Sign-Up Dates for the A-Z Blogging Challenge:March 23 - April 4Remember to sign up! If you'd signed up for the Theme Reveal it doesn't automatically make you signed up for the main challenge.
If you encourage people to join the challenge, they can add to the sign-up form that you had done so, and you can get into the draw to win a chance to guest post on the A-Z Challenge Blog.
Remember to visit other blogs during the A-Z Challenge and leave comments! The point of a blog hop is to visit others, leave comments, and get visitors to your blog.
Let's start with some basics to help you get the most out of this April's A-Z Challenge. These older posts on our blog is still useful today:10 Common Misconceptions About Blog CommentsBlogging Basics: Hyperlink SignatureHow To Make Your Blog "Comment Friendly"
Building on all of that, I have to add something that I've come up against in during the Theme Reveal hop: Substack.
I just got my Substack account suspended for commenting on A-Z participants' posts with the usual links. Turns out it isn't blog hop friendly. I think people should be aware of this issue when commenting on blogs hosted on Substack before their accounts get inadvertently suspended. It's not always clear when a blog is hosted on Substack, so it gets tricky. Also, some of these "blogs" don't allow you to comment unless you're a paid subscriber.
I thought I'd warn people to not leave hyperlinks (or any kind of links) in the comments they leave on Substack. I have appealed their decision to suspend my account, but it's up in the air if I'll get it back.
As J rightly said when I raised the issue: "I'm not sure anyone using Substack is really hoping for new comments, so it makes no sense to join a blog hop. Blog hops are for people who hope for maximum comments and know that means, yeah, you'll occasionally have to toss out some spam, but mostly you'll get actual interested humans."
I'm not against anyone using Substack. But I think you ought to add in your CTA (call to action) at the end of your A-Z posts a warning that people shouldn't leave links, just their blog's name in their comments. Oh, and if only paid subscribers can comment, what's the point?
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Looking forward to siging up, after doing the Theme Reveal post.
ReplyDeleteHere, those primers regarding leaving comments on blog posts are really informative.
- Pradeep / My Theme Reveal post
And here I thought Substack was a place to get lunch.
ReplyDelete🤣🤣🤣🤣
DeleteEat fresh.
DeleteGetting excited, going to do my post titles tomorrow so that I'm ready to go...just one thing...what the heck do I do for each letter...argh...lol
ReplyDeleteThat's the "challenge" part. 😉
DeleteI appreciate the links to the "How-to" articles from years past. This is my fifth year to participate, and I had never encounterd those helpful articles. I've now read through all of them. I've also never made a hyperlink signature. This is my trial-run. Kaye at KayeSpencer
ReplyDeleteYay me! The hyperlink signature worked. However, I will tweak it so it directs readers to my blog and not the home page. At least it worked. ha
DeleteWay to go.
Deleteok this is my first year doing this. Super confused. Do I link up my post each day somewhere??????? or do I just write??? Directions are super confusing.
ReplyDelete