As a blogger your work will mostly revolve around writing content, making it more readable and search engine friendly and once you are done with your content, you will have to start outreach and networking for getting yourself heard and your content consumed.
On the face of it, everything seems easy but once you start to actually do it, you will understand that the process is fairly complicated and your competition is doing pretty much the same, making it further difficult for you to stand out.
You still need to do the hard work but if you plan it out well and do it correctly then your progress will be faster.
Here, we will discuss some of the most important skills to develop in order to become a successful blogger.
1. Content writing: Take a target to write at least 3,000 words a day. You can either break it down to three articles or write one single article that covers the topic well. Even if you are a good writer you will still need practice because as a blogger you have to write a lot. You are expected to publish at least 2 to 3 articles a week and some of them need to be very long and in-depth. Then, you have to write several guest posts which are equally challenging as it needs to be of top quality, else other bloggers won’t publish it.
2. HTML and PHP: As a blogger, your content management system is going to be mostly wordpress. Even if you use a different CMS, you will still have the options to manage the features and designs by installing and removing plugins and themes. However, if you have basic knowledge of HTML, then there are plenty of customizations you can do easily. The more plugins you use, the slower the system gets. If you are able to add simple codes and get things done, it is a far better choice.
Learning to code isn’t just about fixing your own site. If you can take this to the next level then you will be able to make those plugins and themes or at least be able to customize them and provide the same as a service. This will help you make money on the side. There are plenty of bloggers who are incapable of fixing their blogs even if those fixes are simple and easy. This is where your expertise as a blogging coder will come in handy.
3. Networking talents: Blogging does not only mean that you have to keep adding content on your own blog. There are plenty of things that a blogger has to do, for example posting comments on relevant blogs, replying to comments on your own blog, doing guest posts on other people’s blogs. Much of these activities require networking and communicating with other bloggers.
4. Designing and photo editing: As a passable design talent, if you are able to use Canva and other relevant tools then you can get away with your blogging requirements. However if you are able to do more than that as a designer, for example use Photoshop and other similar tools for making logos, banners etc. then this talent will open up many possibilities.
Logos, banners, infographics etc. are items that are sold for a lot of money online. This will boost your blogging income and you will be able to brand yourself as a designer and charge premium for your services. Along with that, such talents also helps with link building as infographics are easy to publish on other blogs and get relevant backlinks for free.
5. Being Creative: As a blogger, you won’t find a guide that fits everyone. Much of your blogging activities require creativity and unique thinking. If you are able to do that, then you can achieve a lot of success in blogging. Think yourself as a growth hacker who finds new and different ways to achieve various blogging successes.
6. Basic SEO: The knowledge of SEO will help you to optimize your blog and your content for search engine visibility. This way, you will write for both your readers and the search engines. When your content starts to rank higher in search engines, you will gain a wider audience and your blog will grow faster.
7. Social Media: Sites like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin etc. are excellent places to start sharing your content. But before you can do that, you have to build your profile in these platforms. Depending on your niche, you can also look for smaller social sites that are strictly on your niche. Such communities have dedicated audiences that help in growing your blog faster.
8. Patience: Blogging takes time to be successful. If you are expecting some returns quickly then blogging might not be for you. If you are thinking about blogging as a long term career then it is important that you learn to be patient and keep working hard even if you don’t see an immediate success.
9. Be a Problem Solver: There are many issues that people on your niche might have to go through on a regular basis. If you are able to locate these issues and write tutorial on how to fix the same then you will be able to build a dedicated audience easily. For this to happen, you have to think like a problem solver, someone who always finds the answers at the end and comes up with unique solutions.
10. Outreach Talent: As a blogger you have to reach out and let other know that you are here. This outreach can be for guest posts, for asking help and links, for letting people know that you have linked to them and shared their content. In short, you have to do outreach for a number of blogging things.
11. Time Management and Self Discipline: Being your own boss and doing things that you want to do is truly a gift. This way you don’t have to take orders from others and you can choose to do what you like and how you like. However, this can lead to laziness and soon you will find that you aren’t getting any work done and wasting your time with useless and mindless net browsing and watching shorts. Your ability to discipline yourself can help you in such situations and that way you will be able to manage your time better.
12. Research and Analytics: This is not just checking your own stats but learning to research your competitors and gain insights from it. Being analytical helps you to understand your and others stats well. You will know your audience better and will be able to craft better content to make sure that your audience feeds better. Blogging skills, some of which you already have and some you need to learn but as a blogger you have to constantly hone your skills to stay competitive. These are some of the important skills you can learn to get started with blogging and gain quick success.