New Blogger Series: Hosting Linky Parties

One of the greatest way to build your followers and meet new bloggy besties is to participate in linky parties.  Sometimes, it's even better to host one!   Do you have a fabulous idea for a linky party?  Here's some information to help you get started with one!

The first step in getting started with your linky party, is to clarify your idea before you propose it or share it with the public.  Write it down, play with the idea, make sure you have a very clear vision for what you want to do with it.   Is this a crafting link-up?  Is it a certain type of post?  Make sure you know exactly what you will be asking people to do if they link up with you.

Once you're absolutely sure where you want to go with it, it's time to get started setting it up.

Who's hosting?  Are you going to host it all by yourself or are you going to get some co-hosts to host with you?  This is entirely up to you-if you want all of the credit go on and do it yourself, but sometimes taking on co-hosts is a great way to get more attention and promotion for your linky.

  

Choose a name for your linky.  The name should be catchy and should reflect what the posts are about.

Create a button for your linky. You'll want an eye-catching button that shows what your linky is about and has the name of your linky party on it.  Users will be able to grab this for their posts they link up.

What is the schedule?  Is it a weekly link-up?  Monthly?  What day of the week/month will it run on?

What are the rules?  Most linky have some kind of rule structure.  If you don't want any rules, that's cool too, but if you do then you'll need to define them first.  Do you want to require they have your button or a link back in the post?  Do you require they be on a certain topic?  It's up to you.

Decide which Linky tool you'll use. Once you're ready to start posting, you'll have to decide which tool you want to use for managing your links.  There are so many fantastic options out there, but here are the main four I see in usage on a daily basis, and my impression of them.

• Linky Tools:  This is the tool I've been using for years.  I'm tempted to try out some others, but since I have been paying for this one I haven't yet.  
• Pros:
• Easy to use
• Has both blogger and wordpress code
• Linky directory so you can get more publicity for your linky party
• Has lots of options for different types of linkies and settings in your linky
• Great support.
• Cons: 
• Costs $2 per month to use
• Requires an extra step to link up (you click on the link up link and go to a new page to link up instead of just linking up right there)
• No real organization in your dashboard-which can be quite confusing
• InLinkz: This is one of the more popular linky tools out there (you've probably seen it with the little blue frog) and the one I've considered switching to.
• Pros: 
• It's free
• Remembers your field data from linky to linky  
• Has different options for what kinds of linkies you can do
• Has a project manager to keep all of your information organized.
• Cons: 
• An extra step-you have to click on the link for the pop up to enter your info and hit next to select a photo
• Sometimes it doesn't find photos on the site easily
• Mister Linky: This is one I see a lot when linking up from other blogs.  I've never used it myself on my own blog, but I have entered my links into it many times.
• Pros: 
• Remembers your field data from linky to linky 
• No extra steps-enter your data right there at the bottom of the post and submit.
• Cons: 
• The website is awful, as it looks pretty old and outdated so I suspect it doesn't have a lot of features (though I don't know for sure) and appears to be a little hard to navigate
• Appears to have a cost associated, but that may just be for upgraded memberships
• SimplyLinked: I see this one sometimes, and it's my least favorite to enter my link in.
• Pros: 
• Very stylish design
• It's free
• Enter your data directly to the post
• Looks easy to set up.
• Cons: 
• Does not remember form data (so for someone entering the same thing they have to re-type everything every time)

You're going to want to include your linky button in your post with the HTML Code so people can easily grab it.  Not sure how to include the code?  I'll show you!

1. First, upload your button/image to a photo hosting site. (I use Photobucket)
2. Copy and paste the following code (after the instructions), into your post.
3. Replace the CAPITALIZED WORDS with your links/information.
4. Adjust the size of your text box by changing the nmbers after cols="##" and rows="#"

<center> <a href="LINK TO YOUR BLOG" target="blank"><img src="DIRECT LINK TO BUTTON IMAGE" alt="NAME OF LINKY PARTY"></a><br><textarea cols="30" name="textarea" rows="5" wrap="VIRTUAL"><a href="LINK TO YOUR BLOG" target="blank"><img src="DIRECT LINK TO BUTTON IMAGE" alt="NAME OF LINKY PARTY"></a>< / textarea > END OF COPYING(but remove the spaces between the <> in that last /textarea)

For example, if I were to use the following button code with my New Blogger Series, it would look like this:

<center> <a href="http://www.mysocalledchaos.com" target="blank"><img src="http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww257/agofish/For%20Blog/newbloggerseries_zps80eb9f57.png" alt="New Blogger Series" height="300" width="300"></a><br><textarea cols="30" name="textarea" rows="5" wrap="VIRTUAL"><a href="http://www.mysocalledchaos.com" target="blank"><img src="http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww257/agofish/For%20Blog/newbloggerseries_zps80eb9f57.png" alt="New Blogger Series" img="300" width="300"></a>< /textarea > END OF COPYING(but remove the spaces between the <> in that last /textarea)

*Note 1: For some reason it wont let me put in the correct /textarea code there, so just make sure to remove the spaces between the < > marks and /textarea.

