Benefits of Community: Work Together for Better Blog Results

Many of us start blogs hoping to make at least a little bit of money on the side. We want to see our traffic increase and boost our conversions. Chances are that you hope to, someday, perhaps live on the income from your blog.

If you aren’t careful, it can be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that this has to be a competition with your fellow bloggers. However, here in the world of FinCon and the Plutus Awards, the reality is that we are a community. We are one of the best and most open blogging communities out there. The fact that we work together often means better blog results.

Every past winner of the Best Canadian Personal Finance Blog award, getting together to discuss personal finance and blogging.

Working Together Leads to Better Blog Results

We don’t have to be competition. In fact, when we work together, the whole community benefits, and you are likely to see better blog results. A strong community attracts a bigger audience and higher-quality events that can, in turn, benefit your own business aspirations.

Here are some of the ways you can work with other bloggers to expand your reach and improve your own blog performance:

• Networking: The foundation of better blog results through community efforts is networking. Networking within in your niche (for us it’s the personal finance online community) allows you to get to know other bloggers. Network, and you’ll run into other bloggers who are likely to mesh well with you. Learn to get to know others and trust them, and you will be able to come with projects that benefit all of you.
• Guest posts: When you provide a high-quality guest post — or accept one — it’s a way for everyone to win. You have the chance to expand your audience by reaching another blogger’s readers. Plus, everyone loves to add great content to a website.
• Podcast guests: You can reach a wider audience by choosing to be on someone else’s podcast. You might be surprised at how much value you can give and receive through podcasting. This gives you more visibility when you are a guest on other shows, and you increase your social reach when you have others on because they will want to share your content.
• Social media shares: This is a simple way to create goodwill among bloggers and help raise each other’s profiles. Take the time to retweet, like, and share others’ work. When you are active about sharing someone else’s content, you can ask for help. The FinCon Facebook group features a regular thread where you can participate by sharing others’ content on Facebook, and by submitting one of your own links for sharing by others.
• Introductions: One of the side benefits of networking is that you get to know other bloggers and you can create introductions between others. You can be seen as someone who is helpful, as well as keep growing the community overall to attract a larger pool of advertisers and major companies to work with.

These are relatively simple and fun ways to get to know other bloggers and work together to help all your projects succeed. These benefits spread to everyone in the community. When we all work together, we see more opportunities as a whole as our niche expands its clout.

Next Level Cooperation: Better Blog Results Through Partnerships and Mastermind Groups

You can even take your blog to the next level by getting more involved in cooperative efforts. Partnerships with other bloggers, as well as participation in mastermind groups can help you see better blog results.

Partnerships allow you to work with others who might have strengths that align with your weaknesses. I like to partner with writers on blogs. They create the content and I provide the infrastructure and monetization. We split the profits, and we all win. This way, writers do what they do best, and I can help them by doing what I do best.

You can also use the partnership idea to complete larger projects. Join with others on a podcast or partner on ebooks, courses, or conferences. Sharing the workload with others, and concentrating on what you can do well provides you with the chance to reach new audiences and boost the quality of your work overall.

Mastermind groups can be a great way to challenge yourself and cooperate in a way that allows you to learn from the best. I belong to a mastermind group that helps me take my blogging business up a notch. Each member of the group has a different specialty and I learn something every time we meet. Not only that, but we help each other reach goals and act as accountability partners. I get better blog results every time I put into practice something I learn from being part of a mastermind group.

Don’t forget that, no matter what you are doing, you need to add value to the community. As long as you are helping others, serving as a mentor, and sharing your own knowledge, as well as learning from others, we can all grow as a community.