One of the best parts about the blogging community, not just here in NYC but all over the world, is being able to work together with amazing women in a creative capacity. Last weekend one of my favorite bloggers (and people!) Caitlin Patton came to stay with me and we had the best time hanging out and creating content together.

Caitlin runs the Chicago-based blog Sophisticaition where she blogs about fashion, beauty and lifestyle full-time and it was so much fun to have her stay with me for a few days. To be around a total badass who works on her blog full-time for a living inspires me to do better and make my site the best it can be. There are so many fun ways that you can collaborate with other bloggers.

Collaborating allows you to be exposed to other blogger's audiences who will likely be interested in following other bloggers too and it allows you the opportunity to work with other people, since blogging can often be a one-woman show. Want to know how you can start collaborating with other bloggers? Here are seven ideas to kick start your collaborations.

Giveaways

Giveaways are a great way for you to get exposed to the audiences of bloggers who are similar to you! Make sure that you're giving away a product that your audience is interested in (a gift card to a store you know they shop at, a box of beauty goodies, etc.) and team up with bloggers with similar audience sizes and aesthetics.

Photo shoots

These can be tricky to coordinate at times, especially if many of your blogger friends are remote, but if you're able to meet up with other bloggers while you're traveling it can be so fun to get together and take pictures. You can take pictures together or individually. I had so much fun doing this joint shoot with Caitlin and Jessie has worked with us both before so it went seamlessly.

Videos

While Caitlin was here we filmed five videos (up so far: how to make internet friends, how well does Caitlin know Austen, how well does Austen know Caitlin) and videos can be a really fun way to show your followers how you interact with other people, especially since most bloggers film videos by themselves. I also have my series "Chatting With" where I interview friends with cool careers and often feature bloggers!

Instagram Live

If you're still interested in collaborating with video content but maybe you and your blogging bestie live in different cities, plan on hosting a joint Instagram live! You can request to join another bloggers Instagram live and the two of you can talk about different topics in blogging, share beauty tips, discuss trends and more!

Meetups

I love a good networking event and hosting meet ups is a great way to meet your followers in person and get to do it alongside other bloggers. That way you also have other bloggers around to talk to if people are slow to arrive and you can meet the followers of other bloggers in person as well!

Trips

If you can master the art of coordinating a trip with someone else, traveling with other bloggers can be so much fun! Maybe you can visit them in their city or they can visit you. Or if you're both looking for a little getaway, pitch hotels together. A hotel will get twice as much bang for their buck if you're willing to share a room and you can likely work out a discount or comp rate if the hotel is blogger-friendly.

Guest posts

This is one thing I haven't tried myself yet (well, unless you count freelance writing, which is my other job!) but guest posts are a great way to get out of your comfort zone and share your voice with another blogger's following. You can also solicit guest posts if you're going on a trip or are too overwhelmed with the work to keep up with your site on your own.