Get More From Blogging Carnival Participation

Get More From Your Blogging Carnival Participation

Each month, I host a WoW gold blogging carnival open for participation from anyone with or without a blog.  It's a pretty straightforward concept.  I pick the topic and everyone is invited to participate.  Just write a post on the chosen topic, host it on your own WoW blog (or on one of the blogs willing to host it as a guest post, if you aren't a blog owner), then send me the link for inclusion in the monthly carnival.  The July Blogging Carnival topic is up already too, in case you missed it.

So let's take a look a little deeper into the benefits of participation and how to get the most from your carnival entry submissions.  Take note, this isn't a pitch to get more participants in the monthly carnival here (although the more, the merrier).  The primary purpose of this article is to help educate other bloggers, and those readers thinking of starting a blog, about ways to use the carnivals to be of more benefit as a participant.  I was a newer blogger once too and would have appreciated the same types of tips in this article, much earlier than I had to discover them on my own.  I hope these ideas help you out too.

Perks Of Carnival Participation

Participating In Blogging Carnivals Gets You Traffic, New Readers, and New Subscribers

Guest Posting and Blogging Carnivals are two of the absolute best ways to grow your own site's audience.  Being featured on another site, especially one with more traffic or a higher page rank, is an excellent way to get exposure to other readers within your same blogging niche.  Many of the visitors that read your carnival entry will return back to visit your site to read more, if they enjoyed your carnival post.  Remember that any g7uest post, carnival entry, or anything featured outside of your own blog, should be of your best quality, since these will be exposed to many brand new readers.  The Cold's Gold Factory Gold Blogging Carnival is a great place for readers to discover more cool bloggers that also write about making gold in World of Warcraft.

Another key benefit of participating in blogging carnivals is the fact that the carnivals tend to continue sending you traffic forever.  New readers to my site often check out the dedicated blogging carnival page and the older carnivals, which continue to send traffic and new readers to the participants.


Blogging Carnivals Help You Build Page Rank


Cold's Gold Factory has a Google Page Rank of 3.  That means any link from me is a good quality relevant link that will help to build your site's Page Rank with Google, especially if your site's Page Rank is lower than mine.  Higher ranked sites that link to you are worth more, than lower ranked sites.  Find out your own site's rank here:  http://www.prchecker.info/check_page_rank.php

How To Get More From Your Carnival Post

Use A Proper Title

One of the common mistakes I see made with blogging carnival entries is what the post is titled.  You should title your post completely based on the content within that post, as if you weren't submitting it elsewhere.  Too often I see Cold's Carnival Entry or Cold's Blogging Carnival as the title of the posts with nothing about what the post is even about.  For your own benefit, always use a title with good keywords and a phrase that describes what your post is about.  You are robbing yourself of 2 of the best places to get page rank and keyword ranking for your post (the title and the url).  You always want the title and the url to be relevant to your post, so others can find it later through the search engines.

Deep Link Within Your Post -

Deep internal blog linking is a great way to get visitors reading more of your posts.  It's ok to add links (I suggest 2-3 in every post you write) in your carnival entry post.  Then some of the readers will dig deeper into more of your posts.  It also helps to catch readers from feeds and other syndications (like those damn copy-cat & content stealing bot sites) by bringing them back to your original site, if they click on one of your links.  This also helps increase your page views and your visitor's time on your site.

Don't Wait To Post In The Final Days Before The Carnival Deadline

Ideally, you want the post you submit for any blogging carnival to go live on your site as far away from the actual carnival day as possible.  Procrastinating and posting your carnival entry on the last few days prior to the carnival's live date can cost you traffic.  Readers of gold blogs skip over visiting your article because they recall seeing it recently (possibly in another site's blogroll) and it is fresh in their mind, even though they may not have even read it yet.

Also, if you post sooner rather than later, your post may already have a vibrant discussion in the comment section.  When the wave of carnival traffic flows in, there could be more participation and discussion as people tend to comment more when there is already something being discussed.  Google likes active comments, especially keyword rich relevant comments.

Tweet, Like, Plus, Reddit, and Share Your Entry And The Final Carnival Post

Share the hell out of your posts.  Every one of them.  Social Media is great for increasing your reader exposure.  So don't forget to share your carnival posts too.  Then share the Cold's Gold Factory Gold Blogging post that wraps up all of the carnival entries into the 1 big post.  I share it all over to get you guys more exposure and more readers.  When we all share, we all benefit.  Hosting and participating in blogging carnivals are very symbiotic relationships.  When we all do our best, the entire group shines.

The Cold's Gold Blogging Carnival is here for the benefit of the readers and to help out other bloggers.  Readers get an exposure to a variety of ideas on a similar topic on making gold in WoW, but are also introduced to new authors and new sites to read in that same area of interest.  I hope you enjoy the carnivals here at Cold's Gold Factory, both as a reader and a contributor.

Thanks for the great posts!



More Blogging and Traffic Tips at BloggingVitals.Blogspot.Com
A Site I Put Ideas For Helping Out New Bloggers.

World of Warcraft Blogging 101

World of Warcraft Gold Bloggers

Maybe you are already blogging about World of Warcraft or maybe you have been thinking about giving blogging a try.  I have been blogging at Cold's Gold Factory about World of Warcraft for almost a year and a half now.  I have my share of experiences and would like to pass on some of the things I have learned to those of you that are less experienced or may be thinking about getting started with your first WoW blog.

