I have a lot of favorite things: geeky girls who love tech; the early 20th century; Harry Connick, Jr.; True Blood; East of Eden; and Iowa to name just a few.

Wait.

What?

Yes. I said I love Iowa. I was born there, lived there for a short while as a baby, and try to return every year to visit my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. I love that state. Like Oklahoma, where I currently reside, Iowa doesn’t get a lot of play as being a hub of technological innovation. In fact, both states are overlooked in general because people assume we don’t have a draw for the masses. And that’s wrong. I know for a fact that both Oklahoma and Iowa have some excellent and very successful bloggers. And we like to get together and share our knowledge and experience with others. And that’s what I want to share with you: the I_Blog conference being held in Perry, IA in November.

I love the I_Blog conference because I love Iowa, blogging, and learning and I_Blog gives me all of that. It’s a conference just big enough that you will meet and get to know everyone attending and have a chance to have your own blogging questions answered. Heck, you’ll probably have a one-on-one session with someone who can give your blog the once-over and boost you up to the next level of blogging!

I attended and spoke at I_Blog last year and I’ll be doing so again this year. I cannot wait. Last year I came away from every session with some new information and I know the new bloggers in attendance came away with an abundance of ideas and help that they’re still drawing from today! I’ve been fortunate enough to keep in touch with a few of the attendees from last year and I’ve been hearing from them even now that they’re using what they learned from I_Blog last year.

There are blogging conferences throughout the year and they all serve excellent purposes from networking to high-level discussions on various blogging topics. But if you’re looking for hands-on learning, discussions about your concerns and questions, or one-on-one help with your blogging needs (not just the theory of blogging), it can be hard to find those opportunities at large conferences. I_Blog is exactly big enough to ensure you come away with the things you’re looking for. You won’t be disappointed.

I’ll be speaking about blogging basics (of course) as well as on the panel about making money with your blog. You can find more information about the conference topics and speakers at the I_Blog website.

Here is some additional information about I_Blog:

Despite an intimate feel, I_Blog Conference, November 5–7, 2010, in Perry, Ia., will feature “big-conference” speakers.

Perry, Iowa – August 23, 2010 — Speakers for the I_Blog Conference, November 5–7 at the historic Hotel Pattee in Perry, Ia., include experts in social media, mobile technology, writing, vlogging, photography and more. Event organizer Jody Halsted, who has attended numerous social media conferences across the country in the past several years, says that she and her planning partners have worked hard to put together a lineup that packs a lot of punch without a lot of fluff. “This conference isn’t all about the swag,” she says. “It’s about helping attendees build on their knowledge base and build their community. It’s about coming away with stuff you can put into practice immediately.”

Among the speakers are Joseph Lundberg, LinkedIn Corporate Solutions; Melanie Nelson, BloggingBasics101.com and Typepad for Dummies co-author; Beth Blair, TheVacationGals.com; Carol Schiller, Cozi.com; Angela England, AngEngland.com and author of Making Money from Your Blogging; Claire Celsi, the Public Relations Princess; Darcy Milder, GraphicallyDesigning.com and His & Hers Photography; and Linsey Knerl, Wise Bread.com and TheFreelanceFarmer.com.

To see the full schedule of session topics, visit www.iblogconference.com.

Saturday evening will feature “Destination Midwest,” a first-of-its-kind event that will bring together Midwest destinations and Midwest bloggers to form relationships and work together to showcase the Midwest.

A full conference ticket can be purchased thru August 31 for only $149 using the code Back2School. The following “a la carte” tickets are also available: Saturday only, $100; Friday evening social, $30; and Destination Midwest Saturday evening event, $30.  Tickets are available at iblogconference.eventbrite.com.

Specially priced rooms are available at the Hotel Pattee for conference attendees. To make a reservation, attendees should call the hotel at (515) 465-3511 and use the code I_BlogConference for that weekend. Reservations must be made by October 23 to receive the reduced rates.

I_Blog Conference also has sponsorship opportunities available at very reasonable prices for Midwest companies.  This is a great opportunity to get involved with bloggers who know how to use social media to help promote your company.  More details at iblogconference.com/sponsor-i_blog.

About Jody Halsted:
Jody Halsted has been blogging about traveling with kids since 2005 at HaveKidWillTravel.com and now FamilyRambling.com. She is a travel writer for a variety of other websites as well. Halsted resides in Ankeny, Iowa.

