Topical Round Up Groups for Bloggers

Hey bloggers.   Trying to get your posts more exposure, and maybe some back links?  Have you tried submitting them to round-ups?  

Round-ups are basically posts that link to a number of bloggers posts...things like "10 Easy Kids Crafts" or "100 Vegan Cookie Recipes."  

There are various Facebook groups where people can request content for round-ups (and where you can share your posts if you have something that matches their needs).  A few of my favorites are Blogger Round-up Requests, Blogger Roundups, and RoundupPalooza.

But the problem with these is that it can be hard to find round-ups for your specific content sometimes (especially if you don't share recipes on your site, as recipe round-ups tend to dominate on the general round up sites).  So, I've made a list of topical round up pages I'm aware of.   These may get a little less traffic, but if your blog is geared towards one of these topics, the round ups that are posted here will be more likely to be ones you have content for.  

Crafts and DIY

DIY & Crafts Roundups

Craft and Food Roundups

Home and Garden

Home and Garden Round Up

Lifestyle 

Lifestyle Roundups

Round-ups, Guest Posts, and Writing Service Requests (Mom & Lifestyle Blogs)

Parenting and Kids

Motherhood Round-ups

Mom Blogger Round Up and Guest Post Classified

Round-ups, Guest Posts, and Writing Service Requests (Mom & Lifestyle Blogs)

Homeschool Content Round Up Request

KBN Content & Round-up Requests (For Kid Blogger Network members only)

Recipes/Food

Recipe Round Up

Best Ever Food Round-up

Foodie Blogger for Sharing and Content Round Up

Julie's Recipe Round Ups

Craft and Food Roundups

Religions

Christian Bloggers Round Up

Sources for Free Graphics

The following places are good for finding photos and artwork to use on your blogs or websites. Most have specific terms for use, so pay attention to those. I give some instructions regarding this in the descriptions on the site.

Flickr

To use flickr to find images that you can use, you will need to do an advanced search. First, search as usual...then click advanced search and then click "Only search within Creative Commons-licensed content."  If you sell advertising on your site you will want to further limit it by clicking "Find content to use commercially."  All of these photos must be attributed, so link the picture back to its flickr page and credit the photographer.  If you want to use a flickr photo that is not under creative commons, you can contact the photographer and ask permission first.  

CompFight

This basically uses Flickr, but has a layout that makes it very easy to find commercial images. Just do your search and click "commercial" on the sidebar under licensing and it will narrow it to commercial sites.

Every Stock Photo

Search for the photo, click one you want to use, then click the licensing tab to learn how you can use it. Most of these are licenced under creative commons.

Wikipedia Commons

Make sure to check the licence each of these is under. Many can be used publicly, some without even attribution, but read the licence carefully.

Pixabay

Pixabay.com is a repository for free public domain images. You can upload your own photos and share your work with others. You can use any image from this website freely for personal and commercial use without attributing the original author. They have really beautiful quality images.

The Graphics Fairy

She posts public domain images, mostly Victorian. You may use these images commercially. She asks that you not use more than 6 on a single project or within a single page of a blog or website.

Percy and Bloom

Collection of 100+ Years Old Copyright Free Images

Open Clip Art Gallery

All graphics donated to this site are required be waived of all rights, including copyright, according to the CC0 Public Domain Dedication. In other words, you can use these however you want.

Creative Commons Content Directories

This lists various sites which collect creative commons material. Creative commons pictures are often free for use, depending on the type of licence. Scroll down to the section on images to find many places you can search for photos.

Free Web Graphics: Where to Get Them (Legally!)

A very good lens with a fairly complete list of places to find free graphics. Has many sites I don't have listed here.

Reusable Art

Reusable Art - free images for crafts and other designers.

morgueFile

Morguefile.com free stock photos - free photos for creatives by creatives. Make sure to read the terms on each photo.

Public Domain Pictures - Free Stock Photos

Carefully read the terms on each picture. If they can't pull up a free picture for your search they will list pictures you need to pay a royalty for underneath, so be cautious.

Free Images and How to Use Them

Another lens on how to use free images and various places to find them, some of which I haven't tried yet!

My Favorite Giveaway Linkies!

One of the easiest ways to draw traffic to your blog is to give something away. It's not just that giveaways are popular--they're easy to advertise for, too! There are hundreds of sites where you can advertise your giveaways for free. Read on to learn some of the best places to list your blog giveaways

My Top 3 Giveaway Link Sites

While there are many, many sites to list your giveaways on, I've found that most bring in few hits (usually around 2-3 hits each, usually). The following sites 10 sites are the exception. When I list my giveaways on the sites below they typically bring in 10-60 hits each.  The first three are the real powerhouses...they've stayed consistently on this list through many updates and always do well, but they have some restrictions.  

