A great way to spread the word about your blog is to collaborate with other bloggers.
If you follow any DIY blogs, you may have seen this creative collaborative giveaway called Name That DIY Blogger Contest. The gist of it is, 29 DIY bloggers shared pictures from their younger years and the first person who matched the blogger to the photo won a $300 gift card to Lowe's. The contest is closed now, but I wanted to point out why this was a good idea.
Here's what I love:
- It's fun. Who doesn't love a fun contest on a winter Friday, particularly one that gets you laughing and reminiscing? Some of those pictures take me back…I had hair just like letter E! Gotta love those bangs, lol. One of my most popular Facebook posts ever was when I posted something nostalgic. (I'd love it if you followed me while you're there–just hover over my name and click Like.)
- It shows a personal side of bloggers we love. Blogging is about relationships and there's nothing like being real to build relationships! Some of my most commented-on posts are the ones in which I talk about my personal stuff like I did here and here.
- It'll get people clicking through blogs trying to match blogs to faces. It's likely there will be many who will visit blogs they don't already know. Gotta love new visitors. And extra traffic.
- Anyone can participate. It doesn't require a whole lot of knowledge, just the patience to do a little hunting.
- Not too many hoops. I'm not a fan of those contests that make you leave comments on every social media platform while cooking filet mignon for dinner and doing a headstand. This one is easy and straightforward. First one to match them correctly using a simple form wins.
- There's power in numbers. Any of the bloggers could have posted a picture of their younger self and run the contest alone and seen some good participation I'm sure. But pool your resources with others and the effect is exponential!
- Everyone gets multiple backlinks. A backlink is when someone else links to your site. In Google's eyes, it's as though that site cast a vote for your site. Backlinks are good for SEO. And the more popular the site is that linked to you, the better. Because all the bloggers in the contest posted about it and listed all the other bloggers too, each blogger got a sweet backlink from 28 other bloggers just like that.
- Builds brand relationships. Lowe's is just plain smart to participate in something like this. I'm assuming they provided the $300 gift card and it's a small price to pay to get their name in front of all the thousands and thousands of readers these bloggers represent. As for the bloggers, create a great campaign for a large brand and you're more likely to be called on in the future. It's a win-win.
- There's a nice prize. $300 at Lowe's ain't nothin' to sneeze at.
One tiny thing I would have tweaked:
- Switch up the copy. When it comes to search engines, there is this thing called "duplicate content." Duplicate content is "substantive blocks of content within or across domains that either completely match other content or are appreciably similar." Basically, it's possible to be dinged by the search engines if you have the same content as another site. Now, in this instance the duplicate content was not malicious so I wouldn't say there's much to worry about. However, if I was one of the bloggers, I would have just switched up my copy just a bit, not only for SEO purposes, but just to add my own voice.
Overall, great idea! Those DIY'ers are a creative bunch. You should check the whole list out. I read their blogs in the hopes their creativity will be passed to me via cybermosis. I made that up. That is, cyberspace + osmosis = cybermosis.
Takeaways:
- Build relationships with others. So many people are "hermit bloggers" (I coined the term when I was one). Seriously, if you're not interested in building relationships, it's going to be super hard to be successful.
- Resist the urge to see things as a competition. Believe me, there's enough traffic to go around, but you're only going to see that traffic if people know your blog exists. The best way to let people know you exist is to build friendly relationships with others in your niche. But do try to stand out.
- Start small. You might not have a group of 28 other bloggers around you, but you can start a mastermind group pretty easily.
- Be creative. The whole thing came about after "Mandi of Vintage Revivals bared her soul about blog puberty." You just never know when a good idea will pop up. Don't just duplicate what you see others do, think outside the box. Try new things. Blogging is forgiving. What can you come up with?
Read all my marketing & traffic tips.
What a great post. I'm still chuckling over your closet blogger term. I guess I'm just now 'coming out of the closet' since I found myself too busy to bother with relationships with other bloggers and am just now seeing the benefit both personally and blogging building-wise.
I can completely relate. Plus, I'm an introvert too, but building relationships has been pivotal for me.
Introvert! And 'hermit blogger'! Wow, those words were unsettling as I felt like you were actually talking to me.
Yeah, I know the moment I wandered a few years ago around the warrior forum that collaboration and relationships with other bloggers are needed in order to have any amount of success in my blogging. I sometimes reasoned that I really don't need that inasmuch as mine is just a personal blog, a personal outlet. Yet, I know that I'd definitely love to have it read by others and not just by me and my close friends.
Again, cool post. Like it.
Amy, Thanks for posting about our little fun contest that we held today. I wanted to let you know that it started as a fun little exchange we had sharing our childhood awkward photos and trying to one up each other. We had so much fun laughing that we wanted to spread the fun to our readers.
I do need to point out that it wasn't a Lowe's sponsored gift card. That was my mistake for not including that at the end of the post. But, it only seemed fitting to use a Lowe's card since many of us in the contest are Lowe's Creative Ideas bloggers
.
And thanks for the idea to switch up the copy next time. Have a great weekend Amy!
