Just because you run a blog, doesn’t mean you should feel restricted to the World Wide Web to meet other bloggers and build relationships.There are a ton of opportunities for you to reach out both online and offline and network with other bloggers who share similar interests to you. In fact, it’s a good idea to do so because you can learn a lot from folks who have been in your shoes before and apply those learnings to your own blog!
Online: Guest Post Opportunities
Sure, you spend most of your time brainstorming and creating content around your own blog – but you can also take time to put your name out there and guest post on other blogs. Guest posting is a great opportunity for you to have your own blog promoted, shared with people you might not reach otherwise, and develop content that will be helpful for another blog’s audience.
But keep in mind, guest posting is a 2-way street – use it also as an opportunity for others to guest post on your site. It can be beneficial to add other voices to your own blog as a way to diversify your content and give others an opportunity to promote their blog. Many bloggers are protective of their blog content (as we should be!) so a better route than simply reaching out by email is to be engaged with the blogs where you’d like to guest post. Read, comment, tweet, share their content and they will be more apt to collaborate with you!
Pro Tip: Looking for a list of guest post opportunities to start off with? You can use an advanced search query in Google to find blogs that are actively looking for guest contributors:
- [keyword] + intitle:“write for us”
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[keyword] + intitle:“contribute to”
The key here isn’t quantity but quality. Take time to find opportunities that are a good fit for you and your blog’s brand, and strive to create thoughtful, engaging content.
Online: Twitter
I love using Twitter for outreach and relationship building. It’s so quick and easy to just shoot a tweet to someone you admire or to give kudos on a post you enjoyed, and it can mean a world of a difference.
Here’s an example of someone who reached out to us via Twitter.
Through Twitter, we met Jenn – who runs an awesome blog called Hello Brio, where she shares her experience in designing, illustration and branding. Now, Jenn has contributed to AmpliFound, regularly supports our blog, and we’re huge fans of hers!
Twitter chats are also great for meeting new people and gaining further insight and tips into blogging. If you’re not already familiar with Twitter chats, they are live events that are hosted on Twitter, and usually moderated by an organization or group of people. You can find these events through hashtags, and easily follow along by following the hashtag feed.
WebJess.com has a great resource listing a bunch of hashtags for bloggers to use, broken up by general blogger tweet chats to chats that are specific to blog niches that should be a great jumping off point!
Offline: Meetup Groups
If you haven’t already heard of Meetup, take a minute to sign up! Meetup is a community of events broken up by cities, where people start and participate in meetup groups around specific interests. For example, if you’re a fan of web development, art, or consider yourself a foodie – there are plenty of groups that you can join (for free!) to meet people and get together to talk about your interests.
We’ve actually participated in The Philadelphia Blogger Group before and it was great to meet people locally and learn about things you may not have known if you hadn’t stepped out from behind the figurative walls of your blog.
Offline: Conferences
If you really want to meet a ton of bloggers, conferences are the place to be! There are a few conferences that are specifically for bloggers, but don’t feel limited to just those.
Blogging is more than just writing words on a page, it involves ideation, strategy, design and promotion, among many other things. Each of those aspects independently have conferences around them. So, if you feel that you need a lot more help and advice on content strategy above anything else, then you can look to sign up for those conferences over general blogging conferences.
To help start you off, check out this list of blogging conferences around the country: The Ultimate List of Blogging Conferences. If you’re looking for conferences around digital marketing in general, here’s another resource: 15 Must-Attend Marketing Conferences in 2015.
Offline: Workshops
Through following local blogs, you’ll likely come across workshops or events people will run around anything from blog design to social media tips. That’s how we came across the last social media workshop we went to at The Hive, a coworking space in Philadelphia.The founder, Melissa Alam, holds monthly events on topics that are helpful to entrepreneurs, bloggers and small business owners.
What’s your favorite way to meet your fellow blogger? Do you hold your own events? Let us know in the comments below, you might see us at a meetup sometime! 😉
