Facebook Pixel
Join our Facebook Community

Improve Another Blog [Day 26 – 31DBBB]

Posted By Darren Rowse 1st of May 2009 Miscellaneous Blog Tips 0 Comments

This post is an excerpt from the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Workbook

When was the last time you made someone else’s blog better?

Today’s task in the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog is to do just that – to improve a blog that is not yours.

Most bloggers naturally spend the vast majority of their time improving their own blogs – but there can be a lot of good things happen when you spend time on other people’s blogs making them better in one way or another.

I think it’s fairly obvious why it can be worth helping another blogger achieve their goals so won’t go into it too much except to say that there’s not many ways to make a better impression on another blogger than to help them achieve their goals for their blog. When you do this any number of benefits can come your way.

The question is – how do you improve someone else’s blog?

I’d love to hear your suggestions on this in comments below but let me mention just a few:

  • write a guest post – write a high quality post that will be useful to another blogs readers
  • leave helpful and insightful comments
  • link to the blog – share your readers with them
  • promote the blog in social media – get a social bookmarking campaign going for them
  • recommend that your readers subscribe to them
  • email the blogger with some suggested topics you’d love to see them cover
  • introduce them to a potential advertiser
  • share with them an affiliate program that has worked for you
  • write an email telling the blogger how you found one of their posts helpful

Really there is no limit to the ways that you can help another blogger improve their blog. The key is to ask yourself what their needs might be and attempt to fulfill those needs in some way.

The key with this exercise is to do something significant for the other blog. Don’t just leave a comment on 50 blogs today – spend some significant time focusing your energy on one other blog in your niche.

If it doesn’t go noticed by the other blogger don’t despair – hopefully in doing something for others you’ll learn something for yourself also, as well as getting a little good karma in the process!

Let us know what good deed you do for another blogger today in comments below!

Want More?

This task is a sample of one of the tasks in the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Workbook – a downloadable resource designed to reinvigorate and revitalize blogs.

Join over 14,000 other bloggers and Get your Copy Today.

About Darren Rowse
Darren Rowse is the founder and editor of ProBlogger Blog Tips and Digital Photography School. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Comments
  1. Interesting that you should suggest this as I just recently offered to do a guest post and left some comments on another participants blog recently. It sort of ties in with other things you have told us to do.

  2. I really like this idea and will have to see if I can try it out. Thanks again.

  3. Ha ha ha! It really seems to be fate! Each time I make a post or do something recently, the next task is about it!

    I just help someone better their blog, all genuinely, and today I noticed that this person went to BlogCatalog and left a 5* rating for my blog with the following comment:

    “This blog is fantastic and Nicolas has been really generous in helping me better my own blog!”

    This kind of feedback is among the best reward I could get!

  4. It seems a good moment to point out that the alignment of the blog posts is “center” (at least, in the latest FireFox versions), which makes them hard to read. Even the text in the comments is centered.
    So, a good improvement suggestion for this blog could be fixing that text alignment problem, right? ;-)

  5. Ok, my bad: it seems that the CSS did not load completely last time. Now that I reloaded the webpage, this blog works perfectly, as usual. Sorry, no valuable improvement suggestions available ;-)

  6. I do this regularly in several ways.
    Leaving meaningful comments.
    Participating in the wordpress forums to help other bloggers get up and running.
    Linking to other blogs.
    Doing site reviews for cool and relevant sites (I did this also with the blog of one of my top commenters and she was really happy).
    Sharing via email ways to promote the other blog.
    Submitting to social networks, and more.

    It does feel good, and it’s just for the joy of helping out, without expecting anything in return.

  7. Love the idea. I already follow quite a few tips you mentioned and will try some new ones

    ps: inviting guest posts on “leveraging social media for a better customer service experience” for my blog. If interested drop me a mail dhingra DOT mayank AT gmail to take things forward.

  8. Good point and nice tips. But, still I can’t get a lot of visitors last month..

  9. guest blog? its good and i admit it save my time.

  10. This is really about doing your part in the blogosphere, but specifically with regards to one individual blog. I want to do more of this too, but in this case I did reach out to Jamie Notter and Eric Lanke regarding their new Hourglass blog on Generations which I really like a lot. I just offered to help on the back end, setting up their RSS flares and stuff like that. Of course part of the fun of blogging is experimenting with all that yourself, but since I’m in the business and all… :)

  11. Great idea Darren. I too believe in good karma. If not, I just believe in the simple law of attraction. What you actually do for others comes back to you too. Thanks for that

  12. Hi Darren,

    I’m currently working on a guest post for a newer site…I’ll let you know how it goes.

    Meanwhile, if anyone is looking to better another blog…I’d love to have some help/suggestions/guest post.

    the daily delights is a personal development blog where I work daily on projects in the areas of: green living, green architecture/building, healthy cooking, food allergies, childrens literature-based activities, painting, green crafts…

    I’ve only had one guest post, but I’d love to invite others :)

    take care,
    trina

  13. This is a terrific exercise becasue I suspect that some bloggers still believe that sharing in any way can taint their blog and I know that is not the case… I do write comments on blogs and leave feedback that shows I have actually read the blog.
    In terms of this exercise, I am finishing a blog that will include a reference to one of our participant’s blog on a topic I am covering. I have informed the blogger Robert B and will add the post here once I publish it.
    Love this exercise. I have also invited Rose C to guest blog with me and I wil do same for her.
    Many Thanks Darren!

  14. We can say it is better thing to do , thanks for sharing that.

  15. Hi
    paying it forward always good
    this is my post for this task
    http://www.speechstarter.com/how-to-make-your-original-contents-for-your-blog/

    thanks

  16. I competed with step before reaching this part in the process. Check out this post by Marko->

    http://www.howtomakemyblog.com/monetize/how-to-monetize-your-blog-by-selling-your-own-product/

  17. This morning I stopped by a Blog to look at what it was all about. I wrote a small post on the looks ,set up and information they were posting. Tonight I opened this Email from ProBlogger and I guess I had already achieved my daily task.
    I have been following ProBlogger for about a month now and have learned much.Hopefully I will have a great Blog like this in the near Future..Gary

  18. Thanks for the great post again! I don’t always get to the task on the same day in the course, but I always go back and catch up and this tip was outstanding. Too much we get caught up in our own blog, site, etc, and forget about one of the great empowering features of the Internet – the ability to help others world-wide!
    Cheers,
    James

A Practical Podcast… to Help You Build a Better Blog

The ProBlogger Podcast

A Practical Podcast…

Close
Open