Your Fellow Blogger is Not a Competitor
Do you ever feel jealous that another blogger in your niche is getting more readers than you? Or perhaps you believe that you deserve more attention then him or her. After all, you think their content isn’t nearly as good as yours.
But there’s no reason to feel that they are your competition, especially if they are only providing free content to generate income.
Both of you are not selling products or services that would be rendered useless, once a customer has decided to make a purchase from a specific source.
Most blogs create content to attract audiences in return for monetization via ad revenue or affiliate recommendations. Readers follow these blogs because they give them the information or entertainment they need. Content is easily available and readers follow multiple blogs because there is little cost involved in doing so.
The issue here isn’t about niche saturation or the presence of many blogs writing about the same topics. It’s really just about attention. Each reader has a limited amount of time and specific interests or informational needs. When there are many blogs constantly producing content, there is inevitably attention scarcity.
Let’s take StumbleUpon as an example. When you’re stumbling, you’ll only stop to read a specific article because it is relevant to your interests. Otherwise, you’ll continue clicking the stumble button for it to serve up other webpages.
Your real competitors aren’t other blogs but the relevancy of content:
As long as a consumer sees relevant content, he/she is going to stick around – and that creates more opportunities to sell. Literally, the longer a user stays on a site reading news etc, the higher the chance that person will click on an ad. So the question is: how do you show the user relevant content?
However relevance itself isn’t enough, content must be interesting by providing value on top of what one already knows. Content differentiation and idea aggregation is one way to make sure that you are not blogging ineffectively:
It is hard to be the regular news spot just by producing similar news to what is available on other channels. If you cover stories that are worth spreading, but are not dong much more than syndicating them, then even if your content is useful the reference links skip past you and on to the end story you wrote about.
You might get a hat tip link here or there, but you are not going to get many if you have few readers. And those links are not going to be enough to pull readers away from market leading channels, to do so requires people talking about you.
Your content has to amalgamate ideas from multiple sources or unique perspectives such that people are TALKING ABOUT YOU.
What you want is attention. The other bloggers in your niche are attention assets you can exploit. Don’t treat them as competitors, even if they promote a similar affiliate program. The internet is big enough for everyone.
Do some networking. Be friends with them. Initiate conversations through email or other channels. Build win-win relationships. After all, both of you have exactly what the other needs: an audience potentially interested in relevant content.
There is nothing better than another blogger personally recommending your content to his or her audience. The readers trust the blogger in question and their perception of your blog is inevitably made favorable by the positive endorsement.
Seek these recommendations by working with other bloggers, not against them.
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I’ve never really thought about this, Maki. That’s because I’ve never thought about my fellow bloggers as competitors. The fact is, almost all the people who read my blog are bloggers who are in the same niche as me, so the very same bloggers who I would be competing with in any other business are the same people who keep my blog afloat, and vice versa.
I’ve always liked the way bloggers treat each other, even when they’re in the same niche. We all know that the bloggers who allow people to guest blog are gaining something from it (in the form of more useful content for their blog), but it also benefits the guest blogger a lot. In any other industry, allowing a competitor to write on your own Web site would be almost unheard of. In the blogosphere, it’s quite normal practice.
That’s why I like it so much.
Hi Maki,
I have come to this realization as well. And although I’m too shy to contact the big bloggers in my niche, I make the effort to comment on beginner blogs to give them a helping hand. I don’t see it as “competition” either, but a way to generate discussion for our mutual benefit as I find beginners are much more receptive.
Once I unsubscribed from a very famous blog’s feed because I felt the blogger was envious. He called a webmaster an “idiot” just because that guy had put into practice an idea that he obviously would have liked to try first. There was also an occasion when he said he wouldn’t link to other articles on a certain hot topic because it would be “unfair” to let his visitors read material that was “poor” and “inferior” to his own.
I wrote about it because I want to raise another point: when you are obviously jealous of your fellow bloggers/webmasters, you may cause a negative impression on your readership. No matter how popular you are and how many fans you have, there will always be readers who’ll notice your true colours and will stay away from you. And among those there will be some potential customers that would have gladly spent their money on your blog (or on your sponsors’ sites) if they felt you deserved to be rewarded.
