Passion

Blog Examples for Beginners: How to Write Your First Blog Post

first blog post

Many new bloggers struggle with creating their first piece of content. The key is to start with a simple, straightforward sample blog post that showcases your writing style and the topics you're passionate about.

Choose a subject you know well, create an outline to organize your thoughts, and then let the words flow.

Remember, your first post doesn't have to be perfect - the goal is to get comfortable with the writing process and share your unique perspective with the world.

Back in 2009, with fingers shaking, I hit publish on my very first blog post. I was fearful of what people would think. Would I get a negative comment? That left me with many questions.

It was hard enough figuring out how to start a blog , but now I had to find a way to share my thoughts consistently.

Would anyone find what I had to say valuable? Was I just contributing to the noise online? Did my message matter?

Maybe you have some of those same fears and doubts. If so, you’re in the right place. I have a simple first example of a blog post you can use. Follow these four simple steps and launch your blog to the world.

First Blog Entry Examples (with Template)

Before we get into the 4-step first blog post template, we need to answer two important questions first:

  • Question 1. What tool will I use to start writing my blog posts?
  • Question 2. How can I come up with a good idea to make a great post?

Where to Write Your Blog Posts

So, let’s talk about some blog writing tools you can use. It doesn’t matter where you write your blog posts as long as you have a simple repeatable process to follow. Here are six of my favorite writing tools.

1. Directly in WordPress

If your blog is powered by WordPress , you can always write your blog articles there. It keeps things easy and less complicated for you. Regardless of which writing tool you use, you’re going to need to eventually copy it into WordPress. Since you are just getting started, WordPress might be the best tool to begin with.

blog writing in WordPress

2. Google Docs

The nice thing about writing in Google Docs is that you have another place where your content is stored. That way if you ever lost your work , you have a backup. I also like to use Google Docs because it makes it easy to collaborate with others.

Google Docs is a great writing tool if you want to use add-on tools to make your writing easier. For example, I personally like to use two add-ons. The first one is Grammarly , which will check your grammar and spelling as you write. Even though I have an editor that combs over every blog post, it’s nice to have a built-in grammar checker as you write your draft post.

The second add-on is the SEMrush SEO Writing Assistant.

While outside the scope of this post, learning SEO (search engine optimization) is a great skill to learn as a blogger. It can give you a competitive edge over your competition. SEMrush’s add-on offers keyword suggestions I might want to include in my article to get more search engine traffic.

Using Google Docs to Write Blog Posts

3. CoSchedule

I’ve been a fan of CoSchedule for a few years now. I even wrote a blog post review on my experience with it. Basically, it’s an all-in-one calendar for content, social media, email marketing, and more.

It can be a bit expensive for bloggers just starting out, but if you want to manage all of your projects in one place, it’s a great tool.

CoSchedule writing tool

Have you heard of Kajabi ? It’s not just a blog writing tool but has many other powerful functions to support your blog business. I primarily use Kajabi to host all of my online courses, membership site, landing pages, and online store. If you want to sell digital products and build a blog, you can do both with Kajabi.

Kajabi would replace your monthly hosting cost and WordPress. Blogging for beginners on Kajabi is pretty straight forward. As you can tell from the image below, you have a title and body section. Create your headline, write your blog entry, and hit publish.

Writing blog posts in Kajabi

5. Microsoft Word

This is the tool of choice for many bloggers when starting out. Most people are familiar with Word since it was the tool they used to write their papers in school. One word of warning: be careful about using copy and paste into WordPress. Sometimes the formatting doesn’t transfer correctly. Always paste your text into the text side (or HTML side) and not on the visual editor.

6. Evernote

Another popular writing tool is Evernote . The benefits of Evernote are two-fold. First, you can access it online and offline. If you are flying on a plane, you can work on your blog post even without internet access. Later, your document will automatically sync with the cloud.

Secondly, you can easily share it with others. Similar to Google Drive, you can share a link to your note or notebook in Evernote and collaborate together.

How to write blog posts in Evernote

Remember this. Writing your post can happen anywhere. You can start with one of the six tools mentioned above, or go with your own. It comes down to personal preference. Whatever tool helps you be consistent with your writing is what matters most.

Blog Post Ideas for Beginners

Maybe your challenge is not where to do your writing, but what to blog about . Regularly coming up with blog post topics doesn’t have to be difficult. I believe your first blog post ideas should come from a place of passion.

Set a timer for five minutes. Write out as many answers as you can think of to the following series of questions:

  • Why am I starting this blog in the first place?
  • Who do I most want to help?
  • What lessons from my own life can I share with others?
  • What are the top three to five things someone should know in my niche in order to be successful?
  • How will this blog help others?

The 4-Step Blog Post Template for Your First Blog Entry

Next you want to go ahead and write your blog sample. After working with thousands of new bloggers, I’ve created a simple 4-step template to help you write your first blog post fast.

Here are a few blog introduction examples that are my favorite:

  • Step 1. Create a catchy headline
  • Step 2. Write the outline before you start writing
  • Step 3: Edit your blog post draft
  • Step 4: Promote your blog post to the world

Step 1. Create a Catchy Headline

Post titles are super important for any blogger. Treat them like newspaper headlines. A headline on a newspaper makes or breaks the sale of that paper. Your headline should be catchy, interesting, and leave just a bit of curiosity.

When it comes to deciding on a headline, choose one of the following three strategies:

  • The magic of list posts
  • The power of “how-to” posts
  • The blog announcement post

The magic of list posts. It’s been proven over time that we love lists. We want to know not only what’s on the list but what didn’t get included. We click on the headline because we know the article is scannable and we can see what is included in the list.

Here are a few examples you can use to create your own headline:

  • 5 Quick Tips for __________
  • 10 Things You Should Never Do When _________
  • 5 Ways to __________ (without being pushy)
  • 5 great things to do with __________
  • 7 ways to be a ________ ninja
  • 10 Reasons Not to _____
  • 7 _____ Danger Signs
  • 7 things _____ Should Never Do
  • 21 Secrets the _____ Experts Don’t Want You to Know
  • 10 ______ Facts You Need to Know

The power of “how-to” posts . Another strategy that will give you tons of blog post ideas is to cover the most important “how-tos” in your niche. Readers love practical posts that lead them to action. It feels like time well spent if I can take concrete action on something I just learned.

A few examples might be:

  • How to recover from a _____________
  • How NOT to get ____________
  • How to Get _____ in Half the Time
  • How to Beat the Fear of _____
  • How _________ Will Save You Time, Money, and Stress
  • How to clean ____________
  • How to maintain _____________
  • How to take care of _____________
  • How to repair the __________________

The blog announcement post. The last strategy I want to share with you is a post you would typically only write once. This post will be a foundational article you will refer back to for years to come.

The two early strategies (list posts and how-to posts) are the formats I use 90% of the time week in and week out. You’re welcome to start with one of them to get your first post published if you would like.

The blog post announcement post is easy enough to write because it doesn’t require much guesswork. In a moment, I will share with you a simple writing outline you can use.

As far as a headline, go with something like: “How (name of your blog) Will Help You (insert the goal, promise or purpose of your blog).”

If you are still at a loss of how to create a catchy headline, then consider using the headline analyzer tool from CoSchedule. This tool will analyze your headline and give you a score. Don’t worry about trying to score a 100 on your headline. I usually try to get at least a 70.

Step 2. Write the Outline Before You Start Writing

Many aspiring bloggers are excited until it’s time to sit down and write. Why does it feel like all of my energy and creativity gets sucked about when it’s time to write?

See Post: 4 Proven Ways of How to Start a Blog Post

Other bloggers say they just want for inspiration to strike before they sit down to write. If that was true for me, I’d be waiting a long time.

Don’t wait till you feel like writing. Most writers I know don’t like writing, they like having written . There’s a big difference. Never forget the words of Harvard psychologist Jerome Bruner who said:

“You’re more likely to act yourself into a feeling than feel yourself into action.”

If you’ve successfully accomplished the last step of deciding on a headline, it makes writing much easier. The headline creates the outline for you. Once you’ve nailed down the outline, all that’s left is to fill in the text.

Let’s look at how to create an outline from each of our three examples above.

Create an outline for your list post. If you’ve chosen a list post headline, then you must first decide how many make your list. You can do as few as three or as many as 101. It really comes down to the purpose of the post.

I usually start by opening up my writing tool of choice and brainstorming as many examples as I can think of. Once I’ve created the list, I have my number and I have my outline.

Create an outline for your how-to post . If you decided to go with a how-to post, then the process will be slightly different. First, start with a beginner’s mind. It’s easy to skip a few steps because you think they are assumed.

We all have the curse of knowledge. We simply forget what it’s like to be a beginner.

When outlining a how-to post, you want to think in terms of steps. What’s the very first step I should take? Once I complete that step, what’s next? Repeat the same process until all of the steps are out of your head and on paper (or screen).

Now, you may end up combining steps and that’s okay. A how-to post will have a minimum of three steps. The maximum number of steps depends on the topic you have chosen.

Create an outline for your blog announcement post. If you chose option number three, then there is a specific format you should follow.

WARNING : Be careful not to make your first blog post about you .

Yes, you will be introducing yourself and maybe even sharing your story. But never forget that your blog is for others. You want to help, serve, or inspire.

The good news is that I already have an outline you should follow. The body of your blog post will include these subheadlines:

  • State the goal of your blog
  • How this blog will help
  • Who you are

The opening of your blog post should state the goal of your blog . Why are you starting this blog in the first place? Is there a mission or cause behind your desire to start this blog?

Next, talk about how your blog will help the reader. What are some of the specific ways you plan to help others? Will you be publishing a weekly blog post? Will you launch a podcast? Will your blog include videos?

Finally, fully introduce you and your story. Always remember that you are not the hero of the blog. Your target audience is the hero. You are just the guide. Because of that, we don’t lead by touting our credentials or why we are qualified to help.

Still, people will want to know who is behind the blog so feel free to share your story. But lead with serving and helping first.

Once your outline is ready, just focus on writing a paragraph or two for each point in your outline. Once you do, you have a rough draft ready to go. Now, it’s time to edit.

Step 3. Edit Your Blog Post Draft

Blogging is a different way of writing than when you were in English class. It’s more conversational for starters. Also, we break a few of the rules along the way.

Follow this list of basic guidelines and you’ll be a pro in no time:

  • Use bullets – My number one tip is to break up your content to make it easy to consume on the computer or mobile device.
  • Subheadings – We already covered this in the outline section, but add lots of subheadings
  • Short sentences – Keep your sentences short. Enough said.
  • Short paragraphs – Notice how many of the paragraphs in this blog post are two or three sentences, max. Make your content easy to scan.
  • Relevant Images – Add images to your post to make it more engaging
  • Look for grammar errors – I like to use Grammarly to help me with my grammatical construction.
  • Add a call to action – Add ways for readers to join your email list sprinkled throughout your blog posts.
  • Publish your post – Get your blog post out to the world! Don’t worry about mistakes! You can always come back and fix them later.

Step 4. Promote Your Blog Post to the World

Once your post is live, it’s time to share your post with the world. I know this can be a scary feeling when first starting out.

My best tip is to not focus on yourself, but focus on how your blog will help others.

An ideal place to start is social media. What social media accounts are you already using? Share your blog post there first. Remember, you can do it in a non-pushy way.

If you’re not sure what to write, a have a sample script below you can use:

“Hey friends, I’ve decided to start a blog with the goal of helping others. I’ve just published my first post!

It would mean the world to me if you would click the link, read this post, and then come back here and share your thoughts with me. Thanks!”

Now, you don’t want to hit up your social media newsfeed daily to push people over to your blog post. We want to be helpful, not annoying.

You can also enlist some friends to help get the word out. Come up with a list of 10-20 friends who you would consider to be supportive. Be sure this list includes friends and not just acquaintances. Otherwise, this exercise will not work.

Send them a message on Facebook Messenger. Let them know you recently launched a blog and it would mean the world to you if they would share it on social media.

To make this easy for them, you’ve already typed up a script they can post. It goes like this:

“Hey, guys! My friend Sally, just launched a blog designed to help overwhelmed moms claim back control of their lives. You should check it out here: LINK”

The point of all of this is to get referral traffic to your site. They have friends you don’t have. They can reach people you cannot reach.

Blog Writing Examples

Congrats on getting your first blog post published! Would it be helpful to see a few examples? Let’s take a look at a few first blog post examples.

Example #1: CPA Career Coach

My first blog was launched in 2009 and it was designed to help accounting and finance professionals find meaning in their work. My first post had three parts.

Part 1. An Opening Story

begin with a story

Part 2. The List Post Outline (4 Major Points)

map out your outline

Part 3. How This Blog Will Help You & Who I Am

Share your bio

Let’s take a look at one more example.

Example #2: Personal Branding Blog

A few years later, I launched JonathanMilligan.com. The goal of the new blog was to help people discover their purpose and be more productive. Here’s the outline I used:

Part 1. Who This Blog is For

Create an opening hook

Part 2. How This Blog Will Help You

Describe how you will help in the body of the post

Part 3. Who I Am

add a conclusion to your blog post

Frequently Asked Questions

What are some blog post examples for students.

Here are some blog post examples that could be great for students to write:

  • A day in the life of a student, documenting your typical schedule, classes, extracurriculars, and study habits.
  • Your biggest challenges as a student and how you've worked to overcome them, sharing strategies that have helped you succeed academically and personally.
  • A review or analysis of something you've studied recently that fascinated you, like a book, historical event, scientific concept, or work of art.
  • Reflections on a meaningful volunteer, work, research or travel experience and what you learned from it that ties into your studies and future goals.

What are some personal blog examples for beginners?

Here are a few personal blog post ideas that are great for beginners:

  • An introduction post sharing some interesting facts about yourself, your background, hobbies, and why you decided to start a blog.
  • A post about a recent memorable experience like a trip, event, or personal accomplishment, including photos and key details.
  • A list-style post compiling your favorite books, movies, recipes, productivity tips, or anything else you're passionate about.
  • A reflective post discussing a challenge you've faced, lesson you've learned, or aspiration you have for the future and your personal growth.

Final Thoughts

There you have it! You should now be well on your way to blogging your passion and sharing your message with the world. You got this!

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How to write an academic blog post

Learn how to write a good blog post, including 10 top tips.

Blogs can be a great way for academic authors to reach audiences they might not otherwise have access to. Read on to learn how to write an academic blog post and discover expert tips.

Why write academic blog posts?

“Blogging has become a really huge [and] popular way of disseminating research […], talking to each other as a community, and sharing knowledge.”

Inger Mewburn, Managing editor of the  Thesis Whisperer blog

Vector illustration of a character wearing blue, holding a laptop in one hand, and other hand in their pocket.

There are many benefits of writing academic blog posts, they:

Provide an opportunity to test an idea, concept or style of presentation. This can help you improve your communication skills, and the way you present information.

Help your research reach a wider audience, including the general public. Blog posts make your research sharable on social media (such as Twitter and Facebook), helping to drive people to your research, increase readership, and eventually citations.

Allow you to use your writing skills to extract the essential information from your paper or thought process, to create a concise, readable blog post. This is a very valuable skill for researchers to have.

Of course, there are also some reasons people decide against writing academic blog posts. Blogging can be time-consuming, especially if you’re the one setting up and running the blog. If you’re worried about your lack time resource, you could consider pitching your idea to a well-established blog. This way you would write an individual post, rather than regularly writing blog posts to build up your blog library

Examples of academic blogs

Before you start writing your own blog post, it’s worth looking at some examples for inspiration.

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy  – an academic research blog where authors publishing in the journal are also invited to write a blog post to go with their article. You can  read insights  from the editor who set up this initiative.

Patter  – another blog offering a wealth of support on academic research and writing, edited by Professor Pat Thomson.

The Thesis Whisperer  – an academic support blog edited by Inger Mewburn which covers all sorts of topics on research support. This also includes general writing advice and presenting and publishing tips.

Regional Studies Association blog  – a space for society members to share ideas and insights from their research.

How to structure your academic blog posts

There is not a set academic blog structure. The more informal nature of blogs allows you to choose a more creative approach than you typically can, when writing an academic article. But you still must make sure your ideas flow and the blog structure make sense.

Here are some things to remember when thinking about the structure of an academic blog:

Organize your key points so that the most important ideas are earlier on. Unfortunately, you can’t rely on people to reach the end of your article, so you want to catch their attention as early as possible.

Because blogs are online content, you can easily use links, images, videos and other multimedia to help the reader understand what you’re saying. Think about the best way to showcase your blog post.

Keep your paragraphs short, use lists and headings to structure your writing and break up your text into sections. This will help keep your readers engaged.

example of blog essay

How do you write an academic blog post? Here are some top tips

Pick your topic, set your aims

Before you start writing your blog post be clear and specific on the topic and why you’re writing it. You might want to cover what you learned from a recent conference you attended or write a lay summary of a journal article you’ve published.

Choose the right platform

Once you know your topic and what you want to get out of writing the blog post, choose the platform which will meet your aims. Do you want to allow for discussion and engagement? Write for a blog which allows for comments – though make sure you’re prepared to respond to these. Do you want to reach a particular audience? Then write for a blog with this readership.

Use an effective title

For a blog post you want to use a catchy title, encouraging people to click through. But at the same time, make sure it isn’t misleading and accurately reflects the content of the post. Snappy titles e.g., ’10 tips on ….’, ‘5 things I learned about…’ can often appeal to the time-short reader.

Know your audience

Who do you want to reach? Is it researchers in your field? Those from outside your area of specialty? The general public? Policy makers or the media? Keeping your audience at the forefront of your mind is essential in every decision – from choosing the title to selecting images that will resonate.

Translate your language

An academic blog post is different to an academic journal article. Often, they are intended for a wider audience, including those outside of academia so you need to tailor language to your audience. As journal and blog editor Per Carlbring notes, “do not use unnecessary technical expressions – it’s a difficult art to explain complicated principles in an easy way.”

Again, blogs are typically a lot more concise and briefer than journal articles. So, translate your arguments into the essential points.

Make it visual

Use appropriate videos or pictures to help break the text up and make your blog post more engaging to the audience. Make sure you have appropriate permissions to use any images, giving credit to the artist where necessary.

Think about the whole picture

Your blog post is a publication, so make sure it fits in with the rest of your research ensuring you cite it appropriately and bear in mind any intellectual property issues. If your research has not yet been published, bear in mind any risks with giving information away.

Include your social media handles

Remember to include links to your social media accounts, whether that’s Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or any other academic networking channel. By adding these to your blog posts it will help you build up your online research profile.

Be aware of your digital footprint

It is not uncommon for employers to look up potential candidates online. So, ensure your tone is professional and don’t include anything you wouldn’t want to be quoted on.

Take a look at our Research Communication Services  for more help in communicating your research to your audience in an engaging way.

Hear more about academic blogging and other essentials for researchers from  Inger Mewburn, Managing editor of the  Thesis Whisperer blog , in our  podcast discussing 4 skills for researchers of the future .

Sign up for the  Research Insights newsletter to keep up to date with the research published in your field.

Research impact collection

Research Impact Collection on Taylor & Francis Online.

We are delighted to showcase the work of expert authors, across the human, social and natural sciences, around the red-hot topic of research impact.

Our global portfolio of books and journals  contains countless insights into research impact, whilst increasing awareness and understanding. The collection also provides practical tips for researchers around the world.

Browse our  Research Impact Collection  today.

example of blog essay

How to Develop a Blog Writing Style (Blog Style Guide) Creating a Blog Style (Free Style Guide Template) & 7 Examples to Learn From

In this guide, we’re breaking down how to create a blog writing style that’ll help you stand out from the competition. We’ll also cover how to develop a blog style guide (including a free blog style guide template) and walk through several real blog style examples for inspiration.

example of blog essay

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There are so many blogs out there ( 600+ million to be exact). Hence the need for developing your own blog style , to set yourself apart from the crowd in your niche . From starting a blog and honing in on your own blog writing style (over time), to developing a more clear blog style guide to cover things like formatting, grammar & tone—it’s never been more important to have a clear style.

Plenty of blogs have similar content, within the same niche. They might have the same types of product roundups, tutorials, or advice posts.

So what makes readers pick one blog over another? Why do readers keep coming back to some blogs again and again—subscribing to the email newsletter, buying their products, even recommending the blog to their friends—while other blogs languish unread? Often, it all comes down to the blogger’s style.

When there’s very little to distinguish several different blogs in terms of the information being presented, readers will opt for a blog that has an engaging tone and voice. This is what keeps them coming back for more.

In this guide, we’re going to dig into what exactly blog style is, then discover how you can develop a strong blog writing style. We’ll end with some tips (plus a free blog style guide template) you can use to create your own blog’s style guide.

How to Develop a Blog Writing Style (Create a Blog Style Guide) & 7 Examples to Learn From

What exactly is your blog style, examples of great blog styles (from 7 different bloggers), how to develop your blog style: 6 powerful tips.

  • Creating a Style Guide for Your Blog Content: Free Template

Disclosure: Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links and at no additional cost to you, I’ll earn a commission. Know that I only recommend products and services I’ve personally used and stand behind. When you use one of my affiliate links, the company compensates me, which helps me run this blog and keep my in-depth content free of charge for readers (like you).

Want My Free Blog Style Guide Template?

Grab my free template (in Google Doc format) and define your unique blogging style today.

Ready to get started on developing a blog writing style for yourself? Let’s do it.

Your blog’s style is how you present your content. It can include visual aspects of your brand (like color palettes , font choices & layout elements )—but in this guide, we’re focusing primarily on developing your blog writing  style, tone, formatting and the like.

Your writing style might be:

  • Warm and friendly
  • Silly… or even a little zany
  • Calm and collected
  • Chatty and intimate
  • Straightforward and factual
  • Outspoken and forthright
  • Impassioned

All of these styles could attract certain types of readers. They might also put off some readers—but that’s okay! Your blog won’t appeal to every single reader out there; it shouldn’t. Instead, you want your style to be a good fit for the type of audience you want to attract, and the brand you’re aiming to build.

One of the best ways to understand blog style is to look at how different bloggers write. We’re going to dig into a few very distinctive blogs and see how they do things.

1. RyRob (My Blog)

ryrob-Blog-Style-Example-of-Developing-a-Visual-Style-Screenshot

As a veteran blogger of over 10 years now, I’ve developed a very particular blog writing style that’s casual, light, authoritative, irreverent, fun and unashamedly silly at times. For example, see how I position my tone around the blogging advice you can expect to get from me, as spelled out simply on my homepage: “No tricks. No hacks. No bullshit.”

Example-of-Blog-Writing-Style-RyRob-Screenshot

On the visual style front, I’ve leaned into my favorite fonts (which I talk all about in my blog layout guide ) and color scheme that emphasizes blues and grays. Here’s what my typical blog header section looks like:

Screenshot Example of Beginner's Guide Post Template on ryrob

From a layout style perspective, a couple of years ago I redesigned my entire blog. Along with that project, I also decided to remove my blog sidebar to help with Google PageSpeed performance , and this decision later turned into a really positive one in terms of the influence it had on my overall blog style. I was able to move into a more modern, sleek, lightweight and reader-friendly view for my WordPress blog that has a clear look like I’m properly established in my niche.

Today, I’m moving very intentionally away from just being a blogger—and into the arena of offering tools. I’m building free blogging tools for my audience, that solve the problems I had when I was just starting out:

  • Free Keyword Research Tool : See monthly search volume, difficulty and get dozens of keyword ideas to blog about.
  • Blog Title Generator Tool : Get dozens of free AI-powered blog title ideas & content topics to write about.

This is with the goal of providing value to my readers & evolving my blogging style into an even more authoritative space.

2. Cup of Jo

Cup of Jo Blog Style Example (Joanna Goddard) Screenshot

Cup of Jo, by influencer Joanna Goddard, is a hugely popular lifestyle blog. Posts have a chatty, friendly, very informal tone. Here’s an example, from Joanna’s post Have a Yummy Weekend :

Tomorrow we’re going to see our friends’ teenagers in their school play! I LOVE school plays (remember this funny SNL skit ?). Hope you have a good one, and here are a few links from around the web…

3. Smart Passive Income

How to Name Your Blog Example Smart Passive Income

Smart Passive Income is Pat Flynn’s long-running business blog. He writes in a straight-talking, honest way that doesn’t sugarcoat the truth – but that offers lots of inspiration and positive advice aimed at encouraging people to take action.

Here’s an example, from How to Get Into Freelancing (And Get Your FIRST Client!) :

And when you’re first starting out, freelancing is the number one way to get started online. It’s not passive income, which is an important thing to understand. Freelancing is definitely not passive; it’s super active. If you don’t do the work, you’re not going to get paid. But if you are dedicated and put in the effort, freelancing is a great way to get your foot in the door of an industry or niche you’re interested in. It’s, quite simply, a great way to get started in business.

4. Copyblogger

CopyBlogger Niche Blog Example in the Writing Space

Copyblogger, founded by Brian Clarke, delivers useful advice to writers in a friendly but authoritative way. There’s plenty of room for authors to inject some personality – but posts are fairly tightly written, without wasting space on fluff or filler.

Here’s an example, from Sonia Simone’s post The Betty Crocker Secret to an Email Marketing Strategy People Enjoy :

Email newsletters (curated content, along with what’s new in your business, what’s the latest promotion, what fresh and exciting offers can you make to your customer, etc.) are an excellent tool. But they’re 1,000 times better when they kick off with a terrific autoresponder.

IttyBiz Niche Blog Example in Small Business Marketing

IttyBiz’s founder Naomi Dunford writes in a chatty, friendly, way: imagine her as your cool older cousin, giving you business advice over a few drinks. Her posts are packed with good advice for small business entrepreneurs, but they’re also full of voice and character.

Here’s an example, from Newbie Week: What do I need to get started?

Ok, people. Now it’s getting good. This is where we start getting paid. You need a page indicating how a person could give you money, should they find themselves so inclined.

Gizmodo Blog Style Example Screenshot (Style Guide)

Gizmodo is a news-focused site, covering tech, gaming, science, spaceflight, and more. Its style is direct and factual, while being unafraid to offer an opinion or angle on news stories.

Here’s an example, from Twitter’s Notifications Keep Breaking in Wake of Elon Musk’s Mass Layoffs :

Twitter did not respond to a request for comment late Monday. Gizmodo will update this article if we hear back. But given the fact that Twitter reportedly fired its entire communications team, we’re not going to hold our breath.

7. WPBeginner

WPBeginner Screenshot (Blogging Style Example)

WPBeginner offers tutorials and “best of” roundups on all things WordPress related. Posts are straightforward and practical, with a focus on simple, plain, informative writing. There are also lots of links to related posts on the blog, where those offer extra help or further context.

Here’s an example, from How to Add Featured Video Thumbnails in WordPress :

First, you’ll need to install and activate the plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin. After activation, there are a few settings to configure. To get started, go to Settings » Really Simple Featured Video.

How can you develop your own unique and attractive blogging style? Here are a few things to try—and I recommend making a copy of my blog style guide template to work with alongside this advice.

1. Read Lots of Other Blogs and Notice What Works

Hopefully, you’re already reading at least a few different blogs on a regular basis. Next time a new post pops up in your inbox or feed reader, take a few extra minutes when you read it to notice what’s working well. Take a peek at these blog examples , while you’re at it.

22 Blog Examples (Successful and Popular Blogs) to Learn From

As you’re evaluating a blogger’s style, take note of how you feel when you’re reading.

  • Perhaps the blogger does a great job of grabbing your attention in the introduction.
  • Maybe you laughed out loud at their exaggerated descriptions.
  • You might simply have found it an easy, engaging post to read.

Try to pinpoint why you feel certain emotions—or have a particular thought about the blogger while you’re reading—is it their careful use of structure, their spot-on word choices, entertaining tone, or something else?

2. Think About What Blog Post Structures You’ll Use

Some blogs are known for the type of content they create. For instance, here on RyRob, I publish a lot of in-depth guides and how-to’s. You might enjoy a blog that’s full of unbiased reviews, funny listicles, or some other type of content entirely.

On a completely different page, here’s an example of prolific author Seth Godin’s blog and how his minimalist, short-form writing style takes shape:

Example of an essay style blog post (from Seth Godin)

As you start to develop your own blogging style, think about what blog post structures  you want to use. You might like to try out a few different ones to see what you enjoy writing—and what seems to resonate with your readers.

3. Keep Your Paragraphs Short

Blog posts are read on screens—and increasingly on tiny mobile screens. To make your posts as easy to read as possible, keep your paragraphs short. (Plenty of book blurbs on Amazon are good examples of this.)

Short paragraphs also help you to write in a more informal style, rather than an academic style or as though you’re writing a business report. This suits most bloggers and readers well.

4. Be Engaging and Conversational

One of the wonderful things about blogging is that there’s a real connection and intimacy between the blogger and the reader, just like there is on social media. You could write a post in the morning, upload it in the afternoon, and have a dozen comments by the evening.

You’re not writing an eBook that might take a year or more to be published—or even an article for a magazine that won’t come out for several months. Make the most of the advantages of the blogging medium to engage with your readers in a conversational way. That might mean sharing little snippets about your life, using “you” to talk to the reader, or asking questions and encouraging readers to leave their answers in the comments.

5. Try Out Different Tones: Then Pick One To Stick With

When you’re trying to hit on the right blogging style, it can help to try out different tones. You might draft a post with a deliberately argumentative and forceful tone, then try it out with a much calmer, more positive tone. See which one feels more like “you”.

In the early days of your blog, I think it’s fine to publish pieces that vary a lot in tone. As you establish your target audience and your brand, though, you’ll want to pick one tone to stick with—at least for the majority of the time—in all your content marketing. This should help you to keep readers and build a successful blog.

6. Make Sure Your Style Fits With Your Broader Brand

It might seem obvious, but your writing style does need to fit in with your brand as a whole. You might have a favorite digital marketing blogger who has a fantastic, funny, swear-heavy blogging style… but you probably won’t want to emulate that if your brand is all about calm, gentle parenting!

If your homepage looks very sedate and professional, readers will expect your writing style to be similar. If your blog design includes lots of bright, brash colors, then they’ll expect a more dynamic writing style. Similarly, if you have a podcast, readers will expect you to have a similar “voice” on your blog to your voice on the podcast.

Tip: You can easily change WordPress themes  if your current website design isn’t a great fit for the blog writing style and brand you want to develop, or figure out which WordPress plugins can extend your functionality to get the desired look & feel.

Creating a Style Guide for Your Blog Content: Free Blog Style Guide Template

Blog-Style-Guide-Template-Screenshot

A style guide is a document that helps writers to create consistently high-quality content. If you have guest bloggers writing blog content for you—or if you work with freelance writers, then it’s a really good idea to put together a simple style guide to keep everyone on the same page. Start with my free template below.

Even if you’re the only writer, it’s still useful to have a style guide.  

It can help you stay consistent on the small details (like whether you prefer to write numbers as “three” or “3”) and can also prompt you to remember the slightly bigger details – like the way you like to end each post with a call to action, or the way you always include at least one personal anecdote in every post.

