Top 12 Staff Writer Skills to Put on Your Resume

In today's crowded media sphere, a staff writer needs a nimble toolkit—a mix of technical know-how, editorial polish, and platform fluency that pulls readers in and keeps them there. Below, you’ll find the top 12 skills to spotlight on your resume, refreshed for what actually matters now and trimmed of fluff.

Staff Writer Skills

1. SEO Optimization
2. WordPress
3. Google Analytics
4. AP Style
5. CMS Experience
6. HTML/CSS
7. Adobe InDesign
8. Copywriting
9. Proofreading
10. Social Media
11. Content Management
12. Journalism

1. SEO Optimization

SEO optimization means shaping content so search engines can find it, trust it, and surface it. Smart keywords. Useful structure. Clean tech. Consistent updates. All pointed at helping your work reach a larger, more relevant audience.

Why It's Important

Better SEO boosts visibility, which fuels traffic and engagement. More eyes, more impact. It also supports long-term growth, not just quick hits.

How to Improve SEO Optimization Skills

Sharpen SEO by:

1. Keyword research: Identify intent-driven phrases and weave them into titles, headings, and body copy without stuffing.

2. High-value content: Answer questions thoroughly. Structure with clear subheads, scannable lists, and crisp intros.

3. Meta fundamentals: Write specific, compelling title tags and meta descriptions that earn clicks.

4. Mobile-first: Use responsive layouts and concise formatting so pages work beautifully on phones.

5. Speed and Core Web Vitals: Compress images, lazy-load media, and trim scripts to improve load and interaction time.

6. Internal linking: Connect related pieces to guide readers and share authority.

7. Backlinks: Earn links with original research, explainers, or standout resources people want to cite.

8. Social sharing: Seed content on relevant channels to spark discovery and secondary links.

9. Update cadence: Refresh pages with new data and tighter angles; stale content sinks.

10. Alt text: Describe images with concise, relevant alt text for accessibility and image search.

Put these pieces together and rankings tend to follow. Not overnight. But steadily.

How to Display SEO Optimization Skills on Your Resume

2. WordPress

WordPress is a widely used content management system for building and managing sites—from simple blogs to robust newsrooms. It’s writer-friendly, flexible, and expandable with themes and plugins.

Why It's Important

For a Staff Writer, WordPress makes publishing predictable and fast. Drafts, revisions, schedules, SEO fields, embeds—the workflow clicks into place.

How to Improve WordPress Skills

Level up by focusing on writing flow, SEO, and reliability:

1. Editor proficiency: Get comfortable with Gutenberg’s blocks. Use reusable blocks and patterns to speed layout.

2. SEO plugins: Configure a reputable SEO plugin to manage titles, descriptions, schemas, and sitemaps.

3. Image optimization: Compress images and use modern formats where possible to keep pages snappy.

4. Content calendar: Schedule posts, coordinate drafts, and track deadlines inside the dashboard or a connected planner.

5. Link management: Standardize external link settings and redirects; keep slugs clean and permanent.

6. Backup and security: Set automated backups and enable security scanning and two-factor logins.

Dial these in and you’ll spend less time troubleshooting, more time writing.

How to Display WordPress Skills on Your Resume

3. Google Analytics

Google Analytics tracks how people find and use your content. Today that means GA4—event-based, privacy-aware, focused on engagement and outcomes rather than pageviews alone.

Why It's Important

It shows what resonates. Which topics stick. Where readers drop. With those signals, you can double down on what works and fix what doesn’t.

How to Improve Google Analytics Skills

Work smarter in GA4 by:

1. Set clear goals: Define conversions that matter—newsletter signups, downloads, contact clicks—and mark them as key events.

2. Know your audience: Review acquisition, demographics (where available), and interests to tailor topics and tone.

3. Follow the paths: Use Path exploration to see how readers move through content and where they bounce.

4. Group content: Create content groups via event parameters to compare performance across series, verticals, or formats.

5. Track interactions: Configure events for clicks, video plays, scrolls, and file downloads to capture engagement beyond the pageview.

6. Report cadence: Review weekly, summarize monthly, and adjust your editorial plan accordingly.

Let the data nudge your instincts, not bulldoze them. The mix makes the magic.

How to Display Google Analytics Skills on Your Resume

4. AP Style

AP Style is journalism’s shared rulebook—grammar, punctuation, capitalization, abbreviation, and usage, all aligned so stories read cleanly across outlets.

