So You Want To Be A Blogger?
If you find yourself with more free time and a need to connect with others right now, you might consider becoming a blogger. While this may seem like an involved and complicated undertaking when the process is broken down step by step, it is doable for most individuals. Blogging is a good way to express yourself and learn transferable skills that are useful for any work setting you might find yourself in.
The first and most important step is to consider what your blog will be about or what your brand will be. Your blog might be a place for you to share your thoughts and feelings around being a professional or parent or traveler. Your blog might be where others learn where to find bathing suits for curvy women, how to organize their homes, or find how to switch careers. Your blog might be where you connect others to issues you care about such as mental health or homelessness or hunger. The best brands are those which are clear in focus and scope. You want readers to easily know what kind of information or resources they will find on your page.
After you have spent time narrowing down what your blog’s brand will be and what niche you will serve, it is time to move forward to step to and learn the skills you need to have a successful blog.
Writing Skills:
For a blog to be successful, it needs to be well written. It’ll be important to brush up on your writing skills. Consider what audience you are trying to reach and read other blogs that are for that audience. If you are writing about news read newspapers and news blogs. If you are writing about fashion, read fashion magazines. This research not only provides background on what others are saying and how they are presenting information but can help you determine what holes in the coverage there are and what others might be seeking from a new blog. This research also helps you understand the frequencies that others expect updates. For example, if it’s a personal blog a few times a week might be fine, but one focused on a quickly changing arena of conversation means you might want to post multiple times per day.
Technical Skills:
Once you know what you will be writing about, it is time to learn the hard skills you will need. This can include reading about best blog practices and going deeply into consumer behavior. This can include learning the pros and cons of different blog hosting sites and how each blog works. Depending on how fancy you want your blog to be, you might consider learning some basic coding skills. The more comfortable you are with the blog platform you are using, the more likely you will consistently post.
Marketing Skills:
After you have set up your blog and have started composing posts, it is important to refresh your marketing skills. Going back to your blog’s brand, consider what makes your blog special, and unlike all the other blogs available. Consider who you are writing for and where those people are looking right now. If you are creating a personal blog, you might email friends and family to announce your blog. If you are creating a professional blog, you might go to other professional groups and share your blog. In addition, it is important to understand what success will look like for you. You might have a certain size audience in mind, or certain individuals you want to follow you, or places you want your blog to be referenced. If you are able to know your own brand, learn the technical skills you need, and find effective ways to market your blog, you are setting yourself up for blog success.