This provides a better user experience for your reader and can even help with your on-page search engine optimization, if you include details in your style guide about working keywords and internal links into your posts.

Basics to Cover in Your Blog Style Guide

It’s up to you how you put together your style guide, but some basics you might want to include are:

  • Which heading format do you use on your blog? (Title case, sentence case, something else?)
  • Roughly how long are your posts, generally?
  • How do you use subheadings – and how frequently? Do you use title case or sentence case for your subheadings’ capitalization? Do you aim to include keywords in subheadings? (This can help with both your on-page SEO and your overall blog SEO strategy .)
  • What language are your posts written in? (If the language has variants, specify which: e.g. US English vs UK English.)
  • Specific words that you like to spell or format in a particular way, e.g. “step by step” vs “step-by-step”.
  • Whether you use jokes and humor or not (or perhaps you only use these in certain types of post).
  • How do you present and attribute quotes within your content?
  • Terms to avoid due to potentially racist or sexist connotations (e.g. using “blocklist” instead of “blacklist” or “person hours” instead of “man hours”).
  • How you use emojis (maybe you never use them, or only use a few classic ones like the smiling and winking emojis – or perhaps you always include emojis in your posts).
  • How are images used within your content? Do featured images always appear before the text or do you have a paragraph of written content first? (If you’re not covering this in other documentation.)
  • How many internal (or external) links should appear in your content?

You can also dig into finer details of your blog writing style, like:

  • Whether you use the Oxford comma (serial comma) in lists.
  • What type of dashes you use (the em-dash or en-dash).
  • How you format a table of contents, in posts long enough to need one.

With some blogging niches , you might also include specific information on industry terms or jargon. For instance, a fashion blog’s style guide might cover whether to use off-the-rack  or off the rack , and may even conform to some special style based on your blog’s name .

Your style guide doesn’t need to be perfect from day one! In fact, most style guides will get added to over time, as you come up with questions or different ways of doing things.

Free Resource:  To make it easy for you, I’ve created a blog style guide free template that you can use. Just make a copy of that document, then fill in the details for your own style guide.

Ready to Develop Your Blog Writing Style?

The best things you can do to develop your blog writing style are to read lots of other blogs in your niche and to write plenty of posts for your own blog.

Pay attention to what you like and what works—in other people’s writing and in your own—and you’ll soon find yourself getting a good handle on your personal writing style.

If you haven’t yet got your blog up and running, check out my start a blog guide . If you’re already blogging, then use my 10 blog templates  to write your posts easier than ever before—leaving you free to focus on your style.

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Hi I'm Ryan Robinson

I'm a blogger, but I'm not my blog. I am not my business either. Occasional podcaster and very-much-recovering side project addict. Co-Founder at RightBlogger . Join me here, on ryrob.com to learn how to start a blog and build a purpose-connected business. Be sure to take my free blogging tools for a spin... especially my wildly popular free keyword research tool & AI article writer . They rule. Somehow, I also find time to write for publications like Fast Company , Forbes , Entrepreneur , The Next Web , Business Insider , and more. Let’s chat on Twitter (X?) and YouTube about our feelings (and business, of course).

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4 replies to “How to Develop Your Blog Writing Style (Create a Blog Style Guide) & Examples”

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Nice content. Thank you for breaking down how to create a blog writing style that will help me to stand out from the competition.

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You’re welcome, Kristine! 🙂

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Thanks bro, really helpful

You’re welcome, Francisco! 🙏

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Blog - Free Essay Samples And Topic Ideas

A blog is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Essays might delve into the role of blogs in modern communication, the evolution of blogs, the impact of blogging on journalism, or discuss notable bloggers and online communities. A substantial compilation of free essay instances related to Blog you can find in Papersowl database. You can use our samples for inspiration to write your own essay, research paper, or just to explore a new topic for yourself.

Top Blockchain Blogs

There's lots of great information across the web for aspiring crypto investors or for those who want to learn about the advancement of blockchain technologies in general. We've assembled a list of our favorites to help you zero in on the information you're looking for faster. Subscribe to these great blogs and accelerate your blockchain learning curve! The industry giants like Coinbase, CCN and a myriad of cryptocurrency-focused news sites are a great source for specific information, but we wanted […]

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We've shared some great podcasts to help you stay aware of the ever-changing and rapidly expanding blockchain ecosystem, but what about bloggers? There are lots of blogs out there, but very few of them are real industry experts and creators. Many just share and re-share the same information. To help you get straight to the source and hear new development from the industry insiders that really know what's going on, we've compiled a list of the top-7 blockchain bloggers we […]

History of Social Media: from Bulletin Boards to Global Connections

It would be ambiguous to begin the history of social media in the country without routing that of the world. One might say the first unique step into social media communication was in 1971 when Ray Tomlinson successfully exchanged a message between two computers set close to each other. Virtual community communication started with the invention of the bulletin board system (BBS). That was in 1978 by Randy Suess and Ward Christensen. Evolution of Web Hosting and Blogs Social media […]

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Social Media: a Game Changing Factor on Redefining Democracy

Abstract: Over the past few years, we have seen a spectacular uptake in the strategies of global political parties, particularly in using social media campaign to defeat their opponents. Undoubtedly, US President Election of 2016 is an obvious example where social media contributed as a GAME CHANGING FACTOR in the recent history. Following the qualitative approach in this paper, I will review social media as an analytical framework in political context. Moreover, my aim is to focus on the strategies […]

Threads of Wisdom: Decoding the Rich Fabric of Historical Narratives

In the vast expanse of time, the annals of history unfold like an intricate tapestry, interwoven with threads of wisdom that carry the weight of human experience. "Threads of Wisdom: Decoding the Rich Fabric of Historical Narratives" invites us to embark on a journey through the labyrinth of the past, unraveling the delicate threads that compose the grand narrative of our shared heritage. History is not merely a sequence of events; it is a complex weave of stories, cultures, and […]

Beyond the Surface: Delving the Intricacies of Artistic Expressions

Art, a boundless language whispered through colors, shapes, and forms, invites us to venture beyond the visible and explore the concealed intricacies that give life to creativity. While the surface of any artistic creation captivates our senses, it is the veiled layers beneath that truly unveil the richness of artistic expression, turning the canvas into a realm where emotions and ideas entwine in a dance that defies verbal description. Artistic expressions, a kaleidoscope of forms ranging from traditional canvases to […]

Metropolitan Harmony: a Unique Blog on Urban Living

In the heart of a metropolis, where the skyscrapers touch the clouds and the alleys whisper untold stories, a city thrives in a cacophony of contrasts. Here, the symphony of daily life weaves a tapestry where the threads of tradition and modernity entwine, creating a narrative that is both chaotic and harmonious. As the sun stretches its golden fingers across the skyline, the city wakes up to the rhythm of a thousand footsteps. The streets, a bustling canvas painted with […]

City Chronicles: a Living Symphony of Urban Life

In the heart of an expansive urban landscape, where the city's heartbeat aligns with the rhythm of countless unfolding narratives, a metropolis comes to life as a dynamic storyline. It serves as a canvas where inhabitants play the characters, and the streets compose the prose that narrates the ongoing chronicle of daily existence. With the sunrise, architectural marvels emerge as central figures in this narrative. Skyscrapers ascend towards the sky, reflecting the vibrant panorama of daily activities beneath them. Simultaneously, […]

Navigating Family Life: the Intriguing Chronicles of the Duggar Family Blog

In the vast expanse of family blogs, one that stands out amidst a tapestry of both acclaim and controversy is none other than the Duggar Family Blog. This digital chronicle weaves together the lives of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar and their impressive brood of 19 children, offering a distinctive peek into a lifestyle seamlessly entwined with conservative values, unwavering faith, and the intricacies of managing a colossal, close-knit family in the contemporary world. More than a mere virtual scrapbook, […]

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  • Example of a great essay | Explanations, tips & tricks

Example of a Great Essay | Explanations, Tips & Tricks

Published on February 9, 2015 by Shane Bryson . Revised on July 23, 2023 by Shona McCombes.

This example guides you through the structure of an essay. It shows how to build an effective introduction , focused paragraphs , clear transitions between ideas, and a strong conclusion .

Each paragraph addresses a single central point, introduced by a topic sentence , and each point is directly related to the thesis statement .

As you read, hover over the highlighted parts to learn what they do and why they work.

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Table of contents

Other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about writing an essay, an appeal to the senses: the development of the braille system in nineteenth-century france.

The invention of Braille was a major turning point in the history of disability. The writing system of raised dots used by visually impaired people was developed by Louis Braille in nineteenth-century France. In a society that did not value disabled people in general, blindness was particularly stigmatized, and lack of access to reading and writing was a significant barrier to social participation. The idea of tactile reading was not entirely new, but existing methods based on sighted systems were difficult to learn and use. As the first writing system designed for blind people’s needs, Braille was a groundbreaking new accessibility tool. It not only provided practical benefits, but also helped change the cultural status of blindness. This essay begins by discussing the situation of blind people in nineteenth-century Europe. It then describes the invention of Braille and the gradual process of its acceptance within blind education. Subsequently, it explores the wide-ranging effects of this invention on blind people’s social and cultural lives.

Lack of access to reading and writing put blind people at a serious disadvantage in nineteenth-century society. Text was one of the primary methods through which people engaged with culture, communicated with others, and accessed information; without a well-developed reading system that did not rely on sight, blind people were excluded from social participation (Weygand, 2009). While disabled people in general suffered from discrimination, blindness was widely viewed as the worst disability, and it was commonly believed that blind people were incapable of pursuing a profession or improving themselves through culture (Weygand, 2009). This demonstrates the importance of reading and writing to social status at the time: without access to text, it was considered impossible to fully participate in society. Blind people were excluded from the sighted world, but also entirely dependent on sighted people for information and education.

In France, debates about how to deal with disability led to the adoption of different strategies over time. While people with temporary difficulties were able to access public welfare, the most common response to people with long-term disabilities, such as hearing or vision loss, was to group them together in institutions (Tombs, 1996). At first, a joint institute for the blind and deaf was created, and although the partnership was motivated more by financial considerations than by the well-being of the residents, the institute aimed to help people develop skills valuable to society (Weygand, 2009). Eventually blind institutions were separated from deaf institutions, and the focus shifted towards education of the blind, as was the case for the Royal Institute for Blind Youth, which Louis Braille attended (Jimenez et al, 2009). The growing acknowledgement of the uniqueness of different disabilities led to more targeted education strategies, fostering an environment in which the benefits of a specifically blind education could be more widely recognized.

Several different systems of tactile reading can be seen as forerunners to the method Louis Braille developed, but these systems were all developed based on the sighted system. The Royal Institute for Blind Youth in Paris taught the students to read embossed roman letters, a method created by the school’s founder, Valentin Hauy (Jimenez et al., 2009). Reading this way proved to be a rather arduous task, as the letters were difficult to distinguish by touch. The embossed letter method was based on the reading system of sighted people, with minimal adaptation for those with vision loss. As a result, this method did not gain significant success among blind students.

Louis Braille was bound to be influenced by his school’s founder, but the most influential pre-Braille tactile reading system was Charles Barbier’s night writing. A soldier in Napoleon’s army, Barbier developed a system in 1819 that used 12 dots with a five line musical staff (Kersten, 1997). His intention was to develop a system that would allow the military to communicate at night without the need for light (Herron, 2009). The code developed by Barbier was phonetic (Jimenez et al., 2009); in other words, the code was designed for sighted people and was based on the sounds of words, not on an actual alphabet. Barbier discovered that variants of raised dots within a square were the easiest method of reading by touch (Jimenez et al., 2009). This system proved effective for the transmission of short messages between military personnel, but the symbols were too large for the fingertip, greatly reducing the speed at which a message could be read (Herron, 2009). For this reason, it was unsuitable for daily use and was not widely adopted in the blind community.

Nevertheless, Barbier’s military dot system was more efficient than Hauy’s embossed letters, and it provided the framework within which Louis Braille developed his method. Barbier’s system, with its dashes and dots, could form over 4000 combinations (Jimenez et al., 2009). Compared to the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet, this was an absurdly high number. Braille kept the raised dot form, but developed a more manageable system that would reflect the sighted alphabet. He replaced Barbier’s dashes and dots with just six dots in a rectangular configuration (Jimenez et al., 2009). The result was that the blind population in France had a tactile reading system using dots (like Barbier’s) that was based on the structure of the sighted alphabet (like Hauy’s); crucially, this system was the first developed specifically for the purposes of the blind.

While the Braille system gained immediate popularity with the blind students at the Institute in Paris, it had to gain acceptance among the sighted before its adoption throughout France. This support was necessary because sighted teachers and leaders had ultimate control over the propagation of Braille resources. Many of the teachers at the Royal Institute for Blind Youth resisted learning Braille’s system because they found the tactile method of reading difficult to learn (Bullock & Galst, 2009). This resistance was symptomatic of the prevalent attitude that the blind population had to adapt to the sighted world rather than develop their own tools and methods. Over time, however, with the increasing impetus to make social contribution possible for all, teachers began to appreciate the usefulness of Braille’s system (Bullock & Galst, 2009), realizing that access to reading could help improve the productivity and integration of people with vision loss. It took approximately 30 years, but the French government eventually approved the Braille system, and it was established throughout the country (Bullock & Galst, 2009).

Although Blind people remained marginalized throughout the nineteenth century, the Braille system granted them growing opportunities for social participation. Most obviously, Braille allowed people with vision loss to read the same alphabet used by sighted people (Bullock & Galst, 2009), allowing them to participate in certain cultural experiences previously unavailable to them. Written works, such as books and poetry, had previously been inaccessible to the blind population without the aid of a reader, limiting their autonomy. As books began to be distributed in Braille, this barrier was reduced, enabling people with vision loss to access information autonomously. The closing of the gap between the abilities of blind and the sighted contributed to a gradual shift in blind people’s status, lessening the cultural perception of the blind as essentially different and facilitating greater social integration.

The Braille system also had important cultural effects beyond the sphere of written culture. Its invention later led to the development of a music notation system for the blind, although Louis Braille did not develop this system himself (Jimenez, et al., 2009). This development helped remove a cultural obstacle that had been introduced by the popularization of written musical notation in the early 1500s. While music had previously been an arena in which the blind could participate on equal footing, the transition from memory-based performance to notation-based performance meant that blind musicians were no longer able to compete with sighted musicians (Kersten, 1997). As a result, a tactile musical notation system became necessary for professional equality between blind and sighted musicians (Kersten, 1997).

Braille paved the way for dramatic cultural changes in the way blind people were treated and the opportunities available to them. Louis Braille’s innovation was to reimagine existing reading systems from a blind perspective, and the success of this invention required sighted teachers to adapt to their students’ reality instead of the other way around. In this sense, Braille helped drive broader social changes in the status of blindness. New accessibility tools provide practical advantages to those who need them, but they can also change the perspectives and attitudes of those who do not.

Bullock, J. D., & Galst, J. M. (2009). The Story of Louis Braille. Archives of Ophthalmology , 127(11), 1532. https://​doi.org/10.1001/​archophthalmol.2009.286.

Herron, M. (2009, May 6). Blind visionary. Retrieved from https://​eandt.theiet.org/​content/​articles/2009/05/​blind-visionary/.

Jiménez, J., Olea, J., Torres, J., Alonso, I., Harder, D., & Fischer, K. (2009). Biography of Louis Braille and Invention of the Braille Alphabet. Survey of Ophthalmology , 54(1), 142–149. https://​doi.org/10.1016/​j.survophthal.2008.10.006.

Kersten, F.G. (1997). The history and development of Braille music methodology. The Bulletin of Historical Research in Music Education , 18(2). Retrieved from https://​www.jstor.org/​stable/40214926.

Mellor, C.M. (2006). Louis Braille: A touch of genius . Boston: National Braille Press.

Tombs, R. (1996). France: 1814-1914 . London: Pearson Education Ltd.

Weygand, Z. (2009). The blind in French society from the Middle Ages to the century of Louis Braille . Stanford: Stanford University Press.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

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An essay is a focused piece of writing that explains, argues, describes, or narrates.

In high school, you may have to write many different types of essays to develop your writing skills.

Academic essays at college level are usually argumentative : you develop a clear thesis about your topic and make a case for your position using evidence, analysis and interpretation.

The structure of an essay is divided into an introduction that presents your topic and thesis statement , a body containing your in-depth analysis and arguments, and a conclusion wrapping up your ideas.

The structure of the body is flexible, but you should always spend some time thinking about how you can organize your essay to best serve your ideas.

Your essay introduction should include three main things, in this order:

  • An opening hook to catch the reader’s attention.
  • Relevant background information that the reader needs to know.
  • A thesis statement that presents your main point or argument.

The length of each part depends on the length and complexity of your essay .

A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . Everything else you write should relate to this key idea.

A topic sentence is a sentence that expresses the main point of a paragraph . Everything else in the paragraph should relate to the topic sentence.

At college level, you must properly cite your sources in all essays , research papers , and other academic texts (except exams and in-class exercises).

Add a citation whenever you quote , paraphrase , or summarize information or ideas from a source. You should also give full source details in a bibliography or reference list at the end of your text.

The exact format of your citations depends on which citation style you are instructed to use. The most common styles are APA , MLA , and Chicago .

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Bryson, S. (2023, July 23). Example of a Great Essay | Explanations, Tips & Tricks. Scribbr. Retrieved June 24, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/academic-essay/example-essay-structure/

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Examples

Blog Writing

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example of blog essay

Blog writing refers to the process of creating content for online journals or informational websites known as blogs . This type of writing is characterized by its conversational style, frequent updates, and personal touch, often reflecting the author’s opinions or expertise on various topics. Blog writing aims to engage readers, provide valuable information, and encourage interaction through comments and social sharing. Effective blog writing combines creativity with strategic use of keywords to enhance visibility and search engine ranking. Sometimes, ghost writing is employed, where the content is written by one person but published under another’s name. A well-crafted blog post can significantly boost a website’s engagement and reach.

What is Blog Writing?

Blog writing is the process of creating content for an online journal or informational website known as a blog. This content typically includes articles, diary-style entries, or opinion pieces that are regularly updated and written in an engaging, conversational style. The primary aim of blog writing is to inform, entertain, or engage readers on various topics, ranging from personal experiences to industry-specific news and advice.

Blog Writing Format

1. title and introduction.

  • Title : Create a catchy and relevant title that includes keywords.
  • Introduction : Write a compelling hook, provide an overview of the blog post, and state the main point or purpose.

2. Main Content Sections

  • Headings and Subheadings : Use H2 and H3 tags to organize content.
  • Paragraphs : Keep paragraphs concise and focused.
  • Lists and Bullet Points : Use these for clarity and easy reading.

3. Visuals and Examples

  • Images and Infographics : Include relevant visuals to support content.
  • Examples : Provide clear and practical examples to illustrate points.

4. Conclusion and Call to Action

  • Summary : Recap the main points of the post.
  • Call to Action (CTA) : Encourage readers to comment, share, or subscribe.
  • Closing Remark : End with a final thought or question to engage readers.

5. SEO and Editing

  • Keywords : Incorporate primary and secondary keywords naturally.
  • Internal and External Links : Add links to other relevant posts and reputable sources.
  • Proofreading : Check for grammar, spelling, readability, and overall flow.

Examples of Blog Writing

Examples of Blog Writing

  • Title: My Journey Through Europe
  • Content: A travel enthusiast shares detailed accounts of their adventures across various European countries, complete with personal anecdotes, photographs, and travel tips.
  • Title: The Future of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare
  • Content: A tech expert discusses recent advancements in AI technology, its impact on the healthcare industry, and potential future developments, supported by research and expert opinions.
  • Title: 10 Easy Vegan Recipes for Busy Weeknights
  • Content: A food blogger provides a list of quick and delicious vegan recipes that are perfect for those with a hectic schedule, including step-by-step instructions and nutritional information.
  • Title: How to Improve Your Online Marketing Strategy
  • Content: A marketing professional offers practical advice on enhancing online marketing efforts, such as optimizing social media profiles, utilizing SEO techniques, and creating compelling content.
  • Title: Understanding Shakespeare: A Guide for Students
  • Content: An English teacher breaks down complex Shakespearean plays, making them accessible to high school students with summaries, character analyses, and key themes.
  • Title: The Benefits of Mindfulness Meditation
  • Content: A wellness coach explores the physical and mental health benefits of mindfulness meditation, offering tips on how to get started and incorporate it into daily life.
  • Title: Top 5 Gadgets of 2024 You Need to Know About
  • Content: A tech enthusiast reviews the latest gadgets released in 2024, highlighting their features, pros and cons, and why they stand out in the market.
  • Title: Fun and Educational Activities for Toddlers
  • Content: A parenting expert shares a variety of activities designed to entertain toddlers while also promoting their cognitive and motor skills development.
  • Title: Summer Fashion Trends 2024
  • Content: A fashionista discusses the hottest trends for summer 2024, offering style tips, outfit inspiration, and where to shop for the latest looks.
  • Title: How to Create a Budget and Stick to It
  • Content: A financial advisor provides a step-by-step guide on creating a personal budget, including practical tips for managing expenses and saving money effectively.

Blog Writing Examples for Students

  • Share your experiences, emotions, and observations from your first day at high school. Describe the new environment, people you met, and any challenges or surprises you encountered.
  • Discuss how effective time management can improve academic performance and reduce stress. Offer tips and strategies for students to balance their studies, extracurricular activities, and personal life.
  • Provide a step-by-step guide on how to write an essay, including choosing a topic, conducting research, creating an outline, and writing and revising the final draft.
  • Share your best practices for studying and preparing for exams. Include tips on creating a study schedule, using study aids, and managing exam-day stress.
  • Explore how participating in sports, clubs, or other extracurricular activities can enhance students’ social skills, leadership abilities, and overall well-being.
  • Write a review of your favorite book, explaining why it resonated with you and why you think others should read it. Include key themes, characters, and memorable moments.
  • Discuss the positive and negative effects of social media on teenagers. Cover topics such as cyberbullying, social connection, and the influence on self-esteem.
  • Offer advice on how to form and maintain an effective study group. Include suggestions for setting goals, dividing tasks, and keeping the group focused and motivated.
  • Explain the benefits of volunteering, such as gaining new skills, making a difference in the community, and improving college applications.
  • Share strategies for maintaining motivation and a positive attitude during the school year. Discuss goal-setting, staying organized, and finding inspiration in everyday activities.

Blog Writing Examples for Beginners

  • Share your personal story of why and how you started blogging. Discuss initial challenges, learning experiences, and what motivates you to continue.
  • Provide a beginner-friendly guide on how to write a compelling first blog post. Include tips on choosing a topic, creating an outline, and engaging readers.
  • Offer advice on selecting a catchy and memorable blog name. Discuss brainstorming techniques, checking domain availability, and aligning the name with your blog’s niche.
  • List and describe essential tools and resources for new bloggers. Include blogging platforms, graphic design tools, SEO plugins, and social media scheduling tools.
  • Help beginners identify their blogging niche. Discuss the importance of passion, audience interest, and market demand in choosing a niche.
  • Explain how to set up a content calendar to plan and organize blog posts. Provide tips on scheduling, maintaining consistency, and staying inspired.
  • Share tips on crafting catchy and clickable blog titles. Discuss the use of power words, questions, and numbers to attract readers.
  • Introduce beginner-friendly SEO strategies to improve blog visibility. Cover keyword research, on-page SEO, and optimizing meta descriptions.
  • Provide a guide on using social media to drive traffic to your blog. Discuss creating shareable content, engaging with your audience, and leveraging different platforms.
  • Offer practical advice for dealing with writer’s block. Include techniques like freewriting, taking breaks, and seeking inspiration from other blogs.

Blog Writing Examples Class 11

  • Discuss the importance of balancing schoolwork with extracurricular activities. Share tips on time management and prioritizing tasks.
  • Explore different career options available after high school. Provide guidance on how to choose a career that aligns with one’s interests and strengths.
  • Analyze how technology has changed the way students learn. Discuss the benefits and potential drawbacks of using technology in the classroom.
  • Write about the causes and consequences of climate change. Highlight the importance of sustainable practices and how students can contribute to a greener planet.
  • Explain why reading for enjoyment is important. Share personal favorite books and how they have influenced your perspective.
  • Provide a guide on preparing for college applications. Include tips on researching colleges, writing personal statements, and preparing for entrance exams.
  • Discuss the challenges of peer pressure in high school. Offer strategies for making independent decisions and staying true to oneself.
  • Examine how participating in sports can build character, teamwork, and leadership skills. Share personal experiences or notable examples from famous athletes.
  • Highlight the importance of mental health for students. Discuss common issues like stress and anxiety, and provide tips for maintaining mental well-being.
  • Write about the importance of community service and volunteering. Share how volunteering can benefit both the community and the individual, and suggest ways to get involved.

Blog Writing Examples Class 12

  • Share tips and advice on how to successfully apply to colleges. Discuss researching schools, writing personal statements, gathering recommendations, and preparing for interviews.
  • Explore how technology is changing the educational landscape. Discuss online learning, digital textbooks, and the use of educational apps and tools in the classroom.
  • Discuss the significance of mental health and well-being for students. Offer strategies for managing stress, seeking support, and maintaining a healthy balance between academics and personal life.
  • Provide practical advice on how to prepare for board exams. Include tips on creating a study schedule, using effective revision techniques, and staying calm under pressure.
  • Highlight the advantages of joining a debate club, such as improving public speaking skills, critical thinking, and gaining confidence.

Blog Writing Examples for Exams

  • Share proven study methods such as active recall, spaced repetition, and the Pomodoro Technique. Discuss how to implement these techniques to enhance memory retention and understanding.
  • Provide a step-by-step guide on designing a personalized study schedule. Include tips on prioritizing subjects, setting realistic goals, and incorporating breaks to avoid burnout.
  • Offer practical advice on how to manage and reduce exam-related stress and anxiety. Include techniques like deep breathing, mindfulness, and positive visualization.
  • Discuss the benefits of practicing with past exam papers. Explain how this helps familiarize students with the exam format, types of questions, and time management during the actual exam.
  • Highlight the importance of maintaining a healthy diet and getting adequate sleep during exam preparation. Provide tips on what foods to eat and sleep hygiene practices to follow.
  • Share tips on how to make concise and effective revision notes. Discuss methods like mind mapping, summarizing key points, and using color-coding for better retention.
  • Compare the benefits and drawbacks of group study and solo study sessions. Offer advice on how to make the most of each method depending on individual learning preferences.
  • Provide tips on how to manage time effectively during the exam. Include advice on reading through the entire paper first, allocating time per question, and leaving time for review.
  • Explain the importance of taking practice tests. Discuss how they help identify areas of weakness, improve time management, and build exam-taking confidence.
  • Offer guidance on what to do after an exam. Discuss the importance of reviewing mistakes, seeking feedback, and using this information to improve future exam performance.

How to Write a blog

Blogging is a powerful way to share your ideas, knowledge, and experiences with a wide audience. Whether you’re a seasoned writer or just starting, creating a blog involves several key steps. Here’s a comprehensive guide on how to write an engaging and effective blog.

1. Choose a Topic

Select a topic that you are passionate about and that will resonate with your target audience. Consider what your readers are interested in and what questions they might have.

2. Research Your Topic

Thoroughly research your topic to provide accurate and valuable information. Look for credible sources, statistics, and expert opinions to back up your points.

3. Create an Outline

Organize your thoughts by creating an outline. This helps structure your blog and ensures a logical flow of information. Your outline should include:

  • Introduction
  • Main Points

4. Write an Engaging Introduction

Your introduction should grab the reader’s attention and give them a reason to keep reading. Start with a compelling hook, such as a question, quote, or interesting fact.

5. Develop the Body

In the body of your blog, expand on your main points. Use subheadings to break up the text and make it easier to read. Include:

  • Subheadings : Break your content into sections.
  • Bullet Points : List important information.
  • Examples : Provide real-life examples to illustrate your points.
  • Images : Use relevant images to enhance your content.

6. Write a Strong Conclusion

Summarize your main points and reinforce the message of your blog. End with a call to action, encouraging readers to comment, share, or take another relevant action.

7. Edit and Proofread

Review your blog for any grammatical errors, typos, or inconsistencies. Consider using tools like Grammarly or Hemingway to help with this process. Read your blog out loud to catch any awkward phrasing or errors you might have missed.

8. Optimize for SEO

To ensure your blog reaches a wide audience, optimize it for search engines. Include relevant keywords in your title, headings, and throughout your content. Use meta descriptions, alt text for images, and internal and external links.

9. Format for Readability

Make your blog easy to read by using:

  • Short Paragraphs : Keep paragraphs short and concise.
  • Subheadings : Use H2 and H3 tags to organize your content.
  • Lists : Use bullet points and numbered lists for clarity.

10. Promote Your Blog

Share your blog on social media, email newsletters, and other platforms to reach a broader audience. Engage with your readers by responding to comments and encouraging discussion.

FAQ’s

What is a blog.

A blog is an online platform where individuals or businesses share information, ideas, and personal insights on various topics through regularly updated posts.

How often should I update my blog?

Consistency is key. Aim to update your blog at least once a week to keep your audience engaged and improve your search engine rankings.

What should I blog about?

Blog about topics relevant to your audience. Consider industry trends, common questions, personal experiences, and areas where you can provide valuable insights.

How long should a blog post be?

Aim for 800-1,500 words. This length is typically enough to provide valuable content and rank well in search engines without overwhelming readers.

What are keywords in blog writing?

Keywords are specific words or phrases that users type into search engines. Including relevant keywords in your blog helps attract and engage your target audience.

How can I make my blog posts engaging?

Use a conversational tone, include visuals, and incorporate questions to engage readers. Additionally, provide practical tips and share personal anecdotes to make your posts relatable.

What is SEO in blogging?

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) involves optimizing your blog posts to rank higher in search engine results, making your content more visible to potential readers.

How do I choose a blog title?

Choose a clear, compelling title that includes relevant keywords. It should capture the essence of your post and entice readers to click and read more.

What is a call-to-action (CTA)?

A CTA is a prompt that encourages readers to take a specific action, such as subscribing to a newsletter, leaving a comment, or sharing the post.

Why is formatting important in blog posts?

Proper formatting, like using headings, bullet points, and short paragraphs, improves readability and keeps readers engaged with your content.

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How to write a good blog introduction

A content marketer shares her four-part formula for writing introductions—and creating more effective content..

Hero image with an icon of a blog post

The pressure is on. 

The spotlight is blazing, the microphone is on, and everyone is watching me expectantly. 

No, it's not an open mic night at the local coffee shop. It's just the inside of my brain every time I write a blog post introduction (like this one). Getting someone hooked from the get-go is essential if you want readers to see the content you worked so hard on to the end. 

At times, though, coming up with an interesting introduction feels like fishing in a dried-up well. For times like those, it helps to have a few formulas or thought starters up your sleeve to kickstart the process. 

Let's explore tips you can use the next time your creative brain has its OOO autoresponder on. 

