Co-blogging, Finding Your Blog Buddy

Blogging need not be a lonely profession. Perhaps you would get more fulfilment, and produce a better blog, if you found a writing partner?

An immediate benefit to finding a blogging partner, as I mentioned in Top 10 Blog Disasters and How To Deal With Them, is if you need to be away from blogging for any length of time the blog still gets updated. There are more benefits though

• Fresh ideas – to keep a blog going for any length of time you can’t run out of ideas. Another brain to bounce off might be just the thing you need to get creative. Brainstorming is more effective and more fun with someone else!
• Proof reading – it’s easy to miss your own mistakes, having someone else read your content and understand it is very valuable. Yes your readers would pull you up but it’s nicer to catch mistakes early and fix them before too many people see.
• Different perspective and experience – a different background means a different understanding, new ways of looking at things, different stories to tell, a different world-view. These all add colour, depth and texture.
• Variety of tone of voice – one way of saying things could get monotonous so another voice on your blog can spice up the conversation a little.
• Sounding board – if you are in any doubt or concerned about something you have someone on hand who understands the work and can offer advice.
• Stabilising influence – if you are prone to wacky ideas, thinking of packing it all in and going travelling, or other spur of the moment craziness your writing partner can help settle you back into reality.
• Motivator – sometimes we have trouble getting started, on occasion a bad piece of feedback really upsets us, a blogging buddy can help you get back into the flow and push us to achieve greater things.
• Second opinion – we don’t always get things right first time.
• Shared responsibility – sometimes a job is easier when you share it with someone else.
• Research workload halved – if you are going to seriously cover a niche there is always lots of research to do. Everything from keeping up with the news to detailed investigation. We can’t all know everything that is going on in our niche or have the depth of knowledge on every topic required. With someone else on hand you can split the subject matter between you.
• Double the expertise – related to the research point above but once you have done your reading one or the other of you will be able to answer any questions thrown your way .. hopefully!
• Someone to celebrate or moan with – sometimes we just need an insider who understands and can share in the joys and lows. Misery loves company and champagne tastes better when shared.
• ..

I am sure you could think of more.

The key is the partnership is mutually beneficial. You don’t necessarily have to write for the same blog but I think that model has the best chance of working.

Finding your Blog Buddy

So the first task is where to look. Second is what to look for. The two are very closely related. Your writing partner needs to be

• Knowledgeable
• Reliable
• Honest
• Flexible
• Good writer
• Excellent communicator
• Compatible

I was once given the advice to not go into business with friends or family. I find it very difficult to not become friends with people I work with but it might well be good advice, after all money can cause arguments.

You might find someone who comments on your blog a good fit. Perhaps there is another blogger in your niche. There could be just the right person on a forum you visit. These are good places simply because you get to see samples of their writing.

Trial period

Kind of like dating, some people dive straight into marriage, others date for a long time or have a long engagement. I guess there are promiscuous bloggers too, heh. A trial period might be a good idea if you find someone who is OK with it. There is bound to be a settling in period. We all have grumpy days (apart from me, I am a complete angel) so try to give each other a bit of slack.

Start as you mean to go on

A good idea would be to set out from the start ground rules and stick to them. How will you split the rewards and how much work do you expect off each other. In your space what constitutes a good post? Will you have word count quotas, number of posts, quality, traffic counts, revenue?

Make a plan and set goals. You don’t necessarily need to achieve each goal you set but do make them semi-realistic. The main point is to align the way you are heading so you are both aiming for the same target. Otherwise one of you might want to be famous and the other be a adsense kingpin. Review your progress regularly and celebrate your achievements.

How about you?

Do you blog alone, do you have a partner or even a team? Does it work or is it a nightmare. Please tell us about your experience..