I have been asked this question more than once recently.
Firstly how I got involved:
I was doing Wendy Piersall’s 10 Days to a better blog and and the task on day 3 was to start to get more links to your blog and participating in a blog carnival was suggested as one of the easiest ways.
So what is a Blog Carnival? There is a detailed description here
*A topic is established.
*A bunch of bloggers write a post on the topic on their own blogs.
*Each blogger sends the permalink of their post to the Carnival host, or via BlogCarnival.com.
*The Carnival host writes one big post talking about all of the submitted entries, linking to all of them.
*Done!
First you need to find a blog carnival that is about the topic or niche your blog is about.
Head over to http://BlogCarnival.com and scan what’s there or use the search tool.
I found there were a lot of carnivals I could submit to and did.
I also took on the somewhat crazy, but mostly enjoyable task of setting up my own carnival : Abundance Thinking
This is not something you need to do. I am now running a blog carnival twice a month. but you can benefit from this by offering to host a carnival on your blog. Many hosts share this task around and it will help bring traffic to your blog.
In the post announcing Abundance thinking Blog Carnival 5 you will read I am looking for people to host in October and November.
It can also be a way of finding guest bloggers, as you generally will submit in areas that are similar to your own.
Some tips I would give after now having been both a participant and a host of Abundance Thinking Blog Carnival
- Make sure the post your are writing and submitting is on topic for the Carnival of your choice.
- Read the outline for the specific carnival
- Only submit quality content
- This is the place to promote you and your blog, not your products or affiliate links.
- Don’t submit the same post or article to lots of different carnivals
- Don’t see it as a link farm, you will gradually begin to see incoming links, remember it will take time.
- I like to receive contributions that are personal ,tell a story, make a difference- see this post. This is my personal preference. This is a great place to get your voice known. I tend not to read posts that lecture or have been lifted from somewhere else.
- A hosting tip: Blog Carnival have a beta tool InstaCarnival: Where they collect all the submissions they have received into a handy block of HTML, to give hosts a big head start on creating their carnival editions. Please respect your readers and your submitters by reading and checking everyone’s submission and lay it out in your style. I have comments back from many of my contributors, commenting on the way I present it and thanking me for including them. No I don’t include everyone one. I make sure what I put in the carnival reflects what The Abundance Highway is about and meets the outline for the edition.
Happy Blog Carnivalling
The Current Issue of Abundance thinking Blog Carnival
To submit for the next Carnival due out 24 October
No sooner asked than done. Thanks for a great explanation Suzie.
Hi Suzie,
Great post on Blog Carnivals. I’ve had great success with Blog Carnivals. I’ve run one of my own and I submit to others, like I have submitted to yours.
I love your blog. It’s listed as one of my favorites on my own blog. BTW, you’ve been Stumbled.
Nancy
My pleasure – your posts are a great help to me (and doubtless others too)
Thanks Mark for the post, good for the ego