Since the release of the Cataclysm expansion, the number of World of Warcraft gold blogging sites has exploded.  Many new bloggers have joined the gold blogging community, but not all of them will have the staying power to last.  Why?  Gold blogging with a consistent schedule and top quality content is harder than you may think.

Blogging Is Not Easy

Blogging is hard work.  It can take upwards of 2 or more hours per post when we finalize a post for our readers.  Sometimes topics ideas will come to you quickly, but many times you have to put a lot of thought and effort into deciding what to even write about.  When you are a fresh blogger, the topic ideas may not be so hard to come up with, but once you have written on a lot of topics already, it gets harder and harder to come up with something new to discuss.  This is only compounded the longer you continue to blog within the same topic niche.  Thankfully as WoW bloggers, there will always be patch notes to spark our minds with new topics.  Be forewarned though, it is not easy to come up with top quality readable content every single day.

Why Are You Blogging?

Every blogger has their own reason for starting a World of Warcraft blog.  My reason for blogging may be completely different than your reason for sharing your thoughts with the rest of the world.  Regardless whatever reason you choose to start up a World of Warcraft blog, stick to your reasoning.  Don't change up your reason for blogging because of what pressures or attacks you may receive from commentors, readers, or other bloggers.  Which brings me to my next pointer.

You Need To Have Thick Skin

Can you take criticism?  Do you have thick skin?  Why?  You will be getting feedback on your blog posts.  Some of it will be good and some of it will be bad.  You may even get some hate mail.  Just this weekend I had an odd request from a newer blogger asking to be removed from my blogroll.  This author stated that he was under a massive hate mail attack and was being accused by other bloggers of stealing content, being a copy-cat, and he was ready to quit blogging completely.  After some of us veteran bloggers sent replies he has decided to continue on, which is nice to see.  Remember, the more popular and successful you become, the more haters will come out of the woodwork.  So listen to constructive criticism, especially if it is from a fellow blogging veteran, but don't put too much effort and energy into hate mail and idiots who want to leave stupid comments on your blog.  One quick way to cut out a lot of the "OMG, you suck!" type comments is to not allow commentors to use Anonymous commenting.  I have recently turned off anonymous commenting, because 90% of the time anon comments are from idiots that are scared to post their name with their comment and are just commenting to stir trouble.

Get In Touch With Others

If you want to be successful, get in touch with the other bloggers in your niche.  Try to establish working relationships with multiple other bloggers and at least 1 veteran blogger.  By veteran, I mean a blogger who has been within the niche for a year or longer.  These veteran bloggers can serve as a great mentor for you.  I myself have help a handful of the current WoW gold bloggers that are still publishing today.  Many of us blog because we like sharing our tips and tricks and enjoy helping others make gold in the game.  On the same note, most of us will gladly help you get started and will help you understand some of the basics of gold blogging.  Who is your blogging mentor?  Don't be afraid to ask for help or to bounce ideas off of one another.

Write A Guest Post

Guest posting is an excellent way to establish a relationship with another site owner as well as a great tool for getting exposure to new readers.  Contact some of the better known blogs and offer to write a guest post for them.  Many times we bloggers welcome guest posts to help out newer bloggers, but also it gives us a post for a day, which lightens our busy schedule a bit.  Guest posting is a win-win situation.  Just be sure to adhere to any guidelines or recommendations from the hosting author and don't get offended if you are asked to polish up your entry. 

Join a Blogging Carnival

Just as guest posting is great for exposure and relationship building, so is writing for a blogging carnival.  Submitting regular posts to a monthly blogging carnival is an awesome way to both build readers and relationships.  Here at Cold's Gold Factory I host a monthly gold blogging carnival and I am always looking to feature new authors and their World of Warcraft sites.  So if you haven't particpated yet, what is holding you back.  Join the CGF Gold Blogging Carnival participants and get your articles read by many more users than you may be able to find on your own.

Need More Blogging Help?

Feel free to follow me on twitter @SSmith0911 and ask questions there or shoot me an email at SSmith0911 (at) live (dot) com.  I'm more than appy to help you get started and answer any questins you may have.  And I am always willing to support other authors by publishing guest posts or exchanging guest posts.  All you have to do is ask.

Also Flux over at Power World Gold has a nice WoW Gold Blog Directory, which you can use to get in touch with all of the gold bloggers and podcasters.

Back to more top notch gold tips tommorrow.

Blogging Vitals - New Blog For Bloggers

Traffic And Monetization Help For Bloggers

I have started posting daily on a new blog that I have created, Blogging Vitals - Tips for Increasing Traffic and Monetizing your Site.  The focus of this new blog is to help other bloggers succeed in driving traffic, monetizing their site, and building a better blog.  Markco has started a new blog as well with tips for driving traffic and building your google page rank.  Together these 2 sites should be valuable to any blogger new or old so please give them a look.

Here are my current posts:

bloggingvitals.blogspot.com
Blogging Consistency
Anchor Text and Proper Linking
Choosing Your Blog Topic
Setting Goals For Your Blog
Power of Pinging
Internal Blog Linking

Also check out Markco's traffic tips site as well:  The Traffic Blogger

So stop by the new site and subscribe or comment and let's build a better World of Warcraft blogging community.

Be sure to Get your entry in for the Cold's Gold Factory Win A Pet Code Contest.  Only 10 days left to enter.