Airplanes & Dragonflies (Giveaway Under 500 entries)
If you have a giveaway with under 500 entries she will post it on her Last Chance giveaway and may also post it in daily "low entry giveaway" posts. You submit giveaways via a form.

Mom Does Review Super Saturday Linky Party
Posted every Saturday

International Giveaways
Site usually only accepts giveaways which are open internationally, and has always sent a lot of traffic.

Past Top Linkies

These have fallen out of the top 10 for various reasons. Some are still good to add too, but just may have fallen below others. A few of these are temporarily not taking new links.

Contest Listing

Submit Via Web Form.

The Steady Hand - Rafflecopter Giveaway Linky

Ongoing linky which accepts only Rafflecopter giveaways. She has another giveaway linky for any type of giveaway here, but I find the Rafflecopter one is the real traffic draw.

Sweepstakes Advantage (Now Paid Only)
Submit via form. You need to be registered to submit giveaways but giveaway submission is free.

Cloth Giveaway Round-up 
Every Friday this blog posts a list of cloth-diaper giveaways followed by a general linky that all family friendly giveaways can be posted on.

Other Great Places to Post Giveaways

While the ones above are my best bets for consistent traffic, depending on the type of giveaway you have, other sites may work better for you.  Here are some suggestions.

Low Entry Giveaway Lists

If you're having a hard time getting people to enter, these lists are perfect for you.  Most of the time they list giveaway under 200 entries (sometimes less), and some have time restrictiosn (such as ending within the next week).

International/Regional Giveaway Lists

If you're giveaway is open outside the US, or is a local giveaway only availaible to people of a certain state or city, than regional or international linkies are a good place to list it.

Thumbnail Linkies

They say a picture is worth 1,000 words.  So if you have a visually appealing product, you might want to list it on one of these pictoral/thumbnail linkies.

Topical Linkies

There are linkies out there focusing just on specific types of giveaways (book giveaways, baby giveaways, giveaways from specific stores).  These linkies might give you more traffic than others if you have a giveaway that fits their topic.

Mister Linky Givaways

OK, these won't give you any more traffic than others, but the cool thing about giveaways which use a Mister Linky form is that once you've entered your giveaway into one form, usually the next form will automatically fill in your title/URL (you only have to click submit).  That makes these forms VERY EASY to fill in, and you can go through a lot of them very quickly.  And one or two hits from A WHOLE LOT OF LINKIES makes up for a lot of hits.

Ongoing Giveaway Link-Ups
Most of these are included above.   These tend to be crowded link-ups, but if you have a giveaway with a late end date and you get yours in early, yours will rise to the top if these are pruned.  

Other Sites Listing Giveaway Linkies

If you want to take the time to list your giveaways EVERYWHERE POSSIBLE, these sites list even more giveaways.  And if you're looking for places to FIND giveaways, these might be even better than my top ten (since they may be getting less traffic).

Places to Share Blogger Opps

Are you planning a group giveaway or other giveaway event?  Below are some good places to share them (or to look for places to join).  

Giveaway Monkey Giveaway Opps

Advertise With Bloggers Giveaways Facebook Group

They have a thread where you can list blogger opps.  

Blog Events and Leads Facebook Page

Mostly giveaways, but you can post opps too.

2 Just Be You
Giveaways on the top, then linkies, then opps at the bottom.

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Squidoo Blog Hop - GPS Tracking on Pictures

Hello, and welcome fellow Squido Lensmasters! For those who aren't travelling here by blog hop and don't know what Squidoo is, it's just a place where you can make nifty little web pages about any topic you choose, and maybe earn a little money for yourself or a charity in the process.

This week I want to talk about something that came to my attention recently that's a real concern to me both as a blogger and as a Squidoo writer.

I recently learned that that if you have a Smart Phone and take pictures on it, it's likely that these pictures are stamped with your GPS location...which means that people who know how could get this info off of photos you post on blogs and such if you took them with your phone. In other words, people can find out where you live if you take pictures in your home (even if the picture is of an apple pie, a craft project, or other usually non-identifying photos).  That's creepy!

You can change your phone setting so they DON'T add this info to your photos...

This article tells how:
How to Avoid the Potential Risks of Geotagging - wikiHow

And here's two methods to remove it from current photos:
How to Remove Location Info from Mobile Phone Pictures
Removing Metadata from Photos (Windows)

Now, some websites do strip geotagging info out of photos they host (Facebook and Flickr does this)...I'm not sure if blogger or Squidoo does this, and plan to look into it.  If I find anything I'll share it with you next blog hop (or edit and post it here).