5 tips for getting your blog post featured

A few weeks ago I shared 5 tricks for increasing your page views and it was a HUGE hit! I decided to write another blog themed post about how to get your post featured on an awesome blog. Now, please be aware that these aren’t sure fired methods to getting a post featured, but they will definitely help!!!

First things first, what do I mean by “featured”? On certain linky parties, blogs will choose a “featured” post(s) for their next week’s link up. Usually these posts are displayed at the top of their post and sometimes even get pinned into a special pin board dedicated to that link up. How does being “featured” help you? Well for starters, it’s a HUGE compliment! I have been featured on lots of blogs (and by lots, I mean like 10 some smaller and a few much bigger ones! It’s an honor no matter how big the blog is to have your post chosen among all the linkies! It’s also a great way to get exposure and potential page views. Since it’s at the top, it’s the first thing everyone sees when they come to link up and, odds are, is visited by many of those linkers. Visits=page views. It’s a win-win! One time, I was featured on Six Sister’s Stuff Saturday Strut Your Stuff party and boy oh boy did THAT bring in a TON of traffic! I could not believe how many page views I got from it and that particular post has been pinned now over 500 times- which is pretty awesome by my standards!

Now, how do you get featured?? Unfortunately there is no sure fire way to guarantee that, but after linking up at soooo many parties and have been featured on more that one occasion, I have narrowed down 5 tips to have the honor of being featured on an awesome blog:

1. Use a FANTASTIC pinnable image!! No matter what kind of post you are linking up, you need a “pinnable image” to go along with it. If you are doing a recipe, craft or other project type post, you can use the finished image and spruce it up. If you are doing a tips or advice post, like this one, you can create an image like I did with this post. Don’t have an awesome camera?? That’s ok! I don’t either. Someday I would LOVE a DSLR camera but for now, I use my cell and then edit my image on pic monkey. Make sure you add a nice title to your picture and include your blog url or name as well. Remember that these linky parties are a series of thumbnail images, if your post doesn’t catch someone’s eye right away, it’ll get passed over, even if it’s an amazing post. Check out big named blogs like Six Sister’s Stuff, I Heart Naptime, Tatertots & Jello for image inspiration. I always pay attention to my front page on Pinterest too, these images are being pinned at a rapid pace, and it all had to do with image layout, coloring and catchy themes. I am always on the lookout for new ideas for awesome pinnable images!

2. Pay attention to the season: Bloggers love seasons and holidays. All’s you have to do is check out Pinterest to see what’s “hot” right now. Currently it’s all things fall and Halloween, soon it’s be Thanksgiving and then Christmas and other winter holidays. Bloggers tend to feature what makes sense to the current season, so odds are, if you link up a tropical drink recipe by Thanksgiving, if won’t be featured. It doesn’t fit the current “theme” of the season. So pay attention to what’s hot and save what’s not for later when it is!

3. Be an early bird: Link parties normally go live the night before, so try your very best to link up as early to the start as you can. The earlier you link, the less chance your link will get buried and it will be seen by more people. Now, you don’t have to link up first, but it definitely helps!

4. Spread the love: This was one of my previous tips. The more parties you link up at, the more chances you have to be featured! Check out my Link Up Love page for some of the places I link up at for some ideas. I am always adding more to that page (and also hate the way it looks! But all the different button sizes don’t seem to work, so it’s on my list to fix).

5. Content is Key: Keep your post concise and easy to follow. Make sure you give step-by-step directions, if applicable, and include images if necessary. Be sure you PROOFREAD your post and make sure it has a good flow. No on wants to read a post that rambles on or had oodles of spelling and grammar issues. I read once that Content is King of blogging and I agree. If you aren’t using original content, you’re not fooling anyone and no matter how awesome your image is, if no one can understand what you are trying to say, it won’t be featured!

So there are my 5 tips to getting featured. Being featured is one perk of blogging- nothings better than being recognized by other bloggers for all your hard work! Do you have any additional tips? Please share with us! Oh, and looking for a new linky party to join? Come back here on Wednesday for our Wine’d Down Wednesday link up- we just started choosing features! Will you be picked next week?

Oh and this has nothing to do with blogging, but I was asked by some amazing college students to do a survey about Build A Bear (no, I didn’t receive any compensation for it) and was asked to pass it on to my readers so I am doing that! If you feel much obliged and want to help some lovely students out, complete their survey! It only took about 3 minutes https://grady.co1.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_0iUsiD4vPiY8jGJ thank you!

The post 5 tips for getting your blog post featured appeared first on Our Three Peas.