The first time someone asked me to be part of a blog crawl, my response was probably:
a) That sounds like a lot of work/vaguely annoying.
b) With a name like that, it can’t be good. Pleeeeezzze. My blog can hop, skip, and drop it like it’s hot. We do not ‘crawl’ in this house.
And then I got the eff over myself, took part in Molly Mahar’s ABCs of Self-Love blog crawl, gained heaps of new readers + boosted my mailing list by a bajillion. Which is how, dear readers, I discovered what a blog crawl was.
Merriam Webster style:
Blog crawl (n)
A tool used to drive traffic from on blog to another. Contributors post on a specific topic, each linking back to a main page and also to each other. Online traffic flows between the main, host site to contributors and from contributor to contributor through blog posts and social media promotion.
If you’ve been following along on Yes and Yes as I’ve launched by latest ecourse The Post College Survival Kit, you’ve probably seen the blog crawl in action.
Is hosting a blog crawl a lot of work? Yes.
Will it pay off? Like, a lot? Also yes.
If I haven’t convinced you yet, here are four reasons you should consider putting together a blog crawl.
1. It’ll bring you (and your contributors) lots of traffic
This only makes sense, right? When coordinated correctly, everyone involved in the blog crawl promotes each other’s work. That means heaps of talented, lovely people with clever, engaged followers linking to your stuff. Between everyone who took part in my blog crawl, we had a combined Twitter reach of 100,000+! So many exclamation points!
2. It’ll introduce your readers to other awesome people they should know about
When you (carefully, strategically, lovingly) chose the right contributors, you’ll be introducing your readers to hidden gems and new RSS feed favorites. Do you know a new or underappreciated blogger who writes about stuff your readers would love? Are you on a one-person mission to tell everyone about That One Blog? Well, you should obviously invite that blogger to take part.
I can’t speak for the rest of the internet, but I struggle to find blogs I really like and when I do find one? I’m going to read the archives till my eyeballs fall out and send the links to my friends. Really, a blog crawl is just a slightly more civilized version of that. It’s a win/win for everyone involved!
3. It’ll strengthen your relationship with your contributors
I’m a big fan of good karma and spreading good will + traffic all around the internet (one of the reasons behind my most popular weekly post). I will so, so happily lend a hand to any of my contributors. Need another pair of eyes to check out that new ebook? Sure! Just want to commiserate about writer’s block or snarky, anonymous comments? I’m there. And if I’ve got a client who needs what my contributors are selling - I’ll be sure to pass ‘em along.
When you work on a project with anyone, you get to know them a little better and strengthen your friendships. And friendships are what make the world - online and off - go ’round.
4. If you’re using a blog crawl to launch a product, it’ll increase your sales like whooooaaa
The most obvious benefit to blog crawling? You’ll bring in heaps more traffic, which will bring in heaps more sales. Instead of overwhelming my 6,000 Twitter followers with a million tweets about my product, my friends and contributors built up the buzz between their 100,000 followers. 8,700 + (!!!) people downloaded the free, 27-page sample of The Post College Survival Kit. I gained 5-15 new Twitter followers every day of the blog crawl and I introduced contributors to my own 11,000+ readers and 4,000+ newsletter subscribers.
More importantly, my readers enjoyed the posts and other bloggers started writing their own ‘Notes To My Younger Self’ posts!
Over the next two weeks I’ll be sharing all the behind the scenes, how-tos, and ‘best practices’ of creating and managing your own blog crawl. If you want to make sure you don’t miss out, sign up for my newsletter and I’ll drop all the goodies right into your inbox.
Have you ever been part of a blog crawl? Or hosted one? What worked? What didn’t?
P.S. Why having a personality on the internet is good for business + How to befriend bloggers
I’d never heard of one of these before, and I’ll admit - when I first saw this post I was like “soooo, a link-up?” This sounds so fun though, and definitely a better way of driving traffic from one blog to the next, because they don’t have to go back to the original to find the links again. I can’t wait to see your next posts on this, so I can learn more about it
This sounds so fun! I got sick of the bloglovin hop things pretty quickly but they did help my numbers! This seems more targeted and professional so I can’t wait to learn more!
Thank you for this! I’ve seen some blog crawls done in a cheesy way and it put me off (not that I’m above some grimace-worthy moves), but I loved the Notes to My Younger Self series. I’m going to be following along to see how to do this right!
So… what is the difference between a blog hop and a blog crawl ?
thanks for the article, makes me wanna jump
Nolwenn,
I think they’re the same! I think ‘hop’ just sounds more appealing to some people than crawl
I prefer blog “crawl” because it makes it sound like I’m drinking while blog-reading (which is exactly what will begin happening again once this baby’s out).
I swear lady, not only do I always love stopping by your sites for seriously good advice, but you make me crack up every time I do! I love it! I’ve done a couple of blog crawls myself and really enjoyed the collaboration aspect. It really let’s you feel connected to your fellow online friends in a much deeper way, esp since we typically spend so much time hanging behind the screens. Looking forward to the rest of your how-tos.
Thanks so much, Rebecca! I hope you find ‘em useful!
Hey there, I came from Yes and Yes. So this is like a blog hope but I am thinking this is much better because of the numbers you cited. 100,000? Seriously? Now my curiosity got bigger! I can’t wait for your next update about this!
Right? I got lucky and a few of the (very generous) contributors had 15,000+ Twitter followers!
I saw all of the notes to my younger self posts on my favorite blogs all week. I also really liked your how to be a grown ass woman posts. Good job all around.
I love that you’re doing this series! I’ve been interested in doing a blog crawl, but was curious about the logistics. I definitely got new followers and traffic when I participated in your recent blog crawl, and it’s SO encouraging to hear that 8,700 people downloaded the free excerpt of your e-book! Wow!
Wonderful! Happy to hear it!
um thank you for this INCREDIBLE idea which I have never heard of before!!
What a cool concept… frankly I want to go on a blog crawl rather than host one because I love finding new amazing blogs to read…
this is great! I’m going to try this!!
I’ve not heard of this before but it sounds like a great idea! I’m definitely going to try this
I’ve been part of a ‘comment party’, and while it was traffic-bringing, such wasn’t genuine traffic-bringing, or anything, for that matter — it was very simple, and I think that perhaps the problem was that there was a lot of people involved, and there wasn’t a set topic to post about. Overall, it was a bad experience. (…a boost in traffic was nice, but there was no connection, as I’d been interested in meeting new people, etc.)
I’m looking forward to your upcoming posts! I’m subbed to both of your newsletters, but I always check back each Wednesday for a post <3 Each one is like an episode from ‘The Sarah Von Bargen Show’. Reading, yes, but I like reading blog posts better than watching vlog posts. I don’t watch vlog posts.
It’s my face! This post is definitely coming, I still just need to find time. I’ll keep you posted. No pun intended.