What a blog post introduction needs to achieve

Understanding what an introduction needs to do helps you gauge whether you've hit the mark (and can call a draft "done"). I have three goals each time I start a blog post:

Excite readers and give them a reason to read more

Introduce a new perspective on the topic

Set expectations about what a reader will learn

Keep this in mind, though: your blog post intro should achieve these goals quickly. After you've written your introduction, read it through again and see if you can delete any sentences—or even paragraphs—without losing any meaning or effect.

A 4-part formula to make writing introductions easier

I've broken down the intro-writing process into four components. Review these best practices, try using the formula, and then adapt it to your writing style. 

First up: a line or two to catch someone's attention. If you struggle to come up with a great first sentence, wait until the draft is ready. Then write something that plays off an angle in the content.

Do use a personal story or analogy to make it interesting.

Don't state the obvious. Sentences along the lines of "We've all seen…" or "X is a well-established trend…" are redundant. 

Next, you need to let readers know why they should care about what you're about to say. Describe the issue, make a relatable joke, include an expert quote, or give some background on how the problem came to be. 

Do think about who will read the post and how the topic affects them. 

Don't lean on worn-out, over-dramatic, or outdated stats to build up the problem to be bigger than it is. 

3. Solution

Now it's time to address the reason someone would read your blog post in the first place—a solution. Set up the antidote to the problem, and go ahead and work your primary keyword in here. 

Do opt for clarity over cleverness here.

Don't abuse your keyword privileges by stuffing every search term into a sentence. 

4. Expectations

Finally, I like to include a sneak peek of what's coming up. Ideally, you can state what a reader will be able to do once they're through with reading. Readers want actionable content. 

Do focus on the positive outcome for the reader. 

Don't slip into the "five-paragraph essay" trap of saying "Today, I'll be writing about X,Y, and Z." 

Example blog post introductions

So far, we've just been talking the talk. It's time to see how four-part blog post openers work in the wild, putting my own writing under the microscope. 

Storytelling with ConvertKit

An example introduction from ConvertKit

My goal: Help creators see themselves in the story and say "hey, that's me!"

What I wrote: "Your podcast downloads are climbing up and up every week, and you just landed a dream guest. It feels like your podcast is growing—and that's a wonderful feeling."

My goal: Have readers think critically about their business. 

What I wrote: "Do you know what's really making all the difference, though? Could you pinpoint what percent of customers converted because of your podcast? Are you aware of which promotional channels are bringing in the most listeners?"

My goal: Reassure readers since it could be a sensitive or frustrating topic.

What I wrote: "If you don't, you aren't alone. Making sense of how your podcast helps you grow your business doesn't come easily for podcasters both new and experienced. You deserve to understand how your efforts are paying off, though. That way, you know what to double down on—and what to cut loose."

Expectations

My goal: Reiterate that the post wouldn't just be a list of metrics without any next-step guidance. 

What I wrote:  "With a little strategy and set up you'll be on your way to tracking podcast success like the savvy creator you are."

Ideal outcomes with Great Question

An example introduction from Great Question

My goal: Explain what you gain with research instead of saying "research is valuable."

What I wrote: "Customer research can offer a gold mine of insights. You gain new perspectives, confirm hunches, and get feedback on developments before you're too far down the rabbit hole."

My goal: Tease the ideal reality they could have, and introduce the monster standing in the way of the quest. 

What I wrote: " There's a catch, though—you need to have enough people participate."

My goal: Position research incentives as the hero in the story. 

What I wrote: "It would be great if customers wanted to be a part of your UX research out of the goodness of their hearts. Since that isn't a universally applicable strategy, we use customer research incentives to boost participation."

My goal: Preview upcoming sections that outline which incentives are best for various scenarios. 

What I wrote: "Instead of blindly throwing cash at a project, it's helpful to consider what type of incentive is best for your audience. Here's what you should know."

Intro inception with Zapier

The introduction from the current blog post

My goal: Address the pressure I was feeling during writing that readers can relate to. 

What I wrote: "The pressure is on. The spotlight is blazing, the microphone is on, and everyone is watching me expectantly. No, it's not an open mic night at the local coffee shop. It's just the inside of my brain every time I write a blog post introduction (like this one). Getting someone hooked from the get-go is essential if you want readers to see the content you worked so hard on to the end."

My goal: Use imagery in place of saying "writing is hard."

What I wrote: "At times, though, coming up with an interesting introduction feels like fishing in a dried-up well."

My goal: Introduce the way to work around a mental block. 

What I wrote: "For times like those, it helps to have a few formulas or thought starters up your sleeve to kickstart the process."

My goal: Help people understand when the information could come in handy. 

What I wrote: "Let's explore tips you can use the next time your creative brain has its OOO autoresponder on."

The best way to improve your writing is to write more

If you don't read your blog posts from two years ago and cringe a little, you aren't pushing your writing forward enough. You wouldn't be here if you weren't a passionate content marketer, so now all that's left to do is get out there and write.  

Related reading:

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Steph Knapp

Steph Knapp is a freelance B2B + SaaS content marketer that loves educating and empowering curious humans. When she's not typing away, you'll find her volunteering at the animal shelter and obsessing over a new hobby every week.

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Building a blog analyze/ design, popular essay topics.

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15 Best Student Blog Examples

As a student, starting a student’s blog has so many benefits attached to it.

A blog can serve as an excellent platform to share your ideas, discuss specific arguments that relate to a student’s life, keep other students informed, and generally influence.

Individually, you can grow your writing, communication, analysis, and interpretation skills by steadily writing on your blog. 

However, starting a blog isn’t always straightforward. You’ll have to choose topics you want to blog about, pick a blog title, purchase a domain, web hosting, and whatnot.

If you’re considering starting a blog as a student, here are the 15 best student blog examples to draw inspiration from . 

Best Blog Examples For Students

1. college info geek.

example of blog essay

College Info Geek is a blog started by Thomas Frank to help students become better students.

The blog covers four major subjects which are; studying effectively, becoming more productive, starting a career, and living a better life as a student.

Some of the most read articles on the blog include; the ultimate college packing list, how to stay organized and productive in college, and the best online jobs for students. 

There are two full courses offered on the blog; a productivity masterclass and habit building essentials course.

A new post is published on the College Info Geek blog at least once a week. 

To inspire students, Thomas Frank publishes an “Impossible List” on his blog. This is a list of things that aren’t technically impossible but just somewhat difficult for students to achieve. For every task complete, Thomas rules it out on his list. 

College Info Geek also offers a podcast that is presented every Monday. Students can listen to this podcast on Apple Music, Google Play , YouTube, or Spotify. 

Furthermore, the blog features a music playlist with ideal songs that can help students study. The playlist is featured on Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube.

You Might Find it Useful: Blogger Vs WordPress

2. School Habits

example of blog essay

This is a blog about habits and hacks to help students get through school. This personal blog was started by Kathryn Azevedo, a teacher and private coach.

She has previously taught in private and public school systems and now, she teaches students how to learn via her blog.

The School Habits blog covers time management, study skills, test anxiety, self-advocacy, improving grades, homework management, procrastination, focus, note-taking, and more topics.

Kathryn Azevedo also offers some particular services to her blog readers. This includes Standardized test preparation, Executive function coaching, Study skills coaching, Application essay help, School essay help, and Writing instruction.

This blog features a shop with several helpful materials that students can purchase. This includes homework planners, daily schedule and task list, weekly work planner, weekly homework planner, etc. These materials are sold for as little as $5. 

As a School Habits reader, you can sign up for the newsletter and get a free copy of the 25 School Habits and Hacks ebook.

If you wish to book a special appointment, you can reach the blog owner via phone or email. Furthermore, you can follow School Habits on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

3. The International Students Blog

example of blog essay

The International Student’s blog is a blog that targets students that intend to or are already studying abroad.

Particularly, it targets international students in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and the Caribbean. International students studying online are not left out.

This student blog is one of the oldest you’ll find as it was started in 2005. It works as a forum too such that students can sign in to drop comments amongst others. 

Registered users get to enjoy Free Amazon Prime for students with Deserve Edu Mastercard approval, a $20 Flight Discount Code with StudentUniverse, 5% Eurail Discount, 50% off an ISIC Discount Card, and Free Sim card with an accompanying mobile plan.

Aside from the informative posts constantly published on the blog, there are lots of resources for students to utilize.

One of these is the School Search that lets you search for ideal schools to study in any of the aforementioned countries. 

Simply select your country of choice, a field of study, school location, degree level, and search.

The International Student’s blog is not one for students alone. Educational professionals can also register as admins to list scholarships amongst others.

4. Save The Student

example of blog essay

One important aspect of a student’s life is money management and that’s what the Save The Student blog covers. 

The blog covers topics on how students can make money, save money, find jobs while studying, pay bills, get accommodation, and manage finances in general.

This blog was started in 2007 by Owen Burek who was a University of Manchester student at the time.

It has recorded significant success since its launch as the blog has been featured in top sites like BBC News, The Guardian, The Times, HuffPost, and Independent.

One thing that keeps this blog going is that they accept story submission. Students can send in their stories and experiences about finance in school and see them published for other students to read.

On this blog, a student can find some hot shopping deals that help him/her save money.

There are lots of other resources for students on the Save The Student blog. There’s a student loan repayment calculator to help students keep track of their student loan debt. 

Furthermore, there’s a Parent’s Guide To University to educate parents on all the expenses there are when sending their children to a university.

5. FlashLearners

example of blog essay

FlashLearners is an educational blog for students in Nigeria. The blog covers news and updates on university admissions, examinations, scholarships, and more; it’s more a blog for graduating secondary school students than university students. 

FlashLearners was founded by Isaac Inegbenehi and the blog has been around since 2016.

To aid students to prepare for their examinations, this blog features online quizzes. These quizzes feature past questions of the individual examinations and they are presented the same way as the actual examinations.

Furthermore, students can sign up and study for free from an online class. The online class covers all the major subjects taught in secondary schools including Mathematics, English, Physics, Chemistry, Economics, etc. 

To make it easier for students to study with and stay updated with the blog’s information, FlashLearners features a mobile app that can be downloaded for free. From the app, students can access everything there is on the online website.

Other resources students can access on the FlashLearners student blog include scholarship and internship programs, study guides, student jobs, etc.

Furthermore, the blog covers tech updates with reviews to help students get the best gadgets for learning.

6. StudentUniverse

example of blog essay

Launched in 2000, StudentUniverse is a unique blog for student travelers. It covers travel destinations in Europe, Asia, South America, Central America, Middle East, Africa, South Pacific, and New Zealand.

It is a US-based blog but has other sites for the UK and AU.

This blog is resourceful for international students that have to travel. Students who wish to travel for adventure, holiday, summer break, etc. will also find this blog’s content worthwhile.

On the StudentUniverse blog, students can find cheap flight deals for domestic US, UK, or AU flights and international flights. Students can get up to a 30 percent discount when they search for flights using this website. 

This is possible as StudentUniverse is a part of the Flight Centre Travel Group – one of the world’s largest travel companies.

Furthermore, the blog partners with more than 200 world airlines including Air China, British Airways, and United Airlines.

Similarly, students can search for and book cheap hotel lodging, tours, and car rides. With the Group Travel service, students can search for and meet with other students traveling to the same destination so they can travel together. 

7. StudentLife Network Blog

example of blog essay

StudentLife Network is a Canadian-based website where students can get resources on everything about school. The blog aims to help students find the right school to study, improve their grades, reduce debt, and get their dream job.

Most of the blog’s content is about students’ life but there are more than articles for students to access on this blog. Students can search and apply for scholarships via the StudentLife Network 99 Scholarships platform.

However, the scholarship opportunities are only to Canadian schools and Canadian students.

Nevertheless, as a StudentLife Network member, students get access to several giveaways where they can win cash, gifts, and other deals.

Similarly, students can participate in Canada’s Luckiest Student drawing where there’s up to $150k.

Using the StudentLife Network promo code, registered members can get 10 percent off when they shop for merch from WeGetReal. Also, students can get $150 off their trip on the Contiki website.

The StudentLife Network features a student to student podcast. The podcast is presented on Apple Podcasts.

StudentLife Network is open to comments and suggestions from students as they can send in their opinions via a contact form.

8. Stay Informed Group

example of blog essay

This blog is all about motivational content for college students . It’s a very simple blog but with highly valuable content. Initially, the blog was eglobalscholarships.com and just focused on scholarships but was rebranded in 2019. It was founded by Bassey Chimezirim James.

The Stay Informed Group blog features how-to guides, general schooling tips, and tech information. Students can get information on the best schools to study and why they should study there.

Some of the most popular posts on the Stay Informed Group blog include: how to be successful in college, how to write a scholarship essay, best boarding schools, etc.

With the “Motivation For The Week: Achieve Anything” post, students are encouraged to start their week on a good note and give their all every week.

As a reader, you get access to international scholarships. This includes Ph.D. scholarships, Masters’ scholarships, and Undergraduate scholarships. These scholarships can be sorted by school.

Students can follow up the Stay Informed Group blog for updates on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

9. The Student Newspaper

example of blog essay

This is one of the oldest student blogs and the oldest student newspaper in Europe.

Started by the University of Edinburgh, the blog was launched in 1887 which makes it over 130 years old. Notably, this student blog is independent of the university. 

The Student Newspaper doesn’t particularly publish posts about student’s life or much about college.

It simply aims to keep students informed by bringing them updates on the latest news from far and near. However, most of the information published is about happenings in the UK.

Nevertheless, it covers not just news but also reviews, lifestyle, opinions. voices, sports, and most importantly science. The opinions category features more articles on schools and studying.

One thing to notice about this blog is that it’s almost like a physical newspaper. The pages don’t load like other blogs, they open at once when clicked.

To follow up on The Student Newspaper blog, you can simply join their Facebook group. Also, you can join the weekly writers’ meeting on Microsoft Teams .

If you happen to be a student of the University of Edinburgh or close, you can get a physical copy of the newspaper.

10. Student Privacy Compass

example of blog essay

As a student, it is critical to keep your personal data private. The Student Privacy Compass blog is focused on helping you achieve that.

On this blog, students can learn about student privacy laws, school data, internet privacy, technology privacy, security, etc.

The blog isn’t for students alone but also parents, educators, education agencies, higher institutions, policymakers, and LEA lawyers. Similarly, the blog looks at student laws from different perspectives.

This includes the student perspective, state perspective, lawmakers perspective, legal perspective, LEA perspective, educator perspective, advocate perspective, parent perspective, FPF perspective, etc. These are the various categories of the Student Privacy Compass blog.

The blog is a very consistent one. About two or three new posts are published every week. Student Privacy Compass is a US-based blog and it features the state laws of all US states.

There’s an on-site FAQ with answers that informs readers about the blog and how to use it. Specific questions can be sent in via the contact form.

Other available resources include an FPF resource, student privacy training, and a train-the-trainer program. Consequently, law students will benefit most from following the Student Privacy Compass blog.

11. The Student Blogger

example of blog essay

This is a UK-based student blog that discusses daily student experiences in the university. It was started to help students focus more on their education and worry less about other things while in school.

The blog covers various topics including lifestyle, fashion & beauty, recipes, student discounts, money-saving, student jobs, academic competitions, and more. For students just starting a university, there’s so much to learn from the Student Blogger blog.

To make content easy for students to digest, several posts are made featuring infographics.

The Student Blogger blog is open for contributions from any student. Also, you can join the Student Blogger Collection.

The Student Blogger Collection is a group of student bloggers. Posts from these bloggers are featured in the Student Blogger blog, irrespective of the niche.

When you join the collection, you get a Student Blogger Selection badge on your blog.

Furthermore, the blog does PR advertising to help brands introduce their products/services to students. Students who run businesses in school can benefit from it as well.

12. MyUCD Blog

example of blog essay

The MyUCD blog is a blog for University College Dublin students. It provides insights on courses offered at the school, campus life, careers, and more. The blog has been around since 2014.

There are so many featured categories in this blog. Popular ones include preparing for college, college life, UCD societies, campus, and veterinary. In 2015, the MyUCD blog was a finalist at the Blog Awards Ireland.

Posts published in the MyUCD blog are all written by UCD students. Although the blog isn’t updated very frequently, each post is lengthy and covers a lot.

Aside from the categories, readers can sort the posts by academic levels, faculties, and departments.

Interestingly, this student blog features the UCD Campus map to help students navigate around the school. There are also transport links and course lists for graduate and undergraduate students.

On the main MyUCD portal, you can find resources for school fees, funding, scholarships, guidance & counseling, etc.

The MyUCD Blog is an ideal student blog example that targets a particular school. You can follow up the blog on top social media sites .

13. Worcester Student Life

example of blog essay

Worcester Student Life is a blog launched by students of the University of Worcester to share their university experiences and student life tips.

It is targeted at international students who are interested in living and studying in Worcester. 

Nevertheless, content published on the Worcester Student Life blog doesn’t relate only to the University of Worcester. Students from any university will find them beneficial too.

The blog covers several topics: accommodation, university application, course selection, settling in, money, food and recipes, sports, student jobs, studying abroad, etc.

It also covers graduates with posts on PGCE application, virtual internships, etc.

Posts published on the Worcester Student Life are from multiple authors. Hence, this is an ideal student blog example if you plan on starting up a student blog with partners.

Notably, the blog features a “Random Act of Kindness” publication every week. That way, students are encouraged to show kindness to someone at least once every week.

Readers can follow the Worcester Student Life blog and stay updated on any new post on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

14. Celestelili

Celeste Lili, a UC Davis Managerial Economics graduate, created the student blog “Celeste Lili” with the goal of sharing her undergraduate knowledge, particularly for first-generation college students who may lack familial guidance in navigating college.

This blog addresses a wide array of student life topics, including productivity tips, lifestyle advice, and insights into UC Davis student life. Posts maintain an engaging and conversational tone, making them accessible and relatable. Personal anecdotes and experiences are often woven in to connect with the audience.

What sets Celeste Lili’s blog apart is its emphasis on practical advice drawn from her own experiences. For instance, she offers time management strategies rooted in her journey of balancing coursework, exams, a part-time job, and home responsibilities. This hands-on guidance proves invaluable for students facing similar challenges.

Beyond the blog, Celeste Lili maintains a presence on Pinterest, where she shares additional resources on student life, productivity, content marketing , and personal development.

Celeste Lili’s blog stands as an excellent student blog examples due to its commitment to delivering practical, experience-based advice in an engaging and accessible style.

15. Yearist

example of blog essay

The Yearist blog is a recent student’s blog as it was launched in 2020. It was launched by Michael Fray who is an engineering student.

This blog was launched for three main purposes.

The first is to connect students so they can share knowledge and experiences. Secondly, the blog was launched to promote entertainment and information that’s relevant to student’s lives.

The third reason is to provide a sense of connection that doesn’t involve the use of social media .

The Yearist blog focuses on two main categories which are Study and Life. The Study category features content like study motivational videos, tips to get good grades, writing tips, ways to reduce school-related stress, etc. 

The Life category features content like ways to get ahead in life, motivational quotes, and more.

All posts featured on the Yearist blog were written by the blog owner, Michael Fray. In most of them, he’s sharing his personal experiences as a student which makes it easy for other students to relate to the content.

Students can share their own opinions by dropping comments after each post or submitting a contact form.

Best Student Blogs Examples – Conclusion

If you intend to launch a student’s blog, it’ll turn out to be an advantage in the long run. Your readers get to benefit from the insightful stuff you post and you get to share what you know. 

Not to mention, you could even monetize your blog and make some money off it. 

example of blog essay

Tom loves to write on technology, e-commerce & internet marketing. I started my first e-commerce company in college, designing and selling t-shirts for my campus bar crawl using print-on-demand. Having successfully established multiple 6 & 7-figure e-commerce businesses (in women’s fashion and hiking gear), I think I can share a tip or 2 to help you succeed.

How to Write a Blog Post: A Step-by-Step Guide [+ Free Blog Post Templates]

Review a step-by-step guide plus useful templates to learn how to write an effective blog post for your target audience and customers.

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Updated: 04/03/24

Published: 04/03/24

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Anyone can connect with their audience through blogging and enjoy the myriad benefits that blogging provides: organic traffic from search engines, promotional content for social media, and recognition from a new audience you haven’t tapped into yet.

If you’ve heard about blogging but are a beginner and don’t know where to start, the time for excuses is over. Not only can you create an SEO-friendly blog , but I’ll cover how to write and manage your business's blog as well as provide helpful templates to simplify your blogging efforts.

What is a blog post?

How to start a blog, writing your first blog post, what makes a good blog post, blog post examples, how to write a blog post.

Let's get started with an important question.

Blogging may mean different things depending on your niche — so let’s begin with this definition.

A blog post is any article, news piece, or guide that's published in the blog section of a website. A blog post typically covers a specific topic or query, is educational in nature, ranges from 600 to 2,000+ words, and contains other media types such as images, videos, infographics, and interactive charts.

Blog posts allow you and your business to publish insights, thoughts, and stories on your website about any topic. They can help you boost brand awareness, credibility, conversions, and revenue. Most importantly, they can help you drive traffic to your website.

But in order to begin making posts for a blog — you have to learn how to start one, first. Let’s dive in.

  • Understand your audience.
  • Check out your competition.
  • Determine what topics you'll cover.
  • Identify your unique angle.
  • Name your blog.
  • Create your blog domain.
  • Choose a CMS and set up your blog.
  • Customize the look of your blog.
  • Write your first blog post.

1. Understand your audience.

Before you start writing your blog post, make sure you have a clear understanding of your target audience. To do so, take the following steps.

Ask yourself exploratory questions.

To discover your audience, ask questions like: Who are they? Are they like me, or do I know someone like them? What do they want to know about? What will resonate with them?

Jot down your notes in a notepad or a document. This is the time to brainstorm audience attributes from scratch, no matter how out of left field they may feel. You should also think about your audience's age, background, goals, and challenges at this stage.

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Carry out market research.

Doing market research sounds like a big task, but in truth, it can be as simple as accessing a social media platform and browsing user and blog profiles that match with your potential audience.

Use market research tools to begin uncovering more specific information about your audience — or to confirm a hunch or a piece of information you already knew. For instance, if you wanted to create a blog about work-from-home hacks, you can make the reasonable assumption that your audience will be mostly Gen Zers and Millennials. But it’s important to confirm this information through research.

Create formal buyer personas.

Once you’ve brainstormed and carried out market research, it’s time to create formal buyer personas . It’s important because what you know about your buyer personas and their interests will inform the brainstorming process for blog posts.

"Buyer personas aren’t just for direct marketing. They can be a handy way to keep a human in mind while you’re writing. If you’ve got other marketing or sales teams handy, coordinate your personas," says Curtis del Principe, user acquisition manager at HubSpot. "Chances are that your existing customers are exactly the kind of people you want to attract with your writing in the first place. Your sales and service teams can also have great insight into these people’s needs and pain points."

For instance, if your readers are Millennials looking to start a business, you probably don't need to provide them with information about getting started on social media — most of them already have that down.

You might, however, want to give them information about how to adjust their social media approach (for example — from what may be a casual, personal approach to a more business-savvy, networking-focused approach). That kind of tweak is what helps you publish content about the topics your audience really wants and needs.

Don't have buyer personas in place for your business? Here are a few resources to help you get started:

  • Create Buyer Personas for Your Business [Free Template]
  • Guide: How to Create Detailed Buyer Personas for Your Business
  • [Free Tool] Make My Persona: Buyer Persona Generator

2. Check out your competition.

What better way to draw inspiration than to look at your well-established competition?

It’s worth taking a look at popular, highly reviewed blogs because their strategy and execution is what got them to grow in credibility. The purpose of doing this isn’t to copy these elements, but to gain better insight into what readers appreciate in a quality blog.

When you find a competitor’s blog, take the following steps:

Determine whether they’re actually a direct competitor.

A blog’s audience, niche, and specific slant determine whether they're actually your competitor. But the most important of these is their audience. If they serve a completely different public than you, then they’re likely not a competitor. That is why it’s important to define your buyer personas before taking other steps in the blog creation process.

Look at the blog’s branding, color palette, and theme.

Once you determine that they’re your competitor, it’s time to take note of their techniques so that you can capture a similar readership. Colors and themes play a huge role in whether you seem like part of a niche — for instance, a blog about eco-friendly products should likely use earthy tones instead of bright, unnatural colors such as neon yellow or pink.

Analyze the tone and writing style of the competition.

Take note of your competition’s copywriting. Is it something you feel like you can successfully emulate? Does it ring true to the type of blog you’d like to create? What do readers most respond to? For most, creating a tech blog might be an excellent idea, but if journalistic, review-based writing doesn’t work for you, then that might not be a good fit. Be aware of what you can feasibly execute or hire freelance writers.

3. Determine what topics you’ll cover.

Before you write anything, pick a topic you’d like to write about. The topic can be pretty general to start as you find your desired niche in blogging .

Here are some ways to choose topics to cover.

Find out which topics your competitors often cover.

One easy way to choose topics for your blog is to simply learn what other blogs are writing about. After you determine your competitors, go through their archive and category pages, and try to find out which topics they most often publish content about. From there, you can create a tentative list to explore further. You might find, for instance, that a competitor only covers surface-level information about a subject. In your blog, you can dive more deeply and offer more value to readers.

Choose topics you understand well.

No matter what type of blog you start, you want to ensure you know the topic well enough to write authoritatively about it. Rather than choosing a topic you’ll need to research as you write, think about those that come most naturally to you. What has your professional experience been like so far? What are your hobbies? What did you study in college? These can all give rise to potential topics you can cover in depth.

Ensure the topics are relevant to your readership.

You may find that you hold deep expertise in various topics, but how relevant are they to the audience you understood back in step one?

Del Principe suggests checking in with sales and service teams as well. "What kinds of things do they wish customers already knew? What kinds of questions do they get asked a thousand times? What kind of objections come up from potential customers, and how do they address them?"

If you’re not serving their needs, then you’d be shouting into a void — or, worse, attracting the wrong readership. For that reason, after identifying the topics you can feasibly write about, ask yourself whether those are subjects your audience would like to explore.

Do preliminary keyword research.

Keyword research is the process of searching for topics using a keyword research tool , then determining whether there is demand by looking at each topic’s (or keyword’s) search volume. If you found the perfect topics that are the perfect cross between your expertise and your reader’s needs, you’ve struck gold — but the gold will have no value unless people are searching for those terms. Only then can you capture the audience that is waiting out there.

Pro tip: If you need help brainstorming ideas or lack inspiration, you can use HubSpot’s blog topic generator. It can generate title ideas and even outlines based on a brief description of what you want to write about or a specific keyword.

4. Identify your unique angle.

What perspective do you bring that makes you stand out from the crowd? This is key to determining the trajectory of your blog’s future, and there are many avenues to choose in the process.

Here’s how you can find your unique selling proposition in crowded blogging niches:

Write a professional and personal bio.

Knowing your own history and experience is essential to determine your unique slant. To get started, write a professional bio that explains, at length, who you are and which experiences most inform your blogging efforts. While I could write a lengthy exposition about my childhood, that history isn’t essential unless I’m launching a blog about raising children.

What unique experience makes you a trusted expert or thought leader on the topic? You can use your answers to that question to find your angle. Use this information to populate your “About me” page on your blog and share more about yourself.

Determine the special problem you will solve for readers.

Your readers won’t trust you or return to you unless you actively help them solve a problem. As you try to find your angle, think about ways you can help your audience surmount challenges typically associated with the topics you’ve chosen for your blog. For instance, if you’re creating a blog about sustainability, then you might help readers learn how they can compost organic materials in their home.

Choose an editorial approach.

Will you share your opinions on trending debates? Teach your readers how to do something? Compare or share original research? The editorial approach you choose will in part be informed by the topics you cover on your blog and the problems you’re helping your readers solve. If your blog is about marketing trends and your goal is to keep marketers up-to-date on the latest changes, then your editorial approach should be journalistic in nature. This is only one example of how to choose a technique.

5. Name your blog.

This is your opportunity to get creative and make a name that gives readers an idea of what to expect from your blog. Some tips on how to choose your blog name include:

Keep your blog name easy to say and spell.

No need to get complicated at all with your name, though it might be tempting, since there are so many blogs out there. While choosing a unique name is essential, it’s also important to choose one that is easy to memorize for readers. It should also be simple to remember as an URL (which will come into play in the next step).

Link your blog name to your brand message.

The more related your blog’s name is to the topics you cover, the better. For instance, DIY MFA is all about writers doing their own Master of Fine Arts in writing at home. The brand’s message is all about delving deep into one’s writing practice without needing a formal degree. Try to do something similar for your own blog name: Alluding to your blog’s message, value proposition, and covered topics in one sweep.

Consider what your target audience is looking for.

Your blog name should tie directly into what your readers want to achieve, learn, or solve. DIY MFA is about writers who don’t have the money for graduate school, but who still want to develop their writing skills. The HubSpot Marketing blog is — you guessed it — about marketing trends and tips.

It’s okay if your blog name feels “too straightforward.” Straightforward names accurately communicate what you’re about and effectively attract the right audience.

If you still need more assistance, try using a blog name generator . One last tip: Make sure the name you come up with isn’t already taken, as it could lessen your visibility and confuse readers looking for your content.

6. Create your blog domain.

A domain is a part of the web address nomenclature someone would use to find your website or a page of your website online.

Your blog‘s domain will look like this: www.yourblog.com. The name between the two periods is up to you, as long as this domain name doesn’t yet exist on the internet.

Want to create a subdomain for your blog? If you already own a cooking business at www.yourcompany.com, you might create a blog that looks like this: blog.yourcompany.com. In other words, your blog's subdomain will live in its own section of yourcompany.com.

Some CMS platforms offer subdomains as a free service, where your blog lives on the CMS, rather than your business's website. For example, it might look like this: yourblog.contentmanagementsystem.com. However, to create a subdomain that belongs to your company website, register the subdomain with a website host .

Most website hosting services charge very little to host an original domain — in fact, website costs can be as inexpensive as $3 per month when you commit to a 36-month term.

Pro Tip: You can connect your custom domain to free hosting with HubSpot’s free CMS or in premium editions of Content Hub. This includes access to built-in security features and a content delivery network.

Here are five other popular web hosting services to choose from:

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HubSpot's Free Website Builder

Create and customize your own business website with an easy drag-and-drop website builder.

  • Build a website without any coding skills.
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7. Choose a CMS and set up your blog.

A CMS (content management system) is a software application that allows users to build and maintain a website without having to code it from scratch. CMS platforms can manage domains (where you create your website) and subdomains (where you create a webpage that connects to an existing website).

HubSpot customers host web content via Content Hub . Another popular option is a self-hosted WordPress website on a hosting site such as WP Engine . Whether you create a domain or a subdomain to start your blog , you'll need to choose a web hosting service after you pick a CMS.

Pro Tip: You can get started for free with HubSpot’s free blog maker . Our free CMS offers everything you need to get started– including hosting, a visual editor, and hundreds of free and paid themes to choose from.

Screenshot 2024-01-22 at 3.10.53 PM

Start using HubSpot's Free Blog Making tool to publish blog posts.  

8. customize the look of your blog..

