Playa Guanico, Panama
Blogging becomes easier if you network generously.
Blogging becomes more difficult if you try to do it on your own.
What seems like the better choice?
Bloggers seem resistant to the idea of linking to fellow bloggers. Competitive-minded fears infect their minds. Refusing to link to fellow bloggers both increases the poisonous fear of competition and robs you of opportunities to accelerate your blogging success exponentially.
I wanted to note a few reasons why you should link to fellow bloggers.
First, I want to discuss a few ideas:
- link to valued resources in your niche
- ask for nothing in return
- expect nothing in return
- link to skilled bloggers persistently to forge bonds
Offer backlinks only to valued resources. Link out to improve your blogging credibility. Cut the strings of expectation. Let friendships form organically. Blogger outreach works best in a relaxed, chill, detached setting.
How Linking to Fellow Bloggers Benefits You
I linked to successful blogger Sue-Ann Bubacz a while back because I love her content and wanted to add a credible resource to my blog for you, our community.
Sue-Ann appreciated the link, we began to forge a bond and she linked to my blog a few times. Her readers became aware of me and my blog. As we linked to each other our friendship grew. In addition to our cross-promotional backlinks offer, we guest posted on each other’s blogs, further increasing our presence.
Now imagine 5, 10 or 20 blogging buddies promoting you to their readerships. Think about how much exposure you can gain solely by being:
- genuine
- generous
- patient
- persistent
in linking to skilled bloggers and observing your friendships solidify.
Blogging is not as hard as bloggers claim but most try to blog solo; of course blogging feels hard if you try to do it by yourself. Linking to valued resources, making blogging buddies and allowing organic cross-promotion to manifest helps you and your blogging buddies grow your presence exponentially over the long haul.
Peep these sugary sweet benefits of promoting fellow bloggers on your blog.
Saves Time
Promoting fellow bloggers saves your time.
Note a blogger on your blog. Allow friendships to form. Blogging buddies promote you.
Versus blogging for 18 hour days I chose to build my blogging buddy network. My blogging buddy network saves my time as my friends promote me and endorse me while I do other blogging stuff or engage in offline activities.
How it works: versus trying to squeeze blogging success out of my efforts alone, working long, hard days, I link to and befriend fellow bloggers who lessen my workload and save my time. I may work a 6 hour day because the remaining 18 hours seem filled with blogging buddies who promote my blog, saving my time. Why would I spend 18 hours daily trying to do it all solo when I can spend 6 hours building a blogging buddy network who works 24 hours daily doing what I could never do by myself?
Skilled blogger Lisa Sicard:
- mentions me on her blog
- invites me to guest post on her 2nd blog
- promotes me on Twitter
- promotes me on Facebook
She saves me time by promoting me to her audience; I would spend time ineffectively if I cold pitched her tribe via email. 1 by 1. She has their trust. She saves me time by promoting my blog to her trusted, loyal following.
Of course, linking to Lisa via my blog fostered our strong friendship.
Boosts Traffic
Linking to bloggers:
- adds credibility to your blog; posts perceived to be credible gain exposure, leading to increased traffic
- builds strategic friendships leading to greater traffic by cross promotion
Anil Agarwal interviewed me:
Ryan Biddulph Interview on Building a Better Blog by Following Your Fun
I experienced a traffic increase through the interview. Linking to Anil and his authority blog from both Blogging From Paradise and my guest posts on Blogging Tips forged a bond between us. Our bond led to a mutually beneficial friendship where we cross-promoted each other, increasing our blog traffic.
Like every blogger I note above and below, Anil has always been:
- genuine
- authentic
- kind
- generous
in helping me through his blog comments, retweets and mentions. I freely link to him because he publishes valuable content and bonded with me through his generosity. As we cross-promote each other we increase each other’s blog traffic.
The secret is to help people freely without expecting anything in return, per any successful blogger outreach campaign. Promote fellow bloggers by linking to them via your blog. Email them the blog post to alert them. Ask for nothing in return. Allow bonds to form organically. Resonant bloggers you promoted simply promote you in return, increasing your blog traffic.
Boosts Profits
I promoted skilled blogger Mudassir Ahmed a few times here on Blogging From Paradise.
We bonded. He even bought an eBook of mine.
Bloggers you link to directly and indirectly increase your blogging profits by:
- buying your products
- hiring you
- promoting you to their following who buys your products and hires you
- endorsing you
My huge blogging error over the years was trying to make money blogging solely by promoting myself, my products and my services. I struggled horribly because 100 is better than 1 in terms of earning blogging income. Observe the efforts of 100 human beings promoting your:
- blog
- products
- services
versus 1 person – you – promoting your blog, products and services.
100 people – through your blogging buddy network and their tribes – expanding your reach works better than you trying to expand your reach solo.
