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33 Types of Blogger Collaborations (For Fun + For Profit)

Ready for 33 blogger/brand collabo ideas? Some of these are just for fun (and to build community and blog traffic) and some of these can be done for profit (dollar dollar bills y’all and brand awareness).

So, I want to talk (1) reasons to collaborate, (2) types of free collaborations, (3) collaboration ideas for profit, (4) pitch etiquette, and (5) pitch “musts” in the form of a checklist.

Reasons to Collaborate with Other Bloggers

Collaborating with other content creators is about so many things beyond simply growing your blog traffic. Here are just a few of the benefits:

  • Collaboration will expand your community and your opportunities to connect with people who want and need what you have to offer. Collaboration will also connect you with like-minded people; these connections can go anywhere (from friendships and people who share your stuff to long-term profitable relationships).
  • Collaboration allows you to be seen in a different light. I mean this in two ways: (1) The person or people you collaborate with will present you in a different way than you would. Whether in an interview, or an introduction, or a promotional tweet, the other person can say things about you that would look ridiculous, conceited, or just plain weird coming from you. (2) You can easily collaborate on something that is a hop outside your normal content—this allows you to pivot into new areas of expertise or simply add to what you already do.
  • Collaborations allow you to expand your offerings. You can begin to establish new areas of expertise for yourself . . . or collaborations can simply allow you to offer more products + content in your original area.
  • Collaborations will shed light on the feasibility and opportunity of new products and content. If people go cray cray for something, make it a product. If it fizzles out, modify it or move on.
  • Collaborations allow you to make more of an impact than you might be able to make alone. Two audiences instead of one. Two sources of ideas. Two people marketing something. Two voices adding value. You get the point.
  • Collaborations allow you to see things differently. You’re an absolute genius ninja, that is not to be doubted. However, sometimes it can be a beautiful thing to see the world, or a problem, or a product, or an idea through someone else’s viewpoint.
  • Collaborations provide a built-in sounding board and “checks and balances” system. Here’s the deal: We all have outlandish ideas at times. We all think of epic brand names, product features, and ways to word things that end up being not that great. Your collaboration partners mean that you will have constant reality checks. You’ll have another entity or two that’s a part of your target market to go, “Umm, I don’t think that’s going to go over as well as you might want. But good job though.”

Collaborations Offered For Free + For Community-Building Purposes

Below are some collaborations to consider without the pressure of trying to make money (though you can certainly monetize some of these).

1. Guest posts

Other bloggers’ posts that you allow on your site.

2. Guest appearances

Posts that other bloggers allow you to share on their sites. Great for SEO, since usually the blogger will link back to your site from the post.

3. Interviews

Text
Audio
Video

4. Giveaways

Of gift cards, products, services, free consultations, whatever. Combining with another blogger (or multiple bloggers) can really increase the value of a giveaway.

5. Roundups

You can include the opinions or thoughts of multiple bloggers or experts in your field as a way to entertain and educate your readers. Here’s an example by Pauline Cabrera over on Twelveskip.

6. Reviews

Give your thoughts and suggested uses of another blogger’s product. P.S. If you don’t have anything nice to say, maybe don’t say anything about the product at all?

7. Challenges

Host a challenge/movement of interest to your audience and your collaborator’s readers.

8. Contests

Whether it’s a “photo-a-day” or video submissions (or something we’ve never seen before), consider engaging your audiences in a combined contest.

9. Chats

Twitter chats or talks hosted at a specific time in a Facebook group or Google+ community.

10. Office hours

How about hosting virtual “office hours” with a fellow blogger to provide answers + tips to your communities via the social media platform of your choice?

11. Shows

Or, what about a pre-recorded show on YouTube or a live Google+ Hangout?

12. Podcasts

You know, Internet radio shows and stuff.

13. Communities

Why not create a social media community together?

14. Pin party

A specific time and board on Pinterest to which guest pinners are invited to add content on a certain subject.

15. Live webinars

One-time or repeating trainings/conversations that you and your collaborator host. These are usually built for educational purposes, whereas shows (#11) can be educational or fun.

Collaborations For Profit + Brand Awareness

And now, here are a few collaborations to pursue with other bloggers when you want to make some money (but you’re of course able to offer some of these for free if you wish).

16. Seminars or webinars

Think of longer sessions (half-days or multiple days) that you and your collaborator develop together and charge for.

17. Books, eBooks, and/or workbooks

^^Often the easiest place to start for paid products.

18. Courses

Teach together.

19. Workshops

Let people come meet (and learn from) you and your collaborator(s) in person.

