Blogs How To

Why Up and Coming Bloggers Must Participate in Blog Carnivals (Part 1)

Let me just say that I’m a big believer of blog carnivals. Of course, they’re not without their disadvantages, but the advantages entirely outweigh the amount of effort and time that you give them.

That’s why it confounds me that blog carnivals aren’t more popular. Yes, the first few times that you participate in them, it will take you a little extra time to get used to how they work. And new carnival networks can sometimes be less reliable than one might like. But get hooked up with a good group of bloggers in your market, and carnivals are effective ways to:

• Improve your authority
• Immediately gain profitable, regular readers of your partner blogs
• Get a quick surge of traffic to blog entries
• Get a long term gain in search engine rankings

What is a Blog Carnival?

A blog carnival is a web event consisting of a loose partnership of bloggers writing about a predefined subject. The articles produced (or linked to) during a carnival usually resulting in a magazine-like format. The carnival has a theme, title, editors, writers, and consumers. Most carnivals are held on a regular basis with rotating hosts.

A carnival usually has an owner, who is the organizer of the overall carnival, deciding or collaborating on things like rules, frequency, how to blog in the carnival, editorial guidelines, and such. The owner also acts as the coordinator, determining the hosting schedule for the carnival.

Every carnival has one host, and the host’s blog is where all the blog articles for that particular carnival are located. In response to the call for submissions, every blogger participating in the carnival submits their post to the host, where it is reviewed, edited, and published in the host blog as one giant linkbait post or a series of posts. Obviously, you should know how to create blog posts that are effective and compelling to get the most benefit.

Carnivals usually draw loads of qualified traffic, so bloggers participating in the carnival receive a valuable one-way link from the host and the immediate traffic boost associated with the initial readers. The carnival host gets links from each of the member bloggers who have partnered together to advertise the event, knowing that the better the carnival is, the better the links will be when it comes time for them to host.

Now that you know what a carnival is, we’ll review how you can get the most out of your carnival participation . . . in our next post!

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What Platform is Best for your Blog?

I can’t think of a more common concern or question among both beginning and experienced bloggers alike: which blogging platform should I use? Aside from learning how to blog, it’s an almost universal concern.

And there is no simple answer. All bloggers MUST own their URLs, but choice of the platform is mainly dependent on the indivudal blogger’s needs. That said, I’ve compiled a list of advantages and disadvantages of the two main platform choices below.

Hosted Platforms

Hosted platforms refer to services whereby a service provider grants you access to their software, network connection, and hardware, and you register a blogging account for use on that platform. With a hosted blog, you have access to an administrative panel for your blog, and that’s it.

Popular hosted platforms include packages like Blogger, TypePad, and LiveJournal.

Advantages of Hosted Platforms

• Cheap: many are free; others (like TypePad) are offered with multiple price points
• Simple to get started: just signup for an account and then quickly  learn how to create blog posts
• Automatic updates: you don’t have to concern yourself with keeping hosted software patched and updated.

Disadvantages of Hosted Platforms

• Rigid: there are fewer configuration options with hosted platforms.
• Not as many design choices: you typically only get to choose from a limited number of standard designs, and you often can’t make updates to them
• Generic URL: some hosted platforms don’t offer the choice to use your own URL
• Less control: you are at the mercy of the platform
• Migration issues: migrating from some free hosted platforms results in a lot of effort and often the temporary loss of search engine rankings

Self-hosted Platforms

Self-hosted platforms consist of a web hosting account you establish with a data center, and the blogging software you install on the host’s server. With a self-hosted blog, you have access to a management panel for your blog, but you also have access to a server account and the blog software where you can do nigh anything.

Common self-hosted software includes Movable Type, Drupal, and WordPress.

Advantages of Self-hosted Platforms

• Design flexibility: you have complete control over design and layout
• Great software: the best software exists on self-hosted platforms
• Custom URL: custom URL’s are common on self-hosted platforms
• Adaptability: you can change your blog as your needs change
• Easy migration: should you ever want to move to a different platform or another server, migrating is a snap

Disadvantages of Self-hosted Platforms

• Difficult setup: setup can sometimes be difficult, but this can be overcome with a good blogs how to
• Cost: while the blogging software is free, the hosting platform will cost you money
• Hosting issues: unless you choose a good host, you might have to suffer from down-time or poor support
• Upgrades: you will need to keep your software patched

Most of of my blogs are self-hosted, and it’s what I usually advise anyone looking to create a professional presence. There are too many benefits to pass up, and you usually have the option to host many blogs and domains on one account, driving the cost per blog down to a small amount.

Technorati Tags: blogging, blogs how to, how to blog, how to create blog, platforms

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Exactly how to set up a blog for affiliate marketing

http://www.traffic-mastery.com - People are constantly making mistakes when it comes to affiliate marketing through blogs. I show you the right way to do it in this video

Duration : 0:5:52

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Technorati Tags: affiliate, affiliate-marketing, blog, blog-marketing, internet-marketing, marketing

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