Contact:

Jody Halsted, I_Blog Conference Organizer
Phone: 515-707-6547
jody@iblogconference.com
http://www.iblogconference.com

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I don’t usually use this blog to discuss anything other than how to blog, advice on blogging, or tech news of some sort. Last week, though, I participated in a marketing outreach program by One2One Network and the WNBA by attending a Tulsa Shock basketball game with my family. It was so much more than we expected that I wanted to share it with you here so you can take advantage of the opportunity for a fun night out yourself! (I have a discount code for you at the end of this article so you can save on WNBA tickets!)

The Background

People who know me know I’m not a sports fan (although I married a man who loves sports to his very core, so I can tolerate having it on TV if I’m in another room). So I wasn’t surprised when I started tweeting and Twitpic’g my adventure and people responded with, “WHAT? You’re at a sporting event? It’s like I don’t even know you any more.” And really, it’s true. Sports don’t appeal to me. So when @BarbaraJones contacted me to see if I wanted to attend a Shock game, I said yes only because a) I have a policy that I always say yes to Barbara because I love her and b) my husband really wanted to check out a game and I love him and like to make him happy. When we got there, though, I had caught the fever and was enjoying myself like a regular sports fan!

The WNBA Tulsa Shock Fun

You know what I love most about live sporting events? A good mascot. Not just someone in a suit pretending to steal your hat. A good mascot is one who makes you forget there’s a guy in a suit trying to steal your hat and then makes you laugh. And Volt, the Shock’s mascot, delivers. He’s constantly moving and interacting with the crowd.

When they introduced the Minnesota Lynx, he brought out his cot and took a nap:

The Shock marketing team kept the audience entertained by offering several giveaways: tagged seats with prizes, a parachute drop with prizes, a huge t-shirt gun shooting shirts into the audience (and a few times Volt threw the shirts himself — he has quite the arm!)

See the seats with yellow tags? Those tags alert you that you’ve won a prize of some sort (the ones I saw had dollar signs on them & some of those dollar signs were followed by numbers like 200). So, you know, buy a ticket, maybe win money. Not bad.

My whole family had a great time. The game was fast-paced and the ladies played hard. They were definitely there to win (and we did!). There were so many opportunities to meet the players, too! They have autograph sessions after the games and people line up after the game to give high-fives to the team. I noticed that many of the Shock team members were stopping right there to sign things or shake hands.

To those of you who, like me, may not be huge sports fans, I’m here to tell you: if you have a WNBA team in your area, you need to go check it out. It was so much fun! We had a great time, laughed a lot, cheered a lot, and generally got our game on.

The WNBA Shock Venu: BOK Arena

Oklahoma is a late bloomer when it comes to professional sports. Until recently, we haven’t had a lot of options. When Katrina hit, though, Oklahoma City offered to host the NBA Hornets and they agreed. Oklahoma got a taste of what professional sports can be to the community. Professional sports means more money for the local economy, more options for families who want a night out, and, frankly, FUN. We finally see what we’ve been missing. So, after the Hornets returned to their NOLA home, Oklahoma stepped up and recruited some professional teams of our own. We now have the Oklahoma City Thunder (NBA) and the Tulsa Shock (WNBA)!

The BOK Arena (where the Shock games are played) is beautiful and spacious; there’s plenty of room to accommodate fans. You can even plan to have dinner at the arena. You can get a family meal deal for $39 that includes 4 hotdogs, 4 drinks, and a large popcorn! (That’s cheaper than going to the movies and getting snacks, y’all, and this is way more fun because you can talk and interact with your family.) If you’re in the mood for a great burger, Billy’s (from On The Square fame) has a place, as does Pizza Hut. If you’re more interested in regular concession fare, you can get popcorn, pretzels, sodas, and even shaved ice (among a plethora of other things). If you’re a fan of real beer (here in Oklahoma, we have 3.2 and anything above requires a liquor license; consequently, sometimes we don’t have the option to purchase delicious beer like Sam Adams) or want a mixed drink, the BOK Arena can fix you right up.

