Jun 07 2008
Reader Question: Are Blog Carnivals Worth Your Time?
I recently received the following question on my post Call For Blog Carnival Posts from Paul at The Business Coaching Blog.
Do you have much success with Blog Carnivals?
I tried it at the start of the year and submitted some of my best articles but never received enough traffic back to justify the time and effort.
The answer is, it depends on how you define success. You can’t just look at traffic because there’s a lot more involved which is actually more important than the traffic you receive.
Participating in Blog Carnivals can offer other things besides traffic.
- By getting listed in a Blog Carnival you’re getting a keyword laden (assuming you use good titles) deep link to a page on your blog. Google *loves* that. It shows that people like specific things you’re saying, not just your blog in general.
- The link from the Carnival gives you a touch more Technorati Authority, which Google is also a fan of.
- Many participants in Carnivals will link back to the Carnival and make a comment about their favorite post(s) which could give you yet another link for #1 and 2 above.
- When your submission is posted, you can go comment on the post to get your name in front of people again. If the host happens to be using do-follow and particularly comment or keyword luv, you’ve just gotten another link-back.
- Your name and blog will get in front of many people who might never have found you otherwise which could result in a new loyal reader or two.
So you see, it’s not all about the traffic. You have to look at the big picture. Traffic is just a small bonus to the big payoff which is page rank and authority. About the traffic though, it’s my experience that even when it’s not a ton, it trickles in forever. On another blog I run, I have an article I posted to a Carnival 2 years ago that I still get hits on.
For tips on how to easily submit your posts to a Carnival, read my Down and Dirty Blog Submission Technique and don’t forget to submit your posts to my Virtual Assistant/Home Business Blog Carnival.
Hi Amanda
Thanks for taking the trouble and responding so fully to my query.
There are lots of things that you can do to give you these indirect benefits, especially with all the forums and social media content sharing sites.
In some ways I see this as a mirror of the debate between direct response advertising and brand advertising. The first is designed to produce measurable results that can be tested and improved. The second gradually builds awareness.
I have to admit that I have a preference for something that gives me a measurable result (as well as the brand exposure).
But you have convinced me that I need to give the blog carnivals another try. Perhaps I didn’t provide enough temptation to come scurrying back to my blog.
Thanks again
Paul
PS this commentluv is a great little featuring for giving an extra little boost to encourage comments which I will add to my wordpress blog.
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