Once you have your domain name set up, customize the appearance of your blog to reflect the theme of the content you plan on creating and your brand.

For example, if you're writing about sustainability and the environment, green might be a color to keep in mind while designing your blog.

we are wildness blog appearance

Image Source

If you already manage a website and are writing the first post for that existing website, ensure the article is consistent with the website in appearance and subject matter. Two ways to do this are including your:

  • Logo : This can be your business‘s name and logo — it will remind blog readers of who’s publishing the content. (How heavily you want to brand your blog, however, is up to you.)
  • “About” Page : You might already have an “About” blurb describing yourself or your business. Your blog‘s "About" section is an extension of this higher-level statement. Think of it as your blog’s mission statement, which serves to support your company's goals.

9. Write your first blog post.

Once you have your blog set up, the only thing missing is the content. While the design and layout are fun and functionally necessary, it's the content that will draw your readers in and keep them coming back. So how do you actually go about writing one of these engaging and informational pieces?

You’ve got the technical and practical tidbits down — now it’s time to write your very first blog post. And nope, this isn’t the space to introduce yourself and your new blog (i.e. “Welcome to my blog! This is the topic I’ll be covering. Here are my social media handles. Will you please follow?”).

Start with “low-hanging fruit,” writing about a highly specific topic that serves a small segment of your target audience.

That seems unintuitive, right? If more people are searching for a term or a topic, that should mean more readers for you.

But that’s not true. If you choose a general and highly searched topic that’s been covered by major competitors or more established brands, it’s unlikely that your post will rank on the first page of search engine results pages (SERPs). Give your newly born blog a chance by choosing a topic that few bloggers have written about.

If you need help, you can also use AI to help you create a blog post quickly. 

1. Choose a topic you’re passionate and knowledgeable about.

Before you write anything, pick a topic for your blog post. The topic can be pretty general to start. For example, if you're a company that sells a CRM for small-to-enterprise businesses , your post might be about the importance of using a single software to keep your marketing, sales, and service teams aligned.

Pro tip : You may not want to jump into a “how-to” article for your first blog post.

Your credibility hasn’t been established yet. Before teaching others how to do something, you’ll first want to show that you’re a leader in your field and an authoritative source.

For instance, if you‘re a plumber writing your first post, you won’t yet write a post titled “How to Replace the Piping System in your Bathroom.” First, you’d write about modern faucet setups, or tell a particular success story you had rescuing a faucet before it flooded a customer's house.

Here are four other types of blog posts you could start with:

  • List (“Listicle”) : 5 ways to fix a leaky faucet
  • Curated Collection : 10 faucet and sink brands to consider today
  • SlideShare Presentation : 5 types of faucets to replace your old one (with pictures)
  • News Piece : New study shows X% of people don't replace their faucet frequently enough

If you're having trouble coming up with topic ideas, a good topic brainstorming session should help. In the post I’ve linked, my colleague walks you through a helpful process for turning one idea into many. Similar to the “leaky faucet” examples above, you would “iterate off old topics to come up with unique and compelling new topics.”

This can be done by:

  • Changing the topic scope
  • Adjusting your time frame
  • Choosing a new audience
  • Taking a positive/negative approach
  • Introducing a new format

And if you’re still stuck, let’s take a look at some first blog post idea examples.

First Blog Post Ideas

The difference between [niche topic] and [niche topic], explained by a [niche expert].

  • The Difference Between SEM and SEO, Explained by a Marketing Expert
  • The Difference Between Sedans and Coupes, Explained by a Car Mechanic
  • The Difference Between Baking and Broiling, Explained by a Professional Baker

The 10 Best and Worst [Niche Tools] for [Niche Activity]

  • The 10 Best and Worst Writing Software for Fiction Writing
  • The 10 Best and Worst CRMs for Nurturing Prospects
  • The 10 Best and Worst Family Cars for Cross-Country Roadtrips

8 [Niche Activity] Common Mistakes (+ Ways to Fix Them)

  • 8 Non-Fiction Writing Common Mistakes (+ Ways to Fix Them)
  • 8 Salmon Broiling Common Mistakes (+ Ways to Fix Them)
  • 8 Car Maintenance Common Mistakes (+ Ways to Fix Them)

9 Proven Tips for [Niche Activity]

  • 9 Proven Tips for Checking Plumbing Problems under Your Kitchen Sink
  • 9 Proven Tips for Writing a Non-Fiction Bestseller
  • 9 Proven Tips for Doing DIY Car Maintenance

Why We/I Switched from [Niche Tool] to [Niche Tool] (Comparison)

  • Why We Switched from Pipedrive to HubSpot (Comparison)
  • Why I Switched from Microsoft Word to Scrivener (Comparison)
  • Why We Switched from iMacs to Surface Studio (Comparison)

[Niche Tool] vs [Niche Tool]: Which [Tool] is Best for You?

  • Zendesk vs Freshcaller: Which Call Software is Best for You?
  • Air Fryer vs Convection Oven: Which One is Best for You?
  • Mazda Miata vs Toyota Supra: Which Sports Car is Best for You?

The Ultimate Roundup of [Niche Activity] Tips and Tricks

  • The Ultimate Roundup of Novel Writing Tips and Tricks
  • The Ultimate Roundup of Macaroon Baking Tips and Tricks
  • The Ultimate Roundup of Solo Traveling Tips and Tricks

Want some real examples of blog posts? See what your first blog post can look like based on the topic you choose and the audience you're targeting.

2. Target a low-volume keyword to optimize around.

Finding a keyword with low searches in Google (I recommend sticking to about 10 to 150 monthly searches). These topics offer less competition and should therefore allow your new blog post to rank more easily.

To choose a topic, you can either do a traditional brainstorming session or carry out keyword research. I suggest the latter because you can actually see how many people are looking for that topic.

Now, don’t be intimidated by the term “ keyword research .” It’s not just for marketers, but for new bloggers, too. And it’s really easy to do.

To jumpstart your keyword research, first begin by identifying the general topic of your blog.

Say you’re a plumber. Your general, high-level topic might be “plumbing” (67K monthly searches).

Next, put this term into a keyword research tool such as:

  • Ubersuggest
  • Wordtracker

When you run this term through the tool, a list of related keywords will appear. Scan the list and choose one with a lower search volume. For this example, we’ll use “under sink plumbing” (1.4K monthly searches).

Run that keyword in the keyword research tool again. Look at the related keywords. Find one with a lower search volume. Do that again.

For this example, we’ll settle on “plumbing problems under kitchen sink” (10 monthly searches). That’s the topic for our first post.

TLDR ; Choose a low-volume, low-competition keyword that will ensure your first post ranks.

For more help on keyword research, here are more resources you can use:

  • How to Do Keyword Research for SEO: A Beginner's Guide
  • How to Perform Keyword Research and Rank
  • Top Tools For Finding Long-Tail Keywords

3. Google the term to understand your audience’s search intent.

You’ve got your topic — now, you need to check that the user’s search intent would be fulfilled by a blog post.

What does that mean?

If someone is looking for “plumbing problems under a kitchen sink,” they might be looking for a tutorial, a diagram, an article, or a product that can fix the issue. If they’re looking for the first three, you’re good — that can be covered in a blog post. A product, however, is different, and your blog post won’t rank.

How do you double-check search intent?

Google the term and look at the results. If other articles and blog posts rank for that term, you’re good to go. If you only find product pages or listicles from major publications, then find a new topic to cover in your first post.

Consider the term “under sink plumbing bathroom” (30 monthly searches). It seemed like a perfect fit because it had low monthly searches.

Upon Googling the term, I found product carousels, product pages from Home Depot and Lowes, and guides written by major publications. (You’ll also want to avoid topics that have been covered by major publications, at least for now.)

TLDR ; Before writing your first blog post about a low-volume topic, double-check the user intent by Googling the keyword. Also, don’t forget to take a look at who’s written about that topic so far. If you see a major brand, consider writing about another topic.

4. Find questions and terms related to that topic.

You’ve got a highly unique topic that’s been covered by just a few people so far. It’s time to flesh it out by covering related or adjacent topics.

Use the following tools:

  • Answer the Public : When you place your keyword into this tool, it will give you a list of questions related to that term.
  • Google : Google is your best friend. Search for the term and look under “People also ask” and “People also search for.” Be sure to touch upon those topics in the post.

You can also use these keyword research tools we mentioned above in step one.

5. Come up with a working title.

You might come up with a few different working titles — in other words, iterations of approaching that topic to help you focus your writing.

For example, you may decide to narrow your topic to “Tools for Fixing Leaky Faucets” or “Common Causes of Leaky Faucets.” A working title is specific and will guide your post so you can start writing.

Let's take a real post as an example: " How to Choose a Solid Topic for Your Next Blog Post ."

Appropriate, right? The topic, in this case, was probably “blogging.” Then the working title may have been something like, “The Process for Selecting a Blog Post Topic.” And the final title ended up being “How to Choose a Solid Topic for Your Next Blog Post.”

See that evolution from topic, to working title, to final title? Even though the working title may not end up being the final title (more on that in a moment), it still provides enough information so you can focus your blog post on something more specific than a generic, overwhelming topic.

6. Create an outline.

Sometimes, blog posts can have an overwhelming amount of information — for the reader and the writer. The trick is to organize the info in a way so readers aren‘t intimidated by length or amount of content. This organization can take multiple forms — sections, lists, tips — whatever’s most appropriate. But it must be organized!

Featured Resource: 6 Free Blog Post Templates

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Let's take a look at the post, " How to Use Snapchat: A Detailed Look Into HubSpot’s Snapchat Strategy. " There‘s a lot of content in the piece, so it’s broken up into a few sections using descriptive headers. The major sections are separated into subsections that go into more detail, making the content easier to read.

To complete this step, all you really need to do is outline your post. This way, before you start writing, you'll know which points you want to cover and the best order to do so. And to make things even easier, you can download and use our free blog post templates , which are pre-organized for six of the most common blogs. Just fill in the blanks!

7. Write an intro (and make it captivating).

We've written more specifically about writing captivating introductions in the post " How to Write an Introduction ," but let's review, shall we?

First, grab the reader‘s attention. If you lose the reader in the first few paragraphs — or even sentences — of the introduction, they’ll stop reading (even before they've given your post a fair shake). You can do this in a number of ways: tell a story or a joke, be empathetic, or grip the reader with an interesting fact or statistic.

Then, describe the purpose of your post and explain how it will address a problem the reader may be experiencing. This will give the reader a reason to continue reading and show them how the post will help them improve their work or lives.

Here‘s an example of an intro I think does a good job of attracting a reader’s attention right away:

“Blink. Blink. Blink. It's the dreaded cursor-on-a-blank-screen experience that all writers — amateur or professional, aspiring or experienced — know and dread. And of all times for it to occur, it seems to plague us the most when trying to write an introduction.”

8. Build out each section of your outline.

The next step — but not the last — is actually writing the content. We can't forget about that, of course.

Now that you have your outline or template, you're ready to fill in the blanks. Use your outline as a guide and expand on all points as needed. Write about what you already know, and if necessary, conduct additional research to gather more information, examples, and data to back up your points, while providing proper attribution when incorporating external sources. When you do, always try to find accurate and compelling data to use in your post.

If you‘re having trouble stringing sentences together, you’re not alone. Finding your “flow” can be challenging for a lot of folks. Luckily, there are a ton of tools you can lean on to help you improve your writing. Here are a few to get you started:

  • HubSpot's AI Blog Writer : Tools like HubSpot's AI Blog Writer can be a valuable asset for beginners and seasoned bloggers alike. It simplifies the process of creating SEO-friendly and engaging blog content, which is crucial for connecting with your audience and enjoying the benefits of blogging.
  • Power Thesaurus : Stuck on a word? Power Thesaurus is a crowdsourced tool that provides users with a number of alternative word choices from a community of writers.
  • ZenPen : If you're having trouble staying focused, check out this distraction-free writing tool. ZenPen creates a minimalist “writing zone” designed to help you get words down without having to fuss with formatting right away.
  • Cliché Finder : Feeling like your writing might be coming off a little cheesy? Identify instances where you can be more specific using this handy cliché tool.

You can also refer to our complete list of tools for improving your writing skills . And if you're looking for more direction, the following resources are chock-full of valuable writing advice:

  • Copywriting 101: 6 Traits of Excellent Copy Readers Will Remember
  • How to Write Compelling Copy: 7 Tips for Writing Content That Converts
  • How to Write With Clarity: 9 Tips for Simplifying Your Message
  • The Kurt Vonnegut Guide to Great Copywriting: 8 Rules That Apply to Anyone
  • Your Blog Posts Are Boring: 9 Tips for Making Your Writing More Interesting

9. Publish and promote your first post any way you can.

As a new blogger, you likely don’t have a social media following yet. Thankfully, you don’t need a huge following before you can create a promotion strategy.

A promotion strategy is your master plan for how you create, post, and engage with your social media content. One quick but effective way to build up your online presence is by simply repurposing your blog posts.

You can turn a blog post into bite-sized snippets of engaging information to share on socials, or into an audio file perfect for audio streaming services. HubSpot’s content marketing tools let you do just that, as well as handle SEO and even record videos and podcasts.

It helps you take advantage of social and digital technologies to share your business, or in this case, your content. Having a solid promotional strategy offers your audience from different marketing channels more ways to find your blog posts.

Here are more blog post promotion resources:

  • 12 Tried-and-True Ways to Promote Your Blog Posts
  • 10 Sites You Can Use for Free Blog Promotion
  • 9 Link Building Email Outreach Templates That Actually Work
  • Inbound Link Building 101: 34 Ways to Build Backlinks for SEO
  • 11 Creative (But 100% White Hat!) Ways to Earn Backlinks

10. Track content performance to optimize future posts. 

Keyword research, informative content, and having a promotion strategy in place won’t get you anywhere if you don’t know whether you’re doing it right. Analytics should play a key role in your overall content strategy.

For example, you can track a page’s total views and average session duration with HubSpot’s marketing analytics software to gauge whether your target audience found the blog post engaging or informative while monitoring your traffic sources helps pinpoint the marketing channels that might be worth doubling down on.

You can also identify your top-performing posts to see which topics yield the best results in terms of views conversions, for example. 

Before you write a blog, make sure you know the answers to questions like, “Why would someone keep reading this entire blog post?” and “What makes our audience come back for more?”

To start, a good blog post is interesting and educational. Blogs should answer questions and help readers resolve a challenge they're experiencing — and you have to do so in an interesting way.

It‘s not enough just to answer someone’s questions — you also have to provide actionable steps while being engaging. For instance, your introduction should hook the reader and make them want to continue reading your post. Then, use examples to keep your readers interested in what you have to say.

Remember, a good blog post is interesting to read and provides educational content to audience members.

Want to learn how to apply blogging and other forms of content marketing to your business?

Check out HubSpot Academy's free content marketing course .

Now, let's dive into some formatting guidelines to use before you publish your blog posts.

Blog Format Guidelines

  • Include H2s to arrange ideas.
  • Center your Images.
  • Add alt text.
  • Keep your sentences clear and concise.
  • Use media with purpose.

1. Include H2s to arrange ideas.

When you begin typing your blog content, it’s important that you divide paragraphs into sections that make it easier for the reader to find what they need.

If you’re just starting out, then focus on the overarching H2s you want to talk about, and you’ll be able to branch off into subheaders and more naturally as you continue.

2. Center your images.

This is a simple practice that can help your content look more professional with little effort. Centering your images keeps the reader’s attention drawn to the subject — not searching for elsewhere.

Centering also looks better when translating from PC to mobile devices. As formatting transitions to small screens or windows, a centered image will remain the focal point.

3. Add alt text.

So those images you centered earlier, make sure you have descriptive alt text for them, too.

Image alt text allows search engines, like Google, to crawl and rank your blog post better than pages lacking the element. It also leads readers to your blog post if the keywords included are what they searched for in the first place.

Besides SERP features, image alt text is beneficial to readers by providing more accessibility. Image alt text allows people to better visualize images when they can’t see them, and with assistive technology, can be auditorily read aloud for people to enjoy.

4. Keep your sentences short and concise.

When you begin working on the body of your blog post, make sure readers can clearly understand what you’re trying to accomplish.

You shouldn’t feel pressure to elongate your post with unnecessary details, and chances are that if you keep it concise, readers will derive more value from your work.

5. Use media with a purpose.

Break up the monotony of your blog post with some multimedia content where seen fit.

Your reader will enjoy visiting a blog page with images, videos, polls, audio or slideshows as opposed to a page of black and white text.

It also makes it more interactive and improves your on-page search engine optimization (SEO).

Now, do you want some real examples of blog posts? See what your first blog post can look like based on the topic you choose and the audience you're targeting.

  • List-Based Post
  • Thought Leadership Post
  • Curated Collection Post
  • SlideShare Presentation
  • Newsjacking Post
  • Infographic Post
  • How-to Post

1. List-Based Blog Post

List-based post example: 17 blogging mistakes to avoid in 2021, according to hubspot bloggers.

list based blog post example

List-based posts are sometimes called “listicles,” a mix of the words “list” and “article.” These are articles that deliver information in the form of a list. A listicle uses sub-headers to break down the blog post into individual pieces, helping readers skim and digest your content more easily.

As you can see in the example from our blog, listicles can offer various tips and methods for solving a problem.

2. Thought Leadership Post

Example: how hubspot's customers are shaping the next normal.

thought leadership blog post example

Thought leadership posts allow you to share your expertise on a particular subject matter and share firsthand knowledge with your readers.

These pieces — which can be written in the first person, like the post shown above — help you build trust with your audience so people take your blog seriously as you continue to write for it.

3. Curated Collection Post

Example: 8 examples of evolution in action.

An example blog blog post featuring a curated collection

Curated collections are a special type of listicle blog post. Rather than sharing tips or methods for doing something, this type of blog post shares a list of real examples that all have something in common in order to prove a larger point.

In the example post above, Listverse shares eight real examples of evolution in action among eight different animals — starting with the peppered moth.

4. Slide Presentation

Example: the hubspot culture code.

Example slides presentation, HubSpot Culture Code

HubSpot Slides is a presentation tool that helps publishers package a lot of information into easily shareable slides. Think of it like a PowerPoint, but for the web. With this in mind, SlideShare blog posts help you promote your SlideShare so that it can generate a steady stream of visitors.

Unlike blogs, slide decks don't often rank well on search engines, so they need a platform for getting their message out there to the people who are looking for it. By embedding and summarizing your SlideShare on a blog post, you can share a great deal of information and give it a chance to rank on Google at the same time.

Need some slideshow ideas? In the example above, we turned our company's “Culture Code” into a slides presentation that anyone can look through and take lessons from, and then promoted it in a blog post.

5. Newsjacking Post

Example: ivy goes mobile with new app for designers.

An example of a newsjacking blog post

“Newsjacking” is a nickname for “hijacking” your blog to break important news related to your industry. Therefore, the newsjack post is a type of article whose sole purpose is to garner consumers' attention and, while offering them timeless professional advice, prove your blog is a trusted resource for learning about the big things that happen in your industry.

The newsjack example above was published by Houzz, a home decor merchant and interior design resource, about a new mobile app that was launched just for interior designers. Houzz didn‘t launch the app, but the news of its launching is no less important to Houzz’s audience.

6. Infographic Post

Example: the key benefits of studying online [infographic].

An example from an infographic blog post

For example, when you're looking to share a lot of statistical information (without boring or confusing your readers), building this data into a well-designed, even engaging infographic can keep your readers engaged with your content. It also helps readers remember the information long after they leave your website.

7. How-to Post

Example: how to write a blog post: a step-by-step guide.

For this example, you need not look any further than the blog post you‘re reading right now! How-to guides like this one help solve a problem for your readers. They’re like a cookbook for your industry, walking your audience through a project step by step to improve their literacy on the subject.

The more posts like this you create, the more equipped your readers will be to work with you and invest in the services you offer.

8. Guest Post

Example: your bookmarkable guide to social media image sizes in 2021 [infographic].

Example of a guest blog post

Additionally, these posts give your blog variety in topic and viewpoint. If your customer has a problem you can't solve, a guest post is a great solution.

If you begin accepting guest posts, set up editorial guidelines to ensure they're up to the same standards as your posts.

So we’ve gone through the different types of blog posts you can make, but how do you consistently make quality blog posts that your viewers will enjoy?

How to Write a Blog Post Graphic

  • Draw from your buyer personas and what you know about your audience.
  • Pull from your content strategy and/or brainstormed topics.
  • Identify what's missing from the existing discourse.
  • Choose what type of blog post you're writing.
  • Generate a few different titles and choose the best one.
  • Create your outline and designate keyword-rich H2s and H3s.
  • Write your blog post!
  • Proofread your post.
  • Add images and other media elements to support your ideas.
  • Upload your post into your CMS.
  • Determine a conversion path (what you want your audience to do next).
  • Add calls to action to guide your audience to take action.
  • Link to other relevant blog posts within your content.
  • Optimize for on-page SEO.
  • Publish and promote the blog post.
  • Track the performance of the blog post over time.

1. Draw from your buyer personas and what you know about your audience.

Before you start writing your blog post, make sure you have a clear understanding of your target audience.

Ask questions like: What do they want to know about? What will resonate with them?

This is where the process of creating buyer personas comes in handy. Consider what you know about your buyer personas and their interests while you're coming up with a topic for your blog post.

For instance, if your readers are millennials looking to start a business, you probably don't need to provide them with information about getting started in social media — most of them already have that down.

If you haven’t developed buyer personas yet, I’ve found that it’s easiest to get started by gathering the information you already have about your audience and looking for trends. Sending out feedback surveys and interviewing followers can also be helpful.

Does your blog attract a specific age group? Does your audience live in a certain region? How do readers typically discover your content? Finding answers to these questions can help you get a better idea of who your buyer persona is.

2. Pull from your content strategy and/or brainstormed topics.

If you already have a pre-existing portfolio to look back on, it would benefit you to pull from those brainstormed post ideas or previous content strategy.

One thing that’s been helpful for me is specifically looking at content performance data when brainstorming ideas. In doing this, I’ve discovered which topics tend to resonate with my audience (and which ones don’t) and created content around them.

By focusing on your core blog topics, or clusters , you can establish yourself as a thought leader, gain the trust of your audience, rank better on search engines, and attract new readers.

3. Identify what’s missing from the existing discourse.

Fill in the gaps of the existing discourse in the topic of your choosing.

You want to meet a need that hasn’t already been met in your topic cluster. Otherwise, you run the risk of writing content for topics that are already over-saturated.

It’s hard to beat saturated search queries when you’re trying to rank against high authority publications — but not impossible if your content is answering the queries the competition hasn’t.

To discover what’s missing within a topic, I conduct a competitive analysis to see what my competitors offer in their content and how I can make my blog post better. Here are some things to look out for:

  • Unanswered user queries
  • Content depth
  • Content freshness
  • Media richness
  • User experience

If your competitors are lacking in any of these areas, you can use that to your advantage and focus on them when writing your blog post.

Another way to differentiate your blog is by offering original data, quotes, or perspectives. Some of my best performing posts have come from getting a unique quote from an industry expert.

4. Choose what type of blog post you’re writing.

There are several types of blog posts you can create, and they each have different formats to follow.

Six of the most common formats include:

  • The List-Based Post
  • The “What Is” Post
  • The Pillar Page Post (“Ultimate Guide”)
  • The Newsjacking Post
  • The Infographic Post
  • The “How-To” Post

Save time and download six blog post templates for free.

5. Generate a few different titles and choose the best one.

Your blog title should tell readers what to expect, yet it should leave them wanting to know more — confusing, right?

This is why when you’re coming up with a blog post title that you should brainstorm multiple ones instead of just one. I find it helpful to share these titles with a couple coworkers to get their feedback and see which one is most engaging to them.

I’ve also enlisted the help of ChatGPT to generate sample blog post titles by inputting a prompt like, “Write a list of blog titles about [topic].” Even if it doesn’t give you exactly what you want, it can still get ideas flowing.

6. Create your outline and designate keyword-rich H2s and H3s.

When outlining, you need to center your main ideas with keyword-rich H2s and H3s. These are going to be your headers and subheaders that readers typically search for, and the information that Google crawls when indexing and ranking content.

I use keyword research tools, like Ahrefs and Semrush , to find the best words for my blog post. To find the right keywords, I focus on the following elements:

  • Relevance to topic and search intent
  • How authoritative my blog is on the topic
  • The amount of search traffic my blog could gain

Remember, your outline should serve as a guide to make writing your blog post easier, so make sure you include all the important points you want to discuss and organize them in a logical flow.

7. Write your blog post!

I already told you how to build out your outline earlier in the post, so we'll quickly go over the main points once more.

You‘ve already outlined your main headings and subheadings, so now’s the time to add the body.

Write about what you already know, and if necessary, conduct additional research to gather more information, examples, and data to back up your points, while providing proper attribution when incorporating external sources. When you do, always try to find accurate and compelling data to use in your post.

This is also your opportunity to show personality in your writing. Blog posts don‘t have to be strictly informational, they can be filled with interesting anecdotes and even humor if it serves a purpose in expressing your ideas. It also factors into creating and maintaining your blog’s brand voice .

Don‘t be discouraged if you’re having trouble stringing sentences together, you're not alone. Finding your “flow” can be challenging, but there are many tools to ease the process. Software such as HubSpot's Free AI Blog Writer can help you generate copy for your blog post. You can even use it to outline and generate title ideas.

8. Proofread your post.

The editing process is an important part of blogging — don't overlook it. I tend to self-edit while I write, but it’s essential to get a second pair of eyes on your post before publishing.

Consider enlisting the help of The Ultimate Editing Checklist and ask a grammar-conscious co-worker to copy edit and proofread your post. I also really enjoy free grammar checkers, like Grammarly , to help proofread while I’m writing.

If you're looking to brush up on your self-editing skills, turn to these helpful posts for some tips and tricks to get you started:

  • How to Become a (Better) Editor: 13 Editorial Tips
  • How to Become a More Efficient Editor: 12 Ways to Speed Up the Editorial Process
  • 10 Simple Edits That'll Instantly Improve Any Piece of Writing

9. Add images and other media elements to support your ideas.

When you're finished checking for grammar, shift your focus to adding other elements to the blog post than text. There’s much more to making a good blog post than copy, here’s some following elements to add in support of your ideas:

Featured Image

Choose a visually appealing and relevant image for your post. As social networks treat content with images more prominently, visuals are more responsible than ever for the success of your blog content.

An example of a featured image on a blog post

For help selecting an image for your post, read " How to Select the Perfect Image for Your Next Blog Post " and pay close attention to the section about copyright law.

Visual Appearance

No one likes an unattractive blog post. And it‘s not just pictures that make a post visually appealing — it’s the formatting and organization of the post, too.

In a well-formatted and visually-appealing blog post, you'll notice that header and sub-headers are used to break up large blocks of text — and those headers are styled consistently.

Here's an example of what that looks like:

Visual appearance example in a blog post

Screenshots should always have a similar, defined border so they don‘t appear as if they’re floating in space — that style should stay consistent from post to post.

Maintaining this consistency makes your content look more professional and easier on the eyes.

Topics and Tags

Tags are specific, public-facing keywords that describe a post. They also allow readers to browse for more content in the same category on your blog. Refrain from adding a laundry list of tags to each post. Instead, put some thought into a blog tagging strategy.

Think of tags as “topics” or “categories,” and choose 10-20 tags that represent all the main topics you want to cover on your blog. Then stick to those.

10. Upload your post into your CMS.

You filled out your blog post with all the optimized content you can, now is the time to publish it in your content management system.

I also use this step as an opportunity to double check my post for any errors that were potentially missed during the proofreading process. It’s especially important to preview your post before publishing to make sure there aren’t any formatting issues.

You can opt to post your content immediately, save it as a draft, or schedule when you want it to be posted live in case you adhere to a posting schedule.

11. Determine a conversion path (what you want your audience to do next).

A conversion path is a process by which an anonymous website visitor becomes a known lead. It sounds simple enough, but creating an effective conversion path requires a clear understanding of your target audience and their needs.

Having a conversion path is important because when you share your content on the web, you should have an idea of what your audience should do next, or in other words, provide them with a path forward.

The HubSpot Flywheel model is a great example of this as it shows how our organization gains and maintains leads.

HubSpot Flywheel Model

12. Add calls to action to guide your audience to take action.

Call to action (CTA) are a part of a webpage, advertisement, or piece of content that encourages the audience to do something. You can add them to your blog post to guide your reader with “next steps” or a conversion path.

Different types of call to actions include asking readers to:

  • Subscribe to your newsletter to see when you publish more content.
  • Join an online community in your blog domain.
  • Learn more about a topic with downloadable content.
  • Try something for free or discount to convert readers to customers.

To get a better idea of how to make a CTA that readers want to click, we have a whole list of effective call to action examples for you to check out.

13. Link to other relevant blog posts within your content.

When you’re completing your blog post, you should link relevant content throughout it. An effective way to do this is to link within the same content cluster.

One thing I do to make finding relevant links easier is going to my search browser and typing “site:website.com: keyword.” By doing this, you can find all the posts you have published on that topic.

Keeping relevant content throughout your post can provide your readers with more helpful information, and potentially boost search engine rankings with corresponding longtail keywords .

But we’ll talk more about how to improve your ranking in the next step.

14. Optimize for on-page SEO.

After you finish writing, go back and optimize the on-page elements of your post.

Don‘t obsess over how many keywords to include. If there are opportunities to incorporate keywords you’re targeting, and it won‘t impact reader experience, do it. If you can make your URL shorter and more keyword-friendly, go for it. But don’t cram keywords or shoot for some arbitrary keyword density — Google's smarter than that!

Here's a little blog SEO reminder about what you should review and optimize:

Write your meta description.

Meta descriptions are the descriptions below the post‘s page title on Google’s search results pages. They provide searchers with a short summary of the post before clicking into it. They are ideally between 150-160 characters and start with a verb, such as “Learn,” “Read,” or “Discover.”

While meta descriptions no longer factor into Google‘s keyword ranking algorithm, they give searchers a snapshot of what they’ll get from reading the post and help improve your clickthrough rate from search.

Optimize your page title and headers.

Most blogging software uses your post title as your page title, which is the most important on-page SEO element at your disposal. But if you've followed our formula so far, you should already have a working title that will naturally include keywords or phrases your target audience is interested in.

Don‘t over-complicate your title by trying to fit in keywords where they don’t naturally belong. With that said, if there are clear opportunities to add keywords you‘re targeting to your post title and headers, feel free to take them. Also, try to keep your headlines short — ideally, under 65 characters — so they don’t get truncated in the search engine results.

"The first component of a good title is that it needs to be scannable. People aren’t reading every word of your thoughtfully crafted headline. If you’re following a search-focused strategy, make sure to include the keyword at the beginning," Del Principe says.

Consider anchor text best practices as you interlink to other pages.

Anchor text is the word or words that link to another page — either on your website or on another website. Carefully select which keywords you want to link to other pages on your site because search engines take that into consideration when ranking your page for certain keywords.

