Monday, April 25, 2011

Gettin' Krafty With It

Hello!  I am still not caught up but didn't want y'all to miss linking up this week.  I haven't finished going through last week's projects so no features yet but they'll be up soon so make sure you check back! 

Also, you may have (but probably not) noticed the list of link parties at the bottom of the page.  There’s a story behind that!  I was linking up to a link party and there was a discussion about blog etiquette and linking back when you link to blog parties.  Then, I saw another blog saying the same thing.  I felt like maybe my current method was not enough.  I mean, I would love to put everyone’s button into each and every post that I link up to but if you take a look at the list of all the places I link up to, that would take up 1/2 of my entire blog!  So, for a while, I added text links at the bottom that I would add to each and every post but it became VERY cumbersome to manually do that.  So, my next idea was the link party page.  However, even after I worked and worked at it, making sure all of the buttons were the same size, it ended up that links were no longer working, I lost all of Wednesday’s parties (I have NO idea!) and I don’t think it was doing justice to the blogs who I was linking up to if no one was clicking over to that page.  So, my next bright idea was to put  text links at the bottom of the main page and reference it at the end of each post with something like, “Scroll down to see my party list of all of the places I’ll be sharing this post.”  I named each party and each blog in the links.  Somehow, though, I ended up with only the blog address showing!  How frustrating!  I really spent a lot of time on that too!  So, for now, this will have to do until I can find the time to fix it. At least they are there and the links work


I am curious as to what are your opinions on link parties and linking back to the host in the post? 


I do believe it is the polite thing to do.  I want to link up to the party to gain exposure for my blog and the host wants to gain exposure for their blog.  I do, however, believe that some people make way too much of a big deal about it.  I mean, I host a party so I know both sides of the situation.  Yes, I would love it if you post my button in your post or even a text link but I will be totally honest when I say, I don’t really care!  I don’t .  I am hosting the party for fun.   I am not into having a lot of rules.  Too many rules takes away all of the fun.  And parties are supposed to be fun!  Yes, I like for new people to be able to find my blog but not at the expense of me having to nag.  I hate nagging! 

So, here's the party, link back if you like, follow me if you'd like, link up whatever you like...anything goes as long as it's Krafty!

LINKPARTYBUTTON
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11 comments:

  1. Hey girl! It says closed...is it opening later?

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  2. Thanks for hosting another link party.

    As to my opinion on linking back to the host party, I think it's the polite and respectful thing to do. I understand how cumbersome it is. That's why I resized all the buttons, put in the code, and then copy and paste it into the post when I link it up. But yeah, if you don't know html coding, it can be difficult. I've been meaning to do a tutorial on it; I think I'll do that this week some time.

    Cheers,
    Tracy All Thumbs Crafts

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  3. I'm so glad you wrote this post. I have been feeling the same way about "linking back from your post" and I can not figure out a way to make it work and not feel like I'm spending my whole day on the computer. So for now I have a party page that I link to from my post and I just stopped linking to the parties that ask me to link from my post. If you figure out a good way to have them at the bottom of your page I would love to hear about it. I too really appreciate the hosts and I really want to follow the rules because I think it's the polite thing to do.

    As alway thanks for hosting and thanks for having such laid back rules. It makes linking up a fun thing and not a chore. Have a great week!

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  4. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'm so glad you wrote this and said this - I think that it's getting a little bit intense and unfun. I don't want to come to your real party to be yelled at and told not to do anything or mess up, so why would I want that in a link party? I try to do what I can and I have a linky party page, but I just can't put the little boxes and badges on every single post - I'd rather see a big list on someone else's blog too! I'll get ideas based on their big list, you know? Anyways, thanks for reading my mind and throwing a fun party!

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  5. Amen to that! Thank you so much for saying out loud what everyone is thinking! :)
    A linky party should be fun! And yes, linking back is the polite thing to do - and I think 99% of people linking up, also link back. But I much rather look at someone else's organized linky party page than click through a random selection at the end of someone's post.

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  6. I offer a link party page that is pretty extensive. But like you, I link up to so many parties that if I put the links in my posts, it would take up my whole day and half my page.

    If they have a rule that you have to have the link in the post, then I just don't participate in that party.

    I hold a no rules party every Thursday. And you know what? It brings lots of folks by. And I think they are having fun. Isn't that the meaning of a party?

    suzy

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  7. I think it's important to link back and help promote other blogs. I do a second post each day listing all the parties I'm participating in. That way, my readers can easily go down the list and join the fun! I have a spreadsheet of the URL to the parties listed by day, and in the next column, I put their HTML so that I can copy/past the whole column into the post. Easy!

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  8. Thanks Kat. I agree - some of the "rules" are a bit intense. I take the time to put everyone's buttons at the bottom of my post. I truly appreciate the link party hostesses but I do feel that sometimes the "rules" are becoming the main focus - not the party.

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  9. Thank you so much for starting this discussion! When I first began linking to parties, I put the buttons on my permanent sidebar, not realizing I should add it to my post. When somebody asked me to guest post and send her my HTML she got so mad when she didn't see a link to her blog. She knew I was new - I really wish she had kindly let me know I had messed up! So I am always careful now. Since then I have seen many party
    hosts that gently remind bloggers to link back.
    I can't imagine how much time it takes to host a party - just keeping up with a blog so I try to put a link at the bottom of the post and a button on my sidebar.

    But I'm with you - it is hard to keep it uniform and as the list grows the buttons get lost at the bottom of the blog.

    Thank you so much for hosting and hope this encourages someone to do a tutorial!

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