I hesitate to bring up blog carnivals as a tip for new bloggers or bloggers who would like some more visibility and traffic. Why do I hesitate? Because I have a love/hate relationship with them and during discussion of them, things have been known to get a little out of hand. Then again, I've never shied away from having discussions get out of hand - so why start now? ;-)

So blog carnivals. You know what those are, right? Just in case you don't, very briefly, blog carnivals are blog events that focus on one particular subject. A carnival host will provide links to other bloggers who have written posts about the topic. You can find a zillion and one blog carnivals on the Blog Carnival Index (which as of this writing is temporarily down - I've never seen that happen before.)

Sounds good, right? So why do I have a love/hate relationship with them? Well, they can be very complicated and they often don't provide what you're hoping they will provide - more links, more visibility and a source of good information or interesting writing about a topic.

In the case of some blog carnivals, you will find you get more traffic as a carnival host than you do by having a blog post featured in a carnival. This is because everyone links the carnival post but nobody except the host bothers to click into all of the posts that are featured - much less link individual posts that they've enjoyed. It depends on the carnival and the people participating in it.

Another problem with some carnivals is that they become a weekly (or semi weekly) event for only a small group of people - people who always link to each other, and rarely to anyone else. Breaking into a carnival like this is difficult, sometimes.

Also, depending on the carnival, a post you submit may or may not be accepted into the carnival. If the host doesn't respect your work or your opinion or your blog, he/she can simply refuse to include your post. Before you submit to a carnival, read several of their carnival archives - get a feel for whether they feature a broad range of voices and bloggers. If they don't, it may not be worth your time to submit your post. Or go ahead and submit it, but be prepared not to be featured.

If you're really interested in blog carnivals, I would suggest former CE Sour Duck's series about hosting a blog carnival.

The right blog carnival can bring you traffic and visibility and new blogging friends and contacts but the trick can be finding the right carnival...

What do you think? Love blog carnivals or hate them? Good experience or not so much?

Denise
BlogHer Community Manager