The Transferable Skills of Blog Writing

There’s a reason it seems like everyone you know has taken up blogging. It’s an effective way to communicate something you care about, it’s a fun way to build community and connect with people who share your perspectives or interests, and it can be an effective business move, whether you use it as content marketing to draw attention to a product or service or collect advertising funds off of the blog itself.

But, while blogging is free and accessible to anyone, there’s a lot to learn. The good news is, whether you blog as a hobby, a supplement to moneymaking activities, or a commercial venture in and of itself, all the skills you learn are not only transferable to other marketplaces and ventures but are also in high demand. Here are five transferable skills that every blogger eventually learns:

Communication

There’s the writing, of course, but communication skills for bloggers extend far beyond simply putting words down in the right order. Structuring and formatting content that connects to readers is a communication skill. Knowing what to write and what readers want to read is just as valuable as knowing how to write. Pairing photos with text in meaningful ways is a component of communication. Bloggers also often engage in business communications and may conduct interviews, collaborations, or coordinate with other parties.

Technology

Blogs are an online medium, and bloggers tend to learn about content management systems like WordPress, website administration, coding, and search engine trends in order to launch, maintain, and grow their blogs. Knowing how to do image creation and manipulation, as well as how to effectively use online storage, scheduling, promotion, collaboration, productivity, and other digital tools is also a transferable skill.

Time management

Successful bloggers know that they need good quality content, but they also need fresh content. Maintaining a reliable, frequent posting schedule, balancing research, writing, editing, posting, and promotion alongside other life priorities, and being a good partner or collaborator are all important to bloggers. Good time management and being self-motivated and driven to accomplish work are qualities that are in high demand in every workplace.

Research

The value of research skills is frequently underestimated. Bloggers do a lot of reading and research to come up with fresh content, ensure accurate and interesting content, find the right media pairings for their content, and make beneficial partnerships. The ability to do good quality research, learn new skills, and be a problem solver is valuable in every life endeavor.

Marketing

Bloggers need to connect with readers. Most of them pick up something about marketing in their quest to get eyes on their content. Good writing, effective technology skills, quality research, and some capacity for time management are prerequisites, but marketing connects all that great work with other people. Bloggers gain skills in search engine optimization (SEO) so that the content can be found online by searchers, making connections and beneficial partnerships, and using social media to gain attention. Marketing is needed in all businesses, making this another highly transferable skill.

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If you’re starting out on your path toward a career, don’t forget to make note of all the transferable skills you’ve learned from marketing. There’s something there for every employer. Good communication skills are valued in nearly every type of job, not just traditional writer careers. The ability to research and learn new things is widely transferable, as is good time management skills. Marketing and technology skills come in handy more often than you’d think.

Your chosen career may require additional qualifications, such as a degree or certificate course. Those blogging skills will come in handy during continuing education too. Bryant & Stratton College offers bachelor degree courses with a focus on practical careers, and online courses of study. You’ll absolutely need to use research and communication skills no matter where you go to school, or what course of study you pursue. Great time management will be an enormous contributor to your success. Your skills in technology or marketing may influence the type of studies you’ll want to pursue, since you’ll already have an idea of whether you enjoy and have an affinity for those areas, or whether you’d prefer to avoid them.

Some people get into blog writing to communicate a message, to build connections, or as a personal hobby. Others do it to support commercial goals like growing a business or selling advertising on the site. Regardless of whether you’ve been a hobbyist blogger, a dedicated professional, or somewhere in-between, you’ll find you’ve been cultivating a surprising number of valuable skills that can also support future education and career goals.

View Comments (2)
  • Hi,

    This article gives a completely new way of looking at blogging. It is very interesting to think about blogging from this angle. Great read.

    In blogging the concentration is on content, traffic, conversion, etc. We are absorbed in the process and think about results. It escapes our attention that we are acquiring skills which are transferable to other fields.

    Thanks for sharing the thoughts with us. Have a great day and weekend ahead!

    -Naveen

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