7 Essential Ingredients For A Successful Collaborative Blog

Posted by PodJamTV on Jul 28, 2011 | 6 comments

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Blogging is so much fun. We both have been blogging for more than 3 years now and it has become a way of life for us.  Blogging just opens up a lot of opportunities to get our ideas, thoughts and with the hope of inspiring other people to be the best at what they like doing too.  Setting up a blog is easy.  It is the maintaining part that is more challenging.

There are so many different types of blogs that you can set up.  You have the informative and entertainment types of sites, a company blog, a a photography blog, a multi-media type of site, a personal/journal type of blog and of course there is the collaborative blog.  A collaborative blog is a type of blog where you have more than one author contributing content and maintaining the site.  We  believe this type of blog can be tricky to set up considering the different minds and persoality that will be involved in the day to day operation of the site.

We are lucky here at PodJamTV as we both get along so well. But we also feel that the following essential ingredients  must be present at the start of the building process, as it has helped us and will continue to help us grow even more.  Plus this can guide you in choosing the right people to work with you if you plan to do a collaborative type of blog.

1.  You must have the same goals – The fist step one needs to undertake in setting up any site is goal setting.  Setting your  objectives at the start together will help you decide the elements, style and voice.  Doing it together with your team will build commitment and motivation. Setting your goals at the beginning will also allow you to set up metrics together.  This will allow the team to agree on how you will measure the success of your blog and how you can all be flexible when the need arises.

2. Your talents must compliment each other -  Having different talents or skills will allow everyone in the team to learn from each other.  It will also allow you to look at the various topics that you can share with your readers.  The beauty of doing a collaborative blog is the many point of views that can be shared.

3. You should have same level of commitment - Commitment is key to any endeavor anyone ventures in.  This not only means success but also the feeling of fulfillment.  Maintaining a blog requires complete commitment.  Writing content, promoting your site and thinking of ways to improve your site requires a lot of time and hard work.  We both have full time jobs but since we are committed to bring quality information, we make sure that we spend time together planning and implementing the plans we create everyday.

4. Communication is vital -  Having a set time for meetings to go over the plans and content management is key to the success of a blog that depends on different individuals working on it.  There will be cases where you would want to write an article with the same topic and it would be good to be able to discuss that early on to avoid conflicts.  The beauty of our time now is that technology is available to everyone.  It doesn’t matter if you live miles away from each other, as long as the lines of communication are open, you won’t have any problems.

5.  Teamwork is essential – Teamwork is essential to the success of any collaborative blog.  Set assignments to the team for the work flow to be efficient.  Listen to your team members and let them voice their opinions.  We enjoy working together here at PodJamTv because we both respect each others opinions.  We work around each others’ schedules.  You can encourage one another and you can most definitely inspire each person to grow as individuals.

6. Transparency is critical - The tricky part of putting together a collaborative blog is making sure that expectations are set at the beginning.  The founder must be open to the co writers and the contributors of the blog.  This will eliminate misunderstandings and miscommunication.  The worst you can have is a demotivated team member.

7.  Fun is fundamental in the mix – If you love what you do, then it won’t  feel like work. Blogging is hard work, you will need to make certain sacrifices but if you throw fun into the mix, then it won’t feel like work at all.  The main reason we set up PodJamTv was because we were having so much fun writing together.  One big advantage of having a partner or partners on your site is the fun you have when you celebrate milestones and small successes everyday.

There you go.  We hope that these tips will help you set up and find the best partner/s for your blog.  Having a collaborative site is fun as you get to work with people who will allow you to grow and learn together.  Maybe you have additional tips that can benefit our readers? Please share them here with us. We would love to hear from you.

 

About the authors:

Marty McPadden founder and host of PodJamTv is a professional photographer, videographer, blogger, apple geek and a Production Supervisor at ESPN one of the largest sports network in the world. His vast knowledge in the above mentioned field will allow you our readers to tap into tools, apps, reviews and tips that he has learned and mastered over the years. How to’s and hacks that will allow you to have a richer online experience.

Misty Belardo co host and co writer of PodJamTv is an experienced blogger, designer and a self proclaimed Twitter-holic and an avid Facebook user is a Senior Production Manager at Barefoot Proximity, one of the most awarded advertising agencies across the globe. Her experience with writing, designing, SEO and brand and advertising strategy will give readers a point of view of what happens behind the scenes in the digital sphere.

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