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Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Blog Hopping: What is it and How to Get Involved

Once upon a time, there was a children's book blogger (that's me) who was asked to participate in a blog hop. She said, "Yes," because she is always looking for ways to spice up her blog, drive traffic there, and meet new people. Part of the blog hop was finding other bloggers to tag and participate, too. Here's where she ran into a problem. When she would ask her friends in the kingdom of Blogville whether or not they wanted to participate in the blog hop, an overwhelming amount of them responded with, "What is a blog hop?"

So, that blogger decided to write a post about a blog hop to help her fellow bloggers understand what it is and how to get involved if it sounds interesting to you!

First, a blog hop is defined as a group of bloggers posting about the same topic, event, set of questions, book, etc. for a set amount of time. It allows readers to hop from blog to blog to find out more about this topic/book, etc. For example, blog A, B, C, D, and E are all blogging about the new Catching Fire movie and giving away a movie poster sometime during the week that the movie comes out. Readers can read each post that week and enter to win any giveaways.

Most of the time with a blog hop, bloggers have to tag a certain amount of bloggers to participate and put links to these people's blogs on their posts.

Does this sound like something you are interested in? How do you get involved?

1. Create your own blog hop and ask bloggers you know to participate.
2. Visit this site, and find a blog hop you can be a part of: http://www.blogaholicnetwork.com/page/general-blog-hops-and-link-ups
3. There's even a Pinterest page about blog hops! http://www.pinterest.com/bethbryan/blog-hops-to-join/
4. Google "Blog Hops"--you will be amazed at all the resources that pop up!

A blog hop is fun, helps you meet new people outside your circle, and hopefully drives traffic to your blog. If you are interested in trying a blog hop, then don't delay. Look for one you can do during December!

Have you ever participated in a blog hop? How did you like it?

Margo L. Dill is an online instructor for the WOW! Women On Writing classroom. She also owns Editor 911, a freelance editing business, and she is currently having a holiday sale on all editing projects. To find out more, please visit: http://margodill.com/blog/2013/11/20/holiday-specials-editor-911-and-finding-my-place/

7 comments:

  1. I have such mixed feelings about blog hops and am pretty choosy about the selection I participate in. Alex Cavanaugh's IWSG (Insecure Writers Support Group) is a great one with a lot of participants. It's wonderful if you're looking for a connection to other writers.

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  2. I'm also pretty choosy, but hops are a great way to connect with others with a common interest. I love some of the themed hops that have been hosted by I Am a Reader, Not a Writer. Also the Blogging from A to Z hop in April is HUGE and fun if you have enough gumption to blog everyday during the month.

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  3. Thank you, Margo, for the informative and useful post. Thanks to Julie and Dawn, too, for the follow-up comments. It sounds like you want to be fairly particular about which blog hops you participate in, and, having never done one, I appreciate that advice!

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  4. Very useful post. Now I want to to a blog hop! Hmm . . .

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  5. @Lori: I would say that every time you do anything with your blog (host an author, do a giveaway, do a blog hop), you think about YOUR audience, your focus for your blog, the time commitment, and your goals. :) (WOW! that seems like so much when I write it down on the page). I did the blog hop interview because it gave me a chance to talk about my work and tag other authors I love to talk about theirs. It also allowed my blog's link to be on different blogs it wasn't before. So for me, it was a win-win. :) I agree--you can't do everything!

    @Julie and Dawn--thanks for the suggestions!

    @Renee--Hop!Hop!

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  6. I have participated in a blog hop. And actually it kicked off my Guest Blog Friday. Each Friday I promote someone from the publishing industry on my blog.

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  7. @Leanne: Thanks for sharing what worked for you. :)

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