Becoming a professional blogger is more difficult than many people think. While it does not necessarily require any specific formal education, it does require excellent writing chops, a high level of expertise in a chosen field and the ability to be patience and persistent while a base of followers is being built.
If you want to work in this field, you first need to determine if it's a good fit for your skills, interests and personality traits...does the following sounds like you?
• You have a keen interest and expert-level knowledge in a specific area
• You have an interest in writing
• You are self-motivated, enthusiastic and dedicated
• You are willing to work hard to build your business and promote your brand
• You are willing to network to build career momentum
• You are able to handle professional criticism
• You are willing to endure periods of limited income while building a base of followers and/or clients
Below we've outlined what you'll need to begin a career as a blogger. We've also included helpful information for this career, such as an outline of the skills you’ll need, educational requirements, a list of possible employer types, and much more!
Education You Might Need
In a general sense, there are no specific educational requirements for becoming a blogger. However, a graduate-level education in your chosen field can make you quite knowledgeable in a very specific academic field, or “niche”; the kind of expertise that can be very useful in writing a thorough, information and engaging blog for that niche.
General Job Description
Bloggers compose engaging and informative articles related to specific and consistent subject matter for publication on a website or dedicated blog. Bloggers present their articles in a manner that stimulates feedback, inquiries and reader initiated discussions.
They are often experts in their subject matter and must maintain current knowledge thereof. They may be employed by an organization, work as a freelancer, or be self-employed.
Typical Job Duties
• Perform research and draw from personal knowledge to compose articles about specified subject matter
• Compose articles that encourage discussion and engagement
• Edit and publish content on company or personal website or blog
• Track the number of viewers and the amount of feedback to determine the blog’s reach and effectiveness
• If blogging on behalf of an organization, may act as a liaison between readers and the organization and its interests
• Respond to blog questions and comments
• Maintain current knowledge of blog subject matter
Expertise Needed
To become a blogger, and get paid for it, you need expertise in the subject matter that you will be blogging about. There are likely countless bloggers in your niche, and to stand out from them you will need to have content that is more thorough, more informative, and more engaging. Having a high-level of expertise to draw from will help you write such content for your blog.
This expertise may be the result of years of professional or personal experience in the subject matter; having read countless books on the subject matter; or as the result of a formal education in the subject matter.
Skills Needed to Be Successful
It will be very difficult to make a living as a blogger if you don’t have great blogging skills. Yes these skills involve good writing abilities, but good writing alone won’t get you anywhere in the blogosphere. You need readership. Successful bloggers are those that can effectively market their content, engage readers, and develop a sense of community on their blog.
Getting started in this career begins with having a high level of expertise in a subject area, and using excellent writing, editing, grammar and proofreading skills to create a piece of content for the blog. When writing this content, bloggers must also be aware of how to write the content so that it complies with search engine optimization (SEO) best practices. This will help the major search engines find the content, and allow a readership base to form.
In order to develop readership, bloggers must also understand the value of social media, and be able to effectively use it to build their brand, and generate interest in their blog.
A good blogger is skilled at then taking their readership and it into a community on their blog. They are able to generate a sense of reader loyalty by engaging readers, and sustaining two-way conversations from comments and questions readers post or submit to the blog.
Success Tip: Learn the ‘do's and don'ts’ of blogging best practices by taking note of what successful blogs are doing; read a lot of blogs in areas that interest you, participate in their commentary discussions, and read books on blogging.
Helpful Personal Characteristics
Although there are countless bloggers out there, few of them actually succeed financially at it. The allure of working from home and making a living writing about something you love has attracted countless would-be writers into the blogosphere.
Despite the sheer number of bloggers out there, it takes a certain personality type to actually make a living at it. Having the following personal attributes will help you stay focused and dedicated as you build your career, and ultimately make your living:
• You really, really enjoy the idea of working from home and writing for a living
• You have an immensely keen interest in, and a passion for your subject matter
• You have a preference for writing in a blog style
• You are eager to put in the time (months…likely even years) to build your brand
• You are able to persevere and stay encouraged when your blog is having trouble getting traffic and engaging visitors
• You are willing to live online: creating interest on social media, reading blogs, and participating in blog commentary chats
• You are willing to write in a niche that may be crowded and competitive
• You willing to keep abreast of developments in the area of blogging best practices
• You are willing to constantly hone your skills in writing and marketing your content
How to Start a Blog
Now that you’re sure you have the skills (enough skill to get started that is…your skills will be honed with more and more practice) to start blogging, here are a few things you’ll need:
• You need a niche; what topic will you be writing about?