It‘s also important to consider which pages you link to. Consider linking pages that you want to rank for a specific keyword. You could end up getting it to rank on Google’s first page of results instead of its second page — and that isn’t small potatoes!

Write alt text for all of your images.

Alt text conveys the “why” of an image as it relates to the content of your blog post to Google. By adding alt text correlating to the topic clusters and keywords of the post, Google can better direct users’ searches to you.

Check that all images are compressed for page speed.

When Google crawls different websites, a page’s load speed holds weight in page ranking. Make sure the images you include throughout the page aren’t unnecessarily large to shorten the duration it takes to load.

Use apps like Squoosh to minimize the size of your images without losing the quality.

Ensure that your blog post is mobile friendly.

More than 60% of organic visits are carried out on a mobile device. As such, having a website with a responsive design is critical. In addition to making sure your website‘s visitors (including your blog’s visitors) have the best experience possible, optimizing for mobile will score your website some SEO points.

15. Publish and promote the blog post.

Share your post across all the marketing channels in your repertoire. The further the reach, the more of a possibility that readers will find it.

Channels to expand your blog post promotion strategy include:

  • Social Media Marketing : Sharing your content on the most popular social media networks like Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, etc.
  • Email Marketing : Sharing the newest post with your email subscribers to find.
  • Boosted Posts or Paid Ads : Allocating budget toward advertisement on search engines inorganically.
  • Word of Mouth Marketing : Actively influencing people to read your content organically.

16. Track the performance of the blog post over time.

Your post is published for the world to see, make sure you’re keeping an eye on its performance over time so you can see if your blog post strategy is working well enough for your goals.

Here are some blog KPIs I like to keep track of:

  • Total traffic per post
  • Average CTR
  • Average SERP position
  • Traffic source breakdown
  • Number of search queries per post
  • Average comments per post
  • Social shares per post
  • New blog leads
  • Conversion rate

There’s a plethora of website traffic analysis tools that you can take advantage of to better understand your audience’s behavior on your blog posts.

Quick Blog Writing Tips

If you’re feeling stuck as a new writer, don’t give up. It gets easier with practice. Whether you’re struggling with writer's block or wanting some ways to add depth to your content, here are some quick tips I compiled to help take your blog writing to the next level:

If you don’t know where to start, start by telling a story.

When you’re facing writer’s block, start with what you know. Not only will sharing personal anecdotes help you get ideas flowing, but it can also keep your readers engaged with what you’re saying.

Stories can simplify complex concepts and make your content more relatable. Plus, they add a human touch and help set the tone for the rest of your blog post.

Include interesting quotes or facts for emphasis on the subject.

When you back up your ideas with unique, expert quotes or share facts from reliable sources, it shows that your blog post is well-researched and trustworthy.

If you don’t know where to start with finding quotes, think about the people you know and their expertise. For example, I’m lucky enough to have incredibly knowledgeable coworkers here at HubSpot that I can reach out to if I need a quote.

I’ve also reached out to connections on LinkedIn to see if they can provide a quote or know someone who can. HARO can also be a great resource if you need a quote in a pinch.

Make your content skimmable; break it into digestible chunks.

There’s nothing that turns readers off more than opening an article and seeing a large wall of text. Think about it: most internet users have a short attention span and tend to skim through content rather than reading every word.

That’s why I recommend breaking up your blog post into smaller chunks to make it more digestible. You can do this by utilizing subheadings (H2s, H3s, H4s, etc.), bullet points, and short paragraphs.

Not only does breaking up your content make your blog post more visually appealing, it also helps readers quickly find the information they’re looking for without getting lost in a sea of text.

Paint a full picture with images, graphics or video.

Aside from aesthetic appeal, visuals can help convey complex ideas in an easier way and help readers remember the information you share.

I recommend reading through your blog post and putting yourself in your reader’s shoes. Is there anything you wrote about that would be better explained with the support of an image or graphic?

For instance, whenever I write about the pros and cons of something, I like to create a graphic that shows those pros and cons in a side-by-side comparison.

I also look at search engines results when determining what images to add to my post. Does the SERP for the keyword you’re targeting have an image pack? See if you can add in images and optimize them with alt text to increase the chances of appearing in those results.

Each sentence should convey a single idea.

Keep it simple, stupid. There’s no reason to write overly complex sentences that confuse your readers. Instead, opt to convey your message in a simple and accessible manner. At the end of the day, readers just want to find the answers they’re looking for, and writing in a straightforward manner can effectively meet this need.

I like to use the Hemingway App to make sure that my writing doesn’t get too dense.

Use active voice.

Although your writing should captivate the reader, you should avoid overwhelming them with fluff. Using active voice can help keep your writing clear, concise, and energetic while still getting your point across.

For example, instead of saying something like “the product was loved by customers,” write “customers loved the product.”

Ready to blog?

Blogging can help you build brand awareness, become a thought-leader and expert in your industry, attract qualified leads, and boost conversions. Follow the steps and tips we covered above to begin publishing and enhancing your blog today.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in October 2013 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Don't forget to share this post!

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16 Strong College Essay Examples from Top Schools

example of blog essay

What’s Covered:

  • Common App Essays
  • Why This College Essays
  • Why This Major Essays
  • Extracurricular Essays
  • Overcoming Challenges Essays
  • Community Service Essays
  • Diversity Essays
  • Political/Global Issues Essays
  • Where to Get Feedback on Your Essays

Most high school students don’t get a lot of experience with creative writing, so the college essay can be especially daunting. Reading examples of successful essays, however, can help you understand what admissions officers are looking for.

In this post, we’ll share 16 college essay examples of many different topics. Most of the essay prompts fall into 8 different archetypes, and you can approach each prompt under that archetype in a similar way. We’ve grouped these examples by archetype so you can better structure your approach to college essays.

If you’re looking for school-specific guides, check out our 2022-2023 essay breakdowns .

Looking at examples of real essays students have submitted to colleges can be very beneficial to get inspiration for your essays. You should never copy or plagiarize from these examples when writing your own essays. Colleges can tell when an essay isn’t genuine and will not view students favorably if they plagiarized. 

Note: the essays are titled in this post for navigation purposes, but they were not originally titled. We also include the original prompt where possible.

The Common App essay goes to all of the schools on your list, unless those schools use a separate application platform. Because of this, it’s the most important essay in your portfolio, and likely the longest essay you’ll need to write (you get up to 650 words). 

The goal of this essay is to share a glimpse into who you are, what matters to you, and what you hope to achieve. It’s a chance to share your story. 

Learn more about how to write the Common App essay in our complete guide.

The Multiple Meanings of Point

Prompt: Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story. (250-650 words)

Night had robbed the academy of its daytime colors, yet there was comfort in the dim lights that cast shadows of our advances against the bare studio walls. Silhouettes of roundhouse kicks, spin crescent kicks, uppercuts and the occasional butterfly kick danced while we sparred. She approached me, eyes narrowed with the trace of a smirk challenging me. “Ready spar!” Her arm began an upward trajectory targeting my shoulder, a common first move. I sidestepped — only to almost collide with another flying fist. Pivoting my right foot, I snapped my left leg, aiming my heel at her midsection. The center judge raised one finger. 

There was no time to celebrate, not in the traditional sense at least. Master Pollard gave a brief command greeted with a unanimous “Yes, sir” and the thud of 20 hands dropping-down-and-giving-him-30, while the “winners” celebrated their victory with laps as usual. 

Three years ago, seven-thirty in the evening meant I was a warrior. It meant standing up straighter, pushing a little harder, “Yes, sir” and “Yes, ma’am”, celebrating birthdays by breaking boards, never pointing your toes, and familiarity. Three years later, seven-thirty in the morning meant I was nervous. 

The room is uncomfortably large. The sprung floor soaks up the checkerboard of sunlight piercing through the colonial windows. The mirrored walls further illuminate the studio and I feel the light scrutinizing my sorry attempts at a pas de bourrée, while capturing the organic fluidity of the dancers around me. “Chassé en croix, grand battement, pique, pirouette.” I follow the graceful limbs of the woman in front of me, her legs floating ribbons, as she executes what seems to be a perfect ronds de jambes. Each movement remains a negotiation. With admirable patience, Ms. Tan casts me a sympathetic glance.   

There is no time to wallow in the misery that is my right foot. Taekwondo calls for dorsiflexion; pointed toes are synonymous with broken toes. My thoughts drag me into a flashback of the usual response to this painful mistake: “You might as well grab a tutu and head to the ballet studio next door.” Well, here I am Master Pollard, unfortunately still following your orders to never point my toes, but no longer feeling the satisfaction that comes with being a third degree black belt with 5 years of experience quite literally under her belt. It’s like being a white belt again — just in a leotard and ballet slippers. 

But the appetite for new beginnings that brought me here doesn’t falter. It is only reinforced by the classical rendition of “Dancing Queen” that floods the room and the ghost of familiarity that reassures me that this new beginning does not and will not erase the past. After years spent at the top, it’s hard to start over. But surrendering what you are only leads you to what you may become. In Taekwondo, we started each class reciting the tenets: honor, courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control, courage, humility, and knowledge, and I have never felt that I embodied those traits more so than when I started ballet. 

The thing about change is that it eventually stops making things so different. After nine different schools, four different countries, three different continents, fluency in Tamil, Norwegian, and English, there are more blurred lines than there are clear fragments. My life has not been a tactfully executed, gold medal-worthy Taekwondo form with each movement defined, nor has it been a series of frappés performed by a prima ballerina with each extension identical and precise, but thankfully it has been like the dynamics of a spinning back kick, fluid, and like my chances of landing a pirouette, unpredictable. 

The first obvious strength of this essay is the introduction—it is interesting and snappy and uses enough technical language that we want to figure out what the student is discussing. When writing introductions, students tend to walk the line between intriguing and confusing. It is important that your essay ends up on the intentionally intriguing side of that line—like this student does! We are a little confused at first, but by then introducing the idea of “sparring,” the student grounds their essay.

People often advise young writers to “show, not tell.” This student takes that advice a step further and makes the reader do a bit of work to figure out what they are telling us. Nowhere in this essay does it say “After years of Taekwondo, I made the difficult decision to switch over to ballet.” Rather, the student says “It’s like being a white belt again — just in a leotard and ballet slippers.” How powerful! 

After a lot of emotional language and imagery, this student finishes off their essay with very valuable (and necessary!) reflection. They show admissions officers that they are more than just a good writer—they are a mature and self-aware individual who would be beneficial to a college campus. Self-awareness comes through with statements like “surrendering what you are only leads you to what you may become” and maturity can be seen through the student’s discussion of values: “honor, courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control, courage, humility, and knowledge, and I have never felt that I embodied those traits more so than when I started ballet.”

Sparking Self-Awareness

Prompt: The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience? (250-650 words)

Was I no longer the beloved daughter of nature, whisperer of trees? Knee-high rubber boots, camouflage, bug spray—I wore the garb and perfume of a proud wild woman, yet there I was, hunched over the pathetic pile of stubborn sticks, utterly stumped, on the verge of tears. As a child, I had considered myself a kind of rustic princess, a cradler of spiders and centipedes, who was serenaded by mourning doves and chickadees, who could glide through tick-infested meadows and emerge Lyme-free. I knew the cracks of the earth like the scars on my own rough palms. Yet here I was, ten years later, incapable of performing the most fundamental outdoor task: I could not, for the life of me, start a fire. 

Furiously I rubbed the twigs together—rubbed and rubbed until shreds of skin flaked from my fingers. No smoke. The twigs were too young, too sticky-green; I tossed them away with a shower of curses, and began tearing through the underbrush in search of a more flammable collection. My efforts were fruitless. Livid, I bit a rejected twig, determined to prove that the forest had spurned me, offering only young, wet bones that would never burn. But the wood cracked like carrots between my teeth—old, brittle, and bitter. Roaring and nursing my aching palms, I retreated to the tent, where I sulked and awaited the jeers of my family. 

Rattling their empty worm cans and reeking of fat fish, my brother and cousins swaggered into the campsite. Immediately, they noticed the minor stick massacre by the fire pit and called to me, their deep voices already sharp with contempt. 

“Where’s the fire, Princess Clara?” they taunted. “Having some trouble?” They prodded me with the ends of the chewed branches and, with a few effortless scrapes of wood on rock, sparked a red and roaring flame. My face burned long after I left the fire pit. The camp stank of salmon and shame. 

In the tent, I pondered my failure. Was I so dainty? Was I that incapable? I thought of my hands, how calloused and capable they had been, how tender and smooth they had become. It had been years since I’d kneaded mud between my fingers; instead of scaling a white pine, I’d practiced scales on my piano, my hands softening into those of a musician—fleshy and sensitive. And I’d gotten glasses, having grown horrifically nearsighted; long nights of dim lighting and thick books had done this. I couldn’t remember the last time I had lain down on a hill, barefaced, and seen the stars without having to squint. Crawling along the edge of the tent, a spider confirmed my transformation—he disgusted me, and I felt an overwhelming urge to squash him. 

Yet, I realized I hadn’t really changed—I had only shifted perspective. I still eagerly explored new worlds, but through poems and prose rather than pastures and puddles. I’d grown to prefer the boom of a bass over that of a bullfrog, learned to coax a different kind of fire from wood, having developed a burn for writing rhymes and scrawling hypotheses. 

That night, I stayed up late with my journal and wrote about the spider I had decided not to kill. I had tolerated him just barely, only shrieking when he jumped—it helped to watch him decorate the corners of the tent with his delicate webs, knowing that he couldn’t start fires, either. When the night grew cold and the embers died, my words still smoked—my hands burned from all that scrawling—and even when I fell asleep, the ideas kept sparking—I was on fire, always on fire.

First things first, this Common App essay is well-written. This student is definitely showing the admissions officers her ability to articulate her points beautifully and creatively. It starts with vivid images like that of the “rustic princess, a cradler of spiders and centipedes, who was serenaded by mourning doves and chickadees, who could glide through tick-infested meadows and emerge Lyme-free.” And because the prose is flowery (and beautiful!), the writer can get away with metaphors like “I knew the cracks of the earth like the scars on my own rough palms” that might sound cheesy without the clear command of the English language that the writer quickly establishes.

In addition to being well-written, this essay is thematically cohesive. It begins with the simple introduction “Fire!” and ends with the following image: “When the night grew cold and the embers died, my words still smoked—my hands burned from all that scrawling—and even when I fell asleep, the ideas kept sparking—I was on fire, always on fire.” This full-circle approach leaves readers satisfied and impressed.

While dialogue often comes off as cliche or trite, this student effectively incorporates her family members saying “Where’s the fire, Princess Clara?” This is achieved through the apt use of the verb “taunted” to characterize the questioning and through the question’s thematic connection to the earlier image of the student as a rustic princess. Similarly, rhetorical questions can feel randomly placed in essays, but this student’s inclusion of the questions “Was I so dainty?” and “Was I that incapable?” feel perfectly justified after she establishes that she was pondering her failure.

Quite simply, this essay shows how quality writing can make a simple story outstandingly compelling. 

Why This College?

“Why This College?” is one of the most common essay prompts, likely because schools want to understand whether you’d be a good fit and how you’d use their resources.

This essay is one of the more straightforward ones you’ll write for college applications, but you still can and should allow your voice to shine through.

Learn more about how to write the “Why This College?” essay in our guide.

Prompt: How will you explore your intellectual and academic interests at the University of Pennsylvania? Please answer this question given the specific undergraduate school to which you are applying (650 words).

Sister Simone Roach, a theorist of nursing ethics, said, “caring is the human mode of being.” I have long been inspired by Sister Roach’s Five C’s of Caring: commitment, conscience, competence, compassion, and confidence. Penn both embraces and fosters these values through a rigorous, interdisciplinary curriculum and unmatched access to service and volunteer opportunities.

COMMITMENT. Reading through the activities that Penn Quakers devote their time to (in addition to academics!) felt like drinking from a firehose in the best possible way. As a prospective nursing student with interests outside of my major, I value this level of flexibility. I plan to leverage Penn’s liberal arts curriculum to gain an in-depth understanding of the challenges LGBT people face, especially regarding healthcare access. Through courses like “Interactional Processes with LGBT Individuals” and volunteering at the Mazzoni Center for outreach, I hope to learn how to better support the Penn LGBT community as well as my family and friends, including my cousin, who came out as trans last year.

CONSCIENCE. As one of the first people in my family to attend a four-year university, I wanted a school that promoted a sense of moral responsibility among its students. At Penn, professors challenge their students to question and recreate their own set of morals by sparking thought- provoking, open-minded discussions. I can imagine myself advocating for universal healthcare in courses such as “Health Care Reform & Future of American Health System” and debating its merits with my peers. Studying in an environment where students confidently voice their opinions – conservative or liberal – will push me to question and strengthen my value system.

COMPETENCE. Two aspects that drew my attention to Penn’s BSN program were its high-quality research opportunities and hands-on nursing projects. Through its Office of Nursing Research, Penn connects students to faculty members who share similar research interests. As I volunteered at a nursing home in high school, I hope to work with Dr. Carthon to improve the quality of care for senior citizens. Seniors, especially minorities, face serious barriers to healthcare that I want to resolve. Additionally, Penn’s unique use of simulations to bridge the gap between classroom learning and real-world application impressed me. Using computerized manikins that mimic human responses, classes in Penn’s nursing program allow students to apply their emergency medical skills in a mass casualty simulation and monitor their actions afterward through a video system. Participating in this activity will help me identify my strengths and areas for improvement regarding crisis management and medical care in a controlled yet realistic setting. Research opportunities and simulations will develop my skills even before I interact with patients.

COMPASSION. I value giving back through community service, and I have a particular interest in Penn’s Community Champions and Nursing Students For Sexual & Reproductive Health (NSRH). As a four-year volunteer health educator, I hope to continue this work as a Community Champions member. I am excited to collaborate with medical students to teach fourth and fifth graders in the city about cardiology or lead a chair dance class for the elders at the LIFE Center. Furthermore, as a feminist who firmly believes in women’s abortion rights, I’d like to join NSRH in order to advocate for women’s health on campus. At Penn, I can work with like-minded people to make a meaningful difference.

CONFIDENCE. All of the Quakers that I have met possess one defining trait: confidence. Each student summarized their experiences at Penn as challenging but fulfilling. Although I expect my coursework to push me, from my conversations with current Quakers I know it will help me to be far more effective in my career.

The Five C’s of Caring are important heuristics for nursing, but they also provide insight into how I want to approach my time in college. I am eager to engage with these principles both as a nurse and as a Penn Quaker, and I can’t wait to start.

This prompt from Penn asks students to tailor their answer to their specific field of study. One great thing that this student does is identify their undergraduate school early, by mentioning “Sister Simone Roach, a theorist of nursing ethics.” You don’t want readers confused or searching through other parts of your application to figure out your major.

With a longer essay like this, it is important to establish structure. Some students organize their essay in a narrative form, using an anecdote from their past or predicting their future at a school. This student uses Roach’s 5 C’s of Caring as a framing device that organizes their essay around values. This works well!

While this essay occasionally loses voice, there are distinct moments where the student’s personality shines through. We see this with phrases like “felt like drinking from a fire hose in the best possible way” and “All of the Quakers that I have met possess one defining trait: confidence.” It is important to show off your personality to make your essay stand out. 

Finally, this student does a great job of referencing specific resources about Penn. It’s clear that they have done their research (they’ve even talked to current Quakers). They have dreams and ambitions that can only exist at Penn.

Prompt: What is it about Yale that has led you to apply? (125 words or fewer)

Coin collector and swimmer. Hungarian and Romanian. Critical and creative thinker. I was drawn to Yale because they don’t limit one’s mind with “or” but rather embrace unison with “and.” 

Wandering through the Beinecke Library, I prepare for my multidisciplinary Energy Studies capstone about the correlation between hedonism and climate change, making it my goal to find implications in environmental sociology. Under the tutelage of Assistant Professor Arielle Baskin-Sommers, I explore the emotional deficits of depression, utilizing neuroimaging to scrutinize my favorite branch of psychology: human perception. At Walden Peer Counseling, I integrate my peer support and active listening skills to foster an empathetic environment for the Yale community. Combining my interests in psychological and environmental studies is why I’m proud to be a Bulldog. 

This answer to the “Why This College” question is great because 1) the student shows their excitement about attending Yale 2) we learn the ways in which attending Yale will help them achieve their goals and 3) we learn their interests and identities.

In this response, you can find a prime example of the “Image of the Future” approach, as the student flashes forward and envisions their life at Yale, using present tense (“I explore,” “I integrate,” “I’m proud”). This approach is valuable if you are trying to emphasize your dedication to a specific school. Readers get the feeling that this student is constantly imagining themselves on campus—it feels like Yale really matters to them.

Starting this image with the Beinecke Library is great because the Beinecke Library only exists at Yale. It is important to tailor “Why This College” responses to each specific school. This student references a program of study, a professor, and an extracurricular that only exist at Yale. Additionally, they connect these unique resources to their interests—psychological and environmental studies.

Finally, we learn about the student (independent of academics) through this response. By the end of their 125 words, we know their hobbies, ethnicities, and social desires, in addition to their academic interests. It can be hard to tackle a 125-word response, but this student shows that it’s possible.

Why This Major?

The goal of this prompt is to understand how you came to be interested in your major and what you plan to do with it. For competitive programs like engineering, this essay helps admissions officers distinguish students who have a genuine passion and are most likely to succeed in the program. This is another more straightforward essay, but you do have a bit more freedom to include relevant anecdotes.

Learn more about how to write the “Why This Major?” essay in our guide.

Why Duke Engineering

Prompt: If you are applying to the Pratt School of Engineering as a first year applicant, please discuss why you want to study engineering and why you would like to study at Duke (250 words).

One Christmas morning, when I was nine, I opened a snap circuit set from my grandmother. Although I had always loved math and science, I didn’t realize my passion for engineering until I spent the rest of winter break creating different circuits to power various lights, alarms, and sensors. Even after I outgrew the toy, I kept the set in my bedroom at home and knew I wanted to study engineering. Later, in a high school biology class, I learned that engineering didn’t only apply to circuits, but also to medical devices that could improve people’s quality of life. Biomedical engineering allows me to pursue my academic passions and help people at the same time.

Just as biology and engineering interact in biomedical engineering, I am fascinated by interdisciplinary research in my chosen career path. Duke offers unmatched resources, such as DUhatch and The Foundry, that will enrich my engineering education and help me practice creative problem-solving skills. The emphasis on entrepreneurship within these resources will also help me to make a helpful product. Duke’s Bass Connections program also interests me; I firmly believe that the most creative and necessary problem-solving comes by bringing people together from different backgrounds. Through this program, I can use my engineering education to solve complicated societal problems such as creating sustainable surgical tools for low-income countries. Along the way, I can learn alongside experts in the field. Duke’s openness and collaborative culture span across its academic disciplines, making Duke the best place for me to grow both as an engineer and as a social advocate.

This prompt calls for a complex answer. Students must explain both why they want to study engineering and why Duke is the best place for them to study engineering.

This student begins with a nice hook—a simple anecdote about a simple present with profound consequences. They do not fluff up their anecdote with flowery images or emotionally-loaded language; it is what it is, and it is compelling and sweet. As their response continues, they express a particular interest in problem-solving. They position problem-solving as a fundamental part of their interest in engineering (and a fundamental part of their fascination with their childhood toy). This helps readers to learn about the student!

Problem-solving is also the avenue by which they introduce Duke’s resources—DUhatch, The Foundry, and Duke’s Bass Connections program. It is important to notice that the student explains how these resources can help them achieve their future goals—it is not enough to simply identify the resources!

This response is interesting and focused. It clearly answers the prompt, and it feels honest and authentic.

Why Georgia Tech CompSci

Prompt: Why do you want to study your chosen major specifically at Georgia Tech? (300 words max)

I held my breath and hit RUN. Yes! A plump white cat jumped out and began to catch the falling pizzas. Although my Fat Cat project seems simple now, it was the beginning of an enthusiastic passion for computer science. Four years and thousands of hours of programming later, that passion has grown into an intense desire to explore how computer science can serve society. Every day, surrounded by technology that can recognize my face and recommend scarily-specific ads, I’m reminded of Uncle Ben’s advice to a young Spiderman: “with great power comes great responsibility”. Likewise, the need to ensure digital equality has skyrocketed with AI’s far-reaching presence in society; and I believe that digital fairness starts with equality in education.

The unique use of threads at the College of Computing perfectly matches my interests in AI and its potential use in education; the path of combined threads on Intelligence and People gives me the rare opportunity to delve deep into both areas. I’m particularly intrigued by the rich sets of both knowledge-based and data-driven intelligence courses, as I believe AI should not only show correlation of events, but also provide insight for why they occur.

In my four years as an enthusiastic online English tutor, I’ve worked hard to help students overcome both financial and technological obstacles in hopes of bringing quality education to people from diverse backgrounds. For this reason, I’m extremely excited by the many courses in the People thread that focus on education and human-centered technology. I’d love to explore how to integrate AI technology into the teaching process to make education more available, affordable, and effective for people everywhere. And with the innumerable opportunities that Georgia Tech has to offer, I know that I will be able to go further here than anywhere else.

With a “Why This Major” essay, you want to avoid using all of your words to tell a story. That being said, stories are a great way to show your personality and make your essay stand out. This student’s story takes up only their first 21 words, but it positions the student as fun and funny and provides an endearing image of cats and pizzas—who doesn’t love cats and pizzas? There are other moments when the student’s personality shines through also, like the Spiderman reference.

While this pop culture reference adds color, it also is important for what the student is getting at: their passion. They want to go into computer science to address the issues of security and equity that are on the industry’s mind, and they acknowledge these concerns with their comments about “scarily-specific ads” and their statement that “the need to ensure digital equality has skyrocketed.” This student is self-aware and aware of the state of the industry. This aptitude will be appealing for admissions officers.

The conversation around “threads” is essential for this student’s response because the prompt asks specifically about the major at Georgia Tech and it is the only thing they reference that is specific to Georgia Tech. Threads are great, but this student would have benefitted from expanding on other opportunities specific to Georgia Tech later in the essay, instead of simply inserting “innumerable opportunities.”

Overall, this student shows personality, passion, and aptitude—precisely what admissions officers want to see!

Extracurricular Essay

You’re asked to describe your activities on the Common App, but chances are, you have at least one extracurricular that’s impacted you in a way you can’t explain in 150 characters.

This essay archetype allows you to share how your most important activity shaped you and how you might use those lessons learned in the future. You are definitely welcome to share anecdotes and use a narrative approach, but remember to include some reflection. A common mistake students make is to only describe the activity without sharing how it impacted them.

Learn more about how to write the Extracurricular Essay in our guide.

A Dedicated Musician

My fingers raced across the keys, rapidly striking one after another. My body swayed with the music as my hands raced across the piano. Crashing onto the final chord, it was over as quickly as it had begun. My shoulders relaxed and I couldn’t help but break into a satisfied grin. I had just played the Moonlight Sonata’s third movement, a longtime dream of mine. 

Four short months ago, though, I had considered it impossible. The piece’s tempo was impossibly fast, its notes stretching between each end of the piano, forcing me to reach farther than I had ever dared. It was 17 pages of the most fragile and intricate melodies I had ever encountered. 

But that summer, I found myself ready to take on the challenge. With the end of the school year, I was released from my commitment to practicing for band and solo performances. I was now free to determine my own musical path: either succeed in learning the piece, or let it defeat me for the third summer in a row. 

Over those few months, I spent countless hours practicing the same notes until they burned a permanent place in my memory, creating a soundtrack for even my dreams. Some would say I’ve mastered the piece, but as a musician I know better. Now that I can play it, I am eager to take the next step and add in layers of musicality and expression to make the once-impossible piece even more beautiful.

In this response, the student uses their extracurricular, piano, as a way to emphasize their positive qualities. At the beginning, readers are invited on a journey with the student where we feel their struggle, their intensity, and ultimately their satisfaction. With this descriptive image, we form a valuable connection with the student.

Then, we get to learn about what makes this student special: their dedication and work ethic. The fact that this student describes their desire to be productive during the summer shows an intensity that is appealing to admissions officers. Additionally, the growth mindset that this student emphasizes in their conclusion is appealing to admissions officers.

The Extracurricular Essay can be seen as an opportunity to characterize yourself. This student clearly identified their positive qualities, then used the Extracurricular Essay as a way to articulate them.

A Complicated Relationship with the School Newspaper

My school’s newspaper and I have a typical love-hate relationship; some days I want nothing more than to pass two hours writing and formatting articles, while on others the mere thought of student journalism makes me shiver. Still, as we’re entering our fourth year together, you could consider us relatively stable. We’ve learned to accept each other’s differences; at this point I’ve become comfortable spending an entire Friday night preparing for an upcoming issue, and I hardly even notice the snail-like speed of our computers. I’ve even benefitted from the polygamous nature of our relationship—with twelve other editors, there’s a lot of cooperation involved. Perverse as it may be, from that teamwork I’ve both gained some of my closest friends and improved my organizational and time-management skills. And though leaving it in the hands of new editors next year will be difficult, I know our time together has only better prepared me for future relationships.

This response is great. It’s cute and endearing and, importantly, tells readers a lot about the student who wrote it. Framing this essay in the context of a “love-hate relationship,” then supplementing with comments like “We’ve learned to accept each other’s differences” allows this student to advertise their maturity in a unique and engaging way. 

While Extracurricular Essays can be a place to show how you’ve grown within an activity, they can also be a place to show how you’ve grown through an activity. At the end of this essay, readers think that this student is mature and enjoyable, and we think that their experience with the school newspaper helped make them that way.

Participating in Democracy

Prompt: Research shows that an ability to learn from experiences outside the classroom correlates with success in college. What was your greatest learning experience over the past 4 years that took place outside of the traditional classroom? (250 words) 

The cool, white halls of the Rayburn House office building contrasted with the bustling energy of interns entertaining tourists, staffers rushing to cover committee meetings, and my fellow conference attendees separating to meet with our respective congresspeople. Through civics and US history classes, I had learned about our government, but simply hearing the legislative process outlined didn’t prepare me to navigate it. It was my first political conference, and, after learning about congressional mechanics during breakout sessions, I was lobbying my representative about an upcoming vote crucial to the US-Middle East relationship. As the daughter of Iranian immigrants, my whole life had led me to the moment when I could speak on behalf of the family members who had not emigrated with my parents.

As I sat down with my congresswoman’s chief of staff, I truly felt like a participant in democracy; I was exercising my right to be heard as a young American. Through this educational conference, I developed a plan of action to raise my voice. When I returned home, I signed up to volunteer with the state chapter of the Democratic Party. I sponsored letter-writing campaigns, canvassed for local elections, and even pursued an internship with a state senate campaign. I know that I don’t need to be old enough to vote to effect change. Most importantly, I also know that I want to study government—I want to make a difference for my communities in the United States and the Middle East throughout my career. 

While this prompt is about extracurricular activities, it specifically references the idea that the extracurricular should support the curricular. It is focused on experiential learning for future career success. This student wants to study government, so they chose to describe an experience of hands-on learning within their field—an apt choice!

