I used to blog pretty regularly back in 2009-2014. There were link parties galore then! I participated in a different link party every day of the week, found my favorites, and continued to join those parties weekly…Menu Plan Monday, Twisted Mix Tape Tuesday, Wordless Wednesday, Throwback Thursday…I know there were themes on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, but I can’t remember what they were now. I met people through those parties that I still talk to via social media to this day.
Now that I’m at a point in my life where things aren’t quite so hectic with kids and such, I realized I miss writing and sharing. I started up a new blog on WP. (Well, it’s actually something I started back in 2019, but just couldn’t really find the time to be consistent with, so I’ve scrapped and rewritten about 4 times over the past 5 years or so.) I don’t have a niche in the blogosphere; I’ve always tended to just write whatever comes to mind.
I’ve posted every day so far this year. (Yes, I know we’re not even halfway through January…give me a break, here!) WP encouraged me to use Jetpack to manage my day-to-day, so I am. I’m not sure if the Prompts feature is WP or Jetpack, but it’s the closest thing to a link party I’ve found so far, but I miss those link parties! I did a few Google searches, but nothing more current than 2019 has been showing up.
Does anyone know if there are any current link parties out there? Does anyone even know what a link party is? Am I that old and out of touch? Is there something out there akin to a link party, but more hip? Did I really just say hip?! Any help would (obviously) be welcome!
I remember “blog carnivals” and “blog rolls” back in the day. When blogs in a similar niche would link to each other. Those went away completely, although their descendants exist in the form of backlinks and guest posts these days.
They are definitely a thing of the past that’s discouraged in today’s blogging world. But you can still connect with other bloggers through niche blogging groups! I am in a pet blogging community where we connect, support one another, etc. It’s a great way to still feel that community feel without angering the SEO powers that be.
Asher said: @Dan
I have a dinosaur blog mostly you want to link out to great relevant resources you find, but not be forced to do a link exchange to random stuff.
A dinosaur blog! LOVE IT! I suppose mine can be classified as such too…though mine is just me writing, and I AM the dinosaur, lol.
Masitsa said:
No they’re not! Google penalized bloggers in one update for fake link schemes & link parties was one of the things targeted.
They’re not genuine links!
That’s so sad! Most of the ones I participated in, back in the day, were real links to real posts. There were the occasional bogus links, of course, but people would happen upon them and report them, and whoever was hosting the party would then remove them.
@Dan
Depending on the niche you’re in, now there are roundup posts:
25 best chicken dinner recipes
5 crafts for kids during winter break
15 plants you can grow indoors
7 day trips from Madrid
Etc etc. There are usually Facebook groups for roundups and bloggers try to write these round-up posts based on topics that fit their blog but ask for other bloggers to share a link to their post.
@Masitsa
Can you name some of these groups? I’m in one, but everything seems to be recipes, and my niche is travel. Not having any backlinks is killing me in the SERPs.
StevenMoore said: @Masitsa
Can you name some of these groups? I’m in one, but everything seems to be recipes, and my niche is travel. Not having any backlinks is killing me in the SERPs.
I’m a food blogger, so I don’t know about groups outside of my niche but they must exist because I do see roundups in Pinterest & other platforms.