I really love Link Parties!

As I think all of you know, I have a weekly link party called Take-A-Look Tuesday, and I love it.  I really really love link parties!

I wanted to give a quick rundown about them, from my perspective.

What is a link party??  it’s where YOU, as a reader, insert a link to an awesome project you did.  You insert that link into the party.  The party is one big list of images that when clicked will take you to awesome projects.

Why link up??  it helps you share your ideas.  it gives you exposure.  it gives your post traffic.  Link parties used to be a HUGE deal before Pinterest, because it was a lot of great ideas listed in one spot.  As Pinterest gets more and more diluted with weird and random things, people will start to turn back to link parties.  They are a smaller scale so it’s not overwhelming to scroll through and see projects that catch your eye.

Features!  I pull a handful of projects from the link party each week and feature them, by name, the next day.  It’s a big deal to get featured!  You get even more exposure to your post and being linked from my blog to yours sends good searching vibes.  What do I feature?  great projects and crafts!  It can be a tutorial of your own, or something you made using a tutorial – I just love to feature whatever you’ve been creating.  I also feature the post that gets the most views each week.  Heads up – you’re welcome to add them to the party, but I won’t ever feature “round-up” posts, since I like to feature a project that a reader made and not just a list of good ideas of projects to do.

What about group link parties?  It seems to be the thing right now to do a group link party – like several bloggers all put the same party on their site at the same time.  The idea is that it’s easier to link up to one giant party instead of 4-5 separate parties.  They’re okay, but I like just a single link party, that way it doesn’t get too huge.  I feel like normal link parties have more of a “community” feel where people browse around instead of just linking and running off to the next thing.  I’ve been asked to merge into a group link party and gave it some thought, but currently I’m sticking with a stand-alone party of awesomeness.

Why do you love them?  I feel like I built my blog on link parties – it’s how I got out in the creative blogging community, how I showcased my projects and found projects of others.  As I linked my projects, my readership grew and expanded.  As I got to know those people that were linking to the same parties I was and followed their blogs, I gained blog friends.  Even today, I still link up to link parties – I just love them and all that they entail!

Is it a Day Off for you?  You would think having the link party running leaves me with a day of no blog work, but because I do features, it’s just as much work as putting up a blog post.  I look through the links and find ones that I want to feature. Then I create a graphic for the post, pin all the featured projects, etc.  Most of my blog posts I can work on ahead of time, but my feature post always has to be written right then, in real time, which can be a little tricky.

Are there rules?  Different link parties have different stipulations.  Here at Sugar Bee Crafts, Take-A-Look Tuesday is really open.  But there are a few guidelines:
–I ask that you only link 2 projects (otherwise one person could link like 10 in a row and that takes the fun out of discovering new blogs and people).
–I ask that if you linked something last week, not to link the same thing again (otherwise if we see the same exact project over and over each week, it takes the fun out of finding new projects)
–Obviously if you link up an inappropriate post I reserve the right to remove it from the party.
–I would love if someone on your blog or your post you mention that you’re linking it to Sugar Bee Crafts, or include the link party button I provide, but it’s an honor-system on that and not a have-to.   (you can find the Sugar Bee Craft buttons here)

When is it?  This is the big question for every link party – when does it start??  It’s always great to get in the coveted first-row spots.  Take-A-Look Tuesday runs all day Tuesday, but it actually goes live at 10pm Central the night before (on Monday night).  Set your alarms and be there!  I start it in the evening so those who work have the chance to link up before the work day starts.

Your thoughts? It seems like everyone has their own thoughts and opinions on link parties.  I really love them, but what about you??  Let’s hear your insight!  Do you have a favorite party to link to (besides the ever-awesome Take-A-Look Tuesday, of course 🙂 )