Using My Blog to Find Deeper Connections & New Relationships

During my teenage years and into early adulthood, I always felt like I was different. Not in a weird way—I made friends, and they were pretty normal—but I just couldn’t find anyone who really clicked with my values, lifestyle, or dreams.

It stayed the same until I began spending more time online and exploring various communities on social media. 

That’s when I finally found people interested in travel, freedom, and a meaningful, unconventional way of living—people with whom I resonated well.

If I remember correctly, that was around the time I finished college.

Over the years, many things have changed, including how I connect with people on the internet. Recently, I started using my blog to create new connections and relationships. Let me tell you how I do it!

My First Attempt at Connecting Online

Before I began using my blog to connect with like-minded people, I mostly hung out on Instagram and Facebook, where I could find communities for all my interests.

From engineering and travel to personal growth, there was always a lively community online that fed my need for social interaction.

Once, I shared my story in a Growth Mindset group, and to my surprise, so many people said they could relate to it!

A personal coach from Singapore even reached out to me after seeing my post. He mentioned how much he connected with my struggles and wanted to talk more about it, so we did.

I can still remember jogging in an empty subdivision near my home when we talked about our work. It felt so random, but it was a great conversation! LOL.

He told me his story about how burned out he was from work and how tired he had been of dealing with it for years without seeing any real progress. Now, he’s trying to start a coaching business to leave corporate life.

Honestly, I had a small feeling he might have reached out just to grow his coaching business and make me a client, but I didn’t mind.

All I could mostly think about was how great it was to meet like-minded people on the internet and discuss topics we both connected with.

Going back to the present…

I can’t help but feel sad that the golden days of social media are behind us now. There’s a big problem with social media today: it’s no longer as social as it used to be when I first discovered it years ago.

Nowadays, I see social media as a digital space that polarizes your thoughts and shortens your attention span.

It has become a platform focused on engagement, where I often feel overwhelmed by ads and promotional content.

Even without the ads, social media has become a disappointing place to hang out.

The photo albums filled with candid moments have been replaced by shallow memes. Thoughtful statuses that once sparked meaningful conversations have given way to short videos created solely for fun and virality.

Group posts that should build communities have turned into endless self-promotion.

It’s for these reasons that I’ve decided not to return to Facebook and Instagram—or at least not to use them all the time.

How I’m Finding Connections Online More Efficiently

These days, I’ve moved more towards using microblogging services like X (formerly Twitter) to connect with people who share my interests.

You won’t catch me missing a day interacting with fellow content creators, writers, bloggers, online publishers, travelers, and online business owners there!

Here’s my account: @ejtravelwriter

To be honest, X is the only social platform that makes me feel productive while I’m using it.

Why? It helps me network and build my brand, and it also gets my humor and curiosity, which keeps me entertained. I think it’s fun!

Fun? Really? Well, the fun factor actually depends on the topics and people you follow.

Personally, I block everything I don’t want to see, like “war,” “Trump,” “K-pop,” and “elections,” etc. so I can focus more on connecting with the people I want to interact with.

The best part of X is the amazing opportunity to connect with influential and successful people in my industry! I get excited every time I read the expert opinions of well-known SEOs, content creators, and business owners in real-time.

It’s like having access to free guidance, even though it’s important to take it with a grain of salt!

One of the most exciting features of X is its algorithm that brings hidden gems to light! It works really great after you’ve trained it to show you what you want to see and the kind of users you want to engage with.

I love it when I come across posts or accounts of content creators like myself while scrolling through my feed. If I find their accounts, personalities, or goals interesting, I immediately comment to reach out.

Every time I have this experience, I can’t help but feel like X is my personal assistant, helping me expand my network!

Using My Blog to Introduce Myself

I’ve been using X for about a decade, and my new account is over a year old now.

But it wasn’t until 2024, when I created this blog, Explore to Thrive, that I really got serious about building my presence and identity on the platform.

There’s a long story behind it, but I’ve realized it’s important if I want to create a blog that has a solid brand and can handle changes in traffic algorithms.

Since I got serious about growing my X account, I’ve been taking several steps to encourage people to connect with me too.

Along with genuinely engaging with others by valuing their ideas and giving thoughtful replies, I’ve also improved my profile to clearly show what I do, what I like, and my personality.

This way, people with similar interests can see the value in connecting with me when they check my profile.

I started improving my profile by putting together a clear 160-character bio.

As of this writing, this is my profile description on X: “Building Explore to Thrive — a blog about travel, online business, and spirituality | Authentic blogging approach 📝 | Lover of mountains ⛰️ and old architecture 🏛️“

(I should mention that this is only a small part—just a fraction of what I would say to a stranger if I were to introduce myself.)

My latest tweets or posts can give people more idea of what I’m into, but I think the best way to introduce myself as a content creator is by sharing my blog or professional website.

• First off, my blog shows that I’m legit and serious about building relationships—I mean real business—so there’s no nonsense when connecting with me!
• My blog also acts as an online resume, showing anyone unsure about connecting the value I bring and why they should reach out. It gives people a chance to see what I’m into, what I’ve done, and what I’m all about.
• Lastly, my blog gives them a sense of my personality and interests, which can spark some genuine conversations and connections. (I always hope so!)

