The Power of Having a Blogging Buddy

Welcome to the ProBlogger Podcast. My name is Darren Rowse and welcome to episode 15 and day 15 of 31 Days to Build a Better Blog. Today, we’re talking about blogging buddies, teaming up with another blogger to help improve both of your blogs in some way. Today’s show notes are at problogger.com/podcast/15.

Hi there. It’s Darren from ProBlogger here. Welcome to day 15 of 31 Days to Build a Better Blog. Today, we’re going to talk about finding yourself a blog buddy. I’m an introvert. I’ve declared this many times on my blogs before. While I enjoy the company of other people very much, I get my energy by spending time alone. Blogging and podcasting are great mediums for me in this respect. I get to interact with people, but I had a bit of a distance. I get to monitor how much time I spend by myself.

However, one thing I’ve learned over the last 13 years is that sometimes I need to push myself out of my comfort zone, out of my solitude, and into the presence of others because when I do, my blogs actually grow faster, the quality of my blogging increases, and the impact that I have upon my readers grows as well when I work with other bloggers. I learned this very early on back in 2002 when I started blogging. Even in my first weeks, I remember I stumbled into the company of a very small group of other wonderful bloggers who helped me through those first really tricky weeks of blogging.

You probably remember those times where you had so many questions, doubts, fears, and so little knowledge about what you’re doing. I had no idea what I was doing and it would have been very easy for me to give up blogging many times in those first few weeks, but with the support of that small group of other bloggers—friends, really; it was no formal group—I got up and running, and I started walking on my own feet. Gradually, I grew the knowledge. Some of the doubts and some of the fears—not all of them—began to disappear. I began to understand what I was doing.

There have been many times over the years since this has been the case for me as I’ve faced different challenges. I remember the times where I’ve been burnt out and struggling to create content and people have given me ideas, support, and encouragement. I remember times where I couldn’t seem to find readers for my blogs and other bloggers helped me by promoting my blog to their readers really generously. I remember starting new blogs at different times and just being completely out of my depth with the technicalities.

I remember switching platforms from Blogger to Movable Type and then to WordPress and having no idea what I was doing. It was only because other bloggers generously helped me that I was able to do that. I remember monetizing for the first time and another blogger teaching me about AdSense and affiliate programs. I remember creating my first products and people helping me out by proofreading and helping me to design and helping me to set up shopping carts. I remember many times where I’ve been exploring new mediums like I am now with podcasting, bloggers, and shifting with advice or even time. I remember starting new businesses and people jumping in, collaborating, and partnering even at times on those businesses. I have achieved so much more as a result of the relationships that I have with other bloggers. I’d never be where I am today without them.

It really reminds me of an illustration that I’ve heard many, many times. You probably heard it, too, about how geese work together when they fly long distances. Studies show that geese flying in formation fly 78% farther as a result of flying in formation than when they fly alone. I don’t know if that’s a myth or not. It’s on Wikipedia, so it must be true.

The reasons for this extra distance that they fly and numerous. One, aerodynamically is it’s better to fly in formation. The front bird seems to break the air in front of the flock and creates a slipstream and then the birds behind it with the upward motion of their wings that push that first bird forward, rotate their leadership so they share the load. 

When one is injured or sick and drops out of the flock, at least two others always drop out with it so that they can fly on again in formation. And then there’s the honk when you’re up there. The formation of geese is a really noisy place. No one really knows why but some think it might be about mutual encouragement and support.

I’m not saying we’re all geese here, but certainly, the same principles are true when we blog and in many other areas of life. Together, we can achieve so much more. There are many benefits that I found from working with other bloggers. First, there’s the ability to brainstorm for content ideas or even brainstorming design ideas or product ideas. There’s a place to vent with other people who understand what you’re going through. There’s a collaboration of opportunities. There’s the potential to share links and to help each other grow in your traffic. There’s the potential for inspiration and motivation of each other, to write guest posts, and help each other with content and swapping of skills.

The challenge today is to find or at least begin the process of finding a blogging buddy or buddies. For some of you, you already have formal mentors, mastermind groups, or Facebook groups. You might already have this one covered. For others of you, this might be a first. It could be a bit of a step out of your comfort zone. I encourage you to do it. It’s going to take you some time to find and develop these relationships to find the people that you feel some affinity with, but you can begin that process today in some really small ways.

It’s probably three different levels that I’d suggest you might be at and really it will depend on your experience. First, for some of you, meeting some other bloggers for the first time, you may not actually know another blogger whether online or in real life. You might want to start that process by simply commenting on some other blogs, emailing another blogger, maybe to say that you admire what they do or thank them for a piece of content that they wrote, or maybe even attending a meet-up or an event for bloggers. These could be the first steps in making a friendship that ends up being a win-win collaboration in some way.

For others of you, it’s probably a little bit farther along. You might already know some other bloggers but you want to join a group in some way. There are many forums or community groups out there already for bloggers. Some of them are localized. I know there are Australian blogger groups on Facebook. Some of them are niche-based. I know there are photography blogger groups. Some of them are private and you might need an invite to join them, but others of them are public. All you need to really do is search Google or Facebook and ask around. If you can’t find one, it may be that you need to start that group. It could be a localized group or on a topic. If you want to ask around, ask on the ProBlogger Facebook page. It might be a good place to see if there are other bloggers who want to collaborate with you.

The third level that you might want to think about if you’re already a part of some of these groups is to take it up a notch by starting or joining a more intentional group. Most of these groups, these mastermind groups or mentoring groups as they are sometimes called, are private groups, closed groups on Facebook or LinkedIn, and they often emerge out of relationships that bloggers have pretty organically. You might need to ask around if anyone knows about any of these groups, but you’re probably in a better position to start one already with an existing group of bloggers. I would probably suggest that you start with a defined period of time, maybe say three months, so in the end, people have no obligation to continue, but you might just find that it does.

A simple format for a mastermind group like this might be to do a weekly or a monthly call on Skype as a group. As a simple format for those calls, you could go around the circle and each person shares a win for the week, a challenge that they’re facing, and a goal that they have. You also might want to set up some group on Facebook for interaction between the calls or collaboration and support. Over time, your group will emerge and evolve into something different from what you started, which is based upon your needs.

I really look forward to hearing what comes out of today’s challenge. I’ve had a lot of benefit from finding blogging buddies and being a part of these types of groups. I hope that you do as well.

I hope you enjoyed today’s episode and feel a little inspired to join in with another blogger, to find your blogging buddy. You might like to pop over to the problogger.com/podcast/15 show notes for today and tell us a little bit about whether you have a blog buddy already or whether you’re looking for one. You might just find on that page, someone else looking for one or two that you can team up with. Also, check out facebook.com/problogger where there are thousands of bloggers following the ProBlogger Facebook page. You might just find someone there that you could connect with as well. Again, the show notes are at problogger.com/podcast/15.

As always, you can check out the ebook for 31 Days to Build a Better Blog. It’s linked to those show notes as well and it’s available for you at 50% off if you’d like to get that extra bonus seven days. Looking forward to chatting with you tomorrow on day 16 of 31 Days to Build a Better Blog.