For anyone who has blogged for three months or more should know that as time moves on and you continue to blog, natural relationships are formed. These can be formed from comments/replies, linking to others, email contacts with similar niche blog authors, etc. I was thinking the other day how many people I wouldn’t know anything about and vice versa had I not started publishing content on my own blog. The past year and a half of serious blogging has giving me the opportunity to build relationships with people all across the world. In fact, one of the readers who regularly interacted with me on my blog sent me a Christmas card. All the way from Australia none the less! It is events like these that give me that warm fuzzy feeling inside.
Sometimes, the relationships you build during your time of blogging can become more important than the income a blog may make. Here are seven tips based on experience that will help you build relationships with other bloggers.
Stop Being Competitive – Although being competitive can serve as the driving force to make someone a better blogger or to have the better blog, competitiveness can and usually does promote self interests and in turn, breaks relationships. Learn as soon as possible that the realm of blogging is a huge pool of knowledge sharing. Learn to link out to ideas and highlight things you come across rather than keeping yourself and your audience in a silo.
Give More Than Take – Everybody that is alive on this planet today has a specialty whether it be fishing, cooking or blogging. Learn to give as much information as possible to your audience rather than sitting back and taking everything in. A great example of someone who does this on a regular basis is Chris Brogan who is always giving more than he takes.
Link Out On A Regular Basis – In my own experience, each time someone has linked to a specific post on my blog, I always visit that post in return and give them a thank you. Sometimes, that blog author replies to my comment and before you know it, we regularly exchange emails. Through the use of pingbacks/trackbacks, linking out is like sending out a beacon. Not only are you letting that person know that you have linked to them but you also let them know that your blog exists. Sometimes, thats all it takes is to let someone know you’re out there.
Start Small – The A-list bloggers are the ones pulling in massive traffic and because their time is taken up between all of the aspects of blogging, it is very hard to get in touch with them, unless you’re a big wig yourself. Start out small and network with blog authors who write about the same subject within your niche that are not breakout hits. Starting small and continuing to build on that foundation will slowly build your list of contacts where eventually, in the right conversation at the right time, someone may bring your name to the attention of someone else that could change your career for the better.
Persistence Pays Off – Just like everything else in life, persistence can play a critical role when it comes to creating a relationship with another blogger. Generally, things are not set in stone with one email or one instant messaging conversation. In fact, many times it takes numerous conversations between both parties before a relationship can be established. It is important that you do not confuse persistence with being annoying. Sending one possibly two emails in one weeks time is good. Instant messaging while sending a private message over a forum and then sending emails on top of that is just down right annoying.
Don’t Be Afraid To Ask – Asking questions to your blogging neighbors is an excellent way to build relationships as these questions and answers can sometimes turn into debates or great conversations. Great conversations tend to make an impact on someones mind. Asking and in turn answering questions is a win-win situation as each person gets to know the other in terms of each others agendas. Also, answering questions pertaining to a specific subject may give others the opinion that you are an authority on that subject. This means that because of your knowledge on the subject, people may refer their friends or associates to you.
Look For That Wow Factor – Ever have a conversation with someone that made you go “wow, that was an awesome discussion“? Be on the lookout for these types of synergies where your thoughts and opinions flow well with someone else’s. These types of interactions usually form into strong bonds.
Conclusion:
How many times have you heard the saying, “It’s not what you know but who you know”? Although not directly applicable to blogging since authoritative bloggers are successful anyways, having a big or at least concise network of people around is a good thing to have. These people can help you get a job, land an advertising deal, pass client work your way, make your blog not so lonely, and last but not least, these people can become great friends and a source of inspiration. Just a word of warning though. Try not to burn any bridges you make because at some point down the road, you may need to cross them.
Image courtesy of wallyg under Creative Commons
Have you made any new friends in the blogosphere or in the real-world based on your blogging or social networking activities? How valuable do feel your relationships are? If you have any tips on building relationships, share them with me in the comments.
