The Importance of an International Student Website

If you have been one of the fortunate individuals to attend a university abroad, you probably have some unique experiences that you can share with others. Thousands of students study abroad each year, but many students are not even aware that these opportunities are available. As an overseas student, you can help raise awareness of the possibilities open to thousands of young students for the opportunity of a lifetime. Many people would be interested in reading the blog of an international student in a foreign country. Here are a few ideas to help get you started:

1. Design: You can start off with WordPress website hosting as the basis for your blog. WordPress is the leader in blog software, used by hundreds of thousands of websites because it is easy to customize and requires no previous experience. You utilize a theme (free or commercial) to customize your site and give it the look and feel that pleases you the most. You can set up separate subject pages in addition to your blog. You can even create a forum where others can exchange opinions and comments.
2. Content: You might try to post a new blog once a week, more if you have many interesting stories to tell. This keeps you website timely and attracts new and return visitors. Take the time to write error-free – no deficiencies with grammar, spelling or punctuation, and employing proper use of English. This is important because a sloppy blog will not generate traffic nor reflect well upon your education. If you need help editing your material, hire a free-lance writer - they are easy to identify via a Google search. Remember to select a few keywords and use them consistently throughout your website. This will make it simpler for search engines to correctly index your site, and thus help you generate a wide following.
3. Backlinks: You can perk up your site's search engine results by arranging to have a number of quality backlinks created. These are text links from authoritative websites that hyperlink to your website. Only high-quality backlinks will boost your site's performance:
   1. The anchor text you have placed on the source site should be a keyword from your website.
   2. The source site should be considered "authoritative" – it should have a high Page Rank. This type of site affords "link juice" to your website, which enhances your own Page Rank and search engine performance.
   3. The links should originate from the main body of the source site page, never from secondary areas like footers or sidebars.
   4. The source site should address the same general topic (international study) as your own.
   You can see your backlinks using an online tool to find out who is linking to your site. You can also buy links online.

Take the time to inspire a young student by telling your own story. It's a nice way to give back to the education community.