Why Blogging is Like Paddling a Dragon Boat

How synergizing with other bloggers will boost your blog and increase engagement

Do you ever feel as though your blog is wearing you out?

If you network with other bloggers it will become easier.

When you try to change the world on your own it gets tougher every day.

This article will show you how you can work with other bloggers to achieve your objectives without feeling absolutely exhausted the whole time.

Paddling Your Own Canoe

A canoe is very light at about 15Kg and you can get one moving very quickly on your own. You can learn how to paddle with a few hours of instruction and then take it away.

When I started my website I was paddling my blog canoe like crazy. It was fun at the start but soon became tiring.

Paddling a Dragonboat

A blog is more like a 250Kg dragon boat than a 15Kg canoe. You can get it moving on your own, but it will only accelerate very slowly and will never reach top speed. It is much easier if there are 20 paddlers working together in the boat.

Dragonboats

I used to paddle for the Amathus Dragonboat Club in England. I spent many winter evenings paddling up and down the 2Km long Albert Dock in Liverpool. We would all be soaked to the skin at the end of the session, but we felt great because of our team spirit.

Sometimes we would have races between a top paddler in a C1 canoe and the dragonboat crew of less-skilled paddlers. The pattern of these races was always the same: The C1 would streak ahead from the starting line and stay ahead for about half a mile with the dragonboat slowly building speed, catching up and then pulling ahead.

Solo Blog Building

Most bloggers I have met are introverts who prefer to work alone. They are C1 paddlers.

Many solo bloggers burn out. They abandon their blogs, broken-hearted that their dream has died.

If only they had spoken with other people who had the same problem . . .

Cooperative Blog Building

Successful bloggers are team players or dragonboat paddlers to use the analogy above.

In a dragonboat club every paddler has respect for every other paddler. Each person offers advice regarding technique or attitude. If you turn out for training or races you get respect. Every club member listens, because they all want to improve.

Blogging is just the same. If you work in your niche and grow your knowledge, you gain respect. If you help others in your niche then you increase your own depth of knowledge because teaching someone else is the best way to really develop your understanding of any subject. You also gain kudos.

You can work with other bloggers in your niche, just like dragonboat paddlers support each other.

  • You comment on their blogs, they comment on yours
  • You can post articles on each other’s blogs
  • You can quote one another in your blog posts
  • You can help promote others’ posts on social media accounts

Suddenly you are no longer alone. You are all sending visitors to each other’s blogs. Everyone’s a winner.

Finding Other Bloggers – building an online tribe

Next time you get that “alone feeling” you can do something about it. Start your own blogging “team” or online tribe. You cannot blog alone, trust me on this because I have tried.

Are you thinking other bloggers are your competitors?

Think again. Nobody is going to steal your readers or your ideas. Think of talking with other bloggers as like cross-pollination – Every time you talk with someone your ideas develop and it works both ways because you help your blogger friends’ ideas to develop at the same time. You can criticise one another’s posts and improve them from brain dumps into masterpieces.

Search on Twitter for other blogs that post on your topic, comment, tweet their articles and start a conversation. It is easier than you think.

Conclusion

Like most bloggers, I am an introvert too, more a C1 individualist than a dragonboat-paddling team player.

However I have learned the importance of working with other people and now allocate part of each day towards building my network and helping others.

Even introverts can work in a team, just as long as everyone listens.

Over to You

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Are you a C1 or a dragonboat paddler? Please share your thinking in the comment box below.

 

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About Phil Turner

I have been writing since the dawn of the Internet from my home near Cork, Ireland. I write because I have things to say. I write to pass on my knowledge to others because what good will my learning do unless I pass it on? My writing has brought me a lot of good things in life, including happiness and a rewarding career, but most importantly, it has brought me friends. I live and work by the 5 Currency principles, which I have written about on my blog, Time Money Problem. To learn more about me, please read my personal story.