Networking Your Website

By Rita Wilhelm, Contributing Writer     Rita's Bio     Print Article     Email article to a friend

Here’s a fun way to network your website or blog. In my last column, I said I would provide your networking / leads group a technique, to help you and your fellow group members better promote and network your websites and blogs. Today we will talk about how to create a blog carnival with your networking group. I’m guessing that most of you already know what a blog is. But incase you don’t, a blog is like an online diary or journal. You write in it when you feel like writing. You can write daily, weekly, monthly, or just when the mood hits.

As a business person, it is beneficial to use a blog to write about your area of expertise. Typically blogs are more casual in nature than a website. It allows more of your personality to come through, while sharing your knowledge. Remember… people do business with people they like. A blog creates an opportunity for people to find out more about you, and can help build people’s trust in you as your share your particular area of expertise. As a blogger, be sure to create links to your own website, as that can impact your own search engine rankings. There are many free blogging programs available, such as Blogger and Word Press.

So what is a blog carnival? A blog carnival is a blogging event, which is published on a regular schedule, such as weekly or monthly. A different person can host the blogging event each time.

The blogging event is actually very simple in nature. It’s basically an article on the hosting member’s blog. The person who hosts the carnival (the person who writes the inclusive article as an entry in their own blog) can write a short little paragraph about each member who wants to participate, and then link to that person’s specific blog entry or website article.

Let’s say you are in a leads group, or some kind of a networking group, where there are several members who would like to participate in a blog carnival. Let’s say you are the host. As the host, you would create an inclusive article, which talks about each person’s business, and then links to each of their blogs or websites. Ideally, you would create a link to your fellow member’s blog, by linking a good keyword phrase. A keyword phrase which is linked, helps educate Google and other major search engines as to what that site or blog is about.

Here is a very short sample of what a blog carnival entry might look like:

Everyone who participates in the blog carnival, should also be willing to take a turn to host the blog carnival. Each host should do their best to mix it up a bit from the last carnival, so that each blogging event does not appear identical to the search engines.

Blog carnivals can offer a fun and easy way to get your website networked, and if worked right, they can impact your own search engine rankings.

 

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Contact Rita Wilhelm at RitaW@TheNationalNetWorker.com or Post a Comment on TNNW Blog.