Why It's Important

Consistency builds trust. AP Style keeps copy crisp, credible, and easy to read. Editors expect it. Readers feel it.

How to Improve AP Style Skills

Get sharper by:

1. Study the AP Stylebook: Keep the latest edition handy and annotate frequently used entries.

2. Practice daily: Write with the guide open. Spot-check gray areas—titles, numbers, dates, datelines.

3. Track updates: AP evolves; follow official updates and note changes that affect your beats.

4. Quiz yourself: Use exercises and quick drills to reinforce rules you routinely miss.

5. Peer review: Trade edits with colleagues who know the style well.

6. Read widely: Study outlets that apply AP rigorously and mirror their clarity.

The goal isn’t stiffness; it’s precision without friction.

How to Display AP Style Skills on Your Resume

5. CMS Experience

CMS experience means fluency with platforms that create, edit, and publish digital content. It’s the glue between ideas and a live story page.

Why It's Important

A solid CMS workflow shortens drafts-to-live time, reduces errors, and keeps multi-person teams moving in sync. Less chaos. More output.

How to Improve CMS Experience Skills

Make the CMS work for you, not against you:

• Streamline navigation: Organize menus and shortcuts so you can reach core tasks in a click or two.

• Custom dashboards: Surface your essentials—recent posts, analytics snapshots, editorial checklists.

• Editor essentials: Choose a text editor that handles embeds, tables, and clean formatting without breaking styles.

• Baked-in SEO: Enable fields for titles, descriptions, canonical tags, and schemas within the publish flow.

• Workflow automation: Use status stages, assignments, and calendars to coordinate drafts, edits, and publication.

• Media management: Standardize image sizes, alt text, captions, and file naming for consistency.

• Ongoing training: Provide quick-reference docs and short trainings. LinkedIn Learning has helpful CMS courses.

When the CMS hums, the newsroom does too.

How to Display CMS Experience Skills on Your Resume

6. HTML/CSS

HTML structures content. CSS shapes how it looks. Together, they turn plain words into a readable, accessible, on-brand experience.

Why It's Important

Knowing the basics lets you fix layout hiccups, polish presentation, and collaborate smoothly with developers and designers.

How to Improve HTML/CSS Skills

Build competence with steady reps:

1. Practice: Tinker in small snippets or sandboxes. Rebuild simple layouts from scratch.

2. Responsive design: Learn media queries and fluid units so pages feel natural on any screen.

3. Flexbox and Grid: Master modern layout systems for alignment and complex structures.

4. Web standards: Use MDN and reliable references to stay accurate and current.

5. Framework literacy: Explore Bootstrap or Tailwind to understand reusable patterns and utility classes.

6. Read source: Inspect elements on sites you admire to see how they’re built.

7. Join communities: Ask questions, share snippets, learn from peers.

8. Keep up: Follow newsletters and blogs that cover HTML5, CSS3, and accessibility updates.

Even a little HTML/CSS fluency goes a long way in daily publishing.

How to Display HTML/CSS Skills on Your Resume

7. Adobe InDesign

Adobe InDesign is the go-to for laying out print and digital publications—magazines, reports, brochures, books. Precision over pixels. Fine-grained typographic control.

Why It's Important

For long-form packages and designed assets, InDesign elevates your work from readable to remarkable, with professional polish built in.

How to Improve Adobe InDesign Skills

Level up with targeted habits:

1. Start with fundamentals: Learn master pages, styles, grids, bleeds, and preflight.

2. Template smart: Use or build templates to keep branding and layout consistent and fast.

3. Typography mastery: Practice styles, kerning, tracking, hyphenation, and baseline grids.

4. Shortcuts: Memorize keys for speed—nudge, place, fit, frame, guides.

5. Regular reps: Recreate layouts you admire; break them down, refine, repeat.

6. Stay current: New features arrive often; scan release notes and design forums.

Good layout amplifies good writing. It shows you care.

How to Display Adobe InDesign Skills on Your Resume

8. Copywriting

Copywriting is persuasive writing with a job to do—inform, nudge, convert. For staff writers, it’s aligning brand voice with reader needs to produce words that move people.

Why It's Important

Clear, compelling copy builds trust and drives action. It brings strategy to life and turns attention into outcomes.