Apparently, Volt also likes real beer:

The WNBA Shock Ticket Discount

You’ll notice in my pictures there are plenty of open seats. That’s the one thing I couldn’t understand: the arena was not packed. In fact, there were fewer people here than at an OSU basketball game and that ain’t right. These women are putting on a heck of a show and playing their hearts out. The vibe in the arena is high-energy and fun. Volt, the Shock mascot, is working it hard to get people to make some noise and get into the game. And that’s hard to do when you don’t have a house full of fans. So listen up, Oklahoma (and, truly, any state hosting a professional team): We’ve gone a long time without a professional team of any sort and we don’t want to blow this chance. If we want more business in our state, we need to show that we can support it. Get yourself to a Shock game (or even a Thunder game if you’re in the OKC area and can’t travel to Tulsa). The WNBA is even making it easy for you with some ticket discounts:

• $10 tickets are discounted to $8
• $19 tickets are discounted to $12
• $25 tickets are discounted to $15
• $55 tickets are discounted to $30
• $60 tickets are discounted to $35

To take advantage of those deals, just head over to http://bit.ly/WNBAShockTix and enter code WNBABLOG. Not in the Tulsa area, but have a different WNBA franchise close to you? No problem! Each WNBA venue has it’s own deals so the WNBABLOG code will work for you too! Note that you’ll need to create an account to get the deal. Just enter your e-mail address and I password and voila! Take advantage of discounted family fun. If you’re traveling this summer, check to see if your destination has a WNBA team nearby. It would make a great addition to your vacation plans!

More Shock Info

• Shock website
• Shock group ticket information
• WNBA Facebook
• WNBA Twitter
• WNBA YouTube

Disclosure: One2One Network and WNBA arranged for me to have four tickets to a basketball game and sent my family t-shirts to wear to the game. They asked me to blog about my experience. While I could have blogged about it at my personal blog (where I rarely post, but have a few loyal readers) and met my obligations, I chose to write about it here because I really thought it was a fun night for our family and I wanted you to be sure and see the opportunity and the discount code.

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Vlogging is something I’ve tried a few times, but I’m just not comfortable in front of the camera. I’m working on it, but it’s a struggle. For all you extroverts and interested parties out there, though, I think you’ll find today’s links especially helpful if you want to try your hand at vlogging (video blogging). It’s a great way to take the relationship with your readers to another level.

• HOW TO: Make a Great How-To Video via Mashable. This article walks you through five of the basic steps you need to consider before (and during) you produce your next vlog. You might also want to check out 4 Tips for Producing Quality Web Videos (also via Mashable).

• Video and Vlog-It! via Danielle Smith. Danielle is a friend of mine who is known throughout the blogosphere as the go-to gal for vlogging. In a former life she was a news anchor and she knows her way around a camera. She has vlogging down to an art and she shares her experience with you several times a week in the form of video tips to take your own vlogs to the next level. She’s pro and you’ll learn a lot from her.

• Simple Vlogging Tips by Jendi. Jendi’s another friend of mine who fell in love with vlogging back in 2008. Every Friday she challenges you to practice your vlogging skills by giving you a topic to vlog on — then you have a week to produce the video.

• How to Be a Vlogging Superstar via Wellsphere. Beth (aka RoleMommy) gives some solid advice about how to start vlogging (hint: be a storyteller). Regardless of the topic, if RoleMommy’s talking, I’m listening.

photo credit: laverrue

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This week I received an excellent question from a reader asking how to find out about blogging conferences in her area. Attending a blogging conference or a local blog meetup or tweetup is a great way to meet others who share your interests (blogging and social media), network, and learn new skills. Here are several resources I’ve found that list blog conferences in 2010:

• Blog Conference Guide
• Blog Conference Newbie
• Blog World Expo
• Dave Rohrer
• Mom Bloggers Club
• Mom Central
• Mom It Forward
• Social Media Biz

Still can’t find something in your area? If you haven’t already, try engaging with other bloggers in your area. You might try finding a hyperlocal blogger (someone who is blogging specifically about your city or area only) in particular and ask them if they’ve heard of any local get-togethers. If no one has taken this on yet, do it yourself! I bet there are several other bloggers out there wishing there was a regular meeting where they could share ideas.

Also, if you are at all interested in moving to WordPress, there is usually a WordCamp in most major cities/areas during the year (just Google wordcamp and you’ll see). WordCamps are put on locally and focus on using WordPress effectively (but they also just offer great info on blogging better). They offer lots of help and are very welcoming of new users.