20. Newsletters

(Ones that you plan to sell from.) If you’re unsure of how you’ll come up with enough stuff to email people once a month or more, why not combine with a brand/blog that complements yours and send out one together?

21. Digital or physical magazine

Yes. People still read these.

22. Membership sites

Amazing resource sites that require paid memberships. Think Fizzle.co or Food Blogger Pro.

23. Speeches or presentations

That you give at conferences, schools, community organizations, adult education courses, etc.

24. Physical products

So many possibilities.

25. Subscription services

Emailing or mailing out cool stuff to subscribers regularly. That’s cool.

26. Separate, new blog

Or, the two (three, four, five) of you could just start a new blog together that has a targeted/specific purpose. Think The Well.

27. Worksheets or resources

Self-explanatory much?

28. Software or tools

Think the apps that A Beautiful Mess makes, or any other tools you can develop for your audiences.

29. Coaching or consulting

Offer services that complement each other or simply deliver separate parts of a whole package.

30. Freelance services

Ditto above.

31. Trainings

Corporate (or not) trainings that you deliver together.

32. Affiliate reviews or programs

Lots of bloggers offer affiliate programs on their products. You could either join other affiliate programs for products you love or you could create your own affiliate program.

33. Referrals or recommendations

You could always just refer/recommend each other to your readers when you get certain types of inquiries. These can be done with or without a stipend/commission.

Let's do a blogger collaboration

Blogger Pitch Etiquette

A few guidelines for you to consider when you pitch other bloggers on collaboration ideas:

Make sure you have enough time to really make a great collaboration—a bad experience can ruin your street cred and jeopardize your chances at future profitable collaborations.

With any potential collaborator, try to support them before you contact them. Tweet them beforehand, pin, re-pin, like, or +1 their content before you approach them—make your best efforts to connect.

During and after your collaboration, keep tweeting out the other person’s posts and products—keep supporting the other collaborator. This will leave a lasting impression of your helpfulness and it will solidify a strong online relationship.

Don’t exaggerate or misrepresent the benefits of working with you to the potential collaborator. You’re awesome, and you’re going to work hard. If someone can tell that, it will mean more to them than the large audience you could claim that might not necessarily be there when it’s time to start promoting your collaboration. If your audience is smaller right now, acknowledge the smallness (without seeming ridiculous), and highlight the things that you authentically offer.

Don’t make it seem like it’s about the money. Most people do not want to work with those prone to creepy, money-hungry, or overly-self-promote-y behavior. You’ll likely form deeper connections with the types of people you want to work with if you make it about the people you can help instead of about the money.

Pick the best format for your type of pitch:

  • Email: In the form of text, an attachment, a presentation, a video, or a mix of things.
  • In person: You know, a face-to-face meeting or presentation (of your portfolio or your plan).
  • A call (phone or online): Voice calls of any type.
  • Social media: Think Facebook message or a proposition within an online class or community.
  • Video chat: Google+ Hangouts, Skype video, etc.
  • Through a third party: When the person you’re pitching has assistants or partners you have to pitch to first, or when you know someone (who knows the person you are pitching to) who is willing to present the idea.

Pitch Checklist

Based on your relationship with the blogger you are collaborating with, you may actually send them a short message first with just a few pitch details, and ask for the opportunity/permission to send along your full pitch or to talk in person. The checklist below is for a more complete pitch email.

  • a non-spammy subject line
  • a subject line that makes it clear what the email is about
  • a subject that would make you want to open the email
  • an introduction fitting of your level of relationship (speaking of: I enjoyed this post from Mattieologie >> How to Write Amazing Emails)
  • a clearly defined idea
  • acknowledgment of the collaborator and their hard work, their amazing community, or whatever is authentic and true
  • well-explained benefits to the collaborator
  • explanation of the benefits to your audiences
  • explanation of your skills and what you bring to the project (done in a non-showy way)
  • links to any relevant items on your site or on the potential collaborator’s site
  • notice of areas which are open to wiggle room or in need of your collaborator’s expertise
  • information on how you will promote the collaboration
  • clear deadlines or suggested dates and next steps for the potential collaborator
  • recognizable and clear contact information for you

P.S. The pitch checklist above, plus the philosophy and benefits of blogger collaborations, ideas and/or pitch tips for each type of collaboration, brainstorming worksheets, tips for contacting the multiple types of blogger entities (growing blogs, peer blogs, and well-established blogs), and more are included in the 44-page eBook + workbook: The Epic Guide to Blogger Collaborations, which is on sale for a special price of $5 right now.

