While professional writing can be a very solitary occupation, writing for a professional blog will involve extensive social networking, reliance on honest feedback, and your participation in various discussions – that’s just how successful blogging pans out. While you may be an expert in your chosen field of interest, and you can blog about your ideas and opinions with ease, flying solo can only take you so far.

At Apollo Media, we like to stress the importance of building a ‘mastermind group’, that being a group of individuals, professional or otherwise, you can receive blogging advice from a broad array of perspectives, online and off.

Here is what to look for when building your mastermind group.

1. Connect with other bloggers. This one is easy. Comment on other blogs in your industry and start making connections. You can ask other bloggers for advice on making posts, getting links or other technical issues. If you are asking them to be a part of your core mastermind group, be sure to offer them feedback and suggestions regarding their work too. Also seek out bloggers who aren’t writing about your specific interest, as they can provide valuable advice about Blog SEO, design ideas and other blogging strategies.
2. Get advice from peers within your industry. Individuals in your mastermind group don’t necessarily need to be bloggers or even know anything about blogs. You can get advice from someone who has knowledge of your field to comment on how well your blog touches on specific issues. These group members can help you brainstorm articles and post ideas relevant to your industry.
3. Talk to your friends. Ideally, your friends will provide the most honest and consistent feedback for you to consider, even if they don’t know much about your topic or blogging in general. Because they know the most about you, they can help you generate blogging ideas based on your work habits, personality, experiences and surroundings.
4. Have a positive, co-operative mindset. When building your mastermind group, it is important to consider blogging as a co-operative activity rather than a competitive one. While you may be contesting other sites for traffic, try not to isolate yourself from their influence (or prevent your influence on them). Sharing helpful strategies, techniques and tools relevant to blogging with others isn’t like giving away corporate secrets in the traditional business model; it’s about building strong relationships and networks. So take a positive outlook and don’t be afraid to learn from the success (or mistakes) of others.

So there are 4 straight-forward avenues to building a mastermind group for your blog. Remember, in the blogosphere, co-operation and communication are essential. To make the most out of your brainstorming, editing and writing processes, draw on the wide variety of sources around you. We’re all in this together!