My favorite blog conferences to attend are

• I_Blog Conference in Perry, IA. November 5-7, 2010. First of all, my family is from Iowa so if there’s a conference there, I’m going to try to make it because I love Iowa. Second of all, Jody puts on a great conference in a beautiful, relaxed venue (the Hotel Pattee) that offers real learning experiences. It’s a very small conference (my favorite kind) so you really get to know the other attendees. I especially loved that everyone who attended last year (whether a new or seasoned blogger) learned something new. All of the presentations were relevant to what people are doing regardless of their level of blogging. I highly recommend this conference.
• Blissdom in Nashville, TN. It’s possible that I’m biased here because my friends Alli Worthington, Barbara Jones, and Paula Bruno put on this conference, but you’ll find that it’s a phenomenal event. It’s limited to 500 attendees so it feels more intimate than some of the larger conferences. What I particularly like about Blissdom is that there are very few cliques; I feel like I can approach any group of women and introduce myself and join in the conversation (and, as an introvert, I’m here to tell you that can be tough). I’ve explained my thoughts on Blissdom before; I recommend attending if you can.
• Blog World and New Media Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada. October 14-16, 2010. I usually try to keep to the smaller conferences because I like that vibe. I like to connect with people on more than a surface level. However, sometimes you have to jump out of your comfort zone and put yourself out there. BWE is the place to go to meet the movers and shakers in the blog world, meet the marketers that want to work with bloggers, learn new skills, and hear about where the Big Guys (i.e., Chris Brogan and Darren Rowse among others) think social media is headed. If you want to see the lay of the land and maybe meet your blogging heroes, this is the conference you have to attend. If you do decide to go, understand that there’s a lot happening and you should have a good idea of what you’re there for. I go to learn every new skill I can; I’m less interested in theory and more interested in hands-on so those are the sessions I focus on. If you can attend with a friend, divide and conquer! Take notes so you can share them with each other later.

I haven’t attended SxSW yet, but that may change in 2011. If you can’t make it one of the three conferences above, SxSW in Austen is your next best bet from what I understand.

So, tell me:

• What conferences have you attended in the past?
• Which are your favorite(s) and why?
• What are you looking for in a blogging conference?
• Do you have regular local get togethers that you attend? How do those compare to the national conferences?

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One of the best ways to engage with your blogging community is to respond to reader comments. But what’s the best way? Should you respond to every comment, every time? And how should you respond: within the comments or directly to the commenter? It can get confusing quickly. Luckily, there are options.

Do I need to respond to every comment?

If you’re starting out or don’t have a solid following yet, then my advice is to respond to as many comments as you reasonably can. Just as bloggers love to receive feedback on posts, readers like to know their opinions have been heard. If someone is taking the time to write a thoughtful comment on your post, it makes sense to acknowledge it and encourage even more comments. This can get sticky if your blog grows and you start receiving many comments on each post. At that point, you may need to re-think your comment response strategy your comment policy. Most comment policies set boundaries for rude and attacking comments or spam, but you should also set expectations of how often you will respond to comments (if at all). By setting expectations early on, readers will be more likely to understand when you can’t get to everyone.

Now, having said all that, there are bloggers who don’t respond to comments at all (or very rarely) and that’s OK too. As readers, I encourage you not to take it personally if a blogger doesn’t respond to your comment.

How should I respond to comments: via e-mail or in the comments section?

Each blogger handles commenting differently. Some respond to each comment individually via private e-mail; others respond individually within the comments section. Or, if there are recurring questions or reactions, a blogger may choose to update the post itself to address those concerns.

Unfortunately, the default comment systems on most blogging platforms leave a lot to be desired. Luckily, there are work-arounds for the most common issues. Here are some plug-ins, widgets, and third-party applications you can install depending on your platform and what you want to achieve.

WordPress

• Subscribe to Comments via Tempus Fugit allows users to subscribe to comments so they’ll know whenever someone else leaves a comment on the same post. This can be helpful if comment discussion is lively and users want to have updates to the conversation sent to their inbox.
• Comment Email Responder via Ugh!!’s Greymatter Honeypot is an easy way to send an e-mail response to the commenter and have that same response automatically show up in the comment section as well.
• If you haven’t enabled threaded comments, you can follow Kim’s instructions for enabling threaded comments on your WordPress blog. (Threaded comments are when responses to a specific comment are indented and show up directly under the comment they respond to.)