Wow Amy thanks so much for the shout out on what we are doing. It has been fun and I think people had fun checking out our blogs. It is always fun to poke fun of yourselves.
I have to say, I picked yours first–girl, you have not aged. Be careful, they're gonna come after your DNA.
But I have to say, every time I look at Melissa's I chuckle. I love it. What a great idea you all had.
I know I never change. I was the easiest to pick out. Besides terrible hair my face looks the same.
Wait, what's wrong with the hair in picture E? I STILL have hair and bangs like that! JK Well, when it's humid I do. Heehee I don't know about the other gals, but that was the funnest giveaway I've ever hosted. Good times!
LOL! I spent A LOT of time with my curling iron and my Aqua Net. The bigger the bangs, the better was my motto. Hilarious.
Yes, I thought it was an excellent idea. So much fun.
Excellent idea!
Recently I wrote a post about the importance of bloggers cooperating and how all would benefit from that. It's fun to do and lets the participants get to know each other and venture out – beyond the safety of their own blogs.
I could not help but noticing there are only female bloggers listed here?
Hi Jan!
I didn't know that there are any DIY bloggers that are men. I thought male DIY bloggers were crafting next to the unicorns. Hehe.
We are! Thanks for reminding me…
True, it just happens to be a niche that is female-heavy. Believe me, my intention was not to leave out all the men in the house, but simply to provide an example of some creative thinking. I'll keep my eye out for creative ideas from the guys too!
I've only recently come out of my 'hermit blogging' phase and you are definitely right.
My teenage hairdo was more like C's it required half a can of hairspray and a lot of back combing! I love this idea, I have been mostly a hermit blogger my first year. I am attending the BEECH conference soon though and hope to change my hermit ways there.
Good for you. I think you'll have a great time at Beech!
Hi, Amy! Thanks for sharing our contest. WE had so many laughs over these unfortunate pics that we had to share with the world. What a blast for sure!
I loved 'em. And I loved how you worked it into a giveaway. You all are smart.
Awesome article, Amy! You always give such great tips on blogging. I look forward to getting them in my in-box!
Thanks, Cheryl! So glad you find them worthwhile.
We had a lot of laughs…couldn't help but share with our friends and readers! Thanks for using our fun contest as an example, Amy (so sweet)! Great advice! I know most of us did change up our wording and we did all pitch in a little to purchase a prize to give a little more incentive for playing along. And I completely agree with you. Collaborations are not only beneficial, they're inspiring. I really prefer to embrace bloggers in my niche as a group of friends rather than possess a competitive spirit. Makes doing what I love more enjoyable.
Yes, I agree. I've always admired all of you DIY'ers. You clearly have an excellent time together and really band together. You all are so creative you come up with some great stuff. I know you all care a lot about your blogs which is awesome, but it's obvious to me that your friendships mean so much more and that's refreshing in the blogging world!
Great post & very timely for me. I've been brainstorming a big project such as this.
Blessings,
The-How-to-Guru
Amy,
I very much enjoyed your article, especially the tips at the end. I certainly will have to reach out to some people and get a mastermind going. I also picked up on sharing my story. This is where I'm going. That and Florida. Thanks again, Have a great day
You're welcome. Glad to hear it was helpful, Leonard.
Saw this contest and thought it was great, but love seeing all the ways it matters. I didn't initially see it as an idea to use in my own way. Love that insight!
I like the uniqueness & personal aspect of this idea, but as a reader I didn't participate in this because it did seem like a lot of hoops having to match 29 faces. Visiting so many blogs & playing detective on photos does take a lot of time. That means doing a quick scan for the faces and moving on to the next instead of spending time actually exploring the blogs (isn't that the desired effect?). Maybe with a smaller number is could be a bigger win for the sponsoring blogs.
Dear Amy,
Thank you so much for the very helpful points. I have recently started blogging at http://listenlearnactandreflect.blogspot.com, and I definitely feel thus far that I am "hermit blogging." Do you have any suggestions for finding blogging communities? My blog doesn't fit easily in any category, except perhaps informal learning, and I've had a hard time finding communities to join. Do you have any advice?
Phoebe
This post might help, Phoebe.
Hey Amy,
I really enjoyed reading this great case study. Is this contest still going on? And how did you all decide and work out the giveaway?
This looks like a great way to really connect on a lot of different levels! If you ever have anything else like this look me up I would love to be a part of some collaborating with other bloggers.
Fantastic ides!
Eric
P.S. Did you accomplish all your goals that you set out to do with this?
Hi Eric,
No, the contest is over and I wasn't actually one of the bloggers who participated so I can't say a whole lot about the details. (You can look through the comments here though, because several participants did chime in.)
Yes, I loved their idea too!
Hey Amy,
I love this idea! Your blog website is so helpful to us newcomers!!!
We took this idea and ran with it recently. We got 25 contributors/bloggers together and created a facebook page to showcase our writing. We post at regular intervals (as the page) and we also pooled our "fans". It's been a really fun way to get more readers, meet new people and share content with audiences we could never reach otherwise. It's an experiment and it's working!
http://www.facebook.com/SaltandLightBloggers
Awesome, Debi!!