Actually I was busy checking up on our bloggers using Whole Hog Blogs, doing some backlinking research, etc., when I stumbled upon Blog Carnival (thanks to Linda at ForcedGreen. She may not be aware, but it was tracking down her search engine placement that led me to this unusual website).

So with all the preamble, what is BlogCarnival? The best way to describe it may be to tell you what it ultimately “looks like” with the finished product.

Have you ever read someone’s blog where they present a story with natural words within the post leading to other people’s websites? Done correctly, you are almost unaware of the linking because it fits so well within the post. However, when you’re done reading, you also have all these other websites to visit to follow up on your research or quell your curiosity. (This is my interpretation about what I read and could be slightly off as to the “final product.”)

[Please see comments to update the above paragraph.]

A blog carnival takes the premise and puts people together to get the job done - by category. It’s a team of people working together around a central theme. You can interact on any level in a blog carnival.

Here’s an excerpt from the frequently asked questions about blog carnivals:

Who creates a Blog Carnival?

It takes a village, you might say. Although it is possible for one person to do everything it takes to make a Blog Carnival, the work is usually divided up like this:

* The Organizer starts the carnival, decides what it will be about, what the submission criteria are, and how often it will appear. They also coordinate who will host each edition of the carnival. As time passes, they find new volunteers to host. Organizers use Blog Carnival to manage the schedule of who is hosting what and when, so they can present it to their audience in a single, well-known place.

* The Host volunteers to host a carnival edition on their blog. They work with the organizer to pick a date that suits them (popular carnivals schedule their hosts for months in advance). In the period leading up their scheduled date, they collect submissions from bloggers, and organize them into a single article chalk-full of links, often with their own comments. This article is published on the scheduled date, and everyone leaves comments on their blog telling them what a great job they did (well, usually, anyway).

* Bloggers who have written an article on the carnival’s topic can submit the link for inclusion in the next edition of the carnival. Often, bloggers who contribute to carnivals are experts in their field (or at least, highly opinionated!). Blog Carnival has a carnival submission form for each carnival that bloggers can use to submit links to selected posts to a carnival host. All the blogger needs to know is the name of the carnival, and Blog Carnival takes care of getting it to the right person.

* The Audience consists of both bloggers and just-plain-interested readers. They come to Blog Carnival to find out if there is a carnival on a topic they are interested in, and to find out where the carnival editions have been, and where they’re going to be in the future.

Getting started seems very straightforward. You browse through the Blog Carnival Index and find carnivals on topics you blog about. Then, just click on the name of the carnival to get all the details. Each profile page has a description that explains what that particular carnival is about and how you can participate.

Then you determine at what level you wish to participate, and follow their directions.

We haven’t tried this yet ourselves - still trying to figure out exactly where we fit in in the scheme of life. But there is variety and you are sure to find the right niche for yourself in the Blog Carnival community.

I’ll be honest with you, their FAQ page is huge - and you’ll want to read it all so you understand what’s required of you and what your benefits for participating will be.

QUESTION: Has anyone participated at BlogCarnival before? What was your outcome? Would you do it again? Please leave your comments and feedback below, we’d love to hear from you!

Tags: audience, backlink, backlinks, blog, blogger, bloggers, blogging, blogs, browsing, business, carnival, comments, community, curiosity, doings, excerpt from, excerpts, finished product, get, host volunteers, hosts, indexes, job, love, make, management, new, news, niche, organizers, people, popularity, preamble, premise, profiles, research, s, search engine placement, submission, submission criteria, submissions, website, whole hog

This entry was posted on Monday, May 19th, 2008 at 1:24 pm and is filed under Increase Website Traffic, Link Building, Reviews, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Strategies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.