• You need a name for your blog
• You need your own blogging platform; there are plenty of free and paid services to choose from
• You need mentors and a resource base; there’s no sense of re-inventing the wheel
• You need to have spent some time (likely months) developing high quality content
• You will need a marketing strategy; social media and search engine optimization will likely be your most important marketing areas
How Much Do Bloggers Earn?
The amount that bloggers earn can vary greatly; some earn an inconsistent and fluctuating income, while others earn a more stable and reliable income. It largely depends on what kind of employment structure they have.
For example, some bloggers work as part-time or full-time employees of an organization, in which case they may earn a more consistent income, whereas others work as freelancers (contracting their writing, proofreading and editing services out to clients), in which case they may earn an income that is reflective of the amount of work they are able to secure.
Many bloggers work as independent blog publishers; writing for a blog they own and operate. The income of such bloggers depends on the amount of advertising, affiliate sales, and sponsorship revenue they are able to secure.
Regardless of their employment structure, the salary level of a blogger can also be influenced by the following factors:
• Their amount of articles, or “posts”, they produce
• Their level of writing ability
• The type of niche in which they write
• Their level of expertise in the chosen subject matter
Please be aware that there is no salary information available from reliable sources for the career Blogger. However, looking at salary levels of workers in closely related occupational groups (as per the information below) can help us get a good idea of the salary level of bloggers that work as part-time, contractual and full-time employees. The annual earnings of owner-operator bloggers are very difficult to quantify.
Salary Level - Canada: According to the 2016 Alberta Wage and Salary Survey (the latest salary figures available at the time of writing), Albertans working in the Creative Writers occupational group earn an average salary of $58,979 per year. Unfortunately, no similar statistics were available from reliable sources for other Canadian provinces or territories.
Salary Level - United States: According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median salary level of American workers in the Writers and Authors occupational group is $55,940 per year.
Who Employs Bloggers?
The vast majority of bloggers work as owner-operators of their own blogs. Others, including owner-operators, may work as contractual freelancers, offering writing, proofreading, editing and consulting services to organizations that maintain an active blog. Some bloggers might also work as formal employees of these organizations, although such jobs are rare and highly competitive.
Success Tip: If looking to work as a contractual freelancer have a “Hire Me” tab on your own blog, complete with the necessary information.
Current Job Opportunities
Our job board below has postings in your area of Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, when available:
Similar Occupational Profiles in Our Database
Listed below are careers in our database that are similar in nature to this one, as they may involve many of the same skills, competencies and responsibilities.
References for This Career Guide
To find out more about how to become a blogger, including what they do, how much they earn, and other details of this career, please consult the following resources:
Occupations in Alberta: “Creative Writer.” (March 31, 2019). ALIS website - Alberta Learning Information Service. Retrieved October 28, 2019.
Media & Communication: “Writers & Authors.” (September 4, 2019). Occupational Employment and Wages - United States Bureau of Labor Statistics website. Retrieved October 28, 2019.
Get Personal: “How to become a Highly Paid Freelance Blogger.” Marya Jan (n.d.). maryajan.com website. Retrieved October 28, 2019.
Blogging: “So You Want to Be a Blogger? Think Twice.” Steve Tobak (August 29, 2014). Entrepreneur website. Retrieved October 28, 2019.
Scholarships for Becoming a Blogger
The "Relevant University Majors" section below shows fields of study that pertain to this profession. You can search for scholarships matched to those fields of study on our All Scholarships by Major page.
Success Tip: Be sure to apply for any scholarships that you even barely qualify for, as there are millions of dollars of scholarships that go unused every year due to a lack of applicants!
Relevant University Majors
Studying one of the university majors listed below is an excellent starting point for getting started in this field. Click on the links to find out what else you can do with these majors!
