Yes.  I need help with blogging, and so do you.

I’ve been stumbling around this idea for a while now and haven’t come up with the best answer, but what I did find recently was a 2 Part Series that was right on the money.

Problogger had 2 guest posts from Eric Hamm (Up-And-Coming-Blogger and “Motivate Thyself”) and Sean Platt (Writer Dad) who expounded beautifully on some great reasons why it is a beautiful and powerful thing to have a “blogging buddy”.

You can read the first post here and the 2nd post here.  I’ve also copied and pasted their tips for why having a blogging buddy is advantageous and how to get a buddy:

Advantages to having a Blogging Buddy:

1. You can feedback on posts, prior to pressing publish. Writing without a sounding board can be difficult. Writing without a sounding board when we’re about to publish our thought for world consumption can be terrifying. Having someone with whom to send our words for perusal can make all the difference in how we feel about our work. Sometimes, feedback is as simple as a good job! or a quickly corrected comma. Other times a slow down! or a what exactly are you trying to say? might be more in order. Good or bad, a buddy can help lead us in the right direction
2. You can have someone to vent to, who understands your situation. Blogging is difficult. No one understands this essential truth better than another blogger. Most of us suffer common setbacks. Simply knowing that someone else is feeling, or has felt, something similar, can be all we need to know our feelings are only fleeting.
3. You can work on projects together. Collaboration is one of the great joys of blogging. Cooperation comes in many forms, and often by surprise, but pooling minds on a joint project offers pleasure like little else. Swapping ideas through email or instant message is immediate and often amusing. Inspiration will surely abound, and take you to wonderful places you were never even planning to go.
4. You can share link love. It’s well established that links are the currency of the net. They strengthen our rating with analytic aggregators such as Technorati and Alexa, while erecting new roads for readers to reach our words. Having a buddy that we can count on to help generate links is like having a friend post flyers to our show on telephone poles across the city.
5. You can share each others posts through social media and with other bloggers. Social media plays an enormous role in helping drive blogs toward success, and can sometimes be the difference between breaking out and blowing up. When it comes to outlets such as Twitter and StumbleUpon, every blogger brings a different audience. Even with audience overlap, a post spread by your blogging buddy will extend to a different audience than your own.
6. You can share communities. Each post develops our community further. Every blog has its own set of readers and subscribers who drop in to say hello. Commitment is a natural byproduct of community. A buddy blogger can ask his audience to give your work a chance. A portion of the audience will be happy to comply, and that chance could make all the difference.
7. You can help each other stay motivated as you share encouragement. The peaks and valleys of daily blogging lend themselves well to the buddy system. Just as one buddy sees a lull in subscribers, the other may be experiencing a peak. That peak could be a prompt for encouragement. Your buddy is part of your team. Success for one means success for all. All it takes is the proper mindset; choose to celebrate successes, and supersede all difficulty.
8. You can guest post for each other. Guest posts are an excellent way to build your name brand, while continuing to refine your craft. Landing a guest post, especially in the beginning, can be difficult. With a blogging buddy, it’s as simple as trading baseball cards.
9. You can share each others talents. People are different, and bring separate skill sets to the table. Some people tend to be more creative, while others might display a stronger technical side. Fate seems to have an odd way of laying opposites together, and often you will find that the talents of your blogging buddy, or buddies, will nicely compliment your own.
10. You’ll have twice the blogging power at your disposal. Getting started blogging is hard, gaining momentum even more so. Having twice the reach, or at least twice the intent, can be the difference between barely eking by, and soaring through the stratosphere.

And here are some tips on how to get started and how to find a buddy:

1. Offer assistance wherever needed, and whenever possible. Most people would agree that the adage what goes around comes around is mostly on the money. Even more so in Blogopolis. Everyone playing the game is new, even those who have been in it since before the beginning. Lending someone a hand when you find yourself in a position to do so is not only kind, but will most likely be remembered later.
2. Add bloggers that you’d like to meet to your blogroll. Most blogs have a blogroll either on their sidebar or on a separate page. Using your blogroll in the right manner is an effective way to wave hello to those bloggers that you would like to know better. Blogs included in a blogroll earn an immediate link back to their site from the home blog. Even if the traffic you send is minor, the action might be noticed, and appreciated, by an observant blogger. If that blogger happens to be at your house, and encounters his or her name in your sidebar, they are probably far more likely to strike up a conversation.
3. Link to potential buddies in your posts, while praising their most deserving work. The power of praise doesn’t dim when as soon as we leave the primary colors of Kindergarten behind. Even as adults, we peer around for people to prop us up, and tell us that we are doing things the way they should be done. When we link to someone in our posts, we are sending them a chance to discover our praise through a ping back. Linking a potential buddy is the same as sending them an invitation.
4. Send complimentary emails to bloggers you respect. Like a link from within a post, an email is an invitation. The difference lies in their privacy. Email allows us to be more direct about our praise, and honest about the things that we might like to ask our potential buddy.
5. Ask for assistance from other bloggers and take note of their response. If we approach a blogger for assistance, and they seem unwilling or hesitant, it might be a sign that they aren’t overly eager to help. We can never assume to know what is on another’s plate, and must never be pushy. If it doesn’t seem like a good fit, it probably isn’t. The right match will come along, but we cannot will success into submission.
6. When interacting with another blogger, look for common ground as you seek potential chemistry and like mindedness. Email can open a floodgate of conversation. If you notice threads of common pinging your inbox, it is prudent that you follow through. Try to gauge the background of your potential blogging buddy, and determine what you have in common. The more fluid the communication, the more likely the relationship.
7. NEVER be overly eager or desperate! As in life, this tactic will not help in the search for a blogging partner. A blogger worthy of the other side of a relationship will most likely be turned off by impatient or desperate behavior. It is important to remain cool and collected. The right decision is rarely made in desperation.

The reason I think this is so important is because it’s dead-on to what we should be doing anyways!  The Christian life is about doing it in community.  I believe that I’m “preaching to the choir” here but it’s worth repeating just because: You need community.  Period.

So why don’t we do this more often in the blogging community?  Have you thought about getting a “blogging buddy” to help you out?

Now I know that blogging, for many, is a pretty “personal” thing and maybe you aren’t interested in having accountability for your blogging or encouragement for when you feel “dry”.  Understood and point well taken!

But if you’re on a particular mission, that is, that you have a purpose you feel that you’re fulfilling in regards to blogging and how you’ve decided to use it as a particular medium to share the Good News or encourage your tribe, or lead others, etc… you’re going to need some help.

You’re going to need a “blogging buddy” because you’re just one man (or woman).

I feel like beating a “dead horse” about community but I think I’m done.

In any case, I’m going start thinking heavily about finding some “blogging” buddies to help me fulfill the mission that I believe God has given me surrounding this purpose-driven blog and my personal blog over at Human3rror.  I know it won’t be an overnight thing and as my relationships grow with those that engage here it’ll become more obvious but I’m actually going to start praying about it.

Pray for your blog?  Wah…?

Yes.

I’d challenge and encourage you to do the same thinking (and praying).

Let me know your thoughts.