Well, in this post, we’ll talk about the most essential blogging skills YOU need to build a profitable blog from scratch. At first glance, it may seem an easy thing to create and maintain a blog. Yet set up your account with a host platform such as WordPress, choose an overall theme, prepare some posts and publish. Nearly anyone who understands the basics of computers and the Internet, can build a blog. However, there is a difference between creating a blog and creating a successful blog. The latter draws readers and keeps them. The good news is that most people can readily learn the skills necessary to launch a successful blog that builds loyalty. Quick note: We just launched a new eBook on Keyword Research Made Easy which helps you find a ton of keyword ideas even if you’re a beginner. So let’s talk about the vital blogging skills anyone needs to build to build a better blog in 2023.
10 essential blogging skills to become a pro blogger
1. Content writing Skills
The ONLY way to build a better blog that makes money is to provide HUGE value to your audience. How can you add value? Only through your content. Without writing engaging, helpful and unique content, you can NEVER build a profitable blog. That’s why it’s so essential to become a good writer. Write every single day (either offline or online). Read best blogs and books to hone your blog writing skills. This may seem apparent but is still often overlooked by those wishing to join the blogosphere. While you don’t need to be a published author in order to compose a blog posting, you will need to understand the basics of presentation in terms of word usage (not overly technical), writing style (conversational and friendly) and length (articles with over 2,000+ words usually rank well in Google). If you want to improve your content writing skills, try Jasper. It is a fantastic AI writing tool to create content automatically. It’s been working great so far, and we recommend it! You can read more about it from our Jasper AI review or check out Jasper pricing plans if you’re interested! Blogging Products You Need to Become a Successful Blogger – Bluehost | Hostgator | GetResponse | GeneratePress | Elegant Themes | Semrush
2. CSS and HTML Skills
No, you don’t have to be a full-pledged WordPress developer or programmer to build a successful blog from scratch. But you should definitely learn about the basic HTML coding such as image interlinking, adding alt tags, including headlines in h1 or h2 tags etc. Although WordPress is a powerful platform which lets you create content without any coding skills. But it’s always better to know about these basic elements so you won’t panic when you face any tag related issues. While every blogging platform does come with built-in themes from which you may choose, it may be that you wish to prepare a unique theme that will fit in with your branding strategy. In this event, you will need to know at least some HTML as a well as the basic principles of cascading style sheets (CSS). Knowing the basics of each will be the difference between joining the crowd and creating a site that will be allow you to present your business in a unique manner. This knowledge can be picked up from such books as the Dummies series.
3. Networking Skills
Networking is one of the best blogging skills you can ever acquire. Not only networking helps you connect with thousands of bloggers but it also opens the doors for you to boost your website’s traffic and sales. While blogging may be done alone, you will have to interact with readers on a daily basis. Though the interactions are via the blog, you will still need to be attuned to reader preferences and interests so you may create posts that they consider relevant. For example, if your blog is focused on personal finance, you might offer posts that describe best credit card deals for a variety of audiences.
4. Follow-up Skills
You will want to engage readers by posting comments and questions regularly (at least 3 times per week). Fresh content is what maintains reader interest. When you post a question be sure to follow-up with reader responses in a timely manner. The idea is to engage readers on a daily basis and you can only do that by maintaining a consistent and active presence. Not only following up to your blog comments but also you should involve in blogger outreach. It’s the surefire way to boost your blogging skills to build strong connections with others in your field.
5. Photo Editing Skills
An image is worth a thousand words. We all know images go viral especially on social media. Using images in your blog posts is the surefire way to increase your overall search rankings. While most blogs are text-heavy, you may wish to incorporate an image or images. The image may be a logo of your business, or one that’s appropriate to specific blog postings. You will need to understand how to edit these images in terms of cropping, resizing, reformatting and other simple tasks. You will not need to understand Adobe InDesign or Photoshop as the editing software is part of the tool bar of most blog hosting platforms. Photo editing skills is one of the must have blogging skills you should acquire if you want to give a visual treat to your blog audience.
6. Social Networking Skills
Social media is the new SEO. Not only it helps you boost your blog traffic quickly but you can find more audience for your content. It is important that you learn how to use Facebook and Twitter so you may network to gain readers for your blog. Part of social networking is having good interpersonal skills so you may engage with others. These platforms can also help you promote our blog by incorporating a link on your Facebook or Twitter pages. The primary benefit of social networking sites are their viral nature so that people who are attracted to your blog will then influence those in their circle of influence to join as well thus boosting your potential readership very quickly. Once again, the fastest way to learn about using social networking sites is simply to learn as you go by creating profiles. You can also pick up “how-to” books but be sure you put into practice what you read.
