If you are starting to think about the college application process, you know how important it is that you make your application stand out from others. One way to be a standout is to have an online presence. This summer is a good time to take advantage of a little extra time to set up a website or a blog for just that purpose, creating a great college application.
How do you begin? You don’t have to be a techie. (Although, once you have created a website or a blog you might look like one.)
- First, register a domain name. GoDaddy.com is the place to start, and for your online presence the best name is probably your fist and last. You can register a domain name for about $10 a year.
- Next, you have to choose a way to develop your blog or site. WordPress is a great resource for this. You do not need to know HTML, and WordPress is very user-friendly. You an also look on YouTube to find tutorials about creating blogs or websites.
- Last, you need a hosting plan. These, too, are inexpensive, usually about $10 a year. GoDaddy.com can connect you to inexpensive webhosting plans.
Once you have everything set up, now you just need to think about what you want to do.
A website can allow you to post pictures and videos so this works well for art students, musicians, and athletes. Athletes can share videos of their games, write about their games, share statistics, and have coaches write about their accomplishments and recognitions on the site. Artists can show galleries of their work, detail their progress on a work, and share ideas for future projects. Musicians can post the programs they are involved in, a calendar of their gigs, and share audio visuals of their performances.
Blogs work in a variety of ways, too. Writers can write poetry, short stories, or novel installments. Students interested in business can share business tips and ideas or showcase their own start ups. Students who are into languages can write in their language to others and share information about countries that speak the language they know. Students can also write about volunteering they do and about any other accomplishments with detail and feeling.
An online presence can be started easily and can make a big impact because it can capture what is so hard to put down on an application with just a link.
