100th 'Friday Scholarship Guide' Blog Post | Smarthlete

100 blog articles.
100 Friday Scholarship Guides.
100 Fridays of creating content in order to help YOU understand the recruiting world better.

What started as a small idea in late 2014 - to continuously educate young athletes on the recruiting process and all things college sports - has evolved into a much larger project than we could have foreseen:
Covering the recruiting process across 6 sports, providing information on things that never lose relevance ("How to create a recruiting video?") all the way to covering events as they happen ("Pro Tournaments") and featuring third-party content.

Throughout this journey, we have been inspired by feedback from readers and users, who have reached out to us through email and social media and we would like to take this opportunity to thank our readership all across the globe.

We would also like to take our 100th blog post as an opportunity to review what we've been writing about and to let you in on what kind of content our readers have been most excited about.
But no review would be complete without offering you a sneak peek into what's going to come in the future :)

Which Friday Scholarship Guides Have Our Readers Enjoyed The Most?

Writing #100 today is obviously also a superb moment for us to take a snapshot. A snapshot not of what's been working and not, but a snapshot on what really matters: what you guys out there simply have enjoyed the most.
And for us, there are really two ways to go about measuring this:

Top 10 Articles - Page Visits

Our most important ranking - the Top 10 articles measured by visits. These are the most visited articles athletes, parents and coaches turn to in order to find answers to their questions.
These articles continue to be there with useful background information, graphics, tips and clear instructions on what to do.
Check them out to see if you come across a useful article you haven't yet read:

1. How To Identify Whether You Are Good Enough To Play College Tennis
2. How Many Scholarships Tennis College Coaches Can Offer To Their Players
3. 5 Variants Of Dual Match Play
4. Want To Transfer School?
5. How To Produce A High-Quality Recruiting Video To Get A College Tennis Scholarship?
6. How Strong Is NCAA DIII Tennis Really?
7. A Typical Day Of A College Tennis Player
8. College Tennis Rules Dual Match Formats
9. 4 Reasons A Good High School GPA Has An Impact On Your Athletic Scholarship
10. Top 3 Reasons College Players Transfer School

Top 10 Articles - Social Media

The Top 10 articles below are ranked according to reactions (shares, comments) on Social Media (Facebook).

1. 5 Biggest Mistakes In The College Recruiting Process
2. Top 4 Reasons College Tennis Is The Best Choice For Aspiring Professionals
3. Why Go On An Official Visit Before Committing?
4. National Team Championships 2016 In College Tennis
5. Number Of Scholarships In College Tennis
6. European College Tennis Showcase 2019
7. Make A College Soccer Recruiting Video
8. Best Tennis Programs At USTA ITA Regionals 2015
9. When To Get Recruited As An International
10. 3 Reasons Why Potential Matters

What Has Changed Since The Start?

To us, it's been really interesting to see that there is no overlap in articles. 10 articles, which are most successful on social media, but not most successful in terms of page visits.
And that's also part of what has changed our approach somewhat over time. We understand that many families continue having the same questions over and over again - questions on the recruiting process, such as:

• Recruiting video
• Scholarships
• Typical day/life as student athlete
• The level of athletics required

Blog articles on events as they happen (such as National or Regional Championships), engage interested users on social media, but obviously they sort of expire and lose relevancy.

And that's part of the reason we have - over time - shifted our focus a bit from covering events and/or tournaments in great detail to emphasizing more recurring, "static questions"; topics all athletes may be wondering about at some point throughout their recruiting process.

We have also understood the great amount of passionate writers in the college sports universe, such as Parenting Aces or Tennis | Files and believe that partnering up with such creative writers will be beneficial for our audience.

What Will We Cover In Future Editions Of The Friday Scholarship Guide?

If you are interested in receiving regular updates with articles covering college topics straight to your email inbox, sign up to for our newsletter on the upper right side of this article. Here's what's in it for you:

• Surprise, surprise, the Friday Scholarship Guide will continue to be published on ... well, Fridays :D
• The Friday Scholarship Guide will continue to be there for athletes and families to get help
• The Friday Scholarship Guide will continue to be there, covering all things college sports throughout the year
• The Friday Scholarship Guide will continue to collaborate with external writers
• The Friday Scholarship Guide will continue to be your starting point to figure out your recruiting process
• The Friday Scholarship will continue to help you understand how you will be able to master your recruiting process

All by yourself or with the help of professionals, recruiting experts to be precise?
Our next (101th) article will deal with exactly this question: Why Should You Get Support With The Recruiting Process?

Thank you for reading what we've got to say on the recruiting process and college sports. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and feedback in the past and in the future.
Here is to the next 100 articles of the Friday Scholarship Guide.

Smarthlete is a college sports recruiting network, which helps you get recruited. Either all by yourself by signing up with a free recruiting profile, getting in contact with college coaches and finding your perfect match. Or by having Smarthlete's recruiting experts help you with the entire recruiting process.