Blogging is a popular medium for writers. You might have the misconception, however, that you can't make a living from blogging. Some associate blogs with personal digital diaries, but the reality is the vast majority of businesses benefit from having a blog on their website.
If you're looking for a career path where you can put your blogging skills to use, there are several options to consider. This article will cover:
- What blogging skills are
- Nine career paths that require blogging skills
- Why content marketing is an excellent career path for bloggers
What Blogging Skills Are Recruiters Looking For?
To better understand how to leverage your blogging skills, it's important to first understand what recruiters most commonly include in job postings. According to our analysis of job postings data, the most common blogging skills recruiters are seeking include:
- Writing
- Editing
- Marketing
- Communications
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Research
- Style guides
- Journalism
- WordPress
- Content creation
In addition to skills required for bloggers, there are several skills that frequently accompany blogging in job postings. These skills are listed on job postings that aren’t specifically hiring for blogging positions, but include blogging as a required skill.
- Blogs/blog posts
- Marketing/digital marketing
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Content creation
- Newsletters
- Journalism
- Thought leadership
- Public relations
- Press releases
- Copywriting
If you don’t have every skill on this list, don't worry—most recruiters aren't looking for perfect candidates, but teachable ones. If you only have experiences with blogs, you may still be qualified to apply for several entry-level positions that require blogging skills.
9 Jobs You’re Qualified For With Blogging Skills
Most positions that match bloggers’ skill set aren't listed as such on a job board. Instead, the writing prowess bloggers bring to the table is typically highly beneficial for a variety of career paths. Here are nine career paths you can pursue with blogging skills.
1. Product Marketing Managers
Product marketing managers are responsible for managing promotional campaigns for their company's products. They oversee the promotion from awareness to decision stage, and seek to develop a loyal customer base.
Blogging skills are important for this position since many promotional endeavors require copywriting. Often, products promoted via social media posts or blogs acquire customers organically.
According to our analysis of job postings data, product marketing managers earn a median annual salary of approximately $110,000. This data also provides several insights into how to become a product marketing manager:
- Education: Around 33% of postings require a master’s degree or higher. The majority of product marketing managers are bachelor's level, but typically require more experience than other positions.
- Experience: Only 1% of postings require one year of experience or less, while 54% of postings require four or more years of experience and 25% don’t list experience requirements.
A product marketing manager position probably won't be entry-level, but it's certainly an excellent choice to work towards in your career path.
2. Copywriters
Copywriters serve a variety of purposes on a marketing team. In short, they're responsible for writing copy—text written for business purposes. This might include advertisements, promotional materials, blog articles, or social media posts. They're responsible for ensuring copy is free of any grammatical errors and accurately encourages the target audience to take a desired action.
While blog posts aren't the only thing copywriters are responsible for, the writing and storytelling skills acquired for blogging are immensely valuable for this position. Copywriters earn a median annual salary of $64,900, and are often entry-level employees. The requirements to become a copywriter are as follows:
- Education: Most copywriters have a bachelor’s degree; only 2% of postings require a master’s degree or higher.
- Experience: Nearly 41% of postings require three years or less of experience, and 32% don’t list specific requirements.
Copywriting is an excellent entry-level position that puts writing skills to excellent use.
3. Marketing Coordinators
Marketing coordinators can fulfill a wide variety of functions depending on the company's needs and existing expertise. Typically, marketing coordinators are responsible for managing various marketing projects to ensure they're completed in a timely manner within the allotted budget. However, this position is often used as a generic "marketing" position with a wide range of responsibilities. Therefore, it's important to thoroughly review job descriptions before applying.
Marketing coordinators often fill a highly collaborative role, working with individuals from a variety of departments, including a social media and/or content team. For this reason, writing skills are important, since coordinators may need to edit or write articles or social media posts.
The median annual salary for this position is the lowest on this list at $45,700; however, it's a position that can easily fill experience requirements for other positions and even lead to management roles later down the road. Marketing coordinators typically have the following qualifications:
- Education: Most positions are bachelor's-level roles, with only 2% of postings requiring a master’s degree or higher.
- Experience: Around 21% are entry-level positions and 33% require between two to three years of experience. Nearly 39% don’t list any specific experience requirements.
4. Marketing Managers
Marketing managers are responsible for overseeing a team and creating marketing plans. They can hold a variety of responsibilities depending on their position within the company and the teams they're overseeing. Content plays an enormous role in any marketing campaign, so familiarity with writing and editing is a must.
