Starting a food blog

Starting a Blog 03: Connect With Other Bloggers

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When I decide to publish Bread & With It on the internet I didn’t know any “bloggers”. It was really overwhelming because even though I felt like I had a good understanding of what I wanted to do and a general idea of how to get it done, I felt so alone in the process.

Blogging is a whole new world of networking and I really felt like a small duck in a big pond.

1. Reach Out

I had followed a few blogs and really wanted to talk to them but I was honestly feeling like the nerd wanting to make friends with the popular kids. I really didn’t want to come off sounding like “hey my name is Laurel and I want to easily know all your tricks that you learned from hard work”. Uggg… but, in a way it’s true. I wanted to know what to do and get advice. So what did I do? I emailed one…and I’m so glad I did. It was one of them who actually aided in helping me make the decision to take the plunge. Bread & With It wouldn’t be here today if Beverly over at “The Make Your Own Zone” didn’t tell me to just dive in. She was so friendly right from the beginning giving me heaping amounts of information with long emails. I can’t put into words how grateful I am to her.  Blogging Inspiration After talking to her I found out that she actually created a second blog where she shares a large variety of information to “bloggers” like me! This site has a wonderful list of resources from online tools: your sites Pinterest count to tips about boosting traffic. I have referenced her site several times in the making of Bread & With It.

The Make Your Own Zone
 
I check in with Beverly from time to time to let her know how things are going and ask her any questions I might have. 

2. Facebook Groups

Beverly connected me with a blogging ladies club on Facebook so that I can get to know other lady bloggers. Since joining the group I have been able to give other people my advice on their questions and ask more questions without pestering Beverly too much 😀
 
She has been a saint…
 
Since connecting with this group on Facebook it got me thinking and I started searching for other groups. I found a StumbleUpon group where other bloggers “stumble” each other’s posts (that could come in handy) and a few Food Blog Groups that I signed up for. 

3. Get Noticed

After several of my crafts were accepted by CraftGawker and Tangled Happy had posted up my Crochet Headband tutorial, I received an email from a Ellen telling me about her new site:

This was great because I’m at the stage where I am submitting like crazy to get more views on my site and she can accommodate. Sounds like a great relationship to me 😀 I responded to her (thanking her of course) but then started talking to her some more about social media and what not. She ended up being another super amazing blogging lady who shared SO MUCH information with me. Come to find out, she has a primary craft blog The Chilly Dog and Create Happy Crafts is her new baby. She had quite a bit of information to share with me and she was more than happy to answer my questions. She even published my articles and shared me via Facebook and Twitter.

Lesson Learned, don’t be nervous! Jump out there and get connected. These other bloggers have been there, done it and have lots of information for you. If you are respectful to them, they will be respectful back! Until next time, Happy Blogging!

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4 Comments

  1. Hi Laurel. I’m Heidi. This is not my first comment but I’ve peeked around and I wanted to tell you that I’m very proud of all you’ve accomplished in such a short time with your young blog. I’ve been blogging since forever and well.. seasons of life have seen its ups and downs with my posting and I’m on a come-back right now. Its been hard to do a lot of things in the last five years. I’ve made a paper blogging planner and I’m going to print up some daily blogging tasks to do with posts.. and get back to what I love so much. The blogz. I have several that serve many purposes even one for family history. All of my blogz home base at http://www.withaz.net but mainly I’ve been posting at http://www.simplycarolinadreamz.com too. My frugal blog is going to get some dust wiped off of it, in the next week or two now that I have so much in my brain I want to do with it and the others. Welcome to blogland, ~Heidi (Summerville, South Carolina)

    1. Author

      Hi Heidi! Thanks for leaving me a comment! I’m glad you are getting back to what you love! I have had a few directions I was thinking of taking with Bread & With It for various reasons… but I keep reminding myself to only focus on what I love because I will start to not enjoy the journey anymore. Thank you so much for taking the time to comment. I look forward to following your blog as well!

  2. Great advice! Blogging is different than other businesses where people who create a similar product are considered “the competition.” Instead, bloggers form a community. They care deeply about what they do and are usually happy to reach out, encourage, support and promote each other.

    I’m proud to be part of such an amazing global community! Happy Blogging!

    1. Author

      I agree, starting up a blog was intimidating at first but like you said.. the community is very encouraging 😀 Thank you for showing that to me Ellen!

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