The Power of Networking

I use to have a VERY limited mindset.

Before starting my blog, I would often ask myself:

“Why would I start a blog if there’s literally millions of blogs on the internet?”

“How would anyone find me?”

“How would my writing be different and offer people “value” they can’t get elsewhere?”

“Is it even worth it to spend time doing this?”

I made a habit of constantly doubting myself.

Where did it lead me?

Nowhere.

I decided to stop looking for reasons why it wouldn’t work and take action instead.

…and take action I did.

I started writing about things I knew.

Experiences I’ve had, things about life I’ve learned, and advice that would help others.

In only my first month, people were leaving me comments.

“Not bad for a beginner”, I said to myself.

I kept writing and the comments kept coming in.

However, I reached a point where I wasn’t growing anymore.

My comments and website traffic plateaued.

I wanted to grow more.

I wanted to reach more people so they too could benefit from my articles.

The only solution to my problem was to obviously get more traffic:

My options:

1) Pay someone on Fiverr to send traffic to my site.

2) Keep writing article after article and hope my traffic increased on its own.

3) Begin networking with other bloggers.

 

I didn’t feel that paying someone on Fiverr for traffic was the right way to go about it.

This method seemed like it would do more harm than good.

I would have had no idea where my traffic was coming from.

I wanted to reach my “target market”, not random people from who knows where.

My second option of writing article after article didn’t seem optimal.

I mean, it could have worked but there was no guarantee.

I was writing article after article anyways, but didn’t want it to be my only hope.

So my last and final option was to get referrals.

In other words, get traffic from other bloggers with similar content.

Have them tell their audience about me.

At first I thought:

“Wait, this probably won’t work because other bloggers will fear that I will steal their readers if they share my content with them.”

There it was again…

My limited mindset.

The opposite is actually true.

When you network with someone in your field, you actually do them a favor.

If you have value to offer they share it, their audience will actually be grateful.

The mindset is this:

“Dear readers, I found a great blog similar to mine that I feel you would benefit from as well, check it out!”

Does this mean your audience will never come back to your blog?

No, of course not.

They already like your blog and will return no matter what blogs they visit regularly.

Both bloggers benefit from this in a great way.

Not only will you get traffic from each other but you’ll also provide value to readers.

The more value you provide your readers, the more likely they’ll be to return.

This also works well because everyone responds to different styles of writing.

Your personality relates well with different people.

Maybe I have 20 readers who will relate better to your content and maybe you have 15 readers who will relate better to mine.

By sharing each other’s blog with all of our readers, we help everyone.

“But if my readers relate better to someone else, won’t they only visit that website instead?”

No.

Let me ask you something…

If you like Italian food but love Sushi, does this mean you’ll pick Sushi over Italian food every time?

Of course not.

No matter where you send your readers, they’ll always come back to you for more.

If you recommended them a great blog to visit that they love and enjoy…

Don’t you think they’ll stick around to see what else you’ll offer them?

The answer is obvious.

Networking is vital, especially if you’re a blogger.

Here are two guys who I network with writing great blogs: Andrew and Ashvin.

I emailed both of these men and they were more than happy to network.

Get out there and contact people that are in the same business as you.

They’ve probably been waiting for your email a LONG time.

-Alex