USING BLOG CARNIVALS FOR PROMOTION AND LINK-BUILDING
Blog carnivals are promotional events where one blogger acts as the carnival host and other bloggers join as carnival participants. The host announces the carnival topic and date, and then other bloggers commit to writing about that topic on their own blogs on the specified date. Each participant sends the link for the carnival post to the host, who publishes the actual blog carnival post on the date of the carnival with links to all of the participant’s posts included in it.
The blog carnival host may or may not write summaries or interesting snippets about each participant’s post, but it’s up to the carnival host to decide how they want to publish the links. When the blog carnival post is published by the host, readers will have easy access to a variety of posts about a specific topic.
Each blog carnival participant (as well as the host) is expected to promote the carnival on his or her blog prior to the event. Futhermore, when the carnival post is published on the host’s blog, participants are expected to promote that post as well. Sometimes, participants are encouraged to republish the carnival post on their own blogs for reciprocal linking benefits.
Incoming links are weighted heavily be search algorithms such as the one used by Google, which can give your blog a boost from search traffic.
FINDING BLOG CARNIVALS
A number of web sites enable blog carnival hosts to publicize their carnivals and open them for submissions and participation. If you’re interested in hosting a blog carnival and finding participants or finding an open carnival that you can join as a participant, Blog Carnival (www.blogcarnival.com), is one of the most popular sites to do it.
It’s easy to register for a free account at Blog Carnival and then search for open carnivals (ones that are ongoing and available for bloggers to join) from the Open Carnival List. You can find the Open Carnival list at http://blogcarnival.com/bc/client.html or by clicking the link in the upper-right corner of the Blog Carnival home page that shows the number of carnivals under the Blog Carnival Index heading. To find carnivals that match your blog topic and audience, enter related keywords into the text box or select a carnival category from the Filed Under drop-down list.
You can submit your own posts (called articles on the site) to open blog carnivals by using the form provided on the site. You can access this form by creating a free Blog Carnival Account and selecting the Submit an Article link from the specific carnival page you want to join.
STARTING A BLOG CARNIVAL
If you decide to start a blog carnival of your own, you can go about it the hard way or the easy way:
. The hard way : You can start a blog carnival and host it on your blog by simply publishing a call for content and participation on your own blog and
promoting it through your social networking and Twitter efforts. You can also contact other bloggers directly and ask them to participate. However, this is
a tedious and time-consuming task. Unless you have a tight network of bloggers who would benefit from blogging about the same topic, you’ll have better
luck with the easy way.
. The easy way : You can use a site such as Blog Carnival to promote your blog carnival. Simply create a free account at Blog Carnival and follow the
easy instructions to create your carnival, publicize an open edition of your carnival (editions are used for ongoing carnivals that happen weekly, monthly, and so
on), and publish a call for submissions.
If you use the easy way to create a blog carnival you should still promote it on your blog and through your social web profiles such as a Twitter, Facebook, and so on.
PROMOTING A BLOG CARNIVAL
Writing a blog carnival post is just a small part of hosting or participating in a successful blog carnival. Without promotion, a blog carnival can go unnoticed. To drive traffic to your blog carnival, follow these promotional suggestions:
. Blog about the carnival before, during, and after the final carnival post is published.
. Ensure carnival participants help to promote it.
. Tweet about the carnival.
. Spread the word through social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, and so on.
. If the blog carnival is ongoing, create a Facebook page or Group for it.
. Share links to the carnival on social bookmarking sites such as Digg, StumbleUpon, Reddit, and so on.
. Leave useful comments on blogs related to the carnival topic and include a link to the carnival post for more information.
. Share the link to your carnival in the About.com web logs forum, at:
http://forums.about.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?folderId=12&1istMode=13&Nav=messages&webtag=ab-weblogs.
. Visit online forums or groups related to your blog carnival topic and share the link to the final carnival post for visitors to find excellent content.
The important thing is to make an effort to promote the blog carnival in any way you can.
BLOG CARNIVAL DO’S
A blog carnival is only as successful as the quality of content provided by the participants and the promotion done by the host and participants. The most important thing you want to avoid doing when you participate in a blog carnival is dropping the ball. That means if you commit to participate in blog carnival, you must:
. Be responsible and submit your post on time.
. Make sure your post is a good one that’s well-written, on topic, and interesting.
. Keep your carnival post free of spam links and self-promotion.
. Help to promote the carnival by blogging about it and linking to it on Twitter, Facebook, Digg, StumbleUpon, and so on.
The blog carnival host also has responsibilities to ensure the carnival is managed and promoted well so participants get the maximum exposure possible. As a blog carnival host, you should:
. Solicit submissions from reliable bloggers that match the carnival topic.
. Follow up and make sure they promote the carnival post.
. Heavily promote the carnival on your blog, via Twitter, through Facebook, and on all other social web profiles you maintain both before the carnival and
once the carnival posts are published.