Jun
9
What keeps a Blog Carnival running?
Filed Under Uncategorized
Starting a Blog Carnival is easy. As proof, I did. But I wondered what keeps them going? The short answer is the passion of the person who starts it. Blog Carnivals are heralded as a way to gain traffic for the host and the submitters. I queried the carnivals in the business category and found 63 of them had at least 1 issue in 2008 to see any patterns of success. Using that as a base:
- 40% of them have been discontinued.
- Those with 5 issues or less - 45% have been discontinued.
- Those with 20 or more - 33% have been discontinued.
The #1 carnival in terms of entries was the Carnival of the Capitalists ended as a “Blog Carnival” although there is some intention of keeping it going in some fashion.
The top seven continuing business carnivals are running strong:
- Maritime Monday 105
- Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants 95
- Working At Home Blog Carnival 77
- Carnival of Network Marketing 57
- A Make Money Blogging Carnival 53
- Carnival of Ebay Sellers 45
- Carnival of Fraud 44
Very few travel from home base - whoever starts them, maintains them. The hosts receive traffic and community as they receive and see relevant blogs they might not have otherwise. Joe at the Working At Home Blog Carnival almost cashed in after being overloaded with spam (entries that don’t meet the criteria), but after running a poll on his site, found his readers overwhelmingly wanted it to keep going.
Another Carnival told me that their page rank has fallen since they started. They give out a lot of links, but few return the favor. That’s a courtesy of the submitter to return the link love.
Do you run a carnival? What keeps you going?
Hey Brian,
Thanks for the mention. Running a Blog Carnival can be quite trying at times, but it can be well worth the effort if it keeps the readers happy.
Oh, and this coming Friday will be the 89th Edition, stop on by!
You’re absolutely right that passion keeps the carnival going, passion on the part of the owner and community. My bird blogging carnival, I and the Bird is coming on its 77th edition and support is still extremely high. I think the most successful and long-lived carnivals will incorporate at least one of the following qualities:
1. Owner maintains the carnival on his own blog, not a standalone site. The reason for this is that managing a carnival is time-consuming. The inbound links definitely help make up for some of the challenges!
2. Move the carnival from host to host. Rotating hosts each benefit from the rush of traffic and participants benefit from fresh links from new sites. This is why, over time, participation in blog carnivals can make a site very attractive to search engines.
3. Create great graphics. This sounds minor but a great blog carnival becomes a touchstone for a community. If the carnival is excellent, people will want to display their affiliation. Provide great badges and buttons as well as a central site to link to.
4. Ruthless editing. Worthwhile carnivals stick to a theme and reject any entries that dilute the quality of an edition.
These are some of the principles by which I and the Bird is run. Even now, coming on our third anniversary, we’re getting new participants and hosts all the time. Plus, as the editor in chief, I’m looking forward to many more years!