Hey Maki, this is a great article. Envious is a good thing sometimes though. It spurs us to become better and like what you say, build better content. I like a bit of healthy competition in that sense but I also like to reach out to fellow bloggers constructively.
Maki,
Great post!
This is one of the main attractions to blogging for me. I spent a lot of time building portals, forums, and doing various freelance work. The cut-throat competitiveness in those niche’s was just too much for me.
Blogging gives me a channel where I can do what I like to do, teach people and share my views on topics, but I don’t have to step on fellow bloggers to do it.
Blogging seems much more personal as well. I feel like there is a much more level communication ground with blogs. I feel like I can approach even big name bloggers just like I would any other person, with respect, but as an equal.
Thanks again for bringing up this point. It’s nice to see big name bloggers like yourself encouraging others to build relationships with others in their niche.
Building win-win situations is something I try to do a lot of the time. My free blog review offer is one way. I also try to ’stumble’ interesting posts that I happen to run across because I know nothing makes a small blog owner happier than to see a few hundred hits in a day when they’ve been getting about 10 a day.
“Both are you are not selling products or services that would be rendered useless, once a customer has decided to make a purchase from a specific source.”
Sorry I don’t quite understand this sentence, could you explain what you mean Maki please?
As always a great article. Personally I’ve never looked at other bloggers as competition in the sense that they were taking away readers. The way I figure it is that if I’m not attracting new readers, or even worse still losing existing readers it has more to do with what I’m doing wrong than what another blogger is doing right. Exactly how it works in the “real world” when it comes to businesses.
Hey I agree, it’s good to help one and another – after all it’s a win-win situation. everyone gets the traffic and everyone gets what they want… but most importantly, you’ll definitely need great content to attract people
Good article!
Couldn’t agree more! I’ve managed to grab the attention of both Yaro Starak and Darren Rowse this week which has been amazing. I don’t think of them as competition at all.
There’s also a whole mindset thing going on here. If you think about the blogosphere and the number of blogs v the number of people, there is ALWAYS room for just one more good blog isn’t there? This is the abundance mindset. Believe that there is enough to go around for everybody.
Because there is.
Blogs in the same niche can be used as a lot of “tools” but not competitions. Apart from networking with them, we can actually try to benchmark our blog with theirs when a comparison has been done and it is in our hands.
When I started blogging, I tend not to subscribe to big blogs and don’t comment on their blogs since I have the wrong mindset that if I contribute to their blogs, the big blogs will become bigger and the small blogs that are not getting any attention will become smaller.
Now, the whole thing is different. I understand that a person is always hungry for things that interest him/her. Although he has seen a thing once, when he sees it again, he will voice out his views again.
Using the blogs in the same niche as your most powerful tools is something that is difficult but if it is accomplished, the returns can be quite luxury.
Good points, I always tell that to people.
Yes, I totally agree, and have discovered this in my own niche, resulting in solid blogging relationships.
Often other bloggers can pick up on something which you totally missed, and just linking to them for their alternative view can really add value to your own blog.
Good pointers. We should seek to build friendships with fellow bloggers than to find the time to alienate ourselves from them. To me, it doesn’t matter how very popular the blogger is, it’s the content that I pay more attention to.
Yes.. I agree with you..
COntent is most important and not competitor..
If we produce good content then money will come…
It aint easy but with hardwork we can get what we produce.
Hello Maki, You touched a very good point. I believe everyone has his or her own thought and it is unique. So what for competition? Grow and improve!!
Competition is kind of futile anyway given the number of blogs out there covering the same ground. I look at other blogs for inspiration as I’m a newbie.
Anyway, I am pretty sure there is enough Google and Clickbank revenue for everyone to share
Networking, non competitors, it looks like we are in this together guys. Useful content is what I am working on. Great article!
I love your blog. Like minds really think alike. Joint venturing and mutual support do so much good for “competitors”. Imagine walking into your local hardware store in search of just the right hammer. They don’t have it in stock. The person in the store has 2 choices. Leave you to your own devices to find the “hammer” or make a call, find it and send you down the street to the competitor’s store.
Which action breeds more customer loyalty and some points with the guy down the street.
Easy choice for me. . .
Added you to my blogroll – since I discovered you yesterday. Thanks for the great work!