TypePad
TypePad’s default commenting system is fairly robust: it allows you to establish settings like whether to allow basic HTML within comments, set comment order (oldest to newest or vice versa), include userpics, etc. But if you want to include some extra functionality, you’ll need to switch to TypePad Connect. Connect allows you to kick it up a notch with functionality like

• threaded comments
• replying to a comment via e-mail and having it show up in the commenter’s e-mail box as well as the comment section of the post
• replying to comments directly from the comments section and having it show up in the comments and also sending a copy to the commenter’s e-mail box.

Blogger
Although Blogger is a great blogging platform for some and it’s very malleable in many ways, its commenting feature has been a source of frustration since the beginning. To get around the lack of commenting features, many Blogger users resort to third-party software. The two most popular options are Disqus and Intense Debate.

How are you handling comments?

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So, some of you may have heard of a little website called Mashable. They’re kind of a big deal on the internet and they are THE place to go for tech news, advice, and updates.

Today Mashable linked to Blogging Basics 101 as an example of what to do when you’re picking the perfect name for your startup. And they put up a screenshot of my header. And then I died.

I tried to explain to my husband how big a deal this is, but I started laughing so hard I couldn’t finish. So he said, “BOOM!” and I wheezed, “More like BOOM! to the power of Chuck Norris!” and died again.

So if you’re here from Mashable, welcome! I’m really glad you’re here.

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Ask any blogger how to find blogging success and she’ll answer with write well. It’s cliche, but it’s true: content is king. Your blog design, brand, and attitude are all important, but the bottom line is this: any amount of success requires good content. And writing strong content is rarely a quick thing. It takes planning and effort. Here I give you six steps to help you write a better blog post.

1. Know your audience. Success in anything can be boiled down to knowing your audience. If you know your audience, you know what they are looking for and you can give it to them. If you’re writing tutorials, you’ll need to determine whether you’re writing for a beginner, intermediate, or expert. If you’re sharing funny stories, what seems to resonate with your audience? Look at your Google Analytics to see what posts see the most traffic (organic and search) and figure out what speaks to your audience on such a large scale. Not sure what your audience wants more of? Ask them.
2. Know your goal. What is your post trying to accomplish? Do you want to make your readers laugh? Show them how to do something? Encourage them to leave a comment? As you write your post, keep that goal in mind and consider how it fits with your audience.
3. Tell a story. Now that you have your goal in mind and you know what you want to write, make sure you do it in a way that is easy for your reader to follow. Have a beginning, middle, and end to your post. It’s so easy to start out writing on one topic, then move tangentially to a new topic. The result is that your post is confusing or, worse, doesn’t deliver on your goal (i.e., teaching, entertaining, challenging, etc.).
4. Respect the language. I’ve been called a grammar snob, and it’s true. I am. I also realize that not everyone has a knack for grammar, punctuation, and spelling. But that doesn’t mean they don’t matter. These constructs are what we use to navigate the written language. They are cues that tell your reader what your intention is. A mistake here or there can be overlooked, but consistently ignoring good grammar and punctuation may lead to fewer eyes on your page.
5. Use interesting, strong words. Or, as Rita Arens puts it, write with authority. Not only should you choose strong words, you should get rid of the dead words that add nothing to your story. Which brings us to . . .
6. Edit. Once you write your post, you’re not finished. Re-read your post, re-work your post, re-write your post as needed. NinaAmir suggests exercises for editing your own work like simply taking an existing piece of writing and trying to re-write it using half as many words. Like good writing, good editing takes practice.

More articles to help you write the perfect blog post

• 8 Tips to Write a Tutorial That Gets You Noticed by Jessica Howard
• 10 Things J. K. Rowling Taught Me About Writing by Michelle V. Rafter
• How to Find Your Blogging Voice by Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen

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URL shorteners aren’t new, but not everyone knows what they are or understands how useful they can be. I want to introduce you to a few URL shortening tools and explain how they can make a real difference in the way you track what your audience is doing with your information.

Why Should I Shorten My URLs?

