Redirect Traffic by Taking Part in Blog Carnivals (Part 2)
November 3, 2008
In the earlier article in this series, I discussed what blog carnivals are and why all aspiring bloggers should be participating in them. In the event that you missed that post, let me recap briefly the advantages to participating in blog carnivals:
- They improve your credibility
- You quickly gain profitable, regular subscribers of your partner blogs
- You get an immediate boost of traffic to blog articles
- You get a long term increase in search result rankings
What I want to cover in this article is how you can get the most benefit out of your carnival participation. Let’s be real, carnivals require time and effort, so you should get as much benefit and good will from them as possible. Here’s how you can accomplish that:
1) Submit your posts early. There will be a submission deadline, but it’s likely that the host already has a good idea about how the article will be structured before the deadline, so you want your post available during this formative stage.
2) Make the host’s job easier: Learn how to create blog article titles that are compelling, and brainstorm two or three powerful, compelling titles that can be used for the anchor text in links. Good headlines are difficult to craft, so craft them on your own. You’ll save the host the effort and get more traffic from a more powerful headline.
3) Follow the entry guidelines.
4) Get organized: Organize the information you enter. Include your e-mail address, name, blog name, post title, article summary, several sample headings, trackback URL, and permalink. Place this information in an e-mail above the full article itself, unless otherwise directed.
5) Promote: Once submitted, be sure to advertise the carnival. What goes around comes around, and your collaborative efforts to generate traffic will payoff for everyone in the long run. That’s the concept behind these carnivals: all participants are sharing subscribers, giving each the opportunity to attract the others’ regular readers.
6) Make sure your blog can handle your visitors: Ready your blog for any traffic spikes that might occur, and optimize the page that the carnival readers will be viewing. You’ll want to target the ads or offers to your audience, provide a very conspicuous subscription link, and follow-up with at least one week’s worth of strong posts to capitalize on any repeat traffic you might have.
Blog carnivals are a excellent way to attract profitable, relevant, qualified, long-term readers. Use them properly and you’ll reap the rewards. But you must be ready to put your best foot forward. Pick up a good blogs how to if you have any doubts on how you can optimize your blog for this kind of traffic.
Good luck!