Networking is not just something you would expect from a fearless business woman. As a blogger it is important to network from the very beginning when you start your blog. I have mentioned this several times in some previous articles with blogging tips including the one about how to increase collaborations. Networking skills come to some people naturally and some people have to work on it. I have met so many very shy bloggers that find it difficult to communicate especially when in face to face interaction. However, try to step out and make it happen. The easiest way is to start to network with bloggers and then move on to PR people and brand professionals.

Networking online – Use things like guest posts (especially as a new blogger), comment, engage with other bloggers. I find twitter really good place to get noticed and engage with other people.

Go to blogger meet ups – Lot of bloggers organise big meet ups where you can meet so many new people and grow your network. One thing to avoid is to speak only to that one blogger that organised the meet up. Firstly, everybody in the room will want to speak to them and secondly they may not even remember you as there could be other hundreds of other people. The best way is to look around and speak to other attendees.

Attend as many events as you can – As a blogger you must go to events. When you are new to blogging the more the better. You meet PR, you meet journalists and other bloggers. This is your opportunity to get yourself out there. When I was staring my blog I tried to go everywhere. I remember how many days a week I would be rushing somewhere over my lunch break just to spend there 20 minutes. After a while I realised I needed to slow down as when you work and blog and you try to go everywhere your body just refuses to function. However, try to do it as much as possible at least in the first few months of blogging.

Share the love – If you see an interesting content share it. It does not matter if the information comes from a start up blog or  an established one. It is all about giving not just receiving. I believe these things will always come back to you in a good way. You may get noticed by the person that wrote it or some other key people.

Be ready and stay confident – Easier said than done. Wherever you go and whatever you do you must know how to introduce yourself shortly and introduce your work. Fluffy words are not required. Know your stats, know your target audience, your strategy and know how to shortly introduce yourself and your blog. Your pitch and intro does not need to be long however the quality is what matters.

If you are asked to introduced yourself and your blog I wanted to show you an example of a pitch. Now bare in mind this will change all the time as we all have different blogs, we all have different strategy and we are all at different levels.

Example: I started my blog Affordable Fashion 8 months ago. I focus mainly on affordable fashion and beauty products and my readers are mainly girls in between 12-20 years old and 80 % of them are based in UK. The blog is mainly about detailed text rather than pictures and that will be my strategy going forward. In the last two months my traffic increased by 40 %.

Other pitch may include recent awards, collaborations etc. It really depends on the blogger individually. The key is to be specific and not fluffy.

I hope these tips will help you with networking and constantly growing your blog. I wish everybody lot of success whatever they are trying to achieve.

Networking neni neco co se da ocekavat pouze od ambiciozni businessmanky, ale je treba i v blogovani. Mozna se budete divit, ale je to jedna z aktivit, ktera vam v blogovani hodne pomuze. Zminovala jsem to jiz predchozich clancich jako napriklad tady, kde davam tipy na to jak zvysit pocet spolupraci na vasem blogu. Kazdy clovek je jiny a komunikace s novyma lidma mu jde lehce, ale potkavam spoustu blogeru, kteri pusobi strasne nesmele a zrovna networking jim dela obrovske problemy. Az me prekvapuje, ze dosahly takoveho uspechu. Kdyz si predstavim, kde by mohly byt, kdyby se dokazaly zbavit ostychu. Nejlepsi bude asi zacit se spojovat s ostatnimi blogery a az po nejake dobe se snazit vybudovat si sit kontaktu mezi PR representanty. 

Networking online – To je asi velmi jednoduchy zpusob jak zacit. Takze hura vrhnete se na to a komentujte, sledujte ostatni blogery a komunikujte. Tim nemyslim nesmyslne komentare typu I love it, ale dejte najevo, ze jste clanek opravdu cetli. Ja shledavam twitter jako nejlepsi platformu na komunikaci a take se spojit s ostatnimi profesionaly v oboru. 

Vydejte se na bloger meet ups – I u nas v CR poradaji blogeri vetsi akce, kde muzete potkat ostatni a seznamit se. Nejvetsi chybu, kterou muzete udelat je, ze kdyz porada jeden bloger takovou akci, tak se snazit mluvit jenom s nimi. Za prve vam to moc neda, protoze s nimi chce mluvit kazdy a za druhe si vas mezi tim mnozstvim lidi nemusi ani pamatovat. A proto se rozhlednete kolem a seznamujte se s navstevniky. Je totiz velika sance, ze i oni maji svuj blog. 

Chodte na akce firem pro blogery – Za nejaky cas se vam budou hrnout pozvanky na ruzne akce a moje rada je, ze nejlepsi je ze zacatku chodit vsude. Potkate tak hodne lidi a to nejen PR, ale i ostatni lidi jako novinare a blogery. Pred par lety jsem se i ja hnala na temer kazdou akci. Misto obeda jsem v rychlosti sedla na metro a utekla na akci jenom abych stravila nekde treba 15 minut  a potkala nove lidi z oboru. Priznavam se, ze po case to proste neslo. Telo dokaze zvladat urcite maximum a tohle silenstvi jsem musela po case omezit. 

Sdilejte – Pokud se vam libi obsah clanku, fotografie ci zkratka vas neco zaujme urcite tyhle veci sdilejte. Ja jsem velky zastance toho, ze v zivote se ma davat a nejenom prijimat. Muze si vas vsimnout autor ci jini lide a tyhle positivni kroky, ktere ucinite se vzdy vrati jenom v dobrem. 

Budte vzdy pripraveni – Tohle je asi jeden z nejtezsich bodu a na nem i ja stale pracuju. Castecne protoze blog se stale vyviji a udava novy smer (jako napriklad ted v tehotenstvi se objevuji nova temata), ale take, ze rostete jako osobnost. Ale musite byt vzdy pripraveni a byt schopni se predstavit a predstavit i vas blog. Nesmyslne zvatlani musi jit stranou. Musite znat vasi cilovou skupinu, strategii, uspechy, navstevnost apod. Nikdy nevite, kdy tyhle informace budete muset pouzit. Vas pitch nemusi byt dlouhy, ale musi obsahovat kvalitni informace, ktere zaujmou. 

Kdyz se vas nekdo zepta at mu reknete v rychlosti vice o vasem blogu tak kratky pitch muze vypadat napriklad takhle. 

Muj blog Affordable Fashion pisu 8 mesicu. Je zamereny zejmena na cenove dostupnou modu a kosmetiku a ctenari jsou zejmena mlade divky ve veku 12-20 let z nichz 80 % je z Ceske Republiky. Nejdulezitejsi je pro me kvalita clanku a recenzi a proto se na blogu objevuje vice textu nez fotografii a chtela bych si to takto udrzet i v budoucnu. Za posledni dva mesice se mi navstevnost zvysila o 40 %. 

Opravdu zalezi na vas co si do intra zahrnete, protoze kazdy blog se lisi a kazdy meri uspech jinak. Nekdo muze mluvit o poslednich spolupraci a jiny o tom, ze behem 2 mesicu jim narostl pocet fanousku na facebooku. Je to velmi individualni a proto tento priklad berte s rezervou. 

 Doufam, ze mi moje zakladni tipy pomuzou a preji vsem hodne uspechu. 

Love Glamazon xoxo