URL shorteners have been around for years and most do the same thing: they take a long URL (http://www.bloggingbasics101.com/2010/04/helpful-blogging-links-get-shared-on-facebook/) and making it into a short URL (http://bit.ly/ckNJhr). There are several advantages to shortening your URL:

• If you’re sharing a link on Twitter, you’re limited to 140 characters. Any URL you share can quickly eat up those characters and limit your actual message. (Tip: You don’t want to just post a link; you wan to tell people what they can expect when they click over.)
• Any time your link is visible, the longer it is, the harder it is to remember (and it’s not very pretty, either). Shortening it (especially if you use a service that allows you choose a keyword for the link; see below for some options) can solve this problem in some cases.
• Some URL shortening tools allow you to track how your audience uses and shares your URL.

URL Shorteners with Keywords

These services not only allow you to shorten your URL:

• Doiop
• TinyURL.com
• Snipurl.com

Not only do they shorten your URL, they give you the option of choosing a specific keyword to include in the URL. The result is something like http://doiop.com/blogging. These services don’t allow you to track your stats, but you can use Google Analytics to track specific user behavior or referral information for the page you’re linking to. For basic shortening with no bells and whistles, you can use one of these services:

URL Shorteners with Analytics

For those of you who want to know who’s clicking on or sharing your links, you’ll want to consider using a more powerful tool like the ones listed below.

Bit.ly allows you track the short URLs you create with an analytics page for each URL. You can determine your top referrers, reader location, actual clicks. Bit.ly is free. Some people have been confused when their Bit.ly statistics and their Google Analytics statistics don’t match up. It appears that there a few reasons for this.

1. No two analytics programs are going to ever show the same data; they all have different interpretations of data.
2. When you use Bit.ly (and possibly any URL shortening tool) to shorten a URL on, say, Twitter, Twitter will then look up the link via bots/spiders. Your Bit.ly stats include those false hits in their stats. I say “false hits” because those aren’t really pairs of eyes seeing your content, it’s just Twitter’s bots finding the link. Google Analytics won’t count those bots in its statistics.

Clicky.me requires you to run their analytics program on your web site (similar to Google Analytics) and will then track many of the same metrics Google Analytics tracks: “top referring domains, top countries, average time on site, bounce rate, etc)” as well as individual visitors. Because the clicky.me shortened URLs are linked to the clicky.me analytics you run on your site, the stats they provide are specifically for your web site; if you choose to share a link to another site that’s not running the clicky.me analytics (for instance, if you’re part of a campaign that’s tweeting links for a client), you’ll only be able to track how many times the link is clicked, not what people do once they arrive at your site. Clicky.me offers both a free and premium accounts, but the free account only allows you to shorten five URLs each day.

HootSuite.com is a very popular tool because, in addition to shortening URLs, it provides a suite of tools to help you manage your social media presence. You can

• track stats (including the most influential re-tweeters of your link)
• set up a Twitter dashboard similar to what you may be used to with Tweetdeck (you can have columns dedicated to specific keywords, hashtags, or users)
• schedule tweets
• manage multiple Twitter accounts
• collaborate with your team

There are actually many more features offered by HootSuite, but I suggest you check out the HootSuite blog for more info. HootSuite is free.

photo credit: LunaDiRimmel

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Blog carnivals can be a great way to promote community and increase traffic not only to your site, but to your participants’ sites. But how do you do that? With a linky tool. A linky tool allows carnival participants to submit a title for their link and a link to their site. The linky tool then takes that info and creates a list. You can see linky tools in action at some popular carnivals like Works-for-Me Wednesday or Mantel Party Time. Works-for-Me Wednesday is using Linky Tools, while Nester’s Mantel Party Time is using inlinkz. I’m going to tell you a little about both of those tools today so you can decide which one is right for you. I’ll also give you some advice on how to be a good linky list participant.

Linky Tools (formerly Mcklinky) developed out of a need for a reliable link list generator. There was a time when there was only one game in town and, as that tool became more and more used, the owner couldn’t quite keep up with the demand and the service suffered. Linky Tools was quickly embraced and is used throughout the blogosphere.

inlinkz is a newer linky system that allows your participants to include a photo in their link. It makes the list more interesting and eye-catching. I can see how inlinkz would be a great tool for giveaway carnivals. Participants could include a picture of their giveaway and make it so much easier for others to find what they’re looking for without wading through irrelevant links.

Finding the Features Your Carnival Linky Needs

Linky Tools and inlinkz both have excellent features; some they share, some that set them apart from each other.