Hi Maki
A very good point you have presented here.One should never think of another blog as a competitor.Working together with your fellow blogger will benefit you both.
Steven
Thanks for pointing out the crucial difference between cooperation and denigration.
One grows the pie for all; a cutthroat atmosphere shrinks it it for all.
@ Jamie
Definitely. Your example of guest blogging shows that the blogosphere does seem to have a natural inclination towards cooperation rather than competition. I guess I wrote this post in order to remind people that bloggers each have what the other person needs and working together is really the smart thing to do.
@ mariam
You shouldn’t feel shy about commenting on the bigger blogs. Most of them don’t have time to reply your comments but I’m sure they will read it. It is a good idea on comment on newer blogs though because you’ll get to build relationships with people who need them the most.
@Karen
Jealousy is a ugly emotion. The example you gave of the spiteful blogger shows how it can give a negative public vibe. I always felt that its always better to hide negativity, because you might change actually your mind later on.
A good healthy rant is OK once in a while, but to put someone down is pretty rude and not something you want to do if you want to build professional or personal relationships.
@ sesame
You’re absolutely right. Having a little competition, may spur you on to greater efforts on your part.
@JMorris
You’re welcome! I just thought it’ll be a good idea to highlight the fact that other bloggers have so much more to give to you, if you only allow them by having a collaborative and conversational mindset.
@ John Brace
Here’s what I meant to say: Retailers usually sell similar and related products (mp3 player, fridge, cars etc.). The value of your product depreciates once the customer chooses to purchase a similar product from a competitor.
She won’t have a need for your fridge, now that she just bought a fridge from your competitor. Free content and blogs are different. Reading and consuming information from another blog doesn’t reduce the value of your content or its ability to fulfill the consumer’s needs/desires.
She can read a dozen similar blogs and that wouldn’t be the problem. The main issue is the maintenance of her attention, which is a scarce commodity.
Apologies for not making it clear in the first place.
@ Caroline
Congrats on the attention you’ve gotten lately. The abundance mindset works for publishers but as an end user/consumer, I sometimes feel that ‘there’s just too much out there’.
Too many brands of shampoo, too many good blogs to read.
@ Lennie
Never leave a prospective future/repeat customer stranded without a solution to their problem. Good strategy!
Cheers for adding me to your blogroll.
@Everyone else
Thanks for leaving your comments and sharing your thoughts.
If your posts get stumbled or even mentioned by the top bloggers… you will immediately get a spike in traffic.
I love connecting to other bloggers so that I can learn and give back to them as well.
Cheers,
Carlo Selorio
*Applauds*
Great post, Maki. I’m glad to see such a positive post from you about the win-win perspective on networking. It really shows the difference of abundance vs. scarcity mentality.
We can see them as a competitor or a partner, depends on which perspective we want to look at them.
I have a few friends who sell the same aff. product but we’re helping each other and make sales together.
I agree with Maki.
I’ve always looked at other bloggers as my best asset. I think that people who think otherwise probably haven’t been blogging very long.
And if their attitude doesn’t change, probably won’t stick around very long either.
Maki,
Great post!
Great Post! Thanks for inspiring me. I really enjoy the content of your blog.
Love & Gratitude,
Tina
Think Simple. Be Decisive.
~ Productivity, Motivation & Happiness
In business, I will still recommend my customer to my competitor if they have better products:) The points here is always give value to your customer and focus on what you do best in your niche.
In that sense, your fellow blogger is even not coming close to be your competitor since everyone is unique:) Unless you just a fellow blogger who don’t focus, not unique and not providing value …
Some good thoughts; I completely agree. A few months ago I made a conscious decision to give up “blog envy” and start looking at what other bloggers (especially up and comers) were doing right. Changing my attitude has not only really helped my networking, but has dramatically improved my own blogging. I’ve also been pleasantly surprised at how friendly some of the successful bloggers are (Rand Fishkin and Avinash Kaushik, for example, are really nice guys, IMO) and I’ve tried to return that favor.