As this student discusses their extracurricular experience, they also clue readers into their future goals—they want to help Middle Eastern communities. Admissions officers love when students mention concrete plans with a solid foundation. Here, the foundation comes from this student’s ethnicity. With lines like “my whole life had led me to the moment when I could speak on behalf of the family members who had not emigrated with my parents,” the student assures admissions officers of their emotional connection to their future field.

The strength of this essay comes from its connections. It connects the student’s extracurricular activity to their studies and connects theirs studies to their personal history.

Overcoming Challenges

You’re going to face a lot of setbacks in college, so admissions officers want to make you’re you have the resilience and resolve to overcome them. This essay is your chance to be vulnerable and connect to admissions officers on an emotional level.

Learn more about how to write the Overcoming Challenges Essay in our guide.

The Student Becomes the Master

”Advanced females ages 13 to 14 please proceed to staging with your coaches at this time.” Skittering around the room, eyes wide and pleading, I frantically explained my situation to nearby coaches. The seconds ticked away in my head; every polite refusal increased my desperation.

Despair weighed me down. I sank to my knees as a stream of competitors, coaches, and officials flowed around me. My dojang had no coach, and the tournament rules prohibited me from competing without one.

Although I wanted to remain strong, doubts began to cloud my mind. I could not help wondering: what was the point of perfecting my skills if I would never even compete? The other members of my team, who had found coaches minutes earlier, attempted to comfort me, but I barely heard their words. They couldn’t understand my despair at being left on the outside, and I never wanted them to understand.

Since my first lesson 12 years ago, the members of my dojang have become family. I have watched them grow up, finding my own happiness in theirs. Together, we have honed our kicks, blocks, and strikes. We have pushed one another to aim higher and become better martial artists. Although my dojang had searched for a reliable coach for years, we had not found one. When we attended competitions in the past, my teammates and I had always gotten lucky and found a sympathetic coach. Now, I knew this practice was unsustainable. It would devastate me to see the other members of my dojang in my situation, unable to compete and losing hope as a result. My dojang needed a coach, and I decided it was up to me to find one. 

I first approached the adults in the dojang – both instructors and members’ parents. However, these attempts only reacquainted me with polite refusals. Everyone I asked told me they couldn’t devote multiple weekends per year to competitions. I soon realized that I would have become the coach myself.

At first, the inner workings of tournaments were a mystery to me. To prepare myself for success as a coach, I spent the next year as an official and took coaching classes on the side. I learned everything from motivational strategies to technical, behind-the-scenes components of Taekwondo competitions. Though I emerged with new knowledge and confidence in my capabilities, others did not share this faith.

Parents threw me disbelieving looks when they learned that their children’s coach was only a child herself. My self-confidence was my armor, deflecting their surly glances. Every armor is penetrable, however, and as the relentless barrage of doubts pounded my resilience, it began to wear down. I grew unsure of my own abilities.

Despite the attack, I refused to give up. When I saw the shining eyes of the youngest students preparing for their first competition, I knew I couldn’t let them down. To quit would be to set them up to be barred from competing like I was. The knowledge that I could solve my dojang’s longtime problem motivated me to overcome my apprehension.

Now that my dojang flourishes at competitions, the attacks on me have weakened, but not ended. I may never win the approval of every parent; at times, I am still tormented by doubts, but I find solace in the fact that members of my dojang now only worry about competing to the best of their abilities.

Now, as I arrive at a tournament with my students, I close my eyes and remember the past. I visualize the frantic search for a coach and the chaos amongst my teammates as we competed with one another to find coaches before the staging calls for our respective divisions. I open my eyes to the exact opposite scene. Lacking a coach hurt my ability to compete, but I am proud to know that no member of my dojang will have to face that problem again.

This essay is great because it has a strong introduction and conclusion. The introduction is notably suspenseful and draws readers into the story. Because we know it is a college essay, we can assume that the student is one of the competitors, but at the same time, this introduction feels intentionally ambiguous as if the writer could be a competitor, a coach, a sibling of a competitor, or anyone else in the situation.

As we continue reading the essay, we learn that the writer is, in fact, the competitor. Readers also learn a lot about the student’s values as we hear their thoughts: “I knew I couldn’t let them down. To quit would be to set them up to be barred from competing like I was.” Ultimately, the conflict and inner and outer turmoil is resolved through the “Same, but Different” ending technique as the student places themself in the same environment that we saw in the intro, but experiencing it differently due to their actions throughout the narrative. This is a very compelling strategy!

Growing Sensitivity to Struggles

Prompt: The lessons we take from failure can be fundamental to later success. Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience? (650 words)

“You ruined my life!” After months of quiet anger, my brother finally confronted me. To my shame, I had been appallingly ignorant of his pain.

Despite being twins, Max and I are profoundly different. Having intellectual interests from a young age that, well, interested very few of my peers, I often felt out of step in comparison with my highly-social brother. Everything appeared to come effortlessly for Max and, while we share an extremely tight bond, his frequent time away with friends left me feeling more and more alone as we grew older.

When my parents learned about The Green Academy, we hoped it would be an opportunity for me to find not only an academically challenging environment, but also – perhaps more importantly – a community. This meant transferring the family from Drumfield to Kingston. And while there was concern about Max, we all believed that given his sociable nature, moving would be far less impactful on him than staying put might be on me.

As it turned out, Green Academy was everything I’d hoped for. I was ecstatic to discover a group of students with whom I shared interests and could truly engage. Preoccupied with new friends and a rigorous course load, I failed to notice that the tables had turned. Max, lost in the fray and grappling with how to make connections in his enormous new high school, had become withdrawn and lonely. It took me until Christmas time – and a massive argument – to recognize how difficult the transition had been for my brother, let alone that he blamed me for it.

Through my own journey of searching for academic peers, in addition to coming out as gay when I was 12, I had developed deep empathy for those who had trouble fitting in. It was a pain I knew well and could easily relate to. Yet after Max’s outburst, my first response was to protest that our parents – not I – had chosen to move us here. In my heart, though, I knew that regardless of who had made the decision, we ended up in Kingston for my benefit. I was ashamed that, while I saw myself as genuinely compassionate, I had been oblivious to the heartache of the person closest to me. I could no longer ignore it – and I didn’t want to.

We stayed up half the night talking, and the conversation took an unexpected turn. Max opened up and shared that it wasn’t just about the move. He told me how challenging school had always been for him, due to his dyslexia, and that the ever-present comparison to me had only deepened his pain.

We had been in parallel battles the whole time and, yet, I only saw that Max was in distress once he experienced problems with which I directly identified. I’d long thought Max had it so easy – all because he had friends. The truth was, he didn’t need to experience my personal brand of sorrow in order for me to relate – he had felt plenty of his own.

My failure to recognize Max’s suffering brought home for me the profound universality and diversity of personal struggle; everyone has insecurities, everyone has woes, and everyone – most certainly – has pain. I am acutely grateful for the conversations he and I shared around all of this, because I believe our relationship has been fundamentally strengthened by a deeper understanding of one another. Further, this experience has reinforced the value of constantly striving for deeper sensitivity to the hidden struggles of those around me. I won’t make the mistake again of assuming that the surface of someone’s life reflects their underlying story.

Here you can find a prime example that you don’t have to have fabulous imagery or flowery prose to write a successful essay. You just have to be clear and say something that matters. This essay is simple and beautiful. It almost feels like having a conversation with a friend and learning that they are an even better person than you already thought they were.

Through this narrative, readers learn a lot about the writer—where they’re from, what their family life is like, what their challenges were as a kid, and even their sexuality. We also learn a lot about their values—notably, the value they place on awareness, improvement, and consideration of others. Though they never explicitly state it (which is great because it is still crystal clear!), this student’s ending of “I won’t make the mistake again of assuming that the surface of someone’s life reflects their underlying story” shows that they are constantly striving for improvement and finding lessons anywhere they can get them in life.

Community Service/Impact on the Community

Colleges want students who will positively impact the campus community and go on to make change in the world after they graduate. This essay is similar to the Extracurricular Essay, but you need to focus on a situation where you impacted others. 

Learn more about how to write the Community Service Essay in our guide.

Academic Signing Day

Prompt: What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?

The scent of eucalyptus caressed my nose in a gentle breeze. Spring had arrived. Senior class activities were here. As a sophomore, I noticed a difference between athletic and academic seniors at my high school; one received recognition while the other received silence. I wanted to create an event celebrating students academically-committed to four-years, community colleges, trades schools, and military programs. This event was Academic Signing Day.

The leadership label, “Events Coordinator,” felt heavy on my introverted mind. I usually was setting up for rallies and spirit weeks, being overlooked around the exuberant nature of my peers. 

I knew a change of mind was needed; I designed flyers, painted posters, presented powerpoints, created student-led committees, and practiced countless hours for my introductory speech. Each committee would play a vital role on event day: one dedicated to refreshments, another to technology, and one for decorations. The fourth-month planning was a laborious joy, but I was still fearful of being in the spotlight. Being acknowledged by hundreds of people was new to me.     

The day was here. Parents filled the stands of the multi-purpose room. The atmosphere was tense; I could feel the angst building in my throat, worried about the impression I would leave. Applause followed each of the 400 students as they walked to their college table, indicating my time to speak. 

I walked up to the stand, hands clammy, expression tranquil, my words echoing to the audience. I thought my speech would be met by the sounds of crickets; instead, smiles lit up the stands, realizing my voice shone through my actions. I was finally coming out of my shell. The floor was met by confetti as I was met by the sincerity of staff, students, and parents, solidifying the event for years to come. 

Academic students were no longer overshadowed. Their accomplishments were equally recognized to their athletic counterparts. The school culture of athletics over academics was no longer imbalanced. Now, every time I smell eucalyptus, it is a friendly reminder that on Academic Signing Day, not only were academic students in the spotlight but so was my voice.

This essay answers the prompt nicely because the student describes a contribution with a lasting legacy. Academic Signing Day will affect this high school in the future and it affected this student’s self-development—an idea summed up nicely with their last phrase “not only were academic students in the spotlight but so was my voice.”

With Community Service essays, students sometimes take small contributions and stretch them. And, oftentimes, the stretch is very obvious. Here, the student shows us that Academic Signing Day actually mattered by mentioning four months of planning and hundreds of students and parents. They also make their involvement in Academic Signing Day clear—it was their idea and they were in charge, and that’s why they gave the introductory speech.

Use this response as an example of the type of focused contribution that makes for a convincing Community Service Essay.

Climate Change Rally

Prompt: What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time? (technically not community service, but the response works)

Let’s fast-forward time. Strides were made toward racial equality. Healthcare is accessible to all; however, one issue remains. Our aquatic ecosystems are parched with dead coral from ocean acidification. Climate change has prevailed.

Rewind to the present day.

My activism skills are how I express my concerns for the environment. Whether I play on sandy beaches or rest under forest treetops, nature offers me an escape from the haste of the world. When my body is met by trash in the ocean or my nose is met by harmful pollutants, Earth’s pain becomes my own. 

Substituting coffee grinds as fertilizer, using bamboo straws, starting my sustainable garden, my individual actions needed to reach a larger scale. I often found performative activism to be ineffective when communicating climate concerns. My days of reposting awareness graphics on social media never filled the ambition I had left to put my activism skills to greater use. I decided to share my ecocentric worldview with a coalition of environmentalists and host a climate change rally outside my high school.

Meetings were scheduled where I informed students about the unseen impact they have on the oceans and local habitual communities. My fingers were cramped from all the constant typing and investigating of micro causes of the Pacific Waste Patch, creating reusable flyers, displaying steps people could take from home in reducing their carbon footprint. I aided my fellow environmentalists in translating these flyers into other languages, repeating this process hourly, for five days, up until rally day.  

It was 7:00 AM. The faces of 100 students were shouting, “The climate is changing, why can’t we?” I proudly walked on the dewy grass, grabbing the microphone, repeating those same words. The rally not only taught me efficient methods of communication but it echoed my environmental activism to the masses. The City of Corona would be the first of many cities to see my activism, as more rallies were planned for various parts of SoCal. My once unfulfilled ambition was fueled by my tangible activism, understanding that it takes more than one person to make an environmental impact.

Like with the last example, this student describes a focused event with a lasting legacy. That’s a perfect place to start! By the end of this essay, we have an image of the cause of this student’s passion and the effect of this student’s passion. There are no unanswered questions.

This student supplements their focused topic with engaging and exciting writing to make for an easy-to-read and enjoyable essay. One of the largest strengths of this response is its pace. From the very beginning, we are invited to “fast-forward” and “rewind” with the writer. Then, after we center ourselves in real-time, this writer keeps their quick pace with sentences like “Substituting coffee grounds as fertilizer, using bamboo straws, starting my sustainable garden, my individual actions needed to reach a larger scale.” Community Service essays run the risk of turning boring, but this unique pacing keeps things interesting.

Having a diverse class provides a richness of different perspectives and encourages open-mindedness among the student body. The Diversity Essay is also somewhat similar to the Extracurricular and Community Service Essays, but it focuses more on what you might bring to the campus community because of your unique experiences or identities.

Learn more about how to write the Diversity Essay in our guide.

A Story of a Young Skater

​​“Everyone follow me!” I smiled at five wide-eyed skaters before pushing off into a spiral. I glanced behind me hopefully, only to see my students standing frozen like statues, the fear in their eyes as clear as the ice they swayed on. “Come on!” I said encouragingly, but the only response I elicited was the slow shake of their heads. My first day as a Learn-to-Skate coach was not going as planned. 

But amid my frustration, I was struck by how much my students reminded me of myself as a young skater. At seven, I had been fascinated by Olympic performers who executed thrilling high jumps and dizzying spins with apparent ease, and I dreamed to one day do the same. My first few months on skates, however, sent these hopes crashing down: my attempts at slaloms and toe-loops were shadowed by a stubborn fear of falling, which even the helmet, elbow pads, and two pairs of mittens I had armed myself with couldn’t mitigate. Nonetheless, my coach remained unfailingly optimistic, motivating me through my worst spills and teaching me to find opportunities in failures. With his encouragement, I learned to push aside my fears and attack each jump with calm and confidence; it’s the hope that I can help others do the same that now inspires me to coach.

I remember the day a frustrated staff member directed Oliver, a particularly hesitant young skater, toward me, hoping that my patience and steady encouragement might help him improve. Having stood in Oliver’s skates not much earlier myself, I completely empathized with his worries but also saw within him the potential to overcome his fears and succeed. 

To alleviate his anxiety, I held Oliver’s hand as we inched around the rink, cheering him on at every turn. I soon found though, that this only increased his fear of gliding on his own, so I changed my approach, making lessons as exciting as possible in hopes that he would catch the skating bug and take off. In the weeks that followed, we held relay races, played “freeze-skate” and “ice-potato”, and raced through obstacle courses; gradually, with each slip and subsequent success, his fear began to abate. I watched Oliver’s eyes widen in excitement with every skill he learned, and not long after, he earned his first skating badge. Together we celebrated this milestone, his ecstasy fueling my excitement and his pride mirroring my own. At that moment, I was both teacher and student, his progress instilling in me the importance of patience and a positive attitude. 

It’s been more than ten years since I bundled up and stepped onto the ice for the first time. Since then, my tolerance for the cold has remained stubbornly low, but the rest of me has certainly changed. In sharing my passion for skating, I have found a wonderful community of eager athletes, loving parents, and dedicated coaches from whom I have learned invaluable lessons and wisdom. My fellow staffers have been with me, both as friends and colleagues, and the relationships I’ve formed have given me far more poise, confidence, and appreciation for others. Likewise, my relationships with parents have given me an even greater gratitude for the role they play: no one goes to the rink without a parent behind the wheel! 

Since that first lesson, I have mentored dozens of children, and over the years, witnessed tentative steps transform into powerful glides and tears give way to delighted grins. What I have shared with my students has been among the greatest joys of my life, something I will cherish forever. It’s funny: when I began skating, what pushed me through the early morning practices was the prospect of winning an Olympic medal. Now, what excites me is the chance to work with my students, to help them grow, and to give back to the sport that has brought me so much happiness. 

This response is a great example of how Diversity doesn’t have to mean race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, age, or ability. Diversity can mean whatever you want it to mean—whatever unique experience(s) you have to bring to the table!

A major strength of this essay comes in its narrative organization. When reading this first paragraph, we feel for the young skaters and understand their fear—skating sounds scary! Then, because the writer sets us up to feel this empathy, the transition to the second paragraph where the student describes their empathy for the young skaters is particularly powerful. It’s like we are all in it together! The student’s empathy for the young skaters also serves as an outstanding, seamless transition to the applicant discussing their personal journey with skating: “I was struck by how much my students reminded me of myself as a young skater.”

This essay positions the applicant as a grounded and caring individual. They are caring towards the young skaters—changing their teaching style to try to help the young skaters and feeling the young skaters’ emotions with them—but they are also appreciative to those who helped them as they reference their fellow staffers and parents. This shows great maturity—a favorable quality in the eyes of an admissions officer.

At the end of the essay, we know a lot about this student and are convinced that they would be a good addition to a college campus!

Finding Community in the Rainforest

Prompt: Duke University seeks a talented, engaged student body that embodies the wide range of human experience; we believe that the diversity of our students makes our community stronger. If you’d like to share a perspective you bring or experiences you’ve had to help us understand you better—perhaps related to a community you belong to, your sexual orientation or gender identity, or your family or cultural background—we encourage you to do so. Real people are reading your application, and we want to do our best to understand and appreciate the real people applying to Duke (250 words).

I never understood the power of community until I left home to join seven strangers in the Ecuadorian rainforest. Although we flew in from distant corners of the U.S., we shared a common purpose: immersing ourselves in our passion for protecting the natural world.

Back home in my predominantly conservative suburb, my neighbors had brushed off environmental concerns. My classmates debated the feasibility of Trump’s wall, not the deteriorating state of our planet. Contrastingly, these seven strangers delighted in bird-watching, brightened at the mention of medicinal tree sap, and understood why I once ran across a four-lane highway to retrieve discarded beer cans. Their histories barely resembled mine, yet our values aligned intimately. We did not hesitate to joke about bullet ants, gush about the versatility of tree bark, or discuss the destructive consequences of materialism. Together, we let our inner tree huggers run free.

In the short life of our little community, we did what we thought was impossible. By feeding on each other’s infectious tenacity, we cultivated an atmosphere that deepened our commitment to our values and empowered us to speak out on behalf of the environment. After a week of stimulating conversations and introspective revelations about engaging people from our hometowns in environmental advocacy, we developed a shared determination to devote our lives to this cause.

As we shared a goodbye hug, my new friend whispered, “The world needs saving. Someone’s gotta do it.” For the first time, I believed that someone could be me.

This response is so wholesome and relatable. We all have things that we just need to geek out over and this student expresses the joy that came when they found a community where they could geek out about the environment. Passion is fundamental to university life and should find its way into successful applications.

Like the last response, this essay finds strength in the fact that readers feel for the student. We get a little bit of backstory about where they come from and how they felt silenced—“Back home in my predominantly conservative suburb, my neighbors had brushed off environmental concerns”—, so it’s easy to feel joy for them when they get set free.

This student displays clear values: community, ecoconsciousness, dedication, and compassion. An admissions officer who reads Diversity essays is looking for students with strong values and a desire to contribute to a university community—sounds like this student!  

Political/Global Issues

Colleges want to build engaged citizens, and the Political/Global Issues Essay allows them to better understand what you care about and whether your values align with theirs. In this essay, you’re most commonly asked to describe an issue, why you care about it, and what you’ve done or hope to do to address it. 

Learn more about how to write the Political/Global Issues Essay in our guide.

Note: this prompt is not a typical political/global issues essay, but the essay itself would be a strong response to a political/global issues prompt.

Fighting Violence Against Women

Prompt: Using a favorite quotation from an essay or book you have read in the last three years as a starting point, tell us about an event or experience that helped you define one of your values or changed how you approach the world. Please write the quotation, title and author at the beginning of your essay. (250-650 words)

“One of the great challenges of our time is that the disparities we face today have more complex causes and point less straightforwardly to solutions.” 

– Omar Wasow, assistant professor of politics, Princeton University. This quote is taken from Professor Wasow’s January 2014 speech at the Martin Luther King Day celebration at Princeton University. 

The air is crisp and cool, nipping at my ears as I walk under a curtain of darkness that drapes over the sky, starless. It is a Friday night in downtown Corpus Christi, a rare moment of peace in my home city filled with the laughter of strangers and colorful lights of street vendors. But I cannot focus. 

My feet stride quickly down the sidewalk, my hand grasps on to the pepper spray my parents gifted me for my sixteenth birthday. My eyes ignore the surrounding city life, focusing instead on a pair of tall figures walking in my direction. I mentally ask myself if they turned with me on the last street corner. I do not remember, so I pick up the pace again. All the while, my mind runs over stories of young women being assaulted, kidnapped, and raped on the street. I remember my mother’s voice reminding me to keep my chin up, back straight, eyes and ears alert. 

At a young age, I learned that harassment is a part of daily life for women. I fell victim to period-shaming when I was thirteen, received my first catcall when I was fourteen, and was nonconsensually grabbed by a man soliciting on the street when I was fifteen. For women, assault does not just happen to us— its gory details leave an imprint in our lives, infecting the way we perceive the world. And while movements such as the Women’s March and #MeToo have given victims of sexual violence a voice, harassment still manifests itself in the lives of millions of women across the nation. Symbolic gestures are important in spreading awareness but, upon learning that a surprising number of men are oblivious to the frequent harassment that women experience, I now realize that addressing this complex issue requires a deeper level of activism within our local communities. 

Frustrated with incessant cases of harassment against women, I understood at sixteen years old that change necessitates action. During my junior year, I became an intern with a judge whose campaign for office focused on a need for domestic violence reform. This experience enabled me to engage in constructive dialogue with middle and high school students on how to prevent domestic violence. As I listened to young men uneasily admit their ignorance and young women bravely share their experiences in an effort to spread awareness, I learned that breaking down systems of inequity requires changing an entire culture. I once believed that the problem of harassment would dissipate after politicians and celebrities denounce inappropriate behavior to their global audience. But today, I see that effecting large-scale change comes from the “small” lessons we teach at home and in schools. Concerning women’s empowerment, the effects of Hollywood activism do not trickle down enough. Activism must also trickle up and it depends on our willingness to fight complacency. 

Finding the solution to the long-lasting problem of violence against women is a work-in-progress, but it is a process that is persistently moving. In my life, for every uncomfortable conversation that I bridge, I make the world a bit more sensitive to the unspoken struggle that it is to be a woman. I am no longer passively waiting for others to let me live in a world where I can stand alone under the expanse of darkness on a city street, utterly alone and at peace. I, too, deserve the night sky.

As this student addresses an important social issue, she makes the reasons for her passion clear—personal experiences. Because she begins with an extended anecdote, readers are able to feel connected to the student and become invested in what she has to say.

Additionally, through her powerful ending—“I, too, deserve the night sky”—which connects back to her beginning— “as I walk under a curtain of darkness that drapes over the sky”—this student illustrates a mastery of language. Her engagement with other writing techniques that further her argument, like the emphasis on time—“gifted to me for my sixteenth birthday,” “when I was thirteen,” “when I was fourteen,” etc.—also illustrates her mastery of language.

While this student proves herself a good writer, she also positions herself as motivated and ambitious. She turns her passions into action and fights for them. That is just what admissions officers want to see in a Political/Global issues essay!

Where to Get Feedback on Your College Essays

Once you’ve written your college essays, you’ll want to get feedback on them. Since these essays are important to your chances of acceptance, you should prepare to go through several rounds of edits. 

Not sure who to ask for feedback? That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review resource. You can get comments from another student going through the process and also edit other students’ essays to improve your own writing. 

If you want a college admissions expert to review your essay, advisors on CollegeVine have helped students refine their writing and submit successful applications to top schools.  Find the right advisor for you  to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!

Related CollegeVine Blog Posts

example of blog essay

WEBSITE ESSENTIALS

21 of the best blog examples in 2024 that'll inspire your blogging journey

  • Emily Shwake
  • 20 min read

Get started by: Creating a website → | Getting a domain →

Best blog examples

A blog is your creative space. It’s where you can share your brand’s story or impart your wisdom using your own words, with your own visual language to match. Fortunately, you don’t need to be a professional writer to create a successful blog either. All you need is a genuine passion for your field, lots to say and a stylish canvas on which to say it. To learn how to create a blog of your own, check out this list of 22 of the best blog examples below. Further down, we’ve included tips for how to start a blog that your audience will love.

22 best blog examples

Best photography blog: Zion Adventure Photog

Best interior design blog: Seasons in Colour

Best restaurant reviews blog: All the Food

Best entrepreneur blog: Bella & Bloom

Best trip-planning blog: Corlu Travels

Best lifestyle blog: Olivia + Laura

Best parenting blog: Bonsie

Best serialized blog: Brain of Brian

Best DIY blog: britdotdesign

Best travel blog: Chasing Buffaloes and Beyond

Best LGBTQIA+ blog: Equal Health

Best personal blog: The Sofia Log

Best wedding blog: Hair Comes the Bride

Best author blog: Alan Allinger

Best mental health blog: Cornelius Holmes

Best gardening blog: TerraLiving

Best recipe blog: Mikaela Reuben

Best female empowerment blog: Mom Boss Life

Best fitness blog: Mrs. Space Cadet

Best sports blog: Tobias Becs

Best food blog: Not Another Cooking Show

01. Best photography blog: Zion Adventure Photog

The Zion Adventure Photog blog establishes owner Arika as an expert of both photography and Zion National Park. The blog’s rugged, playful color scheme of brown and gold evokes nature and sunshine. Its homepage features visual testimonials of happy clients enjoying their adventures. Arika embeds her Instagram Feed directly onto her site, spreading the word about her service and drawing people deeper into her brand through social media marketing.

Key takeaways

Have a clear purpose for your blog. Arika successfully showcases her photography portfolio and establishes her expertise of the Zion area. This clear purpose helps her to focus her content and to attract the right audience.

Be an expert in your field. Arika is an expert in canyoneering and hiking, and her knowledge comes through in her blog posts. She provides detailed guidance on these activities, which is invaluable to her audience.

Utah Adventure - best blog examples

02. Best interior design blog: Seasons in Colour

Jenny Kakoudakis’ interior design blog , Seasons in Colour, equips professional designers with educational content—all within a sophisticated, tasteful and user-friendly site. In fact, it earned an Amara Interior Blog Award back in 2016.

The first fold of the site is a full-bleed image of the feature story. The secondary feature appears on a black background, which breaks up the design of the site while calling attention to an article that Jenny is particularly proud of. To monetize the blog, she built a shopping page full of affiliate links.

Keep the design simple. Although the Seasons in Colour blog has tons of content on it, the minimalist design prevents readers from feeling overwhelmed.

Be consistent with your blogging. If you want to create a successful blog when starting a business , you need to publish new content on a regular basis. Seasons in Colour consistently puts out new and high-quality content, establishing it as a leading blog in its niche.

Seasons in Colour - best blog examples

03. Best restaurant reviews blog: All the Food

All the Food is a blog dedicated to all the best places to eat and drink in Dublin. Unlike some of the other websites on this list, All the Food is specifically a blog website rather than a website that includes a blog as part of its content. Readers will find different types of blog content here, such as restaurant reviews, travel guides and neighborhood lists.

There are six different categories on this blog: neighborhoods, reviews, restaurants, Dublin guides, travel guides and what’s new. What’s interesting is that each category page is structured differently based on the content type. The same goes for the blog post pages. This shows how well Editor Lisa Cope understands content and that, if you want to create a great user experience, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution for structuring your pages.

Personalize your design. Blog templates are undoubtedly invaluable, but it's crucial to consider them as a foundation rather than the final product. Think of it like a move-in-ready house—you need to add your personal touch to make it feel like home. Customize the template to match your style and brand, and make it uniquely yours to create a welcoming and engaging blog for your audience.

Stay on theme. The best food blogs often thrive on having a clear and distinct theme. Without a unique focus, it becomes challenging to attract readers, especially when there are thousands of generic food blogs out there. Fortunately, All the Food excels in this aspect by maintaining a strong focus on Dublin-specific eateries and tips. This specificity sets the blog apart, making it more appealing and valuable to readers seeking local culinary insights and recommendations in Dublin.

All the Food - best blog examples

04. Best entrepreneur blog: Bella & Bloom

Bella & Bloom is the brainchild of Shellie, a web designer who specializes in empowering female entrepreneurs with beautiful websites and business resources. She cleverly uses her blog as a free resource for women looking to DIY their business growth. By providing valuable insights and tools, she demonstrates a strong commitment to her mission and a genuine care for her audience's success.

The design of this website and blog speaks volumes about Shellie's expertise. Its attractive and intuitive layout reflects her exceptional web design skills. It has the potential to lead prospective clients to think, "I want this for my own business" when visiting her site.

Moreover, the thoughtful design choices demonstrate Shellie's deep understanding of her female entrepreneur audience. The soft color palette and feminine typography touches create a warm and inviting atmosphere that resonates perfectly with her target demographic.

A business blog isn’t about you. Blogging for business can be tricky. It is, of course, a marketing tool, but it has to be more than that if you want it to be successful. The key is to approach your blog with a reader-centric mindset. Focus on how you can offer real value to your readers, and conversions will follow.

Lean into your niche. It’s not just the gentle, flowing style of Shellie’s site that will appeal to her target niche; it’s the fact that it’s tailor-made for them. Content marketers often say, "If your message is for everybody, it's for nobody." This advice underscores the importance of writing for your specific audience rather than attempting to appeal to everyone. By tailoring your blog content to your intended readers, you create a more effective and engaging experience that truly resonates with those who matter most.

Bella & Bloom - best blog examples

05. Best trip-planning blog: Corlu Travels

Corlu Travels offers valuable insights not only for travel bloggers but for anyone looking to build a user-friendly interface. Its owner, Corie Mazza, obviously put a lot of thought into making her site easy to navigate. For example, she used Wix's Mega Menu feature to incorporate submenus into her site header. This strategic move enhances the site's accessibility, allowing visitors to easily explore different sections.

Navigation is seamlessly handled, providing visitors with two options: they can freely browse the "All Posts" page or choose a specific category page tailored to their interests. Corie cleverly uses unique layouts to differentiate each category and add to the overall visual appeal.

The "Destinations" page stands out as an impressive feat of design. Corie masterfully incorporates hover effects, making the page interactive and captivating. Drawing on her most attractive images from each location, she piques readers' curiosity and ignites a desire for wanderlust. Within the posts, Corie intersperses images every 100 words or so to provide an immersive experience.

Note: You can easily switch or customize layouts on Wix Blog without having to worry about performing a complete overhaul. Users can simply choose a different layout option and the AI will do the work of redesigning the blog for you.

Have a plan for organizing your content. If you're starting your blog, you might have enough content to organize it by category. On the other hand, developed blogs may benefit from doing so. Creating blog categories can make it easier for visitors to find the content they’re looking for and help search engines better understand the range of valuable content your blog offers.

