by Katy Kauffman @KatyKauffman28

Blogging becomes a relay race when you join a writer’s group of like-minded writers. Instead of racing alone to share the next blog post in time, you have teammates—other bloggers who can become your guest writers. Then you don’t have to always blog alone—you have a team to work with.

This month, let’s talk about how to tap into the power of networking with other bloggers. So far in this series, we have tackled:

1. Why we should start a blog, what we should write about, and how often – See Part 1
2. What blogging platform we should use, what we should include in our sidebars, and how long posts should be – See Part 2
3. An expandable outline for Bible-based blog posts – See Part 3

Not Exactly a Lone Sport

Writing can be isolating, but when we network with other bloggers, we find a team to help us. 

My writer buddy and I sat in a Blue Ridge class on writing Bible studies. Toward the end of class time, she elbowed me and said, “Do you think they’d want a Facebook group to keep in touch?” I asked the class, and thirty business cards found their way to me. Including the teacher’s. 

That started a writer’s group I cherish—a Facebook group for Bible-based writers. Every week, group members share a link to their current blog posts for comments, and I love seeing what they say about each other’s posts. 

When you have a group to support you, writing and blogging feel less lonely. We remember others are writing for God too, and we can be encouraged by what they write. We can also ask them to blog for us and offer to guest post for them. We can grow our audience as we seek to encourage others’ circles of readers, and they can benefit from ministering to ours. 

4 Ways to Network with Other Bloggers

So how can we make connections that bless our writing ministry and others’?

1. Build guest posts into your blogging schedule, and offer to give posts too. 

Solidarity—bloggers understand how much time it takes to blog regularly. I’ve found that other bloggers enjoy writing guest posts and are willing to take them. Ask your writer’s group if anyone would be interested in guest posting for your blog or even in swapping posts. 

 If you can’t find someone in your genre or you’re not in a writer’s group, search online for like-minded bloggers who minister to your target audience, and see if they have submission guidelines on their sites. If they don’t, contact them and include a link to a sample post you’ve written so they can have a taste of your style and content.  

2. Comment on others’ blog posts.

Knowing that someone is reading our posts and taking the time to comment, helps us to want to blog more. We can share that tiny gift with another blogger. 

The comment can be mutually beneficial. Some blogs give us the chance to share a link to our website when we leave a comment. We may see a field labeled “Website,” where we can leave our link. Our name then becomes a hyperlink for our blog. Others can come along and click that link to visit our site.  

Just beware—whatever you share in a comment can be traced back to you. Wise faculty members have shared that googling our own names is a good idea (and needed). We can see how our platform-building is going. When I’ve done that, I’ve found comments I left years ago on a friend’s blog. So just be mindful of what you put in those comments. It may stay there forever. 

3. Share others’ posts.

I smile when I see writer friends share other writer friends’ posts on Twitter and Facebook. I silently think, I know that blogger! And I’m grateful that a friend cared enough to love on another friend. 

When we share posts by those who write about similar topics for the same target audience, we become a go-to source of encouragement. Our social media followers will know they can count on us to share posts that are relevant to them. So we can support both our readers and fellow writers.  

4. Link to other’s posts, and give your link. 

I have a dear writer friend who may link to another writer’s post at the end of her own post. Doing this allows her readers to see more content on one of her points or about her main idea. So it helps readers and the writer she links to. 

We can also give our links in new ways. Have you ever heard of Five Minute Friday? Every Friday, Kate Motaung shares a writing prompt. Participating writers take just five minutes to write on the topic without editing, post it to their blog, and then share the link on her “link up” page like this one on spring. Other groups have such a page too.  

Which of these networking tips would you enjoy practicing? Have you seen one of them work well? Share in the comments below! 

We have two more posts in this series—how to craft the best blog titles 

Katy Kauffman is an award-winning author, an editor of Refresh Bible Study Magazine, and a co-founder of Lighthouse Bible Studies. She loves connecting with writers and working alongside them in compilations, such as Feed Your Soul with the Word of God, Collection 1 which is a 2020 Selah Awards finalist. She recently started The Lighthouse Connection, a monthly writers’ newsletter including writing tips, inspiration to write, and news of submission opportunities.

In addition to online magazines, Katy’s writing can be found at CBN.com, thoughts-about-God.com, and three blogs on writing. She loves to spend time with family and friends, take acrylic painting classes online, and do yard work in the morning sun. Connect with her at her blog, Winning the Victory, and on Facebook and Twitter.