Job postings data reports that this position comes with a median salary of $80,300 per year. According to the same data, the requirements to become a marketing manager are as follows:
- Education: Only 1% of job postings require a master’s degree, since most marketing managers attain the title with experience over education.
- Experience: At least 46% require more than four years of experience. 28% don’t list specific experience requirements, but may have them nonetheless.
5. Article Writers
Article writers are responsible for writing articles for a company. These articles may be blog posts, magazine articles, or news stories. They may be hired to fill the role of a content marketer, or they may be brought on as freelance writers for projects that need additional support.
The median annual salary of article writers is around $104,300. However, they’re often paid by commission rather than salaried. Therefore, in addition to the competitive nature of the field, this career path requires hustle and persistence if you ever hope to reach a six-figure salary. It's also important to keep in mind that although the median salary is high, 49% of article writers make $50,000 or less.
- Education: The vast majority (99%) of job postings for article writers don’t list educational requirements, with only 1% requiring a bachelor’s degree.
- Experience: Most article writers are often hired on a freelance basis. This means that 99% of postings don’t have specific experience requirements, but will likely require a strong portfolio.
6. Content Writers
Unlike article writers, content writers are typically salaried. They can fill an enormous range of responsibilities, from writing blog posts and social media posts to press releases or podcast scripts. They earn a median salary of $48,300, and are often entry-level positions.
- Education: Approximately 51% of postings require a bachelor’s degree, and 45% don’t list educational requirements.
- Experience: About 37% require one to three years of experience, and 47% don’t have specific experience requirements.
7. Content Marketing Managers
Content marketing managers typically oversee a team of content creators, and build a company's content plan. A prior content marketing or communications role is typically expected for professionals in this position, but successful bloggers may be able to leverage their skills to set themselves apart in applications.
Professionals in this field earn a median annual salary of $80,100. According to job postings data, the requirements to become a content marketing manager are as follows:
- Education: At least 64% of content marketing managers are bachelor’s degree holders, and 35% of postings don’t list educational requirements. This means most content marketing managers earn their title through experience rather than advanced education.
- Experience: 45% of postings require more than four years of experience, and 26% don’t list experience requirements at all. However, it's safe to assume this isn't an entry-level position because of the many experience requirements working in prior marketing-related roles.
8. Marketing/Digital Marketing Specialists
Another role that has a wide variety of responsibilities is marketing specialists and digital marketing specialists. Professionals in this position are responsible for ensuring the success of a company's marketing campaigns. They're often tasked with responsibilities such as lead-generation, content creation, SEO efforts, and more.
Marketing specialists earn a median salary of $52,100 per year. It's typically an entry-level position, with education and experience requirements as follows:
- Education: Approximately 69% of postings require a bachelor’s degree, and 27% don’t list educational requirements.
- Experience: Nearly 54% require between one to three years of experience, and about 32% don’t list experience requirements.
The career path of marketing specialists can often lead to similar roles within the marketing industry.
9. Content Marketing Specialists
Content marketing specialists are responsible for generating organic traffic for a company through its content. They accomplish this through the creation, strategy, and optimization of its content offerings. This requires a thorough understanding of the target audience, as well as excellent writing and grammar skills. Content can take a variety of forms aside from blogs, including videos, emails, social media posts, podcasts, and more.
Content marketing specialists earn a median annual salary of $52,600, and is often an entry-level position with the following requirements:
- Education: 68% of postings require a bachelor’s degree, and 31% don’t list educational requirements.
- Experience: 56% of job postings require between one to three years of experience.
Consider Content Marketing
Content marketing and blogging have several overlapping skills. According to our analysis of job postings data, over half of the top ten skills recruiters look for in content marketing and blogging positions overlap.
For anyone hoping to put their creativity to use, content marketing is an excellent avenue, since there are so many mediums for content creation. Blogging is an incredibly common one because blogs can increase a company's position in search engine results pages (SERPs), and garner valuable organic traffic that saves money that would otherwise go to paid advertisements.
Furthermore, the position has an excellent career outlook, with the content marketing industry growing at an annual rate of 15.8%. Starting as a content marketing specialist can lead to management positions down the road, or even other positions within the marketing field such as an SEO specialist or marketing strategist.
Ready to Put Your Blogging Skills to Use?
If you're searching for a position where you can use your current skill set, consider becoming a content marketer. Whether you end up writing blogs for businesses, or venture into video or email marketing, content marketing is a position that allows you to exercise your creativity and writing prowess. If you're ready to step into a content marketing role, take a look at the job opportunities currently available at Pepperland Marketing to see if there's a position that fits your interests.