*Note 2: You can change the size of your button image by adding the codes like I did above inside the img src= code after the "URL" width="###" height="###" before the closing > mark.

The end result of copying the code, changing the sizes and replacing those words would look like this:

<a href="http://www.mysocalledchaos.com" target="blank"><img src="http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww257/agofish/For%20Blog/newbloggerseries_zps80eb9f57.png" alt="New Blogger Series" img="300" width="300"></a>

You're going to want to figure out a draft structure for your posts and try and stick with it as much as possible each time your linky party goes up.  This helps for a sense of stability, and the people linking up will have an easier time joining you each week.

Components of your post:

• The Blog Button with an HTML grab box so that they can easily grab your button code to put in their posts.  (See above)
• An explanation of what the linky party is and when it happens.
• The rules, if there are any.
• Information about the hosts, if there are other hosts.
• Your post that fits within the linky party.
• And the Linky tool you've chosen where they can link up their posts.

I currently host/co-host several linky parties.  Musical Mondays every Monday where we share songs we love, The Monthly Goals which runs the first Wednesday of every month and we share goals and successes/failures, The Weekly Round-Up every Sunday where we share posts by other people, and very recently I started co-hosting Aloha Friday, which is a weekly link-up aimed at building your following and following others.

Are you looking for more parties to join? Here are some by other bloggers that I love who run fantastic link-ups-so you can look to them as examples if you'd like too!  Check them out:

• Monthly: 
• The Monthly Goals: Link up your goals, successes, and failures for the month!
• Literary Junkies: A book link-up with specific questions!
• Comment Promise Hop: Link up posts and comment on other bloggers posts!
• Subscription Box Share: Show off your Subscription Box Goodies for the month!
• Mondays: 
• Musical Mondays: Link up your music choice for the week!
• The Collective Social Blog Hop: Link up your GFC, Bloglovin, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest and follow others on theirs too!  
• Friend Connect Blog Hop: Link up your blogs and meet others too!
• Monday Morning Gossip: Link up your gossip for the week!
• Monday Minglings: Link up your blogs and meet others too!
• Tuesdays: 
• Talk to Us Tuesdays: Link up virtually anything you're talking about on Tuesday.
• My Happy List: Link up a list of things that are makng you happy!
• Instagram Blog Hop: Link up your Instagram and follow other IG accounts!
• Take-a-Look Tuesday: Link up virtually anything you're talking about on Tuesday.
• Wednesdays:  
• Oh How Pinteresting: Link up your favorite Pinterest finds for the week.
• Wino Wednesday: Link up your wine-related post or pins!
• We Want to Know Wednesday: Answer the questions they give you so everyone can get to know you beter!
• The Wendesday Chronicles: Link up an old archived post!
• Thursdays: 
• Writer's Workshop: Pick a writing prompt and write about it, then link up your post!
• The Bloglovin Collective: Link up your Bloglovin for people to follow, and follow others!
• Bloglovin Blog Hop: Link up your Bloglovin for people to follow, and follow others!
• Fridays: 
• Aloha Friday: Link up your blogs and meet others too!
• Literary Friday: Link up your book reviews/book related posts.
• Friday Confessional: Link up your Friday Confessions.
• Weekend Reads: Link up two posts from the previous week you want to share.
• Happies and Crappies: Link up your Happy and Crappy stuff from the week.
• The Nail Files: Link up your weekly mani/pedis!
• Fridays Fancies: A fashion link up-she picks a theme and you show off an outfit within that theme.
• Weekend Wanderings: Link up virtually anything all weekend!
• Weekend Blog Party: Link up nearly all of your social media links and follow others!
• Saturday: 
• Shoe Lust Saturday: Link up your shoe-related posts!
• Sunday
• The Weekly Round-Up: Share blog posts from other bloggers/sites that you love!

Do you host a linky party or participate in any you love?  Tell me about it!

Lesson 1: Blogger Lingo

Lesson 2: Finding Your Niche

Lesson 3: Social Media

Lesson 4: Start a Conversation

Lesson 5: Blog Design Tips

Lesson 6: Blog Sponsorship

Lesson 7: Accepting Sponsors

Lesson 8: Running a Giveaway

Lesson 9: Hosting Linky Parties
Lesson 10: Back Up Your Blog