Are you looking for a simple, quick method of marketing your blog? Marketing means traffic, and traffic means more income.
Often overlooked, but a great way to drive traffic is to use blog carnivals. Blog carnivals are a collection of blog posts regarding a certain theme or subject. After submitting blog content to the carnival, a link to the blog content will be posted along with the links of all of the other blog content submitted for that carnival issue.
Not all carnivals are the same. Some will update weekly. Others will update monthly. You will find that some will update randomly. Blog carnivals can even be hosted by a different blog each week. There are different rules for different carnival hosts. Many carnivals will only accept articles of high-quality. Others will post anything on the carnival.
A simple Google search will find a long list of blog carnival web sites. A few websites are dedicated to listing blog carnivals. Sometimes the submission process is extremely easy, asking for no more than a permalink to the content. They will also ask for your name and email address.
There are some things to keep in mind when using a carnival in promoting your blog:
The first mistake people make with blog carnivals is not following the rules. The hosts ask for some of the basics like the title of the content, summary, a permalink and a trackback URL. If you don’t include all of the requested information they may just delete your submission. They might not inform you either. Keep the content relevant to the subject of the carnival. They will most likely just delete the submission.
Stick to subjects that are related to the subject of the carnival. If it is a financial carnival that talks about stocks, you could probably get content listed regarding the officer of a company or even car content geared towards luxury. Be creative and write the title so it speaks very clearly to the reader.
Use a carnival that has regular updates. Don’t waste your best content in a carnival that is never updated. Use carnivals that use actual deadlines for submissions. The good carnivals will announce the date of the next published edition. Open ended deadlines with no date of the next issue indicates that the carnival may no longer be published. Your could be outdated by the time you realize the carnival is no longer in use.
Use your best content. Blog carnivals publish a variety of content from many bloggers. You will have some competition once the carnival is issued. Use only your most interesting posts. Always use a catchy title that stands out from the posts. New visitors will be read your content. You want to tempt the reader them to visit your blog.
Use a carnival that has been around awhile. It’s not that you shouldn’t try a new carnival. If you write content specifically to post on carnival, you’ll be better off using a carnival that’s been around awhile and established. They generate more traffic, and hopefully more visitors to your site.
Blog carnivals are a great way to market your blog and get traffic to your site. Here is the greatest thing…it’s free!
September 18th, 2008 at 5:28 am
Thanks. Most are common sense for bloggers and social bookmarkers who’ve been around a while, but absolutely right and can still serve as a good reminder to those planning on using the blog carnivals.
I was wondering what the plugin is that you use for the “I Love Social Bookmarking” menu below your posts?
September 18th, 2008 at 7:53 am
Thanks for the comment Bas - the plugin your asking about can be found here.
September 19th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
I plan to put your advice to use. I plan on visiting more often now.
October 3rd, 2008 at 8:23 am
good info. For some reason my rank dropped. Hear it is comon and has been happening alot lately adn to pay it no mnd,hmm…waht do you think?!?!? I lvoe social marketing too! Is the cheapest most effective way to get FREE hits and advertise your business,blog,site and product,even better than link exchanges like Linkreferral. In fact Linkreferral brought me no money at all and was an incredible wast e of time and they want ed money from me for the benefit from the refrrals I brought them! how bogus. I also found them to be mean,as they attracted immature people in the forums and reviewing process.
Artzstuf
October 3rd, 2008 at 8:28 am
Ann - When it comes to rank I prefer to focus on things I can control. Google will do what they want to do. There are many better factors to determine site quality.
Like you say, there are many benefits to social bookmarking.
Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate your comments!