How To Grow Your Blog Through Collaboration: 3 Powerful Strategies [Podcast Ep. 11]

Wondering how to grow your blog, particularly your website traffic, community, and income?

Then I recommend focusing on collaboration, something I don’t see enough travel bloggers doing.

The truth:

You don’t need to do everything on your own when it comes to building a blogging business. Instead, you can work with other bloggers and companies to benefit from each other’s strengths.

And to help, I’m sharing three powerful strategies for creating and nurturing your professional relationships so you can grow your website faster and easier.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Three creative collaboration strategies that can lead to blog growth
• Real-life examples of how you can work with bloggers and brands to increase your website’s traffic, email subscribers and money earned
• How to change your mindset to make space for these important business relationships
• Ways to foster relationships to land more brand partnerships
• How to choose the right people to collaborate with
• How to grow your blog quickly by partnering with others
• And more!

Psst, don’t forget to pin this episode for later!

How To Grow Your Blog Through Collaboration – Podcast Episode Audio

Listen to the full episode using this embedded player…

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To help you really jumpstart your blogging success, I’ve added 45+ blogging resources like printables, video tutorials and workbooks into a FREE resource library for travel bloggers.

The resources in this free library — which you can access here — can really help you start growing your blog traffic, community, and income!

Brand Blogger Collaboration Templates

Before we dive into the podcast episode transcript, I also want to share a powerful customizable product I’ve created:

Brand Blogger Collaboration Templates.

This bundle includes two powerful PDF templates that can help you dramatically increase your partnership earnings. These include:

• An editable Rate Card Template (with a video tutorial on how to use it to land paid campaigns!)
• An editable Custom Proposal Template (again, with a video tutorial on how to use it to land paid campaigns!)

If you’re sharing your rates in your pitch email or in your media kit, you’re leaving money on the table.

The above templates allow you to earn more than your base rate, while also providing the brand partner with the most powerful campaign possible.

Click here to learn more about pitching blogger collaborations with brands in a way that gets a positive response and increases your earnings.

And on that note, let’s dive into this episode’s strategy on growing your blog through collaboration, which can also help you monetize your blog from the beginning!

Increase Your Website Traffic, Community & Income Through Partnerships – Episode 11 Transcript

One of the most powerful realizations you can make when it comes to your blogging business is that you don’t need to do it all, and you do not need to do it on your own.

Actually, I credit the strong relationships I’ve built with brands, affiliate partners and other bloggers as an asset that has helped me grow my blog much faster — and much more successfully — than I could have on my own. Pro tip: regularly do outreach to reach your blogging goals.

What is great, too, is that you can utilize collaboration to achieve all of your blogging goals, whether they be making sales, growing your email list, or understanding how to grow your TikTok account fast.

Before we get into today’s topic, I want to direct your attention to the show notes, where I’ve shared a link to my FREE travel blogger resource library.

Inside you’ll find 45+ printables, video tutorials, and resources that will help you grow your traffic, community, and income easier and faster. I constantly update this resource library with new blog freebies, as well, so you won’t want to miss it.

In fact, let me give you a moment right now to go grab the resource library.

You back?

Okay, let’s dive in.

The Power Of Building Professional Relationships

Now I believe that being able to effectively create professional relationships in your business starts with changing your thinking and learning how to improve your mindset for success.

If you’re someone who is constantly looking for the next transaction and to make the next buck, this whole strategy is going to be difficult, if not impossible, for you.

Additionally, if you’re someone who wants to create relationships, but who can barely find a moment to breathe or eat during the day, this will also make this strategy difficult for you.

I’d recommend taking a deep breath and considering how you can make some space in your workday.

• Maybe that is focusing on fewer things
• Maybe it’s creating a mindful morning routine to make yourself more focused and productive

By the way, if you’re interested in learning how to create a mindful morning routine, check out this video:

You want to create a schedule for yourself that provides space to let in these relationships and get creative with them.

If this sounds confusing, don’t worry.

I’m going to be providing some concrete examples in this episode.

