If you are thinking of becoming a blogger you probably have loads of questions, like what does a blogger do, exactly? How can I get started as a blogger?
While some people “blog” simply as a hobby, most bloggers do it as a full-time career and their way to earn an income. When done correctly, blogging can be a profitable and rewarding pursuit that anyone can learn.
20 years ago blogging was way easier. One could simply write a few short blog posts and get a lot of visitors fast. But nowadays there are more than 600 million blogs and 7 million blog posts are published per day so the landscape is way more competitive and bloggers need to perform other tasks in order to keep up with it.
If you’re thinking about becoming a blogger or you’re just curious about what the job involves, then this article is for you. Below, we’ll be discussing the things a blogger does to keep a blog running and sharing some tips on how you can get started as a blogger, generate income and turn blogging into a full-time job! Keep reading to learn more.
What Does a Blogger Do?
Being a blogger can make for quite a busy work life, but it can also be very fun. The tasks a blogger needs to do every day are a lot -sure-, yet their versatility can take away from the hectic vibes and turn the job into something much more interesting.
As a blogger, you’ll have a hand in everything related to your blog including:
- Researching and coming up with ideas
- Writing and posting articles
- Optimizing content for SEO purposes
- Editing previous articles
- Promoting content and marketing the blog
- Seeking out partnerships
- Recommending products
- Managing accounts on social platforms
In this section, we’ll take a closer look at the most common tasks bloggers do daily to give a better idea of what it takes to operate a successful blog.
1. Choose their blogging niche
Any blogger starts their journey with an idea they want to share with the world. But there are several factors to keep in mind when choosing a blog topic or niche including your interests, knowledge, the demand in the marketing, and the monetization options.
Whichever topic you pick, always keep in mind that you will be reading and writing about it for years so make sure it is something you are truly interested in.
Research your blogging topic thoroughly to make sure it has evergreen potential and that people will still be interested in it for many years to come.
2. Keyword Research
Once bloggers choose the main topic of their blog is time to move on to the next stage: keyword research. This is one of the most important steps of blogging and it has the power to either make or break your blog’s results.
Since blogs get most of their traffic from search engines like Google, the process of keyword research refers to finding phrases or “keywords” that people are already searching for in order to create content around those topics.
Ideally, in this process, a blogger should also try to identify those keywords that don’t have as much competition so they have more possibilities of ranking for the top search results and people actually reading their blog posts.
Research also allows bloggers to deliver relevant and up-to-date information which helps build their authority and reputation in their niche which is key to their success.
Write Articles and Create SEO-Optimized Content
This is what most people consider to be the core of blogging — the writing aspect of the job. There’s no doubt that writing content is vital to the whole operation, after all, it’s in the very definition of what a blog is; a written record of the author’s views regarding a certain topic.
Bloggers don’t need to be poetic or too fancy with words but they do need to be skilled writers in order to create content that is concise, easy to understand, and anticipates readers’ questions.
On top of all that, bloggers need to optimize their content for search engines like Google since they want their articles to appear on the top results of related searches.
This approach is referred to as search engine optimization or SEO, and it’s vital for generating traffic to your blog. Implementing SEO techniques into articles is a key skill for a blogger to learn since it has the potential to separate a successful blog from a failed one.
In the previous step, I mentioned keyword research as a part of SEO but once a blogger identifies the keyword they want to target, they need to make sure to optimize their content so it can actually rank for those keywords. This process involves including the keyword in the article, titles, and permalink as well as staying on topic and writing a better article than the competitors.
3. Planning and Maintaining a Publishing Schedule
Another task that a blogger needs to perform is to plan and maintain a publishing schedule. It is not enough with doing the research and knowing how to write the articles if you don’t create enough content for search engines to take your site seriously.
For most industries, it takes at least 100 articles for a blog to start getting significant visitors. This tends to be challenging for new bloggers since they need to create content for a long time without any feedback or results which is why it is important to stick to a schedule and trust the process.
Since posting content is one of the most basic ways to grow a blog, most bloggers aim to establish a daily publishing schedule or at least post every other day.
Pumping out new content at such frequency will surely give you a valuable edge over competitor blogs, but if you can’t, we recommend not going below a new post every week.
It also varies depending on the keyword you want to tackle and the length of the article. Naturally, a 5,000-word article will take more than a 500-word article so when it comes to choosing, always prioritize quality since longer (well-researched articles) tend to rank higher on average than short ones.
4. Design Visual Content
Designing visual content for the blog is yet another integral part of being a blogger. Even more so for some niches like travel, fashion, and beauty, among others.
Visual content helps to illustrate your points more clearly and bring your articles to life. It is also key to capturing and maintaining interest since people’s attention spans are shorter every day due to the exposure to social media and short format content.
Most people will skim through articles so they can find the bits that benefit them and then move on. If you design an attractive blog with original images that you created yourself, the chances of intriguing readers to stick around on your page for a longer time soar much higher than if you don’t use any images to support it.
Additionally, visual content can also help rank your content on search results and bring readers to your blog since some people search directly through the “Images” and “Videos” tabs of search engines like Google.
