Does Networking Cause More Harm Than Good?
You have probably heard about the benefits of networking in general. Even as you read this, you’re rolling your eyes, thinking ‘Well, duh, I know what networking can do for me, now tell me more about how to make quick money!!!’ and then instead of actually finding a partner, you’re stuck the same place you’ve always been.
This blog post was inspired by Mark from Blogger’s Journal, Alex from Alex Whalley and Christine from Money Funk, who leave excellent comments on EIP regularly. Reading the comments section for my recent blog post, Random Ramblings: Confronting Fear & Doubt, I came across this comment by Mark:
“A few weeks back I came to the realisation that it’s quite a lonely adventure, and it dawned on me that the big bloggers support each other. I’m sure you’re on numerous mailing lists. Each and every one of them has advertised popup domination – you can’t miss it.
I figured, I’m feeling low, I’ve read so much, and I’d like to have people around me on a similar adventure – so I set up the network group I have on Skype.
I figured that with like minded people, we can spur each other on to succeed, and help out with various issues, or just discuss different marketing strategies etc.
It’s helped me to no end – it’s guarenteed tweets by people with bigger followers than I have.“
The excellent comments didn’t end there. Here is what Christine from MoneyFunk had to say:
“Mark, I have a personal finance blog that is networking with a group called the Yakezie (started last year). It definitely has boosted all 100 of us!
1. It created a bunch of backlinks for the creator
2. It selflessly promotes all of us
3. It has help rank all of us on the some of the Top PF blog lists.“
You’ve read the benefits of having a network or the support of a partner behind you. From the comments section and common sense, let’s observe some of the pros of networking.
The Pros of Networking
Where do I start? Let’s imagine you start networking with a group of about 4 people total. It’s safe to say that each blogger (could be any type of network really) has a different number and different type of followers for each of the following: Twitter, Facebook, Digg, StumbleUpon, Delicious and each bloggers’ general readers.
Looking at the above statement, you should have seen the potential from miles and miles away. As long as everyone can come to an agreement, you should be able to receive exposure from three other peoples’ Twitter following, Facebook followers, Digg followers, StumbleUpon followers and even their own blog readers.
We are talking about exposure on their blogs (perhaps get an interview or write guest posts), get your posts tweeted (maybe a post containing an affiliate link), or if you all agree on different dates, perhaps the other 3 people can help you with some diggs or SU submissions.
While three additional diggs or stumbles doesn’t seem exciting, think about the expounded advantages even after a month or two. Depending on the arrangement, that could be 16 diggs in one month which is 192 diggs a year. Not only will this look good to the search engines (in the long run), but it could also serve as some social proof. Even if the group isn’t vigilant about it, you’ll still end up with more diggs than you would have on your own time and effort.
Exposure is one word for it. But think about how many ways your blog will be getting exposed.
And lastly, now you have 3 other people trying various strategies. It will be a quicker process to learn what works, what doesn’t and how to make some good money online… and let’s face it, that’s what we’re here for 
The Cons of Networking
It’s always easy to look at the pros of a situation, such as networking here. Let’s think about the cons. If you have three other people in the group, that could take up a lot of time to catch up, communicate and to discuss what’s going on. Could that time not be used for researching and creating another blog post? Creating a mini-site or quality backlinks?
Not to mention, now you have three other people whose blogs you need to promote on your Twitter, SU, Digg accounts and then find some time to create those guest posts.
Really.. could I not invest all that time and effort into my own promotion? Why should I promote other peoples’ blogs when I have all this work to do for my own?
Don’t Overlook the Obvious
The cons are a slight concern, simply because you can be apparent with your group and let them know how much time you can spare for group work within a week.
Also, two important points: blogging is all about being social and ranking is all about link juice from various sources. By networking, you’re naturally doing both!
So, does networking cause more harm than good? Does it work better in theory than in the real world? My answer is “no, it seems beneficial for all parties”. Be ready for a future update!
What is your opinion? Have you tried partnering with someone else? What were the results?
Keyword Research Simplified
Finding great niches and keywords is hard enough. Market Samurai makes it all simple with all the data you need to compare and analyze with the click of a button.
Try Market Samurai for free and see what it can do for you.
15 Responses to “Does Networking Cause More Harm Than Good?”
Comments
Read below or add a comment...
Trackbacks
-
[...] statement I just made! And you know what? I stand by it. Just about 4 weeks ago, I was discussing If Networking Cause More Harm Than Good and even though I concluded by saying that networking seems to be beneficial, I am here to tell you [...]
Leave A Comment...
-
Get Moon’s Free Ebook!
About Me
Hi! My name is Moon Hussain and my goal is to earn enough passive income to travel the world without worries. I'll be discussing all the strategies that I'm using to make money online. To keep up-to-date, please subscribe.
Moon Recommends:
Let’s Connect
Hi! My name is Moon Hussain and I'm here to share all the strategies that I'll be experimenting with to earn passive income.
Subscribe via RSS
Contact Us!
Follow on Twitter
Facebook
Hey Moon,
I’m flattered I have helped be an inspiration – although admittedly, a little concerned lol (jk)
You’ve made some good points – pros and cons. In terms of the pros, I can add lots – get to that in a minute.
