Blog Carnivals Are A Treasure Trove Of Opportunity

Photograph by Kilroy_60

I've come to learn there are a lot of blogospherians {a Kilroy original} who do not understand what blog carnivals are. Some think that unless you're in the carnival there's no way to benefit.

You may have read that the basic idea behind a carnival is to bring a group of blogs together so they can all benefit from a single promotional effort. That's true, but only to a degree.

What people seem to miss is there's a benefit to visiting carnivals and clicking through to the blogs that have contributed posts.

The best way to attract people to visit your blog is to write comments. Make that, meaningful comments. The person whose post you comment on is likely to check out your site, as are other people who follow you to comment on that same post. You'll have people who read comments even if they don't write them...and they check out who is writing.

Having people come to your site from a link is, of course, the lifeblood of organic traffic.

When you visit a blog that's hosting a carnival, comment on the carnival post, check out other posts and write comments as you go, you significantly increase your chances that the host blogospherian will want to connect with you.

People who participate in carnivals are likely to link with other people who participate in carnivals. These are connections you may never make otherwise.

That's the beauty of blog carnivals, there are only benefits in participating...however you do so.

There's no better way to meet other blogospherians, to build traffic, to get more links and to receive a higher number of comments than to do get involved in carnivals.

If Page Rank is a priority issue for you, blog carnivals are proven to drive up the number.

Hosting a carnival is the part of the deal that requires time and effort.

You have to collect the submissions from blogospherians who want to appear in the carnival; you need to do promotion for the carnival of one kind or another; and you have to generate the post.

Carnivals that are merely lists have their place, but in the long run you need something more interesting to feed the bulldog.

The benefit of hosting, of course, is that you get exposure for your blog. The best case scenario is that those blogospherians who are going to participate will help you promote the carnival, both beforehand and after the carnival is posted.

Minimally, if people are included in the carnival they will come and see how it looks. What appears to be traffic for a day can pay off in the long run.

For me, the social aspect of carnivals is what's most enjoyable. I like meeting other blogospherians, getting feedback on my posts, writing comments on posts I find interesting in other blogs and picking up ideas for posts I can do.

My enthusiasm for blog carnivals is well founded. My page rank isn't especially high at 4, but it was a big, fat ZERO before I started doing carnivals.

I have two carnivals coming up. The first, the SOUP TO NUTS progressive dinner carnival is a one-of-a-kind. One carnival presented in five parts, with five different hosts!

Since blogs attract their own organic traffic, participating in more than one portion of this carnival maximizes possibilities of achieving any and all the benefits of typical carnivals.

{Enter a post in Soup to Nuts}

The other carnival coming is the Gonzo Gratitude! Carnival {What are you thankful for?}. That's scheduled for 15 February. {All you need to know}

I'll look forward to seeing you at these carnivals. As you traverse the blogosphere keep an eye out for me...I'll be, carnivaling.