How to Use Blogging to Advance Your Career

It’s no longer unique to have a blog. In fact, if you haven’t made the leap into blogging, it may be time to consider it. Blogging is a great way to explore hobbies and interests, get to know new people, and express your thoughts and opinions. If you are smart about it, you can even use blogging as a way to advance your career.

Think about it. Nearly every business leader has a blog or other online forum where they make their presence known and thoughts heard. Keep reading for some more insights into how you can use blogging to move up in your career.

Expand Your Network of Contacts

Once you start writing content that is of interest to people in your industry, you will begin to develop a following. This may come slowly, but if you stick with it and write great posts, it will happen. Each member of this audience has the potential to be a future coworker, mentor, employer, or simply a friendly acquaintance with similar goals and interests.

Nurture these contacts. Engage with them, and value their participation on your blog.

Display Your Work And Accomplishments

In addition to being a space to share your thoughts and opinions, your blog can also serve as your professional portfolio. Use it to share pictures and other information on your work and to let your audience know when you have accomplished something noteworthy or reached an important milestone in your career.

Of course, you don’t want to be too self-aggrandizing. On the other hand, if you don’t announce your accomplishments, who will?

Develop Relationships With Influencers in Your Industry

Once you earn a decent following and have a solid collection of industry relevant posts on your blog, it’s time to reach out to the folks who hold some influence in your industry. You can start by following their blogs, sharing their posts, and commenting on their content. Eventually, they will take notice as will their followers.

Once you have created some mutual engagement, you can start to take the relationship a bit further. For example, curate some of their content with a bit of lead in the commentary of your own. Reach out to them via private message and let them know that you are sharing one of their pieces. Invite them to write a guest blog or even to provide feedback on something you have written.

These important relationships can be very helpful when it comes to reaching your career goals. They can also add to the quality of your blog and overall social media presence.

Establish Thought Leadership

This may be the most valuable part of starting a career related blog. It is your opportunity to show what you know, to state opinions, to make predictions, and generally let people know that you are on top of your game.

To establish thought leadership, focus on writing lots of posts that address important issues in your industry. Tell your story to let people know how you have made your way through the ranks and earned your mark. Engage with your followers and give advice. If it fits your niche, create lots of how-to content. You might even consider creating some video content or publishing some SlideShare presentations. Another option is to write posts about your career path.

Demonstrate Your Writing Skills

One useful byproduct of having a blog that you share with people in your niche is that it gives you the opportunity to show your soft skills. One of the most important of these is your ability to effectively get your thoughts across in writing.


No matter what your career goals or which industry you are in, having great writing skills is always going to be a plus. To that end, pay special attention to the quality of your writing. Make sure that your spelling and grammar is impeccable. Then use visuals and links to data to make your writing even more impactful.

Link to Your Blog on Resumes And Social Profiles

Once you’ve established a great blog, you want to get the word out. Don’t forget to include a link to your blog in the contact information on your resume. In addition to this, when you fill out your social media profiles, be sure you include a link to your blog there as well. This way, when people connect to you on social media they will also find your blog.

Make a Lasting Impression With Visuals

We touched on using visuals a bit above. However, this is important enough to warrant its own point. Use photographs, infographics, videos, and other visual content in your blog. You will find that these posts create more engagement, and drive more traffic to your blog.

Conclusion

When it comes to advancing your career, a well-written blog can really be a useful asset. Just be sure to produce top quality content, reach out to others, and show your stuff.

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Author΄s bio: Diana Beyer is an experienced, self-driven specialist and content editor at Alltopreviews who is passionate about writing. She is always seeking to discover new ways for personal and professional growth.