I love participating in blog link-ups. They can be a great way to expand your horizons on a topic or cuisine, discover new blogs, and get to know other bloggers. I have badges for my favorite link-ups in my side bar, but I am still discovering new ones (like Deb’s Wednesday Word). Now that I’ve been hosting and participating in blog link-ups for a while, I thought I’d share my tips on how to make the most of blog link ups.
These practical tips will help you get the most out of blog link-ups and expand your blog readership.
1. Play by the rules. The first rule of success for blog link-ups is to play by the rules! Different link-ups have different rules. Most ask you to include the badge on your blog and/or link back to the hosts in your post. Some have specific themes or topics. Some have a topic but welcome other posts in the same genre (such as any running-related post or any recipe). If you don’t play by the rules, the hosts may delete your post, and you are likely to annoy other participants who are puzzled when they click through from a recipe link-up and see your post on car repair.
2. Link up early. If you add your post early in the link-up period you are more likely to get more views, simply because more people will visit the link-up page after your post is there. Consider setting a reminder to join the link-up soon after it goes live or right after you publish your post.
3. Choose an enticing image and/or name. Most link-up tools let you select an image and name to show in the link-up. Give some thought to these choices. Choosing the link-up badge as the image shows that your are following rule #1, but won’t help your post stand out from others. Most people choose their name, their blog’s name or the post title for the “name” field, but depending on how many characters are permitted you may be able to fit both your name and a catchy title–it doesn’t have to match the post title exactly.
4. Comment on other posts in the link-up. You will get the most out of link-ups if you comment on other posts in the link-up. This is because most bloggers will visit the blogs of the people who leave comments on link-up posts. This means that even if they didn’t click through to your post from the link-up (sometimes it’s not possible to visit all other posts) they may visit your post from the comment you left on their blog. At the very least you should comment on the host blogs and 5 other posts. If you just drop your link and run, other bloggers will notice and remember and avoid your post next time.
5. Make it easy for others to comment, share and follow. When you participate in a link-up, you are inviting new people to visit your blog. Make sure that once they get there it is easy for them to comment, share, and follow your blog. This means having the “name/url” option for comments and not having captcha. (For other tips on increasing blog comments, see this post and this post.) Make sure you have sharing buttons and that they are set up to tag you and not the plug-in brand. (I’ve shared my favorite plug-ins here.) If you participate in the Coffee Date link-up, play by our very liberal rules and have a “Follow me on Bloglovin” button in your sidebar, I will add you to my Bloglovin “Coffee Date” list.
[Tweet “How to Make the Most of #blogging Link Ups”]
Speaking of link-ups, I hope to see you at the Ultimate Coffee Date Link Up on Saturday! Learn more here.
What’s your favorite link-up?
Do you have any other tips for making link-ups successful?
![The Ultimate Coffee Date](http://got2run4me.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Ultimate-Coffee-Date.png" "The Ultimate Coffee Date")
this is great! should be required reading 🙂
#truth
Please help me spread the word! 🙂
Awesome post!!
As a newer blogger link ups are so awesome to me! So neat to see other blog and ‘meet’ other bloggers.
Can’t wait for Coffee date ;)- it will be my second time participating.
Thanks for the link up and the info!
Can’t wait to see you there!
Great tips! It’s amazing how popular linkups are these days. Back in the day when I started blogging there was no such thing.
Thanks for the shout-out! These are great tips, and definitely pin-worthy for others to see. Thanks also for the Ultimate Coffee Date info, too. I had just made myself a note yesterday to figure out who the hosts are, and when it links up. I’ll try to link up this Saturday!
Great! We;d love to have you. 😉
Another great post!
Great tips! And I love that you can never tell anyone enough times that Captcha is the worst thing ever. 🙂 See you on Saturday 🙂
Why are people still using it? And I’ve seen some pretty complicated ones lately! :-/
Great tips!
All great tips! I am a big follower of all of them!! When I do cook, I love Foodie Friday. I also love Friday 5, Tried it Tuesdsay and Wild Workout Wednesday and Tuesdays on the Run, oh and Thinking out Loud!
Great tips! Now to get everyone to follow them…See you Saturday for coffee 🙂
I plan to include a few reminders. 😉
Good tips. I’ve just discovered link ups and I’m trying to fit them into my blog. I find its a little tricky to do too many without feeling like I’m losing my voice. But I think scheduling my linkup posts in advance will make it easier to match the category with my own voice (versus dashing something out quickly to meet the deadline. I just switched to WordPress and I’m trying to figure out how to get it to work with bloglovin. Any help?
Yes, it is important to keep your own voice! I don’t join every link-up every week, but I do jump in when the topics call to me. There’s an option in a drop-down menu on Bloglovin for “Bloglovin button” where you can get the code to put in a text widget on your sidebar. 😉
Great tips! I follow so many blogs that I found through link ups, some through blogspot and some through bloglovin (and some overlap). I need to synchronize those two things but can’t find the time. I’m looking forward to the coffee date.
Thanks. I’m trying to create lists in Bloglovin as I go. Sometimes I move blogs around later …
Great tips. Especially following rules if you are going to participate.
Great tips! And, you know I’ll be joining for coffee on Saturday 🙂
Thanks for the ideas & am looking forward to coffee date link up, as usual.
Awesome! Well said and perfect instructions. All bloggers should have this in their “how-to”!
Such a perfect post to share on Friday Favorites!! 🙂 I love these tips- they’re so true! (And I love the one about following the rules because I hate when I click on a link from a link up and it has nothing to do with the topic or category!)
Pingback: Ultimate Coffee date May 2015 linkup | Confessions of a Mother Runner
Coco, great tips. I know I have to take an entire weekend to read and comment on all the coffee posts we have each month 🙂
Pingback: Sunday Funday Blog Love 5/3/15, A Special Request - Skinny Fitalicious
Thank you for joining the Tip Tuesday Link Party, Coco. Awesome tips!
Hi Coco! Thanks for this post. I participate in a few link-ups each week and have connected with and found many new blogs through these. I definitely agree that your content should abide by the link-up rules, and you should try to get your post on the link-up party early. Sometimes its tough to get the title of your post and blog name in a short field, so I definitely prefer it when longer titles are allowed! Happy blogging to you! 🙂
Those are good tips. I agree with Ashley that the name fields are often too short. And some linkups allow only your name and city.
Pingback: Friday Favorites 5/8 - Virginia BloggersVirginia Bloggers
Great tips for new bloggers like myself! I love link ups and they do get your blog seen and I’ve found some awesome ones to follow! 🙂
Pingback: Hiking The Billy Goat Trail - Got2Run4Me
Great info!!!!! I’ve been blogging for2-1/2 years and only recently have tried venturing out & “linking up” more. It’s fun to see who else is out there and what they’re doing 🙂
Thank you so much for these tips! I’ve been trying to participate in more link ups this year and your post has given me a bit more of a strategy. 🙂
Glad to share my 2 cents! Join usfor coffee on the 6th! 😉