The cons – you are 100% right. It can take time away from your own endeavours. As you mention, being up front and honest about how much involvement you want helps. Certainly in the group of people I have, some of us are online all the time, and leave the group open to scan over at a later time. Others are not as active. But certainly the point you raise is valid – you need to manage your time, remain focused and have will power to make yourself work as well.
Back to the pros. Networking is great – it gets your name out, and it’s a mutually beneficial system too when you tweet each others work. Those few extra guaranteed stumbles add up. What we’ve found useful recently is we throw ideas around to get immediate honest feedback, rather than putting something on our site and wanting to know how it works immediately.
The key to the group is helping each other succeed – so really it’s important to share information on marketing and generating income. I’ve recently launched my first niche site, and have used the group to help me get it put together with tips and advice.
I’ve found the easiest and quickest way to network though is definitely Twitter. I found getting followed back by some big blogging names has brought me some additional traffic.
Mark Bell´s last blog ..Before you start – plan- plan- plan some more
Mark, that’s great. I think as long as you’re honest about how much time or what tasks you can dedicate yourself to, then it should benefit everyone. I think it’d be kick ass to discuss with each other the ‘behind the scenes how are you making $$’ cases and testing various sources
I look forward to talking to you in depth soon!
Definitely – Ive just released my first niche site, and will be doing a post on it soon on my blog.
Give me a shout if you want to chat on Skype any time.
I definitely do but I never had the chance to setup Skype. Need to prep for the setup, have someone visiting at the moment. Looking forward to your niche site details! (Give us the scoop!)
Hey Moon. You raise some seriously great points here and this has been behind my thinking of my Facebook Group – Ultimate Blogging Resources. It’s small at the minute, but the intention is that it grows over time and does exactly the sort of things that you suggest.
You’ll welcome to join.
Matthew Needham´s last blog ..Wednesday Wisdom- Including the only SEO Guide you’ll ever need
Nice Matthew. I’ll have to check it out on FB and I’ll get back to you. Don’t want to overextend myself.
Great point in the con factor of networking Moon; sometimes all of the contacts really does seem to add up and suck away time but we do have to look at the ROI in the end.
If we all of a sudden have a dozen or so blogging buddies now we’re going to be spending more time to keep up with everyone instead of focusing on our projects.
The flip is that these relationships can create greater benefits overall.
So you have to weigh in on short-term vs. long-term.
I think it’s a bit like any group of friends: you have your close friends and then you have ‘friends’. Your close friends will always be the ones you support in any venture while your other ‘friends’ can still receive your focus but you do have certain priorities.
(Which reminds me, I need to start commenting more often again ha!)
Murlu´s last blog ..Murlu Mastermind Group- Your Chance To Be Awesome Online
Murlu–exactly. I think as long as you keep the networking group small or even a 2 person partnership, it can work out well. Have too many in the group and it will become too much of a time management issue.
I think it might come across as tacky promoting all of the material from another three bloggers. I’m on a few mailing lists, and i always get a little suspicious if i see them promoting the same couple of blogs over and over again.
IMHO i think it basically comes down to promoting material that you find helpful and information that you believe will genuinely benefit your readership. I mean, we’re all in this to make money, and it takes trust to make the sale right?
Paul´s last blog ..How to Write and Make Money Online
Paul–you bring up a great point. I definitely pick up on marketing propaganda when I see someone’s product being marketed by 10 other people. I think as long as you don’t overdo it, that’s key. If all you do is promote only your network, whether the work is good or not, then the campaign will work against you.
Definitely takes trust and then some!
Thanks for the mention, Moon! Lately, I have faced more of the con – not having the time to network in keeping up with group forums, heading around the blogsphere, etc… So now it’s do I hire someone to help me with the less personal tasks? Or perhaps, i just need to organize my time better.
The other con most people face is getting caught up in networking. Two minutes turned into two hours… I am sure we all know that one! To fix this you need to set a timer and lists which places you will hit today. Like, today I will Digg these few sites, I will Twitter these other 5 sites, I will comment these two other blogs, etc… It really helps to have structure and time limits set. It wasn’t until I stepped back this summer, did I realize how caught up in the mix I was! So that is another option, step back for a week to ask yourself, “what is the purpose of my mission?” refocus.
Money Funk´s last blog ..Going Paperless with your Financial Documents
Sounds like you learned your lesson
I don’t mind RT content for people, esp. if I enjoyed it myself. But if you do it too much, it’s really unfocused, time gets wasted, & the pay off might not be much, etc. etc. You said the key word: “structure”.
Great ideas! I also agree with the consequence of promoting their blogs. Why don’t you do it for your own benefit than for them. But the most important about that networking is how sure you are that they are exerting same effort just like you do for their blogs?
Cole Stan´s last blog ..Present Culinary Delights With Food Gift Baskets
Cole, I suppose at the worst, you can drop out of that group. You’ll never know unless you try. Or maybe you’ll meet at least one other person who works as hard as you do and just form a two person partnership.