Visual storytelling is just as important as written storytelling on travel blogs. The point of a travel blog is to inspire readers to take that next trip. While your writing may be interesting and of value, people who seek out travel content also want to see beautiful imagery. Make sure your blog delivers.

Corfu Travels - best blog examples

06. Best lifestyle blog: Olivia + Laura

With high-quality photography and a stylish design, the newly created Olivia + Laura lifestyle blog is off to a great start. The white space allows their imagery and content to shine. Their blog features clear links to their Instagram and Pinterest boards (check our how to use Pinterest for blogging ), making it easy to navigate to these visually-cohesive brand extensions.

Create visually appealing imagery. Using exceptional photography to illustrate your content can help establish you as an expert in your field. Olivia and Laura use visuals to display their ideas and show you the best of what they can do.

Use social media as a brand extension. The Olivia + Laura blog features clear links to their Instagram and Pinterest boards, which serve as an extension of their blog. Making it easy to navigate to these social media platforms is a smart move, especially in the fashion and lifestyle niche.

Olivia and Laura - best blog examples

07. Best parenting blog: Bonsie

Bonsie, a shop specializing in baby clothes that promote skin-to-skin contact, has a blog tailored to new or soon-to-be parents. Focusing on essential topics like breastfeeding, giving birth and postpartum healing, the blog aims to strengthen the bond between parents and newborns.

To accommodate busy new parents, the blog is thoughtfully designed for quick and efficient reading. Each post displays the estimated reading time, typically taking just two or three minutes. The content is enriched with high-resolution imagery and presented in short paragraphs, ensuring a user-friendly and visually engaging experience.

Additionally, the blog incorporates sharing buttons at the bottom of each post, enabling easy distribution via social media and email. This fosters word-of-mouth marketing and nurtures a supportive community, allowing parents to exchange valuable insights and experiences.

Blogging can benefit all sorts of businesses . It’s not just service businesses that can benefit from a marketing blog ; eCommerce sites like Bonsie can also reap the rewards, especially when offering a free resource that aligns with their theme and mission.

Consider your audience when building your blog layout . Instead of adding any neat features that are available on your blogging platform, choose those that will be most helpful to your specific audience. Really think about what will encourage them to read and share your content with others. In doing so, you can build a better user experience and potentially even attract more dedicated subscribers.

Bonsie - best blog examples

08. Best serialized blog: Brain of Brian

The Brain of Brian is a digital comic book that has been turned into a serialized blog. Each post contains a new edition of the custom-illustrated and entertaining story.

This graphics-driven website and blog is so enjoyable to peruse. From the storytelling snippets above the fold to the individual comic book posts down below, the content is uniquely colorful and hilarious. You can tell that the artist put a lot of time into designing this website.

Let your theme dictate the site design. If your blog is as distinctive as The Brain of Brian, don’t settle for ordinary templates. Develop an unconventional structure and bold style components that showcase your unique brand identity.

Monetize in a way that makes sense. For this comic book blog, a branded merchandise shop was an ideal monetization strategy. However, that won’t work for every blog. Avoid forced or irrelevant monetization strategies, as they may deter your audience and undermine your blog's authenticity. By finding the right balance between revenue generation and user experience, you can create a successful and sustainable blog that benefits both you and your readers.

Brain of Brian serialized blog example

09. Best DIY blog: britdotdesign

Brit Arnesen created britdotdesign to share her DIY home decor and renovation projects. Its classy design and beautifully shot imagery entice homeowners seeking tips. The conversational-style writing keeps them engaged, leaving them eager to find the subscriber form.

The footer of this site is worth checking out. It features a full-width Instagram feed, which is the perfect addition to any design blog. Below that is a subscriber form that invites readers to stay connected. Last but not least, it includes a link to book a consultation with Brit.

Be conversational. A conversational tone can make even the most complicated or stressful of topics easy to comprehend. Brit does this well. Every post engages the reader with simple language and thoughtful questions, fostering a client-like conversation.

Add a call-to-action to your footer. You don’t need to overload every blog post with a bunch of calls-to-action (CTAs) in order to get readers to convert. In fact, you’re probably better off taking a subtle approach by placing your CTA buttons in the header or footer. This way, readers can concentrate on the content while always having a clear pathway to conversion.

britdotdesign blog example

10. Best travel blog: Chasing Buffaloes and Beyond

Want to learn how to start a travel blog ? Chasing Buffaloes may be helpful in showing you the ropes. The blog chronicles the adventures of a family of three as they visit state and national parks in the U.S. as well as other destinations around the world.

The blog itself is simply organized—readers can choose to sort through posts by date or destination. The blog posts themselves start with a brief intro and are followed by a table of contents that links to each section. This thoughtful layout ensures a seamless user experience, especially for longer blog posts.

Don’t be afraid to get personal. Travel blogs like Chasing Buffaloes often benefit from first-person storytelling. Their posts detail the itineraries for each trip and include personal family photos. The photos feel more relatable than the glossy photos you’d find on a commercial travel blog.

Add unexpected touches to your blog. Unlike a regular photo album, a travel blog allows for interactive elements. In this case, Chasing Buffaloes uses hover effects to add comments to each photo. Readers will encounter these comments when they hover their cursor over the photos, providing a delightful surprise and enhancing their overall browsing experience.

Chasing buffaloes and beyond - best blog examples

11. Best LGBTQIA+ blog: Equal Health

As a business committed to offering inclusive healthcare to the LGBTQIA+ community, it’s no surprise that Equal Health’s blog is as educational as it is empathetic. Since its February launch, the Equal Health team has been diligent about posting monthly—a practice that is essential to any blog strategy. What sets Equal Health apart is their skillful balance of education and promotion, ensuring that mentioning their business within posts never feels overly sales-oriented and remains highly relevant to the topic at hand.

The Equal Health blog thoughtfully breaks down every topic it addresses, including reputable external links to sites like CDC.gov and Science.org as needed. What’s more, the posts end with a list of sources so that readers can get more information on the things that matter most to them—like HIV prevention, gender-affirming care and so on.

Experiment with header fonts, but not text fonts. As you may know, font choice is first and foremost a matter of accessibility. If people have trouble reading the text, they’ll likely navigate to an alternative source. For those interested in experimenting with typography, Equal Health serves as a fantastic example of how to do so. They skillfully employ a stylized, on-brand font in their headers, adding a unique and visually appealing touch. Simultaneously, they maintain clarity and readability by using a clean sans-serif font for the body of each post.

Make it easy for readers to find your links. If you deal with sensitive topics, such as health care or finance, it’s essential that you link to your sources. These citations back up your arguments while providing readers with additional context and education on the matter. To make these links easily noticeable, ensure that your hyperlink text stands out distinctly from the background and surrounding text of your site. A bright blue color, similar to the one used by Equal Health, is a commonly effective choice to draw attention to the links and enhance overall readability.

Equal Health, the best LGBTQIA+ blog example

12. Best personal blog: The Sofia Log

The Sofia Log is different from other travel blogs in that it’s more of a personal diary than a guide. Sofia Hollingsworth chronicles her adventures, reflecting on her experiences in intimate, thoughtful ways. The introspective but friendly tone gives readers an immediate sense of familiarity.

Find a creative approach for your blog. For Sophie, that meant ignoring the traditional travel blog approach to writing destination guides and packing tips. Instead, she tells her unique story to inspire and connect with fellow adventure seekers.

Keep your brand’s color palette simple. Although you want your branding to be recognizable and memorable, you don’t want it to overwhelm the content of your blog. A simple color palette like Sophie’s (which is yellow, black and white) allows the vivid storytelling and visuals to nicely stand out.

The Sofia Log - best blog examples

13. Best wedding blog: Hair Comes the Bride

Hair Comes the Bride is a fantastic resource for brides-to-be. The blog offers tips and inspiration for those planning their hair and makeup styles for their big day.

When it comes to blogs like this one, you have to give readers a reason to trust the advice you’re doling out. Social proof, which refers to the influence of positive feedback and actions from others, goes a long way to establish this trust. Hair Comes the Bride includes three types of social proof at the bottom of each post: number of views, comments and likes. By showcasing these metrics, the blog provides concrete evidence of its popularity and engagement, reinforcing the reliability of the advice being offered and earning the confidence of the audience even beyond the words written. For more hands on tips, read how to start a wedding blog .

Use visual cues to break up long content. If you’re writing posts that are more than a few hundred words, use different visual features to keep it organized and easy to read. Images are helpful, as are large header text and horizontal divider lines, as seen in Hair Comes the Bride.

Show, don’t just tell. Not every blog post needs visuals. It all depends on what the subject matter is that you’re dealing with. However, if you’re giving advice on something like hairstyles and accessories, then accompanying visuals are a must. Not only do they help demonstrate your advice, but they can turn your posts into inspirational resources.

Hair Comes the Bride - best blog examples

14. Best author blog: Alan Allinger

Author Alan Allinger uses his storytelling blog not only to share his captivating short stories but also to promote his published works. With a keen eye for creating a memorable experience, he has crafted a powerful visual atmosphere that perfectly complements the fantastical nature of his tales. A video of rolling clouds serves as a mesmerizing background for the blog, imbuing it with an ethereal quality. Pairing each blog story with one of his nature photos, Allinger cleverly creates a doorway into the heart of each narrative and piques the curiosity of his visitors.

Get creative with the concept of a “blog.” You don’t need a personal hobby, professional pursuit or a niche passion in order to create a successful blog. As long as you have something to write down and an audience eager to hear what you have to say, you can start a blog.

Use formatting to your advantage. Allinger did a great job of creating an alluring digital space without sacrificing readability. If you want to see how shorter sentences, well-defined paragraphs and white space can make a blog post easier to read, this blog is a must-see.

Alan Allinger - best blog examples

15. Best mental health blog: Cornelius Holmes

Cornelius Holmes uses his website to advertise his adult therapy and coaching services. His blog is likely very useful in this regard, as it shows his commitment to helping people and demonstrates the sort of support people can expect if they hire him. He even links to the audio versions of a few posts above the intros so people can choose the experience that feels right for them.

Deliver your content in different formats when you can. Cornelius has blog posts available in written and audio formats. You’ll have to determine what the best ones are for your blog as well as your readers. While it’s not necessary to create multiple formats, it will make your content more accessible to everyone, which is always a good thing.

Use empathy when writing your headlines. This is especially true for mental health blogs such as this one (see how to create a health blog ). By writing headlines that sound like they come from your readers’ mouths or brains, you’ll make a stronger connection with them right from the get go.

Cornelius Homes - best blog examples

16. Best gardening blog: TerraLiving

TerraLiving is a company that creates botanical art and sculptures for the home. The website and blog are educational resources that support the Etsy shop where the company sells dozens of these products.

Considering the unique nature of the terrariums and other botanical products the company creates, the blog is a must-have feature for the website. On it, readers learn more about how art, science and AI intersect to create these beautiful interior design decorations.

Add features to blog posts that improve engagement. Every blog should offer its readers high quality and high-value content. However, that’s not always enough to keep user engagement high—sometimes you need some special features to catch their eye. TerraLiving, for instance, includes things like read times, view counters, comment feeds, photo sliders and related post sections.

Use ample white space around your posts. While you might be tempted to fill every inch of your blog, long-form content is much easier to read when it has wide margins. The white space that surrounds your posts creates the perfect frame for focus.

Terra Living - best blog examples

17. Best recipe blog: Mikaela Reuben

Mikaela Ruben’s recipe blog is the perfect supplement (pun intended) to her culinary nutrition consulting business website. By offering recipes instead of advice, she keeps people within her network without compromising the value of her sought-after knowledge.

At the top of the blog, readers are able to filter recipes by ingredient, dish type or diet. They can also check out Mikaela’s favorites and the most popular recipes. These tools allow readers to prioritize their interests and goals when perusing the blog.

Use high-quality visuals. Mikaela uses great visuals to illustrate her recipes and her work as a culinary nutrition consultant. This helps make her website more engaging and build authority as an expert in her field.

Have a clear CTA. In her blog, Mikaela encourages visitors to subscribe to her newsletter, contact her to schedule an appointment or purchase her cookbook. This helps her to collect leads and to grow her business.

Mikaela Rubin - best blog examples

18. Best female empowerment blog: Mom Boss Life

Over the course of her journey as a digital marketing professional, entrepreneur and mother, she decided to pivot her business model in order to help other women just like herself—i.e., the mom bosses (see how to start a mom blog ).

For the most part, the website provides mompreneurs with all the resources and guidance they need to run their own businesses while taking care of their families. The blog, on the other hand, gets personal. Laura shares insights from her life, showing women what it’s like for her and how she’s managed to have it all in the process of building a successful brand.

Use your blog to show the realistic side of your life. When it comes to coaching and consulting websites, your goal is to empower others to start and grow their businesses. If you want to make a connection with your readers, though, you have to show them that you’re human and the blog is the best place to do that while adding value to your offering.

Use tags or hashtags to organize content. Whereas categories are great for giving readers a general sense of the sort of content a blog features, tags and hashtags are a great way of connecting your content and facilitating content discovery. For example, if Laura’s readers make it to the end of her post of tips for a smooth airport experience with kids , they’re likely interested enough in the subject to learn more. Hashtags at the bottom link to different topics so readers can explore related articles.

Mom Boss Life - best blog examples

19. Best fitness blog: Mrs. Space Cadet

In the “My Story” page of the Mrs. Space Cadet blog, creator Erin Azar explains that she couldn’t find an online space that featured anything other than people’s perfect marathon training journeys. In response, she created this wonderfully authentic blog highlighting her “Running through life one struggle at a time.”

The top fold features an image of the creator decked out in colorful running gear while goofily karate chopping the air on an empty road—a perfect embodiment of her blog title . In addition to her blog, Erin features her podcast, online store and social media links, where she consistently shares relatable content. By speaking authentically to her readers, Erin built a blog that is both empowering and supportive.

Be authentic. Erin is open and honest about her struggles as a runner, and she doesn't try to pretend to be someone she's not. This authenticity helps her develop a sense of trust, which goes a long way in helping her build a loyal following.

Focus on the specifics within your niche. Having a deep understanding of your audience makes it so much easier to write for them. Erin’s knowledge of her readers clearly informs her strategy. Instead of writing blog posts that are highly polished, she keeps things down-to-earth with practical tips and relatable stories.

Mrs. Space Cadet - best blog examples

20. Best sports blog: Tobias Becs

As an award-winning content creator and Guinness World Record holder, it’s unsurprising that football player Tobias Bec takes a unique approach to his “News” blog. It not only contains brief notes about his daily life but also vlogs and photo galleries. Every post is light on words, if they contain any at all. Tobias instead uses his blog as a place to centralize and promote existing videos, social posts and products.

Try vlogging if blogging isn’t your forte. Social media creators and influencers have grown up in a time where writing is limited to a couple hundred characters and photos and videos reign supreme. So if you’re not comfortable with writing lengthy blog posts but still have something important to say or interesting to share, create a vlog or photography blog instead.

Experiment with a dark theme. For activity blogs like this one, deviating from the traditional light theme can be refreshing. An all-black background will stand out in stark contrast to other blogs that play it safe with their designs and color choices.

Tobias Becs - best blog examples

21. Best food blog: Not Another Cooking Show

Stephen Cusato’s Not Another Cooking Show is a masterclass in how to start a food blog . While Stephen primarily uses YouTube to show viewers how to prepare simple, tasty dishes, his eye-catching blog draws fans further into this brand’s culinary world, even featuring one of his videos as his homepage’s backdrop.

This recipe blog is broken down by meal category, offering visitors a simple way to navigate through the abundance of content. Each page's layout further enhances the user experience. At the top of every page, a video showcases the recipe in action, enticing viewers to dive into the cooking process. Below, Stephen offers a well-structured recipe, making it easy for users to follow and recreate the dishes.

The importance of using imagery. If you are interested in starting a food blog, the power of photos and videos can’t be overstated. Both are vital for illustrating your recipes and showing off your impressive culinary creations. That said, you don’t need to go over the top with it. Sometimes, one well-chosen photo or video placed at the top of the page is much better than a gallery that takes forever to scroll through.

Have a clear structure. Not Another Cooking Show has a clear structure. The menu bar clearly displays each page's name and the blog is broken down by meal category. This makes it easy for readers to find the content that they are interested in and helps keep the blog organized and easy to navigate.

Not Another Cooking Show - best blog examples

How to write blog posts people love

Now that you’ve gotten inspiration from a few of the best blog examples out there, it’s time to create your own blog. Here are some key strategies for writing blog posts your audience will come back to time and time again:

Choose a relevant topic: This one might sound obvious, but you would be surprised by how often blogs publish content that isn’t relevant to the intended audience. You need to know what your readers are interested in, what their pain points and goals are and what they really want to read. Once you know what your audience cares about, you can start brainstorming topics for your blog posts.

Do your research: Before you start writing, do some research. This means reading other popular blogs, articles and books on your topic. You can also talk to your audience for feedback on what they’d like to learn more about.

Expert tip from Judit Ruiz Ricart, Blogs Strategy Expert at Wix,

"Keyword research allows you to understand the type of content your audience is looking for. By crafting posts that answer their questions, you'll be able to increase your blog's organic reach and engagement."

Hook your audience: Your introduction should grab your readers’ attention and make them want to read more. Start with a strong opening sentence and then use the rest of the introduction to introduce your topic and give your readers a reason to keep reading.

Organize your content logically: Your blog post should be easy to read and understand. Use headings and subheadings and make sure your paragraphs are short and to the point.

Use strong visuals: Images, infographics and videos can help to break up your text and make your blog post more visually appealing.

Write in a clear and concise style: Your readers should be able to understand your points easily. Avoid using jargon or technical terms that your readers may not understand. Peruse blog writing to get a sense of what works for readers and what doesn’t.

Let your personality shine through in your writing: Your blog should be more than just a collection of facts and figures. It should be entertaining and engaging. Using humor and personality to connect with your readers on a personal level is what makes the difference between an average blog post and a truly great one. This is applicable whether you’re writing a personal or professional blog. You want your content to sound like a conversation rather than a lecture.

Blog examples FAQ

How do you start blogging if you’re a beginner.

The first and most important step is to learn how to make a website that adds credibility to your publication. While you could use an online publishing platform like Medium or Blogger, you’ll have more control over your blog’s design, layout and content if you own the site. Wix’s blog maker is particularly conducive to customization. Here are some other tips on blogging for beginners to help you get started:

Choose a great name for your blog.

Come up with a unique voice and writing style.

Pick five to ten topics to write about.

Browse other blogs for inspiration.

Write as if you’re writing to a friend.

Include at least one image or video in each post.

Make a consistent practice of writing.

What should you write about in a blog?

What do you include in a blog post, what types of blogs are successful, what makes a blog successful, what are the main types of blogs, what are some of the most popular blog examples to start, what are some good blog examples for students, what are some good personal blog examples, related posts.

How to choose a blog name [+ 80 blog name ideas to inspire you]

How to start a blog in 10 steps: a beginners guide

Top 20 most popular types of blogs in 2024

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PrepScholar

Choose Your Test

Sat / act prep online guides and tips, 177 college essay examples for 11 schools + expert analysis.

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College Admissions , College Essays

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The personal statement might just be the hardest part of your college application. Mostly this is because it has the least guidance and is the most open-ended. One way to understand what colleges are looking for when they ask you to write an essay is to check out the essays of students who already got in—college essays that actually worked. After all, they must be among the most successful of this weird literary genre.

In this article, I'll go through general guidelines for what makes great college essays great. I've also compiled an enormous list of 100+ actual sample college essays from 11 different schools. Finally, I'll break down two of these published college essay examples and explain why and how they work. With links to 177 full essays and essay excerpts , this article is a great resource for learning how to craft your own personal college admissions essay!

What Excellent College Essays Have in Common

Even though in many ways these sample college essays are very different from one other, they do share some traits you should try to emulate as you write your own essay.

Visible Signs of Planning

Building out from a narrow, concrete focus. You'll see a similar structure in many of the essays. The author starts with a very detailed story of an event or description of a person or place. After this sense-heavy imagery, the essay expands out to make a broader point about the author, and connects this very memorable experience to the author's present situation, state of mind, newfound understanding, or maturity level.

Knowing how to tell a story. Some of the experiences in these essays are one-of-a-kind. But most deal with the stuff of everyday life. What sets them apart is the way the author approaches the topic: analyzing it for drama and humor, for its moving qualities, for what it says about the author's world, and for how it connects to the author's emotional life.

Stellar Execution

A killer first sentence. You've heard it before, and you'll hear it again: you have to suck the reader in, and the best place to do that is the first sentence. Great first sentences are punchy. They are like cliffhangers, setting up an exciting scene or an unusual situation with an unclear conclusion, in order to make the reader want to know more. Don't take my word for it—check out these 22 first sentences from Stanford applicants and tell me you don't want to read the rest of those essays to find out what happens!

A lively, individual voice. Writing is for readers. In this case, your reader is an admissions officer who has read thousands of essays before yours and will read thousands after. Your goal? Don't bore your reader. Use interesting descriptions, stay away from clichés, include your own offbeat observations—anything that makes this essay sounds like you and not like anyone else.

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Technical correctness. No spelling mistakes, no grammar weirdness, no syntax issues, no punctuation snafus—each of these sample college essays has been formatted and proofread perfectly. If this kind of exactness is not your strong suit, you're in luck! All colleges advise applicants to have their essays looked over several times by parents, teachers, mentors, and anyone else who can spot a comma splice. Your essay must be your own work, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with getting help polishing it.

And if you need more guidance, connect with PrepScholar's expert admissions consultants . These expert writers know exactly what college admissions committees look for in an admissions essay and chan help you craft an essay that boosts your chances of getting into your dream school.

Check out PrepScholar's Essay Editing and Coaching progra m for more details!

Want to write the perfect college application essay?   We can help.   Your dedicated PrepScholar Admissions counselor will help you craft your perfect college essay, from the ground up. We learn your background and interests, brainstorm essay topics, and walk you through the essay drafting process, step-by-step. At the end, you'll have a unique essay to proudly submit to colleges.   Don't leave your college application to chance. Find out more about PrepScholar Admissions now:

Links to Full College Essay Examples

Some colleges publish a selection of their favorite accepted college essays that worked, and I've put together a selection of over 100 of these.

Common App Essay Samples

Please note that some of these college essay examples may be responding to prompts that are no longer in use. The current Common App prompts are as follows:

1. Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story. 2. The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience? 3. Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome? 4. Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you? 5. Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others. 6. Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?

7. Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you've already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.

Now, let's get to the good stuff: the list of 177 college essay examples responding to current and past Common App essay prompts. 

Connecticut college.

  • 12 Common Application essays from the classes of 2022-2025

Hamilton College

  • 7 Common Application essays from the class of 2026
  • 7 Common Application essays from the class of 2022
  • 7 Common Application essays from the class of 2018
  • 8 Common Application essays from the class of 2012
  • 8 Common Application essays from the class of 2007

Johns Hopkins

These essays are answers to past prompts from either the Common Application or the Coalition Application (which Johns Hopkins used to accept).

  • 1 Common Application or Coalition Application essay from the class of 2026
  • 6 Common Application or Coalition Application essays from the class of 2025
  • 6 Common Application or Universal Application essays from the class of 2024
  • 6 Common Application or Universal Application essays from the class of 2023
  • 7 Common Application of Universal Application essays from the class of 2022
  • 5 Common Application or Universal Application essays from the class of 2021
  • 7 Common Application or Universal Application essays from the class of 2020

Essay Examples Published by Other Websites

  • 2 Common Application essays ( 1st essay , 2nd essay ) from applicants admitted to Columbia

Other Sample College Essays

Here is a collection of essays that are college-specific.

Babson College

  • 4 essays (and 1 video response) on "Why Babson" from the class of 2020

Emory University

  • 5 essay examples ( 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ) from the class of 2020 along with analysis from Emory admissions staff on why the essays were exceptional
  • 5 more recent essay examples ( 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ) along with analysis from Emory admissions staff on what made these essays stand out

University of Georgia

  • 1 “strong essay” sample from 2019
  • 1 “strong essay” sample from 2018
  • 10 Harvard essays from 2023
  • 10 Harvard essays from 2022
  • 10 Harvard essays from 2021
  • 10 Harvard essays from 2020
  • 10 Harvard essays from 2019
  • 10 Harvard essays from 2018
  • 6 essays from admitted MIT students

Smith College

  • 6 "best gift" essays from the class of 2018

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Books of College Essays

If you're looking for even more sample college essays, consider purchasing a college essay book. The best of these include dozens of essays that worked and feedback from real admissions officers.

College Essays That Made a Difference —This detailed guide from Princeton Review includes not only successful essays, but also interviews with admissions officers and full student profiles.

50 Successful Harvard Application Essays by the Staff of the Harvard Crimson—A must for anyone aspiring to Harvard .

50 Successful Ivy League Application Essays and 50 Successful Stanford Application Essays by Gen and Kelly Tanabe—For essays from other top schools, check out this venerated series, which is regularly updated with new essays.

Heavenly Essays by Janine W. Robinson—This collection from the popular blogger behind Essay Hell includes a wider range of schools, as well as helpful tips on honing your own essay.

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Analyzing Great Common App Essays That Worked

I've picked two essays from the examples collected above to examine in more depth so that you can see exactly what makes a successful college essay work. Full credit for these essays goes to the original authors and the schools that published them.

Example 1: "Breaking Into Cars," by Stephen, Johns Hopkins Class of '19 (Common App Essay, 636 words long)

I had never broken into a car before.

We were in Laredo, having just finished our first day at a Habitat for Humanity work site. The Hotchkiss volunteers had already left, off to enjoy some Texas BBQ, leaving me behind with the college kids to clean up. Not until we were stranded did we realize we were locked out of the van.

Someone picked a coat hanger out of the dumpster, handed it to me, and took a few steps back.

"Can you do that thing with a coat hanger to unlock it?"

"Why me?" I thought.

More out of amusement than optimism, I gave it a try. I slid the hanger into the window's seal like I'd seen on crime shows, and spent a few minutes jiggling the apparatus around the inside of the frame. Suddenly, two things simultaneously clicked. One was the lock on the door. (I actually succeeded in springing it.) The other was the realization that I'd been in this type of situation before. In fact, I'd been born into this type of situation.

My upbringing has numbed me to unpredictability and chaos. With a family of seven, my home was loud, messy, and spottily supervised. My siblings arguing, the dog barking, the phone ringing—all meant my house was functioning normally. My Dad, a retired Navy pilot, was away half the time. When he was home, he had a parenting style something like a drill sergeant. At the age of nine, I learned how to clear burning oil from the surface of water. My Dad considered this a critical life skill—you know, in case my aircraft carrier should ever get torpedoed. "The water's on fire! Clear a hole!" he shouted, tossing me in the lake without warning. While I'm still unconvinced about that particular lesson's practicality, my Dad's overarching message is unequivocally true: much of life is unexpected, and you have to deal with the twists and turns.

Living in my family, days rarely unfolded as planned. A bit overlooked, a little pushed around, I learned to roll with reality, negotiate a quick deal, and give the improbable a try. I don't sweat the small stuff, and I definitely don't expect perfect fairness. So what if our dining room table only has six chairs for seven people? Someone learns the importance of punctuality every night.

But more than punctuality and a special affinity for musical chairs, my family life has taught me to thrive in situations over which I have no power. Growing up, I never controlled my older siblings, but I learned how to thwart their attempts to control me. I forged alliances, and realigned them as necessary. Sometimes, I was the poor, defenseless little brother; sometimes I was the omniscient elder. Different things to different people, as the situation demanded. I learned to adapt.

Back then, these techniques were merely reactions undertaken to ensure my survival. But one day this fall, Dr. Hicks, our Head of School, asked me a question that he hoped all seniors would reflect on throughout the year: "How can I participate in a thing I do not govern, in the company of people I did not choose?"

The question caught me off guard, much like the question posed to me in Laredo. Then, I realized I knew the answer. I knew why the coat hanger had been handed to me.

Growing up as the middle child in my family, I was a vital participant in a thing I did not govern, in the company of people I did not choose. It's family. It's society. And often, it's chaos. You participate by letting go of the small stuff, not expecting order and perfection, and facing the unexpected with confidence, optimism, and preparedness. My family experience taught me to face a serendipitous world with confidence.

What Makes This Essay Tick?

It's very helpful to take writing apart in order to see just how it accomplishes its objectives. Stephen's essay is very effective. Let's find out why!

An Opening Line That Draws You In

In just eight words, we get: scene-setting (he is standing next to a car about to break in), the idea of crossing a boundary (he is maybe about to do an illegal thing for the first time), and a cliffhanger (we are thinking: is he going to get caught? Is he headed for a life of crime? Is he about to be scared straight?).

Great, Detailed Opening Story

More out of amusement than optimism, I gave it a try. I slid the hanger into the window's seal like I'd seen on crime shows, and spent a few minutes jiggling the apparatus around the inside of the frame.

It's the details that really make this small experience come alive. Notice how whenever he can, Stephen uses a more specific, descriptive word in place of a more generic one. The volunteers aren't going to get food or dinner; they're going for "Texas BBQ." The coat hanger comes from "a dumpster." Stephen doesn't just move the coat hanger—he "jiggles" it.

Details also help us visualize the emotions of the people in the scene. The person who hands Stephen the coat hanger isn't just uncomfortable or nervous; he "takes a few steps back"—a description of movement that conveys feelings. Finally, the detail of actual speech makes the scene pop. Instead of writing that the other guy asked him to unlock the van, Stephen has the guy actually say his own words in a way that sounds like a teenager talking.

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Turning a Specific Incident Into a Deeper Insight

Suddenly, two things simultaneously clicked. One was the lock on the door. (I actually succeeded in springing it.) The other was the realization that I'd been in this type of situation before. In fact, I'd been born into this type of situation.

Stephen makes the locked car experience a meaningful illustration of how he has learned to be resourceful and ready for anything, and he also makes this turn from the specific to the broad through an elegant play on the two meanings of the word "click."

Using Concrete Examples When Making Abstract Claims

My upbringing has numbed me to unpredictability and chaos. With a family of seven, my home was loud, messy, and spottily supervised. My siblings arguing, the dog barking, the phone ringing—all meant my house was functioning normally.

"Unpredictability and chaos" are very abstract, not easily visualized concepts. They could also mean any number of things—violence, abandonment, poverty, mental instability. By instantly following up with highly finite and unambiguous illustrations like "family of seven" and "siblings arguing, the dog barking, the phone ringing," Stephen grounds the abstraction in something that is easy to picture: a large, noisy family.

Using Small Bits of Humor and Casual Word Choice

My Dad, a retired Navy pilot, was away half the time. When he was home, he had a parenting style something like a drill sergeant. At the age of nine, I learned how to clear burning oil from the surface of water. My Dad considered this a critical life skill—you know, in case my aircraft carrier should ever get torpedoed.

Obviously, knowing how to clean burning oil is not high on the list of things every 9-year-old needs to know. To emphasize this, Stephen uses sarcasm by bringing up a situation that is clearly over-the-top: "in case my aircraft carrier should ever get torpedoed."