The Epic Guide to Blogger Collaborations

So tell me please, are you going to try one or more of these blogger collaborations in the next month or two? Which ones appeal to you? P.S. Are there any I missed that you’d recommend? Thanks.

Photo: Lumina

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Reader Interactions

112 Comments

  1. Hey Regina,
    As always your posts comes right as something is relevant in my business life. I am currently working on a HUGE course to start your own business and I was thinking about collaborating on it with a few other bloggers/business owners so this is definitely going to help. The only thing I’m worried about is how I should pay them. I won’t be able to pay them upfront and I have no way of knowing for certain if the course is actually going to bring in money. I’m thinking about offering them either an affiliate program or a percentage of the profit. Have you ever paid people for collaborating with you or do you create your products (hugggggeeee fan btw) completely alone?

    Also really looking forward to that guide! (:

    Reply

  2. Dear Regick,

    You are cranking out posts like a machine and making me look like an underachiever. Ha ! Just kidding.

    I am going to have to go through this post with a fine-toothed comb now because this is exactly where I’m at right now – trying to build blogger relationships and get on the “radar” so to speak of some influencers. This helps A LOT.

    Regina, I am signed up for your e-mail list (did so last year) but I am not getting the free eBooks you’ve been placing at the ends of your posts this week. Am I missing something or are you yet to e-mail them ?

    Anyway, thanks once again for a great post and I am looking forward to printing these off and filing them away for study.

    Have a great day Regick.

    Reply

    • Gertrude, thank you again for your wonderful support and comments–I’m loving hearing from you.

      As for the emails >> the eBooks are both going out later today. I hope they help with your collaborations and goals.

      Reply

  5. Another helpful, well-written and always with a touch of humor post. I love collaboration for precisely the reason and benefit you suggest: it sparks new ideas and creative solutions.

    Accidental Icon
    http://www.accidentalicon.com

    Reply

  8. This post came right when I needed it! I was trying to think of creative ways to collaborate with some of my favorite bloggers and as usual you’ve provided a succinct list with an answer to this dilemma.
    Thanks! xoxo,
    Sam

    Reply

  10. Good post! I am trying to find ways to bring in traffic and looked up that collaborations were one of the ways to bring traffic in. I am so grateful for your post! And I am looking forward to working with you in the #50WorkDays

    Jackie

    Reply

  11. I am beyond impressed each time I enter your site Regina, seriously! But I’m a little mad, because each time I do so, you give me a lot of homework and things to do!

    All jokes aside, your tips are always on point. Right now I just worked on changing my post images to create a more cohesive brand and I think it looks much better, thanks to you girl!

    Reply

  13. We love visiting your site! We are fairly new to blogging and we can’t wait to implement all of the great ideas you have shared. Over the next couple of months we are going to be really knuckling down and putting in some real effort with our blog, and we are so fortunate to have your site as a resource. Looking forward to spending much more time here!

    Jayde and Lynda

    Reply

  14. Just found your blog from hanhabelle, and I love this collaboration list. Thanks for the great examples, I would love to try them all out. Going through all your other blogposts too, they’re all so informative! Subscribed!

    Characters & Carry-ons

    Reply

    • Ohh Joyce! If this is your first time discovering regina’s website of golden-goodness, then you are in for a treat! Definitely look around, she has so many amazing resources worth taking advantage of.

      Reply

  15. As always, absolutely brilliant post. And I loved loved loved the link to Mattieologie’s “HOW TO WRITE AMAZING EMAILS” post. Such a great read! And I loved all her attitude.

    Also, you made the best point when you talked about noticing “areas which are open to wiggle room or in need of your collaborator’s expertise” allowing for a true collaboration v.s. just you pitching your idea with no room for expansion or adjustment. I always recommend collaborating with someone who has complementary skills to your own. That way you’ll both be able to reach a wider audience, create a stronger, more well-rounded post, and hopefully learn something new from each other through the process.

    Thank you so much for the epic checklist. Even though we might know that all of those things are all necessary, having a list to turn to “in the moment” will help so much in smoothing out the pitch process from day 1!

    Reply

  17. What an informative post!! Where do I begin! Just started Juju Sprinkles last month, I am so glad to learn about your website. This is going to be so helpful!!

    Juju
    http://www.jujusprinkles.com

    Reply

  18. I have been really focused on doing guest posts this year. I also want to start doing Twitter parties, Google+ hangouts, blogger workdays (both local and virtual) and podcasts.