7. Marketing skills
One of the major reasons few bloggers quickly succeed online is because of their selling skills. Learn the art of selling. If you don’t know how to properly promote or market your blog’s content, product or services, you will fail to build a loyal readership around your blogging network. Here are few simple yet most incredible tips to improve your marketing skills as a blogger.
Connect with the influencers in your niche. Get to them. Promote their stuff. Think about various ways to let them promote your content and products. If an expert recommends you, it can skyrocket your blog’s traffic and sales almost instantly. Read more books, especially marketing, psychology and business related. They can give you better ideas on what to do and more importantly what NOT to do. Don’t take it heart when you get rejected. It’s all common while marketing. Don’t step back when no one is showing interest in buying your products or hiring you for your services. Analyze the reasons behind them and bounce back. That’s how you become a top marketer in any field.
8. The art of selling
The #1 way to become an expert blogger in any field is to learn the art of selling. You shouldn’t sound like a sales guy while pitching your products (be it affiliate products or your own products or services). Selling is definitely one of the most desired blogging skills you can acquire as a blogger or marketer. Here are a few great ways to become an expert at selling online. Be genuine and think like an expert: You need to be genuine. There’s no other way around it, really. If you’re promoting any affiliate products, you can use affiliate disclosures, or show logos or testimonials from others to showcase that you’re an expert. Learn from the pros: People like Neil Patel, Pat Flynn etc knows how to sell online. If you observe closely how they are closing deals and selling their products, you can learn so much. Read more: The simplest way to learn how to sell online is to read more books related to marketing, psychology and business. We recommend you to check out books like Influence, Give And Take, The One Thing etc to learn how to sell like a pro.
9. Understand the “emotional triggers” of your audience
Knowing who to sell to is one of the most important blogging skills you need to learn and master. Without knowing your target audience and what triggers them to buy something online, it gets really difficult for you to make money online. So if you want to become a professional blogger, learn and understand the “emotional triggers” of your target audience. That being said, firstly, you need to define your target audience. Here are a few quick ways to understand and define your target audience.
Invest your time to figure out all the products and services you offer from your website so you can easily identify what kind of people who’ll look for such products and services online Study your competitors as it’s one of the simplest and most effective ways to define your target audience and find out their wants and needs You can also conduct surveys from your website using simple quizzes or take help of social media sites or email lists to know your target audience Last but not least, determine your target audience demographics such as age, gender, education, household income and language preference etc
How can evaluate the “emotional triggers” of your target audience? As we said above, understanding your audience is one of the key blogging skills you must master and here’s who you can find out what triggers your website audience to buy something from you. Use AIDA: AIDA stands for Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. Here’s how it looks like;
Attention is getting a visitor to pay attention to your website including a product, commercial, or landing page Interest is communicating information in a way that is interesting and memorable Desire is generated by making the story extremely relevant and irresistible to your website audience Action is a call to action (CTA) regarding what you want someone to do, such as buying a product, subscribing to your email list or even visit your website
10. Negotiation skills
If you had to learn only one blogging skill to earn more, it is this: learn how to negotiate with others. Do you know why? As a blogger or marketer, you’ll be negotiating with other people a lot. Negotiation blogging skills help you with;
Getting your guest posts accepted on top and high-quality blogs Helps you get better deals around the affiliate products you promote (when you talk with the respective affiliate managers) Helps you easily earn more Helps you connect with other influencers in your niche well And the list goes on
So how can you improve your negotiation skills as a blogger? Here are a few quick tips to master negotiation blogging skills in 2023 and beyond.
Listen more than you talk. That’s how you can understand the emotions of others. Think about their pain points so you can deal better. Always pitch high. Don’t be afraid of asking more than you deserve. Show results. If you can show results and expertise, people will be spending more. It’s all about how you present yourself.
Here are a few important questions about the essential blogging skills you need to become a professional blogger in 2023 and beyond.
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Browse more Blogging Tutorials: → Communication skills→ Technical skills (such as coding or properly using SEO tools and so on)→ Selling skills (you should know how to sell without actually selling) → Write more. It’s as simple as that. If you write at least 500 to 1000 words a day, eventually you’ll become a better blog writer.→ Read top blogs in your industry and see how the authors are writing as it gives you a ton of ideas. → Learn how to write like a pro→ Learn how to do keyword research→ Learn proper on page optimization→ Learn how to analyze your competitor sites
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Final Thoughts
Every professional blogger who is making a lot of money now once was a beginner. Every blogger whom you admire once made a lot of mistakes and acquired blogging skills to rapidly grow his income, audience and traffic. The more you practice the more you become successful at anything you do. Practice is the key here. Anything becomes a skill only after a vigorous practice. And don’t compare your beginning with someone else’s peak stage. You’ll be exhausted. Focus on one skill at a time, work on it until you master, then move on to the next. That’s how you can become a successful person at any field. So what are the other blogging skills do you think someone need to succeed in blogging? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
