Competition is Dead

How to Have a Rockstar Blog by Collaborating, Sharing,and Working with Your Competitors

Who is this chick, anyway?

• Founder of former Gen Y blog, Grad Meets World.

• Business and lifestyle coach for creative and soulful entrepreneurs at AmandaAbella.com

• Teach people that work and fun don’t have to be mutually exclusive

Newbie Blogger Problems

• How am I supposed to find my unique voice in such a big blogospshere?

• Who’s going to listen to me? There are already so many people already talking about my niche!

• Twitter followers, Facebook fans, and email subscribers- oh my!

• How can I get more traffic and increase my Google ranking?

• How can I find my tribe?

• How can I make money if other people out there are offering similar things?

Source: http://jensirois.typepad.com

com·pe·ti·tionˌkämpəˈtiSHən/

noun

the activity or condition of competing."there is fierce competition between banks"

synonyms: rivalry, competitiveness, vying; conflict, feuding, fighting;

• We live in a society that is very driven by competition - this has a good side and a bad side.

• Bad side: We have feelings of inadequacy, lack, and like there are limited resources. Limited readers, limited clients, limited subscribers, etc. etc. etc. Lack mentality causes us to either not act at all or do scammy things.

• We get very hung up on technicalities - google rankings, traffic numbers, subscribers, Twitter followers - all important, all very useful, but not the point of your blog.

• We forget about the two most important aspects of building a successful blog and business: authenticity and relationships.

What is competition and how is it affecting our ability to create and grow our blogs?

If an extreme competition mindset did not work for the

global economy, what makes you think it’ll work for your blog?

What is collaboration and how can it help you and your blog?

• You don’t have to do everything by yourself. Let others help you build your blog!

• You can learn from others to help mold your own unique point of view - you begin to realize different people like different flavors.

• You scratch their back, they’ll scratch yours - referrals, traffic, mentors, Google rankings, followers, you name it!

• You make new friends that understand your vision and will support you every step of the way.

• Coming from a place of collaboration causes less stress than constantly worrying about formalities.

col·lab·o·ra·tionkəˌlabəˈrāSHən/

noun

the action of working with someone to produce or create something.

Finding Your Unique Voice

• What is your story? Why did you even start this venture? What’s the “why” behind all of this? How do you relate to this?

•Who the heck are you talking to, anyway? (Target Market.)

•What problem(s) are you solving for them? What’s the angst they are feeling? (Market Research)

•How are you solving their problems?

• What can you share with them? What value are you providing for your audience?

Here’s what to do if you’re not sure...

• Ask the subscribers you already have. How would they describe you and your brand? What draws them to you? Extra: You can also ask them, what’s NOT working for them. This will help you tailor your voice.

• Build relationships with other bloggers in your niche. Take notes on what you dig about them and what you don’t. Build your own version from there. (Remember, different people like different things. Some people like vanilla ice cream and some like chocolate, but at the end of the day it’s still ice cream.)

• Pick the brains of members of your target market. Let them help you! Go out for coffee, set up Skype calls, have lunch! Ask them what they are dealing with and how you can serve them. Notice patterns or similarities among them. (This is especially helpful to those who may just have a fuzzy idea of who their audience is.)

Sharing Other People’s Stuff• Real talk: People hate it when you’re just promoting your own

things.

• Find stuff that is relevant to your audience and share it with them.

• Link to other blogs within blog posts, email bloggers you referenced and thank them for their work, etc.

• Have a list of bloggers you can refer people to. Let’s face it, you don’t have the answers to everything!

• Affiliate Marketing: Only share products you have used yourself! This builds trust with your audience, you help out a fellow blogger (who will in turn help you when you need it), and you can make some cash.

• Also a great way to build relationships with bloggers who may be further along than you.

Great Example: Leaving Work Behind by Tom Ewer

How to Collaborate With Other Bloggers (And How it Can

Increase Your Numbers/Sales)• Exchanging guest posts: you share your posts, they share

theirs, you both get traffic from new sources. (Extra tip: Guest posting on bigger sites also helps with your Google ranking!)

• Teaming up to provide something for your audiences. This could be webinars, infoproducts, free offerings, teleclasses - you name it! They share their audience with you, you share your audience with them. Win Win.

• Affiliates - helping each other make sales.

• If you were doing these things all by yourself it would take you A LOT longer to get your blog off the ground.

Where do you find these other bloggers & how do you connect?

Where to find Where to find bloggers?bloggers?

Ways to Ways to connectconnect

• Facebook groups•Blogs you already follow• Twitter•Ning Groups

•Direct emails•Tweets

•Comments•Facebook Comments

Final Points

• Competition is dead: there is nothing new under the sun and there is PLENTY to go around.

• Your unique experience and constant feedback from readers will help you craft your voice.

• No need to reinvent the wheel or try to do everything by yourself.

• Bloggers are some of the most laid back people around - reach out to them, collaborate, and help each other out!

Website: www.amandaabella.com

Twitter: @amandaabella

Facebook: @coachamandaabella