What Collaboration Can Do For You - Part 1
When it comes to your business, a little collaboration can go a looong way!
This week, I will give you some ideas on how to collaborate with others on blogging, and next week I’ll give you some marketing ideas. Okay - on with the blogging ideas!
Blog Meme - According to Wikipedia, the word “meme” stems from a Greek word meaning “something imitated.”
That’s a great way to describe a blog meme, as it’s a group of bloggers who all write about the same topic or theme. To do this, partner with a few different bloggers and decide on a weekly meme (you may want to brainstorm several of them in advance, so that you have time to think about what you want to write ahead of time.)
For example, let’s say that you have two friends, Sally and Sarah. Each of you write a post about your favorite brand of yarn. Once your post is written, you give each other the link. Then, you each update your blog posts with some info at the end letting the readers know they can read other posts on this topic, and then provide the link to your friends’ blog posts.
Ideally, this will help you increase your traffic as your friends’ readers will click on your post’s link and read your post.
Guest Blogging - Find some blogs that your target market reads and ask the owner if you can guest blog. This is a great way to introduce yourself to the very people you would like to do business with. Your post should not be a sales pitch - it should contain good, quality information. At the end, you can include a short bio with links to your site.
Blog Conversations - Would you like to find a way to attract readers AND more comments on your blog? Have a blog conversation with one of your business friends! For example, you and your friend can decide on a topic. Your friend will write her post, and then you will write a response post on your own blog. You can leave the URL in the comments section of your friend’s blog so that her readers can see your point of view. And be sure to include the URL of your friend’s post in your post so that your readers can read her thoughts on the subject.
You will find that not only will this be a good way to introduce your blog to new people, it is also a great way to create a conversation amongst your readers. They will want to leave a comment, expressing their thoughts on the subject, too.
There are many ways to partner up with people to promote each other’s blogs — these are just a few ideas! You are only limited by your imagination! If you have other ideas, please leave them in the comments section!
*** I am having a Super Sweet 5 for $5 sale on some of my products this week. Some of these items include my Cut n’ Paste Press Releases, a 3 month listing in The Indie Biz Chicks Directory, and the How To Market A Craft Business Online - Without Going Broke workbook and audio set. Each of these items is only $5! But the sale will only last through Friday, February 12. For more information and to purchase these items, visit www.indiebizchicks.com/super-sweet.html
Crissy Herron is the founder of Indie Biz Chicks, a website that provides business, marketing, and publicity info to “women who’d rather work for themselves, than work for the man.” You can follow her on Twitter and Facebook, or learn more about her passion for entrepreneurship and the DIY movement.Tags: Blog, blogging, collaboration, Promotion
Thanks for all the great blog advice Crissy! My blog needs work for sure.
Thank you for the advice. Yes, mine is definitely in need of doing something.
Thank you Crissy. I really like the blog conversation idea.
Once again, another great article Crissy! I’m looking forward to reading the ‘marketing ideas’ next week! There’s definitely a lot of lonely blogs out there that need some TLC!
Thank you to all who commented! I’m glad it gave you some good ideas!
Crissy,
Thank you for the great ideas!
AndreaDesigns
Thank you for sharing this information.
Thanks for the great info. How do we go about finding these folks that might be interested in doing this. Any takers out there that would like to team up with me for the blogging idea.
Thank you, Crissy. I just started a ‘blog conversation’, promoting each others work and with positive results! More people followed my blog and they leave comments too. Great, thanks again!
Thanks Crissy for the info. I really like your writing style. I don’t blog, but I do read quite a few!
Just a FYI that your like to your special offer is broken. Even though the deal is now over (”But the sale will only last through Friday, February 12″), you might want to fix the link so that people can still go to your website.
You should still keep the paragraph to let people know that you do offer deals on occastion
I know the link is broken - the sale is over, so that page has been removed. My site is still there and people can still go to it by going to http://www.indiebizchicks.com
Have a ? that may/may not be related to this topic, and since I’ve not come across it (the answer…) anywhere else, will ask it here. Once I have selected “Favorite” Sellers, they are filed away on MY Zibbet, but does the viewing public have an opportunity to also see who MY faves are?
I don’t think so,Grandmother’s House, at least not that I can tell.