25 thoughts on “7 Tips On Building Relationships Through Blogging”
Great post! Thanks! I never will forget the 7 points …
Thank you for this post keep it on
Great tips! Although i have been pretty much glued to my pc for the bast 10 years the whole blogging concept seems to ran off without me…playing catch up!
Persistence is the keys of keys; many bloggers get desperate in getting good traffic that they forget about relationship. Good post!
Building relationships are probably one of the most important things to remember as a blogger. Re-occuring traffic is the bedrock of any blog. To cultivate those users with unique and fresh content will do wonders.
Thank you guys and girls for the great feedback. Makes me feel really good that this post helped you or perhaps reminded you that the basics are sometimes all that is necessary to build relationships.
To build relationship with our readers through blogging, we should offer quality content and reply positively to every query we get from our readers. Blogging is all about creating relationship
This was a very refreshing post to read! It is easy to forget some of the simple basics – and this is one example. I wrote a post one time on one of my blogs about a post that another blogger had made. He was a well known person, (one of the A-list) and I sent a trackback to his post. I noticed within a few hours he had visited my site. (Obviously to approve the trackback). But – in the end, I actually got to know him a bit better because of this and joined one of his membership sites – so building relationships with others is never a bad thing! Thanks for the great post!
This is an excellent post. The point about giving more than taking is such an excellent note that more bloggers need to really get. It’s totally about collaboration and “sharing” mindset. 🙂 Great stuff!
Hi Jeff, this is a great post! I will surely apply your tips. Persistence really pays off; and linking is a wonderful way to gain friends in the internet. Good job, Jeff! looking forward to your next posts. Thanks!
Nice points. I highlight point “Persistence Pays Off “. Persistance is the key of succes in every kind of business.
Jeff, thanks for the advice, especially the focus on working with others. For a person who is new to the business, I appreciate the words of wisdom. There’s no need to screw people over…there’s enough internet out there for all of us.
Thanks again.
I stumbled upon this blog by accident while just reading up on general blogging tips. I must say that you do make a point on a lot of your posts =) Keep it up will be coming back again.
It’s true .. it never hurts to ask And, the rest of these tips are pretty much bang on. No one’s an island and we all need friends online.
@: Andrew Does this have anything to do with cheese?
I would like to add one more to that list Jeff: Go out for a curry with them. You can talk about a lot over a good curry and a family sized Nan bread!
You folks are quite welcome. Hope you apply these tips and tricks.
It is fantastic in this day and age how the internet and things like blogging can make the world so much smaller. Thanks for the tips on getting to know your internet colleagues better!
A lot of usefull informations which i realy needed to change my blocks to advance.
Thx for the tips! Greets , Billigflug
Great post! Thanks for sharing the pointers. They are very helpful. Hope to see your new posts soon.
@:abinesh – Thanks for the kind words. It is usually the simplest things that we tend to forget first.
@:Discount Sunglasses – That is exactly what I do with Woopra. I check out my referrals every day to see if I have any new links and if so, I venture to the site to see if it’s legitimate or a scraper. If legitimate, I thank them for the link and usually chime in with my take on their response.
@:Umit – That is usually how it begins. Starting small with a core group of people and then eventually building outwards. Knowing that you have a dedicated group of people either enjoying your work or following you around from one venture to the next is a humbling experience.
I recently started with blogging about a topic. During the first month or so, I met a few people writing about the same topic and mailing/talking with them makes writing on my own blog more fun and for some reason it makes the process of writing easier.
As for your tips. They are great and so true. With my every day activities I see these tips return time and time again. Following these tips will get you quite far and I hope it will get me to.
Thanks for the tips and have a nice day.
Umit Namli.
Linking out is a very effective gesture in making new friends in the blog world. We know that bloggers always check their stats. Thanks to Google Analytics, we can know where our site traffic comes from. I am doing the same thing as you’ve mentioned. Whenever someone links to my blog post, I become curious what the site is all about. And, yes, that simple gesture of linking out can be the start of a great friendship between two perfect stranger bloggers.
These are simple yet very important tips that we easily forget. Thanks champ!
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