That being said, the importance of images and videos in a blog varies according to its niche.
For example, if your blog is in the food niche, you’ll need to include pictures of the ingredients, cooking steps, and what the final products look like, in order to make your article more appealing and easy to follow.
The same goes for blogs in the traveling and lifestyle niche. On the other hand, blogs in niches such as finance or marketing don’t have nearly as high of a demand for visual content or if they do, it is mostly in the form of screenshots or videos to support tutorials.
5. Engage with the Audience
An often underestimated task of running a blog is engaging with your audience inside and outside your website. This allows bloggers to foster a sense of community and build their authority. Readers rather to learn from other persons that share their interests versus reading a corporate or branded blog with no human presence.
Engaging with your audience involves several activities such as:
- Replying to each comment that a visitor posts on your blog, whether it’s positive or negative. Here, you need to put effort into reading the comments and replying accordingly instead of just typing a standard reply to all of them.
This will show authenticity and encourages more of the audience to trust you and participate in discussions as well.
- Answering questions that readers send you or post under posts. Again, this is good for credibility and shows that you appreciate those who took the time to read your content and type an inquiry.
- Holding giveaways and contests that reward members of the audience who refer friends to your blog, share posts from your blog on their social media, subscribe to your social media platforms, sign up for your newsletter, and so on.
This can be a very effective way to boost engagement on your blog with more visits, subscriptions, and conversions.
- Setting up an email newsletter. This approach allows you to engage readers when they’re away from the blog to drive them to revisit your website.
The first step is to collect emails from your audience. The easiest way to do this is by incorporating pop-ups into your blog that ask readers to sign up for your newsletter. Be sure to include a brief idea of what your newsletter offers such as exclusive offers and tips.
From there, you use the email addresses that you collect to keep your readers engaged via email. This is referred to as email marketing, and it helps you establish a more personal relationship as it enables direct communication with readers whenever necessary.
An email newsletter is a great way for bloggers to notify their audiences of new posts or promote products that they may be interested in. As a result, it can boost your website’s traffic and generate more profit.
6. Post on Social Media
Long gone are the days with being a blogger was really just about writing blog posts. Nowadays, running successful a blog involves having a multi-platform presence and engaging with your audience inside and outside your website.
How well a blogger manages their blog’s presence on various social media platforms significantly contributes to how successful their blog becomes.
It’s no secret nowadays that social media can heavily impact a business to the point of making or breaking it. Almost every brand knows this, from the most established to the newest ones, and so they invest a better portion of their resources to promote their presence on social media.
Posting on social media is also one of the easiest ways to get early traffic to your blog since search engines can take up to 12 months to start showing your articles. It is also free and will help you attract loyal readers that will be happy to hear about your new blog posts.
The following are among the major social media platforms you should be active on as a blogger:
- Instagram: this is one of the go-to social media platforms for most bloggers in a wide variety of niches. The appeal comes from the access the platform provides for visitors to take in most of the information in visual form, which is -as we discussed earlier- necessary to capture the attention of people who are looking to keep scrolling as quickly as possible.
As you increase the number of followers on your blog’s Instagram page you increase the chances of attracting traffic your the blog is higher. when you publish a new post.
- Twitter: this social media platform allows users to share text posts with a maximum of 280 characters which makes it perfect for bloggers who don’t create a lot of visual content and rather engage in conversation with their audience.
This platform allows bloggers to share short snippets of their posts to spark people’s curiosity and make them want to read the rest of the article.
- Facebook: hundreds of millions of people around the globe don’t go a day without browsing through their Facebook feed. So it’s pretty much guaranteed that you’ll reach a lot of people by posting there.
Bloggers have many options here. They can start a Facebook page for their blog where they post summaries of posts, extra tips, additional images, and so on. Not only can readers view your updates right on their feed if they chose to follow you, but they can also react to your posts and comment on them, giving you an opportunity to engage with them further.
Bloggers can also join relevant Facebook groups where they participate in discussions to help others and share insights. They can then promote their blogs to other group members who had a positive experience interacting with the bloggers.
While the organic reach of Facebook’s Pages is super limited, some bloggers have found a great alternative on Facebook groups which allows them to create an engaged community and have a secondary platform where they can share their updates and eventually, their offers and recommendations.
- TikTok: this platform took the online social world by storm using short shots of video content. This didn’t go unnoticed by brands that started creating challenges for the community to replicate just like normal users did. They even jump on trends and deal with popular influencers to incorporate their products in their TikToks.
Compared to other platforms, Tiktok is fairly new since it was launched in 2016 but it is also the fastest growing social media app and has 131.0 million active users in the US alone. The basic function of TikTok is that users can post videos of themselves lip-syncing, dancing, or acting out short sketches.
Since the app is still in its early stages, there are not as many creators (yet) as on other platforms so bloggers who adopt it will benefit from being able to grow their following faster than they would do maybe on Instagram.
- Pinterest: last but not least, the relationship between bloggers and Pinterest has been established a long time ago. So if you didn’t know about it, you need to seriously catch up! The platform works as a search engine but also has elements of a social media app like sharing, saving, liking, and commenting.
