Blogging has been in existence for nearly two decades and has grown into a field of its own. As a result, as an individual blogger, you need to arm yourself with different blogging skills to join independent bloggers doing incredible work in the blogosphere. The early blogging sites were basically sites to share personal experiences, life, and thoughts on different subjects. With the help of simplified tools and techniques, blogging has become more popular and simplified. Some of the advancements include Google’s 2003 Blogger platform buy where they introduced Ad sense to make it possible for bloggers to monetize their blogs.
Blogging has since been popular around the globe. Access to the internet has made it possible for more people to join the blogging field hence having the appetite to acquire blogging skills. In Kenya, for instance, blogging started as early as 2003 and has had many significant transformations and continues to be a source of employment for many youths. Wondering how to become a blogger? There are so many blogging opportunities that the youth can take up in the blogosphere that will help them build their brands. In this blog post, we will highlight some of the blogging skills you have to be a blogger.
What are the blogging skills that you need?
Passion and Interest.
The key thing to making your blog successful is creating compelling content. Besides uploading content regularly, You need to have a genuine interest in what you are writing about. If you don’t know what you are writing about or rather you have little knowledge, there is a chance and a risk that the initial enthusiasm of setting the website up will quickly diminish as you tire of the subject matter.
Lack of passion and interest is one of the biggest mistakes made by beginners in content making hence compromising other blogging skills. Those used to blogging describe the content as the ‘fuel’ for your website and you will many times hear phrases like ‘content is king ‘ which is absolutely true because it really is. If you have existing knowledge, a real interest, and a passion for your subject, then writing becomes an easy thing to do.
Research your Market or Niche
Do you have interests in your market? There is always more to learn concerning your market as far as content writing is concerned in the blogosphere.
You will also need to understand the intentions of the potential visitors to your site and blogs and thus this is probably where a good research market should help paint a picture of those people who will be visiting your website and what their various interests are.
Researching your market or niche helps in picking up the current trends, understanding what the potential visitors to your website may be looking for; and getting a full understanding of the market that you are in. You need to stay on the tip of your own chosen market.
Be disciplined
When you have your blog, nobody will hold you accountable for not writing your articles, uploading them, or publishing them altogether. It is only you and therefore you have to be self-driven and motivated in performing such tasks to make your work successful and be appealing to your audience as well.
To do this, requires huge self-discipline, self-motivation, and a high level of endurance to keep going which later maintains or expands your audience . Do you really have the discipline, the motivation to keep writing? The faith and confidence in you that it will successfully work.
Interact with your readers
Besides having good content on your blog, it is always advisable to constantly interact with your readers. If the readers take time to leave comments on your blog, then you should reply to them, be as useful as you can, and frequently show that you are there for them.
Be aggressive and sure to reach out to the other bloggers in the market similar to yours. They could as well be your competitors but it does no harm to understand and get to know how they operate. The ideal interaction is with bloggers in the same market who already have successful blogs.
You could also use an interview method to get their insights and publish them as you also return the favour for them. With this, you both benefit without actually competing with each other. Many of the experienced and successful bloggers have always mastered the art of interaction.
Be prepared to invest.
Investment does not only mean spending money, but it also entails investing your time. If you want to build your own online business, you have to own that business. The cost of owning that website is always low hence all that is required is the domain name and a hosting service. Apart from monetary investment, time is another investment to consider.
You need to figure out how much time you have or you need to spend to make the project work. Each writer’s time availability may be different but the setup and the management of one initial website may take up to three to four hours including buying a domain and hosting and setting that up.
Understanding the Emotional triggers of your Audience.
As a blogger, you should really know whom to see to and this is a blogging skill that you must master. Without knowing your target audience and what triggers them to buy online, you may not make money online. Understanding and learning the ‘Emotional Triggers’ of your target audience is therefore very fundamental if you are a professional blogger and of course, you have to first define them. This is done by, For instance, Studying your competitors and also conducting simple Surveys from your website such as small quizzes or using Social Media sites or Email lists to know your audiences. Also, you should determine your target audience demographic features such as age, gender, level of education, income, and language of preference.
Negotiation Skills.
Learn to negotiate with others. Do you understand why? As a blogger or a marketer, you will keep on talking to people and negotiate with people a lot. Why do you think negotiating with people is important? , So that your guest posts may be accepted on top and high-quality blogs, to help you earn more, helps you connect with other influencers in your niche well, and of course you get better deals as your content or product goes around. You might be asking yourself; how do you go about negotiation skills? It is simple and clear, Simply listen more than you talk as you understand the emotions of others as you create better deals. Learn to ask questions more than you deserve. Above all, learn to show your results and expertise so that people spend more on you. It is all about how you present yourself
In Conclusion, if you have an interest and passion in something, you should always show and demonstrate it in writing. Your website or blog must represent your own views and probably your own personality and style. Don’t forget to do market research and always give it a priority as it will always improve the content of your website. Thereafter, it is all about believing and having confidence that all you are doing will eventually work and earn you money and the whole process requires motivation, self-discipline, and some start-up money including some little of your time as you uphold and maintain your blogging skills.
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