The humor also feels relaxed. Part of this is because he introduces it with the colloquial phrase "you know," so it sounds like he is talking to us in person. This approach also diffuses the potential discomfort of the reader with his father's strictness—since he is making jokes about it, clearly he is OK. Notice, though, that this doesn't occur very much in the essay. This helps keep the tone meaningful and serious rather than flippant.

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An Ending That Stretches the Insight Into the Future

But one day this fall, Dr. Hicks, our Head of School, asked me a question that he hoped all seniors would reflect on throughout the year: "How can I participate in a thing I do not govern, in the company of people I did not choose?"

The ending of the essay reveals that Stephen's life has been one long preparation for the future. He has emerged from chaos and his dad's approach to parenting as a person who can thrive in a world that he can't control.

This connection of past experience to current maturity and self-knowledge is a key element in all successful personal essays. Colleges are very much looking for mature, self-aware applicants. These are the qualities of successful college students, who will be able to navigate the independence college classes require and the responsibility and quasi-adulthood of college life.

What Could This Essay Do Even Better?

Even the best essays aren't perfect, and even the world's greatest writers will tell you that writing is never "finished"—just "due." So what would we tweak in this essay if we could?

Replace some of the clichéd language. Stephen uses handy phrases like "twists and turns" and "don't sweat the small stuff" as a kind of shorthand for explaining his relationship to chaos and unpredictability. But using too many of these ready-made expressions runs the risk of clouding out your own voice and replacing it with something expected and boring.

Use another example from recent life. Stephen's first example (breaking into the van in Laredo) is a great illustration of being resourceful in an unexpected situation. But his essay also emphasizes that he "learned to adapt" by being "different things to different people." It would be great to see how this plays out outside his family, either in the situation in Laredo or another context.

Want to build the best possible college application?   We can help.   PrepScholar Admissions combines world-class admissions counselors with our data-driven, proprietary admissions strategies. We've guided thousands of students to get into their top choice schools, from state colleges to the Ivy League. We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit and are driven to get you admitted to your dream schools. Learn more about PrepScholar Admissions to maximize your chance of getting in:

Example 2: By Renner Kwittken, Tufts Class of '23 (Common App Essay, 645 words long)

My first dream job was to be a pickle truck driver. I saw it in my favorite book, Richard Scarry's "Cars and Trucks and Things That Go," and for some reason, I was absolutely obsessed with the idea of driving a giant pickle. Much to the discontent of my younger sister, I insisted that my parents read us that book as many nights as possible so we could find goldbug, a small little golden bug, on every page. I would imagine the wonderful life I would have: being a pig driving a giant pickle truck across the country, chasing and finding goldbug. I then moved on to wanting to be a Lego Master. Then an architect. Then a surgeon.

Then I discovered a real goldbug: gold nanoparticles that can reprogram macrophages to assist in killing tumors, produce clear images of them without sacrificing the subject, and heat them to obliteration.

Suddenly the destination of my pickle was clear.

I quickly became enveloped by the world of nanomedicine; I scoured articles about liposomes, polymeric micelles, dendrimers, targeting ligands, and self-assembling nanoparticles, all conquering cancer in some exotic way. Completely absorbed, I set out to find a mentor to dive even deeper into these topics. After several rejections, I was immensely grateful to receive an invitation to work alongside Dr. Sangeeta Ray at Johns Hopkins.

In the lab, Dr. Ray encouraged a great amount of autonomy to design and implement my own procedures. I chose to attack a problem that affects the entire field of nanomedicine: nanoparticles consistently fail to translate from animal studies into clinical trials. Jumping off recent literature, I set out to see if a pre-dose of a common chemotherapeutic could enhance nanoparticle delivery in aggressive prostate cancer, creating three novel constructs based on three different linear polymers, each using fluorescent dye (although no gold, sorry goldbug!). Though using radioactive isotopes like Gallium and Yttrium would have been incredible, as a 17-year-old, I unfortunately wasn't allowed in the same room as these radioactive materials (even though I took a Geiger counter to a pair of shoes and found them to be slightly dangerous).

I hadn't expected my hypothesis to work, as the research project would have ideally been led across two full years. Yet while there are still many optimizations and revisions to be done, I was thrilled to find -- with completely new nanoparticles that may one day mean future trials will use particles with the initials "RK-1" -- thatcyclophosphamide did indeed increase nanoparticle delivery to the tumor in a statistically significant way.

A secondary, unexpected research project was living alone in Baltimore, a new city to me, surrounded by people much older than I. Even with moving frequently between hotels, AirBnB's, and students' apartments, I strangely reveled in the freedom I had to enjoy my surroundings and form new friendships with graduate school students from the lab. We explored The Inner Harbor at night, attended a concert together one weekend, and even got to watch the Orioles lose (to nobody's surprise). Ironically, it's through these new friendships I discovered something unexpected: what I truly love is sharing research. Whether in a presentation or in a casual conversation, making others interested in science is perhaps more exciting to me than the research itself. This solidified a new pursuit to angle my love for writing towards illuminating science in ways people can understand, adding value to a society that can certainly benefit from more scientific literacy.

It seems fitting that my goals are still transforming: in Scarry's book, there is not just one goldbug, there is one on every page. With each new experience, I'm learning that it isn't the goldbug itself, but rather the act of searching for the goldbugs that will encourage, shape, and refine my ever-evolving passions. Regardless of the goldbug I seek -- I know my pickle truck has just begun its journey.

Renner takes a somewhat different approach than Stephen, but their essay is just as detailed and engaging. Let's go through some of the strengths of this essay.

One Clear Governing Metaphor

This essay is ultimately about two things: Renner’s dreams and future career goals, and Renner’s philosophy on goal-setting and achieving one’s dreams.

But instead of listing off all the amazing things they’ve done to pursue their dream of working in nanomedicine, Renner tells a powerful, unique story instead. To set up the narrative, Renner opens the essay by connecting their experiences with goal-setting and dream-chasing all the way back to a memorable childhood experience:

This lighthearted–but relevant!--story about the moment when Renner first developed a passion for a specific career (“finding the goldbug”) provides an anchor point for the rest of the essay. As Renner pivots to describing their current dreams and goals–working in nanomedicine–the metaphor of “finding the goldbug” is reflected in Renner’s experiments, rejections, and new discoveries.

Though Renner tells multiple stories about their quest to “find the goldbug,” or, in other words, pursue their passion, each story is connected by a unifying theme; namely, that as we search and grow over time, our goals will transform…and that’s okay! By the end of the essay, Renner uses the metaphor of “finding the goldbug” to reiterate the relevance of the opening story:

While the earlier parts of the essay convey Renner’s core message by showing, the final, concluding paragraph sums up Renner’s insights by telling. By briefly and clearly stating the relevance of the goldbug metaphor to their own philosophy on goals and dreams, Renner demonstrates their creativity, insight, and eagerness to grow and evolve as the journey continues into college.

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An Engaging, Individual Voice

This essay uses many techniques that make Renner sound genuine and make the reader feel like we already know them.

Technique #1: humor. Notice Renner's gentle and relaxed humor that lightly mocks their younger self's grand ambitions (this is different from the more sarcastic kind of humor used by Stephen in the first essay—you could never mistake one writer for the other).

My first dream job was to be a pickle truck driver.

I would imagine the wonderful life I would have: being a pig driving a giant pickle truck across the country, chasing and finding goldbug. I then moved on to wanting to be a Lego Master. Then an architect. Then a surgeon.

Renner gives a great example of how to use humor to your advantage in college essays. You don’t want to come off as too self-deprecating or sarcastic, but telling a lightheartedly humorous story about your younger self that also showcases how you’ve grown and changed over time can set the right tone for your entire essay.

Technique #2: intentional, eye-catching structure. The second technique is the way Renner uses a unique structure to bolster the tone and themes of their essay . The structure of your essay can have a major impact on how your ideas come across…so it’s important to give it just as much thought as the content of your essay!

For instance, Renner does a great job of using one-line paragraphs to create dramatic emphasis and to make clear transitions from one phase of the story to the next:

Suddenly the destination of my pickle car was clear.

Not only does the one-liner above signal that Renner is moving into a new phase of the narrative (their nanoparticle research experiences), it also tells the reader that this is a big moment in Renner’s story. It’s clear that Renner made a major discovery that changed the course of their goal pursuit and dream-chasing. Through structure, Renner conveys excitement and entices the reader to keep pushing forward to the next part of the story.

Technique #3: playing with syntax. The third technique is to use sentences of varying length, syntax, and structure. Most of the essay's written in standard English and uses grammatically correct sentences. However, at key moments, Renner emphasizes that the reader needs to sit up and pay attention by switching to short, colloquial, differently punctuated, and sometimes fragmented sentences.

Even with moving frequently between hotels, AirBnB's, and students' apartments, I strangely reveled in the freedom I had to enjoy my surroundings and form new friendships with graduate school students from the lab. We explored The Inner Harbor at night, attended a concert together one weekend, and even got to watch the Orioles lose (to nobody's surprise). Ironically, it's through these new friendships I discovered something unexpected: what I truly love is sharing research.

In the examples above, Renner switches adeptly between long, flowing sentences and quippy, telegraphic ones. At the same time, Renner uses these different sentence lengths intentionally. As they describe their experiences in new places, they use longer sentences to immerse the reader in the sights, smells, and sounds of those experiences. And when it’s time to get a big, key idea across, Renner switches to a short, punchy sentence to stop the reader in their tracks.

The varying syntax and sentence lengths pull the reader into the narrative and set up crucial “aha” moments when it’s most important…which is a surefire way to make any college essay stand out.

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Renner's essay is very strong, but there are still a few little things that could be improved.

Connecting the research experiences to the theme of “finding the goldbug.”  The essay begins and ends with Renner’s connection to the idea of “finding the goldbug.” And while this metaphor is deftly tied into the essay’s intro and conclusion, it isn’t entirely clear what Renner’s big findings were during the research experiences that are described in the middle of the essay. It would be great to add a sentence or two stating what Renner’s big takeaways (or “goldbugs”) were from these experiences, which add more cohesion to the essay as a whole.

Give more details about discovering the world of nanomedicine. It makes sense that Renner wants to get into the details of their big research experiences as quickly as possible. After all, these are the details that show Renner’s dedication to nanomedicine! But a smoother transition from the opening pickle car/goldbug story to Renner’s “real goldbug” of nanoparticles would help the reader understand why nanoparticles became Renner’s goldbug. Finding out why Renner is so motivated to study nanomedicine–and perhaps what put them on to this field of study–would help readers fully understand why Renner chose this path in the first place.

4 Essential Tips for Writing Your Own Essay

How can you use this discussion to better your own college essay? Here are some suggestions for ways to use this resource effectively.

#1: Get Help From the Experts

Getting your college applications together takes a lot of work and can be pretty intimidatin g. Essays are even more important than ever now that admissions processes are changing and schools are going test-optional and removing diversity standards thanks to new Supreme Court rulings .  If you want certified expert help that really makes a difference, get started with  PrepScholar’s Essay Editing and Coaching program. Our program can help you put together an incredible essay from idea to completion so that your application stands out from the crowd. We've helped students get into the best colleges in the United States, including Harvard, Stanford, and Yale.  If you're ready to take the next step and boost your odds of getting into your dream school, connect with our experts today .

#2: Read Other Essays to Get Ideas for Your Own

As you go through the essays we've compiled for you above, ask yourself the following questions:

  • Can you explain to yourself (or someone else!) why the opening sentence works well?
  • Look for the essay's detailed personal anecdote. What senses is the author describing? Can you easily picture the scene in your mind's eye?
  • Find the place where this anecdote bridges into a larger insight about the author. How does the essay connect the two? How does the anecdote work as an example of the author's characteristic, trait, or skill?
  • Check out the essay's tone. If it's funny, can you find the places where the humor comes from? If it's sad and moving, can you find the imagery and description of feelings that make you moved? If it's serious, can you see how word choice adds to this tone?

Make a note whenever you find an essay or part of an essay that you think was particularly well-written, and think about what you like about it . Is it funny? Does it help you really get to know the writer? Does it show what makes the writer unique? Once you have your list, keep it next to you while writing your essay to remind yourself to try and use those same techniques in your own essay.

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#3: Find Your "A-Ha!" Moment

All of these essays rely on connecting with the reader through a heartfelt, highly descriptive scene from the author's life. It can either be very dramatic (did you survive a plane crash?) or it can be completely mundane (did you finally beat your dad at Scrabble?). Either way, it should be personal and revealing about you, your personality, and the way you are now that you are entering the adult world.

Check out essays by authors like John Jeremiah Sullivan , Leslie Jamison , Hanif Abdurraqib , and Esmé Weijun Wang to get more examples of how to craft a compelling personal narrative.

#4: Start Early, Revise Often

Let me level with you: the best writing isn't writing at all. It's rewriting. And in order to have time to rewrite, you have to start way before the application deadline. My advice is to write your first draft at least two months before your applications are due.

Let it sit for a few days untouched. Then come back to it with fresh eyes and think critically about what you've written. What's extra? What's missing? What is in the wrong place? What doesn't make sense? Don't be afraid to take it apart and rearrange sections. Do this several times over, and your essay will be much better for it!

For more editing tips, check out a style guide like Dreyer's English or Eats, Shoots & Leaves .

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What's Next?

Still not sure which colleges you want to apply to? Our experts will show you how to make a college list that will help you choose a college that's right for you.

Interested in learning more about college essays? Check out our detailed breakdown of exactly how personal statements work in an application , some suggestions on what to avoid when writing your essay , and our guide to writing about your extracurricular activities .

Working on the rest of your application? Read what admissions officers wish applicants knew before applying .

Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?   We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download them for free now:

The recommendations in this post are based solely on our knowledge and experience. If you purchase an item through one of our links PrepScholar may receive a commission.

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Anna scored in the 99th percentile on her SATs in high school, and went on to major in English at Princeton and to get her doctorate in English Literature at Columbia. She is passionate about improving student access to higher education.

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30 Topic Sentence Examples

June 24, 2024

What is an essay without a topic sentence? Well, confusion. In your writing, the topic sentence introduces what the paragraph will be about. It should cover the topic of the paragraph and the prime focus of what you want to discuss in the next several lines. And it can assist in smoothly transitioning into the next paragraph, the next point you’re about to make. Depending on the complexity of your argument, the topic sentence can also weave together several paragraphs. So when the topic sentence is missing, it’s easy to lose track of what your specific message is. Below, you find 30 topic sentence examples.

Think of the topic sentence as a tool in your writing kit. It’s there to help you signpost and structure the argument of your essay. Having it, while making sure the topic is interesting and clear, is essential to help your reader truly understand your thesis.

How do you write a topic sentence?

When you’re about to write an essay, you won’t find yourself immediately thinking of every topic sentence example at once. Figuring out what your thesis is going to be, the very purpose and argument of your essay, will be a necessary first step . Then you might want to create an outline . The outline can draft out what you want to cover in each paragraph or how your argument will be supported.

This is where the topic sentence comes in. For every paragraph, you can begin to think of topic sentence examples that best sum up the rest of your idea. The more interesting you can make the topic sentence, the better it will be, so long as you can support it. Remember, the topic sentence will introduce what you are going to discuss and expand on in the rest of the paragraph.

Examples (Continued)

Let’s take a look at these six topic sentence examples below that introduce a paragraph:

1) Studies over the last ten years have shown that the use of social media has a significant role in teenage mental health.

2) Kate Jackson and her family, who have all been San Francisco residents for 30 years, noted that this was the hottest summer yet.

3) Book sales across the country have actually increased this year, contrary to popular belief.

4) During COVID-19, people rushed to adopt pets, but after the pandemic ended many of those pets were surrendered to shelters.

5) It is undeniable what impact the meat industry has had on our environment.

6) In the 19th century in France, the creation of the Braille system was a significant turning point for those with disabilities.

How do you imagine the rest of the paragraph will turn out? How can you best support your topic sentence to strengthen your overall essay?

Support your paragraph with evidence

The topic sentence of your paragraph will not hold well if it is not backed up with the right evidence. After writing a topic sentence like the topic sentence examples above, the rest of your paragraph should include strong examples of evidence to support your argument. Doing so will only help validate your topic sentence and allow your reader to have more insight into your thesis.

Considering each topic sentence examples above, try to think of what types of evidence you would expect in that same paragraph. There could be reports on statistics, interviews, and other forms of evidence provided. How will yours be?

Where should the topic sentence go?

Now you know that your topic sentence should be followed by the right evidence. So it’s safe to assume that the topic sentence belongs at the very beginning of the paragraph.

Yet depending on the paragraph you’re working on, you can also place your “main” topic sentence after an “intro” topic sentence. Let’s take a look at the two examples below:

7) Due to rising temperatures around the world, people have had to flee their homes and relocate to areas less prone to fires or floods. (Intro topic sentence)

8) However, many have found that even these “safer” locations are still susceptible to eventual natural disasters. (Main topic sentence)

When we combine the two sentences, we get:

Due to rising temperatures around the world, people have had to flee their homes and relocate to areas less prone to fires or floods. However, many have found that even these “safer” locations are still susceptible to eventual natural disasters.

The first (intro) topic sentence example is more generic and introductory, functioning like a summary of an observation. The second (main) topic sentence example then presents another contradictory argument to that first point. Depending on the tone or argument you want to make in your paragraph, you can format your topic sentences in such a way to further sharpen your thesis. Whenever you have doubt though, you can always place one topic sentence at the beginning of the paragraph.

Sometimes less is more in writing the topic sentence

The topic sentence introduces the key concept of that paragraph, along with evidence and research findings. It can even be written as more than one sentence or perspective, as noted directly above. However, you also don’t want to say too much. Why?

You don’t want to give all of your information away at once. While it is imperative to write a clear, specific, and even complex topic sentence, it’s just as important to avoid being too general or too informative. Striking the right balance is going to help you structure the rest of your essay. After all, you have the rest of the paragraph and the rest of your essay to do that, which leads us to our next point.

Topic sentences for smoother transitions

Like a game of dominoes, your paragraphs are all connected and should flow smoothly into the next statement you are making. As you are building your outline, or even as you’re already writing, consider how your previous paragraph transitions into the next . This depends on the intention of each paragraph and how you are structuring your argument.

Topic sentences for paragraph transitions have many functions. They will elaborate on more examples. They can wrap up or summarize a preceding point you made, providing another perspective. Also, they can go against a fact or opinion you wrote, which is a great way to strengthen your overall thesis and they can also be posed as a question.

Take a look at these transitional topic sentence examples below:

9) In fact, walking as a form of exercise has shown to reduce cortisol levels.

10) Furthermore, city council representatives have said that environmental sustainability has remained at the top of the agenda, but activists have largely disagreed.

11) While the strike in Hollywood has come to an end, many writers are still without employment and searching for new ways to restart their careers.

12) However, grocery prices across the country still seem to have risen.

13) Despite the state’s discontinued funding for the arts, is there another feasible way for these students to gather together and flourish as young artists at their school?

More than one paragraph: Topic sentences that expand into several key points

So far we’ve covered topic sentences that elaborate on just one paragraph. However, you might find that one topic sentence (or two) can best address several paragraphs. This usually occurs when you’re trying to introduce a bigger argument to serve your essay.

Let’s take one of the single paragraph topic sentences from earlier above and expand it by adding a connecting topic sentence to it:

14)Book sales across the country have actually increased this year, contrary to popular belief.

15) A report from the Association of American Publishers’ StatShot program states that in April sales over a year there has been an 18% increase.

These two topic sentence examples can even serve as their own introductory paragraph. This can then lead into more paragraphs related to the topic of specific book sales increasing across the country:

Book sales across the country have actually increased this year, contrary to popular belief. A report from the Association of American Publishers’ StatShot program states that in April sales over a year there has been an 18% increase.

Make the topic sentence interesting, not obvious

Check out 15 more topic sentence examples below. How do they introduce the topic, and what does it make you want to learn more about? You can imagine what kind of paragraph, or paragraphs, might follow afterwards:

16) When brewed correctly, coffee can hold strong, subtle hints of flavors such as chocolate or fruit, depending on the level of acidity.

17) Although today life in 1920s Paris is often romanticized for its glamor, jazz, and fashion, the city was still struggling to recover from the devastation of World War I.

18) Strict social rules dominated the Victorian Era, despite Britain’s expansion around the world in pursuit of wealth and power.

19) Dogs have a keen sense of time, so much so that they can predict when you’re late to take them out for a walk.

20) Before winter arrives, birds such as cranes and waterfowl follow preferred aerial pathways during their yearly migrations.

21) Conservation methods have helped local farms in their efforts to prioritize sustainability.

22) Did you know that humans would have a better chance of reaching Mars if they had a base set up on the moon?

23) The Pacific Ocean covers more than 30 percent of the earth’s surface, and it is home to so many life forms that have not yet been studied.

24) It is often debated whether or not student athletes should be paid for their performance, considering the cost for them to succeed.

25) Becoming a successful CEO doesn’t just happen overnight.

26) Although purchasing a home is considered a great form of investment, potential buyers should look at the real estate market first.

27) Watching my mother work three jobs to support our family has taught me the importance of resilience and strong work ethic.

28) Historical fiction not only has the power to teach us of actual past events. It also allows us to step into the lives of those we would have never met.

29) Parents and teachers at Sunnyroad School District are advocating for schools to provide free computers for their students – but the administrators aren’t so sure.

30) Across the country, the debate around whether teenagers should be allowed to use smart phones on campus has been circulating.

The topic sentence as a guide

One way to look at topic sentences is to imagine them as guiding compasses of your essay. Whatever point you are trying to make, the topic sentence has the power to guide your reader down a certain path. Choose wisely! And if you’re ever unsure about how to steer your essay and you need a personal guide, we’re here to help .

Additional Resources

  • 100 Creative Writing Prompts for Middle & High School
  • 100 Tone Words to Express Mood in Your Writing
  • 160 Good Argumentative Essay Topics for Students in 2024
  • How to Write the AP Lang Rhetorical Analysis Essay (With Example)
  • How to Write the AP Lang Argument Essay (With Example)
  • 400 Adjectives to Describe a Person
  • High School Success

Joanna Hong

With a BA from Pitzer College and an MA from University College London, Joanna has worked in London, Berlin, and Los Angeles covering many cultural and political issues with organizations such as Byline Media, NK News, and Free Turkey Media. A freelancer for The New York Times, her work has also appeared in Newsweek, Dazed and Confused Magazine, and The Guardian, among others. In addition, Joanna was the recipient of the 2021 PEN America Emerging Voices Fellowship in Fiction and is currently completing her first novel.

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How to Write a Problem Statement for a Research Paper?

example of blog essay

What is a problem statement in research, and why is it crucial? A research problem statement is a clear and precise declaration that identifies the issue or challenge your study aims to tackle. It needs to be understandable to both experts and non-experts alike. You can ensure your statement is effective by basing it on established knowledge and avoiding unsupported claims. This way, you can create a solid foundation for your research.

Okay, we answered what is a problem statement, but why is grounding your statement in a literature review important? A thorough review of existing studies not only provides context but also connects your research to the broader scientific community. This approach helps ensure that your problem statement is both relevant and meaningful, guiding your empirical investigation with a strong, evidence-based foundation.

To effectively write a research problem statement, follow these steps:

  • Begin by pinpointing the broad field or subject area that captures your interest.
  • Narrow down this general area to a particular issue or challenge that needs attention.
  • Provide context by explaining why the problem is important and what gap in current knowledge it addresses.
  • Articulate the problem in a clear, succinct manner, ensuring that the language is accessible to your target audience.
  • Write in an unbiased and neutral tone, steering clear of subjective language and personal opinions.

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How to Write a Problem Statement in Specific Situations

Now, let our online essay writer service address how to write a problem statement for a research paper tailored to different research contexts.

Academic Research

In academic research, a problem statement is written after conducting a preliminary literature review. This initial review helps you identify gaps in current knowledge and frame your problem within the context of existing studies. The problem statement should then clearly articulate the specific issue you intend to investigate, its significance, and how your research will contribute to the field.

  • Preliminary Literature Review : Identify gaps or inconsistencies in existing research.
  • Define the Problem : State the issue clearly, based on the literature review.
  • Significance : Explain why the problem matters and what new insights your research will provide.

Business and Management

In business and management contexts, problem statements often address practical issues that impact organizational performance or strategy. These statements are usually formulated after identifying a specific challenge or inefficiency within the company.

  • Identify a Challenge : Pinpoint a specific problem affecting the organization.
  • Gather Data : Collect relevant data to understand the problem's scope and impact.
  • State the Problem : Clearly describe the issue, focusing on its business implications.
  • Propose Objectives : Outline the goals of your research or proposed solutions.

Social and Policy Research

For social and policy research, problem statements focus on societal issues or policy gaps. These statements should highlight the broader implications of the problem and the potential impact of the research findings on policy or society.

  • Identify a Social Issue : Choose a relevant social or policy issue that needs investigation.
  • Contextualize : Provide background information to frame the issue within a larger societal context.
  • Define the Problem : Clearly state the issue and its implications for society or policy.
  • Significance : Explain how addressing the problem can lead to social or policy improvements.

What is Included in a Problem Statement

What is Included in a Problem Statement

A comprehensive problem statement does more than just identify a gap in understanding or a lack of essential data. It also explains the importance of addressing this gap. Here are key components to include:

🕵️‍♂️Identification of the Gap Clearly articulate the specific gap in knowledge or data that your research will address.
💡Significance of the Gap Explain why this gap matters. How will filling this gap contribute to the existing body of knowledge in your field?
📚Contribution to Knowledge Discuss how your research will enhance or expand current understanding. Why is your research important?
🔍Multiple Solutions Acknowledge that there may be multiple solutions to the problem. Emphasize the need for further research to explore these potential solutions.
🎯Research Objectives Once you have identified the problem and the necessity for a solution or further study, outline how you plan to collect and present the needed data.

Step 1. Contextualize the Problem

To effectively understand how to write a problem statement for a research paper, you should first contextualize the problem and start by offering background information that sets the stage for your research. This involves presenting the broader area of study and then narrowing it down to the specific issue you will address. By doing so, you help your audience understand the environment in which the problem exists.

Example: If your research focuses on the impact of financial literacy programs on small business owners' ability to secure loans, begin with an overview of the importance of financial literacy in business. Discuss how small businesses contribute to the economy and summarize previous studies on financial literacy's general effects on business success. This context helps to frame your specific research question within the larger discourse.

Detailed Steps:

  • Introduce the General Area : Begin with a broad discussion of the field.
  • Highlight Key Issues : Identify major themes or problems in the field.
  • Narrow Down : Focus on the specific issue your research will address.

Step 2. Establish the Study's Significance

After setting the context, it's crucial to explain why your research is significant. This involves articulating the importance of the problem statement and how your research will contribute to the field. Here, you answer questions like: Why does this problem matter? Who will benefit from the findings?

Example: Continuing with the financial literacy example, explain why understanding its impact on small business owners' ability to secure loans is crucial. Highlight the potential consequences of poor financial literacy, such as higher loan rejection rates, increased financial instability, and business failures. Emphasize how your research could inform policymakers, financial institutions, and educational program designers, leading to more effective financial literacy programs and better support for small businesses.

  • Highlight the Gap : Clearly state what is missing in current research.
  • Discuss Implications : Explain the broader impact of addressing this gap.
  • Identify Beneficiaries : Point out who will benefit from your research findings.

Step 3. Set Your Objectives

Your statement should conclude with clear research aims and objectives. This section outlines what you intend to achieve and the steps you will take to address the problem. Be specific about your research goals and the methods you will use to accomplish them.

Example: For the financial literacy and loan acquisition study, your aims might include evaluating the current financial literacy levels among small business owners, examining the correlation between financial literacy and loan approval rates, and assessing the effectiveness of existing financial literacy programs. Your objectives could be to conduct surveys of small business owners, analyze loan application data, and develop recommendations for improving financial literacy programs based on your findings.

  • State Your Aims : Clearly articulate the primary goals of your research.
  • Outline Your Objectives : Break down the aims into specific, actionable objectives.
  • Describe Your Methods : Briefly mention the research methods you will use to achieve these objectives.

Problem Statement Example

Here, we prepared two research problem statement examples that can serve as unique templates for developing your own statement.

Characteristics of a Research Problem Statement

According to Kerlinger, a good problem statement asks what relationship exists between two or more variables. When learning how to write a problem statement, make sure it has the following characteristics:

Characteristics of a Research Problem Statement

🎯Focus on a Single Issue Concentrate on one problem at a time to keep the research focused and avoid confusion. For example, study how changes in tax policies affect investments in small businesses, rather than looking at broader economic issues.
🚫No Blaming Present the problem objectively without pointing fingers. For instance, say, "There is a decrease in water quality in our local river," instead of blaming local industries for polluting the river.
🤔Avoid Specific Solutions Identify the problem without suggesting specific fixes. For example, instead of recommending "Raising the minimum wage," discuss how income inequality is growing among low-wage workers, leaving room for different solutions to be considered.
🔍Defined by Behaviors and Conditions Describe the problem in terms of observable actions or measurable situations. For example, "High school dropout rates in our district have risen by 20% in the past five years," highlights a specific issue impacting the community.
📏Specific and Measurable Clearly define the problem using precise terms that allow for measurement and evaluation. For instance, stating, "Customer satisfaction scores have dropped by 15% in the last quarter," provides a measurable metric to assess the problem.
📣Reflects Community Concerns Incorporate feedback from community surveys or consultations into the problem statement. For example, stating, "Residents are worried about the lack of affordable housing options," reflects local priorities and concerns.

Writing a clear problem statement helps you pinpoint the exact issue, explain why it matters, and set specific goals. Whether you're looking into social issues or business problems, a well-defined statement directs your study toward valuable insights and solutions. If you ever need expert research proposal help , remember that together, we can transform your ideas into impactful studies that drive positive change!

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Daniel Parker

Daniel Parker

is a seasoned educational writer focusing on scholarship guidance, research papers, and various forms of academic essays including reflective and narrative essays. His expertise also extends to detailed case studies. A scholar with a background in English Literature and Education, Daniel’s work on EssayPro blog aims to support students in achieving academic excellence and securing scholarships. His hobbies include reading classic literature and participating in academic forums.

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  • Rupam. (n.d.). Research Problem and its Characteristics . https://www.tpscollegepatna.org/admin-panel/image/content/Research%20Problem%20and%20its%20Characteristics.pdf
  • Characteristics of a Quality Problem Statement . (n.d.). https://static1.squarespace.com/static/57e9e21f2e69cf4b7cee5ba0/t/5935d3e003596eebfc6b0463/1496699873373/Characteristics+of+a+Quality+Problem+Statement+%281%29.pdf

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  23. How to Write a Problem Statement for a Research

    Example: Continuing with the financial literacy example, explain why understanding its impact on small business owners' ability to secure loans is crucial. Highlight the potential consequences of poor financial literacy, such as higher loan rejection rates, increased financial instability, and business failures.