Hosting a Blog Carnival for Artisans and Crafters
Community is the biggest word in the new millennium of web marketing
called Web 2.0 and a blog carnival is the quintessential tool for this
"nicheing" and networking. A blog carnival is a "magazine" that
provides links to blogs, pod casts, videos, poems and articles that are
all on the same topic. The blogs are arranged in such a way that
the visitor to the carnival can "wander" through and pick and chose
which sites to visit much as a carnival visitor chooses between rides
and games.
Hosting a Blog Carnival
Hosting the blog carnival can be rotated between several of the
regular participants in the carnival or provide by one individual.
These links can be hosted on their own page or within a blog.
A carnival is usually announced with a deadline for submission.
The carnival may be updated periodically or archived and a new
carnival can be added for the next issue.
A host benefits by hosting the carnival in the increase of
traffic to the hosting website, the addition of new content to the
site, the addition of networking possibilities and in credibility as
a leader in the field discussed in the carnival. Requesting
and enforcing a "link back" procedure is the host's decision and can
be handled in a number of different ways..
The host provides space and markets the blog carnival. The
carnival can be a simple listing of related blogs or it can also
provide artwork, humor, descriptions and feedback forms for the
blogs. To make it more interesting, a blog host can post a "Best
of...." or even highlight a special blogger. If the host
provides bulleted lists or topic headings, it can help the carnival
participants get the click-throughs they are seeking. They can
also separate the carnival blogs by topic to make the posts more
accessible.
Spam is almost inevitable when something of value is added to a
website. Some people automate their blog carnival with a tool
like Instacarnival, and it can allow spam to occur more easily if
you don't still closely monitor the posts. To host a carnival
that is both relevant to the topic an clean of spam, it is probably
better to manually add each blog to the page. It is the host's
responsibility to keep the carnival on-topic. The dance
between encouraging participation and discouraging spam is rather
delicate.
As a host, when you set up the page, be sure you use keywords
and otherwise optimize the page for best search engine positioning,
announce the carnival to your participation groups, bookmark the
carnival on social bookmarking sites and include the carnival URL in
your signature. The links in the blog carnival should open a
new browser so the hosting site doesn't get lost in the transit from
one blog or article to the next.
Participation in a Blog Carnival
Adding blogs, articles, images and pod casts to a blog
carnival that relates to participant's product or niche is a win-win
situation for both the blogger and the host. You gain
exposure, credibility and traffic for your site. Your host
gets added content and links back from the participating blog for
the hosting website.
As a participant, who hopes for more site traffic, it becomes
even more necessary that the participating blog is frequently
updated, on-topic, well designed and literate. Humor, graphics
and interesting anecdotes can introduce prospects to your blog, but
remember that this is an international forum and check ;the grammar,
spelling and accuracy of the blog. A reputation can be made or
broken in short order online.
Blog carnivals are becoming a driving force for website traffic,
buzz and linking. Hosting or participating in a blog carnival
with other artisans or crafters can go a long way toward extending
your blog's reach into the mainstream.
Louise Coulson © 2007
Used with permission of the author
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