Through Pinterest, bloggers can introduce their posts to millions of people in image form along with a short description that the reader can save to check out later. Giving the audience the option to pin something for viewing during their free time improves your blog’s chances of being revisited making it a great alternative to direct early traffic.
7. Manage Administrative Duties
In addition to all the creative processes that a blogger needs to go through every day, there’s also an administrative side to running a blog that they must tackle as well. It’s not the most fun task, but it’s essential to keep the blog running smoothly.
They’re more like technical tasks such as:
- Sending and replying to emails, whether from sponsors, partners, guest bloggers, and other business prospects.
- Responding to business inquiries via text or phone.
- Make sure the back-end is operating smoothly by servicing the platform, updating plugins, fixing bugs, and revising code.
- Use Google Analytics to keep track of statistics concerning the traffic to your blog and its ranking in the search results. This can help you get a better idea of what you’re doing right and what marketing areas need working on. Based on such stats, you can also start making smarter business decisions like collaborating or expanding.
8. Use Guest Posts
Guest posts can be quite beneficial for bloggers, especially those who are new to the field.
Inviting a known blogger to write and publish a post on your blog can help your blog reach a wider audience who will be more inclined to check out your content because you’re connected to said blogger.
It can also work the other way around. Bloggers can do guest posts on other bloggers’ posts as a form of trading readers, which helps both blogs address different demographics that may also be interested in what they have to offer.
By inviting other bloggers to write and publish their posts on your blog, you help them expand their network. This boosts your content, drives traffic, and increases shares for both blogs.
If done right, guest blogging is, by far, one of the easiest ways to build backlinks and expand readership. Accordingly, it can also help boost both bloggers’ SEO standing, making it a win-win!
9. Monetize their blog
The key to making money as a blogger is generating loyal traffic that’s willing to buy what you recommend, endorse, or make. Seeking profitable opportunities is a crucial task for a blogger looking to get paid off of their blog.
There are various ways to make that happen such as:
- Affiliate marketing: this is one of the most common ways for a blogger to make money through their blog. Affiliate marketing is where you strike a deal with a company to recommend its products or services to your reader in exchange for a percentage of each sale that happens via your referral link.
What bloggers need to keep in mind here is that a lot of trust rides on the quality of the products or services they recommend. If your blog has a lot of readers who trust your recommendations, and you end up having them buy sub-par products, they won’t repeat the same mistake.
This is why bloggers should really consider the sort of products and services they want to recommend via their blogs to maintain their relationship with the audience so that they continue trusting what they recommend.
Some of the most common ways to promote affiliate products include:- Blog post promotion
- Use banners on the blog’s sidebar
- Write review posts
- Use coupon codes
- Collaborations and sponsorships: collaborating with brands or other content creators can boost the status of your blog to the next level. The same goes for sponsorships where you get paid to have your blog endorse products from a certain company.
- Sell your own products or service: another way bloggers can profit is by selling their own products or services.
These could be physical items, or digital products such as ebooks, video series, guides courses or membership. The latter option is easier to maintain because there’s no inventory management, packaging, or shipping involved.
Many bloggers also end up offering coaching or mentorship services to share their knowledge in the niche and help others who might wanna follow their steps.
- Ad placement: This is one of the most common ways in which bloggers make money. It basically means that bloggers will display ads on their site in exchange for a fee depending on how many visitors they get.
Read Next: How To Make Money Blogging
10. Update Old Posts
Last but not least, bloggers need to revisit older posts and make sure the information included is still relevant. Updating your already published content about every month or so can help your blog maintain its rank in search results.
Search browsers, mainly Google, prefer showing fresh, new information so the newer content usually gets a nice boost in the ranking.
In other words, more recent blogs sit higher on the results page. Therefore, they get clicked on more.
How to Get Started as a Blogger?
If you’re thinking of starting your own blog, here’s what you need to know to get started:
- First of all, you need to pick a niche to write in and a name that expresses what you have to offer. When choosing a niche, it should be something that you’re interested in and have no issues understanding and researching its topics for a long time. As for the name, it’s best to be original and fun so it really sticks with the readers.
- Once you’ve figured out your blog’s niche and name, you should write a batch of posts to publish on your blog to get it up and running. Be sure to check out the articles on competitor blogs to get better insights on the best ways to address readers and how bloggers integrate SEO into their content.
- Establish a strong presence on social media platforms to help get your blog out there and reach a wider audience. Engaging with your followers and readers, replying to comments, as well as holding giveaways and contests are all great ways to build networks and gain traffic.
Wrap Up
There you have it, a detailed answer to the question “what does a blogger do?” to give you a closer look into what it takes to run a successful blog.
As you can tell by now, becoming a blogger requires a versatile set of skills, from being able to conduct thorough and continuous research to having technical knowledge of how to operate a smooth website.
A blogger also needs to be very creative when it comes to blog ideas and visual design. Not to mention, their minds should also be business-oriented to bring in sales, sponsorships, and partnerships that would eventually lead to profit.