Tim Ferriss links to 20, 30, 40 or more resources through every blog post he publishes. No doubt, some of these folks he links to:
- promote him
- endorse him
- buy his stuff
Each promotion, endorsement and purchase boosts his profits. Tim’s name, credibility and brand help increase his blogging income but he would be the first to tell you that he can only do so much as 1 person, he being the author of the 4 Hour Work Week. He links to valued resources for his audience to enjoy helpful content but indirectly increases his blogging profits in the process.
Link to fellow bloggers. Build bonds. Fellow bloggers boost your profits directly and indirectly by promoting you, endorsing you, by buying your products and by hiring you.
Increases Your Energy
Promoting fellow bloggers boosts your energy.
Noting bloggers on your blog feels good because doing so is an act of love, a kind gesture. Humans feel good acting from love and kindness.
Admittedly, I moved away from promoting fellow bloggers freely on my blog for a few reasons. I needed to spend a stretch finding my energetic footing by changing my strategy for a bit. I also triggered fears necessary to feel in order to grow as a person, blogger and entrepreneur.
But this period seems largely over….for now. Promoting fellow bloggers freely feels good again.
Mentioning a blogger potentially:
- increases their traffic
- boosts their income
- lends greater credibility to their blog
But most importantly, being generous feels good. Feeling good is a cornerstone for being persistent. Most bloggers quit because most feel bad for a sustained period of time. I felt bad this morning. I slept for roughly 3 hours. The humidity in Panama has reached oppressive levels. We have no air conditioning. The dogs barked wildly at a neighbor each has seen over 100 times. I walked the dogs at 5 AM and 6 AM already; it is only 7:20 AM as I write these words.
I instantly felt better mentioning a few bloggers through this post. In a moment, my fears fueling my problems dissolved into the love of helping people, bonding deeply with bloggers and putting the spotlight on them. Kind bloggers like Donna Merrill energized themselves for years partially by promoting fellow bloggers freely via her:
- blog
- Twitter stream
- Facebook stream
She persistently shines the spotlight on other bloggers to build relationships. Building relationships by being kind no doubt energizes her in part for her sustained blogging journey.
Helping people feels good. Feeling good fosters persistence. I easily could have went back to bed early this morning because I felt like crap. Writing this post lifted my spirits a tiny bit but mentioning blogging buddies raised my energy even more. I persisted to write this post solely because I felt good mentioning fellow bloggers. But if I continued to feel bad I would have not persisted to blog, going back to bed, instead.
Help fellow bloggers not only because both parties benefit but because doing so feels good and boosts your energy. Focus on your emotional state now. Do you feel bad by being overwhelmed, frustrated and upset about your blogging campaign? Change your approach. Promote fellow bloggers through your blog. Feel good by being generous. Raise your energy. Feel good. Persist.
Leverages Your Presence
Promoting fellow bloggers leverages your presence online.
Help people. Let friendships form organically. Cut the strings of expectation. Observe how your blogging buddies promote you around the clock.
Using your blog as a co-promotional medium gives you leveraging abilities far beyond blogging lone wolves. Imagine solo bloggers who rely solely on their energy, effort and focus to get ahead. Solo bloggers only go so far. Picture bloggers who promote fellow bloggers on their blog. As bonds form organically, blogging buddies promote you around the clock.
So you pass out for 8 hours from midnight to 8 AM. On waking you note 10 blogging buddies retweeted your blog posts. Traffic and profits flowed to you while you slept. Kind bloggers like Moss Clement retweeted multiple blog posts of yours to his following. His Twitter followers see your blog posts. His Twitter followers click your link, read your posts and share a few posts. All the while, you slept deeply, soundly and peacefully.
This is a form of leveraging. Perhaps you came across pros like Neil Patel who explain how to make money while you sleep. Neil and other blogging leaders master various forms of leveraging to be in many places with a minimal number of acts. David Boozer promotes my:
- blog posts
- eBooks
tirelessly. His followers and friends find me, read my blog and further leverage my presence. Alonzo Pichardo found me through David. We chatted through his podcast for months. He also promoted me freely, bought my audio books and invited me to guest post on his blog. I happily guest posted for him, promoted him and spread his word. Ditto for David. I happily guest post for him to give him passive content.
Moss, David and Alonzo boast large, loyal audiences who find my blog each time they generously share my platform. All of these pros leverage my presence because while I sleep, laze on the beach or travel, people find my blog through their streams and blogs.
Promoting each of these pros through my blog seemed to be the chief way to influence our bonds to strengthen and to inspire them to promote me. I link to each seasoned veteran here and there to bond and to add valuable resources to my content. Each pro links to me. We help each other leverage through the principle of being generous.
Do not complicate blogging. Be generous, patient and persistent. Be genuine. Make blogging buddies authentically to allow the principle of leveraging to work for you.
Conclusion
I hope these reasons inspire you to promote fellow bloggers.
Let’s help each other succeed.
