By Soven Bery ’15

In the eyes of most, watching Blake Griffin dunks and Marshawn Lynch runs on a computer cannot possibly count as doing work.  Luckily for me, I have an incredible job where following ESPN constantly, keeping an eye on live games, and monitoring scores is not only encouraged, but actually required. I am a sports blogger.

The Internet has quickly emerged as the media platform of choice for millions of Americans, and as the demand for quick information has skyrocketed, so has the demand for people to supply that information. This is, in essence, the power of the blogger. Through sports blogging, I am able to turn a passion for sports into a full-fledged extra-curricular activity, and stay close to something I love.

I currently write for Bleacher Report (B/R), the USA’s third most visited sports media site with upwards of 25 million monthly readers. It is a formidable stage to publish my work on, with a great deal of opinions floating around this digital world. In addition to writing for Bleacher Report, I contribute to Bustasports.com, Gridiron Gab, Musket Fire and The End Zone Report. I have had my work published in Yahoo!, GronkNation, NBA News, Zone Crunch, Way Off Base, The Power Sweep, SportSpyder, Ongo, India Abroad, FanIQ and the Star Ledger.

But I’m not here to bore you with websites upon websites. My assignment was to showcase the life of being both a sports blogger while also being a Newark Academy student. Well, honestly, it is much like horseback riding, dancing or playing the trumpet. It is an activity that takes a great deal of time out of my day, and is something that I constantly practice in order to hone my skills.

Being a student blogger requires balance, which has been an integral factor in this journey into the blogging world. It would be foolish of me to spend all my time watching baseball and get no homework done. On the other hand, it would be vacuous for me to never follow up on the sports world, as that would cripple the quality of my writing. Fortunately, over time, I’ve discovered a happy medium between the two equally rigorous lifestyles.

Another important ability, which applies to almost anything, is perseverance. Obviously Bleacher Report didn’t just hand me an internship or a chance to cover the Preakness Stakes. I started with my own little sports blog called The Locker Room, that received merely tens of reads (if I was lucky). And while it was a rewarding experience, I knew I wanted to reach a broader audience. So, I made the leap and applied for a position at B/R. I was denied. After that heartbreaker, I made more connections with other little blogs that were the same boat as mine. I reapplied and was promptly denied again. But I kept working at my new goal, and a few months later was finally accepted to write with the website. Since then I have accumulated 414, 240 views on my articles and been praised with numerous accolades and contacts.

Over my years of sports blogging, I have discovered skills that are unique to my form of journalism. Whereas print journalists write pieces to an established audience, online writers have to master Search Engine Optimization (SEO).  SEO is a skill that improves the visibility of a website on search engines using keywords that viewers search for. On Bleacher Report we have a “Hot Keyword Database” that is continually updated to show what readers are looking for. An article I posted on the Boston Marathon accumulated 32,000 views in two hours. That isn’t because this is the most popular sporting event in the world, which it isn’t, but it was because I got my timing right. Thousands of runners were searching the words “Boston Marathon” as soon as I published my article. I did my homework right and reaped the benefits. I learned the ins and outs of SEO and catching the attention of online readers while working for the “Trends and Traffic Team” at B/R. This team analyzes the trends at that given moment, noticing what the prospective audience is reading and searching for, and then relays that information to the writers who churn out articles on those topics, capitalizing on the trends and gaining traffic. I was on both sides of the table, helping other writers gain views with the Trends and Traffic Team, and writing my own articles on a wide range of subjects for as long six hours a day.  In doing so, I became fully immersed in the world of blogging.

This is a world that I hope to stay close to in the near future. As the NFL season hits full swing I want to carry on writing and continuing to find that median between Bleacher Report and Newark Academy. I want to keep rising in the ranks of the website and hopefully find my niche in other parts of the Internet, as well. Blogging has been provided me with invaluable experience, and has become something I truly love to do.