I started blogging in 2017. Yes I has some experience in social media but my blogging skills were not the best. They say practise makes perfect. I have certainly learned a lot and is an industry that keeps on teaching.
I have always enjoyed working on social media and marketing. Creating and running my blog has helped me develop my skills and learn about aspects I didn’t know before. When I first started blogging I enjoyed it as a hobby, it was a creative outlet when I was studying and working full-time. However I have developed a real love for social media marketing and I feel it would give me some more amazing work opportunities.
Whether you want to apply for a job especially in marketing or social media creation having the blogging skills on your CV will help to bolster you as a viable candidate. Blogging can teach you so many relatable skills that you can take into many different roles. If you’ve ever used a CV writing service like https://www.arcresumes.com/local/california/ then you would know they often focus on presenting the skills you bring to the table and not necessarily the role itself. Blogging can teach you so many relatable skills that you can take into many different roles, it’s all a matter of spinning them in a way that sells you as a prospective employee.
As I blogged and started using Pinterest and social media where I learned many marketable blogging skills. Blogging encompasses a lot of disciplines. When you add these to your CV gives you a chance to shine during an interview. I have recently added my blog to my CV and what it involves. Listing marketable blogging skills will then help me stand out from the competition.
Here are 7 marketable blogging skills to put on your CV:
IT Skills
Companies have recognised that the future is being online, they all have a website and some even have their own blog. It is always a positive thing to know how content management systems operate. Big CMS are WordPress and Blogger, which most bloggers like myself use.
Using the blog platform means you will know how to use the platform, add and format content, add plugins and how to change the layout of your blog. If you know some HTML or other code, you can project your application even further. Being competent on a computer is highly recommended for many jobs on the market these days.
Social Media Management
Social media and running a blog go hand in hand. This is one of the marketable blogging skills that absolutely should be on your CV as social media management is a job role now. Many companies now employ a social media manager because with the evolution of the marketing world social media is driving scales.
Being a blogger you want to be able to drive more blog traffic and improve your blog and one sure way to do that is the use of social media. When you have a new blog post live on your site you want to advertise it, so that it reaches the largest audience possible. You will use platforms like: Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook and many more.
When you use these platforms, you need to know what frequency works best, your type of audience, what content to create, conversion rates and your reach including impressions and stats. Social media is consistently changing with new algorithms, bloggers then work to test out new strategies that will be time and cost efficient with scheduling tools, analytics and increasing traffic as well as conversion rates.
Copywriting
Copywriting is the core basis of blogging. As a blogger, you write blog posts where you share your tips, your experience or your story of your life. Copywriting is a lot more than writing articles for your blog. It is also about publishing tweets that share your brand’s voice, cultivating engaging Instagram captions and crafting professional email campaigns and pitches to brands.
Whether you choose the work in marketing, or a copywriting job or not, your writing will need to be professional with no spelling mistakes and good grammar. In a marketing role, you will need to work on: product descriptions, drafting emails, marketing assets. If you work in social media management, you will work on captions and social ads. You will need good writing skills for any roles, but especially these.
As you write your blog, you continue to practise the structure of your sentences, your spelling as well as your grammar. You then learn and develop your own unique style of writing and blogging increases your creative writing skills. You are developing a skill from your passion and it definitely feels less like you are working.
Branding & Marketing
Blogging has grown in the last few years, there are so many blogs out there and more get started each day. So, you need to make your blog stand out, you will want to find the right niche and who you want your target audience to be.
When you are blogging, you need to pick a theme, a blog template, picking a brand colour or colour and a style of font you want to have on your website. Your blog is an extension of your brand, the style of writing and your voice is all about creating a brand of scratch.
As a blogger, you will develop a branding strategy that you will apply to all your content and visuals on all your channels. You will create a content marketing strategy where you will best know how to promote your content across your social media platforms to drive blog traffic. Every bit of content you share has your signature, your voice that will ensure people know it is you.
When you apply for a role, brand management and brand building are transferable skills that will set you apart from the other competition. If your brand stands out, they will remember you. After all, they want their brand to stand out, so they are going to want to employ a person who can do that for them.
Graphic Design & Content Creation
Blogging is not just about writing enough content to get a good SEO score. Copywriting skills are important, but there is more to blogging than just the writing. You create images for the post, social media posts, Pinterest pins and maybe even e-books and emails to subscribers.
You have to create visual content that will attract your audience and brands. This will be attractive for employers. There is a lot of planning and research that goes into each blog post. Bloggers have the ability to come up with new ideas and think creatively. Employers will want to hire these types of people; those who can think creatively and come up with creative solutions with marketing and branding. They are essential skills to business and hugely marketable.
Graphic design is a self-taught skill that is one of the most marketable blogging skills. Some blogger like myself will use software such as Canva and other Photoshop apps. As a blogger, you draft and create a vision. Designing is an important skill; although usually not a marketer’s role, it can set you apart from the rest of the competition.
Photography & Editing Tools
Imagery is a core essential of blogging whether it is for your blog or for your social media platforms. It catches people’s eyes and can help attract traffic. Having high quality pictures will determine whether or not people will follow your blog or your Instagram.
A big cause of bounce rate on a blog is unappealing aesthetic. The appearance of your blog and social media platforms is the first impression your readers and brands will have of your brand, so you want to have beautiful imagery. You will need photos to illustrate your blog posts, you can use stock photos, but that isn’t always helpful when working with brands. For authenticity, it is ideal to use your own images.
Bloggers will want to create the perfect image of the product you are sharing or even the perfect selfie. You can add texts or other elements, brighten up the image, add colour or even the remove the background. Using software and becoming more familiar with it, you then learn how to remove objects from background make videos etc. If you are applying for a role at a smaller company having photography experience can be an asset especially if they do not have a budget to hire a professional photographer. When you apply for a creative role, having Photoshop skills and experience will be a great advantage to your application.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
If you perform a search on Google, you end up with so many results. SEO is what determines what is on that first page of Google. It isn’t often that people go past the first page, so you want to get your blog posts on that first page.
Every blogger will want to have their content to rank first; it means that it will reach a larger audience and drive traffic. You will have learned how to improve your site’s SEO. You can optimise every part of your content and have SEO friendly blog titles improving your blog’s speed or increase your blog authority. All of these aspects will help you rank higher in search results.
SEO skills will be hugely beneficial if you are applying for a marketing or social media manager role. This will give you an advantage above other competitors. These are just 7 marketable blogging skills that you should include in your CV that will help give you that advantage over the other applicants.
Do you have these blogging skills on your CV? Have you been given a job because of your blogging skills? I’d love to hear in the comments.
AD. We all want to meet new bloggers and discover new articles to read. There is now a blog directory that is run by a blogger for bloggers. Click the link and add your blog to the ever growing list of amazing bloggers.
This is a great post. At some point I will be on the lookout for a new job and intend to outline my blogging skills so far. I still have lots to learn, but proud of how far I’ve come!
Thank you for reading and commenting. That is great. Can you link your blog so I can have a read.
You’re quite right, blogging demands many skills and I hadn’t thought about breaking them down on a CV. Great post!
Thank you for reading and commenting. Can you link your blog?