Blogging Lessons from Geocaching

A group of us go treasure hunting every month. There’s a local magazine that prints a set of GPS co-ordinates, and we, and many other people, head into the countryside to find a small Tupperware box containing a book and a pen. When we find the box, we all put our names and phone numbers in the book, and Steve from the magazine draws one name out of a hat. The winner gets a bottle of expensive perfume provided by a local shop.

It’s a wonderful and challenging way to spend a few hours in the sunshine with good friends. Steve plants the box in some amazing places – yesterday’s was a good example. Having walked a few kilometers, we then had to climb down a pretty tricky hill and after an hour of searching we eventually found the box inside a dead leaf on a living, very spiky cactus! The view, however was amazing!

Pumped up by our success, I spent some thinking time on the walk back, and concluded that blogging is very much like geocaching. Here’s what I came up with:

“Big picture” planning

Once we have the co-ordinates, the first thing we do is put them into Google Earth and get an idea of where on the island we’re going to be heading. This enables us to work out the starting point, as we like to walk about 5KM each way to make it some decent exercise. We also look at the terrain and elevation, which helps us decide who’s coming – some of our group are less able to clamber around rocks or climb steep hills.

As bloggers, we also need to have a “big picture” plan:

• Where are we starting from? An expert in the topic? Someone learning along with the readers?
• Where are we going? What are our objectives for 3 month, 1 year, 5 years?

The start of the journey

We all meet up in one place, park the cars, set up the GPS and start walking! Along the way, we constantly make small course corrections, deviate around high or difficult terrain, and generally have a great time enjoying plant and animal life and chatting about what we’ve been up to.

We do all of this as bloggers too:

• We all make small adjustments if we fail to meet objectives, or if we learn something new to put into practice. Just discovered a brilliant new plug-in? Get it on the site – you’ve just made a small course correction!
• Sometimes we come up against a really tough obstacle – was the niche too big, or too competitive? Did we have to take time off from blogging to deal with something else? When faced with these kind of situations, we need to revise our objectives, or change course.
• We too can enjoy chatting about our lives through Twitter or Facebook!

Closing in on the treasure

This is where it all starts to get exciting! As we get closer to the target, everyone starts checking their GPS’s more often, we all start walking a little faster, pushing a little but harder. We stop regularly to compare what we’re seeing and share advice: “It’s going to be that big rock there” or “I think it may be in that cave we can see.”

For bloggers:

• As we get close to hitting our objectives, the biggest danger is in relaxing and taking our foot off the gas. We need to stay totally focused until we get to where we’re going.
• We need to keep listening to commentators and keep taking advice from other bloggers, just keep doing what we’ve been doing and do it well.

The actual hunt

Once we’ve arrived at the area we think the treasure is located in, we then come up with a plan to actually find it. We’ll work to the team’s strengths. Does it need to be someone small to investigate as it’s a cave? Someone who can climb as it’s a rock face? Do we just spread out and cover the whole area?

Although blogging can be a solitary occupation, we can enlist the help of a “team”

• Get your community to give you advice by inviting comments and running polls.
• Get team advice by enlisting the help of a mentor.
• Invest money in training or membership programs to learn from other bloggers.
• Make sure your family is on side with your blogging and get their ideas and input.

The eureka moment!

Finding the box is always a fabulous feeling. Sometimes it’s all over in moments, other times we can take more than an hour to find it. We have failed – but only once in many attempts. We always enjoy a picnic once we’ve found the box, and take a moment to revel in our glory and the beauty of the place we’re in. Then we plan the route back to the cars and decide where we’re going for that cold beer.

Hitting an objective, however small is cause for a pause, and a little celebration. Reward yourself!

• If it’s a small objective reward yourself – I’m going to have a coffee and a chocolate biscuit as soon as I’ve finished writing this post!
• If it’s a big objective make the reward worthwhile – a holiday? A new Apple?
• Once you’ve enjoyed your reward, go back to planning the next objective. Where are you going next? How are you getting there?

And the whole things starts over again!

What sports or outdoor activities do you enjoy? Can you make a correlation with your blogging?

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