Choose a Theme for Your Link Up Party in 3 Easy Steps!

Hello there =)

A couple weeks ago, I shared with you the latest and greatest way bloggers can connect and support one another: The Ultimate Linky List with Sarah Celebrates. This may have gotten you thinking about starting a link up party of your very own. I mean, how hard can it be? Am I right?

Starting a link up party is an exciting event for both you and your blog! It gives event coordinator in you a project to plan and care for all while knocking out a blog post regularly. Bonus!

Once you’ve decided to host one, the easy part is done… and now the planning and work begins.

What? Work? Link up parties take work?
Heck yeah! But don’t worry, I’m going to help you out =) Just stick around.

Yes, hosting (and even co-hosting) a link up party takes time & work. But if you take the time to plan, you can make the process simple and dare I say easy. Today we’re going to start at the very beginning: choosing a theme for your party. Are you ready?

Why Choose A Theme for Your Party?

Before we can get to the how, we should understand the why first.

Take a look at the (ever growing) Ultimate Linky List. Each party listed, with an exception or two, has a theme. A theme, or blog post topics others can share at the party, gives the link up party some direction and encourages engagement.

By hosting a link up party with a theme you draw in bloggers who fall into that niche. Here’s what we want to happen:

Bloggers share their posts that follow your theme.
They find interest in other bloggers posts who linked up because they blog about the same topic/niche.
All the people who link up share and comment on each others posts. Hopefully, new friendships and connections are formed!
The people linking up stick around on your blog and read some more.

[Tweet “Linkup party themes create direction and engagement.”]

That doesn’t mean you have to have a theme for your party. There are such things as anything goes link ups. At these parties hosts let you link up, well, anything.

Just know that this is a free for all; any and all topics will show up. You will have to weed through all the posts to determine a favorite to feature. I don’t have any statistics on it, but I imagine that the engagement rates are lower on an anything goes party versus a themed party. If I don’t want to go through all the posts to find my favorite, people stopping by probably won’t want to either.

OK, now we can work on choosing that theme. Three questions, 3 decisions to make and you’re on your way!

1 – Your Blog’s Niche

What is your blogs niche?

You hear that word and question so often in blogging. When you’re just starting out that can be a hard one to answer let alone even know what it means.

Simply put for our party purposes: what is the main topic of your blog? What is your blog known for or will be known for?

One of the actual definitions of niche is: a place, employment, status, or activity for which a person or thing is best fitted.

What topic is the best fit for you to write about? That would be a great link up party theme!

Food blogger? Host a recipe share link up. Crafty chick? Invite others to share their crafty goodness. Mommy blogger? Kid’s activities, homeschooling, toddler friendly recipes… All sorts of topics you bloggers can choose from there.

My party, Two Uses Tuesday, welcomes all things you created: crafts, DIYS, recipes and upcycles. That brings us to decision number 2…

2 – Narrow or Broad?

OK, you’ve established what your blog is all about you have a good idea what your link up party theme will be.

But… I like a lot of stuff… Can my party have more than one theme?
Of course you can!! I do =)

I get it. You have so many great ideas rattling around in your head you don’t want to limit yourself to just one.

The broadness of your theme will gauge how many people/bloggers can link up to your party. The more flexibility and options a theme has the more bloggers can link up.

This might be good for a newer blogger who is still finding their focus.

For example:

Two Uses Tuesday began as a repurposing & upcycle sharing link up party. I only wanted bloggers to share posts featuring repurposed or upcycled projects. I found that this was a small segment of the blogging world…

Once I opened up the party to all things you’ve created (crafts, DIYs, recipes AND upcycles) the posts began to pour in!

Start with one theme and see how it works. If you’re not getting a lot of bloggers sharing their posts either add a related topic/theme to the party or evaluate how you’re promoting your party.

3 – Type of Link Up

Finally, you need to decide what kind of link up will you be hosting? What site or URL do you want people to link up? Link up parties can host several types of media:

Blog posts/articles
Social media accounts
Links to posts on social media – Pinterest pins, tweets with certain hashtags, Instagram images
Just images (using the URL from image sharing/storing sites)

Or, you can do a combination of all of the above. It’ll really depend on what you’re looking to focus on Pinbellish is a party I co-host that invites others to share their Pinterest pins. I also did a special post of Two Uses Tuesday where I asked people to link up their favorite pin and Pinterest profiles.

There you have it, 3 steps to choosing your link up party theme: niche, broadness & type of links. I hope this helped you narrow down your options. Any questions or want any input, just give me a yell!

Now What?

Once you get your party set up, be sure to get it listed on The Ultimate Linky List with Sarah Celebrates right here!
Successful ink up parties involve a lot of social sharing! Check out how Viraltag can help.
Not ready to start your own party but would like to co-host one? Let me know! Two Uses Tuesday and Pinbellish have room to grow!