How to Get More Clicks From a Blog Link Up

Over the years, I have hosted several blog link ups and participated in several as well.  Currently, I host a Welcome Home Wednesdays link up for homemakers.  Anything even remotely encouraging to the homemaker is allowed.  The link up has between 70-100 links every week with well over a thousand total clicks.  I consider this to be a mid-sized link up with great potential for those who choose to leave their blog links.

Link up parties can be a little on the fickle side.  Sometimes you get a ton of clicks, sometimes you get nothing.  Today, I want to share with you some best practices when it comes to participating in blog link ups so you will see the best results.

Create graphics that get noticed

Here’s an example of a graphic that got noticed last week:

The colors are beautiful and stand out well amongst other posts.  Most bloggers are starting to get the hang of creating graphics for Pinterest (you know, visually appealing with words written on the graphics), but link ups are different from Pinterest.  Most link ups only allow a 125×125 pixel thumbnail.  The more words you put on a graphic that size, the harder it is going to be to figure out what it is.

But, this blogger knows her stuff.  Take a look at her original post here.  She has a multitude of graphics to choose from.  And because most link up widgets show you what your graphic is going to look like before you choose it, giving yourself a lot of options guarantees you will find one that is perfect for the link up.  The reason hers works so well, even with words on it, is because the words are easy to read and don’t overwhelm the graphic.

Write titles that get noticed

One of the most clicked posts from last week was this one:

Notice that this post was nowhere near the top of the link up.  But, it stood out to my readership because of the title she gave it.

So, how do you know what will be a good title?  You need to consider the blog you are leaving the link on.  My blog is full of large homeschooling families.  They are frugal, they love babies, they like things uncomplicated, and they are always looking for a better way to do things.

The above title says 2 things that got my readers’ attention:
1.  “How to” and
2.  “Simple Living”

So, even though her link was about mid-way through the links, people wanted to read what she had to say because her title piqued their curiosity.

Know when the link up goes live
{but don’t kill yourself trying to link up}

Welcome Home Wednesday goes live at 1 am Eastern…same time as most of my other posts.  Most link up posts go live somewhere between 10 pm and 3 am Eastern.  It is an obvious fact the closer to the top your post is the more exposure and chances to be clicked it will have.  Here’s an example:

These first 6 posts were all left between 1:02 am and 1:07 am the night this link up went live.  All 6 posts are in the Top 30 clicked posts of the link up.

However, remember #47 above?  That post was linked up at 11:18 am the next morning.  She didn’t have to stay up late or wake up super early to have a post that got clicked.  Which leads to my final point…

Write click-worthy posts

In the end, clicks aren’t what matters as much as the conversion rate from clicks to readers.  The way you get these is to use the practices above to bring people to your blog where they find relevant, well-written content.  Relevant posts fit the readership of the blog they are being linked to and well-written means readable, helpful, void of massive errors.

In fact, this is one of my purposes for hosting Welcome Home Wednesdays.  I want you to find new readers and I want readers to find new blogs.  If you are writing great content and linking up great graphics with great titles, then I am certain you will get the clicks that will eventually gain you readers.  I’m happy, you’re happy, my readers are happy.  I mean OUR readers are happy! 🙂