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Do you know someone who’s a blogger? Or, perhaps you want to be a blogger but you want to know the skinny before jumping in.
In this post I’m going to help you understand what a blogger does. And believe me, they do a lot that you may not know about.
Bloggers write… lots
A blog is literally an internet space where a blogger publishes their writings. Some blog for fun and others blog to make money.
I’ve previously written about five other reasons bloggers blog, so make sure you check that out!
Full-time bloggers write a lot. If this is something you want to do, plan on writing consistently for the next 3-5 years.
Bloggers look for topics to write about
I spend several hours each week looking for new blog topics to write about. Sometimes the ideas just come to me and other times I have to seek them out.
My personal favorite way to find topics is by plugging niche websites into Keysearch. This is my favorite SEO tool for a number of reasons, but the biggest one is seeing what keywords other bloggers are writing about and ranking for on google.
Pick up a subscription to Keysearch if you’re serious about blogging.
There are loads of additional ways to find topics. Refer back to that post any time you find yourself with writer’s block. It has saved me many times!
Bloggers are using social media
One of the biggest challenges of running a blog is getting people to visit it. Without traffic to your site, you can’t earn ad revenue, make affiliate commissions, grow your email list, and sell digital products.
Social media is a fantastic way to get traffic coming to a blog. There are new ones popping up all the time, but the ones you’ll see bloggers using the most are Pinterest, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Bloggers work to build followings on these social media platforms. They use hashtags to make their posts discoverable by the public.
They also try to engage with their target audience. By doing all of this, they will drive traffic to their site whenever they share a link to their blog.
Bloggers are constantly learning
The internet is constantly evolving. Algorithms are changing yearly, monthly, and sometimes even daily. It’s a lot to keep up with, but we have to do it.
If we don’t do it, we fall behind. Spend a couple years in this business and you’ll understand why bloggers seek to be early adopters, rather than late adopters.
Successful bloggers are always learning so that they can have the cutting edge. To learn, we engage in Facebook groups, hire experts, take courses, and read industry blogs.
We also learn a lot by doing. Cheesy, but true!
Bloggers build websites
Bloggers need a platform for their writings. There are so many of them. Check out this post where I talk about the top 20 blogging platforms.
WordPress.org is the platform that I use to build all of our sites. It has a learning curve just like anything else. It updates and changes every year.
The last time WordPress did a major update, it rolled out a new editor called Gutenberg. I hated it at first, but once I learned how to use it, I fell in love with it. I couldn’t possibly go back to the older version of WordPress.
Bloggers do graphic design
Nobody likes to read pages that just have text on them. For this reason, bloggers use lots of images. These images are either taken by themselves, created in a graphic design platform, or purchased on a stock image site.
We’re also very active on Pinterest. It’s another excellent way to drive traffic to a blog. Pinterest expects certain image dimensions and users expect pretty images that sell the post you’re trying to get them to visit.
Most of us do not have graphic design experience and have to learn it. A shortcut is to purchase pin templates and modify them to fit your needs.
Bloggers outsource
New bloggers don’t typically outsource, as they’re generally afraid to spend money. However, the more established and experience bloggers who are making money do.
Everything in this post can be outsourced. I have a friend who spends thousands per month on articles. The goal of outsourcing is to free up time by spending money on things you don’t want to do.
There are lots of places to hire freelancers who will do these tasks for you. Two of the biggest ones are Fiverr and Upwork.
Bloggers take pictures
Bloggers who are very active on Instagram are taking and posting lots of pictures and videos. That platform almost exclusively uses images. They could use stock images, but probably won’t experience much success.
Creating Instagram worthy images comes at a cost. We invest in the latest smartphones, DSLR cameras, tripods, and image presets. See my top recommendations for each of those on our Resources page.
Bloggers do SEO
One of the best ways to get people coming to your site is through search engine optimization, also known as SEO. Read my in depth SEO guide here.
SEO refers to all the little things that bloggers do to get their website to show up high in the Google search results. Some of these things include keyword research, writing meta descriptions, crafting keyword rich titles, building links, and optimizing blog posts.
Conclusion
What does a blogger do? Well, they do a lot!
These things include doing SEO, taking pictures, outsourcing, doing graphic design, building websites, constantly learning, being active on social media, looking for blog topics, and writing.
Do you want to be a blogger too? Click here to learn how to start a blog.
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