Outdoor Blogger Network

Posted by MNAngler On October - 18 - 2010

In July, 2008, Google announced that it had indexed 1 trillion pages on the world wide web. Hundreds, if not thousands, of new web sites appear every day. Most will be of no consequence. But if you are interested in fishing, or the outdoors, you will want to know about a site that launched officially today.

It’s called the Outdoor Blogger Network and was started by two of my more famous outdoor blogging peers: Rebecca Garlock of The Outdooress and Joe “Wolfy” Wolf of Flowing Waters.

Joe recently visited Rebecca at her home base in Idaho and they fished, laughed, and apparently, lost their mind. They saw a need to create a central place for readers to find outdoor blogs as well as a resource for bloggers to communicate and share ideas. While there are lots of blog directories, few focus on outdoor bloggers, and those that do are web site collectors that end up impersonal lists. The Outdoor Bloggers Network is different because it was hatched by two active members of the outdoor blogging community.

Here are their objectives as outlined in their invitation to me:

  • We believe that there is a need for a centralized directory of Outdoor related blogs on the web. Outdoor Blogger Network is our solution to that problem.
  • We want to develop a place where readers can go to find terrific content, and fellow bloggers can find new and interesting pieces to read and follow.
  • We believe that the blogging community represents a legitimate, viable part of the Media, and will strive to integrate blogs and blogging into the collective conscience of the Outdoor Industry.
  • We aim to be the focal point for manufacturers to send products to be reviewed by bloggers, and the go-to site on the web for everyone to read the archived reviews by fellow bloggers.

They already have almost four dozen blogs in their directory. I expect that list to grow substantially in the next few weeks and months. Hopefully, they’ll be able to keep it readable and easily navigated. I’ll be cursing them for months to come as more of my time will further be lost trying to keep up with new cool sites I discover through their directory.

Many people come up with great ideas, but few follow through to bring them to fruition. Even fewer do it so quickly. Joe and Rebecca have some ambitious goals. But given how quickly they went from idea to actual site, I have no doubt they will pull off every one of them. They have some long hours ahead of them, but as we all know, it’s not work if you’re doing something you love. I wish them both all the success in the world.

Be sure to also become a fan of their Facebook page and follow them on Twitter.

Thanx, Joe and Rebecca, for inviting me to be one of your first bass blogs. And if you need any help, don’t be afraid to drop me a line.

5 Responses to “Outdoor Blogger Network”

  1. Rebecca says:

    What a great post and I thank you so much! I’m really excited to see where this adventure takes us all. So, I’ll formally apologize now for all the extra blogs you’ll discover and need to follow =)It is our hope that as you discover new and interesting blogs, others will discover yours as well, especially since I think your layout here, presentation and writing is excellent. Your site is the whole package, so well done to you~
    Rebecca

    • MNAngler says:

      Thanx for the compliment, Rebecca. It means a lot to me. Good luck with your endeavor. And definitely don’t be afraid to ask if you need some help.

  2. Michelle says:

    Thanks for sharing this! I had no idea they were creating this – but what a fantastic idea!! I am totally heading there now

  3. […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Isaac Miller, NAFC and NAFC, MNAngler. MNAngler said: Two cool outdoor bloggers created a central directory for their peers, the Outdoor Blogger Network: http://bit.ly/ceYGyQ Check it out! […]

  4. bassdem says:

    I’ve always monitored my visitor stats and if this is anything like TopFishingSites, for example, it’ll be just a drop in the bucket compared to what Google searches give me. I get more hits from people visiting from your blog and other fishing blogs than I ever did from any kind of outdoors networking. The link exchange concept is what bloggers can use to their advantage, but blog promotion sites are not on the radar for many anglers out there. Even Blogcatalog, a site geared towards blog networking, fell short of what it was designed to do. Stick with a more common blogger motto. Post often.

    So I’m not convinced. The notion of adding one more banner to my sidebar is less than appealing. I’ll consider adding myself to that list, but my bread and butter continues to be the almighty Google search. Better to integrate Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. There is a technological gap in the world of angling. Only recently have I seen efforts to close that gap at the pro level.

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