So you’re going to Israel for a 4-10 month Masa Israel program. You probably want to share your experiences with people or maybe your overbearing Jewish mother is nudging you. Either way, blogging is one of our favorite ways to shine a light on our impressive participants, like you!
Your blog can show the world (and of course your mother) what it’s like to live in Israel like a local. It offers direct insight into your perspective and unique journey. But how does one blog? Here are our top 10 tips to help you become an awesome blogger and share your journey with the world!
1. Post Consistently
According to HubSpot, consistency is one of the best ways to increase readership. It holds you accountable and helps motivate you to keep blogging. No one expects you to post every day. After all, you’re in Israel to live it like a local and experience new things.. We recommend posting at least once- or twice-a-month.
2. Stay Focused
Choose a subject for each post that not only inspires you, but that you think will resonate with or interest your readers, and then hone in on it. Think of each post like a news or features article. For example, one post might be about a typical day at your university, internship, school or Israel volunteer site. The next post can be a tour of your favorite spots in the city you now call home. In another post, you can discuss your observations and opinions about a certain social issue in Israel. The possibilities are endless! Feel free to elaborate on topics you feel passionate about, share your perspective and opinions, and remember to focus on the topic you chose as well as your readers. From the coffee you drink in the morning to the temperature of your room at bedtime, you might find yourself recounting every nitty-gritty detail. We recommend you try to avoid doing so.
Are you blogging about your Masa Israel Journey? Send a link to AmyA@MasaIsrael.org!
3. Strike a balance between your writing style and proper grammar
Blogging presents the difficult challenge of showcasing your personality while following conventional writing rules. You can certainly take some artistic license – after all, blogs are meant to be somewhat informal – but you can’t completely throw grammar out the window. You’re still writing for public consumption and surprising as it may seem, many people pay attention to grammar and spelling. Be sure to check your spelling, vary your sentence structure and pay attention to your word choice. These small things can greatly enhance your readers’ experience. Not to mention, it will make you look smart and like you know what you’re talking about.
4. Share your blog on social media
Sharing your work on social media is one of the easiest ways to reach hundreds of people. When you have a new post, share the link on your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other accounts; put the link in your Instagram profile. Your blog post will show up in friends’ and family’s feeds AND allow for them to share it with their own networks in just one click! You can also, add share and like buttons directly on your blog! (Here’s how!)
5. Make it user friendly
You don’t have to be a professional web designer to make your blog easy to read and navigate. Besides, less is is always more;forgo flashy graphics and let your content be the star. Avoid high-contrasting colors (i.e. a blue background with orange font) and use easy-to-read fonts, like Arial, Helvetica and other Sans Serif fonts that tend to be easier to read on screens. Most blogging platforms offer great pre-made layouts and templates, so go ahead and use them.
6. Make your posts multi-media:
A picture is worth a thousand words and, no matter how old we get, our brains are always drawn to images before text. Including relevant images, short videos, and/or animated GIFs is an easy way to draw readers in and break up your written content. Just remember: if you’re borrowing images or videos from the internet, be sure to give credit where it’s due.
7. Don’t worry about length
You will hear myths that blog posts should always be kept under 500 words. However, according to The Write Practice, depending on your blog goals, your posts can be up to 2,000+ words. Still, it’s important to remember that you need to keep your readers’ attention throughout the entire post.
8. Be yourself
The people reading your blog are interested in your personal story and your personality is a big part of that. Don’t abandon your voice in exchange for sounding “smarter” or “different”. You and your journey are plenty unique and your writing will be most interesting and consistent if you stay true to yourself.
9. Make Blogger friends (like other Masa Participants!)
Chances are people who read your blog are interested in blogs with similar content. You’re having a unique Israel experience and so are other Masa participants. Connect with each other to trade blogging advice and share each other’s blogs. You may find that you like each other so much that you’ll even want take tiyulim together so you can have corresponding posts about the trip!
10. Have fun
At the end of the day, you’re blogging because you want to record your own experiences. It’s a great feeling when you see how many people are following your journey, but don’t get caught up in the numbers game. Don’t worry about how many readers or comments you’re getting. Your blog should, first and foremost, be for you – an outlet for you to reflect upon everything you’re learning and experiencing on your journey. Besides, we promise all of us at Masa Israel are reading!
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