What Are Linky Parties and Why Should I Be Joining?


Joining linky parties is a great way to bring traffic to your blog and get yourself noticed. This is my beginners guide to linky parties. If you already know the basics, pop over to Five Incredibly Useful Linky Tips For Bloggers.

What is a linky party?

A linky party (or ‘linky’ for short) is a list of blog posts.

The linky host sets up a page that allows other bloggers to add a link (URL) to a post on their blog. By adding your link, you agree to the rules of the linky which usually state that you will visit / comment on / tweet a certain number of other posts that have been linked (usually about 3 or 4).

How do I join in?

There are lots of different linky parties, hosted by different bloggers at different times and on different topics.

Most run either every week or every month, and will only accept posts for a certain number of hours or days. Find out the day and time that your chosen linky opens (it will be the same each week) and start thinking about which post you’re going to link up. (This post includes a list of my favourite linkies.)

A lot of hosts have a reminder system (either a tweet or an email) so if you’re interested in joining, you could ask them to add you to their reminder list, and then you’ll get a prompt when the linky is open.

When the party opens, there’ll be a blue button at the bottom of the post that says something like “Add your link”. Click that and it will take you to a little form that asks you for:

  • the link to your post
  • the title of your post
  • your email address

Once you’ve filled in the form, add an image from your post (usually the image will appear once you’ve filled in the form but you can always upload one if not), and click “done”.

Then a thumbnail image with a link to your post will appear on the linky page for that week. Other people will be able to click on the link and it will take them straight to your site.

Congratulations – you’ve just joined a linky!

What is the linky badge for?

Most linkies will have a badge that they ask you to attach to any posts that you link up. It is a way of telling other bloggers that you’ve added your post to a particular linky. The badge includes a link back to the host’s blog (which is only fair as they’ve allowed you to put a link from their blog to yours).

The linky badge lets other bloggers know about the linky party, and hopefully will encourage them to join in. This is good for everybody because the more popular the linky, the more people there are to comment on the posts you add to it.

How to add the linky badge (WordPress)

Adding the badge can seem a bit daunting at first but it’s really not that complicated. This is what you will see on the linky host page:

Lucy At Home

There is the linky badge (the image) and there is a text box underneath with some gobbledygook code in it. To add the badge to your post, follow these steps:

  1. Highlight the code and copy it
  2. Sign into your site’s dashboard
  3. Open the post you want to link up
  4. Change from the “visual” tab to the “text” tab (this is in the top, left hand corner, just above where you type your post)
  5. Scroll down to the bottom of your post
  6. Paste the code at the bottom
  7. Update your post

Now the image (minus the text box) should appear at the bottom of your page.

Why should I be joining linky parties?

Visibility

When you join a linky party, you’re making your blog visible. Everyone who visits that host’s linky page will be going for the purpose of finding some great blogs to read.

Comments

Because of the rules of the linky party, many of the people who click through to your website will leave comments and share your post on social media.

Featured blogger perks

Some linky hosts choose a “featured blogger” each week from the link up and announce it at the next party – if you win this, you get more exposure, and often a much-coveted follow link from the host (if you don’t know what this is yet, don’t worry – it’s good! You can find out more in my post on follow and no follow links if you wish)

I was featured on Blog Crush linky on lucyathome.co.uk

Community

Linky parties become mini blogging communities so it’s a great idea to link regularly. You’ll often get to know the hosts first as you’ll be tweeting them to let them know you’ve joined. But as  you comment on and share other linkers’ posts, you start to interact and form friendships with other bloggers.

Exposure

On the linky page, your blog post sits side-by-side with bloggers who’ve been at this for 2, 3, even 5 years! By taking part in the link-up, you appear on their radar. They might even choose your blog as one that they comment on.

Other blogs

Joining linkies forces you to read a wider range of blogs yourself (because you have to read at least your quota and preferably more). This is a great way to find out what you like (style, appearance, topic) and how you want your blog to be.

It’s like a masterclass in blogging!

 

Now I’ve persuaded you to start joining linkies, I have a couple more posts that you might be interested in:

  1. Five Incredibly Useful Linky Tips For Bloggers – a much more detailed look at linkies as a blogging strategy
  2. #BlogCrush – this post will tell you all about the linky that I co-host on a Fridayand how you can join in 🙂

Feel free to message me if you have any questions and I’ll do my best to answer 🙂

Linky Parties - what are linky parties, why should I join a linky party, blogging tips


16 Comments

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  1. 3
    Blogcrush Week 11 - 28th April 2017 — Lucy At Home

    […] IMPORANT NOTICE: There have been a few people only adding posts from their own site. This isn’t really in the spirit of the #blogcrush linky. Please, please, PLEASE make sure you’re following the linky rules or it spoils it for everyone. Wendy and I don’t want to be the blog police – it makes us sad! If you’re unsure, please tweet me  You can also check out this post for general info about linky parties. […]

  2. 9
    BlogCrush week 54 - 23rd February 2018 - Letters to My Daughter

    […] If you’re new to linky parties, Lucy has written an excellent beginner’s linky guide. […]

  3. 10
    BlogCrush week 57 - 16th March 2018 - Letters to My Daughter

    […] If you’re new to linky parties, Lucy has written an excellent beginner’s linky guide. […]

  4. 11
    BlogCrush week 48 - 12th January 2018 - Letters to My Daughter

    […] If you’re new to linky parties, Lucy has written an excellent beginner’s linky guide. […]

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