Linky parties bring massive amounts of traffic.
It’s easy to start a blog and throw a linky party.
You pick a platform and theme, adjust your settings, and start writing.
You have a voice that yearns to be heard. You have valuable information that needs to be imparted to the masses… but the masses don’t come to listen.
At the very least, you’ll share your content with interested parties… but those are too few and far between for your liking.
If only you could find someway to get people to your site, they would see the value your content holds for them, and you’d be able to increase traffic that needs a boost.
There is a way! Have a linky party.
Many people write me and ask if the Inspire Me Monday Linky Party I hold each week is a lot of work. The answer, plain and simple, is yes.
The question is How badly do you want people to come to your site? How badly do you want the traffic?
Linky parties have many advantages. First, people come to your site who wouldn’t ordinarily be there. It is a chance for them to see your site and what it could offer them.
Next, because linky parties hold unique opportunities for bloggers to network, the traffic is staggering. My traffic is so high on Monday, the day of my linky party, I have stopped writing blog posts. Due to the linky party, I am already getting massively high page views that day. This past Monday alone, my traffic increased more than 33%.
If the answer is that you want the exposure and the increased traffic, then you should consider having a linky party, and this post will tell you how to do it.
How to Have a Linky Party
1. I set up my post.
I upload the image provided me by the head of the linky party. She needed assistance, and I wanted the traffic, so I offered to help.
After greeting the guests (it’s a party, after all), I announce which posts I found the most inspirational.  Having featured bloggers from the week before is standard. I look for inspirational posts to feature since it’s the Inspire Me Monday Linky party.
I introduce the guests to their hostesses like I would at a “real” party. This involves copy-pasting. I do not have to type their names and social media contacts each week.
I include another graphic provided to me showing the guests the rules. I have been to various linky parties. They each have a different set of criteria for posting links. At ours, all links are welcome.
2. When I’m done setting up the post, I need the link. What’s a linky party without a link? My cohostess got an account at InLinkz. The account is free. She gets a code from InLinkz which she gives me each week in a private Facebook group she set up.
I also need an account at InLinkz to access the link. Setting up an account was free for me just as it was for her.
When I click on the code, it takes me to InLinkz. I sign in, and the code for that week’s linky party is waiting for me.
I copy it, and go back to my post.
I change from visual to text mode and paste the code where I want the link.
I change back to visual mode, and wahla, we have a linky party ready to start within hours.
3. I promote the link to my post the way I would any post so people know about the chance to come to my site and promote their post link. I also want to let people know when it’s ending when I promote the linky party.
4. Before it all begins again the following week, I click on 60 of the links and thank those guests for coming.
I have been given a comment schedule that tells me which 60 I am expected to visit.
It is at this point that I choose the two most inspirational from that week’s guests.
Conclusion: How to Throw a Linky Party
There are definite advantages to holding a linky party. As guests become accustomed to going to your site the day of the party, your traffic increases.
I have had guests write me offering to promote the party for their social media followers. In this way, the traffic has snowballed.
Other guests write me to thank me for the opportunity to network and meet new bloggers. Who doesn’t like appreciation?
Holding the linky party is also a chance to take a break from writing blog posts. Because of the party, I am still able to publish on my site.
The only downside is the time it takes to go into the posts, read and make intelligent comments, and set up the post for the next week.
The upside: an amazing amount of traffic and connections among bloggers I wouldn’t otherwise have.
Readers, if you believe others might be interested in hosting, or cohosting, a linky party, please share.
What are your experiences? Are there other advantages to holding the parties? Are there other disadvantages? Are you considering hosting or cohosting a linky party yourself? I look forward to your views.
