If you are wondering where to start when building your online presence, here is the honest answer: the first thing to focus on when building an online presence is your skills. Not your feed. Not your posting schedule. Not which platform to be on. Your skills. Because you cannot pour from an empty cup. Most people skip this step entirely and then wonder why their online presence is not giving them the right visibility. In this article I am going to walk you through the 7 skills I believe every content marketer and personal brand builder needs to develop first, drawn from my own real experience of building CCS from scratch.
The First Thing to Focus on When Building an Online Presence: Your Foundation Is You
When I started building my online presence, I did not jump straight into content creation. I started by developing the right skills. Because here is what I know to be true: your online presence is only as strong as the foundation behind it. And that foundation is you, what you know, what you can do, and how well you can communicate it.
This is something that most guides on how to build an online presence from scratch miss entirely. They jump straight to tactics. Pick a platform. Post consistently. Optimise your bio. But none of that works if you have not built the skills to back it up.
If you are also trying to understand why your business is struggling to get found online more broadly, you might want to read this first: Why Your Business Isn’t Getting Found Online (And It Has Nothing To Do With Your Product).
The First Thing to Focus on When Building an Online Presence: Storytelling
The first and most important skill you need is storytelling. Because building an online presence is not just about sharing information. It is about telling a story around who you are, what you have been up to, and the results you have been able to achieve.
People do not connect with CVs. They connect with stories. And the good news is, you already have one. You just need to learn how to say it well. Honestly, I wish there was a secret to unlocking storytelling skill, but unfortunately there is not. Some people have it naturally while some do not. But what I can assure you is that with constant practice in front of the camera and writing your ideas down, your storytelling skill will keep getting better.
Storytelling for content creators is not a bonus skill. It is the core of everything.
The First Thing to Focus on When Building an Online Presence: Communication
The second skill is communication, and I do not just mean being able to speak confidently on camera. I mean how clearly you communicate your message to your audience online. Your captions, your scripts, your video content, even how you respond to comments, all of that is communication. And if your message is not clear, your audience will scroll right past you.
Now it is one thing to be good at written communication. It is another thing to transfer that written communication skill to spoken words. I really struggle with this aspect as well, especially during an interview. But this verbal communication skill is also something I am working on myself. And that is the point, it is a skill you build over time, not something you either have or you do not.
The First Thing to Focus on When Building an Online Presence: Attention to Detail
Attention to detail in content marketing matters more than most people realise. When building your online presence you will be figuring a lot of things out on your own. And if you are not attentive, you will spend a lot of time on something that would have taken you far less time to fix if you had just paid closer attention.
Attention to detail also helps you notice things like grammatical errors, poor editing, and low quality sound, especially if you decide to outsource some aspects of showing up online like video editing and graphic design. Because outsourcing does not mean switching off. You still need to review the work and make sure it meets your standard.
I learned this firsthand when I was building the CCS website. I wanted to use that project as an opportunity to build my website creation skills and expand my web content writing skills at the same time. But honestly, it slowed the whole project down because I lacked the skills of a website developer. And even when the website was complete, it still had a lot of missing components. So recently I made the decision to build the website from scratch and outsource it this time. Because whatever is worth doing is worth doing well. I put together a wireframe and a full project brief, then reached out to a seasoned website developer. And I honestly cannot wait to show you guys what the finished output looks like.
The First Thing to Focus on When Building an Online Presence: Basic IT Skills
You do not need to be a tech expert, but you do need to be comfortable with basic tools. Things like Microsoft 365, Excel, PowerPoint, and Word. These are tools that come up constantly in content marketing work, and being able to use them confidently will save you so much time and make you look far more professional.
This is one of the most overlooked basic marketing skills for beginners, but it is one that employers and clients notice immediately.
The First Thing to Focus on When Building an Online Presence: Basic Marketing Skills
You do not need to be a professional video editor or a graphic designer, but having a basic understanding of both will make a huge difference. These are skills I built through self learning. Most of the time I would watch a YouTube video and practice in real time.
I also enrolled for a HubSpot SEO course and a Udemy digital marketing course. And I used my fashion business Bags and Fits to practice what I was learning in real time. I remember creating a Google Ads account and using Google Search Console for keyword research for the Bags and Fits website. Practicing on a real business, even your own, is one of the fastest ways to build confidence in these skills and one of the best answers to the question of how to learn digital marketing for free.
For a broader breakdown of how to build an online presence effectively, this guide from HubSpot is a great starting point: 16 Effective Ways to Build Your Online Presence.
The First Thing to Focus on When Building an Online Presence: Basic Marketing Tools
Alongside the skills, you need to get familiar with the platforms and tools your audience and future employers or clients are already using. Things like Meta Business Suite, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn. You do not need to master all of them at once. Start with one or two and build from there.
Getting comfortable with Meta Business Suite for beginners and understanding how to use Google Search Console are two of the most practical starting points for anyone serious about content marketing career tips in 2026.
And finally, copywriting for beginners is a skill you cannot afford to ignore. Copywriting is the skill of writing words that attract and convert. Every caption you write, every bio, every call to action, that is copywriting. And the better you get at it, the more effective your online presence becomes.
Read my article on how you can plan, create and post content online without feeling overwhelmed here
The First Thing to Focus on When Building an Online Presence: Copywriting
My MBA gave me a lot of confidence in this area because I participated in school projects like the MBA pitching competition. I also volunteered at the University of Sunderland marketing hub where I got to work with actual business owners and put together marketing plans they found genuinely helpful and actually implemented. That experience alone gave me the confidence that I knew what I was doing. I had the skills. I just needed more practical experience. And that is exactly where my personal brand journey started.
What Is Coming Next
This article is part of my playlist, Breaking Into and Building a Career in Content Marketing, where I share everything I know about building a career in this space from real experience. Coming up I will be sharing how to build your personal brand from scratch, how to write a content marketing CV that actually gets noticed, and how to position yourself as an expert even if you are just starting out.
Final Thoughts
My name is Fatimah Owodunni, and my goal is to help product and business owners move from posting reactively to building a content system with clarity, intention, and purpose. I believe content should support your business goals, not compete with your energy or time. That is why I share practical, real-world guidance on building simple content systems that actually work, especially for beginners and small teams. If this article helped you think differently about how to identify the right career path based on your skills, share it with someone who needs to hear it today.
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