    Reply

  19. So many ideas!! I am definitely bookmarking this for later! I just started out so I will need to actually meet people first! 😀 I’m so happy I found your blog, I can’t wait for future posts!

    Reply

  20. Such a fab and useful post! This is all so new to me that i find it hard to think out of the box sometimes so this is a huge help. Thank you!

    Reply

  22. I do greatly enjoy collaborative posts with other bloggers. I’ve always loved doing that, featuring other people on my blog, but lately I seem to forgotten about it a bit so thank you for reminding me.

    Reply

  23. As a style blogger, I style, shoot and promote their product through sponsored advertorial across my blog and social channels. More recently however, I’ve been approached by a number of brands (apparel, beauty, and accessory) who want me to help design a range…. which I would LOVE to do. I just don’t know how to charge.

    Do I take a commission of sales? Do I charge a collaboration fee. How do I get compensated for my time? SO MANY QUESTIONS!

    x

    Reply

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  25. Such an amazing list, Regina! I love doing collabs (especially for Youtube) and they’re usually great and bring u loads of value (and to your audience). Although some times I’ve had bad experiences like that time when I wrote to a youtuber to propose a collab, then she didn’t answer, then one day she writes to me saying she’s filmed the whole collab and it’s ready to come out the next day and I’m like er… Not exactly how it works, sweet heart. Hahahaha!! Big hugs, Regick!

    Reply

  26. I love your blog. And I always find something new here that I either hadn’t seen before or somehow managed to pass over. Thank you for this post! I am recently hoping to reach out and build my network in order to have more of a true collaboration going on. 🙂

    Reply

  27. Hi Regina,

    I’m not sure what I will try in the next couple months but there are multiple ones from your list that I am interested in. Particularly the digital/physical magazine and software/tools (specifically apps) because I’m not sure how to do this on my own yet I have a bunch of ideas. I don’t know when I will be able to collaborate with another blogger or company for these but there in my list for sure.

    I also like doing interviews, challenges, contests, chats, and pin parties with other bloggers.

    This is one of my weaknesses, social stuff but I’m learning to get better at it and reach out more so this will be practicing that.

    I really value all of the things you post, it helps so much!

    ~Bonnie~

    Reply

  31. Hey! I am going through your 75 Ways to help your Brand Stand Out & this blog post was #10! Great ideas & I will definitely use them in the future! I am completely new to blogging, so doing tons of research right now & your stuff is definitely helping the process!! Thank you 🙂

    Reply

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  39. Another helpful, well-written and always with a touch of humor post. I love collaboration for precisely the reason and benefit you suggest: it sparks new ideas and creative solutions.

    Reply

  40. Regina, your work has been really helpful for me as I think through the business side of blogging. Thanks for the great resources you continue to crank out! Now I have an idea of what the protocol for collaborations is…it’s nice to have it out of the abstract!

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  48. This is a great post! I love the idea of collaborating to a blogger for more audience reach and you just nailed what I need to know before and after reaching out to them. Thank you so much! This is a great help, Regina!

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  49. Thank you for posting this! I’m a toddler mommy currently undergoing IVF number 4! Looking to collaborate with other Mom bloggers – giveaways, product reviews, interviews etc! I have about 10,000 views per month, so I have a ways to go! https://megandewitt.blogspot.com

    Reply

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  52. Hey Regina,
    I am launching a new, really handy, mom product on kickstarter in 2 weeks. We have gotten a huge response from facebook after we did a teaser preview last week. I am beginning to reach out to that massive and oh so influential mommy blogger/influencer community out there. I’m wondering if asking them to shoutout, repost our content, or to create their own post about checking out or campaign would be best (since we don’t have product to give out as samples for review yet)? From your experience, do you think they would still be open to helping (most likely for a fee I’m assuming)? Is there a better approach I should take?

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  54. Than you for such a wonderful idea of collaborating other bloggers for media, marketing and Brand Awareness. But nowadays I have seen that many of the bloggers won’t collaborate with other low quality blogs or site. But still, I will try to implement some of the above given ideas of collaboration for my site.

    I am promoting http://www.gulfshoppingdeals.com. Let’s see how much I implement these tips on promoting my site.

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  55. This is a very helpful post! I have been wondering how to collaborate with others lately, and have been thinking about guest posting and have others post on my blog. I still don’t fully understand how that works, but I think it’s the next step! I will definitely keep this list on hand for the future. Thanks!

    Nicole | http://www.badwithdirections.com

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  56. One of the significant problems that a blogger faces is that of not being taken seriously. Collaborating with the News Media can solve this problem.
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