Some of the first blog carnivals had a broad subject matter. Since “carnival real estate” was wide open, general-interest carnivals could stake their claim without displacing anyone. When one looks at the money and finance carnivals at BlogCarnival.com there are a couple of screenfuls of money and finance carnivals. The first of these (as far as I know) was the Carnival of Personal Finance, with the premier edition hosted at its creator’s website, Consumerism Commentary.
This carnival enjoyed a few months by itself before a troublemaker (I won’t mention any names!) cut his own slice of the blog carnival pie by creating the Carnival of Debt Reduction, which was aimed at highlighting personal debt reduction stories. The initial posting of the guidelines and schedule for the Carnival of Debt Reduction acknowledged the existence of the Carnival of Personal Finance with the hope that things wouldn’t get too crowded:
Why start up one [carnival] on Debt Reduction when there’s already one [carnival] on Personal Finance, you might ask? Debt reduction is part of personal finance — no doubt about that. It’s a very important part of personal finance, though — important enough to have its own carnival. Successful debt reduction stories and good debt reduction advice needs more exposure, and people need to see that debt is not forever. Many inspiring debt reduction stories make their way into blogs, and it is encouraging to everyone involved — bloggers, carnival hosts, and readers — to have their successes and insights highlighted on a regular basis. It is my feeling that there’s enough room in the blogosphere for both a Debt Reduction carnival and a Personal Finance carnival. We’ll see!
In short, I felt there was enough room for a blog carnival that was a sub-topic of an existing carnival. A year and a half later, the carnival still has regular contributors and people still are interested in hosting. Also, the Carnival of Personal Finance still thrives, and if anything, gets more posts than it did before!
Following this carnival there was the Carnival of Investing and the Festival of Frugality, which arguably are also sub-topics within personal finance. And more division of personal finance, like the Carnival of Taxes. Then, there was even more specialization of investing, like the Festival of Stocks and the Carnival of Real Estate Investing. Today, there are four other real-estate-related blog carnivals listed, and four other blog carnivals specializing in credit and debt.
Once one gets a foot in the door, lots of others can get in. But the more that come in, the more specialized they have to be.
While the new specialized carnivals have to struggle to find enough posts to piece together a decent edition, the older, more general carnivals run into the problem that there are too many posts for each carnival. The specialized carnivals have to define themselves, whereas the older carnivals may have to re-define themselves to avoid becoming unwieldy.
Blog carnivals are a great way for newer blogs to gain some exposure, and having a highly specialized blog carnival that is directly related to the content of the post may be just as effective in gaining exposure than if it were submitted to a bigger, but less specialized carnival. This is because the readers of the specialized carnival are more targeted than the readers of the broader carnival.
I think if one is going to participate in blog carnivals, submitting to the more general ones and more specific ones is a good idea. And if an appropriate specific one hasn’t been started up, maybe it’s time! As the blog carnival scene evolves, odds are someone will take it upon themselves to fill in the vacuum.
Getting your readers to think about the posts Blunt Money's take on the Carnival of Personal Finance this week featured a crossword puzzle with words that related to the posts in the carnival. Very inventive!With a carnival as popular as the Carnival of Personal Finance it helps to have an extra something to get readers involved in reading......
How tightly does one need to control a carnival? As blog carnivals get big and well-established, the traffic gets pretty substantial. This attracts more posts, both good and bad. The good posts, because it's a good, long-standing carnival that bloggers want to submit to. The bad posts, because it's an easy, high-traffic link for not that much work.Initially, when......
Try scheduling hosts in advance This is a rule that I don't follow all the time, and it adds a lot of stress having to find a host from week to week. The Carnival of Personal Finance has come to ask for hosts quarterly. He asks for hosts about a month in advance, then decides......
Consider choosing quality over quantity Free Money Finance has started up a new blog carnival that turns its back on quantity. The Best of Money Carnival, by definition, is limited to only ten posts each week. FMF even throws in some perqs: $1,000 donated to charity for the best post of the year and for......
The Commercial Real Estate Blog Sphere News And Articles #9 - The Commercial Real Estate Bailout! [/caption] Greetings from the commercial real estate metropolis of Cedar Crest, NM! To be honest, I am not a fan of "Christmas" per se. I do love the true meaning of what Christmas is all about....but I sure have a hard time enjoying myself with all the "stuff" that goes along with it. ......
Top ten ways personal finance blogging has helped me Lazy Man & Money has started a meme about the Top Ten Ways Personal Finance Blogging Has Helped Me. If you're interested in participating, let him know that you've done so & he'll link to you. 10. It makes me feel good to know that I may be helping others.......
10 Things To Know Before You Buy Commercial Real Estate Contemplating the purchase of your first (or next!) piece of commercial real estate is exciting. Many investors start their real estate portfolios by owning single family homes - assets that are generally more time-intensive to care for, and which offer less cash flow as a general rule. The switch......
Ben Stein Loves Real Estate I'm a big fan of Ben Stein's books.I also read his column, How Not To Ruin Your Life. This weeks issue is about letting the non-financially savy spouse in on what to do after you pass away. But best of all, he professes his love for real estate!We're currently somewhat......
Carnival evolution: Broadcasting to Nichecasting
Commentary March 23rd, 2007
Some of the first blog carnivals had a broad subject matter. Since “carnival real estate” was wide open, general-interest carnivals could stake their claim without displacing anyone. When one looks at the money and finance carnivals at BlogCarnival.com there are a couple of screenfuls of money and finance carnivals. The first of these (as far as I know) was the Carnival of Personal Finance, with the premier edition hosted at its creator’s website, Consumerism Commentary.
This carnival enjoyed a few months by itself before a troublemaker (I won’t mention any names!) cut his own slice of the blog carnival pie by creating the Carnival of Debt Reduction, which was aimed at highlighting personal debt reduction stories. The initial posting of the guidelines and schedule for the Carnival of Debt Reduction acknowledged the existence of the Carnival of Personal Finance with the hope that things wouldn’t get too crowded:
In short, I felt there was enough room for a blog carnival that was a sub-topic of an existing carnival. A year and a half later, the carnival still has regular contributors and people still are interested in hosting. Also, the Carnival of Personal Finance still thrives, and if anything, gets more posts than it did before!
Following this carnival there was the Carnival of Investing and the Festival of Frugality, which arguably are also sub-topics within personal finance. And more division of personal finance, like the Carnival of Taxes. Then, there was even more specialization of investing, like the Festival of Stocks and the Carnival of Real Estate Investing. Today, there are four other real-estate-related blog carnivals listed, and four other blog carnivals specializing in credit and debt.
Once one gets a foot in the door, lots of others can get in. But the more that come in, the more specialized they have to be.
While the new specialized carnivals have to struggle to find enough posts to piece together a decent edition, the older, more general carnivals run into the problem that there are too many posts for each carnival. The specialized carnivals have to define themselves, whereas the older carnivals may have to re-define themselves to avoid becoming unwieldy.
Blog carnivals are a great way for newer blogs to gain some exposure, and having a highly specialized blog carnival that is directly related to the content of the post may be just as effective in gaining exposure than if it were submitted to a bigger, but less specialized carnival. This is because the readers of the specialized carnival are more targeted than the readers of the broader carnival.
I think if one is going to participate in blog carnivals, submitting to the more general ones and more specific ones is a good idea. And if an appropriate specific one hasn’t been started up, maybe it’s time! As the blog carnival scene evolves, odds are someone will take it upon themselves to fill in the vacuum.