Shared features

You’ll find the following features in both inlinkz and Linky Tools:

• Optional images. Sometimes it doesn’t make sense to have images in your carnival or maybe you just don’t like to have the images take up so much page real estate. That’s OK. You can choose to have a text list only. Just pick that option when you’re creating your new collection.
• Save your carnival. If you have a weekly carnival or meme that you share, you can save it so you don’t have to re-make it each week. You know how love efficiency.
• Title constraints. Any titles participants add to their entry are limited so you don’t get really long titles that mess up the display of the list. Everything will be in nice, neat rows. My OCD thanks you greatly.
• Cropping. When a participant chooses her image for the list, she has the option to crop it! This could be handy for showing specific detail of an item within the list.

inlinkz features

inlinkz offers some significant features that will help you administer your carnival and make it stand out from others.

• Users can delete links. Sometimes mistakes are made and when that happened with some other linkies, the administrator had to go in and delete the link for the participant. Not with inlinkz! Nope. You can delete your own links if you make a mistake or change your mind. One less thing for the carnival administrator to worry about? Yes, please.
• Real-time stats. Want to see how your carnival is progressing and how it’s being used? inlinkz has you covered. Figure out where you’re rockin’ and where you need to improve by tracking your collections with real-time stats.
• Voting. You can see the voting in action at the Clips-n-Cuts Around the World Challenge where you can vote on your favorite submission. That’s pretty cool. This feature is currently in beta, from what I can gather, but will be available soon.

One thing to note about inlinkz.com if you’re using the image list option: participants have to either have the image already in their post or know the URL of the image they want to use. Participants do not have the option of uploading an image from their computer. This isn’t a big deal, but it’s worth noting.

Linky Tools features

Linky Tools has a few features not offered with other tools:

• Different list options. You can create different lists depending on what your carnival is about including a basic text list (with text links only), thumbnail list (with images), and even a way to invite your readers to help create a story by leaving their contribution within the list (use the “create a story” list option when creating your new list).
• Blog hops. This is an easy way to allow many blogs to host the same carnival link-up list on their blogs. Everyone uses the same code, places it in their own blog post, and they all host the same list.
• Choose images from your computer or a post. Linky Tools doesn’t care where your image comes from as long as you hold the rights to it. You can choose a file from your computer or choose from the images in your post or on your site. You cannot provide a specific URL for your image.

Installing the Linky Code for Your Carnival

Both inlinkz and Linky Tools allow you to copy and paste the necessary code directly into your post (make sure you’re in the HTML view of your post) regardless of whether you’re using WordPress, TypePad, or Blogger. This makes it very easy to include a linky in your next carnival! I was impressed with the instructions on both inlinkz and Linky Tools; you’ll be able to be up and running in just a few minutes. The inlinkz instructions for setting up an inlinkz account and creating a new linky list have many screen shots and explanations to eliminate confusion. Linky Tools offers video tutorials on setting up your account creating new Linky Tools lists.

Being the Best Carnival Guest You Can Be

A great carnival will not only be useful to the host, but to the participants. The host is shining a light on other blogs to help showcase them. Remember that, although carnivals are generally open to the public, you’re still a guest at the host’s site. Good manners go a long way to helping the carnival’s overall success. If you follow the carnival’s posted guidelines and these few tips, you’ll find your experience may go more smoothly.

• Be brief. It’s tempting to promote yourself with your name, your blogs, name and your URL in your link title. Please don’t, though. The longer your title, the more it affects the columns of the list. In fact, this became such a problem, most linky generators now have character constraints the carnival owner can implement.
• Be useful. Consider what the carnival is about and whether there are guidelines about what to include in your title. Use keywords that tell others what they’ll find if they click over to your site. For instance, when I was doing the Bloggy Giveaway Carnival, I asked participants to include what they were giving away and where they’d ship. For exmple, Jane Eyre DVD (US/Canada). The title is short and it tells you what to expect. It’s not promoting my actual blog name, but once you click over, you’ll know where you are. And your blog is still getting the link love from the carnival via the permalink you use.
• Use permalinks. A peramlink is the link to a specific blog post, not the main page of your blog. Most carnivals require you to use a permalink instead of your blog’s main URL and your entry may be deleted if you don’t.
• Don’t double post. You only need one entry for each carnival (unless the guidelines state otherwise). If you make a mistake on your link, contact the carnival owner and ask her to delete your entry (unless she’s using inlinkz, which allows you to delete your own entries).