How to Improve Copywriting Skills

Sharpen the edge:

1. Know the reader: Map their goals, anxieties, and language. Speak to one person, not a crowd.

2. Cut the fluff: Shorter sentences. Active voice. Specifics over abstractions.

3. Headline craft: Test multiple angles—benefit-led, curiosity, clarity. Don’t bury the payoff.

4. Benefits > features: Show how life gets better, not just what the thing does.

5. Voice consistency: Create tone guidelines and keep them within reach.

6. SEO alignment: Match intent with keywords and structure; don’t sacrifice readability.

7. Edit hard: Read aloud, tighten verbs, prune hedges, and check rhythm.

8. Study examples: Save standout ads, landing pages, subject lines. Reverse-engineer why they work.

9. Keep learning: Read classics like On Writing Well and modern guides from seasoned practitioners.

Great copy feels effortless. Getting there isn’t.

How to Display Copywriting Skills on Your Resume

9. Proofreading

Proofreading is the final pass for grammar, spelling, punctuation, consistency, and formatting—last line before publishing.

Why It's Important

Errors distract and erode trust. Clean copy respects readers and reflects well on you and your publication.

How to Improve Proofreading Skills

Tighten your process:

1. Read aloud: Your ear catches what your eyes glide past.

2. Use tools: Run automated checks, then layer human judgment on top.

3. Take breaks: Step away; fresh eyes spot sneaky mistakes.

4. Error checklist: Track your common slips—homophones, number styles, capitalization.

5. Read backwards: Sentence by sentence, then word by word for names and numbers.

6. Peer review: A colleague will catch what you’ve become blind to.

If time is tight, prioritize headlines, decks, names, dates, numbers, and links.

How to Display Proofreading Skills on Your Resume

10. Social Media

Social media platforms let you publish, engage, and gather feedback in real time. Distribution and dialogue rolled together.

Why It's Important

It expands reach, tests ideas quickly, and builds recognizable voice. You learn what sticks by watching response patterns.

How to Improve Social Media Skills

Make it intentional:

1. Create for the feed: Write platform-native posts. Lead with hooks. Add visuals that earn the scroll-stop.

2. Engage: Reply thoughtfully. Ask questions. Participate in relevant conversations.

3. Track metrics: Monitor engagement rate, reach, shares, and saves. Let trends inform content choices.

4. Be consistent: Use a posting rhythm and a content calendar, but protect quality.

5. Ride trends wisely: Use timely formats and hashtags when they fit your voice and audience.

Show up where your readers are, then earn the follow with substance.

How to Display Social Media Skills on Your Resume

11. Content Management

Content Management is the planning, organizing, editing, and maintaining of digital content so it’s accurate, on-brand, and on time.

Why It's Important

Good systems tame the chaos—clear versioning, dependable schedules, and coherent archives that support strategy rather than scatter it.

How to Improve Content Management Skills

Upgrade your operation:

1. Plan with purpose: Build a content calendar with topics, owners, deadlines, and publish dates.

2. SEO basics: Define target keywords, meta data, and internal links before drafting.

3. Use a CMS well: Standardize templates, taxonomies, and tagging for findability.

4. Format for channels: Adapt posts for web, email, and social—same core, different packaging.

5. Refresh routinely: Audit older pieces for updates, consolidations, or redirects.

6. Collaborate: Coordinate with editors, designers, and marketing in shared tools (Trello, Asana, Slack).

7. Measure: Review analytics and adjust topics, cadence, and presentation to match performance.

A tidy content engine frees up creative energy.

How to Display Content Management Skills on Your Resume

12. Journalism

Journalism is reporting, verifying, writing, and presenting information that serves the public interest. Curiosity fueled by ethics.

Why It's Important

It informs, scrutinizes power, and anchors communities in facts. For a Staff Writer, it’s the compass and the craft.

How to Improve Journalism Skills

Raise the bar:

1. Deep research: Go beyond the first page—public records, expert interviews, primary documents, and data.

2. Audience awareness: Use analytics and reader feedback to shape angles that matter to your community.

3. Ethics first: Follow the core principles—seek truth, minimize harm, act independently, be accountable.

4. Write cleaner: Tight ledes, clear nut grafs, strong transitions, and concrete details.

5. Keep learning: Take courses, attend workshops, broaden your beat knowledge.

6. Fact-check rigorously: Verify names, numbers, quotes, timelines, and sources.

7. Use multimedia: Mix text with audio, video, graphics, and data visuals when they add clarity.

Credibility compounds. Earn it one well-reported story at a time.

How to Display Journalism Skills on Your Resume