If a customer/visitor is going to buy one product and another blog is selling the same content, they are indeed my competition. If my review is better, more thorough and has better information, I would hope they would buy through my affiliate link.
yeah its all about networking and working together
Yes.. Yes.. this is something i couldn’t agree more.. i used to be paranoid of sending traffic to other “how to pick up women” sights thinking I would loose my readers.. but recently i’ve beguan sending my readers to other relevant articles and it seems that my traffic is actually increasing
Maki,
I would have to disagree with your point that fellow bloggers are not competitors. Yes, bloggers can work together – helping each other gain exposure and make money. But there is still a conflict of interest because one blog innately wants to get ahead of the other. The Internet really isn’t as big enough for everyone as you say. The attention and time of readers is a limited resource and bloggers rush ahead to gain as much as possible. That’s a competitor if I ever saw one – even if on the outside things look friendly.
I’ve written a more detailed post of my views on this topic on my blog here: http://www.winningtheweb.com/fellow-blogger-competitor.php
Take a look and let me know what you think. Thanks.
@Gyutae
I don’t think we are disagreeing with anything actually. I do agree with that attention scarcity is a problem that all bloggers have to face and eventually overcome by producing relevant content which differentiates them from others in the same topical niche.
There is competition for attention but this is an inevitable result of all forms of media, online and offline. I’m not writing about the intrinsic nature of media as much so much so as competitive perspectives and mindsets, which are factors within each blogger’s volition.
Free content is never a conflict of interest. Reading and consuming information from another blog doesn’t reduce the value of your content or its ability to fulfill the consumer’s needs/desires, i.e. a reader can easily subscribe and follow Dosh Dosh and Problogger, and many do.
Thanks for the reminder, Sir Maki. I’m new in this blogging endeavor which I really like. You are promoting goodwill and support of bloggers to one another. Thank you very much. God bless all the bloggers.
I always felt that everyone was the stay and everyone was very modest,even those who are earning big bucks are still friendly and helpful and you are one of those who have given me good insights, thanks maki!
I couldn’t agree more. I read other blogs all the time for insight and inspiration. Networking is the key to all types of business success – including blogging.
Great post, and so true.
You’re still my competition though Maki
Once upon a time the family business used to regard rival businesses as a detriment to our own level of trade; then along came supermarkets and shops such as ours began to diminish greatly in number. My point is the greater the number of similar shops or similar blogs the greater the value of the market, despite the fact we are all trying to get ahead of the other. Competition is good so long as one powerful predator (i.e. a superstore) doesn’t come along and destroy the food-chain; and that’s not going to happen in the blogosphere, is it? The big fish ride the crest of the wave and we all benefit from riding the slipstream. In other words the big fish have influence from which we can all gain by getting behind them; hence so many comments to this posting by Maki.
I was jelling on the begining, Now I’m chill out
intresting post
I am a Part time blogger so maybe im a little envious of the big name blogger. I dont see them as competion at the moment because im a newbie blogger, and no one has a reason to fear a part-timer like myself. To be honest the top bloggers inspire the smaller guy like myself to think big and improve my blog day after day. Hopefully i will one day be able to class myself as competion. Competion is good its keeps you on your toes. Watch out big boys im coming for you lol
Great information for a smaller blog to make friends with a larger more popular blog to generate more readers for yourself.
Really awesome post. It reminds me of how most people think when STarbucks moves into a neighborhood, smaller shops go out of bsuiness.
Not true – it is well documented that smaller coffee shops do btter, and more open, as Starbucks keep coffee on everyone’s mind and exposing people to drinking premium coffee daily.
Same with us – more good content gets people excited about a niche and that can’t hurt – it can only help!
It’s easy for us smaller bloggers to feel like we’re all competing for the same audience and that one person’s success is to our detriment (hence, the hesitation for some people to Zoom other blogger’s articles on BloggingZoom.com where I found this article). But that just isn’t the case as this article explains. There are plenty of people for us to all to have an audience.
well jealousy can cause too much trouble both for you and them. we ahould all learn to work focusing on what we do and not what other do. Learn to be happy for someone’s success
What a nice article. Honestly, i always think about competitor, competitor and competitor. I don’t think about what the readers want. Thanks..
there are so many bloggers out there who are still very jealous and keep competing themselves..nice posts
do mind exhanging links for a new blog like mine?
As a new reader, wanted to post my appreciation.
The above is a timely address of an important matter. Luckily, the trend seems to be toward cooperation and mutual support in blogland.
Keep up the good work.
pi
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