Attracting Potential Connections Using My Blog

One of the best things about blogs is that they can serve many purposes.

Not only can it act as my ‘resume’ that I share on my social profile, but my blog (thanks to search engines) can also work like my own agent, attracting potential connections and relationships for me automatically.

With search engines like Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and others, I can reach millions of people worldwide with my blog. Anyone who finds my blog while looking for the info I’ve posted could be a new connection or relationship waiting to happen.

To get people to find my blog, though, there are three simple steps to follow. (I’ve done them before, and trust me, they work.)

1. First, I allow search engines to crawl and index my blog.
2. Second, I make sure to write valuable content.
3. Third, I make sure my blog and posts are easy for search engines to understand—the purpose needs to be clear. What are my posts about? What questions am I answering?

The third step is all about SEO, or search engine optimization, which is a whole topic on its own. Although honestly, I think it’s becoming less important as search engines get smarter with AI and machine learning.

In fact, with AI evolving, bloggers can probably go back to traditional blogging and not worry so much about SEO. Search engines will get so good at understanding blog posts and showing them for the right searches.

Another way a blog can attract potential connections is through discovery platforms like Pinterest and Flipboard.

On these platforms, I just register, share my blog posts with a good description and the right tags, and people start to find me.

Like search engines, though, each platform has its own optimization techniques, but that’s a topic for another day.

The main goal here, overall, is to attract people with similar interests by writing about topics we can both connect with.

For example, if I’m interested in creating a comfortable life through my online business or blog, I should write posts about how I plan to achieve that, what tools I use, and the skills I’m learning.

I could also share my story and experiences—basically, stuff I’d discuss with a like-minded person if we met in real life.

Writing Blog Posts to Create Relationships

One of the main reasons we should include our experiences in blog posts is simple—that’s what a blog is all about. (For personal blogs, at least)

A blog is basically a personal log of someone’s life! I mean, without personal stories, is it even a blog?

Most importantly, it’s through sharing those experiences that a connection is made. 

Think of writing a blog like making friends in real life. We don’t make friends by staying silent or keeping everything to ourselves. Instead, we open up, share our thoughts, and let people in through our stories.

When they hear what we’ve been through, they might find something they connect with, and that’s when the relationship sparks and starts to grow!

Sharing our experiences in a blog post can also show our readers or potential connections that we truly understand their situation and can help them.

For example, if someone finds our blog through a search engine while looking for a solution to their problem, our personal stories can give them confidence that we know what we’re talking about.

Experience builds credibility. It shows that our knowledge comes from real-life situations, not just theory, making it easier for readers to trust us and see us as a reliable source of advice or guidance.

Did you know that I quit my nine-to-five job to do full-time blogging?

I was inspired by so many other bloggers who shared their real struggle and success stories—true experiences—that really resonated with me.

I really connected with their stories about the struggles they faced at work and how they fought to get by; experiences that opened their eyes to the importance of living life on their own terms and fueled their desire to live without regrets.

It’s inspiring to see how they transformed their challenges into motivation for a more fulfilling life!

Yep, that’s how powerful experiences are in convincing and motivating people… and of course, they’re great for creating connections too.

After learning about their experiences, I felt inspired to follow them on social media.

I also subscribed to their newsletters so I can stay updated on how they’re doing while I’m on a months-long hiatus from social media to avoid its intrusive algorithms.

Their stories really made me a fan!

Anyway, you know, I have a confession…

Right now, I have two other blogs, or maybe I should call them niche sites, that only had short-lived success. What mistake did I make that caused that success not to last? Here it is:

Although I built them with all my passion and love, I didn’t base them on my own experiences.

I wrote about my own experiences on my first site, but I stopped after around 50 blog posts because I decided to focus on building niche sites.

I probably would have more fans or at least more subscribers by now if I had stuck to writing blog posts based on my own experiences.

You can read the whole story in my essay, “Blogging as the Ticket to a Life of Travel and Freedom,” but this experience has definitely taught me a lesson and helped me find the right direction in blogging.

Now, I’m building my third blog, which you’re reading right now: Explore to Thrive. Here, I’m applying everything I’ve learned from my previous blogs.

I’m focusing on experience and authenticity, sharing both my wins and losses with you, my readers.

I admit, it won’t be easy because it takes a lot of courage to be vulnerable, but I think it’s worth it.

After all, a relationship built on trust and understanding is better than any other kind of relationship out there.

Final Thoughts

If you’re blogging to build meaningful connections too, here’s one thing you can’t miss adding to your blog: a subscription form.

It seems like common sense to have one, but some people don’t bother because they think inviting others to like or follow their social media accounts is enough. (No, it’s not enough)

Once a beginner, I used to be one of those bloggers when I was building my first blog.

What was the result? I missed out on a lot of opportunities to gain subscribers who could have turned into virtual friends through thoughtful emails. (Never again!)

So, that’s all I can share for now.