What do you think? Have you used either Linky Tools or inlinkz before? What was your experience? Do you have any tips or advice to add to the etiquette list?

photo credit: Jimby K

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As bloggers we like to know that people are reading what we write and that we’re connecting on some level with our audience. The more people that come to our site, the happier we are. Maybe you’re happy simply because people are coming or maybe you’re happy because more traffic means more revenue (especially if you’re in an ad network or selling a product). Either way, what if you could host a party that increased your traffic, but also gave back to your community? You can. And that party is called a blog carnival.

What is a blog carnival? A blog carnival is when a blog owner hosts a party online and invites other bloggers to participate by writing on the same topic and linking back to the main host site. For example, when I was running BloggyGiveaways.com I held a Quarterly Giveaway Carnival. Every three months I invited other bloggers to host giveaways at their own sites, then come to BloggyGiveaways and list their giveaway with a link to their site (I’ll get to the mechanics of how you do that in a moment). So what we ended up with was a central blog (BloggyGiveaways.com) hosting a list of links to blogs with other giveaways. We were sharing link love (I was linking to them, they were linking to me) and people could find everything in a central place and didn’t get lost surfing from one blog to another. That carnival regularly generated over 1,000 links and my traffic increased by 300% during carnival weeks.

Which sounds like magic, doesn’t it? And I wish it were. Unfortunately, while a carnival can be a terrific traffic generator, it’s really hard to come up with an original idea that spreads like wildfire. It’s much easier to simply participate in carnivals and soak up the link love that way; you’ll still probably see a spike in traffic.

How to do you run a blog carnival?

What’s that? You’re not deterred? You’re set on hosting your own carnival? I say go for it! The carnival itself is fairly easy to run, it’s coming up with the idea that works that takes the most time. Once you’ve decided on the topic, here are some things to get you started on your way to hosting a successful carnival.

Establish rules and guidelines. You have to have guidelines or everyone and their dog is going to just come and link up at your site whether what their linking to is relevant or not. Then, when you delete them for not being relevant, they may be upset. It’s easier for you down the road if you know what you expect and convey those expectations to your participants.

Promote your carnival. You need to tell people you’re hosting a carnival, what the topic is, how they can participate, and what the rules are. So make yourself a pretty button and post it in your sidebar (include the name and dates of your carnival, your URL, etc.). Write up a post about what you’re doing and ask your readers to help spread the word via their social media outlets (and offer them the code for your button in case they’d like to use it in their own promotions). Give your readers about two weeks notice and remind them a week before and again two or three days before the carnival. Once your carnival is established, you might just need to remind them the day before or not at all once you really get going.

Use the right list-generating tool. Since a carnival is all about linking up together, you need a way to generate a list of blogs that are participating and have each one link to its respective post. There are several widgets you can use to achieve this:

• Mr. Linky used to be the only game in town. Unfortunately, the widget wasn’t always stable and it’s not much to look at so people started making new options. The Bloggy Giveaways Carnival used Mr. Linky.
• Linky Tools (formerly MckLinky) also creates a basic linked list of participating blogs. You can see an example at Works-for-Me Wednesday.
• Inlinkz is a really cool option because it posts a photo related to the person who leaves the link (h/t to Linda Sellers for alerting me to this tool). You can see it in action at Sweet Shot Tuesdays.

Monitor the links. This is the most time-consuming part of any carnival. In order for the carnival to be useful, you’ll need to keep an eye on who is participating. You’ll more than likely get a few spammers who are linking to irrelevant sites (delete them). You may also get a few people who aren’t using a permalink (the link to an actual article, not the main page of a blog). You’ll want to ask these participants to change the link because if readers click the link and don’t see what they expect to see (i.e., they see the main page of a blog that doesn’t have an article relevant to the carnival), they are confused and frustrated. The down side here is that you’ll need to delete the original link and ask the participant to re-submit her site with the permalink. She’s going to lose her spot in the list of links and be further down the list when she re-submits (which is another reason to ask your readers to use permalinks when you’re explaining the guidelines; if they do, they won’t lose their place on the list). If you find a link that doesn’t fit your carnival for some reason, you can delete it. If the blogger contacts you to ask why her link is down, you can point to your guidelines and explain why you deleted her link. I want to point out, though, that most people are happy to play by the rules if they know what they are. Once participants are used to how you run your carnival, you’ll see fewer and fewer issues.

photo credit: CatDancing

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