If there is one element many people in the online world overlook it is making friends. It’s not just bloggers who do this, all kinds of internet folks think they have to do everything alone.

Not true!

Friendships and connections are far more than just down time and blowing off steam …

You need good, solid online friends if you are going to make it long term. I don’t mean instead of your local friends and family, but in addition to.

• There are the “soft” benefits, such as moral support, encouragement.
• If you do not know how to do something, you might have a friend who does.
• “Intelligence” benefits of always being in the loop and insights that you wouldn’t arrive at otherwise.
• The huge benefit of opportunities that only come through friends of friends.
• And of course you give all of this and more back to others!

As I say in the list above, the opportunity angle is huge, and is the reason why I put so much effort into a free ebook about partnerships, but that last item is there for a reason. In fact, this works much better if you put offering support first.