I’m not going to give identifying names; however, I will explain the examples in a way so that they’re easy to replicate. I really want you to get inspired and see what is possible when you start building relationships and working with others.

Collaboration Example #1: Working With Another Blogger

There is a blogger, let’s call her Julie, whose email list I’ve been on for a while.

I love her content and, like me, she likes to create online courses.

Her blogging courses are more focused on social media, while mine are more about monetizing your blog and working with brands.

Basically our digital products are complementary, but not competitive.

She is incredibly knowledgeable about Pinterest, and I knew my members inside of my Travel Blog Prosperity membership community would really benefit from her wisdom.

So I reached out with a proposal — if you create a masterclass on Pinterest for my community I’ll create one on working with brands for your students.

This worked out really well for both of us, as it made our products more valuable and helpful.

With this partnership, we also gave each other access to — as well as an affiliate link for — the other’s course.

Well, I loved her course, and instead of simply promoting it to my audience, I asked her if we could co-host a webinar together and then run a limited-time discount for it to really incentivize people to purchase.

It went really, really well, and now Julie and I are working on doing something similar with my course for her audience.

Each of these collaborations has truly been a win-win for both of us, and I’m sure there will be more between us in the future.

Basically, if you’re wondering where to promote affiliate links, this is a great strategy.

By the way, if you’re looking to monetize your blog making money with webinars is a great strategy, especially when used as part of your new product launch steps.

Need help with your webinar strategy? This tutorial can help:

Collaboration Example #2: Working With An Affiliate Partner

I was once at a travel blogging conference where I met a brand that I really liked, and was interested in working with.

We talked, and they told me about their affiliate program, which was extra attractive because it offered a recurring commission.

Now, this brand is one that targets bloggers, and I told them that I run a membership community for travel bloggers that publishes new strategy-teaching masterclasses each month.

Based on the service that this brand sold, I knew that they had some really great knowledge that my students inside the membership community could benefit from.

Just like with Julie, I asked if they would be interested in teaching a masterclass.

With this partnership, I’d be getting incredible content that would help my members as well as potentially earn me commissions.

Plus, my members would be getting new strategies as well as some special bonuses and a free trial of the service, and the brand would be getting in front of new people.

Quick note:

I only recommend moving forward with a partnership like this if it is truly a brand that you love and think would benefit your audience.

An important affiliate marketing tip is to really vet your partners so you’re not recommending irrelevant or unethical or unhelp companies. This is extremely vital when working to ethically monetize your travel blog.

Once you have some amazing partners, make sure that you’re regularly choosing travel blog post ideas that promote them — such as by writing gift guides on your blog!

Collaboration Example #3: Working With Brands

I once went on a paid press trip to a US-based destination, and the trip was coordinated by a PR agency that represented a number of tourism boards and brands.

The deliverables for the trip were outlined in a contract, and I made sure to really over-deliver and do more than what the tourism board expected of me.

In addition to that, I continued following and interacting with the tourism board on social media — Twitter lists make this really easy — and staying engaged with the PR agency (because remember, it’s important to remember how to be social on social media).

For instance, when I get a press release from the woman who sent me on the press trip, I’ll ask for imagery and sample Tweets to schedule on social media — for free, just to keep that relationship.

This has not only led to getting invited on additional paid campaigns through the PR agency but also to speak at a conference with them.

While I usually speak at conferences targeting bloggers, this conference targets people in public relations, helping me to share my experiences with — and get in front of — new potential partners.

These are just a few of many examples of how nurturing relationships and collaborating with others has helped me grow. Honestly, the sky is the limit when it comes to this. Consider promoting a blog giveaway, creating a free challenge, learn drone tips and tricks and sell your footage, and more.

Be genuine, get creative, have fun and grow.

Now I hope you enjoyed this episode.

I hope you feel inspired to start building and nurturing relationships and collaborating with others. Whether you’re just starting a travel blog or you’ve been blogging for a while, doing this can really help you grow.

Don’t forget to grab access to the free travel blogger resource library — and make sure you subscribe so you get notified when future episodes publish.

Happy blogging!

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