To rise in page rank and get more search engine traffic to your blog, you need more inbound links (links from other blogs and websites to your blog and posts). So how do you know how many inbound links you have?
The easiest way is by going to Google.com and entering link: www.yourblog.com and seeing what the results are.
You should also try link: yourblog.com as well as the URL of some of your more popular posts just to see who is linking to you.
You can also do this using Google Webmaster Tools. Here’s how.
How to increase inbound links
One way to increase your inbound links is by guest blogging, but that requires a lot of work. First you have to find someone interested in hosting your post, then you have to write it. (Chris Garrett's Guest Posting Workbook can help you streamline this process.)
You can also bookmark your posts at sites like Digg, Kirtsy, Facebook or StumbleUpon. Some of these sites use nofollow links (they don’t pass on “Google Juice”). To find out if a site uses nofollow links, use a Firefox tool extension like SearchStatus. It will highlight all the nofollow links on a web page.
A quick and easy way to get inbound links is by participating in blog carnivals. A few years back, blog carnivals were very popular. It seemed that at least once a week, a favorite blogger was hosting them on her site. When that was the case, it got kind of boring. After all, who wanted to read link roundup posts that much? Well, maybe it’s time to buck the trend!
How to participate in a blog carnival
Go to blogcarnival.com and sign up for an account. You don’t need to have an account to participate, but it helps you save time in the carnival sign up process if you do. Plus, it enables you to save favorite carnivals so you don’t have to search for them every time.
To search on carnivals by subject matter go to browse all carnivals. You can either pick a category, search by keyword or do both.
After you’ve done your search, click on “Next Edition” to see what blog carnivals are actively needed new entries. Then pick one you’re interested in and click on the orange “Submit your Blog Article to this Carnival” button in the upper right hand corner. Enter your posts URL and any other information they ask for, such as picking a category. Click on submit and your done. You should get an email confirming your submission.
Starting your own carnival
Some favorite carnivals of mine are include review bloggers monthly by Liz of This Full House Reviews. There are also blog carnivals happening that aren’t done through blogcarnival.com, such as Weekend Herb Blogging at Cook Almost Anything, which was originally started and hosted by Kalyn at Kalyn’s Kitchen.
Why not start your own blog carnival? It’s a great way to partner with other bloggers and meet new ones. You will all benefit by improving your SEO and increasing your traffic. Plus, it’s a great way to meet other bloggers and get some interesting content for your site.
Hosting a carnival once a month on your site is often enough. Any more and you may bore your readers or suffer from burnout.
If you were to create a blog carnival, what would it be about?
I just recently started a Mamarazzi Monday Meme for those camera clicky Mamas out there to share their pictures! :) I love taking pictures of my kids - perhaps too much! LOL - so I thought it would be a fun way to share!
Here is the intro post if you'd like to stop by! :)
http://www.household6diva.com/2010/02/mamarazzi-monday-meme.html
Posted by: Ann Marie @ Household6Diva | 03/15/2010 at 02:34 PM
Love your meme! Yes, I completely spaced that a weekly ongoing meme is just like a blog carnival. Way to go!!
Posted by: Anne-Marie @ MC Blogger University | 03/15/2010 at 02:53 PM
Great website on alternative ways to get backlinks. I can attest to blog carnivals. Using trackbacks are another great way to get backlinks.
Posted by: Emily @ marketing for wahm | 04/22/2010 at 10:16 PM
Emily, thanks for bringing up trackbacks. Yes, they're a great way of getting backlinks. They're also a good way of seeing if anyone is talking about you or scraping your blog.
Posted by: Anne-Marie @ Mom Central Blogger University | 04/23/2010 at 12:08 AM