How to increase your blog readership: participate in carnivals
One very effective technique I’ve used to increase the readership on my blogs is to participate in various carnivals relevant to the topic of each blog. Carnivals are an excellent way of getting exposure in your particular niche.
I see the following benefits:
- People in your niche become aware of your blog.
- It is a good source of developing incoming links.
- You discover other blogs in your niche and by reading their blogs you discover new ways of writing about and presenting your subject.
- Many of those reading your blog for the first time will leave comments.
- You become part of the community in your niche.
While I don’t see huge inflows of traffic from participating in carnivals, I do see a strong bond of loyalty from those who participate in the carnivals. We visit each other’s blogs frequently, we leave relevant comments and we make links back to each others articles where relevant.
Related articles:
- Trevor’s Birding - from the archives of my birding blog.
- Trevor’s Travels - from the archives of my travel blog.
Links:
- Blog Carnivals - an index of over 2000 carnivals for bloggers on many different topics.
- 31 days to building a better blog 2007 - the inspiration for this post came from this article by Darren Rowse.
UPDATE: I have written a follow up article in answer to the questions left by people commenting on this post. It is called: How to participate in blog carnivals - I hope this answers a few questions.
Blog Entries
August 2nd, 2007 at 1:56 pm
[…] How to increase your Blog readership: participate in carnivals by Trevor Hampel […]
August 3rd, 2007 at 2:11 am
Thanks for this post… I found you through ProBlogger where my post on blogging tips
made it to the list
August 3rd, 2007 at 4:33 am
I am new at blogging as of June 1. The number of visitors to my site has grown steadily since the first week. Last week, I was averaging 20-25 visitors a day. Then I started doing Carnivals. My visitors are 50+ daily the past few days. Carnivals do help
August 3rd, 2007 at 6:33 am
[…] How to increase your blog readership […]
August 3rd, 2007 at 7:08 am
Hi Trevor. Can I just ask how you participate in a carnival? Is it just a series of posts on a single topic, one post on a topic or just announcing that your blog is taking part? Thanks.
August 3rd, 2007 at 10:37 am
I’ve also wondered how best to utilize these, or even what they are. I hear from people that they are good, but which sites run these?
August 3rd, 2007 at 2:27 pm
[…] Wednesday I wrote a post called How to increase your blog readership: participate in carnivals. Participating in blog carnivals has been very effective for me in reaching new readers and […]
August 3rd, 2007 at 2:33 pm
Welcome to my blog Emad. I hope that you found something worthwhile on my blog during your visit. I’ve done a follow up article here:
http://www.trevorhampel.com/how-to-participate-in-blog-carnivals/
August 3rd, 2007 at 2:39 pm
Thank you for visiting my blog Patricia. Your experience with carnivals mirrors mine. I found them a good way of getting new readers, more links and it helped in developing a sense of community around my blog and other similar blogs in my niche.
I have done a follow up article here:
http://www.trevorhampel.com/how-to-participate-in-blog-carnivals/
August 3rd, 2007 at 2:44 pm
Thank you for visiting my blog Simon.
In response to your question (also asked by others) I have written a follow up article. This goes step by step through the process of participating in carnivals. You can find the article here:
http://www.trevorhampel.com/how-to-participate-in-blog-carnivals/
August 3rd, 2007 at 2:50 pm
Thanks for your comment and question Jess.
I have written a follow up article where I try to answer your question on how to go about participating in carnivals.
You can read it here:
http://www.trevorhampel.com/how-to-participate-in-blog-carnivals/
August 4th, 2007 at 11:54 am
[…] good example of this in action, have a look at Trevor Hampel’s blog. He wrote a post on why Blogging Carnivals are a good idea and received questions relating to the actual participation in carnivals themselves. He has now […]
August 5th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
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August 8th, 2007 at 12:57 am
[…] How to increase your Blog readership: participate in carnivals by Trevor Hampel […]
August 9th, 2007 at 8:30 am
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August 13th, 2007 at 11:59 am
[…] How to increase your Blog readership: participate in carnivals by Trevor Hampel […]
August 14th, 2007 at 12:55 am
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August 20th, 2007 at 3:29 am
[…] How to increase your Blog readership: participate in carnivals by Trevor Hampel […]